Tomorrow is the big day... we'll be heading off to Maryland for some major walk'in, meet'in, and yarn shopping.
I'll be wandering around like everybody else fondling yarn and other fiber goodies. I also wander all day wondering how many cyber-friends I walk by without realizing it.
Last year I helped out in the Llamajama/1855 Wool/Ghost Knitters booth and I'm pretty sure I drove them all nuts by disappearing every chance I got to go "look at just one thing". I'm not even pretending to be helpful this year... its a day trip for sure... family included.
Mac Daddy, Flyboy, and Tater will be along. The kids are looking forward to the trip almost as much as I am. The last time they went for the trip they were (obviously) a little younger. Tater still needed to be carried off and on and when she wanted something she's look at us like this...
Hopefully we won't be carrying her too much but "the look" probably still works. Tater has a collection of stuffed critters that were all "born" at MS&W including a little llama and a little sheep. She says they are coming along to visit their families and adopt a new sibling (or 2).
We'll be stopping by the Ravelry meet-up at noon. I always have a hard time at these sorts of meet-ups because I'm really not much of a joiner and nobody knows me and I can't find anybody I know so I just hang around and feel weird for a little while and then leave again. I'm also not good at keeping user names and real names straight so I'm always afraid I won't know people that I should. It would be really helpful for me if everybody put their blog name and avatar on their foreheads.
If you do decide to look for me either at the meet-up or just throughout the day here's a few things that will help you spot me (other than the fact that I'm 6 feet tall).
- I'll be hanging on to Tater for dear life... we're big on hand holding :-)
I figure she's more recognizable than I am.
- We always take an early afternoon break on a blanket out in the parking lot beside my truck just to relax a little. We throw a blanket in the grass and pull a few provisions from the cooler and just give the kids a break from all the walking. Its also a good time to plan final purchases or things we wanted to see and didn't find all morning. I drive a big black SUV with a
Sheep Incognito Dare to be Different license plate on the front. Feel free to stop by and take a load off.
- Either Mac Daddy or myself will be carrying the Day Trip Bag. Its a big red back pack we've been carrying around since the kids were little. With 4 of them a diaper bag was never enough so we've managed to carry diapers, food, clothes, toys, and any other number of things in that bag and since its a backpack we still had enough hands free to catch stragglers. Now that we have no diapers to carry the bag is still extremely useful and a habit. You can see me and The Bag in the picture below circa 2007.
Every now and then Mac Daddy takes the bag from me carries the bag because I figured out a long time ago that if I pull it around to the front of my body it makes a very effective battering ram in the event of large crowds and fiber sales.
- I tend to hang around that tent where everybody is dressed up in frocks and leather and there's a lot of weaving and stitching going on. This year... I'm gett'in me a bobbin lace kit.
So, if you do see me say "Hi". If you hear me coughing don't freak... its not Pig Flu... I have Bronchitis and have been on antibiotics all week.
So... here's to hoping the weather is cool but not rainy and there's lots of good stuff to see, buy, and eat. I'm think'in that "stimulating the fiber economy" is a good way to spend a day.
See ya at MS&W!!
