Wha? Where did the last 10 days go!
I think I've been too obsessed with Twitter lately. Not that I haven't spent plenty of time neglecting my blog in the past, but Twitter kind of lets me get my chattiness out of my system. Not much left over for poor blog.
It has been an eventful week-and-a-half. My lovely girl turned 7 (can't hardly believe it!) on the 20th. We celebrated by going to see the Harlem Globetrotters.
The game was fun, but now that we've done it, I don't feel the need to ever do it again. Sydney was moderately entertained, but Owen was mostly interested in the junk food and trying to climb on the railings in the middle of the aisles. We had a moment of panic when we got there and discovered Bill had grabbed the wrong tickets (he brought our Walking With Dinosaurs tickets, which are for this coming weekend), but fortunately the kind folks at the box office were able to get us replacements. Whew!
In other fun non-work-related news, I signed myself up for an intro-to-curling class at the Lloyd Center Ice Rink. There's a curling league in Portland that practices there a few times a week, and my goal is to get myself into a novice league this spring. I have curled a few times, years ago, back in St. Paul (we went for work team-building events, the brilliant idea of one of our Canadian-born managers who rocked the special curling shoes with one slippery sole and one sticky sole). I'm really excited at the possibility of getting back into it. My grandfather used to curl in Duluth, MN, so it's in my blood!
I also stopped whining about never going skiing and decided to take the bull by the horns. I've realized that I'm an adult with a driver's license and can go skiing any time I want to, right? I bought a new pair of ski boots (something that I've been using as an excuse not to go skiing for years), got my edges tuned and bases waxed, and am ready to hit the slopes. I was going to head up to Timberline today, but they've been getting lots of snow up there and I'm not sure I'm ready to handle chaining up the van tires on my own. I'm thinking of heading to Ski Bowl this afternoon since their night skiing is closer and cheaper (no chains required). It seems silly to pay full fare at Timberline (over $50) when I'm probably only going to be able to handle a couple hours in my current state of out-of-shapeness. We'll see what happens!
As for work, I'm currently feeling over-scheduled and under-motivated. So what else is new? We made a big decision this past week to expand back into the retail pattern business instead of focusing on wholesale-only like we have been for the past few years. I love the idea of wholesale-only, and I like to do everything I can to support local yarn shops, but I'm getting totally overwhelmed with printing, packing and shipping. I need to get back to designing before I totally crash and burn. We'll still be offering patterns to shops who want them but won't be exhibiting at the trade shows anymore and hope to move much more to a digital-only, paperless existence. I'm so sick of ink emergencies and sheet protectors.
To that end, all Gardiner Yarn Works patterns designed by me are now available in the Ravelry pattern store (you'll need a Ravelry login to get there) and will soon be up (hopefully by next week) on the Gardiner Yarn Works website to purchase directly as downloads. It was a tough decision, but such a relief for me. I didn't start designing so I could spend all my time printing, sleeving, packing and shipping!
I'm trying to take a cue from Hot Rod, aka Relaxicat.
If you're still following the blog tour, we've got a few more stops and a few more opportunities to win a copy of Toe-Up! Check out Faina's interview with me over at The Designer's Studio, and visit the bluegirl knits blog later today for a guest post from me where I talk a bit about the stories behind a couple designs and how they got repurposed for the book.
I'm off to mentally prepare myself for skiing tonight. If you're up at Ski Bowl later, I'll be the one trying not to break a leg, make friends with a tree or destroy my ACL!
It has been an eventful week-and-a-half. My lovely girl turned 7 (can't hardly believe it!) on the 20th. We celebrated by going to see the Harlem Globetrotters.
The game was fun, but now that we've done it, I don't feel the need to ever do it again. Sydney was moderately entertained, but Owen was mostly interested in the junk food and trying to climb on the railings in the middle of the aisles. We had a moment of panic when we got there and discovered Bill had grabbed the wrong tickets (he brought our Walking With Dinosaurs tickets, which are for this coming weekend), but fortunately the kind folks at the box office were able to get us replacements. Whew!
In other fun non-work-related news, I signed myself up for an intro-to-curling class at the Lloyd Center Ice Rink. There's a curling league in Portland that practices there a few times a week, and my goal is to get myself into a novice league this spring. I have curled a few times, years ago, back in St. Paul (we went for work team-building events, the brilliant idea of one of our Canadian-born managers who rocked the special curling shoes with one slippery sole and one sticky sole). I'm really excited at the possibility of getting back into it. My grandfather used to curl in Duluth, MN, so it's in my blood!
I also stopped whining about never going skiing and decided to take the bull by the horns. I've realized that I'm an adult with a driver's license and can go skiing any time I want to, right? I bought a new pair of ski boots (something that I've been using as an excuse not to go skiing for years), got my edges tuned and bases waxed, and am ready to hit the slopes. I was going to head up to Timberline today, but they've been getting lots of snow up there and I'm not sure I'm ready to handle chaining up the van tires on my own. I'm thinking of heading to Ski Bowl this afternoon since their night skiing is closer and cheaper (no chains required). It seems silly to pay full fare at Timberline (over $50) when I'm probably only going to be able to handle a couple hours in my current state of out-of-shapeness. We'll see what happens!
As for work, I'm currently feeling over-scheduled and under-motivated. So what else is new? We made a big decision this past week to expand back into the retail pattern business instead of focusing on wholesale-only like we have been for the past few years. I love the idea of wholesale-only, and I like to do everything I can to support local yarn shops, but I'm getting totally overwhelmed with printing, packing and shipping. I need to get back to designing before I totally crash and burn. We'll still be offering patterns to shops who want them but won't be exhibiting at the trade shows anymore and hope to move much more to a digital-only, paperless existence. I'm so sick of ink emergencies and sheet protectors.
To that end, all Gardiner Yarn Works patterns designed by me are now available in the Ravelry pattern store (you'll need a Ravelry login to get there) and will soon be up (hopefully by next week) on the Gardiner Yarn Works website to purchase directly as downloads. It was a tough decision, but such a relief for me. I didn't start designing so I could spend all my time printing, sleeving, packing and shipping!
I'm trying to take a cue from Hot Rod, aka Relaxicat.
If you're still following the blog tour, we've got a few more stops and a few more opportunities to win a copy of Toe-Up! Check out Faina's interview with me over at The Designer's Studio, and visit the bluegirl knits blog later today for a guest post from me where I talk a bit about the stories behind a couple designs and how they got repurposed for the book.
I'm off to mentally prepare myself for skiing tonight. If you're up at Ski Bowl later, I'll be the one trying not to break a leg, make friends with a tree or destroy my ACL!
posted by knittinmom at 11:49 AM
4 Comments:
You'll have to let me know how the kids like the dinos! I SO wanted to go, but this week is just too crazy. We'll have to catch it the next time around.
Great cat picture!
And I hope the skiing was everything you hoped it would be.
Yes to downloads! So much easier than printing and sleeving, and it gives you more time for designing. And skiing!
You Will be the one with absolute glee written all over your face!!! Have a wonderful time.
How very lucky that you are so close to a ski area! Watching the Olympics has made me want to go again but, alas, I live several hours away from the nearest slopes :(
Post a Comment
<< Home