Wow - so much for promises.

I look back to the date of my last blog and feel very dejected. It's been a few months, and I just haven't had anything interesting to add to this blog. How sad is that? I have all sorts of projects OTN, including my first sock, but work is just wearing me down. I bought a PowerBall ticket today, if for nothing else then a few hours of daydreaming about what it would be like to scrap (pardon the pun) this career crap and spend the rest of my life doing what I want to do. Which is, as you know if you have already read previous posts here, to run a bed and breakfast for women who want to get away to knit, scrapbook, weave, paint - whatever their muse tells them to do. No men, except those hired to keep us comfortable and entertained. Well, my husband would be around, but no doubt with PowerBall winnings in his wallet he would buy a boat and spend a lot of time on it.

But reality will settle in after the drawing tonight, when it confirms merely that I have to do the freakin hour plus commute AGAIN on Monday, and on and on and on. Driving in Nashua during rush hour has raised my blood pressure 20% over the past few years. I understand road rage more and more.... and sometimes want to join the club.

Anyway, took some pics of recent knitting gatherings, so enough whining. Next few posts will be HAPPYblogs. No, really.

Knitting Retreat at the Grand View Lodge - Part Three

Before I go ANY further - I must give credit where it is due. Still haven't found my digital camera. The pics on these most recent blogs were taken by Gina, another member of the ManchVegasKnitting group. She was kind enough to put all her pics on a CD for us to upload or use however we needed. More of the weekend pics are on the Manch website.

Thanks, Gina! (She's right in front in this picture, in brown. Me, I'm the one 4th down on the flight of stairs, wondering how I got roped into a group picture!!!)

Also pictured: Joanne is in the bright green up front, And on her left is Heather. Joanne has opened a new yarn store in Chester, NH, and Heather sells amazing hand made knitting needles and needle holders / craft bags there. I ordered a pair of needles with little pink monster slippers on them - can't wait to see how close they come to the original!

To Heather's left is Ericka, one of the founding members of ManchVegasKnitting, and recently engaged to another group member, Chris.

Vicki and Donna are standing on the stairs, beside and behind me. Vicki, in the red turtleneck, made a great co-pilot on the trip up. Donna, in blue behind me, has a stash you would not believe. She has more Koigu than most yarn stores.

The other ladies are Joanne's friends and/or relatives - as usual, I forget names at the drop of a hat. I do know that Joanne's friend Margie is taking the picture. When / if I figure out who is who, I will update this blog!

So, on with the weekend recap. We knit wayyyyy into the night on Saturday. As a matter of fact, my hands were really starting to protest. We stopped to have dinner at the Birches Grill in Gorham. We were a little nervous about going out, since it was snowing, but we forgot that the snow up here is entirely different. It never really piles up on the roads - the stuff just blows around and settles in drifts. The roads were actually quite clear. Unlike further south, where several multi car pile-ups messed up other people's Saturday.

After a few hours of sleep Sunday, I got up around 7:00, hoping to have less competition for hot water in the shower - and needn't have worried. I was the first one awake and downstairs from the group. Me - and I am NOT a morning person! So I got first crack at the coffee, and some more time to shop. My goodies were adding up quick.

We had another great breakfast, French Toast this time, and settled in to get a few hours of work done. We also started to cash out. Donna had snagged a gorgeous basket hand-made in Ghana that I had my eye on, but I asked Vivian if she had any others that had purple in them and she came through with a basket that has handles, so it can be used as a tote. The rest of the group thought it looks like navy blue, but I see a deep indigo / purple. Anyway, it's gorgeous. Added a few skeins of Cascade 220 and Quatro in purple, some new needles, the chunky Plymouth in a jellybean sort of colorway that I used to make a hat. Some notions - a tackle box for stitch markers, some patterns, mostly for Fibre Arts felted stuff. Altogether, I didn't go too crazy - not that there wasn't potential!

We headed out around 1:30, and the day was gorgeous. COLD, but sunny and dry. Gina, Vicki and I stopped at the Tilton Diner for lunch (get the SunStix - awesome sweet potato fries!) and got back to Barnes and Noble around 4. Dropped off Gina, was home by 5:30. Was asleep by 6:30. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ! Long memorable weekend with very cool people. Can't wait to do it again!

Knitting Retreat at the Grand View Lodge - Part Two

After knitting into the night, we all settled in to very cozy rooms - I had my own so that I would actually be alive in the morning. I snore so loud that you have to be deaf to share a room with me.

We had some trouble with water pressure in the morning, but eventually, we were all downstairs and STARVING. Joanne brought fresh eggs from her own chickens. YUM. But I was all about the coffee!

We settled in to knit and shop, shop and knit, stretch, shop and knit - you get the idea. It was crazy - you can wander the entire place, and think you saw everything, and then see something entirely new and different the next time you get up to pee or whatever. The chairs could have been a bit softer, but I stayed in my jammies and big pink monster slippers - it's hard to complain about anything when you can jammy it up all day! Sure, there were a few shoppers that day, and we didn't know them, but when you get to be my age, appearances just don;t matter so much!

I whipped up a very simple hat using some chunky yarn, and worked on a cowl made from Karabella Boise. If you have never touched Boise, get in your car, and get to a yarn store that carries it. Touch it. Stroke it. You'll leave with it! I had to keep taking breaks from knitting the cowl just to touch it! The cowl pattern I am using, by the way, is from Last Minute Knitted Gifts (p.95). I am kicking it up a notch, with a 2x2 ribbing for the last few inches. Can't wait to wear it!!

Oh yeah - I also finished a Booga Bowl. What's that, you say? Well, it's a Booga Bag you don't feel like finishing. The yarn was getting hard to work with, and I wanted to work on the cowl. So I bound off after about 8 inches, and will felt it up to serve as a bowl from some balls on yummy yarn in my workroom.

Knitting Retreat at the Grand View Lodge - Part One

A gaggle of gals from our knitting group, ManchVegasKnitting, had a blast last weekend (February 24-27) at the Grand View Lodge in Randolph, NH. We left after work from the Barnes and Noble in Manchester, and headed north. It was FREEZING the whole way up, but luckily not much snowing. That is, until we were just about there. I have never been that far north in the winter - the snow is an entirely different creature. It's finer, sandy almost, and much drier that the snow I am used to. We noticed that most street signs were at least partially damaged or covered by the fine stuff, and it was drifting so much across the roads that it was hard at times to see which lane I was in.

Luckily, we found the place, with only one U-turn! See, that's the difference when travelling with women - we know when to stop and ask directions - and we actually do it. We don't keep driving until we see signs for Montreal!!!

Anyway, we settled in Friday night - unpacked a bit, and came downstairs to the common room, and I immediately knew I was in for trouble. Yarn - GORGEOUS YARN - everywhere, all sorts of notions and toys and baskets and needles and books and and and and and, well, the pictures will help you get the idea!

SuperBowl Sunday sale

Had an awesome day yesterday. Went to the SuperBowl Sunday sale at Ewe'll Love It in Nashua, NH. Was expecting it to be a mob, but because she did the sale over two days, it was easy as pie to get in, look around, and cash out. Beverly, the owner, sets a discount on all yarn to match the number of the SuperBowl - so this year, XL!!! (That's 40%, for the non-Roman numeral crowd...)

Last year was the first time I went, and I called that day my stash initiation day. Spent over $300. (But SAVED sooooo much!!!) This year, it was a stash enhancement mission, so spent only about half that - and SAVED soooooo much!!

Here's what I got:

• Twister (75% Merino, 25% Superwash) by Cherry Tree Hill. One skein, 560 yards. Soft, warm, beautiful colorway full of reds, blues, purples, fuschias. Can't wait to do something with it, although what? No idea. Just grabbed it cuz it was pretty. It's hanging around my neck right now.
• Big Kureyon (100% Wool) by Noro. Two skeins. They don't use color names, just color / lot numbers - but color number 18, lot A2 is a dark combination of rich purples, greens and blues, with a touch of fuschia in it here and there. I already made one Booga bag, so these will be for at least one more. I like the size the pattern results in, but I am going to make some pattern changes to end up with a somewhat smaller size. I am also going to crochet instead of knit the bottom, so it ends up round instead of rectangular. Also want to lay in something firm on the bottoms after they are felted. Will take pics - promise!!!
• Some Cascade 220 for other feltie thingies - no idea what. A dark slate blue (3) and a green (2) - enough to try a felted hat for the DH (he has a very big head... wait until I blog my first effort at making him a hat.)
• Lots of Manos del Uruguay Cotton Stria in white (2), light purple (1), fuschia (1), olive green (1) and purple (2) to add to my current stash. When I hit critical mass, an afghan will ensue.
• And my only real indulgence - 4 balls of Karabella Boise. If you have never touched this stuff, get up, get in your car, and don't stop driving until you have found it and picked it up. It is 50% cashmere, 50% superfine merino wool. I already have one each of the olive green and the tomato red colors - I bought it on a recent yarn crawl in Lexington, MA - at Wild and Wooly. But two skeins just didn't seem enough to do anything with. Well, they aren't alone now. Two more of each color. I'm thinking there's enough to make a few dickies for the winter. With this stuff snuggling your neck, who the heck needs a man?!?!?

So we got in and out easily, and headed up to buddy Donna's house in Manchester to gloat over our finds and to knit, eat pizza, and enjoy an unusually warm day. An awesome Sunday.

Gotta get some Discipline!!

One of my - ahem - New Year's resolutions is to stick to my other resolutions. I am always full of good intentions, but it's the follow through I really have to work at. One of my resolutions was to become a better contributor to the knitting community. We have this great opportunity to share our talents, ambitions, patterns and dreams through blogging and websites - it would be a shame to waste it because watching TV seems less like work.

So - step one. Find my damn digital camera, or just give in and buy another one. I have a handful of finished projects to blog / brag about, but you would have to just use your imagination unless a camera surfaces.

Step two - organize, schmorganize!

Step three - even if there is nothing especially exciting, blog oh - wait - BRB.

OK, back. My DH had to make me come see something cute Abby was doing. Abby is my 3-yr old cat - a calico Manx. Ok, so yeah, she was freaking adorable, as usual, but she's one of the reasons I get nothing done. (Smell the rationalization?!?!?)

So anyway - blog more frequently. Yeah, that's it.

Just catching up...

Catching up on some knitting news...

• Have been disgustingly sick with a cold lately - enough to miss my Wednesday night meeting at the Barnes and Noble in Manchester with my knitting buds. Trust me - I have to be near dying to miss that. But was able to go last week, where we firmed up plans to go on a knitting retreat next month, at the Grand View Lodge in Randolph, NH. We are leaving Friday after work on Feb. 24, and not coming back to the real world until Sunday. Can't wait - no men, no housework, no nothing to do but spend time with good friends and knit. The Lodge has a great store for knitters. Looking forward to ferreting out the deals and unique fibers / tools.
• Finished one Booga Bag for my sister in law for Christmas. Just have to felt it. Yeah, I know it's late, but in my family, Christmas get-togethers and present swapping can dribble into the summer. We aren't big on planning until the last minute! Anyway, I have felted the bag and i-cord once, and it needs another go-round. My friends Gina and Donna have figured out the perfect formula for felting in Gina's washing machine, so we will be having a felting party soon to get everyone's projects done at once. These bags are incredibly easy to make - I can do the knitting in the round while stuck in traffic. Noro Kureyon behaves very well in the dark!
• On the needles - I am working on the Mary Jane sachet / sweater from Knit Picks, as well as their Leaf-Edged Shrug for my almost-daughter Jesse. I call the shrug the Cheeto-sweater. She chose the Knit Picks Shine in Apricot, of all colors, and it looks like Velveeta or Cheetos - even raises the temperature of the air around it, I swear!! But it's what she wants...
• Finally finished my potholder afhgan (crocheted - don't gasp) and gave it to my best friend Lisa (Jess's mom) for Christmas. They enjoy snuggling up in it - that reminds me - I have to get a pic of the whole family under it and post it!!

Brainstorm Session 1

I have been thinking about what it would take to open a craft shop / cafe. It's amazing how much you can think about on an hour commute to work.

Considerations:

Floor Plan - how much space is needed, and for what?
Inventory - would I have to offer products for sale? would that be the primary source of income?
Cafe - menus, staffing, health codes, insurance
Craft Area - layout per space, rental fees, annual memberships (why couldn't I offer annual sign ups, just like a gym??)
Entertainment - music? chick flicks? special events?
Staffing
Overnights - even weekend events - how about renovating a bed and breakfast??

Sorry - it's been awhile...

Was just thinking that since I have so little real time to knit, or scrap for that matter, that building a blog that would be interesting for anyone but me is probably out of the question right now.
But what I can do is brainstorm here what it would take to build a business like Scrap n' Knit - develop a business plan, right here. With your input.

So if you are lurking and you come across this post, think about this - if you could go somewhere relatively close to your house, to work on your hobbies in the company of others, what would entice you to walk in the door? Would you want to see products for sale? What kinds of space would you use or even want to rent?

I think about / daydream about putting together a place in which folks could bring their work, store it temporarily or rent long-term spaces, eat nummy food, drink fantastic coffee, watch chick flicks - an estrogen haven. What would appeal to you at a place like this?

Welcome to my Blog Site!

Welcome to my blog - Scrap n' Knit. Get it? It's an outright admission that I am totally addicted to scrapbooking and knitting. Add an obsession with my cats and you have a day / life that barely includes time for my job!

I have a dream - that someday, after I win PowerBall, I will open a storefront by the same name, to offer a space for other addicts to come to and work on projects. The store will include a coffee bar, and offer soups, desserts, and other yummies to fortify my customers as they scrap or knit at well-lit, comfy workspaces. On top of that, I would love to be able to keep an inventory of all that yummy yarn that I drool over at my LYSs!

But for now, this blog will have to do. I will share my project successes and failures - not the least of which is a crocheted hat that metamorphasized into a totebag. Just need to fire up the digital camera and you can have a good laugh!