Knitting a Book

On the final day of the retreat, Rae made a little Freudian slip and said she was "knitting a book". I thought that was such a lovely little turn of phrase! As I was laying awake last night, cursing the barista who must've given me regular instead of decaf, I was trying to think of what else I needed to say about last week and "knitting a book" was the phrase that kept popping into my head. That's really what we're all doing, isn't it?

Cat has a workshop page on her website, and I noticed that she is doing a couple of "floating retreats" where knitters will get up in the morning and hang out on the interisland ferry all day. In 2008, she's going to be joined by Lucy Neatby! That really is tempting. The ferries are so gorgeous (and a great place to knit while you're not busy gawking at the scenery).



Check out those mountains! We figure the big one is Mt. Baker, and they're so much more majestic in person. Here are a couple shots of Friday Harbor as we're pulling away:





And here are Owen & I, enjoying the breeze (okay, not really - it was COLD!):



The kids' favorite part of the ride (besides the video games with steering wheels) were the snacks from the vending machine. Mmmm, M&Ms!



There are a couple of other projects that I'm allowed to say a little bit about - Carol Breitner (the genius behind those tiny little sock earrings) is writing a great book on socks that fit. She's going to have socks well beyond the usual size range of Women's M and has a very cool trick for custom fitting your socks and making the most of your yarn.

Erica & Michael, who were returning attendees, are going to be starting up a podcast called The Wayward Knitters, and it promises to be not-to-be-missed. They are a husband-and-wife duo of mad knitters (as in, they've got mad skillz) who infuse their life with the fiber arts. They've also recently started homeschooling their two younger kiddos, who were also visitors at the retreat and just delightful, and I will be particularly interested in hearing about how they use the fiber arts in an educational fashion. I'll let you know when they get their first episode up!

Everyone else is still in the incubation phase with their ideas, but I just want to say how great it was to meet y'all - new attendees Barb, Leslie (who's also in Portland!), Cookie, Rae, Carol, Margaret, Pieter, Chris, and the one-who-shall-remain-nameless. And thank you so much to the returning attendees for all your amazing help - Jennifer, Darlene (who also wowed us with her spindle skills), Karen, Erica and Michael, and the incredible lace goddess, Myrna Stahman. And of course, our fearless leader Cat, and the other self-publishing expert who lives on the island, bead artist Robin Atkins, who shared her experiences of publishing with someone else (Interweave) as well as on her own. Thank you all!!!

Some sad news...

Sadly, we have news of another of my blog friends' family members taken before their time. Debbie's daughter Lisa was killed in a car accident just over a week ago. She was a US Marine and sounds like just an amazing person. There is a special website set up in her memory, so please go by and take a look and send Debbie and her family your thoughts and prayers as they go through this difficult time.

Also, big hugs to my dear friend Katrina, who has been missing her brother lately. Words can not express how sad I am for you, sweetie.

The week of constant disaster...

The week before we left for the San Juans, it felt like everything was falling apart around us. I forgot to mention this in my return-from-TNNA post, but the mayhem started as soon as I got home from San Diego. I arrived back in Portland at around 11 pm and called Bill, who was going to come pick me up at the airport. I'm waiting for my suitcase at baggage claim and get a call - the car stalled about ten blocks from home, so could I get a cab and come pick HIM up.

Okay, just as an aside, because this is too funny, the cat is obsessed with licking me while I type on my laptop. It drives me crazy (mainly because she has a very sharp tongue and feels like she's licking my skin right off), so I'll repeatedly put her on the floor and say "no licking, Kika!" But she doesn't learn very quickly, so she'll hop right back up and try it again. After being tossed down several times (I get more and more irritated and so begin to toss her further and further each time she gets up here), she'll start to try to creep over to my arm so I won't notice her coming in to lick me. She'll try to sidle in from different directions, making herself as flat as possible, acting very casual about the whole thing until she gets close enough to make contact (at which point all hell breaks loose - she gets all excited and I get ready to throw her down again). It's hilarious.

So back to the car. Those of you who've been reading for awhile know that we have a VW Jetta TDI that we run on biodiesel. Biodiesel tends to freeze up solid at cold temperatures, and they recommend mixing in about 60% regular diesel at temps below 40 degrees. It has been under 40 several mornings this winter, and since the car is usually in the driveway during the coldest part of the day, we've just thought "Oh, well if the car doesn't start because it's too cold, I'll just take the van". It has started a little rough a few mornings but has been fine after that.

Well, combine a week of temps in the 30s with an entire weekend of the car not being driven, and apparently it was all too much for it. As soon as the gas in the engine was burned and the car tried to get more via the fuel line, everything ground to a halt. Whoopsie! We had to wait five days for the weather to warm up enough for the car to start again. I kept picturing the gas tank filled with solid white stuff like you find in the frying pan after the bacon grease cools down. First lesson learned from the week of disaster - biodiesel really does freeze when it gets chilly! If it's below freezing and you need to pick your wife up at the airport late at night, take the van.

Next in our laundry list of disasters was the furnace that refused to work. We had new windows installed in our kitchen and my office the Friday before we left. We also had a blower door test done, which is where they set up a giant fan in a frame in the front door and blow air out of the house to determine where the leaks are. Between the blower and the open windows, it got pretty chilly in the house. When Bill got home from work, we realized it was still chilly. The furnace had conked out. We called the emergency furnace service and, since Friday was also Bill's birthday and we were heading to my in-laws for his birthday dinner, we asked the guy to put us on his list for the following morning. Sydney spent the night at her Grammy's, and Bill, Owen & I snuggled together in our bedroom with a space heater on high. It was sort of cozy, actually.

The next morning, we were frantically getting ready to leave (we needed to make sure we left enough time to catch the ferry to the island, and we didn't particularly want to take the one at 8 pm), but the furnace guy, who said he'd come before noon, didn't show up until well after our scheduled departure time. We left my father-in-law in charge of dealing with the furnace, and hit the road. We got a call later that afternoon to tell us what the problem was - the filters needed to be cleaned. Yes, apparently cleaning filters isn't optional. The furnace will actually overheat and shut down if the filters get too dirty. Go figure! The furnace guy charged us $225 to clean the filters just enough so the furnace would work again. Bill was happy that it was his dad talking to the furnace guy instead of him, since he would've been just a little bit embarrased to admit his ignorance in the field of furnace filter cleanliness. Lesson #2: Cleaning furnace filters on a regular basis is a necessity for furnace operation, not just a suggestion.

Our Friday fun didn't stop there. We ordered new countertops before the end of last year so we could get a nice 10% discount. We were supposed to pick them up within 7 days of their arrival in the warehouse, but of course we can't do anything on time so on Friday (the 8th day), we headed over to pick them up in our van. We knew they were going to be a little bit long (10' to be exact), but we figured we could put them up on their side and slide them in between all the seats. However, we didn't take into account the fact that each slab weighs around 200 lbs and we could possibly damage the counters, our van or ourselves by trying to transport them like that.

Yesterday, Bill spent the better part of our first day home renting a U-Haul van and driving countertops around. The van was supposedly 11' long in the cargo area, but when he actually arrived to pick it up, it was only 9'. He ended up leaving a bit of slab hanging out the back and tried not to go over any big bumps. The counters seem to have survived, and I got dinner from The Outback as a reward for being alone with the kids all day on a Saturday. Lesson #3: Don't expect to pick up 200 lb, 10-ft long slabs of countertop in your minivan (and when you rent a van to pick them up with, make sure it's actually long enough).

The final malfunction of the week wasn't discovered until we got home Friday night and discovered that we didn't have a drop of hot water. We were about to call the emergency service people - again - when it occured to us that maybe the blower door test had blown the pilot light out. Bill totally redeemed himself for that filter thing by rolling up his sleeves and figuring out how to get the pilot light relit. He is actually quite handy when given the chance. Procrastination is more his problem than ineptness. Lesson #4: Large amounts of air forced through your house by a giant fan may indeed cause a pilot light or two to go out.

I am hoping that we've run through our bad karma for the moment and that things will settle down for awhile. And now I've just written another long post with no pictures. To make it up to you, here are a couple shots of the kiddos at Ikea (we stopped there on our way home on Friday since there isn't yet one in Portland - it's opening next summer, and I am counting the days!).



Owen was a total menace all over the store with this little shopping cart. It took me way to long to figure out that I could just hold onto that pole with the little flag on top in order to keep him somewhat under control.



No trip to Ikea is complete without 50 cent hot dogs from the snack bar. Like that mustard mustache on Owen? It was great until he insisted on sharing my frozen yogurt cone - he'd take bites out of it by burying his face in it and leaving little mustard spots all over the top. Vanilla yogurt with mustard isn't all that appetizing if you're not two.

Sydney had to have her own cone, since she's a big girl. She's entered the stage of posing for pictures. When I was getting ready to take this one, she totally struck a pose and then insisted on looking at it afterwards and giggling hysterically.



I'm not sure she could be much cuter!

Settle in, folks!

I'm back from San Juan Island, and let me tell you, it was incredible. What a week! But first, for anyone who's wondering about my last post, the person of whom I was talking and I worked everything out with no hard feelings. When she first found out about the post, she didn't realize who I was (since I haven't seen her since college and my last name has changed since then), so she was understandably upset about a stranger seemingly talking smack about her on the internet. Anyway, lesson learned!

Now, back to the workshop. I told you a couple of the folks who were there in my earlier post (there was very spotty internet access at the lodge, and I didn't have much time for blogging anyway), and there were several more there who are planning to do exciting things. Most of it is stuff I can't really talk about (because then I'd have to kill you, which would go against my pacifist nature), and in fact one person's mere presence at the lodge is top secret. It's too bad, because she has some other non-secret stuff that she's doing that I'd really love to share with you, but that will have to wait until I can figure out a way to talk about her without revealing that she was there.

A little recap, for those of you who are just tuning in. This retreat of which I speak is called the Visionary Retreat for Self-Publishing Knit Designers and it's led by self-publishing genius Cat Bordhi (her self-published book Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles continues to sell like hotcakes, along with her two books on Moebius Knitting and some upcoming gems that will be released over the next couple years). Basically, we learn about self-publishing, present our book ideas and brainstorm as a group about how we can make each idea the very best it can be. This year there were 10 new participants and six returnees, and let me tell you, it was exhausting doing all that thinking! Introvert that I am, it is especially exhausting for me to deal with groups of people I don't know well, particularly when I need to contribute useful ideas during group discussions. I survived, and hopefully made an insightful comment or two. I will say that this was such a wonderful group, it was much easier for me to participate to the extent that I did. Knitters are so awesome!

Since this blog has been all text lately (and I wouldn't blame half of you for unsubscribing - hopefully the moving of the sock-a-month talk to its own blog will make this one a little bit more interesting), here are some pictures! First up, our trip to the local alpaca farm, Krystal Acres. As Cat describes it, if Martha Stewart was going to operate an alpaca farm, it would be like this one. Lakes all over the property, and tons of adorable little alpacas dotting hillsides for as far as the eye could see.



Here's Sydney with her new friends:



That's Chris de Longpre from Knitting at Knoon over on the left. Go check out the video tutorials on her website - she has the world's most soothing voice!

The alpacas really liked the kids, and would all watch them wherever they went. It was pretty funny. Here they are watching over Owen (he's running down the path towards us).



Here's a little nursing in public going on!



Here they are watching Owen run down the path away from us.



So cute! The lodge that we stayed at is called Lakedale, and it's lovely. Here is the front porch of our 2-bedroom cabin:



And here's our view out the front - that's a little finger of lake coming over in our direction (we were right at the end of it).



The water is a little hard to see because of the reflection of the trees, but it's there. We had ducks swim by throughout the day and honking geese flying over every morning. There was also a flock (is that the right term?) of Trumpeter Swans on the lake - they really do sound like trumpets!

I didn't get any pictures of the outside of the big lodge (you can see it on their website), but here's my one shot of our little work area.



That is Sydney talking to Margaret Fisher, knit instructor extraordinaire (you can take her classes this spring at either Stitches West or Camp Stitches, and if you have the chance, I'd highly recommend it!). She is just a lovely person.

Here is a very bad shot of the view of the lake from the lodge deck:



It was so peaceful to be able to gaze out the window at the ducks on the lake, or watch the rain drift through off and on. It is really a beautiful spot.

Well, that's probably enough retreat talk for now - I'll probably be talking about this for weeks, so be warned. Now it's time to go spend some time with the family, since I barely saw them all week (thank goodness my mother-in-law came with us to help with the kids, or the results of Bill alone in that cabin with them all week could've been disastrous).

For those of you who have sent in your sign-ups for SAM3, I promise I haven't forgotten you! Once I can get my head back out of the clouds, I'll get to work with Karen and Stariel and get all of you signed up. We've also got some great vendor deals for SAM3ers, which will be posted on the SAM3 blog ASAP. Also, the KAL for the Lacy Cabled Scoop is gearing up, and I'll be posting over on the KAL blog about my design process/inspiration and also my progress if I decide to take on knitting along (I'm still on the fence about that one - I really want to, but it's hard to take the time to knit something for fun these days!)

Whew!

Whoopsie...

I have a big, fat apology to make. I made what I thought was a passing comment, characterizing a former classmate as "nutty" and stupidly using her full name (because it is distinctive, and I love it - my great-grandmother shared her first name, and I would've named my daughter that if my husband would've been agreeable). I didn't fill in the whole story, which would've made clear that I meant nutty in the best possible way. This person was a sophomore when I was a freshman, and she was a fun, fabulous person who read Tarot cards in the dorm lounge and was a ray of light whenever she walked into a room.

Obviously, this didn't come through in the comment that I tossed out while not thinking, it got back to her, and offense was taken. I wanted to clarify what I meant, and apologize to this person in the deepest sense.

Just another reminder of how careful you have to be when your ramblings are out there, unedited, for the world to see. I am so sorry.

Supercalifragilisticexpiknittalicious

Here I am on San Juan Island. I don't even know where to start to tell you about this week. And I've only been here for two days! Of course you all know Cat Bordhi, who is the mastermind behind this event (a retreat for knitters who are considering self-publishing their knitting book). But the knitting talent and brainpower that are in this room with me boggles the mind. I'm extremely humbled to be included in this group.

The first day, I sit down to breakfast with Cookie (of Pomatomus & Baudelaire fame) and Rae. I'm going to save some reveals for future posts, but let me tell you how exciting the books (and some non-books) that are being incubated in this group are incredible...

It's time for our evening session, so I will return when I have time (this may not be until I get home). I am loving this!!!

Whoa, baby!

Okay, sign-ups for SAM3 are coming in fast and furious. Don't be alarmed if you've sent me an e-mail and I haven't gotten you your invite yet - I wasn't expecting such a flood of enthusiasm! I should know better by now.

Also, there are some issues between the old blogger (which I am stubbornly clinging to) and the new blogger. I'm not sure how to resolve this yet, so if anyone does know how to easily accept an invite from old blogger when you're on new blogger, please share! The blogger help is, of course, extremely unhelpful.

We're getting ready to head up to Washington, but I will have wireless access up there. I am also going to call on my lovely co-hostesses (Stariel and Karen) for help as soon as I can get my act together! So hang in there - I am hoping that all of the kinks will be worked out by the time SAM3 starts.

Sock on, baby!

SAM 3!

Sign-ups for SAM3 are now open! I have created a group blog for this go-round, and I've got the rules up over there.

I am looking both for sock deals for participants, if you're a vendor and would like to offer specials for SAM-ers, and also for two additional hosts (responsibilities would include helping with invites, updates, blog maintenance, etc.). E-mail me if you'd be interested in helping out.

SAM3 will run from Feb 1 to July 31. Hope to see you socking it up with us!

Home again, home again, jiggety-jig

Even though it seems like I was gone for about a week, I managed to get home less than 48 hours after I left. I snagged a seat on an evening flight last night which got me home around midnight. Going through security at the San Diego airport, I ran into Sally, owner of my LYS, Close Knit. I asked her what she thought about the show, and she regaled me with tales of wonderful yarns from small companies that I had totally missed (probably because they were in small booths and I wanted to stay out of the way), including a bizarro possum yarn from New Zealand. Apparently the possums there are an introduced species and aren't anything like the nasty possums we have here (I wouldn't be to excited about knitting from Oregon possums...). The yarn looks normal in the skein, but when you knit with it, you get a really cool halo effect.

I asked her how business has been, and she said they had a great fall and winter. I was happy, since I often worry that there are more shops in Portland than can be sustained. She said that a lot of the yarn companies are complaining about sales being down, and people keep talking about the knitting "boom" being over, but what struck me when I was walking around the show floor was how many different yarn companies were there. Of course there are all the big names, but there were tons of small dyers and spinners as well. The big guys are probably complaining because there is now so much choice, they don't have the market cornered like they used to. The downside of the knitting boom is that everyone wants a piece of the action. The market is getting more and more flooded with products, and it's going to take more and more ingenuity to stay ahead of the game. For instance, Skacel had some cool felting kits (as in actual felt, not felted knitting) as well as new pointier Addis to compete with the Knit Picks needles. Louet had some hand-dying kits. Everyone is trying to come up with the next fun new thing for people to do.

Since my last several posts have been photoless, I've got pictures of some of the stuff I picked up in the past couple days to try to make up for it. Here are the books I got at the book-signings:



I paged through them last night at my hotel. The Vicki Howell book is mostly stuff from the Knitty Gritty show so I've seen it before. There were a couple neat things, like a reversible-cable baby blanket from Lily Chin. The Annie/Drew book, on the other hand, totally wowed me. I wasn't expecting much, honestly, because the idea of knitting for dogs doesn't quite do it for me. But there are a ton of amazing sweaters for guys in there that I just love. Plus that Drew (aka The Crochet Dude) is kind of a hottie! I'm really glad I got a chance to pick it up, and the price just can't be beat...

Next up is some gorgeous stuff I got from Farmhouse Yarns:



On the left we have Roxanne's Mohair (50% mohair, 50% wool) in the Sugarplums & Butterscotch colorway. Next is the yarn that caught my eye when I first walked by their booth - Cotton Blossom Yarn (85% cotton, 15% rayon) in Dusty Rose. That last lovely hank is Farmhouse Silk Blend (34% silk, 33% cotton, 33% wool) in Harvest. These were three yarns that she needs more patterns for, and I am all too happy to oblige!

I also got some of the new Vicki Howell signature yarn, put out by Southwest Trading Company:



The pink stuff is called Love, and it's bamboo & silk. Yummy! I have to admit that I am not a big fan of SWTC's bamboo yarn - it seems like it's really scratchy compared to, say, Classic Elite or Blue Moon's bamboo yarns. This yarn, however, is like buttah. So soft! The green is Craft, which is organic cotton and milk fiber. This one feels really nice, also, although it is much more of a workhorse-type cotton and isn't going to win any softest yarn competition (don't get me wrong, though - it is very nice).

And here are the lovely little thingies I picked up from the Glampyre Knits booth - stitch markers and fridge magnets:



I feel a little bad that she gave these to me (probably before she knew I was just a designer and not a shopper), so I'll try to make it up to her by telling you all to go buy one of her patterns. And look for her new book, Fitted Knits, which will be coming out at any moment.

Okay, this is the last thing I'm going to say about the show, I promise! I picked up a copy of the March '07 Creative Knitting at the Plymouth booth and got to see my new design in there for the first time. It's the Girl's Wisdom & Happiness Sweater, so if you get CK, look for it (the actual sweater in the photos was ably knit for me by sample knitter extraordinaire Lisa).

Now what do I talk about? It seems like I've been such a lame-o blogger for so long, mainly because the only things I knit are design projects that can't be shown on the blog. Next week I'll be off for another week with the knitterati, at Cat Bordhi's self-publishing retreat. I'm feeling a little bit lame, since I'm supposed to be working on the book that I'm intending to self-publish. I have an outline done, but that's about it. If I end up home early, it's because I got kicked out of class for not doing my homework...

I have also been remiss in not publicly thanking my Harvest Sock Swap Pal Amy for the awesome package she sent me.



There's a cool pumpkin bag, which Sydney went totally nuts for, and it was filled with some Lorna's Laces, some Mielenweit, a couple cute tree ornaments, some gorgeous stitch markers, and one completed Embossed Leaves sock out of Trekking XXL. I've been wanting to do this pattern but never had the time to pick it up (story of my life, eh?). We'll see how long this poor sock languishes before it finds its mate! Amy also included a bag of gummi pumpkins, but the kids and I inhaled them in like five minutes, long before they could've sat for this photo. Thanks again, Amy!

Finally, I'll leave you with a picture of poor Kika, tolerating Sydney's attentions yet again. She's a great cat, if only she'd stop peeing on our comforter!

The End

I made it through my second day away from home. I didn't manage to get up in time to attend my class (pulling myself out of bed at 7 in order to get to the convention center by 8, knowing I was going to have to come back to the hotel to run, just didn't do it for me when I hit the snooze button this morning - sorry, Shannon!). I slept until 9 (ahhhhh...), then got up and went for a nice 6-mile run. Okay, semi-nice. I felt great, and it was absolutely gorgeous (I ran along the harbor on the east side of San Diego Bay), but I brought the wrong shoes and so my feet were killing me after about 2 miles. I persisted, but I've been limping around ever since. Stupid Nikes!

After recovering from the run, I hopped on the trolley (which sounds much more rustic than what it actually is, which is a light-rail system) and headed back to the convention center. I gave Starbucks a second chance for lunch, mainly because I couldn't find anything better... I tried a Caesar salad this time, which was not bad. Then, I did some more wandering - not as exciting as yesterday, but the networking was a little bit easier for me. I handed out several more business cards, including one to a rep on the east coast, one to the design coordinator at Blue Sky Alpacas, and one to a LYS owner from Newport, OR, who I ran into while waiting in line to get a book signed by Vicki Howell (who is totally adorable in person, too, BTW). Awesomely, at TNNA they GIVE you the books for free! I didn't manage to get the Nikki Epstein or Melissa Leapman books (they gave out 100 tickets for each book-signing, and you had to happen to walk by while they were handing them out), but I got Vicki's book as well as Annie Modesitt's new collaboration "Men Who Knit and the Dogs Who Love Them".

Before I headed out, totally exhausted, I stopped by Stefanie Japel's table (aka Glampyre Knits) and made an ass of myself fawning over her. She took it very nicely! By that time, I felt like I was wandering in circles and decided to head back to the hotel. Since everything was pretty much wrapped up, I decided to see if I could scam my way onto an earlier flight so I'll be leaving at 9 pm tonight instead of at 10 am tomorrow morning. My little jaunt away from home was fun, but I'm ready to be back in my own bed! That and the fact that my hotel-neighbors have been having a knock-down, drag-out screaming match for the past couple hours. Yikes! I don't want to be listening to that at 3 am...

Whew...

I had to come back to the hotel to sit down, my feet hurt so bad. I want to write everything down before I forget. What a crazy experience this is!

A couple days ago, I reviewed the "show etiquette" for designers which was posted on one of my designer lists. Basically, we're there to observe and not disrupt any selling that is going on. We have to be careful not to be monopolizing exhibitor's time when they could be talking to shop owners! The writer of the "rules" also emphasized that we're there to present ourselves as professionals, and so to dress appropriately. I decided I'd wear some black pants and a blue Ann Taylor knit top. Not terribly dressy, but not sweatpants and a stained t-shirt (my usual uniform) either. As I was walking up to the convention center, I keep seeing women walking around in black suits and high heels. I started to get a little nervous - I mean, when she said to dress professionally, I didn't know that it was full-on office dress! Then, as I got closer, I realized that there was a big Mary Kay convention going on. I was so relieved! I hurried my business-casual self through as quick as I could, looking for the knitters. As soon as I started seeing khaki pants and lace shawls, I started to breathe again. Nothing against Mary Kay folk, but they definitely made me feel underdressed!

I wandered around for a couple hours, trying hard not to get in anyone's way. It wasn't too hard, but I did have to explain over and over that I didn't own a shop and I wasn't going to be buying any yarn from them. I also got recognized in a few places - that was nutty! Beth Casey from Lorna's Laces said, "Oh, hi, Chrissy!" when I walked into their booth. My name was fresh in her mind because they'd just sent me yarn for my next Interweave design. Later, I was hanging around the Classic Elite booth when one of the people there said "Chrissy Gardiner - as in the designer, Chrissy Gardiner?" She knew my name because of the designs I'm working on for them right now, and she made me promise to bring the one I have with me by their booth tomorrow.

One of the first things I saw was my Rutabaga bag, from the Spring Knitscene, hanging in the Interweave booth. I didn't know it was going to be there, so it was quite the thrill to see it hanging there! I also got to meet Amy Singer, who was hanging out promoting her new No Sheep For You book. I flipped through it, and I have to say, there are some really fantastic designs in there. I gave her a little flak for rejecting all the designs I sent in for that book, which I think embarrased her a little bit, so I told her that all was forgiven when they bought two of my designs for Big Girl Knits 2. Then I mumbled something about being a big fan of Knitty and got the heck out of there before I said something REALLY stupid...

More wandering brought me over to the Y2Knit booth where two of my designs were hanging. I got to meet Jill and Susan and chat a little bit (although I cruised by their booth several times before I got an opening - they were quite busy), and of course see my sweaters. I also ran into Leigh Radford, who was hanging out in the Lantern Moon booth promoting her new silk ribbon yarn.

After lunch at Starbucks (where I paid $7 for a really crummy sandwich that I could only choke down half of), I headed back in and unexpectedly ran into RaNaye and Mary from All About Yarn, an LYS in Portland. I tagged along with them for an hour or so and got to eavesdrop on all the inside info that the retailers get from the exhibitors. It was nice to feel a little less pariah-like (not that designers are treated like pariahs, but we certainly don't get the red carpet rolled out for us...). I got to fawn all over Norah Gaughan in the Berroco booth, spotted Lily Chin crocheting surrounded by her signature yarns, tried not to stare to obviously at Debbie Bliss as I slunk through the KFI booth, and almost got run over by Kaffe Fassett as he strolled down one of the aisles near the Classic Elite booth. Talk about a knitting celebfest! And those are just the ones I saw (there are plenty of others who I haven't managed to spot yet).

I also managed to do a little networking with a couple of small yarn companies. First I stopped by the Hand Jive Knits booth and drooled all over her Nature's Pallette yarn. Beatiful and environmentally-friendly! She's looking to get her yarn "out there", so we're going to see what kind of arrangement we can come up with, whether it be me submitting to mags with her yarn, using it in Gardiner Yarn Works patterns or designing for the Hand Jive pattern line. I also talked to Farmhouse Yarns after drooling all over their stuff. Carol, the owner, has a sheep farm and big ambitions. She pays royalties on her patterns, and I'm going to show her my portfolio tomorrow and see what happens. This is all starting to make me feel like an honest-to-goodness knit designer!

Okay, the cruise ship docked about five blocks away from here just blew its horn about eight times. That sucker is loud! I'm going to be a little bit surly if they do that at six in the morning tomorrow...

Now that you're thoroughly sick of my name-dropping blather, I'm going to go watch some TV. Maybe I'll even find a program with swears! And watch it without trying to cough or yell "bleep" over all the bad words so that my children aren't corrupted (although from what Sydney says she hears about at school, I don't think it's the television I need to be worrying about).

Here I am!

Well, I made it to San Diego. Now I just have to get myself defrazzled enough to head down to the convention center (aka Yarn Heaven)... I seriously thought about bagging the whole trip several times last night. And this morning. As the plane was taxiing down the runway in Portland, I thought a little bit too hard about jumping up and screaming "let me off let me off let me off!" But I didn't. So here I am!

I got early check-in at my hotel, which is great, but the only problem is that I got a non-smoking room but on a smoking floor. It's amazing how sensitive I've become after living in smoke-free states for so long. In my younger years, I had a smoking roommate and wasn't bothered by it in the least! But now, it really bugs me. We'll see how I do - if I can't shake it, I guess I can always request a new room. But this room has a nice view of the harbor, complete with big schooner (or is it a sloop? I can't remember all my sailing ships - it's got three masts, the back one shorter than the others) and cruise ship. I didn't bring my camera since they're not allowed into the show (not that I seem to be posting ANY pictures lately - sorry 'bout that!).

Owen, of course, woke up when I got up and screamed his head off as I was leaving. He's fine now (I of course called the second I got off the plane to make sure everyone was still alive), but it made it extra hard to leave. I've never been away from Owen overnight, and I haven't been away from Sydney for this long since she was a baby. I miss my kiddos! I'm trying to sit back and enjoy the silence (how nice to sit on a plane without having to entertain anyone but myself! How nice to sit in a hotel room without having to worry about someone making a long-distance call or sticking a fork into the electrical outlet!).

Okay, enough procrastinating. I'm off to see what all the fuss is about! I'll send in another post from the front when I get a chance. Yee-haw!

I'm getting excited!

I leave for TNNA at 6:40 am on Saturday (thank you, Alaska Airlines, for moving me to a flight that leaves four hours earlier than the one I booked without asking me first). I can't wait to go to the show, now that my worries about Owen are somewhat dissuaded... One of the things I'm most excited about is flying on a plane by myself. I don't think I've done that since I had children (certainly not since I had Owen). I have two whole hours to do whatever I want, without having to feed anyone or entertain anyone (or keep anyone from kicking the back of the seat in front of them or screaming at the top of their lungs for no reason). I can read, or knit, or sit and stare into space. Heaven!

I also took a huge step in my athletic "career" on Sunday and ponied up my $90 to register for the 2007 Portland Marathon. I ran my first 10k that morning and was still coming off the high of running 6.2 miles without dying. Even though it was pouring rain, and there were some walkers who walked faster than I was running, I still felt great when I finished. It's so empowering to run that far and feel like you could keep going forever. I can't imagine what it will be like to finish a marathon. My next goal is to run the Shamrock 15k in March and possibly a half marathon in April (if not in April, then definitely in July). I am ridiculously slow (it took me an hour and 21 minutes to run the 10k, which is about 13:30 per mile - again, I was being passed by walkers, which is rather humiliating), but I totally love it when I'm able to shut out everyone else and only worry about what I'm doing (yet again, ignoring the walkers as they pass me).

The biggest frustration I have with all this running I'm doing is that it feels like I should be melting off pounds with all the exercise, but I'm not. If I can get back down to my pre-Sydney weight, it will be like shedding a Sydney (as in, right now I've got an extra 30+ lbs on me and so it's like I'm running with her on my back - or rather, on my midriff...). So that's my 2nd New Year's resolution - #1 is to run the marathon (or I should say finish the marathon, since I don't necessarily feel the need to run the entire way), #2 is to lose a Sydney's-worth of weight before the marathon. I am lousy at keeping resolutions, even though Bill and I faithfully make them every year, but these two I really want to plug away at.

Speaking of plugging away, I'm still working on the Classic Elite projects which are due at the end of the month, and I've got some submissions to send out. Chug, chug, chug!

We made it!

Looks like I will be going next weekend - Owen (and Bill) survived an entire night without mommy last night. And it wasn't even too bad, apart from the initial hour-long sobfest at the beginning of the night. He snapped out of it finally, snuggled up with Bill and fell asleep. He had a couple more incidents at 4 and 5:30 but recovered pretty quickly. He sure was happy to see me this morning, though!

In other good news, I just got another sock design accepted for the Winter '07 issue of Interweave Knits! Yay! I love getting any acceptance, but Interweave is the frosting on the cake for me. I just love thinking of my humble little designs next to those of Kate Gilbert, Annie Modesitt and Debbie Bliss.

I've got some pics to share with you all, but that will have to wait for another day. Right now I need to figure out how to convince Sydney that candy is a special treat and not a meal. I've explained it a hundred times but she remains skeptical.

I think I can, I think I can...

So, I really want to go to TNNA. With all the talk about the show and stuff I've been doing lately, it just seems like the right time to attend so I can at least see what it's all about. It's possible that I would be ready to exhibit in June (although more likely I'd wait until next January), but not if I've never been to a show. So we are trying again with Owen, despite last weekend's disastrous results.

He's upstairs crying right now, so I'm trying to distract myself by blogging. The cat is helping by grabbing my arm with her paws so she can lick it more vigorously. Her favorite hobby is licking my fingers and sticking her butt in my face while I'm trying to type. Such a charming animal.

It's nights like this when I curse Dr. Sears and all of his attachment parenting hoo-hah. I mean, most almost-2-year-olds sleep in their own room, without needing to be coddled five times a night. But no, not mine! We're too busy bonding. I refused to do the cry-it-out method with either of my kids (granted Sydney was a champion sleeper almost from birth, so it was never an issue), and I just need to keep reminding myself that Owen crying while Bill's holding him isn't the same as leaving him by himself to cry it out. It makes all of us miserable, but I doubt it will do any lasting damage (as long as Bill and I can keep ourselves from throwing him out the window). I am so ready to be done with the waking up at night thing. I haven't slept more than 4 hours at a time in nearly two years! It's amazing what your body can get used to...

In GYW news, I sent a bunch of patterns off to Knot Another Hat this week. I believe she's going to be offering them on her website as well as in the shop, so go check it out if you want some yarn along with your patterns (Sarah has great taste in yarn and offers free shipping on orders over $50). I'm also expecting a delivery of yarn for sock kits from Lavender Sheep very soon. She dyed up some lovely colorways inspired by two of the natural wonders in Oregon - Mt. Hood and the Columbia River (and you can get sneak peeks at them on her blog). I've got patterns to go with each of them which should be ready by the end of January.

Finally, I decided to offer my Plush Footies pattern for free download. You'll still need to create an account to download, but the pattern is in the same format as my for-sale patterns and will give you a good idea of what my patterns are like if you want to try before you buy. I am offering it though my shopping cart to help discourage plagiarists and those who search the net for free patterns that they can chop up and sell off as their own (which is something that happens all the time these days, sadly - there have been patterns from Knitty that people sold on Ebay as part of compilations of stolen free patterns). But I hope the trade-off is worth it since you'll get a nicely formatted, edited and tested pattern in exchange.

Wow, the boy is still crying. He is determined not to let me go next weekend, isn't he? We'll see how long Bill can take it. I'm going to go watch TV with the volume up loud and knit some lace.

Get an inside look!

Twice a year, The National Needlearts Association (TNNA) has a big trade show where new yarns are announced, new patterns and books are introduced, and all sorts of yarny fun goes on. I am all set to go to the next one, coming up in a couple of weeks, but I'm coming to the realization that Owen just isn't ready to have me leave him for two nights. Sigh. I was getting very excited and had even planned to meet up with Jill & Susan Wolcott (the Y2Knit goddesses) for dinner in addition to putting many names to faces at the Association of Knitwear Designers meeting. Not to mention just wandering the show floor, checking out the new yarns and hobnobbing with yarn companies, publishers and other knitting celebrities (okay, more likely I'd be staring at them in awe from a distance, worried I'd make a complete idiot of myself if I tried to talk to them - kind of like the first time I spoke to Pam Allen on the phone...). I was also planning to take a class from Shannon Okey on alternative fiber yarns, something the environmentalist in me is very interested in. I am not canceling my reservations yet, but it's not looking good for me (as you can see from the last sentence of this post).

A few of the designers who will have their work available at TNNA are giving everyone an inside peek, however, for all of us poor folks who can't attend the show. It's meant to build excitement so retailers will buy designs at the show, but it's in the form of a group blog that anyone can access. If you're dying to see some of the newest patterns that will hit the market (as well as some classics that you may not have seen yet), head on over to yarnandthread.com and check it out. If you see something you absolutely must have, tell your LYS owner to pick it up at the show. In Portland, anyway, pretty much all the LYSes send folks to the trade shows. Posts will continue to be added all the way up to the show, so keep checking back to see more good stuff.

My personal favorites are Knitting at KNoon's Shizuka sweater (which she calls the "good-butt sweater" - gotta love that!), Heartstring Fiber Arts' Scotch Thistle Lace Stole and Phoenix Bess's Rainbow Back Pack. BTW - Phoenix Bess is a 14-year old phenom who has some really fun, fresh designs. If you're into stitching, there are a few "thread artists" on the blog as well.

For me, this is a fascinating look into the world of TNNA and pattern publishing. I'm not quite ready to have my own booth yet, but I'm hoping maybe next year I will be. Hope you all had a great New Year's (our New Year's Eve consisted of Owen screaming for an hour and a half in Bill's arms starting at 2 am while we tried our trial separation from mom for the night...)!