Stitches East: Part II

Things I'd do different:

• Attend the Student Banquet - It shouldn't be hard next year to create a Ravelry area. If not, I'll talk to anybody. I'm like that.

• Attend the Fashion Show - Again, gathering with a few friends? Doing something new? What's not to like?

• Less Marketplace - Go on Thursday for sure and probably limit myself to one other day. Do not go to the marketplace every single day because it is there - I was a woman obsessed. I had my list. I shopped for what and where I wanted to buy and made my purchases after careful consideration. I made a few unplanned goodie buys. I made a few more. I got a sneak deal on the hush hush for my charity work. But the rest of the time I just rolled around and stared. For four days until closing, talking to friends or acquaintances I've met here on Ravelry. Wheels are a dangerous thing. I like to killed myself with exhaustion every day - a rather stupid thing to do considering I was 3 weeks post brain surgery and supposed to be taking it easy. But the happiness and sheer exhilaration of it all was better medicine :D Thank heavens Bobby picked my exhausted heap out front every night with food in hand.

• Buy Earlier - With all my shopping and despite all the warnings about sellouts, I didn't buy most of my yarn until Sunday. I am very happy with my selection on colors except I would have liked one more skein of the Brooks Farm I got. I missed out on my one skein of Noro from Stitches East to start my Lizard Ridge Memory Blankie - my fault. Still, more colors? Cool.

• Better Classes - Fewer and wiser. I went from two 6 hour classes my first year(exhausting - no shopping) to 3 hour classes each day this year(plus shopping -exhausted). NEXT YEAR One or two things I really want to learn, not just a goal of picking one 3 hour class from what ever hasn't been sold out. I enjoyed 3 out of 4 of mine, but two of them really were just fluff. Fun, but tiring. I'd rather spend some time knitting in a Ravelry den with some friends.

• Remember that food + drink = energy

• Take more than one picture of a friend

Things I did this year and would do again:

• Attend Keynote Speaker - It was free and Kaffe Fassett was a good speaker, his work was fascinating

• Wear Ravelry ID - :D I was approached by more people than I care to count because of the little flag I made with Ravelry/tinkknitz. I found myself a regular ambassador to some of the vendors. I wish I had cards with the website on it - for the advertising opportunities for Casey and Jess. A guy from either Malabrigo or SWTC asked me a lot about the advertising. Now that we have tee shirts and buttons - next year should be crawling with Ravelers who didn't notice or join this group

• Go over the floorplan and vendor list and mark a few things I do not want to miss - like where Ravelry friends work!

• Bring address labels for contest entries - I didn't win, but there's always next year.

• Attend Ravelry Meetup - it sure was fun to see everyone. I like the idea of an all-day hangout, but a real Gathering of the Clan is great fun.