From the minute we arrived at the fairgrounds in West Friendship, MD, we felt a sense of belonging. It started with the bumper stickers on the cars (not to mention the incredible number of them) and the general excitement of all the people headed for the entrance. I wasn’t the only one practically skipping, that’s for sure.

We started off with the animals - what fun! I know we will have fiber animals (scratch that - I know we will have a FARM!) at some point. Tad and I are working toward a more self-sufficient, sustainable lifestyle, and this is part of the plan - I’ll save my musings on all that for a future Pipe Dreams section update. So, walking around and seeing and interacting with all the animals was great.

Those who know me in “real” life know that I am really very shy. I can force myself out of my shell, but it takes some effort & courage. In my corporate world I’ve taken the Myers Briggs test a few times, and though I fall close to the center on most of the measures, I always come back as a strong introvert. I think it’s one of the reasons I’m enjoying the whole blogging thing so much. I get to be a part of the online knitting community in a fairly anonymous, safe & non-threatening way. So, despite my excitement about the festival, and about the chance to meet some fellow knitbloggers that I admire - I almost chickened out and skipped the meetup altogether. But I’m so glad that I didn’t. A major highlight was meeting Dawn. We’ve corresponded a bit, and despite the fact that I don’t know her very well, she somehow feels like a soul sister. We had exchanged cell numbers and she gave me a ring around the time of the meetup, so Tad and I had the pleasure of meeting her and her husband in person! Our meeting was brief, but terrific. Dawn, please keep in touch and keep me posted on Knitapalooza for next year! If you and Captain America are ever in the Raleigh area, please look us up!

Meeting Dawn was so great that I actually stirred up the courage to go over and say “hi” to a group of potential knit-bloggy looking people (in other words, they looked friendly and some were knitting!) while Tad had run off for a second. When he returned I was happily chatting with Gryphon (and the lovely Lia!), Susan, Teresa, Stephanie, Mary, and Larissa, who I’m so glad that we got the chance to meet! I knew of Gryphon’s blog from Ruth, who had shared her call for submissions with us on the design workshop (more on that in an upcoming post), but others were new to me and I discovered some great people and great new blogs! All were so friendly and accomodating of my jumping right into their group - it was brief as well, but so great to chat with them - I’ll be keeping up with you all via your blogs and Larissa, please email or comment! There were apparently some other knitbloggers meeting up as well, possibly in another area of the fairgrounds - not altogether suprising, as Gryphon said, we weren’t entirely sure how to spot each other so I thought it was great that we found as many as we did. Next year we’ll devise a clever way to find each other (and I’ll swallow another cup of courage - it was so worth stepping out of my comfort zone to meet you all!)

We knew that time was running a bit short, so we made the vendor rounds again, this time to actually make some purchases after scoping things out in the morning. My first intent was to find some eco-friendly fibers for a couple of the design ideas I’m working on, but came to the realization while browsing that there are some great ones out there that are readily available over the web and this was really a better opportunity to choose some things that aren’t as readily available where I live or on the web (as it turns out, most of the things I purchased ARE available online - go figure). So, I restricted my yarn purchases to just one - two beautiful skeins of Riata by Brooks Farms, and made a few selections of beautifully dyed fiber - Some Merino/Tencel from Bonkers!, and some Tussah Silk from The Flock Bransonas. In another couple weeks I will complete my knitting crunch and then I plan to devote some more time to my wheel. I also found my dream travel wheel (Robin Spinning Wheels - I about drooled!) but it will be some time before I’m in the market for one of those!! I also saw this amazing shirt, which I failed to get a shot of, so check out the link. Christine, the wearer, was terribly accomodating when I asked if she would mind stopping and to show it to Tad!

On our way out, we had a very happy meeting with Heather, from my local Spinning guild, and her friend Amber, and had a great time sharing pipe dreams (and plans!) with them, and then to top it all off, Frith and Catherine showed up too! Here we are!! I also had the luck to bump into Nancy (my spinning teacher) and Kate during the day as well - what an awesome group of people we have in our local guild (and how cool that so many made the trip from NC to Maryland!).

I am so fortunate to be part of this talented, eclectic, smart and kind community of knitters, spinners, bloggers, fiber artists and farmers - it’s difficult for me to put into words, but it was a truly awesome day. I felt so at home with all these people, and I think Tad does too.

I have to say, I think that Tad was a bit of a pleasant surprise for folks - like Dawn’s husband, he was there as a willing participant, not just a “pack mule” (as he was referred to by one knitter we met in line for lunch!). He joked that he could probably pass himself off as a knitter just by using the terminology that he’s absorbed by being around me (when we were at one booth, which had some felted moebius bowls a la Cat Bhordhi, he said “Whoa, that’s a moebious right, like from that book?” Mind you I don’t even have this book. “Yes” say I with a big shit-eating grin. “Would your knitter friends be impressed that I know that?”, “Yes, very!”) He’s pretty darn great, I don’t know what I did to end up with a guy like this who listens and obviously remembers all this knitting stuff that I yammer on about, but I count myself very lucky.

To top it all off, we spent Saturday night with a very dear friend, Carrie, and her husband Jason (who we had only met very briefly before) - We met Carrie the first year that we walked the 3Day in DC, and have walked with her every year since. We seldom get to see each other more than once a year, but she is an incredibly special person, and it was so great to spend some time with Jason too and to see what a great couple they make (and to meet their sweet dobe’s Apollo and Molly). Unfortunately, in enjoying their company I seemed to have forgotten that I had my camera, but I did get this one great shot of Jason & Apollo.

How did I get so lucky? Great husband & family, great friends & new acquaintances, a hobby that is intensely satisfying, and a wonderful community that we only see becoming more and more involved in - it doesn’t get much better than that.