The Other Side Of The Coin

Good evening!  It's Yarn Crawl and Stitches Midwest week, so I have had a lot to write about, but I've also had a lot of knitting time, thanks to a few key moments.  The first one is that I went to the Pacific Northwest for a few days, and...well...the flight was a bit long.  I was knitting my Zauerball socks, but there is one pattern on the front and another on the back, so I have to be able to see the instructions for both sides at the same time.  This is what I came up with:

Then, I finished my size of the Yarn Crawl pattern for Knot Just Knits...here is the listing on Ravelry if you'd like to see it:

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

I made it in a different yarn, figuring I needed to make sure it could translate.  It did, well enough where I wore it to work one night.  On the first day of the Yarn Crawl, I worked at Knot Just Knits and the first person I encountered was gushing about my pattern.  Every nerve I had about thinking, "I hope everyone but me doesn't think it's ugly" vanished in a millisecond.

So that's when I decided to post the pattern on Ravelry before the Yarn Crawl ended...Elizabeth already told me she didn't care, so I knew it wasn't a big deal.  Within 24 hours, I had sold three patterns and 74 people had favorited it in their library.  Wow...double thank-you.

Then I spent Day Two at the Woolly Lamb...they are usually closed on Sundays so I wanted to see what Crawlers were coming in.  If I can get my butt out of bed in the morning, I'll write an article about it...such a great store.  Great yarn.  Great atmosphere.  Great help.  Just great great great...I can't say enough nice things about the place, and of course they are the Chicago-exclusive distributor of Bergere de France, which is the most heavenly of the heavenly yarns, ever.

Tomorrow, I am heading back to Knot Just Knits for a work day...it is so interesting to me to be an employee versus a manager.  I am the first to admit that I'm not the best at my "day" job, but I am decent at managing a crew, making good decisions, and getting people to be productive.  It has been a long time since my only job was to basically sell stuff and make the customer happy, but yep...here we are.  It was actually GREAT fun, and I'm looking forward to tomorrow.  Knitters are simply awesome.

By the way, I'm wrapping up my coverage of the Yarn Crawl with a Best of the Best list...if you have any feedback, please do contact me privately with your thoughts.  I can't actually do the Crawl this year since I'm an employee, but I want customer-driven feedback on what they like about the Crawl.  Specifically..

Best atmosphere 
Friendliest employees 
Best free pattern 
Best raffle prize 

Best LYS neighborhood…where are the best surrounding restaurants and shopping? 
Best yarn selection

Best non-Yarn Crawl sales and deals

Please also share with other Crawlers...either have them email me at amy.e.kaspar@gmail.com or contact me through Ravelry at thefiberfriend.

I'm hoping to finish the Zauerball socks (in the photo above) by the end of next week so I can get back to knitting the Vogue 30th Anniversary asymmetrical tunic pattern...that Cascade Eco+ and one and a half finished panels keep staring at me, but I'm already doing one confusing pattern with cables.  Makes more sense to finish that sucker and then put the Zauerball socks on my feet while I knit the tunic.  Who's picturing it?  Oh by the way...I'm knitting the Zauerball from the toe up until I run out of yarn, meaning they will probably be knee-highs.  Enough of a visual?

Let me know how the Crawl is going...I'd love to hear from you!