So Lucky

I am so lucky to have a yarn shop. And I am so happy that it is located in one of the prettiest, most interesting places in the world. Camden has its small-town faults; the movie Peyton Place was filmed there, and some people say it wasn't far from the truth. But, it also is a center of activity in the summer, when you can meet people from all over the world in one stroll down the street. In the winter, my "regular" customers (as opposed to "summer" or "irregular" customers) are interesting: they are either native Mainers (rare) or have moved or retired here from somewhere else, from some other life, and they are very interesting people. Each of them has a story to tell.

One of my local customers came in yesterday; a remarkable young woman, she had just spent several months traveling in Italy, Morocco, England, Cambodia and Vietnam. It was fascinating to talk to her. She knits, of course; she said when she was in Morocco she found a woman who had handspun yarn for sale (the woman used the yarn for rug-making, but would sell just the yarn if needed). So my customer bought some. But later, being without needles and wanting to dig into the new yarn, she simply cut some branches off a tree and whittled a pair of needles to make do. She said her friends were pretty impressed, but it just seemed logical to her. No needles? Just make some!

Camden is also a very artistic sort of town. There's art everywhere. Galleries, people painting in the park, people playing musical instruments on the sidewalk. Yesterday after I closed the store and was walking back to my car, I noticed someone had drawn a very large mermaid in colored chalk on the Main Street sidewalk. It was about 15 feet long and was titled "The Big Mermaid". Wish I'd had a camera.

Speaking of art, yesterday as I trod on the Big Mermaid, I was carrying home 6 skeins of Alchemy Yarn's "Alpaca Pure" in the Southern View colorway to knit the Kaleidoscope Wrap from Fiddlesticks knitting. I joined the Summer of Lace group & I'm feeling the need to knit some lace. I do have the edging to finish on the Snowdrift Shawl, which was actually the reason why I joined the S of L in the first place -- I thought it might push me to get that piece done. And hopefully it will; I'd like to finish it off by September's knitting cruise. But meanwhile, maybe I need to prime the pump by knitting some other lace for a while first. And before I even start it, I need to finish two or three other things I am working on so I won't feel too guilty about starting another one.

Comments

[Ellen]

Beth, you are so right about Camden. I've always found it to be friendly as well as beautiful, thanks in large part to the kindness of the proprietor and staff at UniqueOne. Your genuine interest in your customers puts them at their ease and makes them feel safe about revealing tidbits of personal information...kind of like the sympathetic bartender who listens to everyones' stories!

As for starting another project...for goodness sake, let go of the Yankee work ethic and just begin...Goethe had it right when he said "What ever you can do, or think you can do,begin it. For boldness has power and magic and genius in it." After all, you are the role model for many of us...if you don't begin, how will we? Glory is in the deciphering of a new design!

[Beth Collins]

*blushing*
Ellen, your check's in the mail! heh heh
And thanks for the "role model" idea; I can use it to justify lots of new projects! What a great idea! But that Yankee work ethic, it's hard to let go. We'll see.

[Ellen]

I know...the monkey rides my back, too!

[Helen in NH]

Beth, that day that I came to Camden unannounced and wandered around in your wonderful yarn-haven (good name for some new shop, huh?) the Snowdrift kit is what I took home with me. And there it sits in my "gonna do it someday" basket. Reading your post makes me want to dig in, but I need to get this pink thing off the runway first. I'm LOVING this pink thing. I am HOOKED on that J&S 2ply laceweight you ordered for me. Thank you Thank you Thank you
Helen

[Helen]

Thanks for the Summer of Lace link. I joined this morning and hope it will give me the push I need to do more lace knitting. ;-)

[Debbie]

Hi Beth,

Thanks for the Llama Song link! You're the best! Oh, and by the way, every time I hear the song, it's stuck in my head for hours afterward. Too bad it's bedtime now. Sigh. . . .