This year I'm not going to cover anything about the general Stitches East 2006 Conference. I did attend the market, but I couldn't take classes because of my teaching schedule and I'm annoyed that they continue to forbid picture taking. However, I do still want to tell you about the outstanding vendors and yarn I found at the market. XRX may not know how to give their customers good service, but many of the vendors did and they made shopping at the market an enjoyable experience. Probably the easiest way to demonstrate what I loved is to show you what I bought in order of purchase (roughly)

Blue Moon, famous for their Socks That Rock yarn, made their Stitches debut at the market. By 11:30am on Friday, the STR was pretty picked over and I didn't find anything worth impulse buying. Except this felted slipper pattern. They had several samples available and they are cute. Exactly what I had been looking for in a slipper. At $6 I felt like I over-paid for the pattern, but I wanted it enough not to put it back. The booth had all the pricing showing for the yarn, but patterns and accessories were conspicuously missing prices. I didn't like that and mentioned it to the woman who checked me out; she didn't seem to care. I'm glad I bought the pattern, though, because I really do like it and it's not available on their website.

Next was The Spinnery where I bought 1100 yards of fingering weight silk, 100% silk yummy goodness for a mere $36.70. The owner claimed that I bought the only skein she brought with her. What purpose did I buy fingering weight silk? Two words: Silk Socks. They had a decent sample of a silk sock with beading on the cuff out for display along with kits with the pattern, but their sock really wasn't my style. I had never seen silk socksin person. Never really considered them before. I touched and thought. "Strongest naturally occuring fiber. Good heat retention and breatheability perfect for socks. ...mmm...Silk Socks....mmm" Everyone should be jealous of me...very few people have been. What's wrong with you all?!

Next purchase was at The Mannings, where I bought two Nancy's Knit Knack Cards. The first one is boring, just a Needle Inventory card. The second one really excited me because I've never seen it before: a Long-Tail Cast On estimator. The card gives you a super-simple formula based on needle size to eastimate how many inches of tail you need for a long-tail cast-on. I tried it out last night and the formula works excellently. It was a great buy at $2.

In order to make sure that this doesn't become a never-ending-post-of-doom, I'll fill you in on the rest of my purchases tomorrow. (There's some great stuff coming up!)