If you remember, I recently talked about how I was asked by the group Halos of Hope to allow them to use one of my crochet patterns at this convention. When I told them that I wasn't far away and would love to make a trip there, they asked me to come and sign patterns, answer questions, etc.
I've always been a big believer of giving back where you can. For the past 15 years, I've been growing and donating my hair to Locks of Love. I recently made my 5th donation, bringing me just under 7 feet of hair donated in my lifetime.
This year, one of my big goals was to crochet or knit for at least 24 hours (not necessarily straight) for charity. I made a total of 21 hats for a total of 21 hours of charity crochet time! (It takes me roughly an hour to make one hat, depending on size and difficulty, and several hats were brand new patterns that I haven't made public yet :)
Here's a peek at some of the hats I donated.....
And the whole stack before getting bagged up to go!
So this weekend I made a quick trip to Illinois with these hats for Stitches Midwest, which is an annual Knit and Crochet convention in Schaumberg. My goodness, let me just say it is truly yarn heaven.
I met with a super sweet gal named Laura who showed me my way in, provided me with my pass, and led me slack jawed into the convention center. We went to the Halos of Hope booth, where I handed in the hats that I brought to donate (43 of them between myself and two wonderful gals that I work with) which was met by a very large cheer. They were keeping track of how many hats had been donated, and cheering whenever they got one. (So much fun and so much enthusiasm!)
I had so much fun!
All the beautiful hats they brought and were donated. Mine is the teal hat in the front! :)
Some of the lovely ladies working the booth :)
Someone spotted me taking pictures... :)
Here I am in the booth.
And next to the sign advertising my Pattern signing!
I met many wonderful people, advertised the cause for Halos of Hope and had a great experience.
After the signing, I ventured out into the market. I wish I had taken a picture of every single booth. They were all amazing! There were so many unique yarns from indie dyers, buttons and pins for shawls and garments, bags of unspun wool, books for sale, and hooks galore. Here are some of my favorite scenes in the Market:
The Stitch Red organization's booth: They're a great group that raises money through stitching to combat heart disease.
Love love love these dyed and unspun materials! They look fantastic!
Aisles and aisles of yarn and other supplies.
Some more fantastic unspun yarns.
Lion Brand! {love}
Just look at all these fantastic yarns!
All in all, it was a great experience! I've never been with such a large group of yarn enthusiasts and I may very well be addicted! I can't wait for next years convention!!!