The Orlando Needlework Show

Hoo boy.

I don't like to post online smackdowns here on my blog. I'm about to make an exception.

I learned of the Orlando Needlework Show through Ravelry. Excited, I made plans to attend with a friend of mine who is just getting into knitting. Sitting here this morning, I'm sipping a cup of coffee and feeling a little insulted by the organizers.

My impressions of the show:

1. The parking situation was atrocious. We were directed to park in the Omni parking lot and then were charged for it. Had we entered the same lot through the hotel entrance, it would have been free. They were really charging $10 to park in someone else's parking lot? On the far other side of the convention center? That a shuttle didn't go to? I only wish I had taken my pedometer because we walked... and walked... and walked.
   
   
2. They marketed this event as three separate shows. Scrapbooking, jewelry/beading and needle arts. Scrapbooking was well represented. Not so much for the other two. The other two events seemed to be afterthoughts. Had it been marketed as a single craft show I might not feel so cheated. But taking the Needlework Show as a show unto itself, the show was disappointed to say the least.
   
   
3. There were 3 yarn vendors. That's right. THREE. I purchased from 2 of them, Picasso's Moon from Sarasota and the Local Needle from Macclenny. I really enjoyed the displays from both vendors and chatting with the store owners.
   
   
4. And then... there was Tess's Yarns. Oh Tess. You've earned a special place in my heart. Sadly, it isn't a good place. I stopped in her booth, cash in hand. We weren't addressed at all. The gal manning the booth was more interested in messing around with some sort of a handheld device. We weren't acknowledged by her at all. (There were no other people at her booth at the time.) When I asked her a question, she sighed, answered curtly and then went back to her handheld. Nice. Very nice. Unfortunately for Tess, everyone else who I talked to had the same experience there. That would explain why her booth was always empty when I passed by. I don't care how beautiful her yarn is. I will not buy from people who can't be bothered to show the most basic common courtesy. Alienating your customer base isn't a good business practice.

Final verdict? I wish I had just gone to the Sip and Knit, hung out and used the $20 to buy a skein of Malabrigo.

The day wasn't a total loss though. My friend suggested that we have lunch at Cafe Tu Tu Tango. I only wish I had taken my camera into the restaurant. Cafe Tu Tu Tango is a tapas place. Very eclectic, local art hanging everywhere and local artists doing work throughout the restaurant. It was a lot of fun. We agreed that our favorite tapas selection was the Roast Pear on Pecan Crips. So good! The carne asada and potstickers were tasty also.

Adventures with Kool-Aid

I received my first KnitPicks order a short while ago and thought I'd have some fun with using Kool-Aid to hand dye it. It was a learning experience. I think it was good to try out a few expendable hanks before I start doing any serious hand dyeing.

Before starting, I did some research online and thought I'd try Black Cherry and Lemon-Lime for the first two hanks. The online samples that others had posted showed the Black Cherry as a nice deep red and the lemon-lime as a chartreuse-y green. Based upon other's recommended Kool-Aid to yarn ratios, I used 4 packets of color for each dye session. (Check out KnitPick's Kool-Aid dyeing tutorial. There is also a wealth of additional information to be had if you do a quick search.) The hanks were 100 grams (220 yards) each. I also added a little white vinegar to the dye baths.



The results I got with the Black Cherry were more on the burnt sienna side. A nice color but not exactly what I wanted. Figuring this would be a good opportunity to experiment with overdyeing, I dyed it a second time with another batch of Wild Cherry with a few drops of red food coloring added in. It was still on the brown side, I so I overdyed it again with regular cherry Kool-Aid. I did over-handle the yarn and it started to felt ever so slightly.



It fascinated me that the water was completely clear when the dye bath was exhausted.



The resulting shade over 3 dye sessions was still not quite what I wanted... but I could live with it.



My next experiment was with Lemon-Lime. I was going for variations in shading here.



Again, I wasn't terribly happy with the results of the shading so I dyed it a second time with Pink Lemonade and Lemonade. It is a little on the fug side where the pink and green overlapped... but I don't really have any complaints. I'm chalking it all up to a learning experience.

A Shout Out to my Ravelry Peeps

Just wanted to take a few moments to give a few shout-outs to a few of my Ravelry yarn swap peeps. I have, of course, thanked everyone privately but figured that I should broadcast what awesome swap buddies I've had. I've have been having a wonderful time shopping for my downstream buddies and have had an equally wonderful time opening my swap surprises.

So much lovely yarniness! I can hardly wait to start new projects with all these goodies.

Pop Culture Swap
From the lovely and talented princessdeia, I received a bundle that included roasted cashews and almonds, a carved wooden bookmark, some chocolate pumpkins, a cute magnet and some incredibly soft Bamboo in a beautiful colorway. As you can see, Felix approves. Many thanks, Dee!



Caffeine Addicts Swap II
My upstream partner for the Caffeine Addicts Swap II was the lovely and talented yaya36. From her, I received a pound of a nice breakfast blend coffee along with a ceramic mug and some pretty stitch markers. She outdid herself on the yarn! I love the Super Soxx yarn and absolutely adore the Manos del Uruguay wool. The steely blue-grey colorway is gorgeous. Thanks a million, Claudia!



Just for Fun Swap
And last, but certainly not least, the incomparable cdaniele sent me a wonderful goodie box when we decided to pair up as swap buddies just for fun. The Classic Elite Waterlily yarn is fabulously soft and the colorway is elegantly variated. Cin also included some pretty crafting yarn and a pattern for a beautiful shawl. Muchas gracias, Supa Cindy 3000!

Welcome!

After many months of posting exclusively to my diet blog, I decided to open my focus more to life in general. This blog will share the daily ramblings, rants and interests of the daily life of a thirtysomething Floridian.