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!

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

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

Camp Knitty HA Ha!

Like I said earlier, by now Camp Knitty ha Ha has been well-covered in the Blogosphere, but I will attempt a rendition of my own.

As in past years, we were broken into tribes. I was in the Peekytoes; there were also Fiddlers, Hermits and hmmm...one other I can't think of offhand! This year due to Rosario Resort on Orcas Island being closed, our venue was moved to Port Ludlow Resort, a bit further southwest and more conveniently accessed with road access from the south and a more frequent ferry from Seattle to Bainbridge Island. As always, Tina did an awesome job finding a perfect venue! No underwater knitting competitions as in the past, but jacuzzi tubs in all the Inn rooms!

The Inn at Port Ludlow Resort

Lil' Emp actually prefers Orcas Island because, "it's an ISLAND..." I suggested it may have seemed more like an island had we ferried in from Seattle, but he said, "No. You can get there by a bridge. ISLANDS don't have BRIDGES." 8 yos have quite the wit and reason about them, don't they? Not as easily fooled, but still easily satisfied.


By adult standards, I think the campers were happier at Port Ludlow Resort given the cell phone availability, internet access and the AWESOME food-not to mention the daily happy hour!

Who (but my WW leader) would oppose two three HOT meals a day and two desserts per day? The nice thing, too, is that our Vegetarian campers didn't have to go hungry! Or at least sustain themselves on bread, cheese and salad.

Our usual evening reception got us pumped up for camp, and the next few days were GO, GO, GO! Sadly there was no Cookie A class this year, but we did have Nathania back helping out and leading a yoga class (that I somehow never was prepared to attend and didn't!) Don't get me wrong, the times I've done yoga in the past, I've enjoyed it. But I have to do it on my terms, which means: comfy stretch pants and a soft, wireless bra! Oh-and the camp store can NOT be open with newly-released camp colors available in limited quantities! My rules.

About the Shop:
Rumor had it that a couple of boxes were left behind and to be expected later. I held out and only purchased a couple of STR the first night. An added surprise was that Tina had a bunch of her old spindles out for sale. I scored an Avi Wasserman spindle! Special as it is that it was once Tina's, I've brought it home and spun with it and have decided that (for me, at least), it is prettier than functional. It just doesn't spin the way my Bosworth does. But...being the Spindling Idiot I am, it could just be the lighter weight and perhaps I need to spin my merino silk or other light, thin stuff on this spindle.

So...Tina had posted on her blog, soliciting colorway suggestions to dye for camp. Then she followed up and mentioned that she would be bringing some NEW colorways! I only purchased one of the new colorways, "Beached". I think Nartian scored just about all of them (well, except for maybe Crabby McHappypants), so if you want to see them, she's got them over at her blog. I regret not getting The Claw. Plankton Ooze, Scum Bubbles and Crabby McHappypants were other new colors.

The Classes:
As always, the classes were incredible! Cat taught yet ANOTHER "Sockitecture" which will be the subject of her next book she is hoping to have ready by Sock Summit in August. Cat is such an amazing person-so many ideas and it never stops! She already has her next book stewing, too! As a little bonus, she shared with us a stretchy bind-off she learned.

My tribe had Tina the next day for Dying. Could everyone have been in sheer heaven from getting to dye with the Depraved Dyer, herself? We shared our color preferences and got to explore them on yarn. We learned about Tina's inspirations and approach to dying. Mostly, we learned there is a heck of alot about translating color to yarn in a meaningful way. Lots of trial and error and work in keeping track of it all to recreate later. We only scratched the surface. Tossing dyes onto yarn is easy; making it translate into something specific and being able to repeat it? Entirely different.

Look what Nartian dyed!

JC did a phenomenol job in teaching us various bind-offs. Not just teaching various ones, but categorizing and explaining the role of a bind-off and why certain methods work more for specific type projects depending on what you want your finished result to be. JC covered alot of grounds and is so thorough!

Then...there was Yarn Harlot Stephanie. "Knitting for Speed and Efficiency". She offered many interesting tidbits about knitting, as well as societal influences on how we knit now and before. This segued into her conclusion that "Lever Knitting" or "Irish Cottage Knitting" is the most efficient and proceeded to teach us this method. Of course, I think most of us left that class wanting to pull out our straight needles or regretting getting rid of them all! I'm definitely planning on conquering this style of knitting in the future!

Crafts:

Cockeyed never lets us down and this year, it was all about "Joe's Crab Sack"!



There is so much to report! I have separated my entries and will continue next time. Next up? Homework. Camp Antics. Crafts. Rumors...and MORE...!

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!)