Knot Knecessarily Known Knitting

Saturday started off early again, but this time I found a better parking space on the top deck. And I remembered to bring my lunch. On the downside, I only had about five hours of sleep. I am not used to being sleep deprived. But, heh, I figured I would keep myself going off the excitement and adrenaline. For Saturday I had signed up for Joan Schrouder's Set-in Sleeves Simplified class. This was based on recommendations from Benjamin Levisay, Rick Mondragon, and Whit Robbins. When Benjamin and Rick had been out here in October, I had mentioned my fondness for Lucy Neatby and other knitting technicians. I was told in that case, I should definitely take a class with Joan. I already felt pretty comfortable with Elizabeth Zimmermann's and Barbara Walker's approaches to seamless knitting, so I wasn't sure how much I was going to learn in the class. But I have found that you almost always learn something , even if it wasn't what you expected. First off, Joan ...

I remember getting to Exit 16, realizing I had forgotten to grab a sandwich out of the refrigerator, and deciding not to worry about it. Thanks to Thursday morning, I knew to expect rush hour traffic and I came prepared. Friday morning the front parking lot of Cobb Galleria Centre was already full by 8 AM. I believe there was another event of some kind -- something business-oriented and not as much fun, to be sure. It was the only day I left the Zippy Sippy in the covered parking underneath the front lot. But I still got off to a lovely morning. Lots of chatting with other knitters and ogling their beautiful finished objects. Registration was going fine and they had everything they needed. I think I passed Fran, who was wearing a different Clapotis from the previous day. I settled myself into Susanna Hansson's Lapland Hand Garment class. A couple people from the Thursday Japanese stitch class were also in this one, so that was nice and I was already feeling at home amongst...

Thursday morning I got up early and headed over to the Galleria. I was pleased to see that Debi Light, owner of The Whole Nine Yarns, had managed to park her Volkswagen Beetle in the perfect spot, in good view of the front entrance. (For those of you who wondered, she left Woodstock at 6 AM to get that spot.) I parked nearby. I was about 8:15 AM. The opening day festivities were scheduled for 10 AM. Almost as soon as I got in the door I started meeting people. There were ladies from Florida who were pleased as punch that they could drive to a knitting event. I guess Florida can sometimes feel a little remote from the rest of the country. I went over to the Registration desk to see if everyone had what they needed for the day. Woofgangpug was there helping, and she requested a coffee. By the time I had fetched that, more people were coming to register. I got to meet Charles D. Gandy from Clayton, who had two winning socks in the Think Outside the SOX contest. Charles is a ...

For those of you who have read the Harry Potter series, you may recall a lucky potion called Felix Felicis. Consuming the potion could cause someone to be lucky -- fortuitous happenstances just kept occurring. I've just come off four days of that. The entire weekend was fabulous and as practically perfect as anything might be. To make it easier to tell the tale, I'll date each post to correspond with the appropriate day of the convention. I'll add links and pictures later. Here's the tale. It was good even from Wednesday. Several of us met at Spruill Center for the Arts Education Center at 2 PM to move the giant flower centerpieces that Atlanta Knitting Guild had created for the two banquet events. People were on time. The day was a bit windy but not rainy. Traffic was reasonable. We had enough people. Everything at Spruill was loaded. Megan and I then went over to her house. The two of us each loaded our cars and then drove over to Cobb Galleria Center. ...

The Cuddly Hubby and I attended last night's special members' preview of Boundless Budgies: A Parakeet Adventure, which is the new exhibit at ZooAtlanta . We've had higher level memberships at the High Museum and Atlanta Botanical Garden, but I can tell you that few institutions roll out the red carpet for you like ZooAtlanta. A $200 Safari level membership is well worth it. If you care about conservation, remember that not only does ZooAtlanta give you a great family experience, but the zoo works with our universities here in Georgia to conduct research that aids both captive and wild populations. Last night James Ballance, who is the primary curator for birds, was in attendance and answering questions. Also attending was zoo CEO Dennis Kelly. James has a tremendous enthusiasm for what he does, and a winsome British accent that makes you want him to keep talking. Thank you to Dennis for being good management, and to James and the rest of the birds and small mammals t...