Feb. Chapter Two -- SPA!

OMg, where do I start? Spa was so fun -- simply overwhelming! And WAAYY too short. Next year, I definately want to get there for Thursday. As it was, I arrived late Friday night -- 11:30 pm -- and thankfully found Gina, Chris, and Ericka in the main conferene room. (I wasn't looking forward to the prospect of sleeping in the lobby, as Gina had the room keys! lol) They were on their way to their rooms at that point, and after saying good-bye to our favorite couple, Gina and I stayed up chatting until 1pm. Luckily, Gina had a massage appointment first thing in the morning on Saturday, which helped me get my lazy behind out of bed. If your taking notes, make sure you put this down -- I LIKE BED. SLEEPING GOOD. I am not a morning person, but I must say I was so excited for the day, that I found it much easier to get up, and we had ordered room service for breakfast which was just lovely.
So back to the conference room we went, wheels in hand. We claimed a spot and I ran off to the vendor room. I had a grand plan of getting all of my pygora (only 2 ounces!) spun into a lace-weight single over the weekend, but there as so much to see and so many sounds that my scattered little brain often found it hard to focus. So I just kept wandering back into the vendor area! My favorite vendors were the Woolen Rabbit (shocker, huh?) and Amy King of Spunky Eclectic fame. I made a sheepish confession of being a blog-stalker. I so admire her talent. She has a fabulous way with color, and I pray I can make as much a success of my business as she has of hers. She was SWAMPED all weekend, and was having a good laugh at all of us 4, 5, and 6 time browsers. I got a fantastic hand-thrown, hand-painted sheep travel mug (another weekend goal), some lovely roving for my spin to knit pal, and a skein of funky sock yarn in the Breathtaking colorway for me (Noolie got the same color!).

I fell in love with a chunky zippered cardigan pattern and yarn Gina and Noolie both purchased from her, but my chosen colorway, Red Maple, was only available in worsted, not chunky, so it will have to wait until she can dye up a special order for me. I just couldn't wrap my mind around another colorway after seeing this one.
Now, speaking of Noolie, I got to meet her! yay!
This is a pic of Gina showing Julie how to draft (Chris is on the left)...

We palled around with her, Carole, and Brenda, both of whom are now new friends. They were fantastic to talk to and sit and knit and spin with. It is so wonderful to meet people who share the same passions and are just GOOD PEOPLE. Fantastic.
I had a few other sightings of Island Pond Spinner friends, ran into Doug, owner of my loaner-tradi and "the man" refurbing my wheel, and even got to say "hello" to the lovely Cheryl of SeedStitch. Her hand-spun, hand-knit alpace silk shawl was amazing! (And Cheryl, if you are reading this, your new haircut is GORGEOUS!)

I must say the pictures on her blog (or mine!) do her little justice. In person, this lady is simply stunning.
I collected quite a few other treasures; wool hand carders from a weaving studio in town and some fleece from the free table to practice on, and a peg loom for the kids (no pic)...

an amazing batt of layered multi-colored roving from Indigo Moon (sadly, she is giving up the business!). I purchased 8oz. and spun a skein of singles for my pal without separating the colors, and then took the remaining batt and spun it after separating the colors and drafting them out seperately. I am thrilled with both.



I couldn't stop STARING at the ball of self-striping yarn produced by technique number 2 and had to cast it on already for a hat for my niece. The colors are screaming her name. Isn't it coming out great? Singles again, btw. Now that I've acheived a lace-weight in my spinning, I am forcing myself to go back to the thicker yarns. This is not easy! I'm going to try to alternate weights on a regular basis so that I don't get too stuck. Also, I have had so much fun knitting with soft wool singles lately such as Malarigo and Poems, that I really wanted to replicate this in my spinning.
I also bought 1lb -- 1 lb! -- of charcoal black superwash lambswool laps from Goose Pond (I believe it comes from the Jaggerspun company) that I can't wait to play with, but I definately need to form a plan for. mmmmmm such squishy goodness.

The last purchase was on a trip to Knit Wits on Sunday. Poor Gina was struck with a terrible migraine, so while she napped Ericka, Chris and I explored a few of the local shops and I got this great merino silk yarn for 50% off! This is sure to make a wonderful soft scarf for a lucky recipient next Christmas.
And are you ready for more? Oh yeah, I got an HOUR MASSAGE and my first ever pedicure...A CHOCOLATE PEDICURE. sigh. need I say more?
Tne in for Chapter 3 --Finally FO FRIDAY!!!