we now return you to your regularly scheduled blog posts...

...between Stitches West and Ravelympics, it's been a blur these last few days! It's hard to know where to start.

Thursday evening: I went to the convention center and pictured up my badge. I checked out where my classes would be held and then just waited for the Market to open for the preview at 5pm. I had a set of vendors I wanted to see so I had my map all marked up. Then I ran into a friend from the gym and that plan went out the window! "L" has a different way of shopping that I do (she's of the "oh, look, pretty!" school of shopping, while I am very methodical), so we went at her pace...we were all over the place! Of course, that didn't stop me from buying stuff...LOL! I bought mostly fiber although I did buy a shawl's worth of yarn from Brooks Farm. I saw a few things I wanted to come back and check out, but after 2.5 hours, I was done in.

Friday: I took an all day spinning class, "Getting the Most from a Handpainted Roving," taught by Janel Laidman. This was a great class! I'm glad I took Sirena instead of a spindle because there was a lot of spinning in the class and I wouldn't have been able to keep up without the wheel. Here's what I did in the class (check out the notes on the picture in Flickr):

After class, I put Sirena in my car and went to the Market. Since I was by myself this time, I could shop at my own pace. I bought more fiber and a few interesting things like this Lantern Moon Knit Out Box:

I love the iridescent fabric...it's a gorgeous box for controlling your yarn. I checked out some spindles and portable spinning wheels.

Saturday: I didn't have a class and I wanted to work on my Ravelympics weaving entry, so I decided not to go to the Market. I took pictures of my purchases, uploaded, and did a quick edit. Then I worked on the woven shawl. I got it to a point where I thought I might have a chance of finishing before the cutoff time of 11:59pm Sunday night.

Sunday: I took a half-day spinning class, "Spinning for Socks," also taught by Janel Laidman. After my experience in the previous class, there was no question that my wheel would go with me!  It was another great class...the best part was getting  over the fear of spinning on the fastest setting on my wheel!  Here's what I did in class (this one has notes, too):

After class, I went for a final trip in the Market. My goal was to check out a few fiber booths that I couldn't get into on Fiday because of the crowds. I bought some fiber from Royale Hare that would work well with on of the color techniques I learned in the all-day class. I also bought some yummy merino-bamboo roving from Miss Babs. After that, I was pooped and went home. 

I took pictures of the new acquisitions and uploaded them to Flickr. If you want to see what I bought, go check out my Stitches West 2010 Flickr set.

Then. the rest of the day was spent sprinting to finish my woven shawl for Ravelympics. And I did it! I finished around 10:05pm and uploaded it to the Finish Line group on Ravelry.  Here it is:

(Sorry, this was the best picture I could get last night.)

Specs:

Warp: Plum Mountain Colors Bearfoot, 12.5 epi
Weft: Burning Bush handspun (spun from Louet roving), 6 ppi
Warped size: 19.75 x 93 inches
Finished size: 18.75 x 80 inches (includes 12 inches fringe)

It was back to work for me this morning and I'm feeling a little tired, but very happy with what I accomplished! It will take me a couple of days to get back into the swing of "real life," but it was worth it!

I'll post my February recap when I can.