I swear it was due to the sugar high. That’s right. I’ll blame it on the cupcakes. I wouldn’t have made such a stash down slip up if it weren’t for the delicious sugary nom nomz I consumed only a half hour earlier. But alas, it can’t be undone.
The Endless Knitted Cardi Shawl was casually hanging on the back of the door at My Sister’s Knits on Walden Parkway where the second half of this plot took place. I liked the shape and color but couldn’t find a pattern tag on it. Oh well, I thought, I’ll just search on Ravelry to add it to my favorites. I don’t need another project and I don’t need to buy any more yarn. I have enough to work with.
As my friends and I walked through the store, we didn’t see much and were gathering near the door. At that point, A headed back into the depths of the store to look at something. For some reason, I followed and asked the store owner what the mysterious cardigan’s name was. Here’s where it all went down hill. The pattern is thrust in my hand where it has time to linger. M suggests I try it on so we can see how it works. Everyone else compliments how nice the sweater looks on me, and oh isn’t it convenient that I’m trying on the right size for me.
I continue to have my doubts, since the ingenious nature of the Endless Knitted Cardi Shawl is the multiple ways it can be worn: right side up, upside down, backwards, shawl, cardigan with a cowl, cardigan with a floppy collar and more. I’m thinking to myself, “There’s no way this thing is going to look good every which way.” Well, I was wrong. Dead wrong. And I couldn’t walk away.
It didn’t help that the colorway of the yarn the cardi was knit up in was also in stock at the store. The stage was set for a purchase.
These little incidents where I tempt fate with my stashing restraint have gone well up until now. This year I have only bought yarn four other times: some yarn for a group project, some yarn bought while in Indianapolis to remember the trip that I used right away to make Ishbel, another bulk purchase for a bunch of gift projects I have planned (plus some sock yarn for me to reach the $50 free shipping cart total) and some yarn for existing projects that needed a little more yardage. That’s not bad considering how many times I have tempted myself during Cupcakes & Yarn outings—where we’ve created the tradition of sampling delicious cupcakes and perusing a new yarn store.
Luckily I can’t feel too guilty about my purchase; I’ve already cast it on and knit up about three inches on it. That’s pretty impressive since each row has about 391 stitches and the piece is knit as a long rectangle that becomes 90 inches long. I’m also loving the baby alpaca, enjoying the knit and looking forward to finishing the project. Let’s hope this enthusiasm remains.
Be inspired.
One of the best things I've ever done in my career is work with Kate Hamilton. Her enthusiasm for all things editorial, not to mention her energy and passion for any project she's involved with, is contagious. In addition to being a natural born leader, she's also a creative type, a thinker, a stickler for details, and someone with incredible vision and the drive to get things done. I always marvel at how she is constantly teaching herself new things. She always seems to be ahead of the curve on anything related to social media, and she also has an eye for design. This lady rocks! And she continues to be a mentor to me and others in journalism and communications.
Kate is a real professional and a pleasure to work with. She is a great communicator and always put her client's (my company) interest first. She is tremendously personal and had a great understanding of our business and how she could help it. She is great and is a tremendous asset to any company.
Kate is a wealth of knowledge who served as a tremendous mentor for all of our team members while constantly improving processes and workflows. She’s a tremendous project manager, pays great attention to detail, and is able to demand results from her team with respect. At LoganSquarist she has built and led a team of dozens of volunteer contributors committed to her vision of a community resource. I would happily work with Kate again anytime!
I worked with Kate during my time as a community manager at Lightspan Digital while Kate was my direct manager. Kate’s communication practices really taught me how to navigate the sometimes complicated agency world. As an account manger, Kate smoothly orchestrated 10+ accounts at one time as well as help me manage and prioritize tasks in my role. Kate was a role model during my first few years in the professional world and continues to be so to this day.
Kate has been a fantastic resource for all things digital, whether redesigning my website on Wordpress, fine tuning my social media profiles, or understanding Google Analytics. She's an excellent communicator, and I will absolutely hire her again in the future.
I met Kate through the Association of Women Journalists (AWJ) and immediately was impressed (and inspired) by her creativity, drive, work ethic and use of social media. Her passion for journalism, digital media and communications overall is evident in the projects she takes on, including LoganSquarist, an online news outlet that she founded that uses social media to socialize the neighborhood. What I admire about Kate is her vitality as well as her desire to keep learning and growing personally and professionally. Kate is a modern-day renaissance woman who is multitalented (ask about her travel, knitting and marathon exploits!) and who brings instant value to any team or organization.
Kate did and excellent job with our website. We have received several compliments on how nice it looks and how easy it is to navigate. She also went above and beyond to make sure that we were able to update and the website ourselves through Wordpress. I cannot gush about how awesome she is and how happy we are with the site and her dedication to the project.
Kate has an incredible amount of drive when it comes to LoganSquarist. In the six months that I’ve been involved, I’ve watched the site grow from a pet project to a respected community publication. This success can be attributed to Kate’s technical and leadership skills. From building out the site to off-hours community management and a consistent flow of content, the site improves by leaps and bounds on a weekly basis. When it comes to team management, Kate delegates tasks in an organized and efficient manner, making her an all around great and inspiring person to work with.