*falls over*

Stitches is evil. In a good way.

I am exhausted, broke, and overwhelmed, but happy. Stitches East has done this to me.

It's not my fault.

Well, maybe a little.

See, all year I've been looking forward to Stitches. All. Year. And it was finally here! Mom and I signed up for a Thursday class so we could be up there for the Market Preview for students. And I signed up for a class all day on Saturday with (oh my GAWD) Maggie Jackson. *swoon* I want to be just like her when I grow up...

So Thursday was a blast. I had to take a half day off from work, but it was worth it. Pattern Writing 101 became three hours of why Carrie may never write a sweater pattern ever. But it was informative and helpful, and Edie Eckman is a wonderful teacher and a really nice person. Dinner made me feel better, though, because the SoTS got together, along with a couple of honorary members, and had a fabulous dinner at which the bartender did not charge us for our beer. Free stuff is always a good thing. Especially when you are about to break the bank. Heh heh. Heh. Oh boy.

Blue Moon Fiber Arts was my first stop. I probably should've just gone home after that. The mad crowds there were, well, mad. As in insane. But I managed to find what I wanted, and a bit more... heh heh... For the record, the element with the atomic number 6 is carbon. It also happens to be a beautiful yarn color. (I should mention that pictures will be forthcoming.)

Beyond that, everything is a blur. I know I got to The Mannings' booth. Because that's where I found the Zitron roving that I've been dying for, and the stars and stripes self-patterning sock yarn. And I know I spent more on one ball of yarn than any single ball of yarn should cost, except for that particular ball of yarn, which is more expensive normally but was discounted for the show. That very special ball of yarn happens to be quiviut. Musk ox down. Oh so fluffy, oh so soft. And oh so mine.

And I know that I met Doris Chan. *cue fangirl* SQUEEEE!!! She's my new hero. I love her books. In fact, I bought Everyday Crochet without even looking through it. And she is the sweetest person EVER. She was excited to hear that I had made the pineapple skirt and love it, and even more excited to hear that I want to make one out of hemp, because she's made a skirt out of hemp, and she promised to wear said hemp skirt on Saturday so I could see it. The pattern's not available yet, but it will be soon I think.

I even bought a present for my spinning wheel. Merriweather now has a new orifice hook, and it's appropriately blue. Sheila and Michael Ernst do such beautiful work.

Let me tell you, going to work on Friday was tough. I definitely had a yarn-over. But I made it through because I had to go offsite with a couple of my officemates, and I have fun with them. And at Murph's place I finished my newest project, of which I will post pictures when I'm ready for the big reveal.

So Saturday I had to get up at the crack of DOOOOOM to get to class on time. I mean I got up earlier than I do for work. That ain't right. But I did it. And I got there on time, in my pineapple skirt and my new project, strangely bright-eyed and bushy-tailed (I do have a bushy tail, being a squirrel and all). In line at Starbucks I ran into -- guess who -- Doris Chan! And she was wearing her hemp skirt, and it is beautiful. And she did like my pineapple skirt in BRIGHT pink Microspun. *glee* It was a good way to start the morning.

My day with Maggie Jackson was amazing. She's so clever, it amazes me the way she thinks to put things together. Her designs are so offbeat, and while there are a lot of them that I wouldn't necessarily wear, I love the way she combines techniques and puts things together in different and unexpected ways. She's just so inspiring. And I'm an even bigger fan now that I've taken her class. In fact, I'm going to do a Halloween scarf a la Maggie Jackson, because it's FUN. If I have the time between now and Halloween, that is. *crosses fingers* And as soon as I become rich and have about $5000 to spare, I'm totally going on one of her Knitting Retreats in Spain. Definitely. I'd say it's a life goal.

Now, because I needed more stuff like I need a hole in my head, where did I go at lunch and after class? Oh, back to the market, with Mom, who had come along on Saturday just to shop. Yes, I got the hemp for my skirt. And some Habu stainless steel and wool. And maybe (just maybe) some roving from Kid Hollow Farm. Which this morning I couldn't resist playing with, and I might (just maybe) have sat down at my spinning wheel and stood back up with a full skein of two-ply bulky yarn. Might have. I couldn't help it! It's not my fault! The roving was calling to me! It was like the Amityville Horror in reverse.

And now it's all over. And I had to spend the day (except for the brief spinning break) doing alterations for the show. Gonna be a hellishly busy week. But nowhere near as fun. *sigh*

Is it next year yet?

The Sisterhood of the Travelling Stash

That's us. My mom and our friends Pam and Carol and I went to Williamsburg yesterday to go to my favorite yarn shop ever, Knitting Sisters. And we had a blast. I don't know if I can sufficiently chronicle the day, but I'll try. This is Friday's yarn pr0n post, because believe me, we went to the yarn shop.

First of all, it was glorious enough to be back in my beloved 'burg. And on a beautiful day, no less. I was so excited, I started doing the Charlie Brown dance. Yeah.

We did walk around a bit:



And had lunch at the Trellis:


*yum* (Sorry, Mom, I know it's not a great picture, but the one of Pam and Carol on the other side of the umbrella pole is less flattering...)

And then it was off to see the Sisters. When I tell you that it is a yarn utopia on earth, I am exaggerating not at all. I mean, look at this stuff in its natural habitat:


And being petted by ravenous hunters:


The intrepid hunters considering their prey:


And being shocked by a particularly fine specimen (sorry Carol, you knew I had to post this one...teahee...):

(That's Ty-Dy from Knit One, Crochet Too... yum)

Pam's trophy:

(In her words, it jumped out and said "Hi! I'm coming home with you." Oh Lantern Moon, how we love thee...)

Pam wouldn't let me get away without having my own picture taken, so as we were enjoying the obscenely comfortable Knitter's Chairs, she seized my camera and snapped this:

*glee*

Carol found a sweater that had been a sample for the shop but they were selling it because they no longer carry that yarn, and she had to have it. But shh, don't tell anybody she bought it there, because her story is that she made it... while we were there... which means she whipped it out in about an hour and a half. Impressive, no?


It was so much fun. And Kathy, one of the three owners, was so wonderful to see. She's the one in the background of the Ty-Dy picture. Mom and I miss her as much as we miss the shop itself. Perhaps more. She's just really a delightful person. That's what really makes the difference there. The yarn shop itself is absolutely beautiful, but if the people there weren't nice it would be a miserable place to shop. As it is, the shop is beautiful and so are the people. They're just so friendly and fun and you can go to shop there and have a wholly wonderful experience. The ladies are happy to help you, to chat, to get to know you, to recommend patterns for yarn and vice versa, and just generally be not just a seller but also your friend. I hate having to leave the Knitting Sisters behind. That place is like an opium den. It's where you go to get addicted.

Continuing in that intoxication theme: After getting our yarn high, we went to the nearby bead store, Bead Haven, and got our bead fix. Gotta have the shinies. And so we got beads with which to make stitch markers. Naturally. I mean, what, do you expect us to do something unrelated to knitting with these beads? Puh-leeze. Anyway, that was a lot of fun too, though we didn't spend quite as long there.

And so, on this yarn-and-shiney high, we proceeded back to Colonial Williamsburg to walk down Duke of Gloucester Street again, this time to Chowning's Tavern for drinks. It was on the way there that we were talking about how fun it was to travel together for yarn and road tripping goodness, and remarked that we'd formed our own family of knitting sisters; we then dubbed ourselves the Sisterhood of the Travelling Stash. Or SoTS for short :P Which, given all the jokes we were making about yarn fumes and being intoxicated by yarn, is kinda appropriate. We are, in fact, yarnaholics. Hi, I'm Carrie, I have a yarn problem... Anyway, back on topic, we got our colonial-style drinks in the recreated colonial tavern:

Yes, the picture is fuzzy. Everything was a little fuzzy to me, that Hospitality Punch of theirs is strong and I am quite small (pocket sized, remember?). We also learned an excellent dice game, for which I remember the rules so don't worry Carol, I can remind you :)

The worst part of the day was having to come back. It ended all too soon. Eating dinner at an Applebee's at 10:00 pm, I realized that even worse would be having to get up for work this morning. Pam suggested I call out sick. Of course, I said... I'll tell them I have a terrible yarn-over! *rim shot* This, however, was not to be. I did have a yarn-over this morning. I did not call out of work. No work, no monies. Need monies, thus need work. Blargh. At least I got to take my lunch hour to go to our knitting circle today, though. Hair o' the dog, as it were... I can't wait for the next yarn safari though. I need a sign: Have Stash, Will Travel!

Overload!

So, yarn safaris are wonderful and horrible. On Friday, after work, I went to the Eastern Shore with a friend from work so that we could check out the yarn shops in Easton and St. Michael's. And I spent wayyyy too much money. But I bought some beautiful stuff, including more Blue Heron Yarns (*squee!*) and you'll get to see some as Friday Yarn Pr0n. My friend had better self control than I did, but she got some Blue Heron too. I think it's my new favorite yarn. *sigh*

Also, the chainmaille beginner kits that said friend and I ordered came in on Friday. WOOOOT!!! I'm so psyched. I have super awesome plans for chainmaille. At least I hope they're super awesome. They could, I suppose, turn out to be super lame. But I'm going with super awesome.

So all of this happened on Friday. Why am I not posting until Sunday night? Well, because on Friday when I got home I crashed hard. And yesterday, my trivia team went to play in the quarterfinals for our trivia tournament. We came in third!!! WOOOOO! We were actually kinda surprised we did so well... And after that, my man and I went to hang out with Pam and her friends because she was awesome and invited us. It was a great time; Pam has awesome friends. And she kicks my butt at Karaoke Revolution. I need to practice more. ;)

Also, we just got new internet service, so I had to coax my computer to connect to the new network. I definitely need a new computer, one that's not senile. Any recommendations?

All this while I really want to get moving on quite a few crafts. I've gotta keep making progress on my Razor Cami, can't wait to get together with my friend outside of work so we can start learning maille, I've got design ideas I want to work on, a book I'm trying to read, and I want to get more time on my wheel. Oh and I have fleece to scour. Half of which has been in the trunk of my car for weeks. Ummm... gotta go...

Yarn Safari!

So unbeknownst to Pam or my mom, I've already decided where our next yarn safari shall be. I also think we should expand the expeditionary force. And I'm going to ritualize this practice a bit, at least for my part. I'm talking missions. I'm talking trophy counts. I'm talking photographic documentation.

This has been inspired by several things, in no particular order:

1. Pam's post of Stitch DC's Twinkle Party, complete with photos. Now, I know that's because her hubby is into photography, but still. It got me to thinking about documenting our yarn shopping excursions. Taking pictures of the yarn in its natural habitat, as it were. And of the, er, hunters. This would, I'm sure, require the permission of the proprieters of whatever establishments we go into...

2. Our little trip to Cloverhill. It was a lot of fun, and we all found some unexpected yumminess. The one downside, though, was the yarn I didn't bag. They had no Rowan Summer Tweed. The trophies I brought home made up for it, though, and provided inspiration for things to look for. Future challenges, as it were.

3. The destination for our next excursion needs to be The Celtic Knot. A friend at work emailed me in desperation, asking for help finding the end of and winding into a ball a skein of sock yarn she got from said establishment. It. Sounds. Fantastic. And we have to go.

So... yarn safari, anyone? I know I'm being a huge dork about all this, but I like having goofy little things like this to get into. I hope somebody will be interested in joining me in my insanity...