SPA Recovery and Recap (and a Contest)
Ok, so I'm still recovering from my very first SPA. What should have been a two and a half hour trip north ran closer to five, what with the weather and all. Hubby and kids came along, although they went off and did their own thing while I went off to be pleasantly overwhelmed.
We stayed at the Hampton Inn, and I think I liked being a bit set away from the "main action", at least for my first time. After we'd checked in and went to Friendly's for a late supper, I drove around until I found the Hilton Garden Inn and The Harraseeket Inn, so I'd be prepared for Saturday. Oh, and I had some door prizes to drop off, too, but I missed the greeter-folks, so had to wait.
I did wander around the Hilton Garden Inn a bit, and was beyond amazed at the sights! Every conceivable nook and cranny (and by Saturday, some nooks and/or crannies I hadn't considered!) had fiber-folk doing fiber things, or at least chatting about fluff & stuff. My first thought was, "Oh, my!!", and that was basically my theme for the weekend. Mind you, I was there after 9pm on Friday, and was already short of breath. I peeked in the peep-hole at the Mercantile area, and "ohmy"ed again. I found where the "Old Town Hall" area was and saw a great many spinning wheels of all sorts set up, and folks making it all look so easy. I was in such shock that I forgot to pull out my camera. (I've seen this condition referred to as "camnesia" in several blogs...that's a fairly accurate term...LOL)
I went back to the Hampton and plopped down in the lobby for some solo knitting - apparently I'd just missed some folks who'd been there earlier. Ah, well. I needed to get some rest, anyway, so I could have plenty of energy for Saturday. Boy, was I gonna need it!!
Dragged my butt out of bed at some unholy hour so I could shower and get breakfast. By the time I got downstairs the breakfast area was already quite crowded. I could be fairly certain that the majority of the folks there were there for SPA. They were the ones who where admiring each other's handiwork, and not at all shy about approaching someone wearing a hand-crafted item and asking if it could be touched, what was the pattern, and which yarn was used (does it come in other colors? did you like working with it?...etc). It was just as easy to spot the non-SPA folk. They were the ones totally mystified by the above behaviors, and who seemed to eat quickly and then depart. The knitterly/crochetty/spinnerly type folks hung around... And that's how I met Brittni.
She was sitting alone at the table next to me, where I was also alone, since Bill & the boys were still snoring, and we struck up a conversation. More specifically, SHE struck it up. I was more or less vegging, seeing as how I'd yet to beomce completely caffeinated. Eventually, since other folks needed to sit and eat, she moved to my table and we continued chatting. I was going to take the shuttle to the SPA stuff at the Hilton, and she offered to drive. So I took her up on it. We met back at the elevator after heading briefly back to our rooms, and we were off!
Oh, I should mention that she brought her turtle. He's a tiny little thing (sorry, even though I heard her say it a bazillion times, I can't remember what kind he is), and he'll eventually grow to the size of a coffee table. For now, thought, he fints in the palm of her hand and kept warm while we were out by riding on her shoulder inside her coat. One we were situated, though, he got to hand out in her knitting basket...LOL. (I thought I had a picture of him, but I guess not...oh, here's a link to a pic of Benson on her blog)
Anyhoosie, once we got to the Hilton and hung up our coats, it was just about time for the Mercantile area to open. We figured we'd make the rounds before pulling out our wallets, for fear that we'd blow it all at the first vendor and then be quite sad when we had no money left over for the next. For..oh, a good 20 minutes or so, all I could manage was "OOOoooooo!!!" and "oh, my!" and maybe an "oh, my GOODNESS!" or two. Yeah, I think my mouth froze in an "O"! LOL One thing I knew for sure that I wanted to consider buying was some laceweight yarn for the Sock Madness2. After that, everything wlse was fair game.
After a bit, we went to the Old Town Hall area and saw this:
And Hope Lewis taught us to knit two socks (or sleeves or whatever) at a time on two circular needles:
I remembered to take a picture of Bart weaving his table runner (which, btw, he started and completed over the course of the weekend!) and Brittni knitting a toe-up sock (that's her Clapotis on her lap, that she'd just finished knitting this weekend.:
I managed to finish a sock, and start a toe-up (I'll knit the mate to the first one later..just HAD to try that toe- up thing...)
I then had a TCA (Transient Camnesia Attack) that lasted for much of the rest of the day, including the Fashion Show, where we saw the most amazing stuff!! I can't even begin to describe most of it, and I was in such awe that I forgot that my camera was a mere 10 inches from my hand. Somehow, Brittni and an convinced ourselves to show off our stuff; she her Clapotis, and me, well, 
I just had these socks I'd knit with self-striping yarn and durn near a stroke trying to get the second sock to stripe the same as the first. I wore them on my hands for the fashion show. (Yes, that was me. And I didn't even have the benefit of alcohol to blame it on...) Went back to the Hampton (after stoppiong at Shaw's for snacks) and hung out in the lobby until nice & late. (Then I had to take Connor to LLBean, but that's a story for another time!
And now, THE CONTEST! I had a budget when I headed north. It was all in cash, so I'd still be able to pay the mortgage (they don't take barter that seriously at the bank... money talks, fiber walks!) after I'd blown it all. So, your best guess, without going over - how much did I spend at SPA on fibery yummies? You have until midnight Eastern Time on Saturday to enter your guess. Closest without going over wins...hmmm....howsabout I decide on the prize after I find out who wins and I'll make it "something that suits".
Here's a close-up, but the color's off.
