We are wrapping up our week here at the Cape and it has been a great vacation. The trip has not been the reason I haven’t blogged. The blog was locked down by Blogger late last week. Their software identified a bunch of blogs as potential “spammers”. It was fixed within a day or so, but I didn’t realize this. It was posted here on “Blogger Buzz”, but I was waiting for an email response to my request for a “review” of my blog. Oh well, we are on vacation after all so it’s not as if I would have been posting everyday.

We’re back from Stitches Midwest – what a great show we had! It was so much fun seeing old friends and putting faces to names with our on-line customers. Thanks for all of the lovely comments about our podcast and blog. Even though I see the stats each week for both, it doesn’t seem “real” until I’m out and about somewhere like a tradeshow and you all start commenting! I guess you are really reading and listening! Thanks to everyone who shopped with us and endured the rather lengthy line on Friday and Saturday. Steve and I were ringing as fast as we could, unfortunately, our new wireless credit card machine was not nearly as fast as we were. We very much appreciate all of the kind words about our staff. They truly are awesome! Thanks to Andra, Karen, Jenna and Petey – you guys rock!

As crazy as Stitches was, we were very much overshadowed by this:

And sightings like this:

Wizard World drew 70,000 people! Those lines are at 8:00 in the morning and the show didn’t even open until 10! Really, the pictures don’t even do the scene justice.

For anyone who has ever worked a tradeshow, it is not easy work. In fact, it is exhausting. One rule we have when we travel to tradeshows is that we always eat well. Friday night is always protein night (read – “manly” steakhouse). We enjoyed a faboo meal at Gibson’s in Rosemont. The wonderful Kristo took great care of us and even plated our over-the-top dessert right at the table.

What was truly fun about this restaurant is how they celebrate birthdays. A group of waiters will gather around the table of the celebrant, do a quick little chant and then yell, “Happy You!”. It’s a bit startling at first because (a) you’re in a rather classy joint and suddenly people are yelling and (b) since most of the waiters are men, their voices combined are quite booming and (c) you are not quite sure what they actually said, at least from a distance.

Of course, I did manage a wee bit of shopping. First stop – can you guess? Of course, it was Brooks Farm. I was so happy to see them, especially after the disappointment at TKGA. I scored a skein of Macero and Duet for myself, plus two skeins of their lambswool/alpaca blend:

I also purchased a skein of this:

300 delicious yards of Polwarth Wool and Cultivated Silk from Rovings. This yarn is yumm-ee.

I also scored a pair of needles from a new vendor called Signature Needle Arts. They have a line of needles, all straights for now, that come in your choice of three different lengths, three different points and three different tops. Mine will be here in a couple of weeks and I’ll blog more about them then. One key thing to note, they are made in the U.S.A.

Happy, happy me.

One other Stitches note, if you happen to live in the Charlottesville, VA area and are familiar (or not) with the Needle Lady, be sure to stop in and doing some shopping. She was extremely kind and helped us out of a difficult situation on Sunday morning. I know nothing about her shop, but her act of kindness will not soon be forgotten and if she’s this nice to the competition, I can only imagine how great she must be with her customers.

There are lots of new yarns and such to catch up on at the store. I’ll try to get some pictures taken tomorrow. Be sure to keep an eye on the website for new additions in yarns and books. Also, the fall class schedule has been posted – register early! Oh and best I not forget to mention the Summer Sale. Steve would NOT be happy with me

Kathy

Hey, I am all caught up on posts. Sorry about that everyone. Hopefully I’ll be able to share more with you from this week’s venue

Kathy