Optimism no more. But....Stoup is coming

 Our favorite place to gather and knit/crochet is at Optimism Brewing on the corner of E Union and Broadway in Capitol Hill. They have great brews, lemonade and root beer. They have the best staff and the biggest restroom! We will be meeting there on Friday, August 18 from 1pm till 3pm. Considering the information below, we will let you know on this blog when and where we meet on August 25.

The owners of Optimism have sold to the owners of Stoup Brewery and there will be a transition next week. Here is the news that Optimism sent out to those on the newsletter list:

Our final days & garage sale

In case you haven't heard, Optimism will become Stoup Capitol Hill next week.  Help us celebrate!   Let's drain the kegs and sell the stuff this weekend!  Garage sale is Friday and Saturday with deals on glassware, merchandise, equipment and more.  We are raffling off our neon signs. All proceeds from beer & gear sale benefit the Maui Strong Fund.   Please come have a final toast with us! And the letter from the owners:  Dear Optimists, After seven incredible years of serving our community, Optimism will make its last "Last Call" on Saturday night. We wanted to take a moment to say thank you for your friendship, support and community.   It has been a privilege to pour beer for all the birthday parties, the happy hours, the trivia nights, the board games, the meetups, the first dates, the weddings, the farewells, the homecomings, the celebrations of life and all the rest. We have watched your babies grow into children -- and all those pups! We screamed together when our teams scored, and we cheered each other up when they lost.  We take pride in serving the first Pride beer in Seattle to honor our neighborhood.  We have uplifted as many nonprofits as we could, and taken a stand for the causes we believe in, and you have marched right along with us.  We are truly grateful for every interaction, every smile, and every opportunity to serve you. Although our physical presence may be coming to an end, we encourage you to stay connected and visit Stoup Brewing Capitol Hill which is rising Wednesday in our place, led by our dear friends Robyn, Lara & Brad, who carry on our same sense of community and values. On behalf of the entire Optimism team, we extend our deepest gratitude for our diverse community.  Thank you for being a part of this journey and we hope you continue to choose optimism.   Gay Gilmore & Troy Hakala

NO FRIDAY KNITTERS GROUP ON JULY 21

 Due to summer schedules and the busyness of the Broadway area of Capitol Hill for the Capitol Hill Block Party, we are not meeting at Optimism Brewing this Friday, July 21. We will be there the following Friday, July 28, so please join us then.

Does the size of your pattern fit YOU?

Are you bothered by the sizes and designs in knit and crochet wear that don't fit YOUR body?

We received a request to have a survey put up on our blog. Cari Jehlik has organized a team of people to help her analyze the data from this survey. Cari says:

I’m spearheading a research project designed to understand where yarnwear designs consistently fall short for people. We’re trying to understand how variations in body shapes meet consistent issues in both knit and crochet wear patterns. I have a small team of people committed to helping me analyze and parse the data on the other side.

She has a survey that you can fill out to help in the goal of getting knit and crochet patterns to fit the body that you have, not an idealistic body.

Here’s the link to the survey: 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeESLva1HijbhqZ0nv0KuCc_GAcMbc4so-x1qpO8cg7v8pQ_A/viewform

Cari also has it right on the homepage of her website if you want a shorter link (carijehlik.com). 

I hope that you all can help her with her research by filling out the survey.

Where to Knit Around the Puget Sound

 WHERE TO KNIT WITH OTHERS AROUND THE PUGET SOUND

These are on-going Knit "socials" offered at local yarn stores. We will be adding individual knit socials not associated with yarn stores soon. Also, the shops in the LYS Tour May 17-21 are listed at this link: Team (lystour.com) Check in with them for social knitting.

Acorn Street Shop
Knit Night
1st and 3rd Thursdays of the month, 6 - 8 pm Pacific

All Wound Up
In Person Fiber Socials (limit 10)
Wednesdays, 1 - 3 pm Pacific
Fridays, 10 am - 12 pm Pacific
​Registration required
Virtual Fiber Socials
Thursdays, 6:30 - 8 pm Pacific
Zoom link on website

Bazaar Girls Yarn Shop
Information page
Nip -n- Knit
Thursdays, 5:30 - 8 pm Pacific
Crafternoon
Sundays, 2 - 5:30 pm Pacific

Seattle Yarn
Information page
Virtual Sit and Stitch
1st and 3rd Saturday of every month, 11 am - 1 pm Pacific
In-Person Sit and Stitch
1st Wednesday of every month, 6 - 8 pm Pacific
Sundays, 11 am - 5 pm Pacific

Stilly River Yarns
Social Night (In Person)
1st Tuesday of the Month, 4 - 7 pm Pacific
​Rise & Shine Social Time (In Person)
3rd Saturday of the Month, 9 am - 12 pm Pacific
Zoom-Baaaaa! (Virtual)
1st and 3rd Monday of every month, 8:30 - 9:30 pm Pacific 
Link on shop Facebook events page

Stranded by the Sea
In-Person Socials
Tuesdays 6 - 9 pm Pacific
Thursdays 11 am - 3 pm Pacific

FIBER FESTIVALS ARE COMING TO US!!!

Here is a list of the upcoming Fiber Festivals coming to the Pacific Northwest. If you know of any others that are not listed in this blogpost, please contact me at knitcaphill@gmail.com. Thanks! 

Fiber Festivals in the Pacific Northwest

Slow Yarn Crawl Pacific Northwest (21 stores involved) Oregon to Canadian border May 26-Sept 4 SLOW.YARN. CRAWL-PNW - Home (slowcrawl.com)

 Pacific Northwest Fiber Exposition E Sept 29-Oct 1 Port Angeles, WAE PNWFX (pnwfiberx.com)

 2nd Annual Quilcene Fiber Festival: From Sheep to Shawl E Oct 7 Saturday Quilcene, WA E Event Calendar | Worthington Park Quilcene (click on Oct 7 in calendar for info & directions)

 18th Annual North Olympic Fiber Arts Festival in Sequim E Oct 6 – 8 at the Sequim Museum & Arts at 544 N Sequim Avenue, Sequim WA E Information | North Olympic Fiber Arts Festival

Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival  October 14 - 15  Home | Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival (oregonflockandfiberfestival.com)  Albany, OR (Linn County Fairgrounds)

 An Awesome Recycling Idea

I just found this awesome recycling company called Redesign Collective. Here is what they do:

Redesign Collective is a grassroots textile recycling and reuse company in Seattle. We divert post-industrial materials from design and manufacturing businesses and upcycle them.

I was impressed by the way they do their business by picking up textile samples and other "no longer useful" to the manufacturer textiles and redesign them into something beautiful. Please see what they do at:

Home - Redesign Collective (redesign-collective.com)

I believe as tactile, hands-on type people we should encourage and applaud any type of textile recycling.

Sue

 Happy Spring (I hope!)

Today is a beautiful day and I hope you are enjoying some sunshine along with your favorite fiber project! 

As we get closer to the warm times (aka Summer) we will possibly be changing our meeting place. Be sure to check the blog and I will post a new venue place, if we are doing a change for that week. We LOVE, LOVE Optimism Brewing's space, but if we can sit outside at a park or wherever we would like to be able to do that.

SO! Keep watching this site to see what happens. Be assured that for the rest of April we will meet at Optimism Brewing at 1pm until 3pm. Everyone is welcome, even if all you want to do is watch us create or just have a brew!!

Sue