Don’t you just hate it…

…when bloggers have a habit of disappearing without warning, then coming back and apologising profusely, but doing exactly the same thing again pretty soon?
Yeah. Me too.
[embarrassed cough]
Um, so, hello kittens. I’ve missed you. No, really. Thank you all so very muchfor your comments, and emails, and for stopping by the stand. I know it seems like it meant nothing, since I’ve pretty much ignored you all, but it meant a lot. A Lot.
And as previously mentioned, I had a great time at the show. Hooray for knitters! You really do make the best customers ever. Special cheers go out to Gabrielle, who brought us champagne at the end of our first day, and to Judy, who brought a spectacularly large pile of excellent chocolate, and a delicious bottle of French wine to go with it. Now I ask you. Can you imagine anything like that happening at a computer expo? Didn’t think so.
Another highlight was hearing people talk about the Storytellers patterns. Listen up, you lovely and talented folk who provided them: knitters LOVE them. Seriously. Love. And look! Here’s a Cheshire Cat Stole (or scarf, as it may be) in the wild, courtesy of Michelle!

Let’s also take a moment to applaud my very lovely husband, who proved that he’s not just a pretty face (and pretty handy with the camera and the webby stuff, too), he’s also the number 1 guy to have on your side in moments of extreme stress and danger – like, um, setting up an expo stand. (He’s done it before, as it happens, but never quite such a crowded one.) And he can talk to knitters about needles and bags and things pretty competently. And he almost didn’t show his inner state of terror at all… Apart from a minor crisis on day 2, which resulted in me not being allowed to take a lunch break on day 3. By day 4 he was mostly over that, and I was permitted to eat a sandwich 20m away from the stand.
I did make a break for it during a few quiet moments – mostly at the end of each day. That’s when I got to meet people and – oh yes – do a little shopping. It’s possible I have a minor addiction to silk. I don’t think I can call it a problem though. I mean, does this look like a problem to you?

Some Hipknits, some *cough, splutter* – look, technically, a metric crapload is still “some”, okay? – Knitwitches, and a skein of Hummingbird. I’m keen to try alpaca socks. Warm and toasty? I think so.
Anyway, that was my first show. As you may have noticed, it took me some time (please see above on for usage notes on “some”) to recover and catch up, but I survived. I had a good time. And I’m going to do it again.
In fact, while I have a year to prepare for the next Ally Pally… I have just 10 days to prepare for the next show. You’re going to be there, right? Because it’s going to be AWESOME.
(I’m having Wayne’s World flashbacks. And I’ve never even seen Wayne’s World.)