Good morning.

I have not lost much weight at Weight Watchers since I started.  But I have found a new friend.  She came to the meeting one Thursday in a hand knit cap.  I am always interested in caps when I see them, so I took myself by the hand and walked across the room and asked if she had made the cap.  She had not made it, but was learning to knit. 

A week or so later, she was wearing a beautiful off-white cap in a simple lace pattern.  I asked her again, and she said, yes she had made the cap.  After the meeting we talked a little more about knitting.  She is a new knitter and like a lot of new knitters has several projects going.  She told me that she wanted to do a cap like the off-white but a bit smaller for her daughter.  I suggested she cast on 92 stitches instead of the more than 100 stitches the pattern called for.  We talked for a little bit longer about knitting. 

Then, I found out about the Spin-In.  At the next meeting I asked if she would like to go.  She said she would. 

So, last Saturday, off we went to  Newport and the Spin-In. My plan was to introduce my new friend to some old friends and give her a chance to see another side of things.  I was NOT going to get any yarn.  I was going to look and  see if  next year’s Spin-In might be a venue for selling my caps.  And I was NOT going to get any yarn. 

We got to the Spin-In about 1 p.m. and there were 2 or 3 big circles of  with 10 to 20 spinners per circle.  Around the edge of the room were the vendors.  The first person I saw was Elsie, a spinner I know from a couple of summers ago when Karen and I did the Saturday Market in Newport.  I introduced Elise to my new friend and we looked briefly at the rovings she had in her space.  A couple spaces to the left were Arlene and Lyle, my friends from Crafts on the Coast.  I introduced her to them.  Arlene was spinning and Lyle was selling his small area rugs.   

My friend and I visited a bit with Lyle and Arlene and then wandered off to look at the other spaces.  About that time, the Spin-In organizers drew a number for a door prize.  Arlene won a beautiful skein of handspun, undyed Shetland.  The color is hard to define.  Sort of a white with strands of gray and brown through it.  It is gorgeous.  I promised Arlene I would have it done up by Crafts On the Coast in May. 

As my friend and I wandered around the edge of the room, I found a space with some of the most wonderful, incredible varigated lavender, purple, red and blue yarn.  It was so soft that I wanted to sped the rest of the day rubbing it against my cheek. But I bought some instead.   We managed to get through the rest of the vendor area without finding any more things that I could not live without. 

We saw Kristy at the sign-in table and I introduced her to my friend and we talked a minute.  Kristy is going to be at Winterfest next weekend.  Told her that I had one skein of the yarn I got from her in January done up and would be showing it in the February show. 

My friend and I started toward the door then.  I think she was a little overwhelmed by it all.  I know I was.  And then I got hooked in again.  By the door to the parking lot was a booth that displayed the most incredible lavender/burgundy colored yarn.  It is just about 20 yards shy of the 200 yards needed to make a cap. I tried to talk myself out of getting it, and lost the argument.  So when I left the Spin-In I was possessed with the makings for 3 great caps. 

My friend was a bit more provident than I was and when we left the parking lot I suggested that we stop at Yarn for All Seasons on our way home.  I had spent all my cash, but I wanted to introduce my friend to that shop  ….    Well, more about that stop tomorrow.