I think I need to show you some proof of knitting before I go on...I'm about to finish my Camp Crow's Feet segment and didn't want this to get lost in the camp pics! So I am now on one of the two sleeves for the baby sweater! I spent a good deal of today working on the RibbyPulli Scoop, only it was slow-going and I still have around 2" more to go on the body length...I have some guilt about not spending time picking up around the house, but Sassy Man was at work and Lil Emp with his grandparents-I was home alone and took advantage of the uninterrupted time! I still have guilt, but I'll get over it!

So by now, Camp Crow's Feet has been well-reported on in BlogLand. Stephen of HizKnits has a podcast up over at YKnit which I finally got around to listening to today (as I knit on the Ribby Pulli, of course!)

I had the most fun listening to Stephen's (hizKNITS) podcast (YKnit) on Camp Crows Feet! Entertaining but maybe more so for me, cuz I was there!

So the Last day of Camp...
Was one huge Stitch and Bitch, combined with Charity Knitting! We got to sit and visit with friends and knit away! Good thing, because we had so many projects we had started in our classes and so many things we wanted to be knitting and people (like Lisa) just kept on going with their monkeys! We were supposed to finish our sock puppets and monkeys for this evening's activities and well...do knitters ever run out of yarn or projects?

The Charity Knitting was the same type blankets we had started last year-oh!-which reminds me that I promised to email the start of it to a fellow camper/tribe member! Anyways, it was the blanket where four of us worked on it at a time, knitting on a square and growing it bigger and bigger. Two opposing ends would knit the mitered corners while the other two knit straight.


So it was all about knitting, visiting, chatting, playing, shopping, hanging monkeys from ears...

Edward (?) (WHOOPS! It's Ian! Duh, it's only got a name tag!) themonkey (who's dead inside) hangs from HotFlash's ear...

making anatomically correct monkeys...

Lisa's "Brokeback Monkey"-trust me, he really is anatomically correct...

putting final touches on our monkeys...

and did I say knitting?


and playing?...


So I finally look up after all our Charity Knitting and Stitching and Bitching and realize that...it was SNOWING! Realize, I am from San Francisco; we can access the snow, but we have to drive *to* it, and you don't necessarily hit the snow when it is actually snowing! YOWZA-it was awesome! Amazing! Enchanting! And such a weird thing to me to be at Camp Crow's Feet, on Orcas Island, in the Spring, while it was snowing! Besides, I think you all realize I kinda get easily amused...


And back up at my room...

...it continued to snow...!

The evening was our farewell banquet followed by: Cathy-Cate knitting while ballet dancing, Celia's yodel-singing, our sing-a-long to Stephen's adaption to 'Addicted to Love' (his version: Addicted to YARN, of course!),
and our puppet show follies! We had a big showing of monkeys, then pig-piled them up on Cockeyed.

It was a fablulous, rowdy event.You do all realize that Cat and Steph have quite a relationship...

And some photos from earlier...

I think it took IrishGirlie two days to realize that, yes, she really was at sock camp! All she could to was clap in glee that yes, she was at sock camp!
Me and the most-talented Lara-she's the one who made the beaded needle case! I got to meet her in person--I heart Lara! Lara...the one with the evil puppy... who made the monkey who's 'dead inside'...and who gifted me this awesome lace yarn in Motley Hue!

Stariel was in my tribe this year! (yeah, the pepperoni-knitting Stariel...)

The bartenders 2 who survived Camp Crow's Feet Campers!

My Monkey, Louis (Lou-ee), wearing his scarf tied in the 'oh-so-French' way...(Hey, I didn't know we'd have so much time to work on them, so I kept mine simple!)We all enjoyed a yummy buffet banquet-shrimp, crab, oysters, desserts--and each others' company...

Camp wouldn't be camp without the Sockateers: Etta Mae, Hotflash, Cockeyed and Tammy...

and reconnecting with old camp buddies from last year...

and making new friends at camp...

Cupcake Fairy and Elizabeth

And most fun of all was having my local knittng buds to share the experience with first-hand!Nartian, me and IrishGirlie

I must say that nothing is more heart-breaking than to get up reeeaaaally early to catch the first ferry...in the snow...
only to arrive as the ferry is departing! We had a good 3 hour wait for the next ferry!

The happy thing about this is that I got to say goodbye to some of my fellow Second Year campers!

KT, Lisa, Marti, and Sheila (she's the one who did the sound effects each year: crowing and monkey cries...)



And this, posted for Knitgolfer Marcy...(yours is the second from the left)

Knitters without Borders, Scaponia, mill end, Rare Gems-and no, this isn't all I got!And it didn't take long before Little Emperor had stripped Louis of his button hat and scarf! He was entertained for quite some time on the long car ride!

I just saw this...

pattern that was linked into the current Threadbear newsletter and as much as I find it kinda cute, I have to say that I have a big adversity to it. It kinda reminds me-well, no actually, it absolutely is reminiscent of- a Junior Prom dress I made as a teen. Slit shoulders are back in?...But my dress was a v-neck...My general fashion rule of thumb is that if I already wore it when it was in style the first time around, I won't do it the second go-round! I'm sure I've made exceptions, but generally that' s my rule! So no baby doll tops, no platform shoes, no crocheted potholder vests for this gal...(And I'd post the prom dress pic, but I'd have to find and scan it first!)

Nothing else to blog right now because I'm tired! But I'll throw you a visual bone since reading my blog can be tedious work! This is the laceweight Merino I had reported getting the other week from The Knittery in Moonlight!

Am I going crazy?

A bit of a random thought (geez, where do I think I am-over at the CPA-completely pointless and arbitrary-group over at Ravelry?!) ...anyhoo...my Kozy Shack 'no sugar added' chocolate pudding is tasting not so tasty tonight! What's up with that?

While I'm being random, I thought I'd share this with you all, too: a friend of mine was off work yesterday. Seems she had poisoned her boyfriend and herself with some soup she had made with some sort of Elephant Ear plant she had bought at-HOME DEPOT! It went something like this, "They sell this plant used in a soup at asian markets and when I saw the plant at Home Depot, I thought it was the same thing..." OMG! The side effects and details sounded ghastly and I still can't get over that she: 1) did not go to see a doctor, 2) didn't call 9-1-1 and 3) lived to tell the tale! I just hope her liver hasn't incurred irreparable damage! Apparently she couldn't speak and her boyfriend could barely speak to poison control...

OK, yet I digress (and the pudding is still tasting weird to me...) And now I've no time to add pics to my report on Camp Crow's Feet! I think the majority of fun was already reported, but I will follow through with the rest of Camp very soon! This is what I have so far, but no pictures for ya...

Camp Crows Feet: Revealed!

Camp Crow's Feet-After Wednesday...

OK, I have to report that after Wednesday came...Wednesday Night! You had to be there, but it was on this night that you will read references to "Ghost of Alice"s, the Recovering Catholics Support Group, and other knitter-bonding activites...(I think the bartenders will never think of knitters in the same way. ever. again...)

Thursday was upon us with another rigorous schedule of classes! My 'tribe' enjoyed a morning class with "Dumb and Dumber" (Steph and Tina)-but we learned so much that "dumb and dumber" truly is a misnomer! For instance, how is it that Tina is able to continuously address (and obsess) over the whole gauge issue only to ultimately prove that many things just plain are 'NOT TINA'S FAULT'? And she never seems to run out of ways to bring that gauge issue home!

Poor Cookie A. was our fourth and final class of camp-and unfortunately at that point, I was just plain tired and worn out! Cookie had some great material for us-we learned about and worked on traveling stitches. She even came up with her own 'Cat inspired' labeling to help us invision the concept of traveling stitches!

That night was the Underwater Knitting competition, but since I had SassyMan and Lil' Emp hanging out at the Resort, I ended up pre-occupied and missed this year's competition. That evening, we didn't have 'campfire', but I ended up working on our Sock Monkey "homework", since we were charged with the responsibility of showing up the next day, sock puppet and sock monkey in hand-completed and ready to play! I ended up hanging with some camp buds and it was an absolutely wonderful, creative, serendiptious time! Lou worked on her "Beatnik" monkey and pondered a name after adding a knit beret and goatee...oh-and a gum cigarette! I threw out the name 'Thelonius" and someone threw out, "YEAH! Thelonius MONKey!!!!" We roared out loud! Lisa decided her cowboy monkey (with hat) would not be complete without some 'chaps', which then led to a lasso, which then (the next day) segued to boots with spurs and making it an anatomically correct male species of a monkey...and lo and behold, she had her BROKEBACK MONKEY! It went on and on like that-tossing out ideas and expanding and playing upon thoughts and themes. Truly incredible experience!

Camp will wait another day...

So let's keep stretching the whole camp thing out a bit, cuz otherwise this will be an even longer-mega-entry!

It seems like it's been so crazy busy around here, when really it probably hasn't been. But it feels like it and if not busier, my attention has been focused more on the house stuff and other things rather than my knitting.

I am happy to report that my Cedar Creeks, Pisgah version are done! Late Friday night, I realized that I was just about to the toe decrease and if I just kept at it, I could finish the last sock that night -right in time to wear for the Maker Faire (and show IrishGirlie and Nartian in person!) They are my 'keepers'!

Meanwhile, Nartian and I had hopped over to Bakesale Betty's again and ran into Adrienne. So naturally, we all found ourselves at Article Pract together. I had seen this pattern for the "Provence Baby Cardigan" that was shared in a ThreadBear newsletter. I decided I *had* to knit the sweater. Despite the fact that I probably have some yarn in my stash to make it with, I (of course) *had* to buy some Brown Sheep Company "Serendipity Tweed" yarn from Article Pract to knit it with! My justification being that the yarn was reasonably priced and my buying it would prevent me from buying an abundance of more expensive yarn-or more sock yarn!

So the other motivating factor for finishing the Cedar Creeks is the fact that I actually couldn't wait and CO this baby sweater before finishing the socks!

I have just about finished the back-just have to cast-off. Gads, baby clothes can be so fun to knit! I was telling Nartian that I had the need to start a non-sock project that I could finish resonably quick! Kinda like when I made the Tudora-something I could finish to have that feeling of accomplishment I often need inbetween the longer things. Well, longer because I don't focus on them!

So the Maker Faire was fun and I could see myself hanging out there all day long, if it weren't for the fact that SassyMan and Lil' Emp were with me. They weren't quite as enthused with the idea of staying 'til 10pm, which I swear I could've done!

I was glad I got to hang with IrishGirlie a good part of my time there and do the yarny-thing! We saw Stephanie (Yarn Harlot) and brought our Camp monkeys, Rosie and Louis (Lou-wee). Other knitters who were there seemed to 'get' it. Since Yarn Harlot was a draw for quite a number of knitters, I would assume they must have read about them on her blog. We were sad that Nartian was unable to join us afterall, since her Monkey2 was sick! So not only were we one knitter short, but Edward was unable to join Rosie and Louis, too!

I was at the very first Maker Faire, but was helping my brother out at his Bizarre Bazaar booth and didn't get around much, though it looked like something I'd want to check out more closely. Funny because actually (IrishGirlie!), I met two other knitters at that first Maker Faire! I met Jen, who now is working at ImagiKnit, and another woman who lives in the East Bay! So see? Knitters don't fall far from the fringe in the 'geek' category!-lol! So I missed last year's Maker Faire and it has absolutely gotten HUGE! GINORMOUS, even! Altered bikes,science mini-golf,

robots, spinners, sewers, inventors of all types!
Burning Man survivor-cupcakes!

Louis and Miss Rosie hung out one such cupcake, while Lil'Emperor hid within it. These cupcakes have motorbikes within them so they can be driven around-I *want* one of these!

Remember the game "Mousetrap"? There was even a gigantic re-make of it outside...

IrishGirlie had to keep Rosie and Louis safe from this...I think he wanted to make them his snack!

There actually was some yarn to satisfy the knitters who attended. Lion Brand had a whole display/booth/learn-to-knit area (you gotta admit their amigurumis are adorable!); ImagiKnit, Noe Knits, a couple of indie dyers and A Verb for Keeping Warm were participants this year at Bizarre Bazaar... Guess what? I didn't buy *any* yarn! But alas, I did snatch up a bit of roving from MaryJane's Attic. Kinda couldn't resist.

And a tired Lil' Emp when we headed out...

I swear I will continue with the Camp low-down next I post. I'm sure the interest in it has died down, but I will still do a replay so that I can re-live that wonderful time! Besides, all my photos still aren't added to Flickr and I have more photos to share!

Blog? Knit? Ravelry? Update Photos? Housework?...

Gads-decisions, decisions! Seems like the housework looses the most often! Which is why I need to work most on that today! And I'm still unpacking, doing laundry, putting stuff away from the trip! All that and 1/2 day spent at the Annual PPS (Parents for Public Schools) meeting and the other 1/2 day spent at Lil Emperor's school at the car wash...The good thing about the PPS, PTA, school meeting type events is that I am usually sitting in an audience listening-and able to knit! Unfortunately, I found myself at the Cedar Creek heelflap yesterday without the pattern and without a second project! BUMMER. If I had not been following the pattern, I would have just continued on. But I somehow remembered that there was something I had to do that was written in the pattern and I just could not recall what it was! Was it decreases? Where? Was it tapering decreases in the heelflap to make more of a trapezoid vs. a rectangle? I couldn't remember!

Anyways, this is what I've got and I don't expect to finish this pair until the end of next week (IF all goes as planned and I am able to knit on it as much as I'd like!)

These are the Cedar Creek socks in the Blue Moon Fiber Arts STR lightweight-Pisgah colorway!

We interrupt this Camp review...

...for my usual proof of total lack of self control in the yarn-buying department!

But first, thanks to Nartian who brought the faulty Knitters for Knockers link to my attention!

I think I confessed to sneaking a WoolGirl order in right before going to camp. So I get to the Post office and pick up not two, but THREE packages: my WoolGirl Anniversary sale order, my WoolGirl sock club package, and a package from The Knittery, since I hadn't been able to resist the laceweight she had on sale in the Moonlight colorway! So the day after I retrieve these packages, I come home to another USPS box. BUT-but-I didn't order more yarn, I know I didn't!!!

I had forgotten that I was rewarded for my lack of yarn-purchase control by Jenn (WoolGirl) by being entered in her Wooly Wool Girl club! What does that mean? It means this...

A lovely thank-you card from Jen, info on her special club, a pattern, Leili sock yarn in Lily Pond, a stitch marker, a tape measure, soap, soap and lip balm set, a notebook with pen! OH...and the cool WoolGirl tote to carry it all in!

Many, many thanks to Jen! (And I guess I have Nartian and IrishGirlie to thank for this, too...! Enablers, I tell ya!)

So I will follow-up on the Camp report next time. But for now, I have to share what Lou got me hooked on...

!

A little treat from Virginia-a "Peanut Rail"...dangerous, dangerous peanut rail that sat on my desk Monday until that afternoon when I could no longer stand it and ate (I think more than) half of it! I finally ate the last tidbit tonight before posting! Thanks, Lou-what a treat!

Oh-and though Nartian has a great pic and many more are showing up in Blogland, I'm sure...I still thought I'd post my KawKaw (special Camp Crows Feet colorway...)

.

Yeah, I was a piggie. Yeah, I ended up with two!

Announcement, announcements, annou-ounce-ments! (In the spirit of Cockeyed, our Camp Mom and Sockateer Extraordinaire!)

Lou Bolster had told us all about her participation in an upcoming Komen Race for the Cure as a memeber of the team Knitters for Knockers! Hope you will all consider making a contribution to help the Knitters for Knockers reach their fundraising goal. As an extra incentive, for every $5 increment you donate, you will be entered into a drawing for wonderful yarny and knitterly goodness!

So far, prize contributions I have seen are from: Blue Moon Fiber Arts (one of the sponsors), Cookie A patterns, Cat Bordhi, Chic Knits, and some gorgeous yarns. Check out the Knitters for Knockers blog for more info!

I tried to fix the above link and edited my post to include this purple stuff you are reading! I clicked 'post' in haste and meant to click 'save as draft'!

Wednesday updates...Camp Crows Feet #3

OK, I've just spent way too long trying to fix the previous link to Nartian's blog! Hopefully it now works; if not, my apologies for the previous post's faulty link!

It was "Curriculum Night" at Lil' Emperor's school this evening and it all went well. However, being PTA mom, I had to be at school early so I switched my day off-which means I had time to go to the PO and pick up all my goodies that were waiting for me: my WoolGirl Sock Club package (absolutely awesome!), my WoolGirl Anniversary Sale package (somehow there was a disconnect in my mind about sock camp shopping and pre-camp shopping-it just seemed like a good idea at the time...that and the fact that Nartian calls me up to ask if I'm going to buy anything and she and I end up going 'shopping' on-line 'together'! And this, all because of IrishGirlie being such a damn good informant!) And then there was my package of lovely lace merino from The Knittery that arrived! And no, you aren't not able to see the pics-I haven't posted any!

But on to Camp Crow's Feet-Day 2-All About the Monkeys!

Today was Craft Day-a new activity this year! And it was all about the Monkeys! We all worked on mini-monkeys from a pattern Cockeyed had written-fun but tiring!

IrishGirlie works hard on her monkey!

Can you believe this...became this..
..

and was on its way to monkeyhood? Whodda thunk we knitters could achieve such wonders in a mere few hours?

We then were forced to put away our (for most of us) unfinished monkeys so that we could work on sock puppets, a less favored activity for some of us. Obviously I was less enamoured with the sock puppets, as I got very little pictures of any...but here is Sheila's....

In keeping with Camp traditions, outrageous entertainment and activities were planned for the evening-knitting and TP relays! I do have to mention that my knitting relay team included Cece (Fiberfish) who had developed a reputation at last year's camp for her knitting speed (she's the one who started her Mystic Sea socks on our boat trip out and had a completed sock by "campfire" that same evening!) and competetiveness ("I want to win!"). So I must confess that I was shocked when she, (first in line and thus having the duty of casting on our 10 stitches of knitting) stood at the table, completing her task well after the other teams had finished their cast ons! What the hell happened to Cece? Turns out that she 'ran out of tail' (Cece-it was only 10 freakin' stitches for crying out loud!)



The relays transitioned into a tp'ing of Tina, Cockeyed and Alice...then we got to watch a baster-knitting competition as well as a demonstration of how knitters can knit with just about any implement they are given-even a pepperoni stick! YES THEY CAN!!!

Camp Crow's Feet...another installment!

I cheated again and wrote this up already. I'm tired. I'll just post what I have. If you can believe, the stash has been held captive in SassyMan's car and I haven't had a chance to get it out yet! He was working this evening and it is now later than I want to go outside and get it. So no pic of the camp yarn (Kaw Kaw) nor the Knitters without Borders yarn. If you haven't already seen them, you can always peek over at Nartian's blog

Day 1, Camp Crow's Feet




E-gads! I think I may already be scrambling the order of things! Can I remeber what happened when? YIKES! I know this was the first day of camp-which was back-to-back classes with a half hour for lunch inbetween.

My tribe, the Tricksters, started our class day out with Cat Bordhi who (in her usual Cat way) did an excellent job with our Insoucient Socks class! She made sure we had our short-rows down and could knit a sock in any shape we desired!

For us Tricksters, class with JC Briar followed lunch as we enjoyed Cast-on Cornucopia. (Don't Sheila, Nartian, IrishGirlie and I look like we've been doing some serious casting on?) This was my first class with JC and she is amazing! Filled my head where it was ready to explode! As if the TP Cover wasn't enough of a drain on this knitter's brain, dealing with a Cat and JC class all in one day just about put me on overload! Luckily, Nartian was there by my side, cuz I will probably have to make her review some of the finer points with me!

Our evening event involved the traditional homework exchange. This year, we campers got to vote on winners of various categories for the TP covers. It was amazing how varied and awesome these projects were. Unfortunately, this is where I lagged in the picture-taking. I think I just didn't bother to bring my camera in to the voting room. For some reason, I decided to keep my homework out of the swap and instead sat back and watched the fun. Afterwards, the camp store was open and we all made a dash for our stash!

Sadly, this is a scarce picture day for me! What can I say? I was distracted and busy! But I'm sure you will find many fine examples of the TP roll covers if you check out Yarn Harlot or other camper's blogs...

Pre-Camp!

First off-confessions-I pre-wrote this part last night because, well...I was inspired! But loading pictures sucked, so I'm glad I waited to finish this tonight. I may not be so quick to post the next days, but I'll see how I do.

I said this before, I'll say this again-Sock Camp is not for wimps, and this camp was no exception! I'm still recovering! Nartian and I were half-dead as we knit this afternoon at work.

And before continuing on, I thought I'd slip in a bit of knitting progress. Still not through Clue #3 on the Secret of the Stole II KAL, but here is what I have thusfar...


And before I go on to the Pre-Camp story, please bear with me while I whine about how quickly it is to gain a good 8 lbs. over a week, while it takes a good 2 months to lose 8 lbs! OK? Just had to share...! (grumble!)


So this is installation #1-Pre Camp!

Yes, there again was homework which I (AGAIN!) did on the fly! Conveniently, there was a "mall" located right across from our motel on our way up which conveniently had not only a Michael's, but a JoAnn's! Score! It seems I always end up needing *some* crafting item to complete my homework that I always seem to not have completed in time for camp!

This year's assignment? Toilet paper roll covers! Really.

Without boring you with my thought process, here is what I ended up with in it's final form. Not the grandiose project I had first planned, but nonetheless, finished!

And a side-view to show off the mushroom I labored over!




Actually, the TP cover wasn't done 'til after check-in. Tammy (Lavendar Knits) and Etta Mae were a happy, familiar site! This year, I was assigned to the Tricksters tribe. Funny...so was Nartian, Irish Girlie, past camp tribe members Sharon and Vicki, hizKnits and Stariel...hmmm...made me wonder!


Nederlass lives in the Washington area and was gracious enough to transport a group of knitters not only from the airport, but on a pre-camp yarn crawl. So look what was parked in front of our cabin later in the day after we arrived and checked in? Looks like the pre-camp journey was a fun time, though I can't report on this portion I was not a part of. Stariel showed me a special 'bus pass' Nederlass' hubby had made for all the bus riders. Unfortunately, I didn't get a pic of it to share, but trust me-it was a cool bus pass! You may catch a glimpse of one around Stariel's neck over at her blog!


And again, this year, I offer you a view of the resort-this time, and emphasis on the Discovery House (the big square building) where camp was held. The mansion is beyond the alcove...


I got to the evening reception a tad early (for me, 15 minutes was way-early), and I was the first person there, so I got my own, personal 'sneak peek'. Again, this year, I offer a picture of the fabulous 'color wheel of socks' table!

The Sockateers and teachers/staff arrived and 'put me out' so that they could prepare for our entry. What were they preparing for? Well, only to guard and protect the camp yarn store which was to open for an hour that evening for us!



(Note the camp store behind the body guards! Think of all the yarny goodness I could've have snatched up during my time alone with it, had I no scruples...)

And of course, camp is not camp without the team of Yarn Harlot and Cat! Here they are, together again! I always say and will say it again-there is nothing like this combination!

So next post will be on to Day one of camp!

Back from Camp!

Wow! Another year, another fabulous Blue Moon Fiber Arts Rockin' Sock Camp! This year, our camp was called CAMP CROWS FEET. It's hard to imagine that camp could be as awesome as last year without being the same-same, but it was just as good-probably even better! But, since my tendency is to be long-winded, I decided I should handle camp in installments this time. So for now, I will leave you with this...


I was afraid I'd run out of storage room, so this is pretty much the finale of a fellow-camper's performance. You'll have to come back later for the the details...

Real, live knitting content!

Well, it is now April 5, so you know this can't possibly be an April Fool's Day joke!

March was Malabrigo Madness and I cast-on for three projects. So...(believe it or not), I have a completed project!

"The" completed project, "Tudora" in-what else?-Malabrigo worsted weight! The colorway is Col China.



And a hooded scarf (which looks like a big ol' scarf at this time!) is a little more than 3/4 way done.

And all this time, the new Cedar Creeks (previously ripped-back and now again on its way...) are coming right along. I am now on the foot of the first sock!

Here's a non-approved new project I started on...yeah, I know-naughty!...I couldn't resist and started the Mystic Light KAL. The Dream in Color Baby was IrishGirlie-approved, though, so how could she think I wouldn't cast-on for the shawl I purchased the yarn for?!

Then thing is, this actually isn't really the project because since it was taken-I ripped it all back! Long story, but the beginning basically became a swatch because the needles I started with (I decided) were not the 'right' size, afterall...I then kept knitting with the next size up, then lost a stitch and couldn't find it. I decided at this stage, it was prudent to frog the whole thing! So now, I am just about at that same place.

But alas, homework awaits and I really need to focus on THAT! So...I need no guidance on the foucs for the next week becaue I know I had no business frogging and re-knitting on this one! If I were more disciplined, I probably would have frogged and set it aside to cast-on (as IrishGirlie says, 'as a reward') later...