The Good the bad and the Ugly (but mostly good!)

I had the best bad day yesterday! Leave it to the knitting community to turn what would have been a disastrous day into a great one.

I did not have a good morning yesterday – I am back in Albuquerque at the Forest Service and I was having technical difficulties at work – and dealing with some very difficult people in a session and generally feeling very grumpy. I was upset with the world! (Ok – I was PMS’ing and blaming it on everyone else)

Isn't this a cool set of statues in front the building by the way?





Anyway - I had been looking forward to hooking up with the Albuquerque Sit and Knit since I found out I was going to be out here. I had big plans to meet up and talk yarn and knitting. So – I left the work and the stress and frustration behind and headed off to the Flying Star café.



I had the best time!! The night totally made up for all the troubles of my morning. I went from being as frustrated as I had ever been at work – so laughing and talking with some great ladies. I met some fellow bloggers – Little Hedgehog aka Noelle, Beth, and many others I can't even remember all their blog names!




I was not the only newbie there last night – I was joined by Daryl and Bentley. Dylan was nice enough to bring some knitting mags and books that were going to be thrown out by a local library. Throw out knitting books! NO way! I picked up two great ones from her – One on knitting basics that has a wonderful stitch dictionary and basics on how to knit clothes without a pattern! And I also got a beautifully illustrated book on Kaffe’s colorful knit designs and some knitting mags. (You can never have too many knitting mags!)

Here is Daryl (on the left) and some other knitters



I also got a very nice surprise while I was there. I met Cynthia – my original Secret Pal! I knew she lived in New Mexico – but I didn’t know she was actually in Albuquerque. It was such a surprise to get an email from her last week in response to an intro email I sent to the Albuquerque sit and knit’s yahoo group. She wrote me asking “Is the same Jody that was my secret pal?”

I couldn’t believe it! What a small world!

I didn’t know if I would see her last night – but then she showed up and it was so great! Apparently everyone there already knew the story and everyone was like “This is Jody!?”

It was too funny.
I swear – I could go anywhere in the country – and if I found some knitters to hang out with - I would probably know someone there (or at least have read their blog) or know someone who knows them. The 6 degrees of the knitting world! It was great to catch up with her.

I was also very excited to meet a fellow English major/knitter/jewelry maker. Bentley shows up and is loud and talkative (yeah – just like me!) and we immediately hit it off!
Here's Bentley acting goofy and Noelle showing us how to use a drop spindle. You can even see my new sock in the bottom left corner - I'm using a vibrant Trekking XXL yarn.



(Yes - I actually tried it and oh no! I liked it!)

Anyway - Crazy minds think alike and Bentley and I were immediately joking around and comparing hobbies, books and anecdotes. Bentley has graciously agreed to show me around some of the beading stores Albuquerque has to offer – Yeah!

A wonderful piece of raspberry chocolate fudge cake and a coffee later – I was yawning and it was 10:30pm. I decided I had better make my escape before I turned into a pumpkin (since I was still on east coast time – it felt like 12:30!

I said my goodbyes and headed to my car – I put the key in the ignition and….. click, click, click…. Nothing.

My car was dead! I had been having problems with my rental car since I got it. The ignition switch was broken and you could pull the key out when the car was running! I apparently had left the key in the middle position – the car wasn’t running – but the auxiliary functions must have still been on – because the battery was drained. I go back inside Flying Star and beg for assistance and several people came to my rescue! I am so lucky to have met such nice people. Bentley immediately took control of the situation and organized a hunt for jumper cables. We tried on set that works through the cigarette lighter – but that didn’t work. We then found another set of “real” jumper cables and tada! My car started right up.

I gave hugs all around to my saviors – and made my way back to my hotel. I called Avis to tell them their stupid car was broken and they told me I could bring it back for a new one. SO – at 11:30 at night – I drove my tired butt back to the airport – got a new car – and then drove back to the hotel. I was so wired when I got back – I couldn’t get to sleep for another couple hours. I finally took a Tylenol PM and crashed around 1:30am. 6:30 this morning came way too fast for me!!