Stitches South

I couldn't take any photos at Stitches South - at least not of the booths or the yarn. But I did take a picture of the KnK people at lunch.

We had so much fun! On Friday we actually went from vendor to vendor in a semi-orderly fashion. After 6 hours we were finally done - and too tired to walk any more. Libby went home, Paula, Nancy, Lori and Kate had classes, the fashion show and dinner, and Kari, Dale, and I went to dinner at Scelini's. It was good food and we went home full and happy. On Saturday Libby, Dale, Kari and I met at 10am to do just a little more shopping. We now are broke, but happy! Here is my loot: Yak and Camel and Buffalo and Quivit and Cashmere, oh my! There was also a large work force of little silk worms involved in most of my little petting zoo. Hmmm - should I feel bad about that? They are just worms, so I guess it's okay. PETA would probably disagree and charge me with murder of silk . . . kittens?

Oh, just in case you were wondering. I did NOT buy everything and the kitchen sink. What you see in the background is the sink in the kitchen in the hotel room. Really!

We all said goodbye to Libby again. Kari and Dale left after lunch and are probably back in Tampa by now. I'm leaving tomorrow and I was trying to think of a way to drive and knit at the same time. But since I got into trouble on the way up here I think I'll behave and just drive.

I'm going to Stitches South!!!

This is a day late, but yesterday I was just too tired to blog.
I went to JAG in the morning, worked a couple of hours, then went to lunch with Drew. After that I was off to Atlanta. Since it is my personal opinion that if I was supposed to fly I would have sprouted wings, I drove. I was just happy to be going somewhere and everything was fine. I was driving and singing and the music made me happy. I was HAPPY! Until Gainesville. That's when I got caught. Apparently I was 14 miles over the speed limit. I always admit my mistakes when I get caught and the cop was very nice and didn't charge me with 14 miles over ($200) but "only" 9 miles over the speed limit ($100). So, all was well, and I'm still HAPPY. I behaved the rest of the trip and made it safely to the outskirts of Atlanta. Then all hell broke loose. I drove straight into blackness and just as I was driving through downtown Atlanta in all it's 14-lane-Interstate splendor it started to rain, then hail, there was so much water and so much noise and no visibility. Then the tornado sirens went off. I think at that time I would have had a stroke if this was my first trip to Atlanta. But I lived here long enough not to worry too much. I finally made it to the hotel at 8pm. I was calling the other KnK ladies and it turnes out Nancy and Paula are in the same hotel. So we sat in their room to chat and they told me about the classes they took that day and I got so excited I almost couldn't sleep! I can't wait to see all the yarn and all the books and everything else they have at Stitches!

Ich bin gestern nach Atlanta gefahren um zu Stitches South zu gehen. Stitches ist eine Messe fuer alles was mit stricken zu tun hat und da es so nahe zu Tampa ist, musste ich natuerlich dort hin. Ich war morgens bei JAG, habe ein paar Stunden gearbeitet und bin dann mit Drew zum Mittagessen gegangen. Danach bin ich Richtung Atlanta losgefahren. Die ersten 2 Stunden Fahrt hatte ich keine Probleme, doch in Gainesville wurde ich erwischt. Anscheinend bin ich 14 Meilen ueber die Geschwindigkeitsgrenze gefahren. Ich habe mich natuerlich bei dem Polizisten entschuldigt, ihm gesagt dass ich nicht wusste, dass ich SO schnell gefahren bin :), und er war nett und hat die Strafe von $200 auf $100 reduziert. Danach habe ich mich dann benommen und habe versucht, etwas langsamer zu fahren. Ich bin dann um 19 Uhr nach Atlanta gekommen, aber sobald ich durch die Innenstadt gefahren bin, war Gewitter. Gewitter in Atlanta ist nicht wie Gewitter in Tampa. In Atlanta ist strahlend blauer Himmel, dann ein paar tropfen Regen und man wundert sich, wo das herkam. Auf einmal wird alles schwarz, es regnet, es hagelt, und dann gehen die Tornado Sirenen los. Die Strassen ueberfluten (in diesem Falle war ich gerade auf einer 14spurigen Autobahn), man sieht nichts, die Scheibenwischer koennen das ganze Wasser nicht bewaeltigen und der Hagel ist extrem laut. Falls ich gestern zum ersten Mal in Atlanta gewesen waere, haette ich wahrscheinlich einen Nervenzusammenbruch erlitten! :). Aber ich war das gewohnt und habe langsam meinen Weg zum Hotel gefunden. Hier sind noch andere Leute von KnK und wir haben uns noch nett unterhalten. Heute gehen wir dann zur Messe. Ich freue mich schon!

United Way Volunteer Luncheon

Capt. Kearley, Mike Tyler, LtCol Mitchell, Colleen Otero, Bob Jones, and LtCol Eckert came out to support me at the United Way Volunteer Luncheon. So many amazing people were nominated and the commitment to service was so amazing, I was proud to have my name associated with any of them! After hearing about the winners in each category I realized one thing: I'm not doing enough.

Knitting at Sally's

Since Knit N Knibble is closed, we have to compensate with knitting at someone's house. The first knitting date was at Sally's house in Lakewood Ranch. We had fun, good food, and even better company.

Marianne showing off her Peacock Shawl.


Camille, Sally, Valerie, Marrianne, Janice, Dale, and I am taking the picture.

Out with the old .....

Saturday April 19 - a dark day in history! Knit'n Knibble has closed it's doors.

Well, not closed forever of course, because that would not be a "dark day in history" but more along the lines of "the end of the world". I decided that I should spend all day there in honor of the occasion.

Heute war das Wollgeschaeft zum letzten Mal geoeffnet und ich habe den ganzen Samstag dort verbracht.


Sally and I on the couch. Sally has the first knit-in on Tuesday.

Sally und ich auf der Couch. Wir treffen uns alle am Dienstag bei Sally zu Hause zum Stricken.



Sally and Jenna taking pictures of the shop.

Sally und Jenna machen Fotos vom Geschaeft.


Patty knitting on Noro - no big Surprise there!

Patty strickt ihr Noro.

We stayed until the end and finally got kicked out at 6pm. But Caroline kicked us out with a smile - she is very excited! We all are. Towards the end of the day the staff packed up and by the time we left the class rooms were full of boxes. I thought I would be sad on the last day but we were actually all very happy. Big smiles all around!

Caroline - thank you for providing me and everyone else with our "happy place". We're all looking forward to the new store. Have an uneventful move and we'll see you at the other end!