Saturday Sky, Soar and Yarn Harlot Oh My!

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Yesterday I had a little road trip. I wasn't sure if I would chicken out or not so I didn't mention it before. That and It was sorta last minute as I only found out about this event on Wednesday.

So yesterday I drove up to Tahoe City in  California. Yarn Harlot had mentioned in her blog that she would be at an event there. The event you ask, why it was the fiber drooling experience known as SOAR. :D That's the Spin Off Autumn Retreat in case you didn't know. ;^)

If I had known in advance that this was coming, like back in April, I'd have booked myself a room and taken classes. D'oh! But I did get to go up for the Open Market and Book Signings.

I was a little worried about the weather on the way up and back. It's a lot colder up the mountain than it is down here. Plus I left later than I intended. When I got there at 4:15 or so it was already 48 F outside and it was rainy. I was pretty nervous about the prospect of driving back in the dark and who knows if it would suddenly get icy or what. of course it was fine and I worried and freaked myself out for nothing. I'm very good at that, btw. :P

When I got there I was greeted almost immediately by this lovely woman I know from my LYS.  :D She has been teaching some spinning stuff and I can't wait to take her class. Unfortunately I've been out of town every time she's had a class. But hopefully soon!

After we said our hello's we parted ways and I was drawn to the corner of the room. I have no idea what made me go there first, but it must have been fate.

It was The Fold Boothe. *GRIN* Ya know what that means. Socks That Rock, Baby! *happy otter dance*

I got many yummy treats. Not everything is being shown as some are gifties. ;^)

After that it was sort of a blur of yummy fiber. *L*

I made a trip to my car halfway through to stash purchases. I still think I was relatively restrained. I didn't buy everything I saw that I wanted. I kinda wish I'd gotten more yarn. Well at least sock yarn. But that's all part of my SIMS: Stash Inventory Management System. *L* I'll tell you about that later.

Here's the rest of the goodies I picked up:

Nature's Pallete

I got a beautiful handmade Niddy Noddy, some Acid Dye, 1120 yards of Superwash Merino Sock Yarn and a neat little loopy thing that helps ya to try stuff on while you're making it. If I'd had this while I made my socks I'm sure they wouldn't be a little too big.

I got two nifty drop spindles and a booklet on spinning with a drop spindle. :D The one on the left is 81 grams and the one on the right is 30.59 grams.

And of course the fiber. Lots and lots of yummy soft squishy fiber.

The dark bundle at the top is Alpaca and Silk. The yummy soft grey is Baby Alpaca. I love Baby Alpaca muchly much!

The super yummy pink bundle on the left is  80% Merino 10% Angora and 10% silk. *grin* I cannot wait to get a clue so I can play with this stuff. So pretty! On the right is 6oz of silk caps in the perfect colorway. :D

I got a sample bag of really cool fibers. Top Left is Grey Yak Down (sounds like a movie, Yak Down, Yak Down, We have a Yak Down send in backup!! *L*) Bottom left is Brown Yak Down, Top Right is Baby Camel and Bottom Right is Mongolian Cashmere. This is all so wonderful and soft. :D

I also got a 2 oz bag of that Baby Camel Down.

You can never have enough baby camel. Plus I have a thing about camels. Back when my honey and I were first coming to the realization that we wanted to spend our lives together we began to dream about moving out to Nevada... where the sky is blue and all the leaves are green, the sun's as warm as a baked potato and everyday is a shpadoinkle day. (Anyone know what that is from? Clue that's actually over in Colorado. *snicker*) We'd joke around about what we'd do when we got here. It was our joke that I'd be a Camel Jockey and part time weather person... and I'd give the weather from atop my Camel. *L* It's something that hasn't been forgotten. He got me the DVD of Laurence of Arabia a few years ago as a giftie. We of course had a great laugh at the Camel Races this year. I of course did not race. I've ridden a Camel before and that's just way too high up for me.

So yeah, I like Camels. :P

Of course all of this could be blamed on Cookie. Yup. She got me my first bag of roving. She got me hooked on the stuff! Here's the bag she got me.

It wasn't just all shopping though. I could have gone up during the day today if it was just that. Nope I went yesterday so that I could attend the book signing featuring Stephanie Pearl-McPhee.

Lemme tell you I was a nervous wreck.

It all went wrong when they closed up the spinners market for an hour while the people who stayed there for the week had dinner. I wasn't part of that group so I thought I'd just hang out at an area with some chairs and knit.

Have you ever had a moment of dread so intense you felt your blood turn to ice? I had that when I realized I only brought ONE knitting needle with me. o.0 *head desk*

How does something like that even happen. :( It was awful. I thought I was going to be stuck doing nothing for an hour waiting for stuff to start back up.

But let's back up a moment, how you ask, did I end up with only one needle? Well I haven't used regular straight needles on anything since I finished my first scarf on June 30th. I've been using my circular needles as straight needles since then. When you use the circs you forget about having to make sure you have two needles because it's all there. You don't have to worry about dropping anything or loosing anything. Monday when I started the hat I switched the Red Scarf Project scarf over to straights so I could use the circs for the hat. Gah! I'd have brought the hat to knit but I was at the part where the decreases start and I wanted some mindless knitting.

I really am half temped to get the KnitPicks Options. Then I could just take the needles and keep the work on the cable. Oh how I wish they had the Option of BamBoo Needles! Hey Kelley, how 'bout some BamBoo Options for those of us with a Wooden Needle Addiction. *L*

Normally I'm not so... easily upset, but I was nervous, scared about the prospect of driving down the mountain in the dark wet weather and hormonal. Top it all off with feeling out of place idle hands and it's bad moment waiting to happen. I called my honey to tell him what a dork I was for forgetting one of my needles at home and to tell him I was The Loneliest Otter, cause nothing is as nerve racking as being alone in a crowd of people who are all laughing and having a good time. (such a lame dork!) Plus it was like 6:00 and I had skipped lunch as I wasn't hungry and was by that time starving. I did bring a bottle of water though so that was good.

N.E.WAY: So I'm sitting there feeling very stupid and out of place in this hallway when this nice lady with a spinning wheel comes up and sits down. She started talking to me and spinning some lovely STR roving. I immediately felt better about everything and less alone. (like I said, hormonal *sigh*)

Her name was Susan and she was very cool to spend some time talking with. :D

A little later some other ladies sat down with us and it was nice and cozy. It would have been better and less nervous if I'd had my needles in my hands, but my head didn't pop or anything so it was all okay. ;)

I was still pretty nervous though. There were a lot of people and I don't normally hang out in crowds of people, and certainly not by myself. I asked Cookie to come along, but it was too short notice, plus her drive would have been even worse.

Eventually the signing room was setup and they called my ticket color to go in. I was the second to get my book signed by Stephanie which was cool cause I wanted to drive home before it got to be too late.

Yes, even while getting my book signed I was worried about the drive home. It was all okay though and now I wish I hadn't freaked myself out. *L*

She was very nice and signed my book. I wasn't sure what to say to her. I knew she had some inkling of who I was as she mentioned me on her blog last week. But still, what do you say? *L* I leaned over and said quietly, I'm KnittyOtter. She lit up and recognized me. It was sweet. She said something or other about thinking you see ordinary people and it's bloggers in disguise. It looked a bit like this. With the bushy eyebrows, glasses and fake nose you can't tell it's me at all. *L*

I showed her my Socktoberfest sock and she showed me her Harloty socks. I took her picture with my sock and The Sock. :D

I also gave her a box of the best Nevada Chocolate ever, Ethal M. I'd have dyed her a skein of my OtterSocks if I'd had more notice. Plus I was out of yarn. (how'd that happen? o.0)

She was sweet and nice and said a lot of funny things, something about really liking me. That was after the chocolate was gifted. :P *L*

When I was leaving I was hugged by Spinner Susan and a few other people. Very Nice bunch of people. Next time I won't feel like a duck out of water. I didn't have any reason to feel that way this time. I'm just a dork, but we knew that. ;^)

And even though there are a million pictures this post here's another for the Saturday Sky. I took it on my way up yesterday.

It was a wonderful day and the start of lots of spinning projects in my future. :D

Comments

[Paul]

Otter! WOW! Look at all that FIBER! Good for you! And that niddy noddy is GORGEOUS! Have fun!

[Cookie]

Just think what you would have gotten if I had gone up there.

o.0

I bet she would have loved you if you had brought beer and chocolate. ;^)

I'm so glad you had a good time, sweetie. You're a dork, but you're a cute dork. ♥

[Dave Daniels]

OMG how much do you suck? Er...I mean...How nice for you! Look at all the scrumptious fiber. And you have camel, too? You lucky woman, you! I am jealous/envious/etc, if you couldn't tell. We gotta do a meet up sometime at something like that.
Ok, happy dance for ya. Just don't trip, ok? Bwahahahahahahaha!

[jae]

I swooned at all the fiber. Just as I recovered I swooned again at the thought of your sock possibly becoming famous on HER blog. /falls over

[Rachel]

Oh, I'm jealous that you got to run up there. I didn't know about it either until Harlot posted about it, and I'm not following the spinning circles or news. But I had to work that afternoon, and I would only have gone up there to get my book signed by Steph anyway. I'm so glad you got to make it up there!

[Susan]

Oh Otter, what a wonderful bunch of fiber and I love your spindles! I'm sorry that you were so uncomfortable but glad that in the end all was good. And I certainly understand about worrying about drives home. Isn't Steph just the nicest person? And Susan too...but then Susans just must be nice *G*

[Barbara C.]

Oh Knitty, that would have been fun if I also had known about it. I once took a spinning class from Carson Sierra Spinners and Weavers. Just don't have time right now to practise and learn. I've enough with my knitting!
Any snow up there? I see that Rose and Slide have a great dust.
Barbara

[Ann]

Hey..Cookie sent me..like I don't come over here and read your blog every day too?

That's THREE people now that I know who have met the Harlot..Squid, Red Dirt Knitter Susan and now KO...way to goooooo! What a haul of great stuff to bring home too!

[Cat]

WOW sounds like you had a very good time. I love all the stash you got. OH that Camel looks lovely. Is it as soft as Llama?

[Cookie]

Keep an eye on that Dave. You know he wants to get you alone, so he can steal your fibers.

0.o

[Kimberly]

You've got some gorgeous goods there! I would also like to know if camel is as soft as alpaca. :)

[Elizabeth]

Found you via the Harlot's site.
So good to know another knitblogger in Reno.

I was too chicken to go to the lake in Friday's weather. Wish we had been together, as I so know that duck out of water feeling. Yesterday I hit the market, but with two kids in tow. They kept my spending in check.
I didn't see the camel, but did find buffalo yarn. Who'd have thunk.

[Stephanie]

It was absolutley wonderful to meet you, and I'm glad you mentioned you were "knittyotter". I don't always twig on real names. (How weird is that?)
The chocolates? A lifesaver. I ate a bunch of them on the plane yesterday, I can't thank you enough, not just for the chocolates, but for making me feel less lonely and awkward when I was there!

[Barbp]

How can an otter be a duck? *smile* I have this feeling you probably fit in anywhere as I know if I want to have fun, I just need to come over here and catch up with you.

Last week I saw you had a shout out from Stephanie on her blog. I wonder if she has seen the picture you took - I think it's the best I've seen of her.

Have fun with all the yummy things you picked up.

[Dave Daniels]

You didn't happen to get the name of the person you got the niddy noddy from? I've been coveting it for quite some time. (I'd seen on someone else's blog since last year.) I WANT ONE!

[~drew emborsky~]

Wow, what an amazing time you had!!