In addition to the classes and the pervasive knittiness in the air, the other great thing about this event was the shopping.  The vendor room was BIG – a whole grand ballroom – and the list of vendors was 2 double-column pages long.  So much yarn!

Of course, not every shop was going to be of interest to everyone.  There was an aloe hand-lotion lady and a vibrating pillow guy (?) who did not seem to have too many takers.  And I myself wasn’t too interested in buying everyday things that I can get from my local shop or online when I need them.  That still left a lot of indie yarn dyers and shops with lots of unique items to shop at!

The crowds were not too bad Friday evening, which was when we did our shopping.

But it was still a little crazy. There were events going on down at one end of the room – fashion shows and writer/designer events for the new Faerie Knitting book that is just coming out and so on.  There were a couple of events around Rowan’s 40th anniversary.  (Speaking of which – I saw Kaffe Fassett! He was standing right next to us, and I said to my Mom “Holy Cow!  I think that’s Kaffe Fassett!” and then he turned around and smiled at us.)

The two things that weren’t great about the vendor area were:

1) The light in the ballroom was terrible!  It was a weird, yellowish light that made it hard to see the true colors of the yarn.

2) The vendor room hours were a little weird.  They were open Friday night 5 – 8, Saturday 10 – 6:30, and then Sunday 10 – 3.  Other than Friday night, a lot of that time coincides with class times.  Although the poor vendors are pretty hard at it the whole time they are open, so I suspect more evening hours might wear them down!

I did manage to restrain myself somewhat – more than I thought I would.  Here is my haul. Some unusual colors for me, and also I don’t normally like Rowan magazine, but this one had a couple patterns I couldn’t resist.  One good reason to shop in person for yarn (although I do shop online a lot) is that when you can see it and touch it, you can be more sure that what you are getting is what you want.

I love all my finds, but I think my favorite item is the Ouija board need sizer!  Wouildja rather be knitting?  Yes.  Yes I wouldja!

Tomorrow – the other two classes I took, and then I promise I’ll shut up about VK Live.  At least until next year 🙂