This Week

Hi, Knitters,

Wow, this week is going fast. First, I randomly selected a winner for the garter stitch tray made by Creative with Clay's Charan Sachar. The winner is.....

frecklesandpurls (rav username)!!

I've contacted the winner and have already mailed off the prize! Congratulations and thank you to everyone who entered. I'll host another giveaway very soon. 

Last week I cleaned out my sock drawers, weeding through the years of sock knitting adventures. I reorganized, folded, and got rid of many of the old, worn and ill-fitting pairs that I really don't wear any longer. I am really pleased with every pair now resting in the drawers. I counted 53 pairs of beautiful handknit socks that spark joy Marie Kondo-style. I now have room to add more to my favorite sock collection and it feels really good to be organized once again. 

This all started because of my sock knitting teaching as of late. I am really proud to announce that on March 28, 2016 my new Craftsy class will be going live. I'll announce it here with a coupon code for a discount and I think I will be able to have a giveaway for a free class (I'll have to double-check on these things but I'm pretty sure it will be okay) so please check back here to find out more.

The class title is.....

My First Toe-Up Socks!

I have seen the class footage already as a preview and it looks really good. I am feeling great about it and I hope you will check it out. I will talk about it in more detail next week but it is a skill builder class where I go into depth about measuring your foot (3 simple measurements), Judy's Magic Cast On, increases and decreases, Kitchener stitch, Russian Bind-Off, and an afterthought heel. It is jam-packed with good information. Also, I have written a pattern for the class with 6 different sizes, 3 sizes each in both fingering weight and worsted weight.

More to come next week!

The photo above is my preparation for my new workshop called, How I Make My Socks, which I taught for the first time in Sarasota, Florida at A Good Yarn. It was fun and I think it went well.

Now for a little about the trip to Florida.

My daughter and husband tagged along for the trip so that made it extra fun. We rented a car and drove about an hour from Tampa to Sarasota. It was such a warm, pretty drive. The bridges were beautiful and seeing the ocean always feels so good and exciting. 

The traffic was tough and it took a long time to get our rental car and to get to the hotel but I got settled in at the hotel for a few minutes before heading off to A Good Yarn for a book signing, meet and greet. It was really fun. 

Susan Rife, a knitter who happens to be a reporter for the Herald-Tribune, was at the shop waiting to interview me for an article for her newspaper. We did a quick interview and the next day there was a fun article about my visit in the paper.  

Click here to read the article about my visit to A Good Yarn!

photo by Susan Rife for the Herald-Tribune

It was fun to see how shop owner, Susan Post, had really planned well and had an enormous table filled with all of my books, stacks and stacks of them. It was great to see the number of books dwindle down over the weekend. She didn't have many left at all and she told me she could have sold more of the books that sold out. I think it helps so much to have the knit samples out next to the books so I was glad I brought quite a large trunk show along. 

Click here to visit A Good Yarn's website!

photo by Susan Rife for the Herald-Tribune

I was really happy to meet Luann Pezet who drove 6 hours from the east coast side of Florida for the meet and greet. She was just adorable and her husband was very kind to accompany her for the journey. Luann is pure joy and I loved hearing about her 10 grandchildren. They are lucky to have her. Thanks for coming all that way to the shop, Luann!

Thank you to Susan Rife for the article in the paper. I really appreciate it.

Me, Susan Post and Laurie (@luvprettyyarn on Instagram) at dinner Saturday night.

I had a great time teaching at the shop with full classes of enthusiastic learners. Laurie was kind of my right-hand throughout the weekend. I really enjoy her and Susan so much. They were so gracious and helpful the entire weekend. I had many students who came and took every class and there were people from all over the country attending. It is a unique community because some were vacationing and happened to be there right on the same weekend so it worked out well. On a funny side note, I don't think I've ever been around so many Susans at one time. I had multiple Susans in every class, Susan Post is the owner and Susan Rife wrote the newspaper article. 

I ate some delicious meals at local restaurants, my family had a ball playing on the beach while I was teaching, and I met so many wonderful knitters. The entire weekend was a huge hit. I hope to come back to A Good Yarn sometime in the future.

I want to thank Susan Post for contacting me over 18 months ago to set this up. It has been a long time in the making. A Good Yarn is more than just a spot to purchase yarn, it is a social gathering place full of vibrant happy knitters. The large round table in the front of the shop was never empty (not for my classes but with knitters just hanging out together at the shop). The feeling in the shop is happy and welcoming and this is due to Susan Post's genuine love of her shop and her gratitude to her customers. She loves her job and it shows.

Goodbye Siesta Key Beach and A Good Yarn Sarasota! 

It was the best!

The day after my return it felt good to think back about the great time in Sarasota, knit on a new sock, and have a cup of coffee back at my own kitchen table. My daughter made the wax-relief dyed eggs for me over the weekend. The sock yarn is from Biscotte Yarns, the closest colorway is called, For Him. The bag is from Lowland Originals on Etsy. The mug is old but was purchased at Starbucks at least several years ago.

There is so much going on right now and this week. My kids are home for spring break with lots of bustling in and out, high school soccer try-outs are happening this week, all of my kids have so much going on in their personal lives ~ lots of changes and excitement and plans. We have company coming to stay for the weekend and an Easter brunch at our house for family in the plans. Hectic as always, I'm sure you can all relate.

Take care and love to you all!
I'll be back soon with more.
xo ~ susan