Time for another update. I believe you know about the lack of knitting space for the 22nd of December as Barnes and Noble will be "too busy to accomodate" us. We are still discussing where the vagabonds shall knit, so pipe up and give us your suggestions. I know I could use some ideas.
Also, in the time I was in NY you brilliant people came up with a great idea for the gift exchange this season. We will have everyone who will be going that night (the 15th) bring a skein of yarn wrapped in a little bow/ribbon (K.I.S.S. keep it simple stupid, Lol) with a pattern suggestion from the One Skein Wonders collection of books. You can check those patterns out at Barnes, Amazon, or search them out on Ravelry as I'm positive there are many examples of finished projects from the books. Be creative, have fun, think like a knitting knut.
We will number each gift as it hits the table and do a hat drawing for each participant. If this sounds utterly confuzzled, call me. My number's stashed somewhere in the blog. Lol
We have a thread going on Ravelry for any further discussion on this if you are up for it.
See ya next week, gang!
Strange
Also, we needs must talk about what to do on the 22nd of December. Susan, the manager of Barnes and Noble, has asked that we not do our group thing at the store that night as they will be busy. So let's discuss party ideas and where to do them.
Out for now.
I also want to thank everyone who supported me in the fight against Brest Cancer. You all are wonderful.
Did you know that one in eight women will be stricken with breast cancer in her lifetime? This fact has convinced me that I need to get involved and help in the fight to eradicate breast cancer.
I have recently accepted the challenge to raise funds for the 2008 Komen Denver Race for the Cure. Seventy-five percent (75%) of the funds I raise will be used for breast cancer education, screening and treatment programs in the Denver community. Twenty-five percent (25%) of the money I raise will be used for national research to find a cure for breast cancer.
A cure for breast cancer will be found, but in the meantime, many people need our help. Fifty-five thousand (55,000) women in the Denver metro area are without access to mammograms. Twenty and one-half percent (20.5%) of Coloradoans lack basic health insurance.
Please join me in the fight against breast cancer by contributing to the 2008 Denver Race for the Cure. Your tax-deductible contribution will fund outreach and awareness programs for the medically underserved in the Denver community. Your donation will also insure that national breast cancer research continues until the cause for breast cancer is determined. Every $100 raised helps one woman in the Denver metro area receive a mammogram. A $250 donation will pay for five clinical breast exams, and $1,000 will help pay for one round of chemotherapy drug Taxotere.
It is easy to contribute. You can make a donation online by simply clicking the link below. If you prefer, you can also send your tax-deductible contribution to the address listed below.
Click here to visit my personal page and pledge your support.
http://www.komendenver.org
Sincerely,
Sharon Fisher
To send a donation:
Komen Denver Race for the Cure
1835 Franklin Street
Denver, Colorado 80218
Attn: Pledges
Talked to Marsha this morning and we are a go for tonight. She will have a class going with another employee tonight so the store will be open 'til about 8:30. So we will be meeting around 6:30 and will stay for about two hours.
Also, coffee is a-ok for tonight too.
So just to reiterate... wait, no, I'm not doing that. Just go read the previous post yourselves! Lol
See you all tonight, guys!
Strange aka Shawn
Hey Group! It's Sunday! Guess what that means! Yeah, Strange is blogging. For the first time in freakin' forever! This will not be a lengthy post by any means, but just a random piece of candy for you children. Wait... your taking candy from a... Strange...er.... Hmmm. Your momma taught you better, but I guess I'm also force feeding it too you in a visual assault on your senses. Ha! Take that all you mommas!
Enough of me being bad, here is a slideshow of some recent stuff I've taken at the group. I know a lot of you (this is my big obvious "you" to the Preggies/Ex-Preggies) wanted these pictures, expecially the ones of the Flying NunBoy. I apologize for the blur on some of these. I just refuse to use a flash. Damn bulb things.
Now I'm pretty much done. We had much funnage with Maggie Wednesday night. You all missed some fun times. We need to start discussing when we want to head up to Lambspun in Ft. Collins for an evening with Maggie. It'll have to be sometime in July since her schedule is busy busy busy. We'll see what we can arrage and hopefully everyone can make it all together. If not, we'll try again.
I'm out for now.
Shawn
Quick post to give out the details to those of you who are real troopers and check the blog even though I never update it.
Maggie's here on Wednesday June 4th, and we are having dinner with her at the Macaroni Grill right next to Barnes and Noble on Bowles and Wads around 5pm. Then at 7 she is heading over to Barnes to do her book signing and we are going to knit.
Toodles!
Shawn
Hey all, big news. Due to the size of our group we have been forced to move out of our regular haunt at Barnes and Noble on Bowles. All of this happened last Monday and during our group meeting we discussed some options we have and some places we might go. Among some of the ideas were rec centers, the library, other coffee shops, another bookstore, or even a restaurant. Some of the places we mentioned were The Tattered Cover Bookstore in Highland's Ranch, the Belmar library, Kate's husband Mark's restaurant, Starbucks, the Buck Rec Center in downtown Littleton, the Barnes and Noble/Starbucks cafe in Denver West, and a couple others I can't remember because my brain cells aren't working.
We are still running by a few places that seem promising and I'm still up for any ideas and suggestions any of you might have, but we have settled on a place for next week since it seems to work out best as far as location, environment, and time. Jan aka Knall of Yarn stopped by the IHOP on Bowles and Wadsworth to talk to the Monday night manager about us coming in and staying late. They were more than happy to have us and have a room they can set aside for us that will be partitioned off from the rest of the restaurant.
Now this is a temporary place for us and we most likely will be jumping around for a bit. I know this sucks in general and I'm sorry we couldn't hold it off a while longer, but in order to avoid a big catastrophe and hurt feelings all around, it is best if we work with the district manager at Barnes and just find somewhere else to hang out. The meeting that Jan and I had with Diane Seaburry and the manager at Barnes was a bit tense but ended very well, so we are in no bad position as far as they are concerned.
If you guys have any questions for me, leave me a comment, call my cell (720-468-7004), or send me an email. I'll get most of it on my cell phone so I should respond back fairly quickly. Again, we are meeting at IHOP on Bowles and Wadsworth across from Columbine Library at 7pm next Monday. So that's gonna be May 12th.
Thanks for hanging in there girls!
Strange aka Shawn
Shawn aka Strange
Maggie's coming back! (stifling little girl scream) Lol, not really screaming...well, maybe inside. Maggie Sefton, the author of The Knitting Mystery series is coming back to Barnes for a book signing on June 4th. Apparently, Maggie specifically asked to do her signing at "our" Barnes and who are we to pass up such an open invitation to go and plague her with our knitting and conversation? So, we will be meetin that week for knitting on Wednesday instead of Monday and at 7:00 or earlier if so desired. More on this develpment as it gets nearer. Check out Maggie's site here.
Also, for those of you that don't know yet, we are going to participate in the Knit-A-Thon for the Denver Children's Hospital. For some reason, I completely spaced bringing my notebook over and so I've no idea what the dates are for that, but I will get them to you all very soon. In the meantime...
We had discussed the idea of having a scarf swap for Christmas. Where each person knits up a holiday scarf and we swap them in a kind of drawing at the beginning of December. That way each person has a scarf to wear over the holiday's that was made by a buddy from their favorite Monday night knitting group. Lol. Feel free to comment on this or just bring your ideas to the group next Monday. Something to think about.
Also, I'm working on getting our Member Profile section completed so we can get it setup and and incorporate it into some of our group projects. I'm also going to get some business cards made with all the information our new groupies need to get started as part of the crew. Jan has more or less kept the fire burning on that one ('cus we all know I can't keep it in my head for that long) and has offered some ideas. More on that when we get a bit closer.
And that's all I had for today, guys. It was fan-freakin'-tastic seeing all of you tonight and I can't wait for next week.
Strange aka Shawn
This is just to let you all know that I cherish you all. My time with each one of you has made me feel even more fullfill as the days,weeks, monthes and yet to come years of friendship!
I want to say a big Congratulations To Emily that baby finally made his debuet....and just think all those weeks were sure worth it. A little hat awaits you for your new little one.
Now we have 1 more baby we are waiting for....what is its name going to be....does anyone know?
I am going to be working on socks yes...I am going to turn the heal on Monday night.I look forward to seeing all the other projects being completed. I can't wait to see the purple skirt, the many socks that are being knitted, sweaters, blankets,the list just grows.
Jan went to the Tattered Cover on Friday and and met some more ladies that were very excited about finding a group close to where they live. Can't wait to meet them Monday night.
Shawn, I don't know how to send this to everyone so I sent it to you. The Yarn Harlot will be signing her new book Friday, April 4, at 7:30 at the Tattered Cover in Highlands Ranch. If anyone is interested. Talk to you later, kim
Anyone wanting to go should either email around on the Yahoo! groups msg board, or just congregate at the Tattered C at said time. Hope everybody has a great time. I will be working. Grrr.
Strange aka Shawn
I am trying to finish another baby hat before Monday night. I an going to cast on socks again this time one at a time. I look forward to seeing what all we have accomplished this week.
I also thought I would get everyone thinking about Up-Coming Events:
1. Great Western Alpaca Show May 2-4
www.alpacabreeders.org
2. Estes Park Wool Market June 11-13
www.estesnet.com/events/woolmarket.htm
More info to fallow on these and more events as we find them.
I just thought I'd get on and reiterate the request I had posted earlier. I need the bloggerific people that post to the web to give me their blog links so that I might post them on the sidebar on our group page. Really it's all voluntary, but I know the majority of you have stuff to say and would jump to have just one more link to your own blogs. I'm such a good salesman, aren't I?
We are going to get to group photos eventually with some profile stuff where we can post it up on the blog and you all can get to know each other a little better. The idea is to have some unique facts about each of us and then have a gallery where we all can browse and learn about each other. Sharon aka Knit-N-Stash did something like this when we first started out and I loved it! It was just a few of us then so I'd like to get some more going now and build on that original idea. Just a few more ways to make this group interactive.
See you all Monday night.
Just a quick drop in to tell you all that the new email list invites have been sent out. I know Jan was looking to send out some emails to people and I have done the necessary adjustments, so all's lookin' good.
Now for you people who have been putting up with no emails from the group, there may be a very simple solution for you. I checked Jan and Kim's accounts and they are both still using their yahoo! email addresses. So if they aren't checking those mail boxes then they won't see any group communication. Problem fixed. Just go into your yahoo! acounts and change your email preferences. You'll need to set up the email you get from us to go to your primary, or the one you check all the time, account. If you can't figure this out, it's okay. It's complicated stuff. Give me a call on my phone and I'll give you a crash course. If you don't have my phone, look in the previous posts. It's there. I just don't want to post it everywhere for everybody and their mother to see. 'Cus mom's are curious cats. They'll call just for the hell of it.
And that wraps up my quickie post. You should all be getting emails soon, so enjoy and if you want to see any of the content posted on the blog, let myself, Jan or Sharon know.
We have been invited back to Barns & Nobles and yes we said yes! Please spread the NEWS!
Can't wait.... I will be ripping my hat out to make it just a little smaller darn darn darn. I also did something very out of the ordinary I went on a mission to the antique store looking for knitting finds......can't wait to show you the double point needles I found. I also am looking for old hat stands and yes I found several but of course they were not for sale. I will just have to keep on looking.
Now what I've gotten from a few people is that despite how poorly we have been treated, there is still a desire to try to work with the district manager and the store itself to come to a resolution where we feel that we as a group is welcomed and respected at that location. The store is situated very nicely for the majority of us and the staff of B&N (minus the store manager) all enjoy us and love when we come in. It makes for a wonderful atmosphere and we've enjoyed it for a long time now. I was called by the district manager today and I'll be calling her back tomorrow to discuss what will happen from here.
I know a lot of you may be wondering what the heck is going on and what action we are taking on this so far. Please feel free to talk to me. My phone and email address are going to be below despite my better judgement. Lol
Shawn's (Strange) Contact Info-
(720) 468-7004
mousebrat2SPAM006@gmail.com
*Please make sure that if you do send me an email that you take the capitalized "SPAM" out of the address so that it doesn't get caught by my filters. For those of you savvy with the Yahoo! Group email base, you can just send me a message there, my email is listed.
Also, for those of you interested in contacting Barnes and Noble Corporate there is a link on http://www.bn.com/ for community relations. I can't promise you'll get much from it as the return call you may get won't be somebody sympathetic to our issue. They are basically a customer service rep who just wants to get their job done and go home. Yeah. Also, I would recommend that anyone wanting to send a letter to the District Manager Diane Seaburry (?) should contact Barnes and Noble on Wadsworth and Bowles at (303) 948-9565 and ask for the address for her office. I apologize for not having it on hand, but I just haven't had the time as of yet.
Most importantly, I would ask that if you do contact any part of Barnes and Noble with your complaints that you express to them that they are your feelings and not the group's. It's very important that our individual issues not complicate things for those not wishing to be involved with any negativity surrounding the situation. This group is about fun and relaxation and I am doing my best to keep it that way for all of us. Ultimately you all will handle it how you see fit and this is all I can really ask.
Now for location. This transition is not easy for us and I understand that everybody is still trying to figure out what the heck has happened. For this first week we will be in the Starbucks on Bowles and Wadsworth in the same block as the Barnes and Noble we've been meeting at. This should make it an easy shift at least for this week. They have been contacted and have expressed that they are more than happy to have us.
Again, I'm so sorry to everybody this has affected negatively. I wish that there could have been something I could have done to keep this from happening, but sometimes life is so not playing by your rules. Again, please contact me if you have any questions or concerns. I wanted to make sure this got out there since the snow kept everyone home this week. Good luck to the Preggies who all have little ones on the way. Hopefully we get to see you soon with the new kids in tow. Pamella and Marti, you guys were missed. Joy, we look forward to seeing you again.
'Til next entry guys!
Strange
Our goal is to fill up the cafe at our local Barnes and Noble. LOL Not really but I can forsee it happening and telling the future is my specialty. LOL
I wanted to add to local charities to donate to.
Warm Babies Warm Hearts is out of Brighton Colorado. Their mission as stated on their web site:
"We are a group of kind-hearted volunteers that help to make life easier for Colorado's tiniest citizens. We sew, knit, crochet, and quilt for premature infants and babies in need. We donate to hospitals, crisis pregnancy centers, shelters, law enforcement agencies, foster care, WIC offices, and individuals across much of the state of Colorado. All of our gifts are donated free of charge and 100% of what we receive in donations goes to help the babies."
Warm The World
Another lovely organization out of Canon City Colorado. They accept donations of chidren's hats and scarves, soldier's hats and adult lap afghans
For more information on these two groups please visit their web sites.
www.warmbabieswarmhearts.org
www.warmtheworld.org
www.www.recycledlamb.com
www.theredwheel.com
www.knittycat.com
www.aknittedpeace.com
www.showersofflowers.com
www.shuttlesspindlesandskeins.com
Stash of Knitters
http://www.sheepinthecity.prettyposies.com/
http://www.rjconklin.com/keeptalking.htm
http://www.virtueofpatience.blogspot.com/
http://sittinhereknittin.blogspot.com/
Places to donate
www.warmupamerica.com
www.savethechildren.org
The few comments I got said "pink" and "pink" with a random "pink and orange" thrown in. So I went.... green. Sorry, there were just no good orange and pink or even really good, mature looking pink layouts. This seemed neutral enough and while there is a huge lack of knitting layouts, I will have one out as soon as I'm back in digital business.
Enjoy the look for now!
Strange