Invigorating Nostalgia
The obvious tale my website spins is that I have been undergoing a number of changes in my life. Applying my field of technology experience to the yarn industry since I began blogging in 2002 is one. The huge personal life changes are meeting BFF and my daughter’s birth. All three were instrumental when I moved to Blacksburg on Halloween 2009 to developing my current self. My blog reflects the scattered brain/thoughts of these past years. Between working for yarn shops, XRX as their Hoppy Bunny, consulting Westminster Fibers (former distributor of Rowan Yarns and Schachenmayr) as their Ravelry editor, and all my other fibery yarn-related activities in guilds, I had not any idea how to present myself online. Because of the work I did as an organizer of the Hampton Roads WordCamp, I have been reflecting on how to share my life online.
If you looked for a post last week, I did not write one because I was trying to convince myself that driving the hour to my much-loved and a favorite LYS, Dirt Woman Fiber Arts in White Stone, to meet friends would be a perfectly fine expedition for SlytherBun and me. Such a drive would have never bothered me two years ago. Various reasons kept springing to mind: we needed to eat lunch; SlytherBun would get cranky on the road; SlytherBun and the other kids would tear up the shop; I would buy more yarn… And then when I did have a legitimate reason for being late to go, BFF came to my rescue by coming home early from work. As he refilled my insulin pump and injected a fresh site for it, he pointed out that when he met me, I was fearless in visiting shops and guilds. He then shooed me out the door without our daughter. “You know SlytherBun won’t let you talk shop while she is there checking out the yarns.” Admittedly SB has been doing quite well in yarn shops lately. She has learned to point out the yarns she likes, and that needles are not supposed to be taken off their display racks. With my purse and knitting bags in tow, I set out to visit Becky and Mark, and see if my pals loved their shop as much as myself and the other members of our knitting group did. Besides that, I wanted to show Becky how my Machnamh was coming along and I needed to photograph the “O Friend!” poncho that I knit out of The Fibre Co.’s Arranmore yarn.
As I drove my way to sweet and quaint White Stone, I mused over my husband’s words and fondly recalled some of my past excursions:
- Since 2005 I drove as much as three (or so) hours to
throw panties atsee Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (aka The Yarn Harlot) multiple times in places like Baltimore, Cambridge/Boston, NYC once or twice, WEBS, and Rhinebeck. - From 2004 to 2012 I ventured to visit as many yarn shops as I could during my careers at The Bank, Uncle Ned’s, The Corporation, and Ask McLaren.
- In 2008 I gave a presentation on explaining Ravelry to a large group of mostly non-English speaking knitters at Garn.DK in Kolding, Denmark.
- I never batted an eye at driving 10-12 hours each way for the weekend between Rhode Island and Virginia, Virginia and Ohio, or Virginia and Upstate New York.
- In 2011 when I was at my only appearance for STITCHES West, I did not hesitate at figuring out how to visit San Francisco to see my best pal from The Bank Paul and his husband William.
- I never hesitated to drive by myself almost 2 hours from my house in Rhode Island to WEBS in Northampton, MA. And I would visit WEBS sometimes as little as 30 minutes. I drove that trip once or twice a month just to go.
And the one memory which made me chuckle and later shared with my pals, Becky, and Mark:
It was that last memory which reminded me how much moxie I had, and that I still had some moxie in me. Now that I have been properly motivated, I think I can finish my Detention OWL (Ravelry members-only link) for the Harry Potter Knit/Crochet House Cup. Care to join me in some fiber-loving crafting? =:8