Brandon Mably is God

Last Friday I took a day off from work and school and just knit. This was the result:
Okay, so I didn't just knit, I took a class with Brandon Mably. This is Kaffe Fassett's Persian Poppies pattern.

Jillian saw that The American Sewing Expo was coming to a town near us and twisted my arm into signing up for the one and only knitting class that was being offered. Then her husband was called out of town. There really wasn't anyone else that I wanted to spend an entire day sitting next to, so I went on my own.

Brandon was warm and funny and referred to everyone as his friend. As in "Oh, my friend over at that table has the most gorgeous color to add to your ball. Come with me, my friend, and we'll get you some." All in a wonderful British accent. He was constantly complimenting people on what they were knitting and encouraging them to step off their personal color paths and "be outrageous, my friend."

We also had a guest lecturer, none other than Kaffe Fassett. He spoke about using color and experimenting before we started knitting. Then he encouraged us to listen to "our" Brandon and "do what he tells you to do."

The market was overwhelming. Since I'm just starting to quilt, a lot of the stuff was beyond me. I did manage to pick up some gorgeous fabrics and the newest Kaffe book Quilt Road. When I came back from market, Brandon wanted to see what was in the bag. When I pulled out the book, he grabbed it and showed me his gorgeous quilt based on the umbrellas in My Fair Lady. Both Kaffe and Brandon signed it for me.

It was exhausting and I spent a lot of the day mentally elbowing J, but well worth going.