Patricia October 14th, 2008

Seriously, I think I fell off the side of the earth and then a few planets landed on me.  Allow me to sum up the months that I’ve been MIA:

1. Returned from SeaSocks ‘08 — sort of.  I changed all my flights to return to the office and promptly spent the balance of the month dealing with a family death.

2. Came home to try to pick up where I left off, got completely behind, held things together by dropping basic things like blogging.

3. Started my son in school (yes, his first year) which means I’ve cut my hours to half days and yet somehow doing more in less time.

4. Finally, went on Michael’s and my FIRST real vacation in nearly 4 years — from which we came home 2 days ago.  I’m not yet in my own time zone.

Ah — I’m ready for work again.  Are you ready?  Missed me?  I’ve missed you.

Ok, there’s lots of information and changes to chat about, so I’m going to try to break this up in pieces and make it simple as possible.

SeaSocks ‘09 — The East Coast, June Event:

This sailing has had to have a major change.  It seems that I’ve had a scheduling conflict with staff and needed to make a shift.  The thing is that so many people really loved the sailing and destination, that I’m still offering it as a sailing.  Instead of formal classes (which in a port rich tour is hard to begin with), I’m planning some social gathering and the goody bag.  There will be NO workshop fee for this sailing and we are still in fact booking it.

SeaSocks ‘09 — The West Coast, May Event:

About the time that I was in a scheduling crunch with the Baltimore trip, I had an amazing sailing of the Golden Princess fall into my lap.  She is doing a 4 day cruise from Vancouver to Seattle (via Ketchikan) in early May.  Yes, the weather may not be wonderful, but the price is outstanding.  It is half the price of the east coast cruise (balconies under $1,000 per person) and I have amazing teaching staff!!

Yes, I’m welcoming back Amy Singer of Knitty.com and all of her smiling goodness.  But we also have joining us Franklin Habit (of the Panoptican and It Itches) who will be bringing his friends Dolores and Harry (though, I’ve had to promise that no one will try to knit Harry).  Don’t know who these friends are?  I strongly suggest to read up on them and their exploits.  Um, Dolores is currently running for President — she may bring scandal to the office; but her policy on wool is the best.

I’m pleased with the two options this year and I hope that you will find one that delights you too.  The online booking for the West Coast version will be up this week, but as always, I’m available via phone at 888-286-9827.

• Sea Socks '09
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Patricia June 16th, 2008

Hello again.

I’m finally back in the office and moving on with the 1,000 of things one does in one’s office.  I’m excited about Sea Socks ‘09 and I’ve been reading literally a ton of e-mail regarding the great, the wonderful, the bad, and the ugly bits of Sea Socks ‘08.  I’ve thought about every e-mail sent and I ask that those who have thoughts to please keep them coming as they are the only way we improve year over year.

When Sea Socks ‘07 sailed we asked for feedback and it was in response to that we tried some new things in ‘08.  Some worked and some didn’t and some ought to have worked but didn’t.  So, I offer up that every year is a learning experience and hopefully the trend is better and better.   That is why I love the feedback, even when some is hard to hear, it always makes the cruise, the group, and the experience better.

So, I’ve mentioned it before, but I’m formally calling out for anyone who has been on any previous Sea Socks Cruise and is planning on going on Sea Socks ‘09 to join the Advisory Board.  This board will be available to help plan, organize, share information, and whatnot for Sea Socks ‘09.  I’ve got some great ideas, Amy Singer and I have talked about great ideas too, but the only way this group is going to get better at this point is for me to get some help.  Here’s the part where I reach out to you and ask for your help in this.

I am looking for 10 team members, I currently have three.  Once the team is set-up, we will be working on Sea Socks ‘09 — Improved!  (Now with more help.)

• Sea Socks '09
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Patricia June 2nd, 2008

I know many of you know this, but I thought I’d just let the rest of the world know…we have returned.  (Yes, I’m finally home from Sea Socks ‘08 — with the added sidetrip.)

Instead of returning to the office as I had planned, I rushed off for two weeks to help with my family as we dealt with a family death.  I’m thrilled to have been able to be there, but equally glad to be home.  I’m gearing back up after so long away, so continued understanding is appreciated. 

However, I know the one thing you have noticed that is missing that is now back — the new FIXED pricing/details page.

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Patricia May 23rd, 2008

UPDATED: Opps — there was an error on the sailing in the online booking.  No worries, but it has to be fixed.  The sailing is from Baltimore on June 19 — going NORTH to Canada and New England.  Please forgive my confusion.

Thank you all for your kind thoughts for my current family emergency. However, in a quiet moment, I FINALLY got the booking engine up and running for Sea Socks ‘09.

The links are above at pricing & details. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Now, if you booked on the ship this year, then you need not fill out those forms.

Thank you all — and now I can’t wait for next year!

• Sea Socks '09
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Patricia May 19th, 2008

Oh my — welcome home, Sea Socks ‘08ers!  Please don’t forget to add your photos to Flickr Pool called “Sea Socks ‘08″  As of this typing there are nearly 500 photos (in the first 24 hours) and they are awesome.

Now, I’ve got many people asking about Sea Socks ‘09 and I have to say the booking engine will be a wee bit delayed.  I’m having to deal with a family emergency and I’m out of the office this week too.  (For those keeping track at home, this is week three solid of not sleeping in my own bed.)  I’m keeping up with calls and e-mails, but building new engines isn’t possible in my last few hours of the day.  I am shooting for by the end of this week.  However, since I know people want to get their ducks in a row:

June 19, 2009:  Roundtrip from Baltimore.  Grandeur of the Seas going to Canada and New England.  More details on pricing and such will be forth coming soon.

• Sea Socks '08 , Sea Socks '09
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Patricia March 18th, 2008

EDITED at the bottom.

For those who don’t know, I’m a worrier. Yes, I worry about lots and lots of things — which I promise that I won’t bore you with here (though of current knitting worry is that I’ll finish my sweater in time for the ‘08 cruise). However, when I put together Sea Socks ‘07, I worried that no one would want to join me. I worried so much that I doubt I slept until the first person called me. For Sea Socks ‘08, I didn’t worry (BIG mistake) and promptly had the original picked out option canceled on me only to find that I could do something even better and more exciting. (Yes, I worried when I had to change plans; I worried while I changed everything; and even though I’m completely sure it was the best thing ever — I still worry.)

All of this worry brings me gray hair (trust me, I have an excellent guy), a coffee/sweets addiction, and to the planning of Sea Socks ‘09.

From the beginning, I have had it in my mind that Sea Socks would be a yearly cruise, going to new places and offering new things. But now I’m trying to pick exactly the right trip for my Sea Socks buddies and keep wondering if straying too far.

To that end, I’ve put up a little poll (can you see it on the right?). What I want to get an idea of is WHY you picked Sea Socks over all the other knitting cruises out there. I’d love it if you’d leave me a comment explaining what it was that spoke to you to pick this one.

I have some outstanding ideas for next year, but I want to know what your thoughts are before I commit to the Sea Socks ‘09 cruise.

(I know that most of you haven’t experienced Sea Socks at all yet, but I’m looking more at the decision making process that brought us all together. If you waiting for the news of Sea Socks ‘09, what is it that you’d like to see.)

Thank you in advance. I really appreciate the help.

Edited to Add:

Ok, I’ve been unclear and I knew that and you guys are awesome because I know you WANT to help and yet you don’t know what I’m dealing with.  So, here’s the basic question, I have a few choices of where (and how much) next year will cost — here’s what I’m up against:

1. Go someplace completely new and different.  Seriously, the cruise is awesome in its awesomeness.  BUT, the prices for the inside and outside cabins are slightly higher and the balconies are um, rather more.  BUT — it would be about the coolest thing ever.  (But this is nearly a grand cheaper than another knitting cruise that goes to the same general area — so there’s something.)

2. Go back to Alaska (but I worry about the fact that we are doing this in ‘08) that there is a been there done that feeling.  If this is best thought — do we think about a one -way up to Anchorage with an optional cruisetour?

3. Find a less expensive cruise — with probably more ‘average’ ports of call.

4. Chuck it all out the window and go to Europe regardless of cost?

(Michael is going to cringe because I’m betting he is thinking I giving too much away, but I have hold the cabins by April 1 and I’ve been restless trying to predict the future.)

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