Sunday, March 06, 2005

Happiness is.....

- a successful sew-up with the Boston knitters yesterday
- having an apartment clean enough to host a 6 hour study group here this morning/afternoon
- knowing that next week this time I’ll be two days into my spring “break”
- finally having a Kohl’s Cares for Kids Sheep in my possession

Words cannot describe what it’s like to stand in a room full of knitters I’ve read about – all are kind souls and can keep a conversation going! Julia is fabulous – full of energy, laughter and enthusiasm. Wendy had on a beautiful sweater and (I'm sure) took some great pictures! (I'd made a mental note to wish her a happy birthday and completely forgot!) Alison is wonderful and I had to stop myself from wanting to say to her (and Kay and Julia) – do you know who you are? You’re you! And I’ve been reading about you for a long time. I can’t believe it’s you!?

Kay asked me a question about my sweater and it took all I had not to say “thanks for your website and the patterns and the advice you emailed me about way back when I didn’t have a blog and knew very little about what I was doing!” and instead stumbled with the words, “Yes – it was knit in the round.” (I will know better next time and hope to meet up with them again so I can prove that I can keep up in a conversation and do more then simply concentrate on sewing while looking almost uninterested! I’m no longer afraid to admit that I’m socially inept. I always knew I was an introvert, but my oh my I have a ways to go before I can be dubbed a social butterfly. Social catipillar maybe?)

Kimberly and Juno were hilarious, and had all of us gafawing at points during the day – it was a treat to meet everyone and see what a community of knitters is capable of. The afghan squares were beautiful, and seeing them come together as an (almost finished blanket was great. Kathy and (other people I can't remember names of and) I worked on the purple/red one, and none of the pictures I took (I forgot I had my camera and only got a few!) came out. Both Alison and Julia have pitctures posted. Be sure not to miss the priceless picture of the young man who oversaw our end of the table's sewing. He had strong opinions about how things should be done, and a few times proclaimed that we were doing "good sewing." The random comment he made about not needing to felt the blanket for it to be done put a smile on all of our faces as we agreed with him.

I left in the late afternoon so I could head home and get some studying in before the night was over. (I feel like I have shackles of school studying pulling me out of fun things sometimes!) Today I had a few people join me as we reviewed objectives; it’s amazing how time flies when there are so many things to learn. We could have continued for another few hours, but there were other commitments, and we all agreed that we needed a break. I’ve got some additional things to review tonight and we’re going to try and gather again this week to keep going over things. The GI system final is on Friday, and then we’re only a few systems away from the end of the year! (which means boards…something I’ve got to get out of denial about and start studying for.)

I’ve been looking for a project to take with me on my many, many flights (and hours of waiting in airports) to Reno. The conference is going to be a good one (and that just means that not only will I attend the workshops I signed up for but will sit in on the lectures as well) but I think I’ll have plenty of time to knit. I really want to start a Rouge, but after looking at several different yarns online, nothing is jumping out at me. Actually, several things jumped out at me, but I can’t decide on just one and am going to wait. Finances are another reason to hold off, and so I’ve turned back to the cascade quartro I bought in January. I really want to find a boxy yet slightly fitted cabled cardigan pattern, and am having little luck. I’m going to scout out a few different yarn shops this week, and if all else fails I’ll make something up and edit it as I go. I can see what I want in my head, and don’t think it’d be that hard to add a few things to a simple pattern.

Finally, I was able to get my hands on a very hard to get ahold of Kohl’s Sheep! It took trips to different Kohl’s and phone calls over a few days, but someone found me one in a box that had just come off the truck. (I went back to customer service and the guy told me they had literally just been checked in and they’d have to open the box for me; they can’t keep them in stock and after the guy brought it out to me other people in line asked if they could buy one too….I just checked the website and they don't have them listed anymore) It was worth the wait, and worth the $5 that will be (after expenses) donated to the Children’s Center at a Hospital nearby. I'm holding this one for my dad, who will get it at Easter. The duck and cow? no plans for them yet, but I don't mind holding onto them until something comes up!

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Kristen! I didn't find you socially inept at all. I'm laughing at your report about Joseph; I didn't hear his comment about felting. In fact, I didn't know he knew about felting. I guess he's paying more attention than I realize.

Loved your sweater and you did tell me how you're going to fix it up! xoxo Kay

10:12 PM  

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