Inspiration Begets Perspiration

First and foremost, I must regretfully announce that the Boston Knit-out and Crochet Too for 2007 is not happening this year. It was a difficult decision, but with the lack of high-level sponsorship, the Board Members decided that it was best not to risk spending what little money we had into making the event only remotely possible. Many of the repeat vendors showed little interest or expressed doubt on whether having the KOAC would be worth their time and money. Hopefully in the next two years enough money can be generated for the 2009 event.

It has been over 2 weeks since my last post. Ironically, I have been attempting to write this entry since July 30th. No, I have not dropped off the face of this planet, but a bunch of craziness has taken over my life. For a while I was desperately gripping everything so tight because if I loosened up, BANG! I will do my best to write about the last fortnight in order of appearance or importance (at least to me). Besides the obvious Ravelry-ness and Sockapalooza 4, there have been other projects at work and bunny-related. I do not want to bore anyone with the work part, so that is getting left out. Also, the beginning of one evening reminded me that not all knitters are receptive to those who are different than they are. At this moment, I will again attempt to distract everyone with bunny photos.

Scared sweety Owen, a huge Himalayan boy, and friendly Jersey Wooly Linus — two more bunnies that I had never met — were at PetSmart along with Nikki and Mac. The brother and sister duo have become more social and had lost a bit of weight (but are still cute and round!). I never realized how territorial Mac was until I saw him “guard the door” of their cage whenever Linus walked by during out time. I would hear a lot of cage door banging, look up, and immediately Mac would stop whatever he was pulling. Plastic baby chain hanging in his mouth, his facial expression was, “What?? All I’m doing is playing with this toy.” “Uh-huh. Like I was born yesterday, Mac.” For more details of the evening, click HERE.

The Sunday after was when I met up with Dorothy, Shalyn, and Jen at Seven Arrows Farm in Seekonk, MA. This herb nursery never fails to relax me instantly from the time I park my car. When you first walk up to the building, a lush green canopy of flowering plants offer greetings to come and wander around before heading inside. There is locally made honey and a room full of herbs and teas. Thanks to Shalyn, I discovered this place and fell in love with its wholesome earthiness. Since the last time we saw each other was during our Birthday Dinner, we all caught up with one anothers’ lives and enjoyed the afternoon. Hopefully, we will be doing another get-together really soon!

The first August “Walk and Knit” was very fun. I met up with Debbie again and Katy had joined us after I posted about the twice a month meetings in Ravelry. Since Monday is a holiday for the state of RI, I am also seeing if a bunch of us (Laura, that means YOU!) can meet up this Sunday at Sakonnet Purls. Time to get ready to raid that Sale Shed!

Once again, meeting my favorite Rockstar was possible, and I went to both New England talks. The visit to Massachusetts proved to be incredibly fun. The fabulous audience was more receptive to a strange girl dressed in denim shortalls who handed out white panties to toss at Stephanie. These folks (notice Ericka and Chris that I did not say “women or ladies”) were the best kind of knitters to meet! Strangers mingled with each other in line, introducing themselves and telling their stories of knitting and Stephanie. I was kindly given a seat in the front row by Ericka and Chris. There were so many other Ravelry folks there like Casey, Jess, FemiKnit Mafia, Kat (with a K), Danielle, and Meghann of Radiant Twist. After our books were signed, we all went out to dinner at On the Border.

The Madison non-Ravelry folks were another matter. When I walked into the bookstore’s room where the speech was to be held, I felt the chill of a formal crowd. Holding my Ravelry tote in front, I enthusiastically said, “Hello there! Any Ravelry folks in here?” A few hands were raised, and I then said, “Great! Let’s see if we can have as much fun as we did last night in Burlington!” A certain number of the blue-haired women twittered as if I had no business saying such words. The stuffiness of these women and the store employees were making my head spin. I am going to attribute my sensitivity to them due to the contrast of the Burlington crowd’s liveliness. At least the women sitting next to me were wonderfully nice. While Stephanie gave her speech, I felt like we were experiencing CHOKE first-hand.

To explain, the bookstore had decided to pull out of the air-conditioned library after seeing that only 30 some odd reservations were made. Little did they know that a hundred knitters would appear, and would make the shop scramble around for chairs. At one point the gentleman in the blue and white striped seersucker pants announced that those who did not register must give up their seat to those who did. Uh, yeah… RIIIIGHT! I had made three reservations, was at the top of the list of the reservists, and there was NO way I was going to give up my seat. Yes it was selfish of me, but we are talking about Stephanie Pearl-McPhee! I am just glad that I met DivineBird and the other cool Ravelry folks who were there. I think we all detected the weirdness of the store and its customers, and decided to have fun with it. 🙂

Like certain others before and after me, I seem to take on too many deadlines that pile on top of each other, if not share the same date. For the past two weeks I have been working diligently on my Sockapalooza 4 Pal’s socks. I originally started a pair of knee socks in Sock Madness 1’s Mad Cow. The stockinette was driving me crazy because my knitter’s ADD was not being satisfied. So I set out to find the perfect pattern and frogged the socks after stumbling across pattern #6 in the VK Winter 2006/2007 issue. The date I cast on for the new socks was July 18th. I finally finished them on August 2nd, just in time for Stephanie to see them for her Madison, CT visit on August 3rd. The socks met up with her Represent ones and a quick photo was taken. I really hope my pal enjoys these socks!

That is all for now. I do not want to overwhelm everyone with a huge post! =:8