Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Too bad I don’t have enough time to tell you how much fun we had
Yesterday, Sharon, Ginger, Jen, and I went to the Prism Yarn Fun Factory, and two yarn stores in the area (Uncommon Threads and Fiber Arts). I wish I had enough time to tell you what a great time we had, but ... I don’t. And I hardly took any photos. HAHAHAHAH why do you even read this blog, when I tease you so...? Here are some random photos that will make you want to come to my house, fold my laundry, fix my dinner, clean my catboxes, and vacuum my carpets, to free me up and enable me to write a recap.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
One for tha knittas
If you were on - or wanted to be on - the September bandwagon and you feel like knitting a pair of socks in March (and you haven’t been checking the forums lately), you should drop me a line.
Sunday, November 04, 2007
Rhinebeck 2007: Day Five
The last day, the journey home.
(click to embiggen)
Things that I may have forgotten to mention…
Towards the end of the day on Sunday, as things were winding up and they were making announcements over the intercom about the end of the festival, this little boy walked by with his mother. He looked at us with cold dead eyes, and I guess he was imitating the intercom because he intoned, deadpan, “the eeeeeeeend is niiiiiiiigh.” We all burst into uncontrollable laughter, due to the scene in 28 Days Later where “the end is extremely fucking nigh” is scribbled on the wall of a church filled with zombies. Zombie children at play, anyone?! Then we were driving back from Rhinebeck on Sunday, we passed two kids playing by the side of the road. They were waving at cars, but they were doing some sort of odd, scarecrow, broken-arm looking wave wherein the arm stuck straight out and then dangled down at the elbow. OMGZ! More zombie children at play! Sophia shouts out “that must be the town wave!” and once again a car full of knitters was reduced to helpless, hiccup-and-pee-inducing laughter. We are so easily amused.
I had packed a duffle bag inside of my suitcase, so that we could stuff our purchases inside and get them back without worrying about shipping. AHAHAHAHAHA. Like all of that’s going to fit. OK, so that’s for seven people. But still. Even narrowing it down to the four of us flying home to Gainesville, there was just no way it was going to happen. Fortunately, Beth and Joe lent us a body bag golf bag, wherein we stuffed three fleeces and about twenty more pounds of various fibers. I still can’t believe Ginger got all of it in there. That woman is a goddess. We were all very relieved that he didn’t bust a seam on the trip. Especially once we stuffed him in the car. We just had a vision of him busting open and the car quickly filling with loose fleece and roving and none of us being able to get a window down in time. Heh.
Anyway, I’m sure there’s more that I’ve already forgotten, so Knittas, remind me if so! And I am so, so looking forward to next year. We’re pledging to make it an annual event, so mark your calendars. And hide your zombies and fibers!
Thus spoke Lorena on 11/04/07 at 12:36 PM in Crafts, Yarn, Events, Personal, Road Trippin'
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Thursday, November 01, 2007
Rhinebeck 2007: Day Four
(click to embiggen)
(By the way, I’ve been making these completely fabulous movie posters using fd’s flickr toys at Big Huge Labs. I think this one is my favorite so far.)
Day four photos are here. Jacquie and Betharoopie have their photos available too; here are Jacquie’s and here are Betharoopie’s. Yay! Good times, y’all! It still feels so natural to have spent the weekend, that it’s hard to believe our families don’t vacation together like this all the time.
One day left to go…
Thus spoke Lorena on 11/01/07 at 06:20 PM in Crafts, Yarn, Events, Personal, Road Trippin'
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Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Rhinebeck 2007: Day Three
(click to embiggen)
Snapshots from the day… nine people showering and getting out of the house before 9 AM with no psychodrama… Tim Horton’s coffee… sitting up so high in the minivan that when we passed other cars I could look down and see passengers knitting… parking right by the entrance… having to take our bags out to the car even before lunchtime… “This must be the Ravelry group; the median age just dropped about twenty years"… “Is that Sweater Project guy?” ... meeting Jacquie and Sophia’s wonderful Toronto friends… “I don’t care how good the fried artichokes are, I am so not standing in that line"… touching everyone’s fiber and wanting to go find some similar of your own… “Is that Sweater Project guy?” ... so is the punkin chuckin today or tomorrow?… “where is that Maple Cotton Candy I heard about?!” ... getting separated and being okay with it, because we will always meet up near the beer vendor… meeting Liz, who wore the shawl I made for her… “Is that Sweater Project guy?” ... so very tired, but so very happy… “you shout out Sweater Project, see if he turns around! No, you do it! I’m not gonna do it! YOU do it! SWEATER PROJECT!—holy shit, he turned around! Act cool!” ... going to the Morehouse Merino after-party… “what fork in the ro-- holy crap, there’s a fork in the road! It’s a real fork!"… Beth having a little, uhm, issue, with the minivan on our way out… trying to get to the Ravelry after-after party and thinking that Google Maps was trying to kill us by luring us onto Main Street, if Main Street was perhaps in a city in which everyone had died twenty years before and been turned into flesh-eating zombies… nothing but boarded-up houses and an honest-to-god sign that read “children at play”; leading us to believe that perhaps as the town had CLEARLY been deserted due to a zombie apocalypse, perhaps they were ZOMBIE CHILDREN AT PLAY… the one house with no boarded up windows had a creeeeepy dude on a cell phone sitting on his front porch watching us drive by… “turn on Hooker street? Are you serious? HOOKER street?!” ... “I haven’t seen Hooker, but there’s John Street!"… “I wouldn’t want a zombie hooker anyway!"… and suddenly the road narrows after a turn and the trees come right to the road and the sign says that Main Street turns into (and I swear you can’t make this shit up) Devil’s Lake Road… we are all laughing almost too hard to breathe, and I’m shouting “we are so not going down this road, I’ve seen this movie and it does NOT turn out well!"… but eventually all is well and we find the after-after party, drink, eat, knit, make friends, have a good time… and eventually stagger back to Beth and Joe’s to do the whole thing all over again the next day.
Life? Is good.
Thus spoke Lorena on 10/30/07 at 01:47 PM in Crafts, Yarn, Events, Personal, Road Trippin'
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Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Rhinebeck 2007: Day Two
Getting to hang out with these people was such a gift, which I think I said yesterday. But it bears repeating. Getting up and hearing a house full of laughter? Pot after pot of coffee as we lounge on the porch and leisurely take turns with getting showered and dressed? Going to the most awesome fiber mill on the planet, Montgomery Mills? And then going to OCC, and the shop? Followed by a dinner so large that Joe and Beth may never make it through the leftovers? And all the time, full of laughter and getting each others obscure movie and music references (I swear that Sophia and I may have been separated at birth). Yes; it bears repeating. Life could get no better than this last weekend. And the fiber festival hadn’t even started yet!
(click to embiggen!)
Beth and Joe? We may need to look into renting out some rooms in the bed and breakfast down the road next year. I think our group may double, at least. Hee hee hee.
Thus spoke Lorena on 10/24/07 at 07:03 PM in Crafts, Yarn, Events, Personal, Road Trippin'
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Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Rhinebeck 2007: Day One
I am far too tired to try to put into words the absolute joy that was experienced by meeting these wonderful people in person. At one point someone - I believe it was Jacquie - mentioned that our first meeting felt so natural that it was hard to believe we hadn’t been doing this every weekend for years. Spending the weekend with these Damn Good People was a gift, and it would have been even if there had been no fiber festival. Them’s just Good Folks.
(click to embiggen and enjoy the fun that is this poster)
Thus spoke Lorena on 10/23/07 at 11:24 PM in Crafts, Yarn, Events, Personal, Road Trippin'
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Sunday, October 21, 2007
Too bad we didn’t have any fun this weekend.
Thus spoke Lorena on 10/21/07 at 07:42 PM in Crafts, Yarn, Events, Stash Acquisition, Personal, Road Trippin'
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Three trips to the car, plus one extra
(The first trip to the car)
(The second trip to the car)
(The third trip to the car)
(The after party at Morehouse Merino)
This weekend is MADE OF WIN!
Thus spoke Lorena on 10/21/07 at 07:41 AM in Crafts, Yarn, Events, Personal, Road Trippin'
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Sunday, October 14, 2007
It’s hip to be square!
Hahaha! That never gets old. Hai! I’m twelve!
I think I may have forgotten to mention (mind like a steel sieve these days and all) but I am a square in Rhinebeck Blogger Bingo 2007. So look for me! Hopefully my official tote bag will be in before we leave Thursday morning (apparently it has already been to the Gainesville post office, but then got re-routed to Pensacola and is now in Jacksonville. WTF is up with my bad shipping karma these days?!)… and if it doesn’t get here, then I’ll improvise.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Mind’s Eye Yarns
A couple of years ago, Jag took me to this great little yarn shop in Cambridge, Mind’s Eye Yarns. I have been obsessed with her hand-dyed sock yarn ever since then, and was over the moon last year when she decided to have a sock yarn club. I am even more over the moon that she’s doing it again! I seriously, highly, enthusiastically recommend her yarn. It’s a merino/tencel blend, and is just so shiny and pretty-- it appeals to both my affinity for string and my love of sparklies. So here’s a plug for this year’s sock club. I’m not affiliated with her shop in any way (as a matter of fact, this is not even a yarn that we’re going to carry in our shop). I’m just a highly satisfied customer who can’t recommend a great product enough!
Here are some photos of her yarns that I’ve purchased, and what I’ve knit with it so far.
WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Perhaps today *is* a good day to dye
If you get the title, I love you.
(click to get to flickr set)
Yesterday a group of us went out to Troy Spring with our spinning wheels, our knitting, our bathing suits, and a will to dye some yarn. We had a fantastic time, and plan to make this a regular event! A great time was had by all, and most of us stayed after to have dinner with Amy (who made the most awesome, bad-ass chili. Seriously, she could give Uncle Joe a run for his money!). Thank you, Amy, for letting us descend on your park! We can’t wait until next time!
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Yarn Pr0n ahead!
Saturday we went to Chez Casuelle for the last time. Carla is closing her doors; passing the torch on to Linda (who is a hoot!) and she will be moving the shop to Tampa.
1. Cast on!, 2. Road trip knitting, 3. Stash Enhancement, 4. Stash Enhancement, 5. Stash Enhancement, 6. Stash Enhancement, 7. Stash Enhancement, 8. Stash Enhancement, 9. The Three Knitateers, 10. Stash Enhancement, 11. Stash Enhancement, 12. Drunken Knitters (try not to look surprised), 13. Teensy burgers, 14. Party!, 15. Stash Enhancement
We had a great time; took two cars we had so many people (thank you, Tim, for driving our carload—especially through that torrential downpour) and of course met up with Lynn and had lunch at Ramshackles! We were able to take Carla with us for lunch and… we just love her to pieces. We had heard that she was moving to Chicago, but there is good news! She gets to commute, so she’s not leaving the area. Which means that there will be the Official Carla Chair at Hanks, so that she - and hopefully Lynn (can we bribe you with your own chair too?) - can come up and hang out at our yarn store. We hope she feels right at home.
Good times, y’all. Good times!
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Saturday’s child works hard for a living
Monday’s child is fair of face,
Tuesday’s child is full of grace,
Wednesday’s child is full of woe,
Thursday’s child has far to go.
Friday’s child is loving and giving,
Saturday’s child works hard for a living,
But the child born on the Sabbath Day,
Is fair and wise and good and gay.
- Mother Goose
I’ve never been one to shy away from hard work. Oh, there are things that I don’t like to do but do anyway (anyone remember the time the bathroom at B&N had an unfortunate meeting with some Mexican food that had not agreed with a customer, the same day that there was a power outage and we had no water?), and there are things that I get bored doing but do anyway (mmm, box archiving and endless data entry, wheee!), and there are even a few things that I will even go so far as to drag my heels or downright turn down doing if I think they are going to be even more hellish than I want to put myself through (hello, Ocilla report, and your 80 pages of statistics!). But I’ve never been one to shy away just because someone says “this is going to be hard.” I’m a Saturday’s child.
Thus spoke Lorena on 07/25/07 at 07:11 AM in Crafts, Yarn, Events, Personal, Navel Gazing, Work, Working outside the home
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Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Same Bat time, different Bat channel
The Gainesville Stitch ‘n’ Bitch is moving!
Starting this Sunday, July 15th, we will be meeting at the regular time (2-4:30) at Books-a-Million on NW 13th Street. We will be in the area near the magazine racks.
Books-a-Million (map)
2601 NW 13th St, Gainesville
(352) 338-7297
It’s not the end of the world, but it’s not fantastic, either
Chez Casuelle is closing it’s doors in Leesburg. We have had some good times there. Really good times. Great times, even.
We wish Carla all the best with her new endeavors, and hope that once Linda gets things back up and running in Tampa, to take a road trip. I hope we don’t scare her!
Sunday, June 10, 2007
World Wide Knit in Public Day 2007
(clicky to get to photo album)
A fine time was had by all!
Edited to add that Denise blogged the day here. Check it out!
Monday, June 04, 2007
World Wide Knit In Public Day 2007
What: World-Wide Knit In Public Day
When: Saturday June 9, 2007; 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Where: At the Oaks Mall (or as we like to say, “The Maul") in the seating area in front of Macy’s (same as last year).
Who: All Gainesville Knitters!
Thus spoke Lorena on 06/04/07 at 06:27 AM in Crafts, Yarn, Events, Gainesville
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Sunday, May 13, 2007
Previous Secret Pals
I’ve kept in touch with both my spoilees from Secret Pals 8 and 9, and I just wanted to pass on a couple of things to y’all--
My spoilee from Secret Pal 8, Maylin, could really use some positive thoughts right now. Her son has just been diagnosed with leukemia. We’re all rooting for your son to fight this, dearheart. Can I get another rousing shout of FUCK CANCER?!
My spoilee from Secret Pal 9, Liz The Crazed Weasel, is going to come to Rhinebeck! I GET TO MEET HER IN PERSON! I hope that she brings the shawl; we can get a picture of us together. Well, I’d get a picture of us together regardless.
Speaking of Rhinebeck-- it’s been mentioned in the comments, I think, but… Sharon, Kelly, Jacquie, and Sophia and I are going to descend upon Beth and Joe. Hee hee hee. Poor, poor Joe. He may never be the same. Hee hee hee.
Thus spoke Lorena on 05/13/07 at 12:36 PM in Crafts, Yarn, Events, Secret Pal, Secret Pal 8, Secret Pal 9
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Thursday, May 03, 2007
knitting plus tea equals teh goodness
Knitters Tea Swap 3 signups start on Sunday. Just sayin’, if you like yarn. And tea. And swaps. 
