Post Yarn Con

Don't cry because it's over, Smile because it happened. Dr. Seuss

Just crawled out from under a yarn hangover. My best friend Lisa who lives in the OK asked me a while back, "I can come for one weekend in September, should I come for your birthday or Yarn Con?" I had no hesitation. Yarn Con. My birthday is important but we could always pre-party. And that is just what we did. Friday before the Con saw me tying labels on to skeins and creating a master stock list. After we finished packing everything into four over stuffed bins there was dinner and a couple of cocktails at nearby Branch 27. Bree met us there and we went back to the house to stuff patterns into sleeves for the next couple of hours. I slept well for being so excited about this event. But I woke up and early and was ready to go when Lisa came with the zip truck. Despite the breakage of one of the apothecary jars and the fact that I should have tried the dresser idea before putting it into practice the booth set up went smoothly and quicker than I anticipated.

Which was good since when people started trickling in at 11 am, we got busy. Bree and Lisa worked the table and I answered questions, helped make color decisions,  and accepted lots of lovely compliments. Sarah came by and took lots of pictures of the organized chaos and the booth.









Then she sat down and got down to knitting. With some of The Wool Dispensary yarn nonetheless. She is making a fantastic pair of gauntlets out of our Deadly Poison, a wool and alpaca blend. We met lots of new friends, like Liz from feministy.com and saw some old friends. Stefanie, who designed three patterns for The Wool Dispensary stopped by with half the Windy City Knitting Guild. Her button bunnies were cuddled lots and lots. And you can see why. 


Have no fear, there was time enough for us to shop! With other amazing vendors there it's lucky our wallets stayed in tact. Two of my favorite hand spinners were directly across from us, Vera Videnovich and Arrow in her Quiver. Piddle Loop Sewing Team was right next door taunting us with their beautiful a fabrics (we taunted back with our fab circus bright colors). Grinning Gargoyles had wonderful fall colors that drew us back into her booth again and again. Lisa surprised me with some of her Shiny Penny color in Single DK for my birthday. It was a color we were both ogling. In the other gymnasium were Fleur De Fiber, another chicago hand dyer, and Another Crafty Girl. Both had such lovely color-ways that it was hard to keep my credit card stashed away. I did buy two things. A bag from Piddle Loop in a cute Japanese fabric. I am glad I bought that early since the other bag I was looking disappeared by the time I went over there. And one skein from Sun Valley Fibers. A beautiful single ply that going to be (what else?) a sweater. Or part of one at least. 
By 4 p.m., the crowds had thinned and we had room to breathe and re-access. Most of the sock weight both sparkle and BFL was gone. We were thin on sport and the superwash worsted. So, I know what I need to order. We came with four overstuffed, when it came time to pack up we left with two kinda full bins. That was a good feeling. I hope everyone out there who bought some enjoys knitting with it and that they display the project bags they bought with pride! Trooping back home I walked in to the smell of spaghetti and a beautiful bouquet of irises from my husband. We popped open a bottle of Pursued by a Bear wine that I've been aging for three years and drank the sweet winy nectar of success. It was a very busy couple of months, compiling in a very fruitful day and ending with the cherry on top of a good glass of wine and fun conversation with friends who came over to celebrate. I can not wait to do it again!