A little dose of feel good

by Cheryl

That is, for me anyway I went to Lambkins Hideaway today to show off my Olympic shawl. I mentioned it before, but they got really into the whole Knitting Olympics thing. They gave discounts, had their own team, a party, etc. You had to bring in your project by today so they could take a picture and award medals. They were all so sweet to say how wonderful/beautiful/delightful it is despite my many mistakes. I also got a good tip…use bamboo needles for a project like this so the stitches don’t slide around as much. They help prevent two stitches sticking together. So all of that praise made me feel good. Oh…and I got to fondle yarn…always good feeling.
What was really cute though is that Mindy (:wave: Hi Mindy? Are you out there somewhere? Do you have a blog? Would love to chat!) came in and she said something to the effect of “oh, you’re the diva girl!” How fun is that for someone to recognize you from your blog? Of course, I was in a yarn store so I was totally “in context” which probably helped.

Then, the owner (Christina, I think. We’ve never formally met, but she has been in the shop both times I was there. Also, she looks official, lol) of the shop told me they had been watching my progress on my blog and they about died when all my stitches came off the needles! I thought that was pretty cool. Plus, they had forgotten to give me the discount on my Olympics purchase, then tried to contact me through the blog but my contact form was down! Must’ve happened when I migrated to Wordpress 2.0. Anyway, she mentioned the contact form today which enabled me to fix it AND adjusted for the discount. How is all of that for customer service???!!! Quite refreshing in the downward spiral that is retail.
I returned my last skein of Gossamer (for the shawl) since I won’t be needing it again (at least for a WHILE and besides, I would want a different color). Of course, I couldn’t leave empty handed. Instead of RETURNING my skein like a good little knitter, I EXCHANGED it for more sock yarn instead. :badgirl: Sock yarn is the one thing I can always count on using eventually (It’s nice to know what you’re going to do with a particular yarn instead of waiting for the yarn to tell you what it wants to be. Sock yarn…socks…duh…nice and brainless when you need it), so I don’t feel ~~at all~~ too guilty about my new sock yarn. Plus, it just reminds me of summer…watermelon specifically. And summer and watermelons can’t possibly be a bad thing, right?

10 comments

1 Mindy { 02.27.06 at 5:57 pm }: Hi, it’s me - Mindy. I just sat down to see if some other Olympic knitters have posted pictures and I saw your message! It was great to meet you and put a face with a blog. Your shawl is beautiful and congrats on getting it finished. I am in Lambi’s alot on Saturdays; my new best friends! Unfortunately for my husband, I live nearby in Fairfield. Hope to see you there again. Happy knitting!
2 Michelle { 02.27.06 at 6:35 pm }: Great summer colors for sure!!!:happyflower: Wishing it’d be here soon!! The wind chill has been 20 below~!!:cry:
3 ~drew emborsky~ { 02.27.06 at 6:42 pm }: Now that’s what I call customer service! Woo hoo!

I had one person out of 24 recognize me in class on Saturday. I have a friend who is an actuary and he calculated that based on that, with 95% accuracy, one out of every 300 people in a yarn-based activity should recognize me. Fascinating stuff, eh?

Anywho…
4 Beth { 02.27.06 at 9:34 pm }: I always enjoy going to Lambikin’s - I should have taken my sweater there to show it off.
5 Julie { 02.28.06 at 1:39 am }: Oooooh, I’ve been eyeing that artyarns colorway for a while now. It’s beautiful!!
6 Carmell { 02.28.06 at 11:07 am }: pretty sock yarn. looks like strawberry kiwi!
7 Julie (a.k.a. DotMom) { 02.28.06 at 11:36 pm }: Hi Cheryl! Just saw your comment on my blog, and I thought I’d pop in. for stopping by.

Your shawl is *gorgeous*!! Congratulations on finishing despite all the stitches sliding off! That’s perseverence!

I love all your little smileys here.
8 JessaLu { 03.01.06 at 1:12 pm }: oh I love ArtYarns - very springy colors you have there :o)
9 Kimberli { 03.01.06 at 2:47 pm }: I had that happen recently — someone at a SnB said — Oh my Gosh — it’s YOU — I read your blog all the time! WOW! It was very odd - but cool - but odd — but…erally cool!
10 Bonnie { 03.01.06 at 5:47 pm }: I didn’t find out about the Lambikin’s Knitting Olympics group until late in the game (pardon the pun.) Probably just as well as I wouldn’t have been able to make it to their post-Olympics event. Congrats on your shawl.

And I agree - Lambikins is my hands down favorite yarn store in the Cincinnati area!!! Their staff are wonderful and the yarn selection is incredible. My only complaint - Hamilton is WAY TOO FAR away from Blue Ash. Please move closer!!!

(Waving to Mindy and Beth!!)

Bonnie