How to have fun - Part 1

Over the past few weeks I've been both surprised and delighted at how fun my life is lately.
It could possibly be that I've been reading Eat, Pray, Love and the author's life swings from such desperation to elation that I'm just glad to be little old me having a good time.

The first opportunity that I had to notice how much fun I've been having was when I found myself at the "Knit Trade" Show organized by the ladies at Cabin Fever, where LYS owners were invited to meet with smallish yarn/knitting related product companies who wouldn't have the opportunity to visit all the stores.

Here is some of the fun stuff that I got, much of which came from the booth with the dynamic pair of dye divas from Dye Version.

I had made a small note to myself before going to the show that I wanted to check out the price of their bamboo/lycra sock yarn as it seemed like something new that I thought would work well in my store. WELL, was I dumbfounded when I saw their line up...And I have the MasterCard receipt and the products in my store to prove it.

Not only did I come away with a good selection of the Bamboo/lycra sock yarn (in amazing colours), but I also picked up 2 other lines: their fingering weight 100% bamboo which runs through your fingers like water, and the most amazing sock yarn that we have ever carried, being a gloriously hand dyed blend of merino wool, silk, nylon and (wait for it...) sterling SILVER filament.

Honestly, the Dye Version ladies said that they hadn't actually heard of anyone who really made a pair of socks with this to-die-for yarn, but with the nylon content I guess it would work...but who would want to? You would end up walking out into traffic, while lifting your pants above your ankles so you could watch the silver flecks and the colours as they moved in the sunlight.

I also brought back a whole pile of other fun things including knitting key chains, glittery mohair, and oodles of books and 2011 calendars. COme on in and check them out.

Later that evening I got to spend the night with my daughter and her new "J-ug" (being a Jack Russel, Pug cross) puppy, Zoe. I was also introduced to the indescribable joyful cuteness of an urban park full of dogs and puppies of every shape and size, congregating for a good old fashioned run and fetch. It doesn't get much more fun than that.

In Part 2 and 3 of these How to have fun posts, I will discuss the joys of teaching a class of lovely ladies who absolutely want to learn what I have to teach them about toe-up socks, and my experience with the Solution Sweater that I'm making for my brother's 50th birthday. I call it the Solution Sweater as during its creation I was presented with a whole series of challenges, problems and mistakes to be fixed (without resorting to starting over from scratch) and the solutions to these dilemmas were Eureka provoking and thankfully received.

Meanwhile, fall always makes us happy at the yarn store. Lots of new products, lots of new and returning customers, lots of work to keep us out of trouble.

Life is fun.

More later.