Stop me, please

You know when you are already planning a trip and then something else you want to do in that area jumps out at you? On some occasions, this can be a fun surprise. SAFF was the weekend after Fall Break last year, so I didn't miss it. It didn't rain all over me when I visited Skellig Michael in Ireland (aka Luke Skywalker's private island -- a fact I will never get over). When I went to California, I got to see the Thrilling Adventure Hour live (yesterday was the anniversary of this momentous occasion) and Paget Brewster signed my Beyond Belief poster; all a month before they announced live shows were going to be ending. The trip I'm on now magically coincided with my mother letting me use her money to buy local yarn (pics later).

But sometimes, these are not so convenient additions to what you want to do. Sometimes, they are downright inconvenient. Like, if they happened one week later, you would be able to enjoy all of their many wonders, but now you're stuck trying to logic yourself out of just buying the damn train ticket and going to the thing.

Apparently, Loch Ness in Scotland has a knitting festival. Loch Ness Knit Fest. Isn't that just the best thing you've ever heard? I was already planning a trip to Loch Ness with another friend who will be studying in the UK this fall (a brilliantly witty young woman whom I will not name). I had just discovered that bed and breakfasts are much more affordable than I thought they would be and I had set my sights on one specific one that I shall not name, lest the internet snatch it from my grasp.

(It's so cute. And it's only two miles from Loch Ness. And it has the best views.)

Then, while googling Loch Ness yarn shops (as a knitter is wont to do for every location they visit), Google's autocorrect filled in to Loch Ness yarn...festival.

I, to put it in the French, flipped my shit. A Loch Ness yarn festival?! In Loch Ness?! Where the adorable B&B is?! It seemed too good to be true.

Of course, it was. Alas, Loch Ness Knit Fest goes from 29 September to 2 October (getting used to the British way of date-naming). I arrive in the UK on 24 September and most of the first week I am there is get-to-know-you games and social events for international students. I will be over jet lag, as I'm going to Spain for a week before I arrive in England, but I still won't know anyone or how to get around. Also, I'm like 90% sure that my friend (who is not a knitter) would not go to Loch Ness a week after she arrives in the UK just for a knitting festival.

And yet, my brain is still trying to find a way to do this. It has suggested traveling alone (not happening); kidnapping my friend (I don't know where her housing is at her host university; so, no); going for one day (which would constitute 8 hours of train travel and approximately an hour of being able to do anything); and kidnapping a random student of my host university to accompany me (which is probably the best plan, but I still wouldn't know them very well. Bonding?)

Basically, I'm in a pickle. The best thing would be to avoid all tell of Loch Ness until I forget about the yarn festival, but that is not working for me.

The other plan is to try and find other yarn/knitting festivals in the area of the UK that I will be spending most of my time in. My mum suggested it. She might not know what she has wrought.