4.14.15

I have not done much quilting, but instead, turned to knitting. The mindlessness of knitting has been something I rely on every day. At first I was randomly stash diving, coming up with a ball of yarn or two, making some scarves--grief knitting--sometimes inventing a pattern, other times just randomly selecting one. If you visit my Ravelry Projects page, you will see a lot of grief knitting. A. Lot. In fact, I just counted 24 projects of the 76. Granted, I have not always made a project page for what I am knitting, but still. 

Then I read on one the blogs I follow, about a particular yarn store. I initially followed Patchwork Times by Judy Laquidara because she posts a lot about her quilting. I also enjoy reading about her gardening and putting-up-food experiences. I will probably never be a prepper, and she and her family eat a lot of things I do not eat, but that is part of why she is interesting to me. It is fun to know something new and to look at something from another's perspective. 

But, by far, the biggest change Judy has made in my life came from the discovery of Eat.Sleep.Knit., which is a yarn store only a couple hours drive (probably 2.5 hours) from me. 

I still haven't physically visited the store but on January 28, I made the decision to participate in their Yarnathon 2015 activities, and I bought yarn for several of the Knit-Alongs. I used birthday money. It was still one day before my birthday--12 hours, 34 minutes, and 27 seconds before--that I placed my first order. 

THEN I discovered how to earn the badges. It was too late to get the badge for ordering on my birthday, but there will be more chances for other badges. In fact, I am applying for Phone-A-Friend with this blog post. I have promised myself a visit to the ESK (Eat.Sleep.Knit) shop, once I get to a certain point on a particular project. I CAN navigate Atlanta. I CAN do it by myself. I will have fun!