TNNA San Diego

So here we are at TNNA in San Diego. I brought my bathing suit thinking that this morning I would get up at 5:30 am and put myself in a cab, go to Ocean Beach and watch the sun come up while in the Pacific Ocean on my birthday.
But it is colder here than it is in Philly. And it's my BIRTHDAY!
Aside from the cold, San Diego is great. We are staying in what is called the Gas Lamp District, which is sort of done to be like the French Quarter or something. Lots of restaurants, lots of bars, lots of people... and there are palm trees and birds of paradise that grow in the medians of busy roads. Begonias are blooming in window boxes all around us. It doesn't seem real somehow. I have never been to Southern Californina and it is really totally different from any landscape I know.
Although I think the cold is distracting us from our mission, which is after all to buy yarn for spring, we seem to be getting a fair amount done. Most of what seems to be moving us is wool and wool like things that we are mostly filing away for NEXT fall/winter except for the few instances where we are buying it anyways because it is just too great.
Things to look forward to?
An Optim roving. WTF is Optim you may ask? It's merino, but it's "stretched." We have no idea how they do this but we do know that a longer staple fiber makes a softer fiber and this is exactly what has happened. For something that is 100% merino, I have never felt anything so soft in my life. Regardless of it's being merino or not. AND the great thing about this particular roving is that I, oh yes I, can customize the colors. And for real. Not, "oh you can pick a red or a blue or a green..." There is a palette of over 250 colors and I can say, "I want one with this electric purple, the shocking mustard and a little of this forest green (not to be confused with the other 4 things you could also call forest green)." So, spinners-- any requests? Get them in now, 'cause there's a time difference we're working with here but I will check the comments in the morning (and we are so totally making this available online). I can also do this with the 100% soy silk roving. The color takes as good as your silk. It's vibrant, it's shiny, it's soft, it's great.
We went to the Interweave meet and greet and it was great. All of the people were there and I got into a great conversation with Veronik Avery about owning an old house and the challenges therein which I think was a highlight of my trip. She is great and one of the yarns that she is responsible for at JCA, Soft Sea Wool, is truly stunning. It's thin, it's basic, it's sturdy, it's soft, the colors are great and she will do great designs for it and we will all want to make the thing. I am about to fall out from the amount of tired I am and numerous times during the day I wished I was also left handed so I could give my left arm a break from holding the stack of crap while taking copious notes. But good dinner was had by all and so to bed.