Today I am blogging from the airport, and I’m happily admitting that I’m not even trying not to be random. I’m just going to let it roll.
1. I am going to try and remember to stop and get American money before the Library tomorrow because it’s starting to look like the wee marketplace that they’re having before the talk is going to be cool. Knitterella says so, and I believe her.
2. Someone emailed me and asked me what Sock Camp was. Sock Camp is a brainchild of Tina over at Blue Moon, and I help her fulfill that vision. (That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.) Other than that, it sort of defies description. Tina? Can you blog an answer? How about a photographic answer? Anybody who’s been there wanna try and describe it? It’s camp for grown-ups, with all sorts of fun and and great food- coupled together with serious learning opportunities for knitters who are really excited to learn more about socks in specific, and knitting/dyeing in general. This year I’m teaching all about the elements of socks, swapping and choosing among them, I think Tina’s going to help knitters learn about dyeing and show them how to overdye skeins of yarn (great way to fix yarn that needs a little love) Ann Hanson is teaching sock design, Janel Laidman’s teaching stranded knitting, Sivia Harding is doing beads, and Cat Bordhi is doing how to invent stitch patterns.
Janel, Cat, Tina and I are teaching at the first session, and Anne, Sivia, Tina and are are teaching at the second one. (That second one is full, but there are still spots in the first one. You should come. You would love it.)
I look forward to camp all year. There’s camaraderie, it’s in a cool place (Port Ludlow) we do really fun things (scavenger hunt, knitters Jeopardy) we learn more than you can imagine, and we dream and learn big. I can’t imagine anyone who wouldn’t love it, but I may be projecting on account of I look forward to it all year. Other than at Sock Summit, it’s when I feel most cherished as a knitter.
3. I am making really good time on my March socks. The random sock generating system this month picked me Numma Numma’s Toasty Yarn in Nutella, and the pattern is Anne Hanson’s Roger. 
I feel fantastic about my odds of finishing before the month is over and I don’t even mind saying that out loud.
4. I am drinking the worst cup of coffee ever. 
It is fantastically horrific. As a matter of fact, I have been trying to figure out three things. How it is possible for it to look like coffee when it clearly isn’t, how bad does coffee need to be before it’s a human rights violation, and why I am actually drinking it instead of trying to figure out how to fix whatever is wrong with the system that’s making it so that nobody else needs to suffer like this. The pain should stop with me.
Nothing to say, just trying to be first!
Have fun on your trip Stephanie!!
Beth
Maybe the coffee wants you to overdye some yarn with it.
Still waiting to hear about the failed sweater! Have a great time in Detroit!
dump it out…you don’t deserve liquid that doesn’t qualify as coffee…go treat yourself to another!
It should be a crime to sell bad coffee in airports. I wish you a fast and uneventful trip to Detroit!
I think the fact that the coffee isn’t better yet has something to do with the fact that in order to figure out how to fix the system, one needs to be happily caffeinated.
Just sayin’.
Sorry about the aweful coffee. What a terrible way to start a trip! BTW–Never have coffee at a Shoney’s. Terrible!
I’ve been known to do the same ‘oh this is gross’ yet i keep trying to drink and figure out if it can be made better… but i don’t use sugar and sometimes no milk… so blerg there is no help. just dump it 🙂
Sock on! Have a great time. Do try the coffee at the Undertown in Port Townsend. Sublime! It’s just a block or so from TWO yarn stores (Diva and Twisted Ewe), not to mention one of PT’s two microbrew pubs! Meanwhile I will be on an airplane starting on my second pair of knitted socks.
I asked my husband if I could fly to Detroit this weekend to see you for my birthday(yesterday), I got the usual “are you nuts” look(we live in North Central Montana, not an easy or cheap jaunt). Darn. I seem to be getting more of those looks lately as I seek out new challenges. Stephanie, I have you to thank for that. I am with you on the coffee also.
When I travel I usually ask for an Americano – hot water + espresso. It’s more expensive but is usually drinkable!
Your coffee reminds me of an Ani DiFranco lyric: and the coffee is just water dressed in brown.
Good beer>bad coffee. Just sayin’
So excited to see you tomorrow. What a treat for all of us Michiganders (and all the others driving in from everywhere else just to see you!).
Ugh, sorry about the nasty coffee. I’m a shameless coffee snob but also a total caffeine addict, so when I travel (which isn’t a whole lot), finding good coffee/espresso can quite literally be a big headache!
The socks are gorgeous.
See you at the second session! I can hardly wait. Last night I was dreaming that I was at the airport knitting…umm…
Happy Knitting,
ana
I have been eyeing the Roger socks for quite awhile and I love yours, the color is great. Sorry about the coffee. Hopefully we can offer you something better in the States.
Umm – nice socks, but what happened to blogging the ballband? Not for these socks, or the last socks, or the legwarmers…Are you sure you have enough yarn? And what if you lose some while you’re travelling???
There’s this role reversal going on in my house. I am trying to contain myself, but occasionally I burst out with ‘OMG I’M GOING TO SEE THE YARNHARLOT TOMORROW AND THERE’S A YARN MARKET TOO, OMG I’M SO EXCITED’, or words to that effect, and my 15 year old daughter, who doesn’t knit, smiles indulgently and pats me on the head cos I’m so cute, much like I treated her when Twilight was coming out and she went gaga.
You MUST be waiting at an American airport right now then, because I swear that every half-decent sized Canadian airport has a Tims inside security 😀 I don’t drink coffee though, so I can’t comment on how much like real coffee it is. But it IS “Roll up the Rim” right now!
Enabler! I had never even seen the Knitspot website before. Now I must peruse for hours and probably snag several patterns. Your work here is done. . .
I tried explaining to her that in my world, getting a personally signed copy of a Yarnharlot book is like her getting an autographed Harry Potter book from J.K. Rowling, but she doesn’t agree.
I really hate bad coffee – honestly I barely like coffee. I now have some instant espresso at my desk and usually a jar of it with me when I travel. Medaglia d’Oro is the brand and it’s smooth and creates a bit of froth while not being sweet at all.
Is the coffee the way Douglas Adams described alleged tea from the Hitchhikers Guide: “a liquid that was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea”? I feel for you, girl. Hope this doesn’t diminish your joy in Sock Camp anticipation. Have fun!
Regarding coffee, I met someone at an airport once who travels with an empty 1-cup french coffee press containing a scoop of good ground coffee, and she just fills it up with boiling water from the coffee shop when she needs it. I wonder if she gets stopped by the sniffing dogs these days? Don’t bother with the new Starbucks instant singles – no aroma.
Just piping up here . . . sock camp is quite the experience.
Port Ludlow is heaven on earth (mostly we all want to move there, even me, who already lives in a similar and perhaps even more beautiful place), the food is fantastic, the knitters are like knitters everywhere except more deliriously happy than usual, the sharing of intelligence and ideas is overwhelming, the beds are cushy, some of the bathtubs are big enough to hold a knitting circle in, the eagles land on an eagle totem pole . . . we all love it. One suggestion though: store up on sleep before arriving just in case you get carried away while there.
The best solution when faced with bad coffee while travelling is to carry a small batch of chocolate covered espresso beans…espresso beans for the caffeine rush and chocolate to make up for the fact that someone tried to make you drink swill!
I totally love those socks!
I bet I know what’s wrong with your coffee. I bet someone pulled a cup (or pot, if they divvy up those huge three gallon drums into smaller pots) before the entire pot was done brewing. It ruins the entire pot when someone does this. My BIL ruined Christmas this year by doing this.
Well, he didn’t really, but my other BIL and I started screaming at the exact same time that he works in a fancy restaurant so he should know better and how dare he ruin the pot of coffee by doing that and now we had to wait for a new pot. I hope he doesn’t do it again next year as a joke.
At least you’ve got yummy-looking Nutella socks! Sock Camp sounds blissful in a stimulating way. Wish I could join you.
Pam, that’s a fabulous suggestion–I like them too, as a secret indulgence otherwise I’d be constantly wired.
I used to think that bad coffee was better than no coffee at all. Then I had some bad, BAD coffee that cured me of that notion.
love the March socks!
Tell your readers about the real Nutella, you know, the hazelnut chocolate spread my family would lie for , hide from each other, cheat on tests for, etc. It’s March and you are doing March socks. How wild is that???
I sooooo Love that pair of socks that your making just beatiful!!!! I thought that I should share that YOU are the reason that I am NOW working on my first pair of socks!!!! OMG! This has been in the makes since I first read one of your books about 2 or so years ago! First I was afraid of working in the round then less than a week ago I tried it and the birth of my sock began! Of course I can’t find the ball band or the pattern to tell you what I’m working on but at least you know that you have yet another knitter trying something new (did I mention that I’m using dpns, yet another first- GO ME!!)!!! Go team Harlot! P.S. Wish I was going to sock summit =( But it’s ok because next year I’m soooo there!!! Me AND my 1st pair of socks!
Looking forward to seeing you in Detroit tomorrow. And also, a rather belated comment, but I love your random sock generating system, and am thinking I might have to adopt that for my own yarn and projects. Might help me stay more focused and burn through my stash in the next twenty years or so.
Have a safe flight.
Don’t try to fix the problem! It will peg you as one of those troublesome people (along with those of us who demand on-time flights and don’t understand why we have to pay for our luggage) and only cause airport security to eye you suspiciously . . .
And you just had to direct us to another good knitting spot online, didn’t you? I’m not going to get anything done now, reading my way through it . . .
Sorry to hear about terrible coffee… I’ve had my share. Awful coffee is such a waste of sipping, in my opinion.
Any chance you will attend the Friday evening Concert at the Detroit Symphony tonight! GALLWAY celebrates his 80th birthday! The DSO is excellent! … and if you sit in the right spot there is enough light that you can knit during the concert! I’ll be the other person with a knitting project!
My daughter came home from England Wednesday with a Nutella-type spread only with less sugar and more hazelnuts. Marvelous stuff. Love those socks, and have a wonderful time! (Imitation coffee notwithstanding.)
Air Malta had the worst coffee I ever had- I thought they gave me beef tea by mistake- ugh!
those little instant coffee packets from nescafe or starbucks aren’t bad with a little sugar in the raw. I have a stash in pretty much every bag I might end up taking travelling, because then all you need is some potable water.
Amy at 11:33 — great suggestion for the use of terrible coffee!
I considered Sock Camp this year, but sadly have other trips in the near future that will take me away from “paying job” & “mom job” that prevent my coming. Maybe next year???
Love the socks. May you find GOOD coffee soon!
My workplace coffee varies from bad to appalling, depending on how long it’s been on the burner. My theory is that it’s hot and caffeinated* and sometimes that’s more important than truth in advertising (calling it ‘coffee’ when it’s clearly not…).
*I know it’s caffeinated because three cups makes me vibrate.
And also sometimes causes me to see double when posting.
Love your fancy term for “stuck my hand in the shelf and pulled out a Ziploc”. I drink hot cocoa when faced w/questionable beverage choices.
Gots to say I love the inside of your brain. Smells like yarn.
I’m flying into Pearson next week. I’d love to run into you, however I’m sure fate would not be that kind to me.
I so wish I could come to Sock Camp. Session one would be my choice, too. Maybe next year . . .
Your coffee reminds me of one of my favorite bits from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, when the machine in the spaceship driven by the improbability drive produces, after hours of careful description by Arthur Dent of all that a good cup of tea should be, something “almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea”.
Have fun on your trip!
You can always tell bad coffee when it has that greenish tinge around the edges where the liquid meets the cup. BLEH. I’m sorry to hear about your coffee-pain. Pain and coffee shouldn’t mix.
Yeah, how is it that some places can make stuff so bad even tar would be insulted at the comparison?!
At sock camp — don’t forget to stop by The Artful Ewe in Port Gamble. It’s not a typical knit shop. All local, handspun stuff. You’ll love it…
Note: I’m not affiliated. Just a fan of the shop, willing to travel one ferry ride and many miles to get there.
The worse coffee is always served to captive audiences. Think about it!
Is that really a Roger sock? I clicked on the link and in it’s unflattened state on your blog, it looks like something else entirely. Frankly, I kind of prefer your sock in it’s unflattened state also. (There must be a better word than unflattened for a sock. And no, not unstretched or scrunched or preknit.)
Damn. Violet and Annalea beat me to the geek punch – I too thought immediately of the “almost but not entirely unlike tea” bit.
The sock looks delicious, as anything called “Nutella” should.
I feel for you about the airport coffee. A good or bad cup of coffee can set the tone of the whole day, so it’s important that the coffee be good. Yesterday at the market, I was unable to find the coffee sachets I’ve been depending on to give me drinkable coffee in motels when I travel, so I won’t be dependent on whatever brand of coffee the motel supplies. I hope I’ll be able to find some before my next trip, which is in three days.
Most coffee can be rendered potable with the addition of a packet of instant cocoa mix, but what you describe is probably beyond repair. It may be blasphemy to suggest it, but you might want to carry your own teabags (I like Barry’s, imported from Ireland) and order hot water when you travel. You could try the single-serving instant coffee packets that are being marketed this year– I haven’t tried them, so I can’t recommend them personally.
Good luck!
Remember Brad from your trip to Ann Arbor a few years ago? I’m afraid he won’t be available to help you get from the airport to the library this trip–he’s working this weekend. How do I know? I work with Brad. He never did get any socks.
Someday, Sock Camp. After equally patronizing teen goes to college (yeah, Cheryl, here it’s computers, not Twilight, but I sympathize!)
This weekend, cabin in the Adirondacks with no electricity – HEAVEN! Have sock knitting book (xmas gift from sister) and several skeins and needles.
Wondering if that GORGEOUS yarn you are using is still available…enjoy camp!
So when are you and Tina going to plan one of these cool Sock Events on the east coast so I can attend without having a huge plane fare on top of the registration and hotel costs?!
Hooray! You’re coming to Michigan. Boo!! I can’t be there. Have fun anyways and I like your passport holder; I’ve never seen one of those before.
Can I just say that sock photo has amazing powers. You took a yarn color that just doesn’t speak to me and a pattern that in the original looks too squared off for my taste and made me want them both. From the airport with gross coffee, no less. Very impressive, madam.
Sock camp sounds fun as usual, but alas, wrong coast for me.
Loving the look of those socks. What is the nifty little thing you have your passport in?
Thank you so much for this post. I just bought some Numma Numma Toasty from the Loopy Ewe and have been looking for a pattern to use with it. Mind if I copy you??
Some things taste so bad that you have to keep tasting them to make sure they really are as bad as you first thought. Like watching a horror movie with your hand over you eyes and peeking out every so often. (yep, sounds just as dumb typed as it did in my head) ha
The sock looks fab, hoping for better coffee on the return trip =)
Sigh. One of these years I’ll go to camp. It seems so silly not to since I live in Seattle and it’s not so very far.
Bad coffee is frequently the result of bad water.
I am inadvertently also knitting a pair of socks a month. I am ahead of you only because one pair was in worsted weight.
Happy travels!
See you at the Wee Marketplace! This will be my first-time selling at any Marketplace, wee or otherwise.
Someday, if I’m really, really good and save all my pennies, I’m going to go to Sock Camp and Sock Summit. I shall wallow in all things sockish and spend money I don’t have. And I will be happy.
I am not fond of coffee myself. When there is nothing else I pour in the sugar and some coffee creamer, like Bailys irish creame ,hazelnut and cinnamon, or what evers there. The tannic acid is enough to eat a whole in your stomach.It’s a sign that someone doesn’t know how to make decent coffee. Alas I will miss sock summit and sock camp. again.Have fun in Michigan,
I really need to get my act together and figure out a strategy to attend one of these next year. I’m such a frivolous knitter that I tend to buy my yarn in eye-candy spurts rather than saving up for what I might enjoy more!
Ok, I took your advice and signed up for camp 1, yay!
I’m sad that I won’t be joining my mom to see you tomorrow, but I’m sure she will tell me all about it. I briefly pondered driving up, but 5 1/2 hours in the car each way with two kiddos is a lot…especially when you can’t afford to take a 3 or 4 day weekend.
Nice sock.
That must be REALLLLLY bad coffee to be the worst ever. Could you use it to dye yarn?
hey there!
on the subject of instant coffee… I can highly and I mean HIGHLY reccommend the new one in the slim sachets by that company with the * in their name
It is the only instant I’ve EVER had that is as good as the real McCoy (real Nabob?), I do however find it a tads strong and use only 2/3 of the sachet, but hey then every 3 you get a “free” cup
is that 2 c’c and 2 m’s or 1 c and 2 m’s?
Dear Stephanie,
Looking forward to seeing you in DETROIT tomorrow!
Oh my, but Sock Camp looks divine! Too bad for a little thing called unemployment! Ugh. Wish there was a scholarship!
Have a wonderful trip!
When coffee goes bad,it’d realy,realy bad. Look for it on America’s Most Wanted. Nothing like that first steaming hot cup in morning. Have fun this weekend. I so wish I could go. Would love to meet you someday. I love your blog & seeing what’s on your needles. Someday sock-camp & sock summit.
As least the cost at the Toronto airport doesn’t bankrupt you. What, no Timmies?
The worst coffee I’ve ever had was in the Paris airport and it cost something stupid like 8 Euros. That’s like ten bucks or so for crap. Have fun where your going…ciao
Waaah! Never got to go to Sock Camp. Didn’t get to go to Sock Summit either. Missed out on Maryland. Likely never to get to any of them now!
That coffee is what some friends of mine describe as “roast dirt coffee” btw.
Coffee at Pearson? Or Billy Bishop? Ugh.
Hope you find some of the good stuff at the other end……. (I doubt there will be good coffee on the plane – go for the liquor) ;O)
I just pulled out my Geneva Convention card that work gave me “just in case” and there is no mention of coffee. How do we put that right?
Have you ever had coffee and not known whether it’s coffee or tea? Safe travels.
I liked the sock picture, but it doesn’t look like the pattern that comes up when you click the link! What is it really?
Clearly you’re still drinking the coffee because you won’t be able to figure out the solution to the coffee problem until after you’ve had coffee.
Spent way too much time in that airport today myself. Too bad my timing was off — we could have played cell phone Marco Polo.
I am so excited to hear you speak tomorrow in Detroit!!
Enjoy Detroit! I would totally be there if I didn’t have to fly out myself to yet another interview (not complaining, but would like a little time home with the toddlers. I cannot believe I just wrote that). We have good beer in Michigan – perhaps someone will smuggle you something from the Michigan Brewing Company…
From here, that looks more like a mix of antifreeze and motor oil than coffee. I hope you threw it out.
DH in hospital poorly, can’t tell you how lightened I’ve just been by reading your blog … great step outside my own worries. Thank you
ps Hospital coffee almost like real – bonus!
pps knitted an entire sock during my day-long visit yesterday
x
I’m intrigued by the needles you are using to knit the socks. Are they plastic? or painted metal?
You amaze me. First you wave new February socks in my face, then you show an entire sock for March. Sigh. Also, why is it that there is yet again another SOCK event in the Pacific NW? Is this the sock-knitting mecca of the world? Why are there no sock events (or knitting events) within a reasonable distance of me. They put something in the water there, don’t they?
Bad coffee is so not worth it! When I’m in that situation and need caffeine, I try to find some Mountain Dew. It’s not hot like coffee, but it’s got a kick and tastes pretty good.
Oh the dreaded warm and brown liquid, I’m with the Mtn Dew girl, except I’d do Coca-Cola and chocolate, an excellent blast of caffeine and sugar.
HEre’s an item from the news. In Cape May, NJ, there are guerilla knitters dressing trees, sign, etc. I found photos on saltyknits.com
It’s a total laugh
Feeling your coffee pain. Love love love this months socks :o)
Almost time to head to the Detroit Main Public Library to check out the fiber fest and then go back to the Inn to collect DH and bring him to hear your talk today. Just a short 9 hour drive from Iowa to Detroit. If I’d remembered the passports we could have added a visit to Windsor onto the trip.
Looking forward to saying hi and maybe seeing those socks in person.
As to camp I’ve posted numerous places about what it’s like. Ravelry, BMFA RSC Blog/forums etc etc. Folks who want to know can go check those sites. Also check your earlier blog posts about camp. Search brings up a number of posts on sock camp.
Wish I could come to both but I’ll be happy with session 2. See you later.
I think it’s the styrofoam cup that gives much coffee such an awful flavor. We just came back from a car trip and, as always, I had my travel mug with the non-splash lid. (Just in case – LOL). Pouring the “travel center” coffee out of its own cup and into mine makes an appreciable difference. Enough that I can sip away the 4th or 5th cup as the miles pass.
Love your sock-o-the-month idea. I may yet steal it for April-Dec. March excluded because it’s half gone and I’m a slow knitter 😉 And… that Nutella is a gorgeous colorway!
Stephanie, do you or any of your faithful followers know of any knitting camps on the EAST coast? I have wept sad tears every year that sock camp (and now sock summit) and another famous knitting camp are just too far away for me to justify or even consider (I tried, it didn’t work), and I have never heard of any east or maybe only slightly west of the Mississippi. Hope nice coffee finds you on your travels…
Bad coffee: old water, and old pre-ground beans are the ingredients for that recipe for disaster-in-a-cup. The third ingredient in the trifecta of bad coffee (for me) is powdered white stuff masquerading as cream.
Regarding your tweet,”against my better judgement”, I feel exactly the same way every time I’ve flown anywhere. Sometimes I don’t know how I manage to get on a plane at all.
Stephanie, you KNOW the bestest coffee is in New Orleans. Come back sometime!
Mmmm…Nutella.
Damn. Now I want a nutella and banana sandwich. I don’t have any bread though so I’ll need to make some.
If it were a crime to sell bad coffee in airports, there probably wouldn’t be much coffee sold in airports. I think it’s because they have a captive audience and can get away with it. We won’t even discuss prices.
Anyway, enjoy your trip.
Note to self: NutriMatic drink machines are now installed in airports. Yet another reason to avoid like the plague…
In the World According To Me, producing bad coffee – whether or not you intend to sell it – is a capital offense.
Selling it merely upgrades the punishment from a severe scolding and 500 hours of community service (preferably in a coffee shop) to being required to drink nothing but said coffee for a three week period.
Lawyers are still debating whether or not that constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.
Thank you for a wonderful talk today. We all need to be as courageous as you. Knitting counts.
Your talk was marvelous>
Saw you at the Library today! It was so much fun! Loved your presentation…..and the yarn market, too. Thanks for coming to Detroit. 🙂
Thanks so much for your wonderful talk today in Detroit! It was such a joy to finally meet the woman I’ve looked up to from afar- too bad I suddenly turned socially inept upon meeting you! (I just hoped I blended into the crowd at that point. I felt like such a goofball when I finally got up there! I forgot how to speak!) Your talk today was inspirational, hilarious, and amazing. You rock.
I have lost the page of my calendar where you explain the benefits of knitting and suggest all politicians should knit. Could you please send it to me …………..for framing?
so sorry about the bad coffee! i feel your pain. i also thought of you when I saw this comic strip: http://www.arcamax.com/zits/s-708711-104948 …. it reminded me of your giant sock and how you kept identifying heinous errors and continued anyway, saying I’ll think about it while I do the next row.
Be sure to check out vendor Sea Air Arts – awesome fused glass buttons, plus of course, hand dyed yarn and fabric. Okay, artist is my cousin and I just got buttons from her that are so cool!!!
Coming in late on your last post..
I would walk a lot of km. to sit on the floor to listen to Anna Zilboorg talk. About anything at all. And considering I have gotten to the point with my bad hips/back, where I need something to hang onto to haul me back on my feet, that says a whole lot.
An absolutely amazing woman with a wonderful mind.
That’s why I only drink Starbucks when not at home.
Girl, you are totally impressive in front of an audience (Detroit). You could give the stand-ups tips on comebacks (funny, but not hurtful). Here’s my burning question for the expert that I didn’t remember to ask until time was up – how do you deal with pilling (besides avoiding cheaper yarns)? Thanks, from another who starts wedding afghans too late.
On the coffee thing, until I was 33, that “was” coffee for me. No wonder I hated coffee. HATED. Then I went to England and France and went, “Oh. THIS is what coffee is supposed to taste like.” (Surprisingly, though the English are known for tea, they do also KNOW their coffee somehow — don’t ask me how.)
Then when I returned to America, the likes of Starbucks and such had started to spring up. How they ever got a foothold I’ll never know, since that stuff about which you speak above is what America apparently thought coffee was, for lo all those years. 😛
Great sock pattern. Socks are next on my list once this sweater is finished which will hopefully be in the next day or two!
I’m not a Twitterer – yet, however, I must share deeply felt empathy for the frustration of trying to make coffee in a hotel coffee pot with no available packets or real filters. Caution! Do NOT use toilet paper, it is supposed to dissolve.
Paper towels, paper napkins, or even in an all out emergency, face tissue (the kind for sneeze control) are reasonable substitutes.
ahhh … I know your pain.
About the coffee: Starbucks instant VIA packets taste great, even though they are light on the aroma once dissolved. Also, Folger’s makes “singles”… which are basically coffee tea-bags that I take with me when I travel. It’s cheaper than the starbucks via (which runs about 1.00 per cup; the folger’s is 3.88 for 20 tea-bags)and taste is just as good… and it has more smell! I usually travel with several of these tea-bags – inevitably, someone asks if they can have one. 🙂 Great socks, and hope you enjoy your time in the states!
My dad used to order coffee every Saturday at the ice rink where I had my skating lessons. He had to check if the coffee was truly as bad as it had been the week before. It always was. He was impressed by the quality control.
Bad coffee? Let them drink wine!!!
It was a joy to be with you yesterday. Your talk was inspirational and I cannot wait to get your new book.
Thanks for bringing sunshine to Detroit.
Love the sock. Some day I’ll actually knit a pair, when I get baby afghans and tops out of the way.
There is no such thing as a good cup of coffee. The only good thing about coffee is the smell; I would rank it as one of the top 5 food smells. Too bad the taste doesn’t match up.
Drink tea instead! Yay!!!
Some of us really like the random, so please don’t feel the need to apologize.
I started my first pair of Cat Bordhi socks last night as part of a March Madness KAL. So far, so good. She is a genus in design. Wish I could go to sock camp.
It was so great to see/hear you in Detroit! Meeting you was an honor!
P.S. I’m soooo embarrassed… I gave you a gift bag of my stationery and one of the cards has a spelling error… ‘Through’ is spelled wrong on the orange card… I’m soooo sooooo embarrassed. Please don’t hold it against me. I’m reprinting asap!
I don’t use Twitter but I do follow yours – and I want you to know that a paper towel works great in a pinch for a coffee filter! I never tried toilet paper but now I won’t!
I once saw someone make what they insisted was a fresh pot of coffee by making the new batch in the same pot, on top of the dregs of the old coffee. I also recommend (one “c” and two “m”s) the single-serving packet. Coffee is less dependent on boiling water than tea is.
Loved seeing you in Detroit yesterday! When you noticed the well-used state of my copy of The Secret Life of a Knitter, I completely forgot how to speak! Hopefully, if I get to see you again, I will be more calm 🙂 My hubby sat in the back doing homework; he enjoyed the whole event, and even tried to ask a question (we’re thinking of emailing it to you). Thank you SO MUCH for coming to Michigan!
I just love reading your blog – and hope you know that there are people out here in cyberspace who get withdrawal symptoms when you don’t post for a while!
The socks look good enough to eat – but also super thick – how will you fit them in your shoes? The yarn is to die for!
That sock looks delicious 😀 Very pretty yarn.
You realize that you can stop YOUR pain by tossing that cup o’ vileness into the nearest trash bin, right? Let the rest of the world worry about itself.
Jea – lou – SEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE…
Coffee is a drug, and a good one at that. Do drugs have to TASTE good to be effective? No. Throw it back, chew some gum, and don’t feel bad. Just get some extra good stuff as soon as you can to kill the memory.
Wisdom teeth? Tell Sam that in the possibly not immortal words of a recent president, “I feel your pain.” Having mine removed still ranks high on my list of things I don’t want to repeat, and that’s after forty years of living. Just don’t tease her about the soft diet: I almost threw my yogurt at my mother when she laughed at me. Were they impacted? I hope she has something to help her sleep.
Phoebe watchers: check this out
http://roger.smugmug.com/Other/Our-Fall-Vacation-14/411088_8Zsii
Shows the relative size of a hummer nest.
Wow!
What the heck happened to Phoebe Allens site?!?!?!?!?!
All I get is this asinine MyBookFace site!!!
In case anyone wants more camp info, I did some camp-reporting for Camp Cockamamie, Camp Crows Feet and Camp Knitty Ha HA on my blog. Camp Crow’s feet is here: http://tapmouseknits2.blogspot.com/2007/04/camp-cockamamie.html
Sadly, I tried to do a search for ‘Camp’ or ‘Sock Camp’ at my blog, but it must be too clever for such searches, cuz nothing came up!
Generally April/May entries for 2007, 2008, 2009 will give quite a bit of insight into past camps.
And even more sad…I will be missing this year!-waaah…
PS-yes, I, too, wonder about horrible coffee and why one subjects themself to such monstrousities. Takes me a bit of time to figure out that, “perhaps I SHOULDN’T even be drinking/eatting this!”…
in other parts of civilization(those populated by video gamers, sci fi geeks, star trek lovers, etc. etc.), get-togethers such as sock camp are called “conventions”.
i know you might not want to be lumped together with anime costume wearers, furries (don’t ask) and trekkers of all kinds, but really? it’s a convention. meet at a hotel or other location (that you pay for) take classes, and talk/mingle/schmoze with others in your area of interests, and have vendor opportunities? honey, that’s a con, no two ways about it. *smile!*
though these knitterly cons tend to do something i’m unused to: charging per class… at most of the cons -i’ve- been to, there’s a flat fee to attend the con and you attend whatever classes you want while you’re there. my favorite con is very lifestyle personal, happens in the summer, and costs me 265 bucks, plus hotel, for 3 days, but there are generally classes every two hours on saturday, (breaks for lunch, starting at 8am and ending at 6pm) and there are four to six classes happening at a time in different rooms.
it seems expensive, but when i looked at one of the sock/knitting cons once, i added up just half of the classes i wanted to attend, plus the fees for all the stuff i wanted to go to, plus the materials fee for some of the classes, i came up with ove r500 dollars, not counting the hotel and travel. part of the solution would be to only attend one or two classes, but i couldn’t justify travelling hundreds of miles to pay forty dollars for ONE class. so, knitterly cons escape me in terms of that.
(that’s my suggestion for flat-fee, multiple class con structure, by the way. lol!)
and your previous commenter mentioned a knitterly con i hadn’t checked out that IS on that kind of style … (though admittedly STILL incredibly expensive for my tastes.. ah well.)
Love the Tom Bihn bag — I have several of them and love them.
I am also diverted from phoebeallens to mybookface!! The bad news is I believe that URL redirection means we have a virus of some kind, but I haven’t solved it yet. Does anyone else know what to do?
Hi Steph, It was wonderful to see you in Detroit! Did you realise exactly how close you were to the border and Canada while you were there? I am the fangirl who humiliated myself, and probably alarmed you, when I unexpectedly found myself standing next to you in the Yarn market and I squealed ‘STEPHANIE!!!!’before I could stop myself. I am so sorry! You said ‘Hi’ before you walked away tho. Great (but limited) shopping, a very funny talk with a few ‘Oh Yeah’ moments, and the best part was being surrounded by our knitting sister and brotherhood and comparing notes and admiring projects in all directions. Many thanks for visiting and pulling us all together.
Stephanie, I believe I recognize the coffee cup, and I apologize on behalf of the entire state of Michigan! “Caribou Coffee” is the local chain, and is the Great Lakes states’ (MI, WI, IL, and MN) really-horrible ‘answer’ to Starbucks. It is truly appalling coffee, I agree!!
Sorry I missed your even here in the Detroit area … it would have been a blast, but too much else was going on this past weekend!