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

Catching Up - Yet Again

I know - when am I not catching up on posts? I really need someone to figure out how to add a 25th hour to the day, at a minimum. Or maybe I need to slow down? What makes me feel better is that in reading other blogs and talking to friends and such, I am not alone. I think we're all running harder, in more varying directions than ever before.

Take the fact that it's Memorial Day Weekend. I swear, we were just in Orlando in Florida. That was 2 months ago, but it feels like last week. The boys are done with school in just a couple of weeks - they will officially become 2nd and 4th graders. We won't even broach how that has happend. Especially given I had the chance over the past few days to hang with a couple of moms with new bambinos (more on that later).

So, I still owe you more info on the SWTC yarns. I've got my notes, but honestly, I don't feel like chatting about yarn right now (sorry Joe & Jonelle). I promise I will give you the low down on their great new products soon. There are lots of other bits and pieces I'd like to get taken care of in this post.

1. The day before the tent sale was our shoot for the Valley Yarns Catalog. I love doing the shoots and the VY one is always a favorite. What fun to showcase our yarns and designs! It's always a busy day and organization is key:

Thanks to Mary and Penny for keeping us on track!

For this shoot, I decided we would work with two models. I always struggle with the look and variety of the shots. We were privileged to have the lovely Cirilia once again agreeing to model for us. Our own KT, who also models, was both willing and available for the shoot as well. One of the concerns I always have in terms of "look" is the age factor. We tend to strive for that "ageless" look. I was a bit nervous that Cirilia and KT's youthful beauty might not be quite right for us, but I am just thrilled with how the shots came out! I can't wait to share the final catalog with all of you. Until it's ready, here are a few behind the scenes shots:

2. After the tent sale, I headed to Orlando for a conference. It was a learning opportunity for me, but I was also a speaker on a panel. Talk about a reality check! This was not a yarn conference - so I wasn't exactly with my people. Needless to say, there was a lot to take in and more than a few nerves prior to the presentation. Fortunately all went well and there was even a knitter in the audience!

3. Came home from the conference, got life a bit under control (how do two small boys and one dad produce SO MUCH LAUNDRY in just a couple of days?). Then it was off to visit our friends Iris and Elliot at Artyarns. We had never been to their studio/offices before so this was a real treat. I only took a few shots, as I didn't want to share too much of their operation. Look at this luscious yarn:

4. Got into the store on Friday morning to find an email from Brooklyn Tweed! Yes - THAT Brooklyn Tweed! He was going to making a visit to the store with Jess from Ravelry and Adrianne from Hello Yarn "tomorrow" which I read as Saturday. It was only a couple of hours later when I found them in the store:

Tomorrow really meant "today" since Jared sent the email on Thursday evening. It was great fun to meet him, especially after having interviewed him on the podcast.

5. After reading Brooklyn's email and getting myself all excited I could barely stand it when I got an email titled "Coming to WEBS" - from none other than January One herself!! I've been a HUGE fan of her blog for quite awhile and although I've had the opportunity to speak with her I'd never met her. So yesterday after J2's little league game, I zipped down to the store to spend some time with her and her beautiful Meli:

The pictures she posts of her on her blog are spectacular, but this is one of the most gorgeous babies I have ever seen and as good as the pictures are, there's nothing like seeing her in person. Seriously. I told Cara that she needs to hook Meli up wth Lexie Barnes' son "C", who is too cute for his own good as well.

Along the way of this past week, I got my first serious dose of him when Lexie came into visit and not only is he cute, he's charming. It's great fun to enjoy all of these babies and not have all of the work associated with them. As overwhelming as it is at times that J1 and J2 are getting so big, I love every milestone they achieve, I love their independence and I love that they can't call it a day until I've tucked them in and done "acts" with the stuffed animal of choice for the night's cuddle.

6. To top of the blog-tastic week that was at WEBS, Steve and I interviewed Carol from goknitinyourhat.blogspot.com for this week's show! She is also a fave blogger of mine and is the co-author of a faboo new book, Knit So Fine. Check out the podcast and more importantly the book! Carol will be coming to WEBS in June for a book signing. Date to be announced so stayed tuned!

So now it's Memorial Day weekend. We completely missed Mass Sheep and Wool, which is causing me some guilt. I love going and feel we need to support the event as much as possible since many of the folks involved support us. Unfortunately, we can't be everywhere and a big breakfast at home with the family took priority this year.

Enjoy the unofficial start of summer - it's my favorite time of year :)

Kathy