Beach Blanket Blogging

Well - not quite, but almost!

Before I jump into a myriad of items, I want to remind everyone that we are having a great book signing event at the store tomorrow! Starting at 3:00pm, Carol Sulcoski, co-author of Knit So Fine, will be at WEBS signing copies of the book. I am so excited we were able to find a date that worked for both our insane schedules (hers is worse than mine - she has 3 kids!). My only regret is that I'll miss the event! I hope someone remembers to get a book signed for me :) If you are planning to shop tomorrow, come in the afternoon and see Carol. Besides signing copies of her book, I am sure she'd be up for chatting about her blog and Black Bunny Fibers! Have fun Carol!

Why am I missing this event you ask? We are off on Steve and Kathy's Excellent Adventure - part 2. We've made our way to the lovely gulf shores of Florida, J1 & J2 in tow this itme around. We're here for Convergence - the bi-annual weaving tradeshow. For those of you who are knitters, Convegence is the equivalent of Stitches. The venue changes each year, as local guilds are key to hosting the show. This year, the Florida Tropical Weavers Guild stepped up to take on the challenge and Tampa Convention Center is the location. The show is open to the public through tomorrow. There are all sorts of cool weaving stuff, yarn, etc., but there are also lots of gorgeous finished goods and ancillary products. If you are in the area, stop by the show! For us, this is a nice combination of business trip and family vacation.

You may have read yesterday's post by Kirsten. I realized over the last few weeks that despite my good intentions and best efforts I could not keep up with the blog as effectively as I would like. I also think that we have so many things happening at the store and in the business, that my perspective alone can be somewhat limiting. Kirsten is an exceptional knitter. I have seen her walk around, knitting lace AND chewing gum! All joking aside, she is incredibly talented and will bring a lot to the blog. Plus, she's got a wry sense of humor that I hope you will all enjoy!

I've also enlisted our Store Manager Karen to join us here on the blog as well. With my crazy schedule, there are cool things happening and I miss them, which means you miss them too! Karen is an extraordinary knitter in her own right as well. I'm excited to be able to shae more in the way of new yarns, customer projects, etc.

No worries though - you aren't getting rid of me that easily. I love the blog.

On the trip down here, I worked on the Staghorn Cabled Tunic - a brand new design featured in our latest catalog. It has been receiving rave reviews in the store and both Pixie and Iove it. Here's where I am at so far:

I am using our Valley Yarns Northampton, which is the recommended yarn. I choose the dark grey colorway since I'm pretty much a zebra when it comes to dressing myself.

When reading patterns, I am very literal and need everything spelled out for me. I think it's partly how I learn, but I also think i stems from my crochet background, where patterns are basically spelled out row by row. Love that!

I am really enjoying the pattern and hope to make good progress over the next week or so.

On the vacation side of this trip, I have a couple of cute pictures to share. First up - the only way to fly:

J2 is cuddled in with "Barky". Barky was a prize I won for him last year at Busch Gardens. He decided since we were coming back to Barky's hometown, he should be allowed to come along on the trip. Both boys are big stuffed animal kids and we always have at least one friend along on any trip, but a 36" stuffed dog seemed a bit much. I obviously lost that battle.

Secondly, the person who is taking care of our room is obviously a Mom. Who else would be sure each of the animals had their own chocolate each night?

Lastly, here is J1 standing along side Scorpion. This is the sane reasonable child in this scenario.

Wondering where J2 is in this scenario? He's here:

He came off smiling and telling our sitter it wasn't so bad and asking if she was okay.

Kathy