Good morning! It’s 48 degrees at 0645 … a little nippy but forecast to be a lovely, clear mid-60s today. Spring has finally sprung at the Lake. The red buds (my favorite tree) have lost their gorgeous purple flowers and are now all leafed out while the dogwoods are holding on to the last of their white flowers. The azaleas are blowing and the hostas are up. Everything is looking scrumptiously green and healthy and alive.

Love spring at the Lake!

But this Monday I’m dragging just a tad. I spent Thursday-Sunday of last week traveling to and from Indianapolis for the National Needlework Association’s annual trade show — a great chance to see all the new fibers, tools, books and accessories that are all things fiber and needlework. I also was able to meet-and-greet with potential outlets for my designs (retailers, yarn producers and publishers) so it was a productive, if hectic, trip. I took a couple of classes on marketing and customer retention with Johnny Vasquez, a knitter and “head honcho” at New Stitch a Day and generally an amazing young man who has a great feel for marketing and social media and current trends in customer retention. Definitely worth the 6-8 hours I sat and listened. Very excellent stuff.

I will do a full-trip report later this week … after I finish writing up a few designs that I’ve finished and organized my life a bit after being gone for a few days. Dh and the kids kept all things working well … they all were fed with clean clothes and did their chores and schoolwork … but they do it differently than I do so when I come home from a trip, it always takes me a few days to whip things back into shape.

On the knitting needles, I’m working on a design for Jane’s cashmere/bamboo blend that I think is going to be really cool … I’ll post pictures later this week.

And, I’m without a car today as dh’s Prius has been in the shop since last Tuesday (when the brakes quit on Hwy 3). God willing, we’ll pick it up tonight and I can have some wheels again …

So how is your week shaping up? Any fun projects, field trips or knitterly activities planned?