Bad timing!

If you have read my blog before, you have probably figured out that I enjoy attending (and working at) Renaissance Faires. For the last couple of years, I have mainly concentrated on the multi-weekend Northern California Renaissance Faire but in the past, I have also attended some of the smaller weekend faires. When you work or volunteer at one of these faires, you don't just dress up and show up. You need to have some training to help create the illusion for the paying customers. The big faires put on their own workshops during the month before faire opens but for the little guys, something else is needed. That something is often the Renaissance Symposium, a weekend in February where Bill Watters and his merry crew organize a weekend of workshops where you can learn everything from English Country Dance, BFA (Basic Faire Accent), and songs of the times, all the way to swordfighting! It's a great opportunity to meet new people, learn new skills and catch up with all your friends from the faire world. I have had the opportunity to attend twice and loved it both times.

Now for the bad timing... When I received the email notice of the dates for the Symposium this year, I was dismayed to find that it fell on the same weekend as Stitches West. For you non-knitters out there, Stitches is a huge ... actually ginormous ... hmmm, how would you describe it? There are fashion shows, classes by some of the top knitters and designers in the country, a trade show with vendors from all over the world ... Last year I was able to fondle yarn from Australia, Ireland, Canada, and Alaska as well as see all the newfangled gadgets and oldfangled knickknacks we all love to covet. Do you get the impression that Stitches is kinda huge and a lot of fun? Anyway, I had already signed up for classes on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday but I figured that maybe I could catch up on some Ren stuff on Friday since I was going to be in the Bay Area anyway that weekend. But nooooo... In the latest email I received, I find the Symposium is going to be in Modesto this year. In my own backyard!!! and I am going to be in the Bay Area that weekend. Dang it! Oh well, I will have a great time at Stitches and hopefully next year, I will be able to attend the Symposium again.

In the meantime, I hope you all had a wonderful holiday week. Although I was home sick for most of the week, it meant I got a lot done on the sock I started. Yes, I did say sock. You knew I was going to have to get dragged on to that bandwagon too, didn't you? Hopefully I will have pictures for the next post. Till then, take care.