There's no place like home

I woke up early yesterday, packed some very large bins of yarn and roving into the car



and the kids and I were off. We headed upstate for a combination Nana visit and trunk show.

Until about two years ago, there was no local yarn shop in my hometown or its environs.  Isn't that sad? If you ran out of yarn or needed a needle or tool, you were pretty much stuck. At some point, some big box craft stores opened, so at least there was a way to get a needle or stitch marker if you were in dire need. Then, two years ago, something magical happened:

The skies parted, and Gosh Yarn It was born.

Gosh Yarn It is a beautiful yarn shop full of lovely yarns like Debbie Bliss, Noro, Berroco, Classic Elite, Dream in Color, Madeline Tosh, Lorna's Laces, Cascade, Universal and many more.  There are tons of gorgeous sample garments; lots of patterns and books and booklets; all sorts of tools; and really nice people to help you out.





When Jill and Ann asked me to come back for a trunk show, I was delighted.

I spent yesterday afternoon there, selling yarn and hanging out with the delightful customers. Since I grew up there, there were all sorts of connections that made me feel right at home. We reminisced, compared projects, and generally had a fabulous time. (This is me, waving to Alison and Bonnie and Cathy and Caroline and Stephanie and everybody!)

I was especially glad to encounter Caroline,



who is a fabulous designer. Her gorgeous cowl was featured in KnitScene's Accessories magazine (you can see it in the lower right-hand corner of the magazine she's holding) and she's also had a great cowl pattern published by Quince and Co.

It was a thrill for me to see the gorgeous Daybreak shawl that Ann made from two Black Bunny skeins:



We decided that we were having too much for this to be only an occasional thing, so we are going to try to have quarterly Black Bunny trunk shows at Gosh Yarn It.  Next one will be in December.

If you are in the Wilkes-Barre/Kingston area, do try to stop by Gosh Yarn It. You will have a lot of fun and probably leave with a lot of yarn!

And while I was creating all that mayhem in Kingston, my kids were having a wonderful visit with Uncle Mike (not shown) and Nana.  Win-win, for sure.

Oh hai

Has it really been that long since I last posted? I've been in a knitting fog, working on a number of designs that will appear in various places later in the year.  I have noticed over the years that when I am intensely working on one thing, I find it hard to do other creativity-sucking endeavors until I am done. I guess writing blog posts sometimes fall by the wayside too.

We've also been inundated with end-of-the-year activities, like this

Piano recital for Elvis & Little Miss

and this

Boy Twin's presentation on Morse Code

and this

French award presentation

and this.

We babysat Sandi the guinea pig again

We even got Nana to come this past weekend:

I will try to get back into posting more regularly now that I'm finishing up some of the sample garments I've been knitting. I'm hoping to mail out two more tomorrow, which is a big help. I haven't dyed in a while and I owe you about forty-thousand book reviews, too....so there's lots to do here.