Holiday fest question, and yarn store mourning

[thrihyrne]

I've been thinking about participating in a holiday fest (beyond Yuletide, which I'll gleefully participate in again as I have another fandom I can add!). You all know how I feel about H/D, and I'm not a Snarry writer, either. I believe I've told all of the H/R tales I have, and no more Elf slash for me for a while. So! I noticed that my Neville/George fic received a lot of favorable response during weasley_fest, including glowing comments from a lot of people who I suspect normally would never have heard about me due to it being from Neville's POV. If some of you here (or your friends) are Neville fans, is there a Neville-centric holiday fest? I'd enjoy writing another story with him as the focus. Maybe there's an HP-slash-rarepairs holiday fest? If only Merry Smutmas hadn't come to its end. :sigh:

Suggestions/guidance appreciated!

And in very troubling news, I was writing back to the designer of this great fingerless glove pattern I've been knitting (I've made two pairs, both as gifts so I'd been a bit hesitant to post a picture, but I will anyway!) who I'd met in person a few years back, and discovered, to my tremendous frustration and incomprehension, that the yarn store I've been frequenting since I moved here has closed its doors!! :::cries::: They have an online presence only now. It was Abundant Yarn and Dyeworks, and it had a cafe attached where I spent several hours on various projects, soaking up the positive vibe of the store. The last time I was there was to get my yarn balled up, including the yarn for a baby sweater I'm working on now and the gorgeous yarn pictured below:




I meant to post about this at the time, but it was a rough day that day: it was a Friday and I'd just received Storm's extensive comments about my M+M revision. I went by there and the staff was great and balled up the yarn for me. What was fabulous, and made me happy, yet again, that I live in Portland and no longer a small college town in Virginia, is that there were three staff members there. All three of them were male. :)

And now they're closed! I'm so upset. I'm glad they have an online presence, though, as in my crazy state I've agreed to knit two more pair of the fingerless gloves, and I wanted that same brand of yarn, but a different colorway.

Phooey. Damn economy. Unless there was something else going on, which is entirely possible. But I'm heartbroken. That's two yarn stores I liked that I've seen close their doors. While living in Harrisonburg I saw the store literally across the street from Rosetta Stone open for business, I patronized it, and watched it close less than two years later. Then again, the owner was young and ended up having a baby and had other things to focus on. Still.

Comments

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

I hate that yarn stores, book stores, and other small businesses we love are going out of business. I didn't know Abundant Yarn and Dyeworks, but I'm sorry for your loss.

That fingerless glove pattern is beautiful! What size yarn is that? What a great idea. I'm ALL about the fingerless gloves for winter, because except on the very coldest days, I'd rather have chilly fingertips and access to my devices.

[thrihyrne.livejournal.com]

I really liked the store even though it's not the closest one to me. So sad. :(

Thanks about the pattern! Not sure about the size... let me see if I can find it (I'm at work, lol). It's here (http://www.yarn.com/product/webs-knitting-yarns-araucania-ranco-multi/) at yarn.com and on sale!!! Araucania Ranco Multi. My colorway I believe is shown in the sock there. Gauge:6 sts = 1" on US 3
The pattern calls for the use of size 2s and 3s and I got perfect gauge with the yarn. The pattern is found here (http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEspring08/KSPATTspirogyra.html). Enjoy!!

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Great resources. I have some pretty aubergine colored wool that would be really pretty done up in these fingerless gloves. I'd probably have to fake my way, because it's definitely not the right size.

Still, great idea and I'm thinking I could kind of figure it out.

[star54kar.livejournal.com]

It's not specifically for rare pairs but rare pairs are certainly welcome at hp_yule_balls. It is a slash and femslash holiday fest that was originally created to pick where merry_smutmas left off. Because of this, all of the fest entries must be rated either R or NC-17.

It's run by a couple of people on my flist and I really enjoyed watching the fest last year. If I felt confident in my ability to write for more than one holiday fest I would have signed up myself.

While the more common pairings are certainly present in the requests, I've seen a number of people who requested Neville centric pairings, as well as plenty of rare pair requests.

They are extremely close to reaching their cut off for participation, so if you're interested in signing up you should head over there today. Last I heard there was only 6 or 7 spots left.

Their sign-up post is here if you're interested:)

[thrihyrne.livejournal.com]

Ah! I hadn't realized that Yule Balls was the successor entity to Merry Smutmas. I may just read people's stories and not worry about it. There's Yuletide, though I know better than to write something too long this year. Maybe I'll enter for a couple of entries and keep them shortish.

Thanks for the heads up! What fest are you participating in?

[star54kar.livejournal.com]

Sign-ups haven't officially opened up yet, but I plan to participate in bestmates_xmas and will be signing up as soon as the post goes up.

I seriously had to sit on my hands last night to prevent myself from signing up for hp_yule_balls as well, but I don't trust myself to be able to successfully hand in two fest pieces with similar deadlines.

If inspiration strikes and I manage to complete my bestmates_xmas assignment early then perhaps I'll offer to pinch-hit at hp_yule_balls.

[cephalopinguin.livejournal.com]

I hate when my favorite little stores have to close their doors. I try to shop at individually owned stores instead of conglomerates, but where I've recently moved to, all I can find is a Michaels...

Those gloves are amazing! I've just taken up knitting, so those seem far off in the distance, but I think they are incredible. Where did you find the pattern?

[thrihyrne.livejournal.com]

It's so sad, I know. Thanks so much for the compliment! My younger sister started knitting this past December and I was shocked to see her making a hat when I visited her a couple of weeks ago. Have no fear of double points!! ♥

I found the pattern at Knitty.com (http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEsummer09/index.php). The pattern is here (http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEspring08/KSPATTspirogyra.html). Enjoy!! FREE!! :D

[cephalopinguin.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much! I'm going to have to start knitting more often to be able to get this good!

[gingerspark.livejournal.com]

nice gloves!

I'd love to start knitting again... there is a knitting club at work... but they meet at lunch and I'm either working or running errands

[thrihyrne.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I love to knit. Before I discovered fandom and writing, I used to knit about as obsessively as I write now. I was huge into the Nashville Knitting and Crocheting Guild for several years.

[two-point.livejournal.com]

I love those gloves! I only wear fingerless gloves at the barn and I'm always looking for lovely ones. I never knit for myself, like you I give everything away, but I think I'm going to have to make those gloves, and keep them, before the weather changes

[thrihyrne.livejournal.com]

I've actually made a lot of things for myself, mostly all sweaters. I did give away a number of them when I moved out west, though, parting with sweaters that had never quite fit properly, things like that. The pattern's easy and pretty. I don't think that I knew you also were a knitter! Hello, twin. ;)

[lena3.livejournal.com]

I'm amazed with people with this kind of talent. I have absolutely no patience for work like that. Sorry to hear about your store. Things are happening here too. A lot.

[thrihyrne.livejournal.com]

Well, it's a 'talent' that anyone can learn, it just takes practice. The patience part, that can't be learned, 'tis true! Knitting can often appeal to people who do have a lot of patience. For any given project, there's bound to be some fixing/backing up/etc. etc.

The store closing makes me sad. I'm not really sure what all's going on since they're continuing to sell things online... but it's the camaraderie of just sitting around, knitting, and looking at other people's projects that's so great about yarn stores.

[emansil-08.livejournal.com]

Try longbottom_wkly for places to post your future, Neville fics.

Also I thought you might be interest in this:

http://highlander.kelso.gov/

Winnett posted about it, knowing how much you love all things Scottish, I thought it sounded up your alley.

[thrihyrne.livejournal.com]

I'd not heard of them! They seem to be very good about linking to any posted Neville fics; they'd referenced mine after the authors listing went live at weasley_fest.

And yes, I saw her post about that!! It would be a bit of a drive, though probably no further than when I went south for the festival last September. I do like that there's no fee to attend the Kelso event, but it may be a bit small. Still, it is Scottish! Thanks for the nudge!

[emansil-08.livejournal.com]

Yay for the Neville love!

It's strange I know more about what's going on in Oregon, than I do here in Nashville. LOL!