It was great fun! Just the same, I’m ready to be back and get a little sleep for a while now.

I did sell a lot of my work, which pleased me. I sold out of my wristwarmer pattern, and Bubbielove has already emailed to say she has cast on and started her first pair.

Since I made a “Make your own sock kit” special, I sold a bunch of Barberpole Socks patterns and a small handful of the Toe-Up Turkish Sox patterns. I was surprised that I sold all but 2 skeins of the solid yarns I dyed at the last minute, I’m very glad I did that, as it worked well for those interested in sock kits. The long hours with little sleep, in preparation, were worth it!

Thanks to everyone who purchased my merchandise, you really made it worthwhile. (For those who were not there, I’m taking the remaining yarns to Knitting Guild on Tuesday night this week, and what remains after that will go on my yarn sales web page as soon as I can get photos edited.)

I saw friends I met last year, and met people in person I’d only met online previously. I knit and knit and knit, and taught and taught. I finished some bulky Lamb’s Pride slipper footies, my 109th pair of socks thus far, almost finished my dressy (prom) wrap for displaying at Threadbear, knit a lot on my handpainted Opal toe up socks that I started in January but haven’t touched in maybe a month. I finished a zillion ends on pieces for a striped child’s sweater (I made it on the knitting machine a year ago, and Anne’s baby is going to grow too big for it if I don’t finish it soon).

I taught afterthought heels to a small group and I showed the non-figure-eight wrapped toe up method to one person individually. I taught a woman, Vernita, who stopped by to ask what we were doing, how to knit. She was with the group across the hall but was very excited to pick this up. She learned a cast on, knit stitch and bind off. She’s from Chicago so I encouraged her to find a yarn shop that feels like home and hang out there. I hope she does. She sure was smiling ear to ear after learning a bit, and she even stopped by the next day to say hello and emphasize how much she enjoyed knitting with us. How cool was that???

And on Sunday, we did Kool-Aid Dyeing. Actually, we did “flavored drink mix” dyeing because we used several brand names. In fact, Anne (who lives in Canada) brought us some Canadian red and purple colors since those dyes are different than those available in the USA.

Photos: 1) Group in conference room during a quiet time (from left to right, Sue C., Kathy from Cleveland, hiding behind Kathy is Anita…totally hidden, Karen, Cathy, Chappy, Fran… and yes, five out of six are wearing sequin “tiaras” which were the unofficial dress code of the weekend… got us a few odd looks and we didn’t mind at all), 2) Auction in action (seated are Fran, Bubbielove, Yarnfairy, Yvonne wearing shirt she made; and standing in back is D2 the auctioneer), 3) View of room with the two other booths…Sherry’s scented lovelies and Toni’s The Fold booth (at left should be Kimberly although that photo doesn’t look like her, then seated are Diane, Faith, Sherry of the lotions/soaps, and facing away with glass of water I believe is Rachel… standing in back is Sue),

4) Kathy from Cleveland wearing her Entrelac vest from Noro Yarn, with her entrelac socks from Lorna’s Laces yarn, 5) My new friend Vernita learning to knit (this woman has the best smile I’ve seen in a long time, she was very happy to learn knitting), 6) Group of us with finished dyed yarns (left to right is Faith not looking exactly like herself but wearing a cool Harley flames shirt I think she made, me, Diane, and Karen).