Best meet-up in Orlando

I have been part of Ravelry for over 5 years now (WOW! Can you believe it?), and I have been blessed (like the rest of us) with many, many friends.
Those who live near me, in Buenos Aires, have become some of my greatest friends, and very important people in my life, but I was also lucky to find many new friends around the world that I never thought I would be able to meet.

10 days ago, when we were still on holidays in Orlando, I had the privilege to meet 3 girls who make my designing job really fun: Maggy (Mswnnola), Shannon (Knitwit41) and Carol (Cdncarol).

These girls met while testing one of my patterns, and soon became close friends.  They kept on testing for me (thank you!), so they would end up always knitting the same sweaters at the same time... And one day they decided to meet up (the live far away from each other) and model these sweaters together.

From left to right: Maggy, Shannon and Carol, modelling their Jenica Hoodie

From left to right: Maggy, Carol and Shannon, modelling their Dragonflies Jumper

I owe them so much for helping me out with such a tedious job as testing is... They would find mistakes which meant they had to rip out a sleeve... Or would find out that the measurements are wrong and adjustments need to be made...  However they seem to enjoy it for some strange reason, and for that I am forever grateful.
But they also offer me the gift of their friendship, and when they found out I was coming to the US on holidays, they decided to make a trip to Orlando so that we could meet on my Birthday.
Of course, a visit to a theme park was the obvious hang-out date, so we met at Universal Studios.

I finally made it to their group shots!!!

We had so much fun!  And I got to understand why Carol gets so many knits done.  She even knits when waiting to ride a roller-coaster.

I cannot tell whether she was actually knitting while on the ride, but I suspect she actually did...  I wish there was an "Extreme Knitting" attraction somewhere.
They also took care of our boys so that my hubby and I could ride the big big roller coasters!  That was a Birthday gift on its own, but they surprised me with another awesome gift, spun by Shannon herself:

At night we went for dinner, and got to chat about life and future projects.  They were all wearing Window to my Soul, the latest test knit they did all together (more on that design on a future blog post).

Yes, I am having a mojito.  They told me this was the "small" one.

So even though I was not dressed up for the ocasion, I wore mine too and we took some pictures the 4 of us together (sorry, taking pics at night with a flash is not easy...).

These girls are awesome, and I am so happy that we could meet in "real life"!!!  I'll remember this Birthday forever!  THANK YOU!!!

-Joji

Our NYC holidays

So last Tuesday we came back home after spending a 20-day holiday in the US.  We had the chance to spend a whole week in NYC, and the rest of the time in the amazing Disneyworld, where the whole family had a fantastic time.  Such a wonderful holiday!!!

Even though one would think I would go straight to all the yarn stores there are to be seen, I was travelling with 4 men: my husband, my brother and my 2 sons.  So there was very little time for window shopping and the only time there was we spent it at Toys R Us or The Foot Locker....

But they were nice and came with me to the 2 stores I wanted to know the most:

Purl Soho:
On our second day in New York, on a rainy day, we came to this fabulous, stylish shop!  And I was in very good company...

It was the first time in my life entering a yarn store where I could see the yarns I work with before buying them.  I don't usually work with the products we have available in Argentina.  We do have awesome, awesome products, but I try to work with yarns that other knitters can also get for their projects. 
I must admit I was even a little bit shy before going in... I had been waiting to know this store for such a long time!

The first impression was amazing.  I had never seen shelves like these back at home.  Oh boy! What to buy?  So many lovely yarns... And I got to touch yarns that I had seen on the internet many times without being able to touch them...
I must say it was too overwhealming, and after putting several skeins in my basket and then returning them to the shelves, 2 of them decided to come home with me as gifts for my most loved ones: these 2 skeins of the OH SO FABULOUS Anzula.

Of course, since I had been so good to my boys, I got this handsome hubby to pay the bill ;)

Knitty City:
During our last day in New York, I was not feeling too well, so we decided to do something relaxed.  Perfect excuse to insert a visit to another yarn store! 

This store was not as chic as Purl, but I felt the true "artisan look" all over.  And let me tell you that the variety of yarns they carry is UNBELIEVABLE!  I felt I was in Wonderland.  This was the place where my wallet was actually shaking, and I did some damage to it for sure.

  There were so many delightful yarns tha tI had never seen live before, and the colors in each shelf were magical and mesmerizing...  However, this little shelf hidden in the bottom really took my heart: It was a big batch of Studio Worsted, from Neighborhood Fiber Co.

The skeins were really big (200g-400yd), but they only had 2 of them available in the color I chose, so I'll have to knit something tight!
Look at these beauties, I couldn't leave them at the shop:

And of course, I was in very good company, so the visit was delightful!

I hope you are not bored already, since I have the nicest story to tell you on a later post about some wonderful ladies I met in Orlando, after we left NYC!

-Joji