Month: February 2011

Karen the Consumer

Spent the day ogling, squishing, and shopping at the Stitches West Marketplace with my mom and my friend Lisa. Apparently I’m feeling it for Blue these days as almost all the yarn I purchased is in some shade of Blue.

The yarn acquisitions I’m most excited about are Curious Creek’s Spectra Series Meru Laceweight in ‘Dendrobium’ and Sweet Georgia Superwash Worsted in ‘Coastal’.

I picked up some cute knitting-related print fabric for project bags and PJ pants.

Some new 2.25mm needles came home with me to replace the ones I lost in Arizona, including some Kollage square needles (I decided to give them an extended test drive).

It was especially fun to see people! I saw Michelle, Felicia, Carrie, Nada and Anne Lena from GGFI 2010. I met and spoke with Dr. Gemma of the Cogknitive Podcast (and she convinced me to knit a bear for the Mother Bear project). Also, even though I lurked over 30 yards away, it was fun to see Jess and Casey of Ravelry fame from across the room.

It was great to see everything I saw, and even though I can’t afford to buy everything that catches my eye, I love being able too see stuff in person so I can queue the possibility of ordering from these vendors in the future.

Reward in Phoenix

I REMEMBERED WHERE I LEFT MY LOST SOCKS!

I’m looking for a compassionate, Spanish speaking person in Phoenix who can help me reunite with a beloved lost knitting project.

I was passing through Phoenix on Friday 2/4/2011 and left my project in a strip mall Mexican restaurant. It’s was in a little black drawstring bag. See this post for a photo.

It’s worth a lot to me: the yarn is my handspun and the needles are nice Addis. I’m heartbroken over the loss.

I’m over 750 miles away in San Francisco. I tried calling the restaurant, but apparently they do not understand English. The woman who answered kept asking me if I wanted a burrito or taco when I tried to explain my situation to her.

Can you or someone you know help me? I’d be forever grateful if you would. Perhaps you could call and find out if they have it? Or stop by and ask in person? I’m more than willing to cover the cost of mailing it home to me. Also…

I’D BE GLAD TO OFFER A CASH (PAYPAL) REWARD.

 

3/2011 UPDATE: I’ve come to accept that this project is gone.  I’ve repurchased spinning fiber and needles and will resurrect the project in a new form someday.

My Sweet Suzi

I spent Sunday afternoon carding wool with my friend Suzi. Last year she sent me two fleeces from her stay at a sheep farm in Massachusetts: a Jacob named Kaleigh and a Coopworth-Romney named Beautiful Baby Girl (BBG).

Suzi helped me wash out the raw barnyard funk. We did it with a washing machine and were armed with bottles of Dawn dishwashing liquid, rubber gloves, and several large mesh laundry bags. I turned up my water heater to Eleven.

Yesterday, Suzi came over and helped me work on processing some of BBG’s fleece with the drum carder that our generous and serendipitously coincidental mutual friend Kate lent me. Lofty and soft batts of greige wool… Mmm! We were at it for a few hours and there’s still so much more to do.

While Suzi is not interested in knitting and is mostly disinterested in spinning, she is a super supporter and enthusiastic enabler of my fibery hobbies. Last year she accompanied me to Spinning Day at the Winery and even offered to drive me almost 400 miles to an obscure sheep-to-shawl event.

She’s a Valentine’s Eve dream come true.

In Case of Loss, a Small Slip of Insurance

On the heels of my lost knitting, I am figuratively kicking myself for not putting my contact information into my project bag. I even have hundreds of little personal business cards that I had made for super cheap. They are uselessly not accompanying my missing knitting. kick kick!

Lesson learned. I’ll be putting my contact info into all my project bags this week. I recommend you do the same.

In service to my fellow knitters, I’ve created a printable DIY knitting project tag that you can download (especially for those who don’t have business cards ready to go): In Case of Loss.

I hope you are more clever than I and that this sinking feeling of loss never finds you. In case it does, may this small slip of insurance bring you some minor relief and hope.

Lost!

Agh! Project missing!

I’ve been traveling over this past extended weekend and somewhere between San Francisco and Prescott, Arizona, I lost my Sunset Socks. 😦

Full of ambition, I packed 2 projects in my carry-on tote. Really? Was I gonna finish a full sweater from start-to-finish in less than 4 days AND work on my sock? Apparently I thought I could.

It was crowded in that tote. In addition to the Sunset Sock project bag, I had 6 balls of yarn for a new Acer Cardigan, assorted needles and notions, boarding pass receipts, rental car reservation print outs, snacks, purse within the tote, etc.

I was caught up in the startitus of the Acer and took the Sock bag out of the tote to gain access to the new balls of yarn.

Why!?! Where?!? Ugh! I abandoned my poor socks while caught up in the thrill of a new project.

I just filed a Lost Report with the airline and left a frantic message with one of the dining establishments I was at.

So stupid feeling. So sad.

In optimistic tribute that they will be found…

The Gateway Retreat

About a year ago, I was clicking around on Ravelry links and found myself on the website for the Golden Gate Fiber Institute (GGFI, aka Yarn Camp). I had heard of GGFI before because my spinning wheel came from Carolina Homespun and I’d seen a flyer in the shop. Even so, GGFI didn’t make my radar for a few years and I was ignorant of it until I saw the website.

I browsed for a few minutes, a feeling of excitement welling up inside. I took the plunge and signed up for the August 2010 retreat. As the dates got closer, I started to feel silly about the retreat: I’d spent about a week’s earnings and was taking precious PTO to spend time with a bunch of strangers. Silly!

Not Silly! Fun! Within moments of embarking on my Yarn Camp journey, I was in it deep and wasn’t looking back. It was the best thing I’d done in a long time! I was surrounded by people who shared my passion! I made new friends! I learned new skills! What’s not to love about a personal retreat?

So, GGFI 2010 was my gateway retreat. Now that I’m hooked on the camaraderie and communal solace of fiber retreats, this year I’m planning on more! I’m going to CampKIP in April and to one of Cat Bordhi’s Island Knitting Retreat in the Fall.

I feel so lucky to be able to do this.

A Week's Work at GGFI2010

Discovery Socks and Textural Yarns