Coastal Cruise

Yarn Crawl Three Times

I took a well-deserved Friday off, and headed up the coast to the CREATESouth Conference in Myrtle Beach.

It was a gorgeous day for a yarn crawl, and Patrick didn't seem to mind as we stopped by Joyfilled Gifts in Georgetown and took a walk along the Riverfront.

All the photos in this post are Patrick's since I never got around to putting fresh batteries in my camera (duh).

In Pawleys Island, we stopped by Island Knits, and in Myrtle Beach, we chilled out a spell with the wonderful staff and my new knitsibs at Knit N Purl. Thanks so much ladies!

I had been a bit concerned about Knit N Purl since it was in sight of the Myrtle Beach wildfires, but was relived to know it it was okay.

Create, Converge, Community--Again!

Ever since I returned from CREATESouth last year, I wanted to return. This year, it was held at Horry-Georgetown Tech's conference center on the site of the old Myrtle Beach AFB.

I was stationed in Myrtle Beach for four years, and it closed in the early 1990's, and I hadn't been there for a while. Now it's filled with shops, houses, and condos.

It was a bit shocking to see the change, since I barely recognized my old stomping grounds, but it felt good to see the area so vibrant. There had been so much uncertainly when the base closed.

There's even a lake where the dorms used to be--a move in which I believe has its own form of poetic justice.

The conference was so much fun. There was a nice sized Charleston crew.

Jared, Dan, and Eugene.

I thoroughly enjoyed the keynote speakers, Tiffany Trent, who spoke on building creativity, and Tee Morris, who talked about social media.

It may seem bizarre that someone who a blog dedicated mostly to her crafting life would have difficulty in seeing herself as creative, but I do.

So many times, I just see my knitting and crocheting endeavors as slavishly following directions and not creating something. I see "creative people" as something else. While I know this isn't true, it's often the was I feel, and I know I need to step away from those feelings and wrap myself in what I know to be true, that I am creative.

Tiffany gave some wonderful talk, and later, referred to Patrick as an "idea guru, " which he liked very much.

Tee's talk got me thinking as well. I'm in a full-frontal embrace of social media with Twitter, Plurk. My Space, Facebook, and Ravelry. Lately, there's been loads of hand wringing with celebrities on Twitter and some early-adopters being put off by it.

To me, the bottom line, for a celebrity or anyone else, is to be real. It's not about having tons of followers, it's about having real content. It doesn't matter if you've been with Twitter since the beginning or just came on because of Oprah.

It's all about making real connections.

At CREATE South, there were a few "tracks" to follow. I chose the writing track. Marsha Guerard, with the Post and Courier talked about the writing process and steps to take to become a better writer.

The second session was canceled, so Dan and Janet lead a informal discussion about social media, hashtags, and civility.

For the last session, we were treated to a poetry reading by Katherine Williams. I adored her poem, Jubliate Louie, an ode to her first dog--just beautiful, and funny and reverent and delightful.