I’ve finally done it. I always look at fiber festival announcements and class lists, and I always think that it might be fun to go. I’m not a crowds-full-of-strangers person, and so it’s hard for me to be super-excited about a big room full of people, even if they are of fiber-inclined. Add to that the cost of classes and the (high) probability of stash enhancement, and my practical side usually steps in and talks me out of it. Sometimes I manage to think I’m going up until a few days before, but I always end up deciding not to go.

Of course, as my dissertation gets closer and closer to being done, I’m starting to realize that I won’t be here in a year, so many of the things that I’ve put off for “some other time” had better be done soon, or they won’t be done at all. And really, it is a shame not to take advantage of the large fiber community in Seattle. (I know, I should have been doing that all along. I tried for a while, but after 2 knitting groups that dissolved or just didn’t fit, I kinda gave up and went online.)

So, I just registered for Madrona. I even signed up for a class, and the banquet (so now I can’t back out at the last moment, as I usually do). I decided to pass on the “spin for lace” class, because my wheel is not of the portable variety, and I don’t really want to lug a full-size wheel around Tacoma in February. Too bad, though…it would have been fun.

Instead, I am taking an all-day class with Cat Bordhi. You have all heard me lament about the fact that I love handknit socks, but don’t like making them. So why, you ask, would I sign up for a 6 hour class on socks? Well, I figure that Cat is probably the person to get me over the lack-of-sock-love, if anyone can. Even if that fails, I still think she’ll be a fun person to think with.

Two weeks. Tacoma. A fiber festival. And maybe a new-found love of socks?