Long post about SAFF ahead and lots of pictures, too. I am not even going to attempt to link everyone, it was that huge this year. Instead, I’ll stick mainly to loot. I had an AWESOME time. My roomies and carpool buddies were ESC and Grace. Although construction, jackass drivers and a surplus of cops tried to prevent Grace from getting here, we made it in time for dinner reservations in Asheville. The timing was meant to be, too, because had she gotten here earlier, I wouldn’t have had the package from Jess & Casey containing these to pass out:
They sent as many as they could spare so we could have some Ravelry fun at the event even though they were sad they couldn’t come see us in person. As a consolation prize, I made FoamcoreBob and we took lots of pictures. Give it some time and it should be full of FoamcoreBob’s adventures at SAFF. Between Claudia and Katey and the nice folks at SAFF, we had access to the blue barn for four hours every day, with some tables and chairs for resting, meeting, knitting, spinning and joking. It made a huge difference to our being able to connect in a real life kind of way and added so much to the event. In order to thank SAFF for this, I bought as much as I possibly could to ensure success for their event. Selfless of me, wasn’t it?
Some of it, like this pencil roving, was bought for other people. That, for instance, is for La. Yes, La Who Doesn’t Spin. I wanted to show her that if she found the right fiber, it could change everything. Most of what I bought was roving, in fact. This is going to be my sweater for next year 
and the fact that it was mostly too warm for my sweater this year will not deter me. I have always claimed I don’t have a roving stash and recently I realized I really do and decided I didn’t need more. So why this:
came home with me, I can only attribute to my swollen ego.
THESE, however:
Not only have silk in them, but are also in small amounts and were very inexpensive, so I really think you should give me a pass on them.
I had a lot of class time this year. Eight hours on Friday and four on Saturday. That’s a lot of time not spent shopping and socializing, really. It’s also positively draining. I was dragging my ass so low on Friday that Kim said, “Oh my god. Are you okay?” To which Sandy and I replied in the positive even though we weren’t actually sure. In my first class, taught by Margaret Heathman, I learned six different ways to spin one roving. It was a color control class and it was SO fun. 
During lunch we took a quick cruise around the market place because we happened to know some people were busy buying out all the Smooshy while we were captive. In an effort at retaliation, I bought Sea Silk. 
My vindictive nature came back to haunt me when we made it to the other side of the bottom floor and I had to leave behind some sock yarn. See, I had a rule about not buying sock yarn. It was my only rule. One tiny, simple, shouldn’t be so painful rule. I think Claudia captured my internal struggle:
I left the yarn and went back to class where I spent the next four hours alternating between gloating about my Sea Silk and grieving for my sock yarn. Four hours of the sock yarn blues will get to anyone so Sandy finally convinced me that if it was still there at the end of the day, it was meant to be. 
Apparently, this sock yarn and I have a shared destiny. I predict a happy ending with me riding off into the sunset with the happiest feet in the land. Anyone who dared whisper the “rule about no sock yarn” got threatened with these 
, which earned me the name Edward Englishcomb Hands. Whatever, just stay away from my pink sock yarn.
In my second class with Linda Davis, we learned to better control our spinning. I had to spin in the grease. I really don’t like the feeling of this and I don’t like the goo getting on my equipment. It makes me feel like I’ve been out in the pastures and I need a bath. However, let me show you what I do like: 
Can you believe how thin that is? The grease honestly does give you far more control in drafting very thin singles. In both my classes, the instructors asked me why I was there, so I guess my spinning class days are over. Though I feel there is lots more I could learn about spinning, apparently I’m being pushed out of the nest. They inflated my ego to the point that apparently I felt I deserved a LOT of roving.
At night we had loads of pub fun, giggling, laughter, a few drinks [or in some cases a few dozen. I'm only not telling who to protect the hungover.], lots of showing of loot, eating, talking, a serious lack of sleep and so much fun. My roomies were the coolest, we had no problems whatsoever and we got along great. They were so sweet to me and bought me some Brooks Farm Acero as a thank you gift:
Which I totally should have bought them since they were so easy going and pleasant!
In the category “I’m going to hell”:
I’m not going to hell for buying them. They were bought for gifts. I’m going to hell because at least two of those I feel I cannot part with. [guess which two] I may have to buy new gifts for their intended recipients and I will regret it someday when I’m getting a red hot size 17 up the bum while the devil dances around with flaming sock yarn mocking me. There are two other small items that I didn’t show because I want to keep them as surprises, but you’ve pretty much seen it all.
Thank you to every person who said hello or called my name. I know I was pretending it was tiresome, but I loved it. I love meeting you people even though I’m awfully shy. I loved seeing your stuff, watching you knit, viewing your FOs in person, taking your pictures, giving you buttons [while I still had them!] and seeing and feeling the happiness. I’m in a total fiber fest coma even still, and I can’t wait for next year. We already have plans to make the meetup stuff bigger and better!
