Stalking the BMFA Web site!

Is it wrong of me to be running over to the Blue Moon Fiber Arts site just to see if there may be some new colorway I missed?! Or perhaps one that I didn't realize I'm in love with and may need to add to my list?! Truly a sickness this love of all things BMFA!

Speaking of which, I'm loving this "Guppy" colorway! I'm sure I've missed more colorways that I "need", but I'm also trying to behave myself with the spending. I need to save up my BMFA purchase allowance for my 3 skeins of heavyweight STR in Brick for a February Lady...and a skein of Luscious Silk for the Giselle... and I'm sure there are others I need-like a sweater's worth of Jubilation or Beached! But for now I will continue to look and not buy and hope that I can hold out through Sock Summit!

My Shur' tugals in Lightweight STR Guppy! Not for me, but I am loving knitting it up!

My sister will get these.

I'm such a conflicted knitter! On one hand, I absolutely see the benefits of focusing on a few projects and actually getting them done! But right now, most of my focus is on 'deadline' knitting which translates to gifts, futher translating to 'not for me'.

These were spontaeously knit for a friend's friend's baby.

Now you know I don't just knit socks for ANYONE! But...apparently I do when inspired!

And even a complete set to gift at this past Saturday's shower! After knitting Baby Mine, I even had enough yarn left to make matching Saartje Booties! These were from a mill end I got at Stitches West in the Dutch Canyon colorway! LOVE the colors and my cousin favors greens over pinks and lavendars, so this was a good way to fuse the typical girly color spectrum with her favored green!


OK, so the Queen of Beads are for me, but they are socks and I sooooo want to get moving on my Giselle that has been hibernating by default. And meanwhile, even some gifts without deadlines (read: understanding friends who are willing to wait...) get put aside on hold. And yes, I still committed to making 2 squares for the Barnraising Quilts for Doctors Without Borders which is being coordinated to be unveiled and raffled/auctioned at the upcoming Sock Summit. I have until June 9 to get the squares in. So for now, Giselle is put aside but not forgotten...

So all is well with knitting progress considering the amount I time I am able to devote to it between the PTA, PPS (Parents for Public Schools) and regular school events... I guess it is the same old frustration-so many projects, so little time!!!

Sock Camp Part II

My last post was so long and yet there is more to talk about! The crafts portion I had started and meant to post here, so you already got a bit of a preview.

As I'd said, Cockeyed didn't disappoint-we made Joe's Crab Sacks-just for our crabby knitting projects! Non-sewn and silver/gold grommets! We even used some spinning skills to make our drawstrings for the bags-in wonderful, coordinating Spinel and Brick colorways!

IrishGirlieKnits shows off her new Crab Sack! Just needs some grommets and it's good to go!

As if that weren't enough, we also had the opportunity to make some sea-creature stitch markers! (Photo in my last entry...)

But we never did find out why this item was in our goodie bags...
A pickle fork. And I don't believe that Cockeyed has broken her silence on this one, yet...

The Homework...

I shared my homework project in an earlier post. As always, there were quite the incredible projects and while I spent most of my time trying to figure out the best way to get my homework done 'quick and dirty', others put alot of time, planning and effort into their projects. (OK, I did end up putting alot of time, thought and effort into mine, too. Planning? Not so much. For me, things tend to just kinda 'happen'...)

Samro did a whole canvassed piece! Including a crab knit from
EMBROIDERY FLOSS!

Cat and Stephanie didn't let us down; indeed, their previous homework was again recycled-
the chicken now has a magic boat making it a "Sea Creature".
And Cat even knit a Magic "Sea-ji" Board, or whatever it was she called it!
(You had to be there...)

Camp Antics...

Yes, there were camp antics! But never as done before! This year, it was Knitting Jeopardy, a spontaneous round of Colorway Charades and Let's Make a Deal!

my blurry pic of HizKnits wearing his prize from Let's Make a Deal...there were other prizes including BMFA yarns-STR, Lucious Silk Single...and more!

And even a Scavenger Hunt that required Kelly's lipstick print on a napkin...and even this...

A picture of a Heron was on our scavenger list, and look what I saw during an afternoon walk? Gentle encouragement to take in the beauty of our surroundings woven into our activities...I think this is a BMFA trademark!

The Rumors...

Twice a year Sock Camp!...seriously. It's definitely in the stars.
The yarn mill is purchasing new equipment!...At our opening reception, Tina was in tears as she read a letter from the Evil Yarn Mill acknowledging that a problem did, indeed exist with the yarns they had been producing for her! A combination of machinery and worker-bee human issues were explained in this letter along with their commitment to replace the faulty machinery and a promise of improvement and happy yarn for all!
Two New Cat Books! A new one is in the works and is slated to be ready for Sock Summit! And the following book is stewing, too! (but then again, it's Cat-what else could we expect?)
HizKnits is not REALLY a Vegetarian! Straight from Mom Ann's mouth! Go ahead, offer him some shrimp...
Tina truly IS a Vegetarian! Really. Go ahead, offer her some crab legs...



Other great things about camp...

Meeting on-line friends for the first time! I got to meet KnittingGolfer Marcy!

Nartian and KnittingGolfer

Seeing "Charter" camp members!

Stariel returned for the our third year!

I got to have daily Tina hugs!

And convening with my local knitting buddies!

Old and New! And well...Yarn Harlot counts cuz she has to travel
so much she might as well be considered 'local'!

NEW yarn COLORWAYS!!!

And after camp?...Time to enjoy the surroundings and search for a waterfall with Lil' Emp and SassyMan!


Thanks so much, Tina, Cockeyed, and the rest of the Camp Knitty HaHa gang! You always make camp an adventure with lots of fun, friends, sharing and yes...even a bit of knitting and learning!

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And now for some miscellaney...

I guess I should show you my hand-dyed yarns...


We explored our favorites, our likes, our loves, our surrounded by colors. We discussed colors that were absent in our lives, or present and ignored or under-appreciated.

Our mission? Dye up a skein with our favorite colors. Next, dye something with our uncomfortable colors. Last, we got to play with our 'love' colors again.

It's true. I'm not a pastel girl...

And some non-camp stuff...

And I am happy to report that I not only started something on my way back from camp...

Baby Mine, knit with med. wt. Socks that Rock in Dutch Canyon. The sleeves are from the same skein, but the portion they were knit from had a twisted effect, making it a tad lighter in shade and giving it a tweedy effect...

But I finished it today! Just need to sew on some buttons and block it!


And since I learned that yet another baby girl is on her way in July, I will use this camp yarn for another!

This is my "Pastel Play" from class