I promise I will get to my comments about the marketplace, but I have to keep you guys wanting more right? Today I want to talk about the cocktail party and gala dinner at last weekend's Vogue Knitting Live.
I enjoyed this year's cocktail party much more than last year. While the venue was beautiful last year the whole process of getting on the bus and then having to wait in the lobby for a half hour before the venue opened was a pain in the behind! This year it was so lovely to simply take the elevator down a few floors. I really liked the large open layout and especially loved finding the small side room with tables and chairs to rest. I thought the food was splendid and the drinks were flowing. People really seemed to be enjoying themselves. It was also great to have some time to speak one-on-one with the teachers. It still amazes me how the celebrities, the Kniteratti, will mingle with us pleebs. I loved spending time chatting with Rosemary Drysdale about our class - boy is she a riot! The one thing that bummed me out was the silent auction and sweater auction. For starters, the sweaters were beautiful but they were displayed so far in the back of the room that I didn't see them until the party was almost over. Also, I know that the money was for a great cause but I think after spending hundreds on the conference people did not want to spend $350 on a sweater that they have the pattern for. The silent auction this year was a bit of a let down as well. Last year's auction had some really unique items like collectibles, signed book collections and artwork. I think this year the baskets were a bit of an easy way out. I was disappointed by that.
I am still not exactly sure how I felt about the gala dinner. For starters, the wait staff was incredibly rude! If you put your fork down for half a second they were sweeping up your plate and bringing the next course. I felt like I was in some sort of speed eating competition. I also was very disappointed by the keynote speaker, Karen Allen. I enjoyed the beginning of her presentation where she talked about how she fell in love with knitting but then she spent over a half hour talking about machine knitting. I am not trying to put anyone down who is a machine knitter but I just felt that the majority of the room was very let down by her emphasis on the machine knitting. I know a lot of people were also very disappointed by the fashion show winner. I was rather indifferent about that. I did really like the handsome gentleman representative from Zealana. A nice looking Kiwi if I may say so! The best part of the gala dinner for me was sitting with Jean Moss and her son. She had our whole table wearing the silly orange paper glasses from the goody bags all night. As you saw from the photos, we looked ridiculous! The funniest part about that was a woman at my table went outside after the dinner to have a cigarette and totally forgot to take them off! To make that better, she was wearing the paper glasses over her real glasses. Boy did we look like crazies in Times Square!
Who else had thoughts on these two events? I would love to hear your thoughts!!
Until Next Time,
Broke Knitter
No comments:
Post a Comment