Ah, SPA!!!

Better late than never, I 'spose. Went to NETA Spa in Portland Maine a few weeks ago, and had a great time. Took Lisa, of course - whenever there is an excuse to get the heck away for awhile, we are so there. Spa weekend doesn't even start until Friday afternoon, but we went up on Thursday just to have more time to relax.

Lisa is standing next to a fantastic mermaid in progress, by Lida Diak at Grafton Fibers. What cracks me up is the mermaid doll the big one is holding. (No, I will NOT pick up another fiber skill. No, I will NOT pick up another fiber skill. No, I will not pick up another fiber skill. But felting is pretty cool. So maybe someday...)

Thursday, Feb. 15th: Got to the Doubletree in Portland after a very easy drive up there (and an excellent lunch at the Galley Hatch in Hampton - EXCELLENT onion rings!!) around 6:00, and stopped at the Shaw's down the street for a few munchies, water, and other stuff we forgot. Would you believe the lobby was full of spinners and knitters already?

Friday, Feb. 16th: Grabbed lunch at Amato's - will definitely go back there again. Great Italian takeout and the owner was a big flirty teddy bear - just my type, if I wasn't married...

Lisa and I did a shift as Greeter Gnomes at the welcome table, got to chat with Tommi Hall for awhile. She's very cool - even took the time to teach someone how to knit on Thursday night. How do I know that? Her pupil got in our elevator, and headed to Tommi's room right across the hall from us.

It killed me, just about, to watch everyone file into the Vendor room at 5:00, when our shift wasn't over until 6:00. The good stuff was going to be all gone!!! Little did I know, there was way more good stuff than could be bought in an hour by hundreds of fiber-ers with itchy credit cards. I liked that most of the fiber for sale was home-grown, home-dyed, and / or home spun. There were products there you would never see in the typical yearn store. And OMG - the spinning wheels were beautiful. I am sticking to my promise never to take up spinning, but it's tough. Maybe a drop spindle some day....


Saturday, Feb. 17th: Was today the day of Lisa's first knitting joke? Or was it Friday - I forget. But we were checking out the vendors, and we found one with about a dozen beautiful fish hanging from her kiosk. She had knitted them, felted them, and stuffed them. So she actually asked - are those (wait for it...) GE-FELTED fish? Bwahahahahahahaha. No really, it was funny at the time.

Also met a very nice lady who was weaving on a jackloom as she ran her kiosk full of yarn, books, weaving tools. Since I am still working up the courage to take my Kromski Loom out of the box, I asked her if she had a book for total weaving idiots, and she made several suggestions. Picked up some books, some Interwoven magazines, checked out her Opal yarn but managed to resist.

Sunday, Feb. 18th: It was hard to check out. Didn't do a whole lot of e xciting things, only hooked up briefly with other knitters, and barely saw the ManchVegas crew, but it was relaxing, and very liberating to do whatever we wanted, when we wanted to. No hubbies, no pets, no kids, no chores. No dishes. Beds made for us. What's not to like?

The Doubletree did a fantastic job for us. I have never slept in a more comfortable bed, with more pillows than one human needed. The restaurant served most meals buffet style, and the food could have been a bit better, but it was fine for the price. Lisa would have been happy with their bean medley for all three meals. Odd girl. Where's the chocolate? Well, it was in our room, that's for damn sure.

Lisa found some super-soft chunky yarn to start another project on. Or maybe to stuff in her bra, right, Gina?