Knit One Quilt Too

Ah, bliss...

Our trip was so relaxing and so peaceful.  It was definitely good to have a little adult time.  The food was some of the best we've had.  Did you know there are tastings of all sorts to be had in Sonoma?  You can taste wine of course, but also cheese, olive oil and chocolate.  My goodness, it would be dangerous to live there! 

We visited a couple of wineries for tours and tastings.  This one was just beautiful and had a tremendous amount of bird life.  We also had wine tastings in the hotel lobby each night.  We even bought a case which should be delivered tomorrow.

We went to the Plaza on Friday night for the tree lighting and saw Santa riding in a vintage fire truck.

The flowers and hummingbirds in December reminded me just why we loved living in Northern California.

On Saturday morning there was the Blessing of the Olives in the Mission which we managed to see the end of.  They handed out these olive branches to everyone as they left the ceremony.

It was a most delicious trip.  This little souvenir is but a memory now.  Hopefully the wine should last a little longer!

Portland pleases us

We had a nice, busy trip to Portland the past couple of days.  We managed to get in a bunch of shopping, a trip to OMSI and Chloe's doctor's appointments.  I loved the incongruous pairing of comestibles on the side of the building above. 

We had our first trip to an IKEA store on this trip and found it a refreshing look at color and pattern.  I had no idea they sell fabric by the yard!  I didn't get any of that, but I did by a three pack of dishtowels just because they are so pretty.  I may just use them for sewing rather than in the kitchen.  I also had my first trip to Anthropologie!  Wow, so pretty.  I love their stationery and other gift items.  I'd love to take photos there for inspiration, but didn't do it.  Perhaps another time.

We took a little walk around the city this morning with a bit of drizzle in the air. 

I had never noticed this statue in Pioneer Courthouse Square.  We stopped to see what he was pointing to and decided it is the Christmas tree, just delivered.  I'll bet it's really pretty here at Christmas time.  Unfortunately, we don't have Portland plans this Christmas.  We have made it there the past 2 for Chloe's doctor's appointments in December, but we got there early this year.

These chocolates greeted us as we came in the hotel before dinner yesterday.  What a treat!  I had lots of knitting time on this trip because Mark was driving.  Tomorrow photos of that!

A Little Break

It's official.  Chloe has broken her arm.  It happened when she fell out of a tree at the park last night.  I can't believe how often it has happened that we were at the emergency room the night before a trip.  Ryan did this a bunch of times, getting stitches the night before trips to Hawaii.  Anyway, she's doing well and is still quite cheerful despite knowing there will be no swimming, no tennis and difficulty writing.  We go back on Monday for a permanent cast.  And now we are off to Portland because, despite the pain, she is determined to make it to tomorrow night's performance of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me- The NPR News Quiz.  See you in a few days!

So there I was...

Just reading through my nightly blogs and what do you know there's a photo of my Think Green quilt and it's not even my blog.  I was amazed to find the bottom right corner of my quilt on The Purl Bee, one of my favorite blogs.  What a treat! 

I took the kids to Portland for a couple of days this week and the city was in full bloom.  It was glorious!  We took a trip to the Rose Test Garden and saw these beauties.

More quilting progress to come soon and maybe even some knitting!

Camp Cockamamie- No whales, but plenty of fun!

Camp Cockamamie continues...  Please excuse the long absence.  I took the kids to a homeschooling conference last weekend and when we got back there was so much to do to recover from all the traveling.  We are home for a while now and I am feeling much better, so without further ado...

On the second day of camp we had a whale watch scheduled.  I had told the Sockateers that we weren't going, but at the last minute we dragged the kids out of bed, threw some snacks in a bag and drove down to the dock.  Luckily, there was room for us.  We had a good time and the day started with beautiful weather.  Chloe got started knitting right away, unfortunately, the only whale seen was this little cutie on the left side of the photo.

We saw lots of Bald Eagles, though we didn't get a good picture of them.  The biggest highlight was this rock covered with Stellar's Sea Lions.  We got close enough to hear the bellowing, roaring and growling.

I did some knitting too.  I bought this Mystic Sea pattern (named after the whale watching boat) and the yarn especially made for it called Lunasea.  It's really beautiful and I like the pattern which was created by Cass.  I didn't get much further than that though because we spent a lot of time with binoculars looking at birds and trying to find whales.   

Lots of the other knitters were actually making progress with their knitting.  Here's Stephanie in the gorgeous Bohus sweater, Cass and Tammy in the center.

One of the other highlights of the tour was Cat's every-so-often comments about the islands.  She's hilarious and has lots of crazy anecdotes. 

The day continued with an underwater knitting contest (no photos allowed!) and a concert by Orcas Island historian and musician, Christopher Peacock.  This was a really lovely addition to the program and it was a treat to meet Christopher as Mark has been a fan of his for a very long time.  We had a tour of the music room and the library and theater in the balcony above.

The last day started bright and early with a class with Stephanie.  She taught us how to knit a pair of socks with only our yarn and needles, no pattern needed. 

After lunch we had our final class which was all about community knitting.  We learned how to make a blanket with 4 knitters knitting at once.  How cool is that?  I ended up bringing our tribe's blanket home to finish with knitting friends here.  That way, we can deliver it to the children's hospital during Chloe's next trip to Portland to see her doctors.

That afternoon there were two more contests that were tons of fun.  First there was the paired up, one handed knitting.  This was hilarious to see.  Look at the concentration on the faces of the participants!

And, here are the winners!  Man, could they knit fast.  You can see them in the third photo above, having a blast!

Lastly, Stephanie and Cat had a knit-off!  What a riot! 

Yoga pose...

 

Friday evening we had a delicious seafood buffet and then they kicked us out of the dining room and sent us back to the conference hall for our final evening's entertainment.  First off, the Dixie Chicks sang our camp song. 

Then there was a fashion show.  The loveliest must have been Nathania in this incredible shawl (though it really looks as if it's worn by a ghost).  Sorry about that, Nathania really does look like a runway model!

And finally, here's Chloe, who joined the group for this last event and even took a trip down the runway to show off her knitted animals.  I just love this shot!   

Our trip to Orcas Island ended perfectly with a Saturday morning walk around town again.  It was sunny and just beautiful.  It really was a wonderful week and a treat to meet so many lovely people.  Next up, some of the projects from the past few weeks!   

Camp Cockamamie- BAWK!

Continuing with Post #2 about Camp Cockamamie...  After dinner we had the Chicken contest.  A few weeks before camp we were sent a package containing various yarns and told to make a chicken.  We had no idea what for except that they would be judged.  Luckily, I took a photo of mine at home.  I was hoping for a funky chicken award, but you should have seen how elaborate most of these chickens were!  It was so amazing to see the creativity and talent that went into making them!  Here's mine with a little chickie under her wing.  I didn't enter the little one in the contest, so she's still here with me.  The bigger one has gone on to another family, though I forgot to get a photo or the name of the recipient.

While folks were drifting in for the Chicken Antics, Stephanie made a point to rearrange the sock circle and to get it all in perfect color order.  Don't mess with it! 

This gorgeous chicken  was the centerpiece for the event and is just amazing.  This one was made by Chappy.

Many prizes were given out for various categories and you'll see them soon, but first Cat and Stephanie had a whole skit about their chicken which was made at the last minute with an egg that they felted around a cabbage in the washing machine (imagine the smell of that combination of cabbage and wet wool!).  Then, of course, there was the matter of how to get the cabbage out!  There was much discussion of the cloaca (where the egg comes out).  By the way, the correct pronunciation is clo-ay-ca (not clo-ah-ca).  That MS in Avian Science will not be wasted!  The egg was filled with lots of little chickies.

The judging was done in secret and then we were told we would be playing a game where we might not get our chicken back.  This was a left-right story.  I decided to stay in the game, but the ones with the really incredible chickens decided to keep them out of the game.  I don't blame them!  Look at these beauties and notice the incredible variety.

This is Frieda and her mama chicken with a story.

Lou and her Wallace and Gromit style chicken.  I love that chicken face!

This is Chappy who made the incredible centerpiece above.  In addition to that one, she made this little cutie for the game and this is the one I got to bring home.  I just love the little felted chicks!  Thanks, Chappy!

Next up, whale watching (except there were no whales).  It was still a fun time- stay tuned!

Camp Cockamamie Begins

Sorry for the long delay in posting.  As it turned out, internet access was only available in the mansion and the conference center and we were kept so busy it turned out there was precious little time for blogging.  In addition, I woke up Saturday morning with a scratchy throat, by the time we were back on the mainland in the afternoon I had a fever which made me pretty miserable all the way to Portland where we spent the night.  We got home yesterday afternoon and I spent the rest of the day curled up on the couch, knitting only when the fever abated.  I feel a bit better today, but the coughing is getting worse.  On top of that, Mark is gone this week and the kids and I have another trip on Thursday!  This April is one of the busiest in a very long time.

Without further ado, here's post #1 of this incredible sock camp where I met some amazing people and some some incredibly gorgeous knitwear.  It started with a dessert reception in the mansion Tuesday night.  At the reception we received our goodies bags which contained the items in the photo above, plus a chicken chucker (went straight to Ryan) and some very odd gum.  This colorway is called Cockamamie and I just love it! 

The next morning, the shop opened and was just about cleaned out in a matter of hours.  You should have seen the yarn piles in some people's arms!  My take home yarn was rather less than most, but I did get some heavy weight STR to try (I love it!), got a couple of mill ends, some lightweight and medium weight STR and Stephanie's new book (Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off).  I also got a couple of new sock patterns.

Campers were divided into four different tribes.  Mine was called the Dixie Chicks and we started right off with a session with Cat Bordhi.  Having just seen her and learned her new techniques, I got started rather quickly.  Cat is a real crack-up and kept the ladies entertained the whole time.  Here she is explaining how to do Judy's Magic Cast On for toe up socks.

Once again, we gave human knitting a try.

After a (very quick) lunch we had our second session with Tina (dyer extrordinaire for Blue Moon).  We learned all about color and dyeing techniques.

In this class we played with pastel chalks and then knit a swatch using various colors and textures of yarn.  We also talked about this amazing colorwheel of socks.

The Chicken contest requires a whole post, so look for that coming up.  I need to rest!

Orcas Island Respite

We are on Orcas Island in the San Juan Islands of Washington.  It's incredibly beautiful and restful.  I have a lot of great photos of our trip so far, but since they are family photos, I'm posting them on my unschooling blog, Live Love Laugh Learn.  You can check out the posts there if you are interested.  I am here for the first annual Blue Moon Fiber Arts Camp Cockamamie and it's sure to be a hoot.  Check back here in the next few days for some knitting content. 

Most Magical Weekend

What a weekend!  The Magical Moebius Festival was even more fun this time around.  Cat Bordhi was amazing as always.  Her new sock designs are going to knock your socks off!  Unfortunately for you, unless you were at the festival you won't be able to see the new designs until New Pathways for Sock Knitters comes out in June or July.  We were sworn to secrecy, so I can't tell you or I'd have to kill you!  Therefore, the photos in this post are cleverly designed to distract from that sock knitting business and get straight to the people, colors and moebiusness that made the festival so fun.

First of all, Cat and Nancy Parsons (who puts on the festival) had a little dance where in they tried to show how stitches are created.  This left the rest of us in stitches.

Secondly, we had over 2 dozen amazing women to knit and share stories with.  Notice the windows there that were overlooking the Pacific in all its glory.

Thirdly, the yarn available for purchase was amazing.  Nancy brought a huge stash of Fleece Artist and Hand Maiden yarns.  If you are interested in purchasing some of this luscious yarn check out her online shop, Colorsong Yarn.  Michelle brought a whole bunch of different stuff from her shop (Fiber Nooks and Crannys) in Corvallis.

During the moebius part of the weekend I was working on my first moebius sling bag.  This pattern is in Cats' Second Treasury of Magical Knitting.  It was felted yesterday and I love it.  I had one full skein of the green Manos, but the rest is all odd balls of Manos that I had leftover from other projects.

I just realized that I have a finished object that I never even mentioned starting.  This is tilting blocks scarf made with Fleece Artist Sea Silk that I picked up in Portland last November.  I finished it just in time for the festival so I had to make a beach trek to get a portrait.

While I was down there I did a little tide pooling.  There were these beautiful green anemones everywhere and then I noticed the sea stars which were everywhere the closer you got to the ocean.

 

We had two surprise attendees to the festival- none other than the Mason-Dixon Knitting chicks, Ann and Kay.  They were kind enough to give a presentation on Saturday night and also signed books.  I knew they were coming ahead of time and so had brought my copy.  I was also thrilled to be sitting with Kay when we did the moebius and I helped her with the cast on!  She was a quick study, so just a few pointers were about all she needed.  Ann and Kay are really as funny in real life as they are on their blog, so it was a treat to talk to them.

They showed us some of the items from the book as well as this lovely new blanket made by their friend Ann Breuchner, who also attended the festival.  This Ann is the one who made the gorgeous Flying Geese blanket in the Mason-Dixon book.  She was also a treat to meet because she has so many incredible ideas.  I absolutely love this blanket and was inspired to start my own.

   

My start on a free form knitted quilt:

Here's Nancy, Cat and Leslie.

Here's Ashle in her beautiful poncho that she made with a cut up t-shirt and some gorgeous yarn.  Look closely to see the dangly bits of green t-shirt.

We learned a great new provisional cast on created by Judy (who attended the festival) it's on Knitty and is well worth learning.  It's called Judy's Magic Cast On.  I started my toe up sock with this cast on.  I'm up to the heel on this one, but I can't show you yet because it's made with Cat's sockitecture.

 

On Saturday morning we had a good rainstorm and the waves were huge.  In the afternoon the sun came out and it was beautiful, though still chilly.  I took a little walk before dinner where I saw this Vietnam Memorial.  It's set up so that on April 30, which was the day the war ended, the spire will cast a shadow on the granite wall behind it.  I'm still not sure of the significance of the egrets, but I thought they were cool.

I can't read the whole quote, but it starts, "Light is an appointment we must keep when we are all quiet..."

In the same park was this monument to the whales who pass by on their annual migration.

I also like this statue in the park.

On Saturday evening we said our goodbyes to Ann, Kay and Ann who had to leave for home early Sunday morning.

Cat, Nancy, Ann, Kay, Ann

me and Cat

Ann, Ann, me and Kay

Nancy, Ashle and me

me, Nancy, Dahlia and Cat

How many knitters can you fit inside a moebius?

It was a glorious weekend full of fun and friendship.  I hope some of you will consider it in the future!

Sparkling San Francisco

We had a marvelous time in San Francisco last weekend.  It was cold, but so clear and sparkling that we just had to spend a lot of time outdoors.  Friday afternoon started off with a flight right over the Cascades that afforded us incredible views of our local mountains.  This is the Three Sisters- Faith, Hope and Charity.

We got to San Francisco with time for a late lunch, then spent a bit of time walking around Union Square to see some of the galleries.  We took some time out for a cup of tea before dinner.

The next morning was clear and bright and so inviting for a walk around the city.  We didn't eat here, but I'd like to see those "little pancakes"! 

We ended up walking through Chinatown to Coit Tower.  Up and down a lot of hills!  We even walked up this sidewalk made of stairs.

The cable cars rode past us all over the place, but we didn't ride them at all this weekend.  We've had many previous trips here with the kids and have taken many a cable car ride.  We decided to take advantage of being kidless and do what they don't enjoy- hiking up lots of hills.

One of the fun aspects of walking a city is seeing all the little nooks and crannies.  I just loved these painted stairs.

The view from Coit Tower was spectacular.  This is looking north and that's Alcatraz Island out there in the bay.

This is one of the murals inside the base of the tower.

After the tower we walked several blocks over to the crooked part of Lombard Street.  I'd driven this many times, but never walked up it.  Along the way the pale blue of this house caught my eye.

Looks like quilt squares to me!

I love these little alleyways. 

Pausing for a bit before lunch at the Fairmont.

What a great trip!  We spent the afternoon looking in galleries again and have found an artist that I love.  Mark likes her work too.  Her name is Varya and you can see her work here.  We had two marvelous dinners.  One was at The Slanted Door- fabulous food! The other was Plumpjack's Cafe, which was very interesting.  Some very strange dinners on the menu and they seemed to have an obsession with foam- cucumber foam, horseradish foam (I'm not kidding!).  Anyway my squash soup and gnocchi were delicious and the company (old friends) was fabulous.  I did make it to one yarn shop, Artfibers, but will save that for the next post.  Here's the sunset from our hotel room- ahhhh!