That Resounding Thump You Heard?

That was me, falling off the wagon. Or rather, doing a giant belly flop off the wagon into a pile of welcoming fibers. (Here is where I remind you that I DID allow myself 2 - 3 little slips over the six months yarn ban....and hope you don't notice the fact that this hardly qualified as a LITTLE anything). It all started like this:

The Medrona Fiber Arts Festival. Knitters crack (and no, I'm not referring to yesterday's thong incident, thank you very much.) This very simple sign had me shivering with anticipation. (Yes, I know. I STILL need to get out more.) I didn't take any classes--just mostly came for the ambience.

I'm sorry-what? You thought I came for the shopping? Oh no, heavens no. That would be irresponsible, seeing as how I already have plenty of yarn. (Hang on while I look at that sentence...I so rarely see the words "plenty" and "yarn" together like that. I certainly don't use them that way.)

Coming through the doors yielded these views:

The wool fumes were dizzying. It really wasn't that big of a room, and there were only 24 vendors....thank good wool. As it was, I really should have left a trail of crumbs and notified a search party to be on the lookout for me. I circled that room so many times that they were starting to put together my own little pit crew.

Blue Moon Yarn was there, but the booth was always packed and I never did, in any of my many passes by, get close enough to even touch, let alone purchase. From a distance, it looked quite tempting....but when the term "feeding frenzy" keeps coming into your head, it seems best to move on (no aspersions whatever cast on Blue Moon--beautiful stuff, wonderful company). I had better luck with these folks:

This is just one half of the booth belonging to the good people of Angora Valley Fibers, and I love them hugely. Enormously. Tons and tons of beautiful sock yarn, incredibly well priced. You can actually buy skeins of it that are 546 yards for just $16. I found this booth a few times. Customers were starting to think I worked there....or had a really weird and disturbing obsession with yarn (this may have had something to do with the way I kept holding and stroking the yarn and saying things like "my precious"....but I think those people just lack dedication.) They just had merino with them today--not angora--but it was softer than.....well....than a very soft thing. I was quite happy to share some of my money with Angora Valley.

This is but a fraction of the goods available at Linda's Knit N' Stitch:

This whole section is Koigu--Linda carries 101 of their colors. This booth also inherited a bit of my money. Yes, I am deeply ashamed. Or will be, once I stop rolling around in new wool like a colt in fresh grass. At least I'm not whinnying.

I looked at batts but am still uninitiated in the ways of the spindle and wheel (or possibly just a great big coward...I'm not quite sure which). Still, it was a booth wherein I didn't manage to part with any money, so it seemed like a good idea to take a picture of it...you know, for posterity:

I don't remember who sponsored this booth....which says something about the singlemindedness of the non-spinning knitter.

I don't have a picture of Fancy Image Hand-Dyed Yarn, but they have some pictures of presidents from my personal collection. (I told you it was a pretty big tumble from that wagon, didn't I? I think I left a divot.) Beautiful stuff at their booth, as well as one of the funniest parts of the day--the woman ahead of me was paying with cash and the cashier asked her if she had any ones. Whereupon three of us started hunting through our knitting stuff to see if we had brought size 1 dpns. Seriously. We all felt pretty sheepish....which seems appropriate for knitters, really.

I also stopped at Knitters Anonymous and waved good bye to a few more presidents. They (K.A--not the presidents) have a pretty good thing going where you pay $35 and get all kinds of cool stuff (tote bag, button, pencils that double as size 11 needles in a pinch, atennae ball, etc.) plus you get 10% off all purchases at participating merchants any time you buy from them (not just at the show but any time you go in or buy online). The first two thousand memberships sold will be lifetime (I was number 900 and something--yay me!). As I told Mr. K, this was a great deal because now I can get even MORE yarn I don't need, but for less money.

Mr. K is a very patient man.

I haven't yet taken pics of my loot but I will, and I'll post them for you tomorrow. Frankly, I think it's shame that's holding me back. Really, I left a HUGE divot coming off that wagon. I blame the socks.

Oh, and I couldn't resist the call of that damed Lorna's Laces that's been kicking my butt--so I started yet another sock with it (yes, sometimes I just have to beat myself to death with the uncooperative yarn) and so far (shhhh) it's going really well. I'll take a picture of that, too. (My hats off to whomever suggested in comments that perhaps I might have talked smack about that yarn's momma...it's been cracking me up all day! Which might be another reason that other shoppers looked at me strangely....besides the petting and saying "My precious", I mean).

Finally, in case you're not a knitter and are getting dizzy yourself from all the wool photos, or in case you ARE a knitter who also adores cats (you know who you are, Monica), I offer this picture of Miss, another of the outdoor stepcats who sometimes ventures inside. I believe Miss is short for Miss Priss, but I'll have to ask hubby.

And now, dear Knitters, I am off to kick back and rub wool all over me. It has been a lovely, expensive day.