Q: What happens when five women rent a minivan and drive to the big city?
A: Well, no one got arrested, if that's what you're thinking.
Finally feeling somewhat human again. Still coughing, sniffling, and making an interesting array of noises, while leaving a trail of used Kleenex in my path. This didn't keep me from the expedition of the season.
Hizzoner woke me up at 2:30am. "Are you going?"
Me: Mmmph. pulls duvet over head
Hizzoner: I'll leave you alone and let you decide. shuffles off to the kitchen.
Me: sniffle*gack*coughcoughcough*sneeze imnotgoingimnotgoingimnotgoingimnotgoing… well shit. I'm awake. I might as well go.
So I staggered into the bathroom, harking like a sick seal, and turned on the hot water full blast. A steamed-up bathroom helps me breathe better. I cleaned up, put on makeup, dressed, and after waving in Hizzoner's general direction, grabbed my bag and wandered outside.
At 7:00 on the dot I wandered up the steps to Bananie's house. Chan and LisaB (the blogless) showed up shortly thereafter and we got on our way. A short stop along the way to pick up Lisa S (also non-blog) and it was Baltimore, Here We Come.
Bananie drove. LisaB brought assistance and comic relief in the form of "Mandy," the GPS. "Mandy" scolded us the whole way into town. While it was deemed prudent to follow her advice while on the interstate, there was much second-guessing once we were actually circling the convention center.
[ducks]
We wandered about the center, inadvertently crashing a "women in engineering" convention. I'm not sure what they thought about the other convention in the building…. Then, we found it. Stitches East, in all its commercial glory.
Boy, were we glad we got there early. At 10am it was already crowded, and it got more so as the day wore on. We wandered up and down the aisles of booths, poking through the yarns, patterns, books, and gidgets. I got to meet the lovely Donna and Valerie of Yarn4Socks.com, who have relieved me of much of my money over the last year or so and continued to do so that day; the ladies of Yarn Love, who sold me some lovelies; Lisa Souza herself, who talked yarns and patterns and is extremely pleasant (and sold me this pattern); and … and JO! I got to meet Jo in person! I think she thought I was some mad stalker -- until she saw my Rav button. That was the icing on the proverbial cake.
By the early afternoon we had shopped ourselves out; seen everything we wanted to see and checked off our relatively short lists.
Okay, I'm lying. We were hungry.
So we wandered across the street to The Wharf Rat. 'Cause they had beer. (I had the Oliver Irish Red. It stood up nicely with a Reuben sandwich.) And we needed beer. (Or cider, for some of us. Which didn't sound like a bad idea, either.) I'm not sure what people thought of us, five women laughing loudly, drinking solidly, and knitting away on various projects right there, in the outside part of a sidewalk café. And you know -- I don't think I care.
We had a blast. We laughed, picked on each other, told stories and anecdotes, and made hysterical utterances that I could post here if I were of a mind to embarrass people… but I think I'll keep that all between us girls.
Later that night, as I crashed at Chez Bananie, I had an epiphany of sorts. For the first time in about six years, I was actually happy. I know that sounds terrible in a way, but it was undeniably true. I was emotionally in a different place than I had been. I was free of responsibility, free to call my own shots -- I let "Me" come out again to play.*
And to think, I almost didn't go. I almost stayed in bed to nurse my cold.
bought pretties?
Why yes, a few things. I didn't buy a lot, having found most of what I needed at SAFF. I did find a copy of The Eclectic Sole at the Mannings booth.
This is what Donna and Valerie sold me:
hi ho silver!
The yarn with the silver in it. "Catch Hell Blues" is the colorway. I got two skeins, and think 840 yards of sparkly goodness will make something wrappish, don't you?
Then this from the Yarn Love goils:
when irish eyes are smiling, the wallet opens up.
The colorway is called Aiden, and it just spoke to me. When Sharon pulled it out of the rack to show it off, I snatched it took it gently from her so she didn't have to restock it. Just trying to help out.
I also got a lovely shawl stick (see it on Chan's blog. She got the ebony and I got a cherry one) and the blocking wires kit from Knitting Notions that I almost bought from her at the Montpelier festival. We tested it at Bananie's, on two of her FOs. Works perfectly. The tube it's packed in also helps clear a crowd.
Not much, actually. I was quite restrained. And happy.
___________
*"Me" has gone back into her hiding place again. It was nice to have her out, even if it was for just a little while.