The Week+ In Review

September has been quite the whirlwind. Last I left you all, I was off on a trip to St. Louis. I was gone for 3 days, which isn't all that long, but long enough to unsettle the schedule. I was originally suppose to be gone longer, but Mom responsibilities called and Steve had to travel to Manhattan to speak at the Big Apple Knitters Guild Annual Luncheon. He didn't take any pictures, but I sure would've liked to have been a fly on the wall watching him and 87 knitters!

I left again last Tuesday to head to Cleveland for the second season taping of Knitting Daily TV. I was pretty nervous when we went for the taping last April, but this time was much less stressful. Steve once again stayed home. We've been away so much this year we really felt we couldn't leave the boys again unless it was necessary for us both to be somewhere. In this case it wasn't.

I was met at the airport by the lovely Shannon Okey, who was kind enough to give me a bit of a lift. It was greatly appreciated given that I did not have time to ship all of the "stuff" for my segments in advance so I had one huge suitcase with yarn and props for seven segments along with a second smaller bag packed with seven different outfits. I was also carrying with me yarn that she was in need of for a rush project, so the helping hands worked both ways! Thanks Shannon - great to see you!

I went directly to the studios to prep for my segments and then the next day was taping day!

I did take a few snapshots to share. Here's Liz Gipson and Eunny Jang prepping in the "Green Room" - it really is green.

Here's Shay Pendray working a project in between segments. She is one of the loveliest people I have ever met.

Here's Kim Werker on set prepping for a segment with producer Kathy.

It was great fun to do the TV thing again, but I was equally happy to head for home again.

The night before I left for Cleveland, the WEBS crew gathered for a surprise shower for Mary. I was in charge of carrying out the cover story and getting her to the restaurant on-time. She thought we were meeting our designer and one of our printers for dinner to discuss business. When we walked into the retaurant, she instead found this:

She was completely surprised and we had a lovely celebration. The wedding is only 3 weeks away and we're excited to share in her special day!

I flew home from Cleveland in time to record this week's podcast which featured Norah Gaughan! She was in town for a store appearance that night so it was the perfect opportunity to have her back on the show. I was a little delirious from the traveling and started out the interview by calling one of Berroco's yarns by the wrong name. Consumate professional - yep, that's me.

We finished the recording and Steve and I headed over to UMass to make a presentation to a marketing class. It was great fun but a little tough since Steve had written the presentation while I was gone. I think we muddled through pretty well.

Then it was back to the store to prep for the event with Norah. As exhausted as I was, the event was GREAT! We had many of the Fall '08 garments on hand and most in two sizes.

Our sales rep Andra and Berroco Designer (and former WEBS staffer) Cirilia modeled:

I picked this picture in particular because of the garment. I apologize that the shot is a bit blurry. This is Assemblage from NGV3 (Norah Gaughan Book volume 3). Norah explained that initially she had envisioned this cardigan with a wrap that would attach. She brought along the piece and attached it for us to see the look. I love Assemblage as is, but I like it this way too! It's knit in Pure Merino DK.

I am also including this picture of Portrait (knit in Inca Gold), also found in NGV3 for a reason.

The design inspiration for this garment is a knitted cable. Norah, with the help of Margery, pixelated what a knitted cable looks like and incorporated it into this design. When I first saw this garment, I did not see the cable. In fact, depending on the person, it has a sort of "hologram" effect as different people see different things. Now that we know what it is, it's clear as day. That Norah, she's a smart cookie.

I have video from both KDTV and Norah's event, but that's going to take a little more editing time. I will post them soon though!

The remainder of this week was uneventful. All I know Toto "there's no place like home".

Kathy