Good News, Bad News

Camp KIP Report 

On Wed April 25, hubby and I got up at 5:00 am, so that I could catch a 7:00 flight to St Louis. Why St Loiuis ? Why indeed. The famous arch (which I haven’t managed to see yet) ? The fabulous pie at Cowan’s? The lovely Cedar Creek hotel and conference center?

It’s the second annual CampKIP –a fun get-together of knitters from all over the country. Call it a knitting retreat. I think the beauty of it, is that there are not a lot of scheduled activities. People can just hang out, knit, talk, compare techniques and admire each other’s knitwear. Most people have busy lives, balancing kids, jobs, pets, and households; for them 3 days without commitments, without a schedule, spent among friends, is like a little bit of heaven.

For me, it was extra special. 

First, I got a chance to meet my swap partner from last year, Julia. We had exchanged lots of notes, and had put together 4 swap packages for each other, but never had a chance to meet face to face. She heard about Camp KIP, registered, and we ended up being roommates. It was so much fun – she is a wonderful lady.

A second highlight was that I took the opportunity to offer a short class on design to the camp attendees. It was well received, and I enjoyed the opportunity to talk about my process and what I’ve learned in the two years I’ve been designing. I wore one of my designs, the Lydia Shawl and it generated a little buzz.

Another exciting thing that happened – one of the knitters there was actually wearing one of my designs! This was quite thrilling for me. She wore the Carole Landis Top and it looked great on her. She knitted in cotton which was perfect.  The little inserts of lace make it cool enough to wear on a warm day.  

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Another recent event was the Yarn Crawl LA. Over 4 days, people were invited to visit as many LYS in LA County as you could (or desired). There were 27 shops participating, and they featured prizes, special deals and discounts during the weekend.  I went to one nearby store on my own (KnitCulture) and visited 3 more with friends. These were stores I hadn’t ever visited so it was good fun. I didn’t buy too much, just a skein of pure silk in a gorgeous ice blue from Twist in Manhattan Beach, and some needles at Needlepoints West, near LAX airport.

In other knitting news, I finished Phoebe’s Sweater for my little granddaughter; it looks great. I’m hoping to get a nice pic of her wearing it to add to my project page, but here’s the photo of the sweater itself.

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A bit of bad news: the UK based magazine called KNIT (formerly known as Yarn Forward) is in bankruptcy. I have published a few designs with them. 

I feel bad for the staff that have lost their jobs.   

Unfortunately they owe me $$$ for 2 designs, one published (Lola's Top), and one in process,  plus they have 2 knitted samples of mine which should be sent back to me.  In all the confusion, who knows if the samples will be found and returned. As for the money, I have little expectation :-(   Sigh.  

Sorry to end on a depressing note everyone. I’ll try to be more upbeat next time.