post summit recovery

After the summit, we headed out to the oregon coast for a couple of days.
It was wonderful hanging out on the beach, even though we did get rained on a bit.
I think picking up agates on the beach is one of my favorite pastimes, right next to knitting, of course. Check out some of the cool red agates in the middle of the plate.










Now I'm starting to think of christmas gift knitting, and maybe a lace shawl. I was so inspired by all the beautiful ones at the summit. I think I must have one of my own. If I start now, I can finish it before the next summit!
The garden socks are coming right along....
pics later.

Sock Summit!! OH MY!!!

First, let me say I don't think I've had that much fun with a bunch of folks I didn't know in a long time. Secondly, let me say, none of us were strangers for long.
What an amazing 4 days.
I kinneared Lucy Neatby in Starbucks. Took a class from her too. It was fantastic. I don't think I've learned that much about knitting ever.















Took a class from the amazing Barbara Walker (as well as others). She was having a bit of a "yard sale" and selling some little tidbits that she had knitted. Of course, everyone in the class had to have something, just so they could say "Barbara Walker knitted this" Pretty amazing. Of course, I had to have something too, and ask her to sign my book.














Kinneared Stephanie (Yarnharlot). Sorry the pic is blurry. She never stood still the entire weekend. The woman has immense energy.
















Participated in the world record breaking attempt for most folks knitting at once.








Went to an awesome ravelry party










Took some more classes, met some great folks, traded a whole bunch of stitch markers and shopped 'til I dropped. I made a haul!






Stephanie and Tina said that "next time" is two four letter words, but they're hinting that there might just be a next time in a couple of years. I'm starting RIGHT NOW saving my allowance so that I can go.

the fraggles went to the fair!

No pictures of the fraggles, but here's a couple of their new friends! Aren't they cute?


















Love this guy too.....

Barn owls have always fascinated and kind of frightened me. There's just something about them.


Waaaaayyyy too hot this week for anything. It was 103 degrees here on wed., and we broke a record. One that I hope stays on for a loooonnnngggg time.

Next week, SOCK SUMMIT!!! I'm very excited to be going and even more excited to be going to classes and shopping. It's going to be so much fun, what with classes, breaking a world record for knitting, authors and book signings, exclusive stuff to buy, ravelry meetup, the list goes on and on. I'm going to need a vacation from my vacation. I'm sure they'll be TONS to post when I get back. It's also made me think about my knitting skills and improving them. I'm seriously considering a workshop on colorwork with Brandon Mably that's coming in October. Don't have a lot of time on that one, it's filling fast.

What's that Sister? Something in the yard??


Back in 2 weeks!

The final is final

Back from the test, and this is EXACTLY how I feel






My brain is fried.
There is absolutely no knitting content to report. I spent the whole week studying my butt off and it seems to have worked. I passed the practical. Did "very well" according to the tester and I'm feeling kind of cocky about the written part.

With all this test stuff behind me now, I can focus on sock summit!
YEAH!
I'll be spending time at the county fair next weekend. That usually brings about some quality knitting time.
Now......
MARGARITAVILLE!

the fraggles take a field trip

lots of good fraggle knitting time at the market. The pic is a bit dark, but you get the idea. It was HOT, HOT, HOT there.







The "queen of beads" is all done, patiently modeled by cinnamon brown. Note how she will not look at the camera. The shame of being forced to model socks on her butt.







I am in LOVE with the newest of the sock club. I wanted to cast on the minute I got it. Now I'm inspired to finish the fraggles. Back to the market tomorrow, so they'll be more quality knitting time. It's supposed to be cooler too......





























Off to portland for a postural analysis workshop. Next saturday is the big final exam. Then I can get back to "normal?" life.
Only 3 weeks or so to sock summit!!

one sock, two sock, here's a blue sock

Queen of beads from the blue moon sock club.
A couple of hours of ticket selling at the farmer's market helped with the progress. It's being shown here by Cinnamon Brown, also know as sister. Notice the "flags back" position of the ears. We're having a pretty big thunderstorm here today. We don't have them very often in these parts, and the doggies are not at all happy about it.






"Hey Teach" is also done. It came out a bit short, even though I added extra to the bottom. I don't know what I'm going to do. I tried to add to the bottom of it, but it just didn't come out right. I think I'll try blocking it a bit more and see what happens. I wanted to take it to sock summit for the air conditioning, we'll see.












Next up will be the fraggle socks from the sock club. Gotta get caught up before that next kit shows up. (probably this week)

I've been spending time studying too. I'll be glad when all that is behind me. It's been a long 2 years +. I love pilates, teaching pilates, and especially my clients, but the whole test thing stresses me out. It will be all done exactly two weeks from today, and then the focus becomes SOCK SUMMIT!!!!!

I've already pre-ordered one cool colorway called "bobby socks", and a toe up book that will come signed. I'm so looking forward to letting my hair down, not have to worry about studying (pilates at least), and having a great time with a convention center full of knitters. What more could you want??

a day late, oh well

The holiday was pretty low-key around here. Lots of fireworks, but the doggie downers worked well and there were no meltdowns.
There's been some knitting progress.....
Hey teach is ready to be sewn up. I'm a little worried about the size of the fronts, they seem a little small. Guess we'll see in a bit. I also made the 3/4 sleeves. I'm not a huge fan of short sleeved sweaters.











The "Queen of Beads" sock is almost done too. I intended to do this at the farmer's market while I get to hang out and sell garden tour tickets. Now it'll have to be the second one instead. Cinnamon Brown was kind enough to model it for me.



Now I only have 2 more of the sock club socks to go to be caught up. I think I'll just about break even, though, because they're shipping the july one soon.

I'm SO in trouble for sock summit. Some of the vendors are starting to pre-order limited edition yarns, and it seems like I'm falling in love with all of them. It doesn't count as stash if I don't buy it at the summit, right??

Off to study. 21 days 19 days to go.

3/4 teach

Hey teach is progressing nicely, I have all of the back, one full side and about half of another. I want to make this with 3/4 sleeves, so they'll be next.
I was doing great on this until I got distracted by shiney objects.







I need a small project to do at the farmer's market while I sell tickets for the garden tour. Unfortunately, it's probably going to have to be something else, cause this one is going to be finished soon. I just can't seem to put it down.


Next up, sock summit homework.
Can you knit and study anatomy at the same time??

Another week, some more stuff

This week brought progress on "hey teach". The back is finished and about a quarter of the left side. The fern tank is also completely finished and blocked.
I'm starting to want to start some socks again. I'm going to have some time in July where I get to sit at the farmer's market and sell tickets for the garden tour, so I'll need a small, sitting around project. I'm thinking the fraggle squiggle socks would work well here. I may just have to cast them on soon.





In other news, my test date has been set for July 25th in Portland. Let the studying begin! (continue)







We'll finish with a couple of my favorites.....chocolate and roses.

A whole bunch of stuff

This week has been a productive knitting week, not much else, though, I'm afraid.
It brought a bunch of stuff.
The colored yarns are my homework for sock summit. I'm going to bag them up individually for each class with the homework attached and the proper needles.
I had such a frustration with the wrong colored yarn for my "hey teach" that i decided to break down and buy the cotton yarn it was originally made from. I'm liking it and you can see how much progress I made while sitting in a senior fall prevention for fitness instructor class. Yes, that's about how interesting the class was.
The books are for me. I'm taking a mosaic knitting class from Barbara Walker at sock summit, so I wanted the book.
As you can tell, squiggi is fascinated. He just wants the plastic, though. He's obsessed with plastic.






The fern leaf tank is almost done. About 12 rows on the back and the edges. I have to say, it fits pretty well. It's going to look good at sock summit!

How cute is this?????

The bag is finished and, as you can see, boxer tested and approved!
Love it. Can you IMAGINE how much yarn I can fit in this at the sock summit market??

It's been HOT! HOT! HOT!

Over 90degrees here, we just don't tolerate that kind of heat in these parts.
Much cooler now, though, thank goodness.

The clematis purse is felted and a lining chosen. Project this week is to line it and put in some pockets. I love it, but it's so dang big that everything would get lost if there weren't something to hold seperately. Water bottle, keys, phone.
The rest of it is intended to hold my projects and shopping at sock summit.












I also made progress on the fern lace tank. Planning on wearing this at sock summit too. As you can see, it's been boxer tested and approved.




Had to frog "hey teach". It was coming along great, only to discover that my yarn is two different colors. Same dye lot and you can't even tell until you knit them together. ARGH! That forced me to to to yarnmarket and order new stuff. I'm hoping that I'll finish the tank by the time it shows up.



I need to get going on my sock summit homework, studying for my test, and a few other minor details. Why is all that "required" stuff so hard to focus on. I'd rather just knit.......

how can it be june already???

Tomorrow is the first of june. That means I have about 45 days until I take my test.
YIKES!! Even though I've been studying for nearly a year, it hardly seems like I'm ready. Yesterday I officially "committed", so onward!

The clematis bag is done.
I know, it's HUGE. That's the way it works with felting. This one is going to take a while to shrink into submission. I'm just hoping it turns out cool. It's going to be a blast to take it to sock summit as my working bag. I'm sure I'll be the only kid on the block with one.











Next up "hey teach" from Knitty. I want to have a nice, lightweight sweater to take to the summit for those air-conditioned rooms.

Sock Summit, here I come......

Well, who knew????
If my husband didn't already have no hair, it would be all gone now after registering me for sock summit. I ended up with a couple of extras, as did a lot of folks, but I know they'll get around to me and I'll be able to turn those back in.
I KNOW I'll just end up spending it in the SWAG shop anyway when that opens.

I'm almost afraid to admit that I got my dream schedule:
Thurs: Cool Socks A - Lucy Neatby
Fri: Creative Mosaic Knitting - Barbara Walker
Sat: Cast on Cornucopia/Bind off Bonanza
Sun: Textured Colorwork

and a ticket to the reception.

I tried to take classes that I thought I would improve my knitting skills.

Maybe it was just good luck, maybe it was karma, it is, after my 50th birthday that weekend.
My husband says it was hard work and patience. I'll give him that.
I'm over-the-moon, beside myself excited to be there.
Now I just have to start saving my allowance for the marketplace and SWAG shop.

And now for something entirely different

It's been a very yarny week, in spite of that little detour to hang like a bat.

I've made great progress on the clematis purse. Right now it looks like a sweater for an elephant. Felting is SO amazing! I have 2 more rows of stripes and then the flowers. Hopefully it will be done this week.












Because I also have THIS. The latest shipment from the sock club.
Love the color. Can't wait to get started.











I also got this...
It's for the Faery Ring KAL that starts in july, so it's going in the stash for a bit
It's Cascade 220, doeskin heather. I think it's going to make a great faery ring.




I'm totally stressed out about the sock summit registration. It starts at 10 am tomorrow, and I'll be having a pilates session at the time. I'm worried that by the time I get to it, all the classes will be taken, and I REALLY want to go. We already have hotel reservations, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Sister's worried too, this is her worried look.......








Let's finish with a little garden happiness.

Back from"hanging like a bat"

I managed to survive two days of advanced pilates, not too much worse for the wear.
Just a little tired.....
Good thing tomorrow's a holiday.

finished and blocking

Well, it's been a productive knitting week. The flirty tank is finished and blocking. This was a fun, challenging but easy knit. I would definitely do it again.

I also started on the clematis purse. I want to use it as my knitting bag for sock summit.

I think it's cool, although it does seem a bit gaudy. It will definitely attract some attention!

Now, I just NEED the sock summit registration to OPEN, OPEN, OPEN!

I'm afraid it's going to be a day when I'm tied up, and I won't get the classes I want.

Plenty of classes to choose from, but I think there's about half a million folks that want to go.

Don't EVEN get me started on the vendor list from it. My credit card is crying as we speak.

I'm so excited to even be able to go.

Check out my wisteria! This is the most it's bloomed in it's life. It had to be drastically chopped back because it broke off in the snow. Seems it LIKES to be abused a bit. Really, it's beautiful, and it smells really sweet.

In other news, next weekend is my final required pilates workshop, so it's off to Portland. All advanced. Cadillac, chair and barrels. Very difficult stuff, very physical, and very cirque du soleil. YIKES. Good thing monday is a holiday and I can sleep in.

For our doggie pic today, a little squiggi torture. Don't worry, no cats were harmed. He actually loves the attention. The cat protests, bonks her hard on the head, and five minutes later is back for more!

we've had some visitors here

this is donald and daisy. Don't know where they came from, we just came home the other day and daisy was quite comfortable on top of the hot tub.

The kitty doesn't have a name yet. It's been hanging around. We think it's abandoned, so we've been feeding it. It's very scared of people, but it hangs out on the porch waiting for the morning hand out.