from a bedroom in scappoose, oregon
July 18, 2013
i began this post
in the middle of the night
in a guest bedroom in scappoose, oregon
with the intention of recounting my day’s activities
and proceeding thusly for the rest of my mini-vacay/retreat from life.
however,
it soon became obvious
that scappoose lacked the bandwidth necessary
to blog on a daily basis, at least if i wanted to show you my pictures.
so now i am home
literally weeks after my return.
and must resort to the recap format for today’s blog
this might take a while.
there was fun with chickens,
which is one of my favorite scappoose-ian past times.
coffee at ristretto roasters
which was the only coffee i had in portland that lived up to the hype
(this mocha was not fucking around)
there were a couple trips to grand central bakery
where i was more impressed by their breakfast sandwich and shrimp po boy (scroll down) than their sweet stuff.
in portland proper,
there was the ubiquitous
homeless/punk/beggar with cute animal entourage.
this group was outside powell’s where i had a pretty amazing haul
the next day,
tina and i went to black sheep gathering
where we saw judith mackenzie judge the fleeces,
a thoroughly delightful and educational experience.
(note: apparently, shetlands are in this year)
(the aforementioned shrimp sandwich)
we ran into beth hansen of hansen crafts
she is . . . a character. if you meet her,
and it feels like she’s making fun of you,
that’s because she is.
it’s totally normal.
i have strong feelings about the miniSpinner,
but this is all i’m going to say about it: i’m a traditionalist.
if you’re not, and aren’t bothered by the electric component
you should definitely buy it;
it’s a pretty fucking awesome product.
i won’t be buying one because
i am a fuddy duddy.
i will also draw your attention to this:
really beth? really?
there was this monstrosity,
which is apparently a spinning wheel.
it needs to be melted down into something less ugly.
i stopped by black trillium fibre studio‘s booth,
one of the only booths i thought worthy of documenting, really.
the problem with all of these shows,
especially the smaller ones,
is that these people aren’t business people.
sure, i bet 90% of them make an amazing product,
but that doesn’t mean they know shit about how to sell it.
you’ve got to make a booth that makes people want to come in,
or you might as well not even bother to show up.
melanie knows how to work with what she has;
simple set up, a few beautiful samples, wide open
so people can get in and out easily.
good job.
similarly, the men at the clemes & clemes booth knew what was up!
these dudes are professional, know their product, work well together,
have their demonstration down, and there’s something to be said for a uniform. this dude had me wanting a fucking drum carder
something for which i have no use or space in my life.
that, my dears, is a salesman!
(sorry for the shitty photo)
there was this cuteness
and this cuteness
and this cuteness.
then i met some west coast knitters
though i can only remember angela davis (the knitting one)
with her amazing mustard eye shadow (right) and parna
(with the broken hand), both of whom i hope to see again.
(sorry angela, not the best photo, i know, but better than the other one)
as we were leaving we saw this dude with his dog and guitar
very huck finnesque.
the next day,
tina took the misses newton, heidi dog, and me to the beach
before which we hit up this joint,
pacific way bakery & caféwhich, was fucking amazing…last year.
but made us a but queasy this time around.
and our waitress?
then we returned for more chicken time, but with a twist.
i don’t know what it is, but i fucking love deer.
maybe it’s from watching bambi as a kid, i don’t know.
but i can not get enough deer.
and i got way close to this guy.
i was then treated to a ________ about which i cannot tell you.
what i can tell you is that it was a moment when i felt
humble, special, and kinda fancy.
because it was fancy.
and more than a little pantsy.
though likely wasted on my middle class ______.
mystery!
the next day i began the tipsy sock
while hanging out with the falcore-esque heidi dog.
(she has no fucks to give)
*
the whole tripped was capped off
by an amazing meal at cocotte bar & bistro
a meal totally worth live tweeting. which i did.
(click pics to read descriptions)
then i immediately hopped on a plane and headed home.
this trip was my vacation,
a flight, really, from my incredibly stressful summer.
there were whole swathes of time when i was not seized
by crippling work-related anxiety.
that level of ease is only surpassed
when i escape to my parent’s house,
or as i still think of it,
‘home’.
still,
tina’s guest room
is a close second.
she’s the kindest host.
i even get my own bathroom.
*there was an undocumented fabulous indian dinner with tina, megan, and deb, friends from three very different epochs of my life, followed by a night out with megan at a former bowling alley dive where, once the lyons’ club bingo night rapped up, we watched the mentally challenged and tone deaf sing karaoke.there’s no picture in the world that can capture that.
my first rhinebeck or the time i saw uma thurman smoking.
October 18, 2010
let’s just get this out of the way: i finished my sweater.
and i hope to never be put in that position ever again.
i knitted almost the entire drive from pittsburgh,
and had to pop pills to dull the pain in my hands and continue.
i could never have done it without the support of my travel buddies
kelli, lisa, and especially andrea who had the needles i needed.
around 11 p.m. friday night
with pits to kitch
and ends to weave in,
i bound off
too tightly and my sweater wouldn’t fit over my head.
i kinda wanted to die.
rather than commit suicide,
i decided to work on finishing.
when midnight rolled around,
my underarms were well closed
and most of my ends were woven in.
but i knew i couldn’t go on.
i’d have to finish in the morning.
as soon as the alarm went off,
before i even remembered my own name,
i found my chibi, and finished weaving in my ends.
i then ripped out my collar
borrowed a bigger needle size
and knitted like the wind.
in the parking lot of the dutchess county fairgrounds,
i bound off for a second time,
and pulled that bitch over my extra-large cabeza!
and walked through the gate properly attired.
(which was good since i didn’t really bring a coat and it was pretty cold)
the rest is a blurred happy memory.
there was yarn. there were sheep.
there were several nips of whiskey from my flask.
here are the highlights:
i met the pocket wheel
and now want one.
i ran into adrienne martini, a new old friend from the blogosphere,
and clara parkes who knew who i was! really, she knew the hotpants from maryland and i told her i was the one who knitted them.
i also ran into beth hansen who i met back at the silk retreat. she was selling the lovely miniSpinner.
i now want one of them as well.
there was this crazy wheel that i do not want.
i saw bobsolda and casey at the ravelry meetup.
it was kinda more creepy than cute.
(also i totally have a crush on jess aka frecklegirl aka mama rav’s brother.
what can i say? i love me a ginger beard.)
the lovely melynda of french press knits spotted me and my sweater, and we finally got to meet in person. i got to feel the baby bump and meet her husband too. she was so beautiful in every sense of the word. i loved how michigany she was, her accent and demeanor. she made me miss home.
of course i was so caught up in the moment that it didn’t occur to me document the moment. *sigh* curse this blond hair!
between nips of whiskey,
andrea and i hung out at the beer garden.
there was this guy who was apparently very into carbs.
i spun on my future wheel.
it was brand new and heavily discounted.
they wanted cash, didn’t take plastic.
shady? i thought so.
and kept walking.
i headed back to the motel to rest and get ready.
on my way out i saw uma fucking thurman get out of her car
with an unidentified homely gay man.
she was smoking what appeared to be a parliament light.
the lady directing traffic asked her, “aren’t you in the movies?”
uma replied, “i used to be!” and kept walking.
then i snapped this shot.
i was too chicken to be a real papparazzo.
but andrea can back me up that this was in fact her.
after dinner, it was time to party ravelry style.
i slipped on the hotpants,
grabbed my tuxedo jacket,
and off we went.
the highlight for me was finally meeting ms. helloyarn herself.
i’ve been stalking. . . er. . . befriending her online ever since i started knitting.
i spotted her earlier at the ravelry meetup,
but was too apple juice* to say hello.
plus i didn’t have my gift for her.
i decided the rav party would be the perfect time.
i stood right next to her at the bonfire but didn’t see her.
she couldn’t see me either but couldn’t miss the hotpants.
those shorts saved my ass!
she gave me jam.
i gave her booze.
it was perfect.
i had an emotion.
i posed with the ladies of the sanguine gryphon
who are both beautiful and fabulous.
(but i really love the rabbit-eared photo bomber in this shot!)
i spotted melynda again, and made up for my earlier absent-mindedness.
and yes, blondes do have more fun.
when i met the smoking sheep puppet
i knew it was time to get the hell outta there.
but before i left,
i swallowed the last of my apple juice,
and asked mary-heather for a photo.
you know how, people online can be totally different in person?
like they seem super sweet and nice online,
but are really a complete bitch?
this is so not the case with mary-heather.
she comes off not only as sweet and nice,
but beautiful and intelligent.
she is all good vibes folks.
here we are
blurry and fabulous!
after freezing to death waiting for the bus,
i headed back to the motel and slept like a christian.
the next day was a bit lower key.
i hung with yvonne and kim,
bought some loot
and just tried to take it all in before i had to head home.
i had a lovely time.
but the absolute best part was the handful of people who came up to me all geeked out telling me they love my blog. that seriously made everything worth it. to those readers i say thank you so so much for making rhinebeck for me!
if you spotted me i’d love to hear it.
and if you took my photo, i’d love to see that too!
oh yeah,
hear’s my loot.
socks from lisa.
sweater from me.
jam from hello yarn.
two skeins of sunna by spirit trail fiberworks.
two skeins of bugga by the sanguine gryphon.
see you next year!
*apple juice is our term for losing all sense of intelligence in the presence of a celebrity of some sort.
Bitches Get Stitches 