Monday, November 23, 2009

Phew!

A huge thanks to everyone who stopped by yesterday to the BBF Open House and Sale! We had a great time. My kids were so sweet. Elvis came down at 7 a.m. and said "Mom, no arguing -- just put me to work." So I did. He and the twins made bunny signs based on my logo to help direct cars, and they made labels and filled bins and made sure the inventory looked good. Meanwhile, Mindy was in charge of quality control; she examined each and every hank of yarn and bundle of roving by hand to make sure she had first dibs it was of the finest quality. Here is my ragtag band of helpers:


and here is what some of the inventory looked like, when artfully arranged:




and here is the "buffet" full of snacks and wine (Anne Marie thoughtfully brought two yummy bottles of wine, which we promptly polished off).


I was happy to see so many good knitting friends -- Knitty D and her lovely mom (who does NOT look old enough to have a grown daughter, either, thank you very much),



Allison, Sherry, Robin,



the Norristown SnB gang (A-M, Liz, Sally, Aileen, Maria, and newcomer Delores), Anmiryam, Joanne, Jody & Christy, Linda, Elizabeth


and Kathy (once again, I was not able to adequately capture Kathy's loveliness on film, which is the only reason there are no photos of her) and I met some new knitting friends, like Uncle Lori and the lovely lady from Wayne whose name I am blanking on (see, Heather, I am bad with names!). Some folks very kindly brought their BBF projects, like Anne Marie's gorgeous soy silk scarf, the yarn for which was one of the Yarn Club Shipments this year:


It's the perfect marriage of pattern to yarn and it's extremely gratifying to see my yarns knitted up!

I was so happy to see customers and club members, like Heather (sparkcrafted), who brought her portable wheel and proceeded to spin one of the rovings she purchased on the spot:


Heather did some Navajo-plying which looked a little like the cat's cradle games we used to play as kids. Heather's hands just flew over over the wheel and in short order, she'd produced a beautiful bobbinful of yarn from a roving called "Mudslide". There was much browsing and fondling, and speaking of fondling, rumor has it that one enthusiastic knitter wanted to know if my husband was for sale (he won't tell me who said it, though....)

So it seems that the BBF Open House will have to become an annual (semi-annual?) tradition....


To all of those who came, thank you so much! And to those who couldn't make it -- I promise there'll be a next time!

11 comments:

subliminalrabbit said...

congrats on a successful open house!

Anonymous said...

Carol, it was totally fun! Your kids were awesome, and we already know that Tom is fabu eye candy (out there all raking leaves and stuff!).This had better be an annual event. I couldn't wait to get home and wind! And then I started *The Scarf* which looks wonderful!!!

anne marie in philly said...

oh for crying out loud...you WOULD have to capture MY mugshot, but not kathy's...

I am also wearing a shawl/scarf of BBF superwash merino (which I will point out to all your faithful readers).

yes, wine was drunk, chocolate was consumed, yarn was fondled, men were eyed, gossip was discussed, new friends were made. IT'S ALL GOOD, PEOPLE!

props to the kute kidlets - they made the afternoon a treat!

thank you for inviting us into your lovely home, carol...let's do it again sometime!

Elizabeth D said...

I am so glad this will be an annual event! It was only because I came with cash in back pocket and did not permit the checkbook out of its cage that I didn't buy everything I saw. A great time -- and clearly, I need a haircut! Or maybe just an invisibility cloak. . .Thank you, Carol.

--Elizabeth

Anonymous said...

It was an absolutely awesome weekend! So nice meeting everyone- semi-annual sounds perfect! (and I think I showed great restraint in only having one extra bag to take back on the train...)

jlr said...

Glad to hear it went well, and very glad to hear there will be a next time. I was prevented from coming by needing to help my mother with a craft show, at which she was selling aprons, table runners, napkins, placemats, and baby bibs, which she sews out of beautiful fabrics for Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas and Kwanzaa.

Maybe by the time you have a next one, I will have knitted up some of they yarn I have from sock club C. Here's hoping!

Carol said...

Sounded wonderful! Here's hoping I can make the next one.

Ali P said...

Me too!

Cinderellen said...

Oh how I wish I lived close enough to visit - it looks like fun and the yarn is gorgeous (which you already know, of course).

Bridget said...

This looks like it was great! I sure hope I can come next year.

Kristin Nicholas said...

You are a very brave woman..... And it sounds like it was so worth all the trouble! Congrats!