Wednesday, August 30, 2006

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 cafĂ©.



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!!

7 comments:

Byronicwoman said...

damn, i'm pretty!!! AHAHAHAhahaha!!

Anonymous said...

I knew there was a reason you didn't call to tell me all abut the wonderful group of knitters you met! Hope this car is working better for ya.
I hope you sent love from the east coast knitters and told them all to come and crash with us for sheep and wool fest! Did you find out about any great wool festivals out their way???
So glad you had a great night, we will miss you tonight!

Nic said...

Knitters are great. When I first moved to LV I found an LYS because I knew in there they would be able to help tell which areas of LV were good vs bad to live in (and they did, broke out a newspaper and everything)

Anonymous said...

awesome...... glad you all hooked up!

The Little (Knitting) Hedgehog said...

It was so fun to meet you Tuesday! Just wait till I bring the spinning wheel mwahahahaha!

Diane said...

Those statues are really nice. Glad you found some nice knitters to make your day better.

Shelley L. MacKenzie said...

Congrats on winning the contest on Kerry Knits blog!

Sounds like you had a great time despite the bad start to the day.