Kinda hard to blog without a computer!

Yep, it was all packed and ready to go; this year we were Sock Camping at Port Ludlow Resort that promised steady internet connection. Not like Orcas Island where connection was spotty and cell phones? Well, the Yarn Harlot may enjoy hiking out to the middle of nowhere and striking a yoga pose to make a call, but my family was with me so I had no motivating source to do such things, but you might as well consider Orcas Island to have near to no cell phone service.

At any rate, we get to our hotel and it occurs to me that I didn't see my computer case packed away in the car. The burnt orange, can't miss it case was nowhere to be seen.

So there I was, with no computer. Luckily, Port Ludlow Resort does have a computer for guest use, but there was the lack of free time, not to mention the lack of desire to sit in a little closet and blog. I will say that I managed to hop over to FaceBook and post a couple of pics here and there.

I am finally back home from Camp Knitty ha HA after a longer, expansive journey back down through Washington, a portion of the Oregon Coast, a portion of the Northern California Coast with stops along the way.

It's funny, but with camp being so well-reported on these days in BlogLand, I don't feel as compelled to do my usual low-down. However; wordy as I am, I'm sure I'll be able to do a fairly good job. It will be a while, since I am still settling back into daily life and have a gazillion photos to load and go through.

Last I posted, I shared a picture of the beginning of my homework: knit a crab or other sea creature.

And in the spirit of Sock Camp and requisite homework...I continued working on my homework in the car on the long ride up.

I decided I should probably work on my other homework-various ribbed and stockinette swatches for JC's Casting Off class...

And more working on the homework in my hotel room, after we arrived at the resort...
Thank God Tina informed us that we would have until Friday to complete our homework projects. I guessed (correctly) that it was because she was yet to finish her project. Thinking back, I realize we never saw her homework! But in her defense, she had alot going on!

And finally, by Wednesday night, this was complete...
In my quest to avoid knitting eight crabby appendages, I found inspiration in making an anemone...Obviously I hadn't thought it through very well because notice the very MANY tentacles I had to knit for the anemone instead! Yes, I'm not the most clever-I actually outsmart myself, don't I? All in the name of taking the 'easy' way out!

And this, my friends is why I didn't work on my project the night before I left for camp...

I saw this lovely bead at a local hobby store while gathering supplies to work on a special project for Cockeyed...
You see, I was on a quest. A quest to make the most special wand that Cockeyed could call her very own. But of course, the Depraved Dyer would have to have one, too. This bead just seemed so perfectly 'hippy-Tina-ish'. Yes, there was a greenish one, but I was more drawn to this orangey one and, afterall, I was the one making it, right?

So I made the Depraved Dyer her wand...
...and added the bead to the 'handle' of the wand.

Of course there were other beads involved, including a crystal bead; crystals should always be included as they can store great energies. And a bit of Pisgah was involved, since that was my assigned camp name from Camp Cockamamie...

Cockeyed's wand was embellished with dainty antique floral lace...

Like the Depraved Dyer's wand, it had to have a bit of Socks that Rock included on it-this one?-Seal Rock. And, of course, crystal...
Note that the beads hang from the handle of the wand. A crystal accents the tip of the wand and look...
...in Pokemon terms, it's 'Super Effective'!

Explorations in color and other homeworky things

So earlier this week, I decided I'd start my color study pictures. They are definitely (ETA: *not*!) the awesome pics everyone else takes and posts to their blogs, but nevertheless...they will kind of give you an idea.

In thinking about colors around me, I decided to take a pic of what I wore to work that day. If you can believe it, yes, I did actually wear ALL these colors-at the same time! Black shoes, brown sweater skirt, black sweater top, my new slouch beret I finished knitting not long ago...and yes, my Seal Rock Leyburns! Yeah, I tend to be a bit eccentric in my dress...


And earlier in the day, I had taken a picture of my commute...
I guess I never thought about how much gray is all over and around me! I am surrounded by gray. But guess what? You may not notice, but I do...all the bright red lights that poke out of the gray!
We City Folk likes us our neutrals, blacks and grays! But you can't keep out the glimmers of blue peeking through the clouds.

It's supposed to be depressing, but I really don't notice. I don't know if it is because I grew up in the foggier, less sunny part of San Francisco and am used of the grays, but it doesn't bother me. Maybe I can appreciate the splashes of color here and there because of this. But don't show my too many clear colors at once-it is much too bright for my senses!

Hmmm...I wonder if maybe that is why clear colors don't speak to me the way they do to someone like, say, Fiberfish Cece. Maybe colors and brightness is all relative. For someone like myself who is around lots of gray concrete, a muted background with all of us dressed in our black/gray camouflage, perhaps the clear colors just scream at us because it is so polar-opposite.

I mean, "Freddy's House" /Freddy Moran was never something I quite 'got'. You had to really be into the clear colors and mixed prints to love her stuff. I think I saw a picture of her house once and all I could think was, "I appreciate the unique style, but nothing I would ever think or want to do." Plain and simple-I guess brights are out of my comfort zone. It takes very little for me to call something 'color'.

Thinking back, I remember when I took my first cake decorating classes. There was one woman who always colored her icing BRIGHT; I mean garish-bright. Like Tammy Faye Baker eye-make-up bright. I could never understand how she could not realize that perhaps she needed to let up on the paste coloring a bit. Me? Just a tad bit of color did the trick for me-muted, subtle...that's how I liked it! Grayed-out colors are my love!

So about that other part of my homework...I'm not saying what this is, other than it's my knit project homework...
I hope it works out the way I'm planning for it to work out. I'll show more as it progresses...

And speaking of color...look what came in the mail yesterday...

My final Seven Deadly S(p)ins kit--LUST! I love this yarn! So maybe I'm not so into grays or muted afterall? I LOVE this red-but must admit that often too much red on me makes me feel too conspicuous. See? It goes back to my "City Camouflage" mentality! I must admit that I'm not much of a pink person, either. But why does this pink work for me? I think it is the cooler tone and the darker shade of pink. The green? Well...I already expressed how I love me some green! Just about any green, really. Least fav green? Probably Kelly Green. But this green is so gorgeous with the blue tones.

So see? My color study homework has been going on in my head all along!

Cute patterns!

I stinkin' love this pattern that was linked to a recent ThreadBear newsletter. I think I may have to make it for one of the future family babies. One is due this June (already have a hat and sweater planned), and I think another one is due in July.

And speaking of baby hats, here is that cute lil' baby I made a couple of hats for and who turns one very soon!

Birthday Boy turns One on April Fool's Day! Here he is in the last hat I made him for Christmas. I made it extra big to last a while, but boy doesn't it look like he's needing a new one? We're missing his party since I'll be at SOCK CAMP!!! Happy Birthday, Solly!

His mom remarked on how the hat matches his eyes! Somehow I figured he'd be the one out of three who's eyes would not turn blue! His are more hazel and the hat does match well! His hair is looking chestnut from what I've seen of his recent pics. So no blonde hair as his brothers have, either.

So I am weak on the color study photos, but I will say that I adore Autumn colors. I love golds, burnt oranges, olive greens, autumn purples, and BROWNS! Usually the rich browns. Maybe I like jewel tones. I like rich colors which lend and air of sophistication and tend to feel too overwhelmed by bright, clear colors. In all the darkness of blacks a charcoal grays, I enjoy just the slightest hint of rich jewel colors like ruby reds, emerald greens, sapphire blues.

Which leads me to blues. It has never been a preferred color, but I realize that I *do* like blues. Just the more grayed-out tones or ones that have more purple tinges to them.

Least fav color? (Or at least that I am least comfortable with...) It would have to be YELLOW. Specifially, the sunny, clear yellows (not sunshine orangey-yellows, but straight-up yellow). And probably the pastel yellows and mazes that, as Nartian puts it, makes me look 'jaundiced'. I think many times it is difficult to be too fond of colors that just don't do your coloring well.

So that, my friends, is my bit of color reflection for the evening! Off to be good to me!

Camp Homework!

I've been remiss in tending to my Sock Camp homework. I visited IrishGirlie and Cupcakefaerie's blogs and they are all on-board with their color study. Nartian finished her knitting homework-knit AND colorstudy! Me? Ha! I took a couple of pictures of the 'colors' around me, which are basically gray-but not the gorgeous gray that Tina showed on her blog. No, mine is concrete and freeway gray. But I'm not complaining about that. It's funny because living in 'the City' and working in a city, alot of 'color' around me is concrete gray. But then there are the sparks of color that kind of pop out at you. So very few pics and definitely nothing gorgeous in the way Cupcakefaerie and IrishGirlie have presented.

And my knitting homework? Well...I finally got the 'idea' I'm going with. And all I can say is that at this point, I'm 'going with'... Nartian's? Besides 'done', it is cute as a button and I congratulated her on a job well done!

No pics in this post-too tired to take the time to upload them! I'm tired. I'm frustrated with trying to give direction where perhaps it is not welcome nor wanted nor needed. So then I think, "what's the point?" So for now, I free my mind of these things that weigh on my brain and will go to sleep and sleep happy dreams of Sock Camps past and Sock Camp yet to come!

On a budget!

Watching your spending is so similar to watching your weight! But hey-we gotta do what we gotta go, right? Just like we cut back on our extra calories here and there, we cut back on our spending here and there.

So it is times like this that I really appreciate my new mug from Cockeyed...

I got myself to a second WW meeting for the week this past Saturday. My old high school buds are attending a meeting here in the City on Saturdays so I met up with them there. They then headed out for a bite to eat. I told them I'd have to pass on it. Then I thought, "well, maybe just a latte". Then my broke ass realized even a latte was not a good idea. So I came home and treated myself to a homemade latte.

My pics aren't gorgeous like everyone else's, but you know what? My homemade latte was better than if I'd had one out cuz look how cool my mug is? Now that made it extra-special and I certainly didn't feel deprived!

So I guess the mug with the upside down knitted motif is all the knitting content for now!

Fer REAL-it's the STR Haul!

It's true! I bought more than I said I would! And yet, I missed out on buying some more 'thoughtful' or well thought out STR purchases. But that's what happens when you don't have the sense to get to SW early and figure out and tally-up and be thoughtful about your purchase! You just (at least I just) kinda did a love, grab and go approach! So I promised I'd destash some of my other lovely sock yarns-just haven't had a chance to go through and pick which ones, yet!



So for some reason (well, my lack of sophistication in navigating computer language in relation to this blog for one...), I cannot get these pictures I uploaded to go where I need them to. So...I will just have to deal with them as they appear...Sorry about that!

So, first up: further evidence that I am an undisciplined Knitter. Yes, I finally cast-on for Giselle! I couldn't wait even though I need to: finish many UFO's (eh, who waits to finish them ALL anyway!), cast-on for the second mitten for my cousin's daughter, cast-on for a baby sweater for a June arrival, work on camp homework, get serious and finish my second Count Cluckula Leyburn, finish a pair of fingerless mitts promised to a friend a year ago, finish my second Queen of Beads, start the new KAL with my Guppy yarn!-that's just the immediate things I should do instead...

But no, instead I started Giselle...




I'm doing the full-length, crocheted trim version. Now that I am aware of BMFA's "Luscious", I will pick a cool color to use for the crocheted portion. Right now I'm thinking: Valkyrie (to match), Shadow or Winter Solstice (which I am hoping would translate to a pretty silvery color in the Luscious). Input? Opines? I'm open to hear them all! I don't have to worry about it for a long while, so I have time to think on it.

And here is one of my Med. Wt. mill ends...I will be knitting "Baby Mine" with this skein and am anxious to see how it knits up! (Yeah, the pattern was also a SW purchase...)

And here are the three full-priced skeins I got: Manly Yes, But I Like it Too! (med. weight for Sassy Man ankle socks); Sam 'n' Ella (med. weight for socks for ME! when I read it is like Lunasea, I HAD to have it!); Guppy (lightweight for socks for my sis)...

And finally, what you have all been waiting for-all Mill Ends: Heavy Weight in the rear left in "Tree Hugger"-ish and "Carbon Dating"-ish colorways...("ish" because remember, the skeins are not exactly 'right'!). Then there were a few Medium weights in semi-solids that I thought would be lovely for Baby Yours and some other future project and some lightweights that appear quite HobGoblin-ish, Jubilation-y, Alley-oops-y and just others that were just plain pretty, rooster-y and too hard to pass up!

And FINALLY...

A very big THANKS to Hulaknitter who sent me this!...

It is a dark brown/tan dkKnits sock yarn I won on her blog! To assist with the Aussie Red Cross fundraising for the bush fire victims, HulaKnitter offered up some of her own stash as drawing prizes. For every $10ASD donated, you got a chance at winning some of her yarn! I've not used this yarn before, so it will be fun to check out! Kudos to HulaKnitter for encouraging knitters to give to such a great cause!

A New KAL begins...

And somehow I missed that this new KAL had started sign-ups! Time goes at a much different pace on Ravelry...The verdict is in and we are knitting Alice Yu's Shur'tagal pattern over at the Socks that Rawk Rav group. Sign-ups were hot and heavy, but I think I'm safe with the "Guppy" colorway pick I made. I checked through the posts as best I could and it looks like it is open. So 'Guppy' it is-and believe it or not, I'm not knitting them for me. These will be for my sister!

OH! You haven't seen my skein of Guppy?! My, I must not have posted those SW BMFA STR pics yet!

But of course there was more.

No, Knit-Pals, I have not yet had a chance to take a pic of the high-demand Socks that Rock haul from SW. I did get a chance to squeeze a few pics of the rest of my Miss Babs before the battery went dead on my camera.

Two sock yarns I 'had' to have from Miss Babs: "CrazyD" and "FoxGrapes".
The "CrazyD" is a limited edition; Miss Babs only had 3 since they were
basically dyed at the end a a dye session with leftover dyes.
She also told me that FoxGrapes is a new colorway, born of a dying error.

I fell in love with this black/gray/green laceweight, also from Miss Babs.
So it ended up in my purchase pile, too. Weak, I tell ya! I'm considering knitting the pattern I got from Purlescence that night with this yarn.

And now that I have found the charger and recharged the battery, I haven't had time to pull out all the stuff. I swear, I had them arranged and ready for a photo shoot but just couldn't squeeze the last bit of energy from the camera!

Deal with it. I'll post it next time. You'll live.

In the meantime, I have finished a crocheted hat for a friend and still plug away at my Count Cluck Leyburns and...yes, CAMP HOMEWORK! I'm pretty sure I am going to knit the obvious crab, but so far my attempts have not 'shaped up' the way I planned. I keep at it, but the Leyburns and crocheted hat were definitely more fun to work on since I could see progress.

I've also been dying to start Giselle, by Marnie MacLean, but I am going nuts trying to get the swatch right! Luckily I have 3 skeins of WooBu and according to the pattern instructions, this would put me a good 400 yds. over the total yardage requirement. I have made a third swatch (the other two represented 5 different needles...) and am hoping that this will be the final and I can "Go, Man, Go!" or should I say, "Go, Knitter, GO!"? The swatch is drying and I can's speed it up.

Either way, I'm chomping at the bit. And yet, homework looms...What to do?

Well, I've taken a short break from the spinning, though it is calling to me pretty loud, too!

Since I had difficulty putting down my spindle the whole week following SW,
I ended up with these three little skeins of G-Rocks.
You will notice the top is more yellow;
this is what happens when you *think* you spun a whole color repeat onto the spindle,
then find you didn't!
I missed a patch of the magenta repeat, so the yellow showed up stronger.

So here, my whining will cease. I will try and get the STR recent acquisitions photographed tomorrow. Off to relax! Oh-and maybe work a bit more on the Leyburns! Er, I mean homework...NOT! I need a break from that right now.

Remnants...

So Cupcakefaerie said that in my last post, I was like the "Miss Marianne... of Knitting"!-lol! Hmmmm...I guess it was kinda like "Romper Room"! Actually, I felt more like I was being Dorothy waking up from being in the land of Oz, "And you were there, and you were there..."!

But, like Miss Mary Ann who would never seem to see *me*, I don't want to be like her and not name my work knitting buddies and have them feel left out!-lol! So, pardon me for a second:

"Romper, bomper, stomper, boo.
Tell me, tell me, tell me do.
Magic mirror, tell me today.
Did all my friends have fun at play?"

...I see Calafia, Neri and Yarnkabobs, cuz they were there, too!

And why not share a bit of yarny goodness while I'm at it?...How about some Stitches West acquisitions...?

PurlescenceYarns had an after-SW "Show off your purchases" gathering at their shop on Saturday; I got the lovely shawl pattern shown in the background of this photo. The large skein is a laceweight merino/silk from A Verb for Keeping Warm. Below is the bit of spun and plyed G-Rocks and on the needles is my second Count Cluckula Leyburn! Yes, I'm still working on them!

As I posted last time, I stopped by Miss Babs. I couldn't resist this pattern and these mini-skeins to use to make my new baby-cousin-in-process a hat. She is due to arrive in June!

Addictive, this G-Rocks colorway is! I started a second spindle-full!

And just finished plying it this afternoon!

So far, I'm sure the purchases look fairly harmless, huh? Well, they would've been but I for my big BMFA purchase at the end! A few other Miss Babs made it home with me, too, along with miscellaneous accessories-mostly shawl clasps/pins. Yeah, I'm bad. Very bad...

Where to begin?

A bit out of order since I was having issues with cutting and pasting and editing this post! Oh well...

So we will start with pictures, since that is how it has to be...

EttaMae and Cockeyed-they are the bestest!

IrishGirlieKnits and WoolGirl--finally, I got to meet THE WoolGirl!

IrishGirlieKnits is so proud of her controlled BMFA purchases!

(Note that she was able to fit hers all in one moderate-sized tote...me? not so much!

--GADS, I'm talking like a Socakteer!

Next thing you know I'll be doing the Smarty Pants Dance!)

And look-they came bearing gifts! Cockeyed sewed the awesome tote, herself!

I'm actually mainstream knitting blog-illiterate because this was the first

I'd seen the lovely cabled mug! Apparently it has been out in the knitting blogstream awhile...

Me, EttaMae, IrishGirlieKnits,

Disco and Cockeyed

And now for my the "report"...

I don't even know where to begin! This past weekend was a whirlwind full of so much fun, love, laughs! And, of course, FIBER and fibery goodness!

IrishGirlieKnits and I were helping man the booth for Blue Moon Fiber Arts at Stitches West. What could be better than working with the IrishGirlie, Cockeyed and EttaMae? It was so much fun to have so much time with them together, though most of the time was spent on our feet talking to BMFA customers! But I have to say, talking all about yarn that you adore is not difficult! And sharing in the love that is, Blue Moon Fiber Arts, is really something special!

It was amazing how Thursday night was an absolute whirlwind, with Friday going non-stop but lasting longer! And just about all the mill ends were sold out by the end of Friday. And yet-Saturday had not yet come? Is it me, or are the Fridays now the busier day rather than Saturday?

And it was fun to realize that I'm not the only BMFA-crazed knitter! We were gushing and oooo-ing over lovely Luscious silk, Luscious Single Silk, WooBu and (of course) our beloved Socks that Rock! And then there was Peru and Twisted and Silk Thread and the most-amazing chunky, thick De-Vine!!! I think it needs to be called 'Miss De-Vine, to You'.

As the stock went down and the booth slowed a bit, I pulled out a Sheep 2 Shoe kit in G-Rocks to spin a bit with and fell in love with this colorway! Cockeyed has some pictures at her blog of the spun fiber here.

So now let me move on to the other wonderful things about working Stitches West, other than my wonderful booth buddies (yes, that includes all the yarn!)...my Knitting Buddies! Chicken Knits, Marisol, Rockiknit and Marlowe-all were in my dying class with Scout-were there...Then there was HizKnits and WonderMike of YKnits being their wonderful selves! HizKnits was the Stitches West Booster, or shall I say Ambassador, doling out Cliff Bars and Luna Bars and other nutritious, energy-sustaining goodies and checking in with all of us! The Purl Girls from Purlescence, Nathania and Sandi were the wonder-Goddesses who were like the local hostesses with the mostests! I saw BeadLizard Sylvia, her Aunt Connie, friends from years past and even further past...trust me, you get to be my age and you can say you haven't seen someone in 26+ years (and it isn't like you knew them as a baby...)...And of course, Nartian was there to support and participate in the looney antics! And I got to see Cupcakefaerie a few times for fleeting moments! (Luckily I know we will have more time to hang out at camp and later...) We finally got to meet the wonderful Jen of WoolGirl fame, together with the most-talented photographer, NeuroKnitter! And dear, Disco returned all the way from Florida! What a thrill!!!

And I met new pals, Stephanie and Ann from Great Balls of Yarn in Florida! I also got to meet the wonderful, talented Pigeon Roof Studios dyer, Krista McCurdy-rumor has it that she may be at Sock Summit with her lovely yarns and maybe a tad bit of roving! Nartian and I got to show off our Miss Babs knits to Miss Babs, herself!

I did manage to purchase a few items here and there, but mostly at our booth! I'll show you a sampling later. So, so many things, people, excitement galore! Of course, my purchases included a spindle, captured in a picture and published on Neuroknitter's blog! Thrills, I tell you! And it was so exciting to be a part of it all.

Questions you get while working at the Blue Moon Fiber Arts Booth...

What size needle do I need to knit with?

OK, maybe a newbie knitter, doesn't 'get' gauge, right?

How much of this do I need for a sweater?

OK, so they forgot to mention how big a sweater, style (cropped, long-sleeve, short-sleeved...)

This will work for socks, right? (in reference to Luscious-100% silk)

Cockeyed's answer: you can knit socks from anything, but you probably won't be happy making them from this yarn. But I don't think the customer was listening...or didn't really want to hear the answer.

And the best one...

Do you have sock yarn?

WT-?

Trust me, I'm not making this up!

Sorry-this is all I have time for right now. Will continue my Tales of Stitches West in the next post.

ETA: And my favorite comment from the weekend in reference to the Sheep 2 Shoe Kit ($30.50 for 8.5 oz of fleece!) : "For that price, I can just buy a skein of yarn and knit socks from that." Yes you can. Just like for the price of a skein of sock yarn, you can just buy a pair of socks! It's not about *that*! But I think most of us 'get' it.

Also, some questions are pretty common and legit, so don't any of you feel bad for having asked stuff like that in your knitting life-I'm really not ragging on anyone. Well, ok, maybe the last two got me! (I know, IrishGirlie is already horrified that I published this and thinks I'm mean!)

Why am I blogging...?

When I should be getting to bed?!

Well...you don't just go to work Stitches West, come home and go to sleep, that's why! It's just not like that! Especially when I got to see and spend seven hours with Cockeyed, Etta Mae and IrishGirlieKnits!!!

Here's Cockeyed, doing the 'serious' setting up the booth thing!

This is Etta Mae showing me the back of "Michael's" shirt. He's working with
Cat Bordhi on some iPhone knitting application...Sounds cool. I have no iPhone...

I mean, just LOOK at all this Blue Moon Fiber Arts goodness I was surrounded by!

The whole left side? Socks that Rock! That rack in the front
(right side of pic, left side of table...) is all Mill Ends! And if you look carefully in the center back,
you can see a couple of the sample shawls!

Sandi and Nathania dashed over and found stuff to add to their personal stashes! And they have full access to the stuff since they own Purlescence Yarns, the only California retailers!

Can you tell they are happy?!
Purlescence Yarns will be hostessing an After Stitches
"Show off Your Stitches West Purchases" aftershow get-together
at their shop on Saturday evening

Market closed up at 8pm and we were out fairly shortly thereafter. Cockeyed decided this was a picture she could not miss...

Yeah, as snail on a RAIL! Hmm...I think she was getting tired and needed to get back to her room for a little winding down! Yes, Cockeyed, we DO have snails in California!

So back to the Convention Center tomorrow, bright and early for another day!

Just in Time for Stitches West?

Do any of you remember this post, when I received my merino roving from Scout dyed in the "Pomegranate" colorway?

Well, I happened to pull a bag out with what I had spun of it and realized I only had a few feet left to spin! So the other night, I focused my efforts on spindling up the rest of the roving. I cheated a bit in that Lil' Emp decided he wanted to spin, so he actually spun up some of it. So here are his efforts:



And here, all my Pomegranate roving, ALL SPUN UP!!! I sure hope it will be enough for a pair of socks!

So now that I've spun up a whole braid of roving, does this mean I get to buy more at Stitches West?! OK, for the record, Nartian and IrishGirlieKnits--NO Addi Clicks, NO Signature DPNs, NO patterns, NO MORE ROVING (I already got the Pigeon Roof Studios bonus last time at Article Pract and supported our local artist!) SOCK CAMP! SOCK CAMP! SOCK CAMP!!!

The good thing is that, though I willl be at SW this whole weekend, at least I will be kept busy working and hopefully won't have time to do too much damage. It is not realistic to think I will not purchase a thing, but I think it is reasonable to try and be much more controlled this time around! We'll see...

TWO MORE DAYS!!!! I'm sooooo excited!

ETA: ok, we often say we shouldn't present all 'nos' to little kids. So on the positive side: YES, I may purchase a reasonable amount of STR (a couple for gifts, maybe one or two for me...), YES, I may purchase a spindle (it's my Carolina Homespun/Stitches/TKGA tradition!), and perhaps one or two other special somethings...I will have fun! I will see great friends!

Home Again, Home Again!

Ahhhh...to sleep in a warm, soft, comfy bed and have my feet up! To have the time to start my Queen of Beads!

These are finally started and I have reached the gusset!
I'm only beading the cuff...

We are back from a 3-day outdoor education that we helped chaperon. Lil' Emp's class went with the the other 3rd grade class to Point Reyes for a 3-day outdoor education. The facilities there are very nice, but let's face it-it was cabin camping!

As if I even had a desire to take a lukewarm shower in the freezing cold, I never really would have had the time to do it anyway! I was assigned to the Kitchen Crew and was kept pretty busy if not prepping, cooking or serving, then trying to be a participative parent in spending family time with Lil' Emp and SassyMan during the 'family' activities or looking after 'my girls' who were assigned to me since they were without parents. Love the girls, but waiting around for them to get ready meant I had little in between time.

I'm happy to report that I survived and am back home! I had very little knitting time at "camp", but managed to finish both hats for the teachers-one of them I had to rip back several times to get the right shaping of the top (it was too "coned" at first and after consulting with Nartian, decided it would be prudent to rip back and decrease every row vs. every-other...) WELL...I kinda had forgotten how many stitches I had and having finished a nearly-identical one for the other teacher, went into autopilot and went with the same stitch count. Bad idea, as one hat was fine decreasing every 6 stitches, while this other had needed to be decreased every 8! But I enjoyed showing one of the girls how to purl and decrease at the same time, so it was a worthwhile task.

No pics, as they are given away!

Before leaving on the trip, I stayed up late stringing my beads. I had wound the balls the night prior to discover 3 'sneaky' knots. I call them 'sneaky', as they consist of one ply, knotted, then spun with the second ply so that only one side is knotted. I cut where each knot was; hopefully the larger of the three balls of yarn will be enough for the one sock. And if I'm REALLY lucky, the second ball will also be enough for the other sock!

I've been lazy and recovering, but I will admit that Point Reyes is gorgeous...even in the Winter cold!

Clem Miller was our home for 3 days and 2 nights

And a very positive? It is now POURING down rain! We had a bit while on the trip, but luckily we missed the heavier rains.

On the first day, there was a small bit of rain; the kids had to hike down to the
Education Center since the bus was not allowed access all the way down

On Day 2, the kids hiked down to the beach, had lunch, flew kites and
made s'mores; the weather held out nicely for them that day!

And what would these pics be without knitting content?!
Handknit socks abound, as one of the dads on the trip promised
his wife (my bud, Knit One, Bling 2!) he would be wearing his handknit socks
while on the trip! So I photo-documented to keep him out of trouble!

And the same knitter had made socks for the teachers!
So of course, I had to show her that he wore his, too!

And to offer up my last knitting-related item: turns out that the women who direct the program are knitter! So they told me about a store in Petaluma that I will have to put on my list to visit!

Just think...all this--a little over an hours drive from San Francisco!A view Lil' Emp captured while on his hike

An Egret spotted on our way to set up lunch on the beach

Inspired Knitting

I love having knitting buddies! Especially ones who are so close that I get to see all their stuff (usually) first, before it hits their blog!

The very cool thing is that when I see something in person, I can get a better sense of what the pattern is like and if I'd like to knit the same thing, too...AND I get inspired by having knitted FO's before my very eyes!

And so was the case when I saw Nartian's Bella Mittens! They were so cute and I realized that right around the very same time I first saw them, I had just (again) promised to knit my niece a pair! Mind you, this child is patient. She has asked for mittens and been waiting on them for a good two years, I'd say!

I don't know why it was taking me so long to do. Maybe the thought or prospect of having to find the 'right' mitten pattern, sized for a child, not a tot? Maybe the prospect of having to re-size a pattern written for a tot and not quite being in the mood to do it?

Well, when I saw the Bella's Mittens, knit in bulky, I was ecstatic! I could knit this pattern in worsted and be done in a snap! And not have to resize (thinking this as I kept my fingers crossed!)

In the long-run, I started it in Cherry Tree Hill Sockitome "Spanish Moss" colorway, doubled. I finished one, but had to put it aside to work on last minute hats for a school trip. Now that I've finished one hat, I am reconsidering my deadline of (tomorrow) and thinking perhaps they will be an "in a week more" knit, rather than "by tomorrow"...!

So here is one completed mitt; I left off the first two or so repeats of the horseshoe cable to make for shorter mittens, starting at "Row 16", casting on 41 instead of 43 stitches.

A Proud Moment In Time...

...like when I finish a pair of mitts in a week! (For me, a week is GOOD...!) Even better is if I would get around to posting the finished product! So behold, the lovely Envy Flower fingerless mitts designed by Syvia Harding for the "Seven Deadly S(p)ins" club by The Unique Sheep!

Can I tell you all how much I LOVE these mitts? OK, let me tell you-I LOVE these mitts! I initially thought-"Oh, I can be all clever and add the thumb." Of course, someone on the Rav list had mentioned wanting to do that, then Kelly of The Unique Sheep said that you could knit the pattern as is, then seam it down the thumb area.

In the long-run, I decided that if I were to fashion the thumb separately, it would affect the overall look/design of these mitts. And this is where I think Syvia did such a wonderful job on this design: it truly does look like and enviable flower knit as is. I feared ruining that look if I were to make a shaped thumb and I am pretty sure I was right about that! And Kelly is one smart cookie in that she figured that out, as well in that she suggested a simple seam. This idea, I think, would create the desired separate thumb area without compromising the blossoming flower look.

I'm glad I left it alone. I love the lotus-blossom look to these gloves and like the idea of being able to cuff them up when it gets too warm because if I were to remove them, I'd probably lose one or both!

And at long-last, a second pair of Malabrigo Loafers. In this case, not-Malabrigo loafers since I knit this using double-stranded Wool of the Andes for the soles and Mountain Colors Weaver's Wool, doubled for the tops. Finally finished to give to a good friend so he can be a good son and gift them to his mother! (Truly, a continuous gifting of Shisheido moisturizing cream, no matter how pricey, must get old after a while...I took pity. Probably more so on my friend's mom than him, since he seems to have no problem re-running the same gift idea in a continuous loop! Or maybe this was because I couldn't deal with the idea!)