Stitches

So, Stitches Midwest was today. It moved to the Schaumburg convention center, where parking is free. And thanks to Debbie Macomber, who had a coupon for her book signing, admission today was also free. So in theory, one could go to Stitches and not spend any money. In theory.
I had a plan going in. I was going to buy some beautiful new sock needles, some roving, and maybe one or two really good deals or two. I kind of sort of stuck to that.
On the first pass, I found some nice sock yarn for $5. Really, you can't fault me for $5 sock yarn. It also came with a nice shopping bag that will get reused as a project bag.
I did buy the beautiful sock needles right away, which were far too expensive. I knew they were going to be expensive, and they still cost more than I was expecting. However, they are lovely 5" dpns in lightweight aluminum with a grippy body and an extra-pointy "stilletto" ends. I am such a sock junkie that these will get a lot of use. I had tried the straight version of these needles last year at Stitches, and they were so very beautiful I nearly bought some then. The only thing that held me back was that I really don't use straight needles, and they were planning on doing dpns. I can't wait to test them out. I hear they are doing circulars next year, which may also prove my undoing.
As for roving, I was a little disappointed in the choices. Too much of it was too variegated and not well dyed. I like tonal, but brightly colored yarns and I had some trouble finding it. I got some lovely naturally died orangey-red with yellow in corriedale and silk, about 5 oz, which I will get me a small project like hats or mittens, or so I'm told.
I also got some lovely grey wool mixed with fibers of recycled sari silk. It was an 8 oz. bag, and it should spin up really well.
Then, well, then I hit a really good deal I couldn't resist. You know that yarn that my naughty little kitten liked to steal? Well, they had bags of it at 60% off. I had heard rumors the yarn was being discontinued, and this was 2/3 off. So, I kind of bought a couple of bags of that. That's really where my plan fell apart.
So, the plan falling apart that much, I also broke down and bought a kit for thrummed mittens. I have been wanting to do some, and after trying some on, I couldn't resist this set. The nice shop owner even assembled a custom kit for me, since the colors I wanted weren't available. I got light grey mitts with dark grey thrums. Also, did I mention they're alpaca? They're alpaca. Nothing is going to be warmer this winter, and Chicago has some nasty winters.
But really, yarn hauls aside, it was really just a fun experience. I saw some people from my various knitting groups, and some people I haven't seen in quite some time. It was a lot of fun. And, barring the ridiculous amounts of money I spent, free. Sort of.