Well hello blog world. How have you been? I am back from a week long vacation in Montana. I learned that:
1. knitting needles are useful on airplanes when you need to defend yourself from 6 year olds who have never been disciplined.
2. Montana serves coffee from tiny shacks on the side of the road labeled “Espresso”
3. Cherries grow everywhere in the Flathead Lake area of Montana
4. It is totally appropriate, and in fact wonderful, to play Europe’s “The Final Countdown” when being introduced the first time as husband and wife at your wedding reception (Sarah, you rock)
5. White duct tape is not the same as the traditional silver kind and will not, in fact, hold paper stars or wedding lights to ceilings in extreme heat
6. Traffic laws in Montana were written be someone who drives like I do…which is scary. Dear State of Montana: It is NOT appropriate to drive over 55 mph on a two lane road in Glacier Park when there is no guard rail to keep you from going over the cliff.
7. and finally…No matter how much time you have to knit on vacation, it will never seem like enough. The truth is, I find more time to knit during my busy workweek thank I do on vacation. Possibly because I just plain need it more when I am running around trying to get work done.

Ok, back to business. I see that we have quite a few Central Park Hoodie fans that are plugging along on swatches and the ribbing. I did get almost the entire back complete while in Montana this past week. Thank you to the lovely Kathleen for keeping things moving along. If you haven’t met her yet, please do plan to attend the first meet up next week at Knit Happens on Wednesday of next week (July 30) during late night. (there will be wine and munchies!) I plan to post some instructions this week on waist shaping and modifying the cables. Also to come: pictures and detailed instructions on fixing a cable many rows after you discover that it has been twisted the wrong way.

For now, an update on what’s going on with me and Knit-a-Gogo. This month I made the difficult and exciting decision to leave full time employment in the non profit world. I will be working “on the side” for various non profit organizations as a fundraising consultant. My first gig is with a former employer a few hours each week doing some database set up and management that they desperately need. Knit-a-Gogo will become my primary focus. The company will be providing all registration and scheduling for both my personal classes as well as all classes taught at Knit Happens. In mid August, you will notice a new and improved class registration system that will include more detailed information on the teacher, the supply list, the class and project as well as any prep work that is needed before the start of class. In the coming weeks, I will introduce you all to the wonderful instructors that I know from Knit Happens, who will become part of the Knit-a-Gogo family. I will continue to teach classes, and perhaps even more with my new found time! I will be available more for private lessons and daytime private lessons as well.

In addition, I hope to take on a bigger role in Washington DC area classes, which have been lacking for some months. I hope to pick up another couple of locations in Dupont and the Georgetown areas. If you know of a great location for classes in DC, please let me know. It should have:
-good lighting
-be open to 6-8 knitters hanging around for 2 hours
-serve some sort of beverage and/or food
-be willing to hang flyers or put out my postcards

In other news, I will be hosting a monthly “Knit-a-Gogo Knitalong” at a local coffee shop (or perhaps chocolate shop). This will be something like a Stitch n Bitch or KnitnNosh on the same day of every month. Even if you aren’t participating in the current Knitalong project, I hope that you will stop by and take advantage of some free knitting help with yours truly as well as meet my other “followers” and enjoy some time with the amazing people that make up the Knit-a-Gogo knitting community. I am thinking Del Ray Alexandria as the location for this Knitalong, but only because that’s my home 🙂 Please let me know what night of the week you think would work best for this. Mondays tend to be jammed with classes and Wednesday nights are late nights at Knit Happens. I even think that a Friday night would work well, but only if you all would come that night. Let me know!

And in closing…because this truly is a long post with no photos of fabulous knitted things…Thank you all for your support over the past two years (wow, it has been almost two years)! I am really lucky to have so many amazing students in my classes. I can’t think of anything in the world that I would rather be doing than teaching more wonderful women (and men!) to knit. Look forward to seeing many of you in the fall.

~Danielle