This is a story about Nebraska. And crafting. Yarn and DIY pom poms.

 

And the path of this story will surprise you. It certainly surprised me.

 

For the past month I have written at length about my experience at Alt Summit. It was my first time attending the blogging conference, and I was rather curious about what to expect. Harnessing the power of the web, I posted a question last fall in the Alt Summit online chatroom about Omaha-area attendees.

 

September 7, 2012

Two of my gal pals and I are eagerly making plans for the trek to Salt Lake City in January. We live in Omaha! Do you?

 

-Wendy Townley

 

January 16, 2013

Hi Wendy,

 

I currently live in Chicago, but grew up in Grand Island, NE and I’m always excited to meet fellow Nebraskans! I don’t know of many Nebraska-based design bloggers, so I’m looking forward to checking out your blogs. See you next week!

 

-Haeley Giambalvo

 

When Haeley’s reply arrived in my inbox, I smiled and made a mental note to connect with her at Alt. I did not, however, take the time to track down Haeley online. Her blog, her Twitter account, her Facebook page, her overall appearance were all completely foreign to me.

 

Alt arrived.

 

I landed in Salt Lake City on a cold and foggy evening. The next morning, the first day of the conference, I spotted this sweet, petite young woman across the room. Her outfit matches mine!, I thought. Not knowing who she was or making any sort of introduction, I sheepishly asked to snap and share a photo on Instagram. She kindly agreed.

 

 

Following the Alt tradition, she and I swapped business cards. In the flurry of the conference, I didn’t read her business card before tossing it in my bag.

 

Later that day, at lunch around noon and in a room of 600-plus attendees, we sat at the same table. She had since looked at my business card a bit more closely and said, “I think we know each other. I think we talked online. I’m from Grand Island!”

 

Gasp!

 

Once Haeley Giambalvo identified herself, mentioning our online exchange just a few days prior, I was speechless. Speechless! What are the odds that in a conference of hundreds of women, I approached one of the very few whom I chatted with online? The experience, it seemed, was a bit more than just coincidence.

 

Which does, in fact, lead to my first DIY: a Valentine’s Day pom pom wreath originally featured on Haeley’s blog, Design Improvised. After (slowly) learning how to knit, my interest in crafting and DIY-ing has started to grow.

 

Haeley was certainly an inspiration. Her pom pom project was cute and easy. And with the extra yarn I purchased for knitting, the wreath was just asking to be made.

 

I spent about a week following Haeley’s tutorial.

 

I practiced peak patience with each pom pom.

 

At 34, I purchased my first glue gun.

 

Seven days later, I had this to show for it, on display in my living room.

 

 

 

 

Aside from contracting the crafting bug, and my dining room table being covered in scraps of colorful yarn, I have a new friend. Her name is Haeley. She is from Nebraska, lives in Chicago, and is one of those girls you know from the start is as sweet as can be.