Full Service Yarn Shop

...But Where Is The Nap?

This is my favorite quote from my new favorite blog. It is written by Bai Ling.
For those who don't know, Bai Ling is a quirky, eccentric B-movie actress who is best known for her outrageous red carpet outfits. Her writing style cracks me up. It is a kind of stream of conciousness unhindered by punctuation (well, she does like commas a lot) or grammar. She's always cheerful and upbeat and even a bit Zen (she is from China, after all, the land where Zen began). It never fails to put a smile on my face!
But, where is the nap? A question for the ages.

NENA Was Fun!

Sunday, Guido and I went to the New England Needlework Associaton trade show in Sturbridge. In eleven years of business, this is the first trade show I've ever managed to go to. It was a bit overwhelming but lots of fun! Lots and lots of yarn vendors were there. There were several that I already do business with so I as able to see the new fall yarns and even order some. I also put in some initial orders with a couple of new companies, mostly patterns. I got a lot of patterns!!

There were also many vendors there that I'm interested in doing business with but can't make any commitments to yet. They all were very happy to give me stacks of info about their business. Here is my homework:

One other thing I never knew about trade show is that they have cash and carry! Look what I got for the spinners and felters!

This is multi-colored merino pencil roving. I just couldn't resist!

A Career Path

Little Nephew told me about his career plans the other day on one of our walks to school.
His plan is to become a scientist then develop a mutant spider. He will then let this spider bite him. When his super powers appear, he plans to quit being a scientist and focus all of his energy on being a super hero. Three guesses which one ;-)

Gore Place

I'm finally getting around to posting about the Gore Place Sheepshearing Festival! What a great time! I enjoyed seeing so many people there, people I haven't seen in years!

Thank you to everyone who helped me set up and break down. Here is a picture of my mighty, mighty set up crew.

Sorry, no picture of the break down crew. I was too exhausted by then to even remember that I had a camera with me. Thanks also to all of you that held down the fort when I had to 'powder my nose'. Jay really went above and beyond. I marooned him with a hasty 'Just tell them I'll be right back!' When I got back there were at least fifteen people in my booth!

My booth was extremely well shopped this year! Here are people taking advantage of the 50% off magazines.

Sorry, no sheep pictures (I never get to see the sheep). This is the view from my booth which is all I got to see except for the fudge guy and the port-a-potties. I almost missed the fudge guy too! My booth was so busy that I almost didn't make it over there!

New Couch Pics

Here are the pictures of the new (to me) couch.

It is a little faded but still soft and comfortable. The knitting group gave it their seal of approval last week. I got a blanket to cover the seat just in case the dog gets up there.

I actually got two blankets so that I always have a clean one!

My old couch was never very comfortable so it is a new thing for me to actually have a comfortable couch. If you are in the neighborhood, I recommend coming over to try it out!

Do the Mashed Potato!

Sorry it took me so long to post. I was sick all last week and lacked motivation.
I finally had the chance today to make mashed potatoes with my nephews. Big Nephew has begun to take an interest in cooking. He asked me sometime around Christmas if I would teach him how to make mashed potatoes. Sadly, it took us until today to get it together to actually do it. Little Nephew helped too!
We took a trip to the grocery store where we talked about the different kinds of potatoes to use. We settled on red potatoes since those were the ones I made at Christmas. We also got Earthbalance Spread and some soy creamer (my mother is lactose intolerant). They both helped peel the potatoes, then came the slow agony of waiting for them to be cooked. It took a WHOLE HOUR. The last half hour consisted of this conversation:

Nephews: Are the done yet?
Me: At least, ten more minutes.

This was repeated about every three minutes, getting up several times to poke the potatoes with a fork, until they were done. Little Nephew almost expired from the suspense. Then there was great fun had with the potato ricer, Earthbalance and creamer added to taste and they were done! Little Nephew even had some! He wouldn't eat any at Christmas, said they tasted weird. Hopefully, he will be a convert to real mashed potatoes. He's used to the box ones, blek!
New couch pictures tomorrow!

There's a Hole in my Livingroom

where the couch used to be! Finally (FINALLY!), the horrible old couch is gone. My mother had some men in yesterday to remove it. They took away her old washing machine as well. The only problem is that the new couch won't be coming for a week. I think we'll manage, though. I didn't really realize what an eyesore the old couch was until I saw it sitting in the driveway. Yergggh! It served me well for many years and thank goodness it's gone.