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Designer Dinner

I've been remiss in sharing all the details about Marly Bird's Designer Dinner in Columbus last month! This was the first time I've gotten to attend and had been looking forward to it for quite some time. It was supposed to be a masquerade, but I just didn't have time to do something creative, so I packed my mustachio nosewarmers for the occasion. You'll see I was able to coerce someone else into going incognito via knitted mustache!
There were some pretty cool masks and costumes, but I think my favorites were by Alasdair Post-Quinn's (his was, of course, double-knit & SPECTACULAR) and Gwen Bortner's (she being the entrelac queen). You can view all of the photos here on Facebook - don't forget to like Marly's fan page while you're there!  I'll spare you my opinions on the food - the vegan options were a little lacking, but that's something I've come to expect pretty much anywhere I go, especially in the midwest. It's not like I starved (also, I strategically snacked beforehand), and I can understand how all of the various food allergies and dietary restrictions that folks have these days can pose a problem when putting together a large event.  Besides, I was way more interested in meeting new people to hook up with my clients...and having fun, of course!

In addition to the swag bags that everyone received, there were some other prizes that Marly awarded Oprah-style by having us check the bottom of our chair or the number on the back of our name buttons. My colleague Rebecca won one of the prizes - four skeins of Lhasa Wilderness in a Bijou Basin Ranch project bag! The folks from Kollage also made a speech inviting people to submit designs in their yarn that seemed to be unscripted but possibly had been rehearsed beforehand - it was kind of hard to tell, actually. They included some sparkly yarn in the swag bag - I'd like to submit something, but I'm not sure I can make the August 31 deadline, considering the sock design I've been working on for myself has been in progress for more than half a year now.

It was an interesting experience and I'm certainly grateful to the sponsors who made my bursting-with-fibery-goodness swag bag possible (for the full product review, click here to listen to last week's Yarn Thing Podcast):
Whew! That's a lot of stuff! Hopefully in the months to come, I'll get a chance to play with everything and share my thoughts on this blog.  Many thanks to Marly Bird for putting together this fun event, and still more thanks to the many sponsors who helped make it possible!
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