Back In The Swing Of Things

The first day back at work after a long weekend is always...well, a bit tough.  The hardest part is waking up at 4:30 again after being able to sleep until...um...5:30 for 4 days.  OK, OK, it was only an hour, but hey, that one hour makes a heck of a difference.  

I had a great time at Fiber Fun In The 'Sip, hanging with Christi, Amy, Emily, and Amy C.   The original plan was for me to go down to Vicksburg Thursday morning and do my sightseeing, then FFITS Friday and Saturday.  However, once the class list was released, I didn't find any classes I was that interested in taking.  

After coordinating with Amy and Christi and finding out they weren't coming until Saturday anyway, I changed my plans a bit.  I drove down Thursday evening, and did my sightseeing Friday.  I'll tell you more about that in a later post, though.  For now, I'm just going to show you my swag I bought -- which wasn't as much as in other years, but at least I got a few things, the first of which was this cute bag they were handing out to all the participants.  

Now, before I show you all the stuff I bought, here is the knitting project I took to work on.

Yes, it is another Brandye Beanie, this time knit with Knit Picks Brava in Tidal Speckle colorway.  I finished it yesterday, and I'll show you the finished product in a later post.  

I apologize if this seems a bit all over the place.  I've got so much to talk about, and so little time to do it.  I had to go pick Jesse up after work, and they couldn't find him.  Seriously.  I paid the bill and the receptionist called back to the back, "Jesse Gunstream to go home."  I waited several moments, and they hadn't brought him up.  She called back again, "Jesse Gunstream to go home."  Several more moments, and someone came out to the front and whispered, "Jesse Gunstream...what is he?"  

I don't think I was supposed to hear that part, but I did.  I said, "He's a brown dog with a curly tail."  Oh.  She headed back to get him, but by then, someone had found him and brought him up to the front.  No matter.  He's home now, and all is well.

OK, back to FFITS, I bought the set on the left to make a fade hat for a Christmas gift, but when I looked up the pattern the vendor recommended, I don't really like the way it's written.  Thus, I'll have to figure it out on my own. 

The one on the right, I thought I'd add to the blanket, although it might end up being knit into a gift for someone.  Maybe a cowl for my sister or something. Since she lives in Alaska, she'll be able to use something a bit lighter weight in the late spring and early fall months. 

These mini - skeins were only $5 each, so they'll definitely go into the blankets. 

This is the only full sized skein I bought.   

There was so much gorgeous yarn there, but I practiced much restraint.  The number of vendors was down from previous years, but I wonder if that had more to do with the last minute schedule change than anything else.  See, it was supposed to be the last weekend of September, but there was a conflict with the Convention center or something.  Hopefully, next year, it'll be back up to full capacity. 

As soon as I saw this, I knew I had to have it. 

For you knitting muggles out there, it's a needle gauge, to check what size your knitting needles are. 

And my final purchase of the day, my Purl Scouts merit badges:

They have several more merit badges I still need to earn.  Maybe by next year.  (They also have some I have absolutely no interest in, so I ain't going to worry about those.)

So there you have it, my swag from FFITS.  I also made another very large purchase which had nothing to do with yarn or knitting.  I'll tell you about that another time.