Two beginnings, an end, and perhaps a fantasy

Life is full of beginnings and endings. Change happens, whether we want it to or not. I'm pretty much a creature of habit and although I know change creates new opportunities for growth, renewal, and new adventures, I often find myself resenting it when it first happens.

So today, we have two beginnings and one ending. There's also a bit of fantasy that I'll save for the end of this post.

Let's start with the good stuff -- beginnings! Here's beginning number one.

When the Yarn Harlot spoke here in Portland last week, she asked the audience how many had knitting blogs. I don't think it's a stretch to say that most of us were surprised at how many hands went into the air. Comments on blogs ensued, followed by email exchanges and now we have our own Yahoo Group for PDX-area knitting bloggers! Plans are afoot to get together and chat, knit, take pictures for blogs, whatever. Very cool! The possibilities are, indeed, endless. So, if you live in the greater Portland, Oregon metropolitan area and have a knitting blog, come join us!

Here's beginning number two.

I suppose I really should call it a prelude rather than a true beginning since the kick-off isn't until next Thursday, the 21st. But I'm excited about it, so there you go. :) Anyway, I'm talking about Summer of Socks. Jessica has attracted a lot of sock knitters for this event, along with some major sponsors and lots of prizes. I doubt I'll be in the running for making hte most socks, but I might have a chance at some of the other prizes. The best prize of all will be all the socks I have finished at the end of three months! Since socks in progress go with me just about everywhere, I'll make sure to put a camera in my knitting bag, too, so I can take picks of the traveling socks. The event ends in September when I'll be in Italy knitting with Debbie Stoller, so the last few pics of the traveling socks will be from the Tuscan hills. Sweet!

Which brings us to the ending. Many of you probably already saw the sad news that the Destash blog is no more. It seems it was a victim of its own success -- too many participants and too many posts that simply didn't follow the rules made it more than Teri and Susan could keep up with. RIP, Destash. I will miss your bargains. I will miss seeing what other folks are destashing. And I will miss being able to quickly and easily unload things from my stash. And thanks to Teri and Susan for creating it and sticking with it as long as they did. The blog provided a needed community service. Hopefully I'll get a Ravelry invitation at some point and something similar will be created there. :)

Okay, that leaves us with fantasy. A very nice Portland yarn shop, Lint, is for sale. Since I was a kid, I always thought it would be cool to own a crafty sort of store. Now that I've narrowed down my crafty aspirations to a total obsession with all things yarn-related, and since I'm now semi-retired and really only want to do things that I love, the idea of owning a little yarn shop sounds really good to me. Of course, there are some obstacles -- like I've never worked in a yarn shop and have no idea how to run one. But that's why this is filed under fantasy. I mean, I think it would be so much fun to facilitate other yarn obsessions, constantly be surrounded by lovely yarns and people who know what to do with them, and generally make money doing what I love to do. I guess what I'd really need is a great business partner. I know I can sell things (I've sold novelties at car shows quite successfully, among other things) and I know I can connect with people really well. What I'm not so confident about are things like doing the books, dealing with business licenses, and mundane stuff like that. LOL Anyway, if anyone is looking for a really nice shop in a great neighborhood location (there's even parking) Lint is up for grabs. And if you want someone to help you run the place, I'm available! :)

Oh, and here's one final beginning for today. Beginning of the second Fire Sock for my Sockapalooza pal. I need to finish this before the Summer of Socks begins. It just won't do to be in the middle of a pair of socks when that starts. :)