Adorable!

The second day of classes at Original Sewing & Quilt Expo went very nicely - only 17 in my cable class (Only? How jaded I'm becoming...) as opposed to the almost 40 in my Combo class, and we had a GREAT time and made enough noise for 40! It's such a thrill to teach folks something new - I thrive on it, and I understand how performers become addicted to the approval of an audience.

After the class I had another room service dinner (I just don't feel like eating alone at 9:30 in a hotel restaurant), a little knitting and then sleep!

But what should awaken me at 5:00? A SPIDER! I felt a little prick on my throat, and was startled awake when I reached up to brush it away and discovered a medium sized white spider. Ick. Even more icky was it's friend on the pillow and yet another friend up on the ceiling. Ick, ick, ick.

I'm not terribly squeamish. I hate flying, stinging insects, but for the most part I'm okay with spiders and other crawlies. Finding one in my bed at night, though, is just not fun. And, of course, I couldn't get myself back into the bed, much less back asleep, so I dressed and read a bit, went to breakfast and then told them about the spider at the front desk. They were wonderful - very apologetic (it was a SPIDER - not an infestation - but I thought they should know) and offered me something to make it up.

I asked if I could get a pedicure at the hotel spa, so after wandering around the sewing show for a bit, packing up my bags and saying my goodbyes, I had a luxurious pedicure and now my nails are red and FABulous! It was so great to be able to spend time with Neil and Lesley from Wool & Co in their very homey booth - they're such nice folks (they must be, their daughter lives in Minneapolis..) They gave me some excellent chocolate, so of course I only have good things to say! They also kindly allowed me to sit in on a needle felting class, and I'm afraid now I have a new fiber mania to satisfy...

I shopped at some of the fabric booths and picked up a lovely woven-striped sheer fabric at the show. I haven't sewn a complete garment for a while, but if I'm going to audition for PR (yeah, right...) then I have to get some sample garments made!

The flight home was uneventful and we even arrived early! Still, I had time to get a lot of knitting done on this Zig Zag scarf based on Iris Shreier's pattern. Gerry and the kids met me at the luggage carousel and we stopped at our favorite diner for dinner. It was so great to see them - even better, at the diner were some friends of Hannah and Max (one of her current partners in a report for school) so we got to meet some parents and kids and had a lovely time. Jeeze I love it here - what mixed feelings I have about moving! ( And at the rate our house is moving, we may not even have to worry about it.)

Back home I put together knitting with wire kits, checked up on some email stuff and crashed - exhasuted! Up at 5:30 and on the road at 7:00 for my 10:00 am class in Philly.

I LOVE LOOP
I just love Craig at LOOPin Philly. He's such a nice guy - and he has such a great shop! He has the new bulky Malabrigo (hold me back!) and he has wonderful customers and a sweet and helpful staff. What else on earth would you want or need? More parking might be nice, but Craig can't do anything about that...

The classes were full and great - lots of folks walked out with cabling skills and knit wire bracelets, respectively, and Craig seemed happy with the day. I was tired, but also very happy.

A long, LONG drive home and in the driveway just in time to see the Amazing Race. I can't get as excited about it this time around (am I getting tired of it, or is it just not as compelling?) and now I'm watching disk 1 of a 5 disk History of Britain set that I bought. Max REALLY loves these, too, so he's cuddled beside me, watching the Battle of Hastings. Life is good.