Time Keeps Flying By!

While I was at camp over Labor Day some friends and I went to the quilt store in Inlet. Now the drive around the mountains from Speculator to Inlet is long and uneventful. I worked on a baby sock to pass the time. (Since I'm usually the driver, being a passenger was a big treat for me!) We stopped in Indian Lake for gas and at Raquette Lake to buy bread. The store is near the dock for the SS Durant, the lake cruise that serves the most fantastic lunch. The bread...all kinds...was hot from the oven and HUGE! Each loaf had to be 12" long x 5" wide x 8" high. They smelled so good, too. Everyone got a loaf but me since that had been one of the few things I had brought to camp. The next stop after a detour to the bank/ATM was the quilt store! I limited myself to $50 and knew I wouldn't be getting much for that. I bought a booklet for a quilt called 'Turning Twenty' that requires 20 fat quarters. I know I have more that 20 pieces of fabric home on the shelf from our pre-knitting doll-making days so I didn't look for fabric for that. I fell in love with a fannel pre-print and the co-ordinating pieces to go with it and ended up buying enough for a quilt called 'Fatty Fatty 2x4'. (Just the top, not the backing, batting or binding.) The other 3 ladies spent like drunken quilters! I think Lynn-the driver, hit $200! We went to The Woods Inn in Inlet for lunch. It's an old old hotel that has been restored. In fact, that's were Chester Gillette was kept until the Herkimer County Sheriff could come to get him after he was captured for killing Grace Brown(American Tragedy). We also stopped at a bait shop on the way home that had a large PIES TODAY sign on the road. Two of my friends spent $14 each for a pie. (The crust was very flaky but the filling wasn't too thick.)

The fabric was all so beautiful and I was really tempted but when would I find the time to do all this sewing??? I'm still trying to build-up an inventory for that show while keeping the shop's shelves full. And that's continuing to be difficult since my baby sets keep selling! I'm not complaining, but maybe I did get in over my head by signing up for this show. I've only invested $30 so far but I'd hate to be a 'no-show'. I still have 4 weeks until the show so I'd better keep knitting!

The End of Summer

I can't believe summer is just about over. This is Labor Day Weekend!! I'm still knitting those baseball hats but I've done several baby sets, too. I decided to do a craft show in Ilion on Oct 6th. (It seemed like a very good idea when sales were down for July, now, with August sales brisk, I'm not so sure.) I'm trying to build up an inventory but I have to keep the shelves full in Cooperstown, too! I hope I haven't gotten in over my head. I suppose if I sell all I take to the show it won't be a bad thing. I'm going to make my sweater sets (baseball, blacksheep, train, apple tree and autumn tree) only in size 9 months, but I don't know if I want to take orders for larger sizes. Oh, well, knitting usually keeps me out of trouble!

Summer Knitting and Other Things

The weather in Speculator had been great last weekend and I was able to combine 2 of my favorite past times...knitting and boating. We spent a couple of hours cruising the lake on Saturday afternoon and again on Sunday. Everyone was going to head home early on Sunday but that ol'shinning sun changed all our minds and we went on the lake instead! (I took a 'baseball' hat to work on (straight st st) and actually did 5".) Saturday I had gone to a birthday party on the beach before we headed to the lake. Saturday evening we went to a concert at Camp of the Woods. They're very good and free! We've gone to several this summer and hope to make the last 3. We have a favorite singer (Chavelier Lovett) who's a sophomore at Hartt College in Conn. We all think he will be famous one day. He's a baritone with great stage presence. The other singers are good, too, but we all like him the best.

This week we're heading back to Speculator a day early. There is a very good craft show on Thursday that I haven't been abe to go to in several year that I'm going to this year. I like to see what's new in the craft market.

July sales in Cooperstown had been very slow but August started out strong (I equaled our July sales in the 1st 5 days of August!!!) so I'll have to try to do a baby set or two this weekend. Not to mention those damn baseball hats!! My mother says we look like gypsies with our knitting bags and the extra bags of yarn. It's hard to decide on Wednesday what you want to work on over the weekend but if I don't bring the yarn with me there is no place to get anything but Redheart up there!

Cooperstown

Well, this was the big weekend in Cooperstown as the Baseball Hall of Fame held induction ceremonies. There were over 70,000 people in town, few free parking places and a lot of famous people walking around. Most of them were Hall-of-Famers who had autiograph booths on Main St. One customer to the shop answered my 'have you seen anyone famous?' with 'I think so, he had a large handlebar moustache but I don't know his name.' (I think she saw Rollie Fingers.) Another customer answered "John Travolta'. Now that got the attention of almost everyone in the store at that moment! Seems John is good friends with Cal Ripken, Jr who was one of the inductees and John & his wife flew in for the weekend. Half of Baltimore also seemed to be in town this weekend, too. I've got to say they were all very nice people and I love the accent! The only downside was that I didn't sell a lot. (Only 1 sweater set-a navy v-neck cardigan with white baseball buttons with a white hat stitched in red to look like a baseball , 3 of those baseball hats, and a blacksheep sweater.) I can make those baseball hats in my sleep...and do! The blacksheep sweater is an old design with 3 white sheep in a field on the front and a single blacksheep on the back. I get tired of making them but the keep selling. Shouldn't complain now, should I? My next big day in Cooperstown will be Aug 25 when I get to do a knitting demo at the Otsega Hotel. I wonder if anyone famous will be around then?

Times are Hard

This week is a really difficult one for me. I'm scheduled to work 2 days. My mom had a couple of doctor appointments and I have to work at the shop in Cooperstown on Friday, so my time at the library is short. This weekend is the Baseball Hall of Fame Induction so things will really be rocking down there. I'm working on Friday and on Monday. I usually try to miss these busy weekends but not this year. I hope I see someone famous...that I recognize. Sales have been really slow so I'm also hoping for a big crowd with lots of money to spend!

It's wasn't all knitting!

I just reread my last entry and it sounded like all I did on my vacation was knit. That's not true. We spent a morning shopping in Northville where there's an old-fashion five and ten cent store. I went out to lunch with some friends a couple of times and we got invited out for bar-b-q ribs one night. I went to a concert at Camp of the Woods that was very good and the local 4th of July parade (held on July 7th) was the best I've ever seen up there. And I read most of the books I had brought with me. (That alone was different!) I even washed windows in the camp and ironed and put up clean curtains! I enjoyed my vacation very much and I wish it had been longer. Ten days really flew by. I'll try it again in August.

Vacation in the Mountains

I'm in Speculator NY at the laundromat (!!) using a public access computer. It's been raining up here for a day and a half but today looks a little better. At least the sun is shining! I have gotten a lot of knitting done! I made a pair of baby socks with the wool-cotton-soyfiber-chitin yarn that I just had to buy. They made up kind of cute. (Chitin is made from shrimp and crab shells and is natually antibacterial.) Today I'm working on the superwash wool that was treated with aloe vera and jojoba oil. My hands feel smoother. I also did a baby set with a beret. I had Janet Evanovich's Mean Lean Thirteen on cd and that helped pass the time. Opps...the laundy is done!