I stumbled across an ad for the annual Knit and Crochet Festival, after a little goggling I was delighted to find I was available, my friend was available and it was only 70 miles from here. I picked Tammy up at 8:30 on Saturday - I had thought maybe later in the afternoon but was glad I reconsidered that. We arrived about 9:45 and after circling the front parking lot which was hopeless I might add - there were cars parked along the road bumper to bumper - we found two spots in the back at the very end of the parking lot behind the storage pods. And that was before ten! The woman walking ahead of us was very chatty, she'd been before and wanted to know if we'd signed up for classes. No we didn't - since it was the first time I'd attended I hadn't been sure. The registration was $25 to get in - but that included all the vendors, the trunk show and a free magazine from Knitters. It was worth it just for the vendors - they came from all over the country - Michigan, Colorado, etc - and we saw all types of yarns,patterns, you name it, we saw it. I bought alpaca lace weight, some lace weight silk, a sock book, a new bag, doodads and other Sundry Items. Don't you love Sundry Items? I myself had a plethora of them, there's even a drawerful in the entertainment system. Anyhoo - we went to the trunk show too. I've never been to one but it was speakers with their products, the woman from Strick was very funny and engaging, my favorite type of speaker that gives information but has you laughing most of the time, The other one from Nazareth was not that much fun. She was from a factory and even though I love the yarn, listening to the construction of it is a bit of a snooze. Some woman raised her hand and asked if they used a "J wind or a Z" - REALLY?? Put your hand down! Now there would be a coma-inducing conversation had it managed to survive past a few sentences. We left around 2:30 after having seen everything a few times, I really had to go around a couple of times to see what I really wanted to buy and what there was to buy that I couldn't get locally. Not much in the way of real bargains but Tammy got a pair of knitting needles to for two dollars and I got two skeins of silk lace weight for $16 apiece so I was happy. We stopped by a display of giant knitting needles, they had them set up that you could knit a row with them. They were size 52!! and went up to 60 I think, you had to knit 6 strands of yarn at once so you wouldn't end up with giant holes. I did the whole row but that was enough for me. I can see it would go super fast but it just wasn't for me. The yarn ranged in price - we saw a display of skeins that were $79 a pop - unless it was made from the manes of unicorns collected on the first day of Summer by small fairies I cannot see spending that much for any yarn. We left after two and it was seriously cranking by then, getting to the point of overwhelming. People were pouring in by then and it runs through to today. If I go next year I think I'd like to sign up for some classes, this year was more of a trial run. I was tired but happy when I got home, Tammy and I chatted all the way up and all the way back, that makes the drive much faster. I had to go straight home since David was working and the dogs needed out. Adam had just gotten home after spending a few days in Pittsburgh, but he was in the non yarn district I think! I slept well last night til about 3 am. The zoo had barnstormed the babygate sometime during the night and I woke up pinned between Molly and Reuben with Vincent on my head. And I wonder why I can't sleep well...............
No comments:
Post a Comment