Stitches Round-Up - Friday

Not-quite-so-bright and early, we headed back over to the Convention Center, and I had my "Spinning for Knitting" class with Merike Saarnit.  Directly across from me was the lone man in the class.  He had a camera and was taking notes, and as soon as he opened his mouth to speak, my suspicions were confirmed:  Yupp, it was Wonder Mike of the Fiber Beat podcast.  I got to speak with him during the break, tell him that I enjoyed the podcast, and ask if he would be interested in a review copy of WWMDfK?  He was as pleasant as I would have expected and gave me a cool Fiber Beat pin to promote the show.

The class was great!  Merike is a very enjoyable teacher.  She's lively, lots of fun, and very clear in her explanations.  I really feel like I learned a lot, and I came away with a little ball of two-ply yarn in an assortment of colors and fibers that I had made myself. 

It's a little funky-looking, but as Merike told us, this was just "a spinning swatch".



After class, I hit the market and bought the shawl pin I had pretty much decided on Thursday night.  It's sterling silver, made by a friendly, interesting woman named Leslie Wind.



I had wanted something simple and silver-colored that would safely hold a heavy shawl like Jane, and this fit the bill perfectly!  It wasn't cheap, but the price was reasonable.  Of course, the larger ones that I *really* liked were twice as much, but this one was just right. 

After my purchase, I got in line at the Purlescence booth for the meet & greet with The Knitmore Girls and Dr. Gemma.  OHMYGOURDS, if I had a skein of yarn for every time someone asked "What are you all in line for?", I could knit myself a sweater!  For the Luddites, we had to explain what a podcast was.  Jasmin & Gigi were collecting preemie hats for a local NICU, and everyone who brought a hat to donate received an extremely generous goodie bag with "something special" designed by Romi.  I had only gotten my act together enough to make a micro preemie hat, but I'd love to see a picture of all the hats they collected.  Jasmin is excited about WWMDfK? and loved Jane.  Yes, my head got pretty swelled over the weekend, LOL.



Late lunch @ Jacques Dans La Boite, then back to the market.  Dinner with my good friend Merry (Thanks, Merry!), then back to the hotel to get ready for the XRX Pajama Party.  Chrispy was helping out, so we had to stay till the end at 12:00.  Eazy C did great and actually spent most of the party asleep in his nifty little tent in the corner.

The pajama party was a HOOT!  I will definitely go again next year.  A whack of knitters, a bar, munchies, music, random door prizes, wackiest pajamas contest, and best handknit slippers contest - How could it NOT be a good time?  I got to chat a little with Jess and Casey from Ravelry, and Jess is just as cute and friendly in person as she looks online.  Actually, even cuter with her "baby bump"!  I wanted to get a picture with them, but I was afraid to be all "fan girl", so I didn't.  My former co-worker, Cathy, was there, and it was good to see her.