Archives for October 2006

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And the winners are . . .

Published on 27 Oct 2006 at 12:48 am. 15 Comments.
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Jon and I drew the winners for Rhinebeck Blogger Bingo! Without further ado, here they are:

 

A skein of Scout’s faBoo Socktober sock yarn goes to Karen from Musings of a (mostly) Self-Taught Knitter

 

Ten skeins of Classic Elite Follies from Melanie goes to Ann of Annie Knits

 

Five Skeins of Alpaca with a Twist’s Big Baby from A Craftsman’s Touch Alpaca Co. goes to Amy of Crazy Lanea (please note that I left it in the sealed bag, unfondled. I do have will power after all! Go me!)

 

Knit and Planty’s very clever Gettin’ Knit Together Kit goes to Anjeanette from PURLEWE 

 

A skein of autumnal lovliness from Briar Rose Fiber goes to Kris of Kris Crafts! (Must. Remember. Will. Power. Must stop wondering if she’d notice if I replaced it with Red Heart and kept it for myself.)
 

 

A klassy alpaca tie knit by yours truly using a pattern from the MOKS book goes to Jenny at Eat.Knit.Sleep. (Jenny, I swear I’ll weave in the ends before sending it!)

 

A $25 Gift card from the best Little Barn around goes to Susan, aka Ringer at WormSoup

 

A signed copy of The Museum of Kitschy Stitches goes to Anne at Sittin ‘n Knittin

 

A skein of something lucious from Carol, the proprietor of Black Bunny Fiber goes to Heather at paperclips

 

Sock yarn from Carole’s private reserve goes to Carolyn of see kay craft. I can’t wait to see what vintage Carole chooses! 

 

 

The drawing for players who found everyone on their bingo card was really easy. Only one person managed to do it! 

A $25 Gift card from the best Little Barn around goes to Melissa C., who is blogless . . . for the moment. Let’s send her some peer pressure vibes, shall we? Nice work Melissa!

 

Congratulations everyone! Thanks for playing, I can’t wait until next year’s game!

 

Read ‘And the winners are . . .’

Holy crap!

Published on 25 Oct 2006 at 11:27 pm. 14 Comments.
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Oh my stars, I haven’t done the drawing yet! OK, I’m going to do it tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon. If you managed to find everyone on your card, please let me know so you can be in a second drawing. Everyone who signed up is automatically entered in the main drawing. I need to figure out the best way to do this thing. I think I’ll have the hubby pick out some random numbers. Everyone is listed in a nice, color-coded excel spreadsheet, so I think that’ll work well. I have 10 prizes to give away. I’ve gotten to fondle four of them, and those were pretty darned good.

Rhinebeck has been over for days and I’m still exhausted. I can actually feel the bags under my eyes. But what a blast it was! I spent most of my time at the booth signing books, but I did venture out now and again. I made it to the blogger meetup on Saturday and it just cracked me up to see everyone running to a fro with their bingo cards. I feel like I gave everyone homework. I guess I did. But I was delighted to see everyone having such a good time. I met loads of people and still didn’t get to say hi to everyone who was playing. I feel like I missed a lot this year. There were people I meant to look for at the festival and I missed Carole’s Winebeck party. I bought wine and everything. It was Pinot Grigio called “Ciao Bella” and the label featured a lady wearing what I decided was a wool sweater and hand knit beret. I also ended up falling asleep early on Saturday night and missed out on an evening with fellow Rhinebeckestonians in the lobby of the hotel. I also didn’t make it to the Morehouse Merino event on Saturday night. Geez, I’m no spring chicken, I’ll tell you what.
 
But it was lovely to play the Diva and make everyone come to me. Not a lot of Divas put out cookies, but I did lapse into Whitney Houston mode and started referring to people as “Bobbaayyy!” for a while. Next year, Kellee, Elisa, Maryse, and Melanie are demanding MOKS Staff t-shirts. I think I shall comply. Maryse was my sherpa on Saturday morning. She helped me lug four heavy boxes of book to the grounds. Kellee was my handler on Sunday afternoon to make sure I had some time to shop a little before getting back to the booth to do more signing. Melanie and Elisa were my unwavering supporters, and they lounged with me on Saturday night so I didn’t feel bad staying in.

David and Mel, who ran the booth where I was stationed, where just as adorable as can be. I actually really missed them when I got back to work on Tuesday. Monday is a blur. I was catatonic for most of the day. I think I got over socialized. I had signings in NJ and NY from Wednesday through Sunday, so I did a lot of driving (and getting lost) and met a lot of people and  . . . well, you know how when you pet a cat for too long and they all of a sudden start biting you and kicking you with their back feet? I started to feel like that. Waaaay overstimulated. I almost went bunny feet, you guys!

All the signings went really well. I finally got the hang of it and now that I don’t use notes, it’s lot less stressful. If I forget to say something, it’s no biggie, I just think of something else. Easy peasy. I ended up blowing a bunch of my Rhinebeck budget at the yarn stores I visited before getting to Rhinebeck. I’ll take photos in the next couple of days and tell you about the places I visited and the stuff I got. October has been a crazy month to say the very least. And it’s not over yet! I’ll be at the Elegant Ewe in Concord, NH on 10/28 at 1:00. Drop by if you’re in the neighborhood!

My heartfelt thanks go out to everyone who played bingo, stopped by to see me at the signings, have left comments and been so supportive. It really means a lot to get the amazing feedback that I do. I often get too busy to respond to everyone or spend as much time as I’d like with people, but just know that I really do appreciate everyone’s well wishes and good thoughts! Thank you!!

And now that bingo is over (for this year), I’ll actually have a bit of time to do some non-bingo-related blogging! Wheee! I actually have some stuff to show you, too! I just need to catch up a little at my day job first . . . (famous last words if I ever heard ‘em)

 

 

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Prize Sponsors

Published on 20 Oct 2006 at 11:55 am. 10 Comments.
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I just wanted to make sure to remind people to visit our prize sponsors either online or while they’re at Rhinebeck!

Briar Rose Fibers, who is donating something from their collection, will be at booth 27A

Little Barn, who is donating two $25 gift certificates, will be in the large tent between buildings 26 and 31 by the fence.

 Carol of Black Bunny Fibers, Carole of CaroleKnits, and Melanie of Melanoma Uberalis fame will be wandering the grounds in search of bingo targets. Scout will be represented by her two-dimensional self, Flat Scout.

You can visit Jodi at her site, Gettin’ Knit Together.

And don’t forget to stop by Booth 39D, temporary home of A Craftsman’s Touch Alpaca Co. and RedMaple Sportswear. I’ll be signing books from 11-12 and 2-3. I’ve been playing with their yarn and it’s a-freaking-mazing!

If anyone else is interested in donating a prize, there’s still time. Puh-lenty of time since I’m not drawing names until after Rhinebeck. So shoot me an email or leave a comment!

I’ll be at Woodstock, NY - Woodstock Wool Company (105 Tinker Street) today at 3:00. By the time I get to Rhinebeck, I’ll have blown my budget! Stix-n-Stitches has the most amazing selection and I left there with a nice haul 9i’ll show you when I get home, I got camnesia an totally forgot the camera!) and I’ve heard great things about the Woodstock Wool Company. I may have to panhandle for sock yarn at Rhinebeck . . .

See you soon! I need to check out of this hotel in exactly 2 minutes and I don’t know where my shoes are!

 

 

 

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Again with the Rhinebeck Bingo!

Published on 19 Oct 2006 at 1:33 pm. 7 Comments.
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OK, more updates. Susan of NEEDLES AND STASH won’t be able to make Rhinebeck. Boooo! We hope she has a speedy recovery. So if you have the card named either “Both7″ or “Sat1″, kindly replace Susan’s square with Tina of Phoenix Fiberworks.

Also, Debi of Wild and Wooly Fibers will only be attending on Saturday. She mentioned that she may hand her square off to a fellow guild member on Sunday. Debi is on the card named “Sun2″, so check her blog to read about her Sunday replacement.

I’m in New Jersey right now, blogging from the hotel. Very weird. Ever since I got rid of the notes I used for my presentation, it’s gotten WAY better! Turns out I work a lot better just kind of off-the-cuff. I was at Barnes and  Noble in Paramus last night and it was a great time. They booked me on the same night as their regular knitting group and they’re a great bunch of folks. And I actually got some knitting in!

 I’ll write more about my stops after Rhinebeck. I can barely keep track in my head, I just need to process it all, but I don’t think I’ll be able to until it’s all over. For now, I need to find a post office and get ready to head off to Stix-n-Stitches!

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Bingo Square Replacements and Tour Info

Published on 18 Oct 2006 at 12:21 am. 4 Comments.
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First, a request. If you’re a square in Rhinebeck Bingo, please post something that may help people find you. Photos, descriptions, plans to hide in the third stall from the left of the men’s room behind the barn. Whatever. It’ll make it much more fun for everyone if you embrace your squareness and play with the people who are hunting you down.

Unfortunately, Angela (Angelarae Knits) and  Cece (FiberFish) will not be able to make it to Rhinebeck. Bummer. So we need to replace them on their bingo cards. I sent emails to the people who have the cards, but in case I left someone out, here are the replacements:

Both2
If you have the card called “Both2″, the name on Angela’s square should be replaced with Brooke, blog name Missy B.

Both3
If you have the card called “Both3″, the name on Cece’s square should be replaced with Jeni, blog name The Knitist.

Sat1
If you have the card called “Sat1″, the name on Cece’s square should be replaced with Norma, blog name Now Norma Knits.

Sat2
If you have the card called “Sat2″, the name on Angela’s square should be replaced with Mel, blog name Cabezalana.

The name on Cece’s square should be replaced with Jackie, blog name Knitting and Other Stuff.

 

Also, I’m going to be making my way to Rhinebeck by way of Paramus, Montclair, and Woodstock. Pop by and say hello! 

10/18 – Paramus, NJ – BARNES & NOBLE, 7:30pm (765 Rt 17 S)

10/19 – Montclair, NJ – Stix-n-Stitches, 7:00 (211 Glenridge Ave)

10/20 – Woodstock, NY - Woodstock Wool Company,  3:00 (105 Tinker Street)

10/21, 22 – NY Sheep and Wool Festival – A Craftsman’s Touch Alpaca/RedMaple Spotswear, Booth 39D, 11-12 and 2-3 both days
 

 

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All Bingo Cards have been sent

Published on 16 Oct 2006 at 10:35 am. 10 Comments.
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. . .  well, theoretically, anyway. If you did not receive a card, please let me know!

 Also, in my careful planning to make sure I didn’t send anyone a card that had their own name on it, it seems I sent a whole slew of people a card with their own name on it. That worked out well. If you got such a card, let me know and I’ll send you a new one.

Just a reminder that there really isn’t any sort of “winning” at this bingo game. It’s not the usual race you think of when you sit around fantasizing about bingo. Wait, is that just me? Anyway, I was originally going to do prizes for regular bingo’s (diagonal, straight, postage stamp . . .), but it seems like too daunting a task to keep track of, so I’m just doing a random drawing of everyone playing as well as a drawing for any players that managed to find everyone on their card. This is left u to Blogger’s Honor. That is, the bloggers will dishonor you if they find out you cheated. :) When it’s all over, just let me know if you found everyone and I’ll put you into that drawing. Drawings will be a few days after Rhinebeck when I can actually think in a straight line.

That is all. Well, probably not, but that’s all I can think of and I’m really, REAALLLLy late for work.

 

 

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Rhinebeck Bingo update:

Published on 16 Oct 2006 at 4:54 am. 5 Comments.
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Ok, I finished the cards and have started sending them out. Yes. I just finished them. It took about 12 hours longer than I thought it would. Nice. I haven’t been able to send them all out yet, though. Yahoo mail only allows you to send out a certain number of emails per hour. I have hot that number. There were 13 emails to send out because there ended up being 13 different bingo cards. I have three left to send out and will do it first thing . . . uuuhh . . . this morning. I really can’t stay up for another hour to wait to be able to send these out, so I’ll do it when (if) I wake up before work.

I tried my best to get everyone the cards they should have, but if you notice a discrepancy, if you got a card for a day that you’re not going to be there, or you find out I’ve put you on a card when you aren’t going to be there, let me know and we’ll fix it up all lickety-split like.

Obviously it’s too late to sign up as a square, but players can still sign up. I will also have a bunch of extra bingo cards with me at Rhinebeck, so you can always pick one up there.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any extra “I’m a Square” buttons. They’re all spoken for at this point. It may be too late to get one from Café Press, but you can still print out the image and slide it into a plastic sleeve and attach it to a tote bag or something. Click here for the Square’s logo or click here for the Player’s logo.

Ok. I really need to sleep.

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Chit chat

Published on 13 Oct 2006 at 4:15 pm. 8 Comments.
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Rhinebeck Bingo: Today was supposed to be the last day for sing-ups. It really should be, but since I’m not done putting the names onto the cards yet and I’m not going to be around tonight or tomorrow, how about this. You now have until Sunday at noon. Sound good? Ok, Sunday at 1 it is. So if you aren’t signed up by 2 on Sunday, it’s too late. Seriously, Sunday at 2:00pm is the official cutoff. I’ll be emailing the cards on Sunday afternoon. I will have extra cards with me at Rhinebeck for people who want to play, but I can’t add any squares after Sunday at 2:00. Capice? Cool. There’s still probably time to get stuff from Café Press. I got my tote bag, t-shirt and hoodie, so I’m all decked out for this thing!

I’m so looking forward to tonight’s book signing. I hope I don’t come off as whiny about this whole thing. I mean, seriously, being whiny and ungrateful for having to do a book tour seems pretty silly. It’s just that public speaking doesn’t come naturally to me and I figured I’d share my struggle as a way to help me get over it. But tonight, I’m trying something a little different and I think it’s going to be good. If you’re free, pop by!

Cambridge, MA – PORTER SQUARE BOOKS, 7pm (25 White St)

Tomorrow, I’ll be at Sit-n-knit in West Hartford, CT with my darling neglected husband in tow.

West Hartford, CT – SIT-N-KNIT, 1pm (33 LaSalle Rd)

This is your big chance to meet a straight guy who hates sports and can’t stand to miss Project Runway. He even likes to watch the reruns they show before the new episodes. You can look and maybe touch a little, but he’s all mine. And I’m just about finished my Olympic knitting, which is a new sweater for him. Just need to seam it up and we’ll have some good model shots for ya’.

Also, the signing in Cold Springs, NY on 10/20 has been cancelled. Booo! But it’s been replaced by one at Woodstock Wool Co. in Woodstock, NY. YAY! Here’s the info:

Woodstock, NY - Woodstock Wool Company  3:00 (105 Tinker Street)

And now, something that hasn’t been seen ‘round these parts in a while. KNITTING! Can you believe it? I barely have any time any more, but I do have some things to show off.

Here are my second pair of socks. It’s made of Lorna’s Laces “Funky Stripe”. They’re green and – I dunno – pinky/purple. They’ve been through the washer AND dryer twice now and still look great! (it was an accident the first time) I used size 2 dpns and Wendy’s toe-up recipe. They’re pretty basic stockinet with a ribbed cuff. But I think I’ve really got the hang of it now, so the next pair may be a little more interesting. I’m definitely going in search of some Socks that Rock at Rhinebeck.

 

 

Here is my version of Adrian’s Mini Skull Tote in pre-felted form. It’s still in pre-felted form, but hopefully not for much longer. I suck at two-color knitting, plain and simple, but I really like the way it turned out. In order to maintain some sense of pride, I will not be showing you the mess of knots inside. I forgot to add something for scale, but it’s about this big. I’m holding my hands about a foot apart.

 

And here is a mitered square baby blanket in progress. It’s Elann’s cotton Sonata I had left over from ages ago. I think it’s kind of 80’s retro with the pink and green.

 

What’s that? They aren’t square? Well, I was hoping you wouldn’t notice. Yeah, somehow I totally messed up the whole “square” part of the mitered square. Now it’s a mitered pie-slice. But I like the way it’s coming together. Once the middle pieces are done, I’m going to crochet some kind of pretty border around the edges until I run out of yarn. Of course this project was very carefully planned out, why do you ask?

And I’ve been meaning to show you these. They’re the Granny Square Tote Bag and Clip-On Tie that Marnie designed for the Kitschy Stitches book! I totally ruined her cred on the bus. She’s usually knitting or crocheting something really pretty on her way to work in the morning, but for a while . . . she was not.

Now, this is so goofy, it’s actually kind of cute.

 

This, however . . . poor Jon. Such a good husband. (click the photo to see how he really feels)

 

 

 

 

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And there was much rejoicing

Published on 10 Oct 2006 at 11:38 pm. 5 Comments.
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Two more dates have been added on the 19th and 20th! I’ll be making my way from Paramus to Rhinebeck by way of Montclair, NJ and Cold Springs, NY! Here’s a look at the schedule en masse. Join me as we take a look at some real kitschy artifacts. We’ll laugh, learn and love over the madness of granny squares.

10/13 – Cambridge, MA – PORTER SQUARE BOOKS, 7pm (25 White St)

10/14 – West Hartford, CT – SIT-N-KNIT, 1pm (33 LaSalle Rd)

10/18 – Paramus, NJ – BARNES & NOBLE, 7:30pm (765 Rt 17 S)

10/19 – Montclair, NJ – Stix-n-Stitches, 7:00 (211 Glenridge Ave)

10/20 – Woodstock, NY - Woodstock Wool Company  3:00 (105 Tinker Street)

10/21, 22 – NY Sheep and Wool Festival – A Craftsman’s Touch Alpaca/RedMaple Spotswear, Booth 39D, 11-12 and 2-3 both days

10/28 (may change) – Concord, NH – THE ELEGANT EWE, 1pm (71 S. Main St)

 

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Welp. Brooklyn happened.

Published on 10 Oct 2006 at 11:17 pm. 7 Comments.
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Ok, buh-bye. I’m off to start my new job as Hobo’s assistant. Gonna ride the rails with a clown, lookin’ for that Big Rock Candy Mountain. Ayup. Seems about all I’m cut out for.

Huh? You want more than that? Really? Can’t you just imagine that I was brilliant and witty and totally at ease? C’mon, help a sister out.

Oh, alright. I’ll tell you. It started off horribly. Really, really bad. So bad that I almost asked for a do-over, and then it occurred to me that I’d have to actually do it over, so I pressed on.

Here’s the thing. In Hadley, I had my presentation all written out, but I’d start reading and it was nearly impossible to look away from the paper and at the audience. This time I just jotted some notes onto a few index cards. This way I’d have prompts, but nothing that would draw my eyes in. I rewrote the cards a couple of times and read them over and over. I even went over them in traffic when I got lost on my way to NYC. (I was supposed to take 278, but I took 287 and ended up – who the hell knows where. Upstate someplace.) I knew it cold and even ad-libbed some great stuff in the car. I was lovin’ me!

And then I showed up.

Maria, the events coordinator at Barnes and Noble, was really sweet and helpful. She had set up a space right in front of the religion and mysticism section. Seems like that might have helped, right? A little mojo from all possible sources. I was feeling really good about everything and met my cousin, Elaine, for a bite to eat. She and her husband, Bob, live nearby. We all came back to the bookstore to find a great array of people. My other cousin Ray, his wife, Joyce, and handsome little son, Aidan (they also live nearby). Sarah Sockit, who was the impetus for the MOKS book. And the two book designers, Arin and Stephen, were there with their wives. (I’ve been dying to meet them, they did a killer job and added so much style to the book) Stephen’s baby was ridiculously cute. She had a little knitted mermaid. Nishanna was in the front row, knitting what turned out to be this lace shawl. So pretty, makes me wish I knew how to knit. There were about 10 other people, as well. I didn’t recognize any of them, but they seemed like lovely people.

So what’s the problem, you ask? I have no idea. But I sucked. I stuttered and stumbled and missed half of the stuff on the first few index cards. At one point, I heaved a great sigh and muttered “This is terrible.” I don’t know if anyone heard or not.

But as soon as I picked up a sweater from the bin of uglies, it started to get better. I still used notes and it wasn’t great, but it was definitely better. By the time I was done with the sweaters and moved on to the Q&A, I was feeling 100% at least 78% better and more confident. At this point, I no longer had any notes. I was winging it and loving it.

I think it was the freaking notes!! I got so tense about missing something from the notecards, I threw myself off completely. You know what? I don’t need some stupid little notecard to tell me what to say! I know why I’m there and I’m perfectly able to have a conversation with people who enjoy kitschy freaking stitches as much as I do. So you know what?

I’m going off note! You hear me? Off note, people! And I’m going to change some things to make it more interesting from start to finish. Mark my words, by the time this book tour is over, I won’t completely suck at this. Oh yes, I won’t completely suck.

Stitchy out.

Oh, and if, after all that, you can’t wait to see what happens the next time out, come over and see me Friday, October the 13th at Porter Square Books at 7pm. Heh. Friday the 13th. Terrif. Watch, I’ll be doing amazingly well and a black cat will fall off a ladder and drop a mirror on my head. Eh, that would probably be worth seeing. Hope to see you there!

 

Read ‘Welp. Brooklyn happened.’

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