Gallery of Dreams Blog

So we are going to Cocoa Beach,Florida. We leave in exactly 1 week from today. It will just be us girls (me,mom,Gracie,Emma,and my grandma) and we will be DRIVING!! Yes, I know I know….we are crazy. Two kids, two crazy knitters and my poor poor grandma who thinks she is going to sit in the back and “entertain the children.” I have thoughts of my mother and I fighting over who gets to drive so the other can knit. I don’t think my grandma knows what she is in for!!
It’s kind of crazy though, my mom and I were talking about what we were packing and I think we talked more of what yarn and projects we planned on bringing rather than what clothes we would pack! When we first planned this trip I thought how relaxing this would be. Yep I need a vacation, I need to relax on the beach, listen to my music or read a book. I even thought I would try sitting in the sand and knitting……and then I remember I HAVE KIDS!! I have horrible visions of me running down the beach chasing my now crawling 9 month old and the ball of yarn unraveling behind me. I’m sure the other beach bodies would enjoy that show! I think I will knit on the balcony after the kids are fast asleep!! Oh yes this will be an interesting vacation, but lots of fun and a ton of great memories we will have I’m sure! Happy Thanksgiving to All. We will be thinking of you while we eat our turkey and stuffing next to the beautiful ocean!!

I have been in hiding again. Could it be possible that I am addicted to knitting. I mean not the “oh I think I will knit today” or “oh maybe I should make a hat for Emma.” I mean the “LEAVE ME ALONE EVERYONE!!! QUIT CALLING ME!! I AM KNITTING!!!!” My husband calls my knitting obsession my production. If I stop knitting he will joke that I have “haulted production.” I went about 2 weeks completely obsessing over my yarns and projects. I would dig through my stash of yarn…pull out every litttle ball and look at each one carefully. Study each one. Then I would find the one I needed and put it all back. Within a matter of a couple hours I would be in there digging again. I frustrated everyone during this process. One of my friends told me I need to go to therapy. Maybe not such a bad idea I guess. Considering after my recent search of addiction on the web. I have to admit that I may just have a problem….Take a look

Denial and more denial- Maybe I have just come out of denial by admitting my addiction…let’s hope so. My mom on the other hand has not reached this step yet.

Finding strange items in their room and clothing- I must admit that I have found yarn and needles in my bed. I used to knit while sitting in bed, now I have just moved on to hiding my pattern books under the bed.

Extreme hyperactivity; excessive talkativeness—yep that’s me! I constantly talk to myself! Or I am always jibberish. Hyperactive is not the word for me…late at night while everyone is sleeping you can peek in my window and see me running around the house, bouncing off the walls. Digging, searching madly for that “one pattern”

I think I am seeing a real problem here now.

Change in activities; loss of interest in things that were important before…Oh this one is a biggy!! I even quit going to the races during the summer! I told myself that it was because I couldn’t afford to go but I know the truth now!

Difficulty in paying attention; forgetfulness….YES!YES!YES! Only because I am always thinking about that new pattern or new yarn that we got in today! Really it is not my fault.

Excessive need for privacy; keeps door locked or closed, won’t let people in…need I say more?!

Oh there are so many more signs of this illness. Does anyone else out there feel my pain? Am I alone? Oh wait I know someone who is much worse than me. My mom! Oh there I feel better..hehe I guess I dont have it so bad afterall!! I wonder what my insurance company would say if I called and asked if the would cover therapy for Knitting Addiction? Now that would be funny. We always have people come into the store and they want to start a knitting group and knit together…I say let’s start a group teaching us how to cope with the addiction of it! Trust me. My family would be very thankful. Poor Emma always trying on hats and things for her mama. And my husband wont even try to talk to me while I am knitting. I will just do as my mother used to do (well I guess she still does)…hold up the hand for silence. See this is all learned behavior IT IS NOT MY FAULT. This pain I am feeling can go on no longer…urghhh I need to knit!

Just wanted to remind everyone that the Yarn Harvest Shop Hop is coming up soon! It should be really fun. Each person will get a passport at the shop that they start at. Your passport will be stamped at each store. If you visit each shop on the list then you will be eligible to be in the drawing for a Grand Prize! And it’s a good one! Here is the list of shops

Sorry its a little fuzzy. Click on it and then it will bring you to another page and the click on it again and it will be big enough for you to read. Happy Hopping!!!

The other night someone said to my husband “I tell the honest truth and that’s why nobody likes me.” I dont know if that is the exact words but close to it. Anyways, when he told me what this person had said, I thought how sad that someone thinks that nobody likes them. That world must be lonely. Then later that night when everyone was in bed, I started thinking (I guess that is my thinking time). Sometimes people’s truth is actually their own opinion. Does that make sense? This happens alot in the knitting world or even in my world. My mom and I will be talking about our knitting (as we do every night at 10:30pm)and I will say something along the lines of “Well this is how I did it.” I will give her my explaination and she will say something along the sorts of “No that isnt how you do it, this is how you do it.” Well then I get all confused. After many nights of us trying to explain ourselves and our way of doing something, I came to the conculsion that everyone does things differently. With knitting there is no right or wrong way. My mom was talking to someone last week about how she used to crochet wrong. She did this for years. She was self taught so that was the only way she knew how to do it. As funny as it sounds, when she crocheted it still turned out. So in the end her wrong was still right.
I listen to people in the store sometimes telling other people how to knit or how to change colors or dont hold the needles this way, hold them that way. Or you are doing this wrong or with the wrong color. Really there is no wrong. Now most of the time the person being told that they are wrong will smile and gladly take their advice or their opinion and move on. Everyone was taught different ways. That’s what makes this world so beautiful.
Now out in the real world (not the knitting world)
The frustrating part about this whole right or wrong thing or the truth or opinion thing is that people are so bent on being right. They want so badly to be right that they will pick a fight or hurt someones feeling to prove their point. But the part I dont understand is that most of the time their way of truth is their opinion. And everyone has one. Now of course there are things in life that are right or wrong and we all know the common sense part of things to make the world go round. And everyone was raised different and taught different things and what makes things right for me, might make them wrong for someone else. But does that make my upbringing right and yours wrong? NO!!! Of course not! Does it make it wrong that when my mom adds a new color of yarn to her hat that she does what we call the “spit and twist”..(haha that sounds funny) and I do the Russian Join. We both do things a little different and that is ok. It’s ok to be different. It is ok for all of us to have an opinion and to share it. But I dont feel like it is right for a person to take their opinion and make it their truth and live by it, only to judge others that dont live in their world. It’s a beautiful world out there people. Get out and enjoy it! Love it and live in it. Share and gather! And most of all be yourself and who you are! Knit the way you want and live in the moment!

So today while my mom and I were getting the girls ready to go to the fair Emma wanted to show my mom how well she did knitting. I am so amazed at how easy it comes to her, the girl hasnt picked up her knitting in about 1 1/2 weeks and she just picks it up and starts knitting away. As I was watching her I realized that maybe it would be easier for her to pick instead of throw. So my mom and I decided to give it a try. It seems much easier to pick I think. So here starts the story…

So off to the fair we went. For 3 hours we walked around looking at everything and as we walked I realized that alot of people dont smile anymore. Everyone just looks so lost in there own little world or else they are stuck in someone else’s world…if that makes sense. All night it bothered me. You would think that there would be something to smile about at a fair. First off listening to little ones laugh…that right there makes me smile and the food…oh yes that makes me smile too..lol
So after the girls went to bed and everything was quiet I started thinking about if I should pick or throw with knitting. I decided to pick for a while and when I really thought about it, that is what I am in the process of doing with my life right now. I am throwing out the bad things and picking up the good things. Last week someone told me, “Do not take other people’s inventory”
After she said that I started to think about the little things we all pick up during the day. It might be something someone said to you or the way someone looked at you. Our minds hold on to these things for some reason. So my new goal is to THROW out all of the bad, the negative, the things that just sit in the back of your mind and I am now going to PICK up all of the wonderful things that I have been blessed with. So I made a list in my head…
1. I am going to THROW out the memory of 10th grade English class. My teacher told me I couldnt be a writer because I would starve, he even went as far as calling my mom and laughing at my dream. I am going to PICK up writing a pattern book. I might mail him a copy too..hehe
2. This one has a story behind it. A couple weeks ago we had a wonderful bunch of ladies come in our store. (Hi ladies) Now these are the type of ladies that you love to have in your store. Not because of the sales but because they are full of life and they are so fun to talk to. So anyways one of the ladies was checking out and my mom and I told her that we loved her hair and her clothes. She said “Thanks, my kids think I am a hippie” I think hippies are cool!! So I think about that and I think I am going to THROW out all the bad things I have heard over the years. All the things that have slowly changed me over time. Or I should say all the people who tried to change me or judged me for what I wore or how I looked and I am going to PICK up being me again. I WILL run around the house singing The Doors again and I will wear my “bright clothes”. I will be happy to be me again and one day I will be a hippie mama too!!!
3. I am going to THROW out all the people who act like my friend only to get what they want and then leave. Ok so I wont throw them out..lol but I will eliminate the toxic ones. I will PICK up the ones who were always right there and I just for some reason didnt see them. (HI MOM)
4. I am going to THROW out the fact that sometimes I get mad when Gracie decides she wants to wake up at 3am and play and I am so tired that I sit there half a sleep and rock her or feed her and think about how nice it must be for my husband to sleep the whole night. I am going to pick up loving that moment… one day she wont want to play with me anymore so I need to enjoy this young age before she is a “big girl”
5. My last one for the night…oh yes there might be more one late night. LOL I am going to THROW out all the people who laughed at me for knitting or owning a yarn shop..most of them my peers and some of them people who pretended to be my friend (some family too). And I am going to PICK up the fact that I love knitting, I love what I do. I love being with my mom and I love that I can maybe make a difference one day. I love that I am at home almost every night with my family and that I can teach Emma how to knit. I am not out partying, I am not out getting into trouble. I am home knitting. AND I LOVE IT!!
Ok so enough for now.. I was really on a kick and I am sorry for all the typos. It’s Midnight and my fingers and brain dont always work too well this late at nite. Isnt it amazing how just thinking about how your going to knit and bring up all these life issues..lol

So last week I was working on one of my purses and Emma asked if she could watch me knit. Well that little episode turned into teaching her to knit. She figured it out right away. After two stitches she said “Ok mom leave me alone now” She sometimes forgets to pull the stitch off the needle after knitting it but other than that she is great. Maybe she will calm down alittle now instead of running all around the house like a wild woman. It’s her birthday tomorrow. She will be 6. She is growing so quick, it kinda makes me sad and then she starts knitting. All of the sudden she has her own thoughts and opinions and all these little talents that just seemed to blossom out. She is such a creative little gal. I love it!!

I finished my other purses. I have done 5 in the past 2 1/2 weeks…pretty good considering I havent even done that many loads of laundry in that amount of time. I’m kidding but thats what it feels like though. My mom has been knitting like crazy too. She is now in love with Entrelac. She made this amazing purse last week. I will take pictures tomorrow when I work and post them.
I just have to remember my camera. I seem to forget everything, imagine that.haha

So I decided that I was sick of making just regular purses and came up with a cool little purse. This is the 3rd one that I have done and I am slowly perfecting it. This one might be a little too colorful for my liking, but it works and it’s cute! I have made two different sizes so far, I like the small one the best, it goes really quick and quick is what I need right now. I dont have enough time to knit all night anymore. Kinda makes me sad, but atleast my brain isnt as foggy from lack of sleep anymore..lol It’s so hard coming up with new ideas. I see them in my head but sometimes making them work with yarn is a different story. I think I will try to start one tonight that isnt as square. I dont know what I’m doing yet. I will just pick up needles and knit and see where it takes me i guess. And besides it’s a good knitting night…there is good tv tonight. I love the Baby Borrowers. They need to put my Emma on that show. She would show them a good challenge..lol Anyways, here are some pictures of one of the new purses. One is before felting and the other is after felting.

Oh how strange this whole blogging thing is. I can make websites and all kinds of things but when it comes time make a blog…lord help me!! So everyone please bear with me as I am new to this thing..lol I thought this would be a good idea instead of typing out a newsletter every month.
Let me introduce myself for those of you who don’t know me or us. I’m Carrie or sometimes Carebear to others. My mom (Judy) and I own Gallery of Dreams in Alexandria,MN. Our store is filled full of yarns and gifts for the knitters. I am married to a wonderful husband who has no concept of my obbession with knitting and yarn. I have two beautiful little girls, Emma (5) and Grace (5 months). Which probably explains all my typing errors, so please excuse me. Typing with a 5 month old sitting on your lap and the 5 year old talking endlessly about Polly Pockets brings my mind to a blank sometimes and my fingers to go crazy with the typing. Blah enough about me. On to my mom.
Judy or yarnmama is my momma. You probably wont see her posting on here very often. She can sure whip up a sweater in a couple days but has yet to master computer skills. (Sorry Mom) That’s why I took the plunge at this whole blogging thing. She loves to knit and is a lover of Newfoundland dogs and of course her grandbabies. That’s pretty much it for her. Ask her on any given day what she is doing and you will hear one of the following or all. Working,Knitting and Grandbabies.
My goal for this blog is to update as often as I can, haha. Also to post exciting projects and new yarns at the shop and just to get out in the world or out in the web.