Stitches West

Man what a time we had!! Chaun and I left around 7p on Friday night and drove up to Santa Clara for Stitches West. We stayed at a really cute hotel, Wild Palms Hotel which apparently is a Joie de Vivre hotel (not really sure what that means in the hotel industry but it sounds cute!). After a night of little sleep (only partially due to us talking, mostly due to a clock radio that turned on at 630a in the empty room next to us), we wandered in to the convention center around 1015a. The next 6 hours were very fun, very overwhelming and so exciting! We had a plan, to walk the entire market floor first and then buy. It was hard at times but I think that was a good decision. I got a skein of Socks That Rock Lightweight in Lover's Leap.
I also bought a skein of Colinette Jitterbug sock yarn, in color Toscana. I've only been eyeing it for a year, I figured it was time.
We also found a booth at the very back of the hall that just had mounds and mounds of yarn. As we stood there, staring at the sign, we asked ourselves, "Can it possibly be true??" The sign said "All Acrylic Yarns $2, Cashmere/Merino $8" The sign said other things but nothing nearly as important as Cashmere/Merino $8. $8??? Yep, we both grabbed 5 skeins (each skein contains 320yds in a DK weight, I think) each. I got navy, Chaun got red. And apparently there was a coupon in some booklet that advertised $2 off each cashmere/merino skein. I know!! So we paid $6 each for this yarn. It was just overwhelming.
And last but not least, my most surreal moment of the day. We had been seeing people walking around all day with these little purple passports. Once we found out that the Ravelry booth was passing them out, we scouted them out on the map and beelined for it. We got up there and were talking to this man and woman, and as they explained what the passport was, it dawned on me. The man...was Casey. Casey, the co-creator of Ravelry. !! And I am such a nerd when it comes to "famous" people that I blurt out, "Oh! You're Casey!" Cause he's only been called that his entire life... Anyway, he was kind and gracious, very fun to talk with and let us take a picture with him.