I did spend a lot of time waiting last night, which was good for the shawl.
Estimating based on the size of the remaining yarn, I think this will be a 6-day shawl. Eight at most. (That's 6-8 days on which I actually work on it, of course, not an actual prediction that I'll finish it next week.) But you know what I just realized? It's tiny and requires no concentration whatsoever--the perfect travel project. I should save it for my trip to the Knit and Crochet Show, which is only about a week and a half away now! I am so psyched about it. I've saved my tax refund all this time to pay for the travel and registration, relentlessly monitored the plane tickets and pounced the second the prices dropped, and generally done all manner of OCD travel anticipation. Can't wait!
What I'm most excited about is the day before the conference actually starts, which is a whole day devoted to professional development. The morning session is all about how to get a book published. I have always wanted to do this, since I was about ten I think. Of course, back then I was going to be a novelist. The only problem was I could never really think of enough plot to even fill a short story. I guess I could have written one of these cerebral books that never really go anywhere, but that doesn't sound like much fun, and anyway I don't think I have the style to carry it off. But I discovered when I was writing my dissertation that I can write all day if I just have something to write about. I don't know if I'll ever know enough about anything yarn-related to write a book about it, but I still think it will be a lot of fun to hear about how it would work if I ever did. Then, in the afternoon, there are sessions including "How to Join the 'in' crowd," which I already attended in Pittsburgh but had to mention because it's one of the things that pushed me to start actually doing this stuff instead of just dreaming about it, "How to get publicity for your business," obvious interest there, "crochet as art," "designing for publication," and some more on book publishing. The hard part is picking only three. Then of course I'll be taking tons of classes during the conference proper, including one on designing for larger sizes, which I think will be really useful, some others on design, and one on successful blogging. Looking through the list, I realize I'm not signed up for anything that directly results in something pretty--it's all publishing, design, and meta stuff. But I know I can count on the vendors to provide me with enough eye candy and wonderful textures (finger candy?) to more than make up for that, plus all the fabulous energy that results whenever fiber people get together. And I'm really psyched just to step away from my responsibilities and out of my routine for a few days and see someplace new. When I made the travel arrangements, I considered taking a few extra days to just chill and have my own retreat in the mountains up there or something, but I never really came up with any kind of plan or concrete idea for how that would work, so I just bought the plane tickets for the days of the conference. Now I'm thinking that's too bad. How awesome would it have been to hole up in some cabin in the woods with all of the new yarn I will undoubtedly buy and just knit and crochet undisturbed? Dude. I will definitely have to do that next time.
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