Spring Fling 2010 - Part 1

Wow. I don't even really know what to say. I had the most fabulous time with a pile of people that I had never even met before that I can't even express it right! I met Beth, the first Spring Flinger at the airport in Dallas - little did I know that it would be the first of so many great women all weekend. I got there & even walking out of the airport I saw a knitter with a bag under her arm knitting a sock & I thought "this is what real life should look like." From that moment until I got home Monday, every moment was spent around other people just as obsessed about knitting & yarn as I am. Not only that, but I could go into any restaurant, store, bar, etc & there were MORE knitters - people that didn't mind if I just plopped down at their table & joined them. I think that was my favorite part - that everyone welcomed just one more person to join the circle & hang out. How refreshing.

But really you just wanted to hear about the stuff, don't you?

Here is the goodie bag:

It rocked. And included a skein of Wollmeise Femme Fatale colorway that Claudia dyed just for this package. I was so sad that the ash from the volcano kept her from coming from Germany. I sooooo wanted to meet her & the other ladies that couldn't make it.

Thursday night the fabulous plazajen organized a newbie dinner because her first year she ate alone & it made her sad to think that someone else would have that experience. There were 63 of us and I must admit, my first thought was "clusterfuck". I mean, no way that would go well, but I have to say, they handled it with ease. I heard some people say that the service was slow as we expected, & I thought, Really? I didn't notice at all. I was talking to the most fascinating woman. I loved hearing about her life in a rural area of New York. She had so many questions about life in Texas & the South in general - and you know I love telling stories. I think we were both surprised about what life is like in areas were we have never visited. Then we went to the dessert reception. I found my swap partner Suzanne & she was AWESOME. I swear we have the exact same taste in yarn & I was relieved to know we wouldn't be going on the same shopping trip to Loopy Central. Cause I wouldn't want to have to take her out, seriously. This is what she got me:

Holy crap it was awesome! I want to do another swap with her pronto.

During the dessert reception I had a moment of clarity. I asked "what do we do now?" Everyone looked at me a little crazy & said "YOU JUST KNIT". Oh. I see. We just knit. It was the best thing I ever heard. I have been to quite a few big knitting events. Some smaller & closer to home, some larger & far away, but never has it been WE JUST SIT & KNIT. It was refreshing & I was really relieved. So I just sit & knit. And talked. And knit & talked.

If I had to participate in the Groundhog day phenomenon & live one day over & over & over, Friday would have been a really good day for that. Friday morning I was part of the first group to go to Loopy Central. HOLY CRAP. I have been to a crazy number of yarn shops. I have a really big & fabulous LYS called The Woolie Ewe. Often when we travel & I come back from a shop I'll look at Patrick and shrug - I mean, I'm pretty spoiled & it takes a lot to impress me. Color me impressed.

THIS IS ALL DREAM IN COLOR STARRY!


My new friends Elizabeth & Kim in front of the Cascade wall

More yarn (I hated my pictures in front of the loopy wall - I wish I had spent more time getting them right!)


More yarn!


AND MORE FREAKING YARN!


I got this:


I actually think I displayed some huge self restraint. I also didn't have much time to save for the shopping part & I kept trying to tell myself that I can order whatever I want later. Sigh. I could have filled my house with yarn from this place.

Friday afternoon I had down time to JUST SIT & KNIT. And meet new people. I was quite the table jumper - I wanted to meet absolutely everyone though I admit on Sunday morning at breakfast I looked around & found more people I hadn't talked to & even more that I hadn't even seen! Insane.

Friday my Loopy really started acting up. Apparently Sheri has said that some Loopy's are very well behaved but some are naughty. One lady told a story about how she got one & on the way to her house he ate all of her hersheys kisses! When her package got there there were only empty wrappers & her daughter thought that was pretty mean. I laughed about that so much! Well, mine is naughty too. It may have something to do with the fact that I think I'm the only grown woman to carry around a stuffed sheep all weekend, but my Loopy got into an awful lot of trouble & there is photographic evidence to prove it. My new friends said it could be because I let him share in the flask & that makes me a pretty bad Loopy mamma, but whatever.



Loopy's yarn barf

Loopy needed some rest too


You can see more of Loopy behaving badly at the following blogs:
Carolina
Kimberly
He's quite the character but he must be worn out because I haven't had much trouble out of him since we got home. Maybe he's scared of the cats.

I will come back & talk about the classes. So much to say!!!!

New contest prize

While I sort out the 784 things going through my head about this weekend I just wanted to give you a quick look at a new prize I added for the contest. Madeline Tosh - Tosh Sock in Fjord. Yum



I have to be perfectly honest. I was feeling kind of bad because I had intentions of buying some Tosh Sock as a prize at DFW Fiber Fest. I was tired & well, I guess selfish because I made 2 trips to the Madeline Tosh booth. I bought some for me. Some quite honestly I'm not sharing with ya'll! So I put that on my list for Loopy central because they have a big pile of it. AND I FORGOT AGAIN! In my defense, I was staying far far away from that area because I had bought my fair share & didn't want to be tempted. I asked Jen (one of the sweetest ladies I've ever met!) to bring me something pretty. Boy did she deliver. It's gorgeous & squishy .......I can't figure out why I didn't buy any for MMMMEEEEEEEE. I almost kept it. Man, that would have been wrong & I wouldn't have been able to sleep at night. Of course, that would give me more time to knit it up, wouldn't it???

Just a reminder - May 30th deadline, we are approaching the one month point. Get to knitting if you've been putting it off. What I have gotten already is highly appreciated & all so stinking cute!

Off to the Land of Loopy

In case you are unaware, there is this ridiculously good online shop called The Loopy Ewe. Sheri Berger, the owner, has done a great job of picking out the top tier yarn in the industry & stocking her shop full of it. She has a great reputation for working with & supporting indie dyers, along with carrying some great commercial lines. If my local LYS doesn't carry a yarn, The Loopy Ewe is where I go to shop. I know I am not alone in feeling like this is my LYS away from home.

Several years ago Sheri put together the first Spring Fling, a retreat where customers could gather to meet, knit, take classes from first rate instructors, and shop at the brick & mortar version of our favorite online store. It is a wildly popular retreat & it has grown even more popular over the past few years. So much so that entry into the fling is decided by lottery. This past December I threw my name into the hat rather thoughtlessly thinking it would be cool to get in, but not counting on it in any way. I got notice a few weeks later that unfortunately I didn't get in & to be honest, I put it out of my mind & never gave it another thought. Until......

...the second week of March I got an email from Sheri saying that I had been on the 2nd wait list & enough people had dropped out that if I wanted to go that I was in. YIKES! I was leaving for Disney in less than a month & really, the last thing I needed to be doing was is running off to St. Louis for a knitting retreat. Without knowing a soul. But.....

Teachers include Anne Hanson, Gryphon Perkins, Wendy Johnson, and Jared Flood. I mean, seriously??? First let me say that I am a total fan girl & I'm a firm believer in taking classes from people you admire. And that know more than you. Which is like a way lot of people. Then I looked at who else would be attending, and that list looked pretty fun as well. Honestly, though, you really had me at Anne Hanson.

I tossed it around in my head & made a half hearted mention to Patrick. He said what he always says, "GO." God I love that man. Easy for him to say because I handle our finances & had to pull the money out of my ass. So I did, or rather from Uncle Sam. Patrick had enough miles to get me a free ticket. Oh my hell, the stars kind of lined up for me to go. So I am going. Tomorrow.

I have 2 great classes:
Sweater Fitness Workshop with Anne Hanson (can you see my happy dance?)
Two-handed Knitting, Backwards and Forwards with Gryphon Perkins

Wow. and wow. I am so excited I could just scream. Wish me luck with keeping my sanity when I take my trip to Loopy Central. Because that's where the real damage is!

They are SO hilarious.

So I told you that I'd have stories from Disney World & figured they would be knitting related in some way. I have to tell you, from the time I left the airport until I got back home I didn't even touch a knitting needle. Well, I did, but only to show my nieces my socks that I am knitting. So no poking Goofy. It would have been funny though!

I could tell 100 funny stories, seriously, because my sister's kids are the bomb. I won't bore you to death, but I thought maybe I'd do quotable quotes bullet point style by child. Ready? ok. Here are the kids so you can see how stinking cute they are. Jordyn is 11 years old & has on the silver sparkly ears (don't know where she gets that from!) & Laken is 8 years old & is in the pink fuzzy ears with the tiara. The ears are very fitting. Just sayin.




Jordyn:
* When I saw her at the airport "The plane ride wasn't nearly as bad as last time. It was so good that I think I might go on the plane back too."
* After riding the Star Wars ride "Where was the fun? I missed it?"
* "Aunt Tasha, if somebody else give you a baby, can I hold it?" A little background - this was hours after the ride on the bus one morning - I offered my seat to a family & the mom said they were fine but jokingly asked if I wanted to hold the baby. I said SURE! So I did. Imagine the looks on Jordyn's face when she looked up & said "Aunt Tasha, where did you get that baby?"
* We talked a lot about the fireworks show at Epcot & how much that must cost every night. On Friday we were riding past parking lots & saying how much it cost to park if you drive. Without missing a beat Jordyn said "I bet that's where they get all of the money for the fireworks." And she doesn't even have an MBA from Harvard.

Laken:
* "I don't understand why they call it a runway. There isn't anybody running on it."
* "Everybody is happy in Disney."
* Declared both It's a Bugs Life & Honey I Shrunk the Audience as "absolutely horrible" - she hates the 3D shows, but there is something hilarious about an 8 year old saying stuff is "absolutely horrible." She has vowed never to enter another show that involves "those glasses"
* After riding Rockin Roller Coaster - "I didn't like it at all, I LOVED IT!"
* "I'm trying to get over my fears so I have to go on it." About riding a scary ride- I can't remember which one right now.

Notable quotes from the rest of us:
Stacey - "I'm in the happiest place on earth, I'm not going to be in pain!"
Mom - (upon me coming out of the shop in my leopard print ears) "She's going to grow up one day."
Me - (upon wearing said leopard ears for about 15 minutes) - "I think these might be sized for small children." (hates to admit Mom might be right AGAIN)
My favorite Disney themed tshirt worn by some random Dad at Magic Kingdom - "I'm Grumpy because you're Dopey"

Maybe my favorite story is that on the last night we went to the Fantasmic! show (which, btw, is maybe my favorite part of the trip & you must must go if you've never seen it). At the end of the show a boat comes out & it has every character you can imagine on it. Seriously, like everybody. So when we were walking out, Laken proclaimed that she was very worried about Daisy because there had been a lack of Daisy all week, AND she wasn't on the boat (I did not notice, but my sister said she looked for her too because she was sitting by Laken & never saw her either). Laken is terribly concerned that maybe they have fired Daisy. My sister said maybe she was at home with Huey, Dewey, & Louie. Laken said that maybe DONALD should be home with them & DAISY should be at Disney World. She wanted to ask somebody, but we assured her that the guy selling light up ears from a cart probably didn't know anything about Daisy's fate. So she said she is going to write a letter. And she asked if she could sign my name to it too. I said sure, knock yourself out. It's just the funniest thing I've ever heard. She's really for real concerned about it too! And in all fairness, we didn't see much of Daisy.

Let me leave you with perhaps my favorite picture of Cinderella's castle EVER. My sister took this when we hit the park on Friday at 7am - the weather was that ugly. Cool picture though.


And me with Chip n Dale


WHHHHAAAAAA! I want to be back there right now!

The Happiest Place on Earth

Hi, you have reached Tasha. I'm not here right now, I'm in Disney World with my Mom, sister & nieces. We are surely having a ball & don't really want to talk to you right now. Tune in next week when I hope to regale you with stories like "I poked Goofy with a knitting needle & lived to tell about it" & "no, I'm not a mouse, why do you ask?" Or not. Either way, I'm sure I'll have a little something to say about it.