I Survived Stitches West 2008

Every year I feel this way after Stitches. I love it, but...man, it takes a lot out of you. The first year I went, I ended up with pneumonia for six weeks. This year I didn't take any classes, just went to the Market on Friday. I had a battle plan, plenty of water and snacks, a fabulous map (thanks to some genius on Ravelry who made an Excel sheet) and it was all just wonderful. I got to 1. meet Jess and Casey 2. play the Passport game 3. look at 4.touch 5. fondle 5. drool over miles of gorgeous yarn and fiber in person 6. augment my stash for the year, thus solidifying my SABLE status 7. run into knitting friends from near and far who were all there to also do #1-7 above, as well as a few other numbers (such as take classes, eat, knit in the lobby, drink and knit in the bar...there's always next year). I wanted to stay until 4 p.m., when there was a meet-up scheduled with Jenny and Nichole of Stash and Burn podcast, but at 3 p.m. I was just so done. Exhausted. I had probably walked 3+ miles, and between the crush of people and the yarn fumes and the convention-center hideous lighting and lack of oxygen, I was finished. So I drove two hours home in pouring rain and commute-time traffic. I'm not sorry, but I've had to quash the temptation to drive back up there yesterday and today, by doing this:

I cast on for Imogen, finding yarn for this project was one of my goals for Stitches. It's Blue Moon Fiber Arts Peru, colorway Thraven (from Tina's Raven series). What they say is true, photos just don't do it justice. This yarn is a blend of Alpaca, Merino and silk and is absolutely heavenly.
I was also on a mission to find the perfect yarn to make Cobblestone for Sean. It had to be soft enough and the right color. I looked and fondled about 1041503 heathery-tweedy-greeny-bluey-greyey-not scritchy yarns before I found this at WEBS:

It's Berroco Peruvia, colorway is called Dragon. It's gorgeous. I want to roll around in both of these yarns.
The only other thing I bought was some skeins of Mill Ends Socks that Rock, so the colorways are unknown, but they are all gorgeous, and the price was incredible.
I'm hoping to get my hands on one of Cookie A's newest sock patterns (this one), but since I have to finish the second Salamander Annetrelac, and also make a pair for my oldest son (see the promise made at the end of this post) there's no rush.
So I'm feeling very good about my performance at Stitches this year. Goal-oriented yarn acquisition, no melted credit cards, no pneumonia, what more could I ask for?

We've had more wind and rain, and even hail and thunder, so I've had extra time to knit away on Imogen. With about 37 miles of straight stitch in this sweater, I'm going to be doing that for awhile. Meanwhile, the cats sleep, and the plum tree is shedding.