Beginning of the SAFF madness....

So, on Friday The Mom and I got up at 5AM to get ready to get to SAFF as early as possible. Which turned out to be absolutely ridiculous, since we were ready to leave at 6 and had to wait anxiously until I could get into the building at work to leave... at 8! I had left my beloved Kingscot, done but for the ends, under my desk at work when I left on Thursday. Scared the crap out of me. I was ok with it, frustrated that I would have to wait to do the last little bit of finishing, but HOLY COW, not after what my mom suggested. She looked me straight in the face and said, "They won't throw it away, will they?" WHAT??? THROW IT AWAY???? NOOOOOOO!

Fortunately, it was where I had left it and I safely retrieved it. Even if it did get us a late start.

The drive took less time than expected (by me, anyway. How did I have no real memory of how long it takes to drive to Asheville), the perception of which was aided by the fact that I slept for a good solid hour of the trip. Time flies when you are sound asleep!

Ok, most importantly, what did we wear!? I sported my happy rainbow Ishbel. It truly is happy! I wore it as a shawl, pinned with one of The Mom's lovely jewelry pieces. People asked about it all day. They even reached out and touched it. (People who know me know how I LOVE to be touched unexpectedly by strangers.... Where is your sense of personal space, people??) The Mom looked FAB in her Clapotis. I blocked it Wednesday, and it came out SO beautifully... She picked the perfect yarn for it, which I now know is Brooks Farm Four Play. Because people in our class made me go ask. And took pictures of it! She was a complete hit. We were both very proud of ourselves, and of each other....

Once we arrived, we hardly had any time before our class. We made a brief raid on Miss Babs' booth, where my most major purchasing was done lickity-split. More on purchases later.

Took the lace knitting class with Elizabeth Ravenwood. She was very charming. We all received a skein of Knitpicks Gloss Lace, and were left to fight over them, picking from a pile on the floor in a most dog-eat-dog manner.... Luckily I snagged green for me and red for The Mom. Perfecto. I am sure the class was great, but honestly both of us were more advanced than what she was teaching. We immediately cast on and went to town. No new stitches, no techniques that were previously secret. Apparently there is no great secret to lace knitting, we just lacked the confidence to start on our own.... Live and learn. I wonder if we will take any classes next year? Maybe we are better knitters than we ever suspected!!

The best part was that she soaked and blocked the lace scarf we are working on in the class. I had never learned anything about blocking with wires, and I am really pleased to have seen it done. She also shared the source of the wires: welding supply stores. That is pretty exciting, cause stainless steel rod is much cheaper than blocking wires! They sell the stuff by the pound!

After the class and after we had walked around to restore feeling to our cold, numb butts, we did some recon work on the remainder of the shopping situation. I love the yarn at SAFF... The colors are luscious. I end up touching one of EVERYTHING. Ohhh, soft. Ohhh, pretty. (I am newly in love with undyed, fingering weight alpaca. It comes in the most gorgeous caramel color.... Sigh.)

Ohhh, expensive. I know that these are artists. I seriously, absolutely value the work, skill and passion that go into producing such scrumptious fibers. No doubt. But my budget doesn't stretch very far among the land of art yarn. It became IMMEDIATELY clear that my carefully prepared shopping list is out the window. I couldn't afford even one sweater's worth of the lovelies....

Not to worry. The Mom and I held a re-strategizing session over fast food. I will share that with the report on Saturday at SAFF.... :-)

Again, sorry that there are no pictures. I sadly miss my laptop and all my ability to upload pictures. I wish my posts could be as filled with color and beauty as SAFF was!