SAFF- It's On!

Well. I'm still not sure how SAFF compares to Rhinebeck, but I can now say, if Rhinebeck is much bigger, I couldn't possibly go due to possible head-explodage (a word just for you Knitty Yoda!).

We were delayed getting away Friday afternoon and arrived in Asheville close to nine. We were, after driving through rain and fog and the impossibility of finding an even temperature in a car, thrilled to stop for dinner (at C.F. Chan's, small, kind of fancy, kind of not Thai restaurant on the outskirts of downtown Asheville) before we got to the hotel and the improbability of sleep.

Somehow we did sleep, and were up bright and early Saturday morning. We arrived at WNC's Ag Center at quarter of ten, shortly before my first class. Who could have expected what we saw? Lots of cars, first of all. Not miles and miles for the eye to see, but a huge L-shaped parking lot worth of cars and RVs, with license plates from both the Carolinas, Virginia, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee (whoo-hoo!), Louisiana, Texas, Maryland, California and more.

Excitement was at maximum between Yoda and I until we walked into the building. I'm still surprised we didn't have head explodage right then as we looked over this:



This was us from the upper level looking down on the main floor. This picture doesn't even show the many, many, many booths and vendors lining the upper level.

Actually, none of my pictures do justice to SAFF. I was too excited, and I was already hauling around a satchel with tools for my class and current knitting projects and wallet (constant check: DO YOU HAVE YOUR WALLET?- about ten dozen times over a period of forty-eight hours) and I kept putting the camera away and forgetting- on and on. This also explains why I have no pictures of: my classes, our hotel, anywhere we ate, meeting Mum Knitter and her friend Janey for lunch at Tupelo Honey's (so good!), or any pictures of Knitty Yoda and I, together or apart, at any point.

In one word, my picture taking was P-I-T-I-F-U-L.

But it is what it is and probably, even had I been a trigger happy photographer, it still wouldn't convey how amazing this event is.

There was so much yarn.





(Blurry due to no flash- didn't want to blind people- and hands trembling with the urge to whip out my VISA, throw it at the nearest vendor and run through the booth, snatching up armfuls of yarn.)

But not just yarn. Roving. So much roving.




For the first time in the history of my knitting career, I wished I knew how to spin. If I knew how... the amount of roving I would have come home with... I can't speak to it.

Speaking of spinning...



they were everywhere.

There was even a designated spin-in where people could set up their wheels and spin and visit (and provide potential picture-taking).

And animals! We never even made it to the barn with the sheep and goats and alpacas, but we did see lots of angora rabbits inside...




and uses for hair other than knitting, like rugs, and throws.




(What you can't see on that tag is "1930s Alpaca Throw- $2000.")

I'll post more later on classes, and people we met, and great yarn buys, but what a show! Oh! to make this a yearly pilgrimage...