Susan came up from Orlando and we drove together, stopping in St. Augustine first to initiate a yarn crawl. Alas, the Knitting Boutique was closed for vacation (talk about yer bad timing!) and we were forced to comfort ourselves with my first visit to Hobby Lobby. For a large chain, they had a really great selection. I was surprised to see the copycat sock yarn jacquards priced at $12 for a pair - for that much, I'll save more pennies and support my LYS.
So...onto the Ramada Conference Center we went and found a room filled with nearly 100 knitters all sitting patiently (as there was still another 90 minutes until Stephanie was speaking), knitting, chatting, comparing yarns, patterns, techniques, longest-commute and everyone wore a knitted item. One girl even had her jeans rolled up above her knees so we didn't miss a single row of her cool, funky socks.
I cast-on my Margarita Sock's mate and made it past the heel by the end of the evening. The sock was excited to see Stephanie, 
but um, Stephanie had like actual things to do and blesh her! she said a kind word to nearly everyone who had a book signed.
but um, Stephanie had like actual things to do and blesh her! she said a kind word to nearly everyone who had a book signed.
After the signing, we noshed at Steak n Shake and met a couple more knitters - this time from Hollywood (that's a 5-hour drive!) and then cruised on over to check out the yarn shop that started it all. Knitwitz was open until midnight and they were super sweet as Susan and I oohed and aahed over yarns we've never seen before. They didn't even rush us out - which was pretty darn cool since we were the last to leave.
I found my first Malabrigo
and discovered Oldfield Creek sock yarn - cool colors!!
It was a great night all-round and I'm so glad Susan was game to make the drive. We had a very memorable time and met some great knitters!
