Yarn and Classes and Firemen...Oh My!

Back from Stitches Midwest 2005 and I'm absolutely exhausted. We shopped and we looked and we shopped and we looked and we walked, oh god did we walk. We took the occasionaly break for a class and, of course, slept when the market was closed. :-) I began to think of the trek from the parking garage to the classrooms and marketplace as a death march. I swear, in the mornings (8am) with no caffeine it sucked, even more so since you had to walk to the Hyatt which was through the conference center and down another set of long hallways to get caffeine. In the evenings when you're feat hurt, even more so. Ugghhh! I was even wearing comfortable shoes.

So to show you a brief glimpse, below is our haul from Thursday evening on our 1 hour sprint through the market place.

One ball of Tess' Super Sock Yarn.

On day two, I took a class in Fair Aisle knitting from Beth O'Brien. The class was good and I even managed to figure out how to knit with the yarn in my right hand. It wasn't fast and it wasn't pretty, but I figured it out.

This is the haul after day 2. Keep in mind that this is for Beth, Suzie and myself...

Isn't that a cool Basket. Suzie won that as an attendance prize in the marketplace. You'll also notice the IKEA bags... Yes, after shopping all day and taking classes, we got back on the road and drove to IKEA. Got even more stuff there. I'ms sad to say, that there are no pictures of the day 3 haul, but suffice to say it was extensively larger...

Here is my total haul...

This is what I bought:
1 skeins Interlacements RickRack II
1 skein Interlacements Seeds
2 skeins of some Bright green cotton rayon yarn (it was on sale the last day)
1 Skein Tess' Super Sock Yarn
1 Skein Blue Moon "Socks that Rock"
2 skeins Lorna's Laces
2 skeins Cascade Silly Strips
2 skeins Cascade Fixation
1 skein Just Our Yarn Cashmere laceweight
1 Old Interweave Magazin
1 pattern from Blackwater Abbey yarns
And yes, your eyes do not deceive you, I gave in... I bought a drop spindle and some fiber...

Isn't it pretty??? I still can't believe I bought it. I've been intrigued by spinning since I started knitting. Lately, I've been even more curious and this weekend, I just jumped...

So, of course, when we went back to the hotel, we had to try it right away...

Here I am spinning my first single. Any advice from the spinners out there would be greatly appreciated.

I wasn't the only one bitten by the make-your own bug...

Suzie and Beth bought kits to make their own silk yarn for scarves. Suzie couldn't wait to try it out either.

The trip was not without it's excitement. Everywhere we went in Chicagoland, men in cars were staring at us. It was strange and then there was this...

Yes, a firetruck in the dark. We had a fire alarm go off in our hotel. Beth's first instinct was to get out of the building alive as she quickly put on her shoes and started out the door. I was more worried about the yarn and inquired as to whether or not we should bring it with us while we evacuated... I think my priorities might be a little bit skewed...

Tomorrow - My first spinning pictoral and a summary of my Cuff Craze Class