Yarn Crawl Hangover

Good evening!

I have one more Yarn Crawl article left in me, but for now, I just thought I would recap.  Especially since I actually...gulp...finished a project this week!  See, this is what Zauerballs are for...

See, I got to a point where I had to, HAD to, finish my Zauerball socks.  While I was laid up like an invalid and still working at both Planet Walmart (I got kicked out two days in a row, and a doctor at Elmhurst finally told me, "You're not planning on standing at all, are you?") and Knot Just Knits, I had plenty of spare time all of a sudden.  For those who don't know, I knitted two socks at a time, from both the inside and the outside of the ball.  For all of you Zauerballers, I know the company recommends not pulling from the inside of the ball, but I had zero problems.  And if you go from left toe to right toe, you see the colorway from the outside to the inside core of the ball.  Note the approximately eighteen inches of yarn left on the top of the socks...that's how I roll.

Crazy Zauerballs should not be wasted.

Anyway, the reception to my pattern was overwhelming...I was so very thankful for that.  For those of you not in the area, here is the listing on Ravelry:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/plot-twist-shell

Now, it's time to get back to the Vogue Knitting pattern.  I have one panel of...I don't remember...eight?  Ten?...finished.  Slowly but surely, both knitting-wise and life-wise, I'm getting back on my feet.  The first major thing was checked off the list, and the second major thing should be checked off this week.  The Yarn Crawl was not really something to check off my list, but at the same time, it gave me an iota of confidence that I had lost over the last couple of years.  I also heard a tiny bit of negative feedback through my Ravelry group about the Yarn Crawl, which is still positive because small businesses are just like any other company; they need to hear where they can improve.  There certainly wasn't a bunch of negative feedback DURING the Crawl...I ran into more friendly yarn enthusiasts than I can even count, and I even got used to Renee pointing to me and saying, "Amy here is the person who designed this awesome pattern!"

On second thought, I still turned slightly pink when she called that out.  But it's a big deal to me...after the following picture was taken, two more balls of Eco+ were sold to make my pattern.  Now, Eco+ is pretty lofty but it did take up two thirds of the table when the Yarn Crawl started...that's four feet of table reduced to eight inches of table:

Anyway, I was also so happy to help out Elizabeth, who has been so good to me and my creativity pretty much since she opened.  I remember going in there ten days after her doors opened for business...I had no idea a yarn shop had opened in Oak Park, but I happened to walk by and look in the window.  I doubled back, and of course a beautiful friendship was born.  Elizabeth is a good yarn psychologist.  She handed me a ball of Kauni in their rainbow colorway and said, "This has yardage for days, the colors are great, and it felts like a dream.  Walk around with it.  See if it speaks to you."

It did.  I purchased it.  I made the hat in my The Fiber Friend facebook page and that photo was taken at the UPS store, right before I sent it to its intended recipient, one of my favorite members of the military EVER.

Oh yeah...that hat was worn in Afghanistan.  This hat:

Have a good night...I'm going to compile my feedback from the Crawl.  Or knit.  Or think about walking, which I can't do much of.  Or make sugar free pudding with almond milk.  Or...