Satellites and fabric shopping

I believe the stars, moon, planets and satellites all aligned to let me join my PatternReview.com sewing friends at A Fabric Place in Baltimore, Maryland today. I happen to be on the east coast right now, supporting testing and operations of the instrument we just launched; however, I'm working 12-hour night shifts. But I lucked out with a day night off today, which allowed me to go fabric shopping instead of sleeping this morning (well, I slept after I got back). Why would I deprive myself of sleep to buy fabric, when we all know that my stash is huge and I haven't exactly been sewing up a storm lately? Well, this was not just ordinary fabric shopping, this was shopping at the brick and mortar store of Michael's Fabrics, the online supplier of high end designer wools and silks at fabulous prices. And this was an opportunity to meet up with my internet sewing friends, most of whom I've only met on line. Michael was there to greet us, give us a tour and feed us with snacks. He also gave us a generous discount, which of course I couldn't pass up.

I didn't splurge on any designer fabrics (not that I'm aware of), but I did find some that I "needed" to have. Clockwise from the top, colorful print, the fabrics are: cotton, linen/cotton, polyester (but it feels like linen) and the brown and white is a cotton from Switzerland.

I took pictures in the store, but they came out pretty awful. I may be a rocket scientist, but I can't seem to figure out why my little camera gives me grainy photos sometimes. It shouldn't, it's a new Nikon Coolpix, so I believe it's operator error. There are much better photos posted by other people on patternreview. I do wish I'd been able to go to lunch afterwards with the gang...and do more fabric shopping, or so it appears by the pictures on patternreview that I recognize are from G Street! But I'd been up for nearly 24 hours by that point and had an hour drive to get back to the hotel, so it was for the best that I didn't stay.

I am looking forward to finishing up the satellite work next week and then spending a few days with my mom over the 4th before going home. At least I'm getting a lot of knitting done during the lulls at work. I've just about finished both sleeves of the Rowan Capri sweater I'm knitting and if the instrument behaves itself like it has been, I may get the front done. It's been interesting to see the reaction of my fellow rocket scientists to my knitting. Some get it, some don't. If you're a knitter, you probably know what I mean. For those of you who aren't, knitting keeps me focused, which is contrary to the assumption (I think) by co-workers that I'm not paying attention.