Knitting Retreat

Well, I may as well fess up. I recently got back from a knitting retreat. I tried to cover it as Knitting Camp (which sounds a little more cool), but there's no way around it. Imagine telling my boss I need a day off to go to a knitting retreat. Let's just say I needed a mental health day. And I think I might need another mental health day when my friends have a yarn intervention for me. God lord, how much yarn can one person have?!?

So there were 7 of us at said "camp". We knit, we drank, we ate, then we knit some more (that's K1, d2tog (drink 2 together)). Then we drank some more. It's a wonder anyone could recognize what we were trying to make. Which, by the way, was a beautiful Celtic cable pillow, with designer/instructor Melissa Leapman, who had a special way of drawing knitting needles that riled up the room full of menopausal women. (Yikes, something else to look forward to.)

But I digress...

"Camp" was help at a place called Marconi Conference Center, on Tomales Bay. It was absolutely lovely out there. I never knew the place existed and it was the perfect spot for a relaxing weekend.

I had always been fearful of knitting cables. They look so beautiful and therefore difficult. I was pleasantly surprised how easy they really are. (Yes, everyone is still getting a scarf for Christmas, only it will have cables now.) Melissa was a great teacher and made the whole process fun. We met some wonderful folks from all over the Bay Area, and saw some amazing pieces. I wonder how some of them have so much time to knit.

So, I've already signed up for "camp" for next year. Sally Melville and, um, someone else who's name escapes me at the moment, are going to be the instructors. looking forward to it.

Fundraising continues

We had a pretty successful fundraising event with the Purse Party. I sold 7 purses so far and have a few left. If you're interested, let me know.

This is one of my favorite purses, and unfortunately it's hard to see. The artist who donated it also makes purses for the Hollywood crowd, and was recently commissioned to do a purse for the Bill Engvall show. The minimum price on this is $150.

















This is another great little purse. Lot's of fun colors. It to was donated. Starting price $50.





















This is another fun purse. Crazy enough for the weekend, but still nice enough for work, with a little extra flare. This one starts at $75.

080808 - Let the games begin...

I'm such a huge fan of the Olympics! And having just completed my USA Track & Field Coach certification, I'm going to be a real pain. I'm sure to annoy the heck out of everyone with my editorializing! Can't wait.

Ken and I went to the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and had a blast. The great thing about being there in person is that you really see (or are reminded of) what the Olympics are really about. We stayed through all 51 men's ice skaters (bet you didn't know there were that many there). That's because on tv, we only see the top 15 or so. And everyone cheered for everyone, regardless of which country they were from.

I have 2 knitting projects I'm working on during the Olympics. One is a scarf that I should be able to get through pretty quickly. The other is a felted computer bag.

Go USA, Canada, Mexico, Estonia, Argentina, Iceland, Germany, France, Denmark and the other 70+ countries being represented.

Summer of Love Package 2

Wow, am I ever spoiled. I just received my second package from my Secret Pal and it is AWESOME. So many lovely items and things I've never seen before, like a tool to help you measure yarn. It's totally cool. And the most amazing books on Cables and Arans. I just got back from Ireland so it's so perfect that I can check out these stitches. The book makes them seem easier than I thought. I can't wait to try some. I'll post more later and some pics.

Thank you and have a great vacation Secret Pal.

Best Buddies Charity Auction

Every year I put together an auction of knitted and handmade goods and donate the proceeds to a local charity. This year, the auction will be benefiting Best Buddies, an organization that works to help developmentally challenged people assimilate into society.

This time around we've received some amazing donations. Check out what we'll be auctioning off.

Best Buddies Charity Auction
August 3
2-6pm
1518 Shasta Ave
San Jose, CA


Kniterature Bag by Debbie (as seen on the Bill Engvall Show)
















Red Bag No. 9















Springtime

















Monet's Day Out















Bag by Kiddendoodle (Thanks for the donation!)

Houston - we have a problem

That is is tooooooooooooooo hot here. I just got back from spending a week in Houston for a conference and then a coaches certification program.

I did get a chance to check out a LYS in La Porte that was awesome. It's called Upstairs Studio and they focus on spinning and weaving http://www.upsstudio.com. If you are ever in the Houston area, I would highly recommend it. I picked up some stuff for my Secret Pal. I don't want to say too much in case she's checking this out.

Houston wsa, I have to admit, much better than I remembered it. I spent some time at the convention center and then Rice University. Lovely place. Had some great food as Pappas Bros.

I also did some caching in their lovely Memorial Park.

And finally I was able to visit the Space Center, which was awesome as well. I did some tours, heard all about going to the moon and beyond.

I've got an auction coming up here in a few weeks and I'm tryng to get stuff done before then.

Summer of Love Swap - Surprise Package 1

Wow, I just went through all of my mail after being gone for 10 days and received an awesome package from my Secret Swap pal. I love it. I received some lovely Bamboucle (Bamboo Boucle), that is just amazing and "yummy". I can't wait to knit something with it. I've never seen anything like it before (and believe me, I've seen a lot of yarn : )

There is also some other wonderful items, like beautiful stitch markers, chocolate, tea, and some lovely knitters hand repair soap, and some other really cool things.

Thank you Secret Pal

Mid Summer Night's Dream

Well, we're back from our vacation. We had 10 days of fun (minus the rental car fiasco). We started in Ashland and checked out some plays and then went to visit our friends in Corvallis. Then we ended up on the California coast for some camping.

In case people want to know where to eat when in Ashland, we recommend, Apple Bistro cellar (breakfast), Morning Glory (breakfast), Pilaf Polyethnic Cafe (dinner), Thai Pepper (lunch or dinner). Yum!

Admittedly there isn't much in Eureka, but we have to stop every time since one of our favorite restaurants" Samoa Cookhouse. This used to be a big place for loggers to eat. They put out food family style, and there just one menu, which goes something like this "Tonight we're serving roast beef, fried chicken, salad, soup, bread, corn, potatoes and dessert. We'll that be okay?" Duh! yeah, bring it on. And it's all you can eat!!

Then it was off to camp. Mental note to self, make sure the campground has a shower, or bring your camp shower. Hmm, we did neither of these, so needless to say we were kind of smelly when we got home. But we had a great time, went on some great hikes, ate some great camp food.

I'm off to Houston tomorrow for work. Going from hot and dry to hot and humid. Yikes.

A Comedy of Errors

Okay, so our vacation started with a bit of a hitch. We decided to rent a car, since our cars are getting to be a little unreliable. Hmmmm, we'll have to rethink that. Our rental car completely died on us, in the middle of F-ing nowhere at midnight, leaving us stranded on the side of the road with no lights, including hazard lights. Duh, stupid me, I thought that's what the frigging things were for!!! FYI, if your battery goes, you have no lights. Sure it makes sense to me now. So we're stuck in pitch black, the only thing to light our dinky rental car are the semi's zooming by, and my headlamp, which we stuck in the back window (so the semi's could see what they were about to hit).

The CHP stopped to help by putting themselves in harms way. We asked in circumstances like this, is it better to stay in the car or move away from the car. He said (and I'm paraphrasing and probably embellishing) - Uh, doesn't really matter, the semi's are going to kill you instantly regardless of where you are. But at least if you're in the car, we'll be able to id you." Okay the last part was the embellished part.

After several hours of fighting with our rental car company (which will remain nameless (Enterprise)), we finally got to our hotel via a really nice tow truck driver, thanks to AAA, not the rental car company that will rename nameless (Enterprise).

The day after several more hours of fighting with rental car company that will rename nameless (Enterprise), we finally had to rent a car under Ken's name, since the rental car company that will rename nameless (Enterprise), couldn't sort anything out until one of the managers comes back in on Monday. So tomorrow, we start all over again.

Speaking of Comedy of Errors, that's why we're here. We came up to Ashland to see some Shakespeare plays at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. I used to go all the time when I was in college, but Ken has never been.

So picture this: a Comedy of Errors as a Western musical. No joke! And it was awesome!! A total "madcap romp" as they described it. Today we saw Midsummer Night's Dream, set in the disco 70's. Both had me laughing so hard I cried. As Ken says "I laughed, I cried, it became a part of me."

So that's our Comedy of Errors so far. Hopefully we'll get the car situation taken care tomorrow and can continue on out own madcap romp.

Vacation Time - Yeah

We're heading up to Oregon for a week to camp and visit friends. Usually I bring a ton of knitting with me on vacation, and I will do so this time. But the problem is, we're camping. Ugh! So I don't want to end up with smelly-smoky stuff that I have to Frebreeze to death. Oh well. Maybe I'll knit a camping hat : )

After that I'm off to hot and humid Houston for a conference. If I don't melt, I should have some quality time to knit there as well. I'm almost done with my pillow and should spend some time knitting stuff for the auction, which will be August 3.

I also just signed up to be a Kitchen Helper at Sur La Table for their Culinary program. Can't wait to learn some new recipes.

And finally, I finished my ring class and have 6 new rings to show off. They all turned out great. I need to post some pics of those. I'll probably end up auctioning off a few of them for charity. We'll see.

Summer is in the air

I can't believe that it is already June. Team Ronald McDonald House will be starting up again soon so I am trying to get all of my house projects, knitting projects and jewelry done before training starts in earnest. To learn more about Team Ronald McDonald House, go to http://www.ronaldhouse-stanford.org/team/index.php.

Ken and I are also training for the Best Buddies Challenge. A 100-mile bike ride from Carmel to San Simeon along the California Coast. In order to meet our fundraising goal, we will have an auction of knitted goods in August. I'm trying to set up an online auction, but we'll do a live auction as well.

Summer of love questionnaire

1. Do you knit or crochet? How long have you been at your craft? Knitter, 5 years
   
2. Do you spin? What type of spinning? Nope
   
3. What are your favorite yarns/fibers? What are your least favorite yarns/fibers? I felt a lot so I work with wool. But I am working on a tencel yarn right now which is awesome. Also, love cotton, silk.
   
4. What are your favorite colors? What are your least favorite colors? Blues, periwinkle, light pinks, black, browns. Don't really like oranges/greens (not my color!)
   
5. Are there any yarns/brands that you are dying to work with but never have? Bamboo would be fun, or any other sustainable yarn if you will
   
6. What is/are your favorite types of projects to knit/crochet? I can do scarfs in my sleep, but like shawls too. I'm working on a tank top shell right now
   
7. What are you currently working on? Anything you plan to work on this summer? Opps, got ahead of myself. Working on a tnak shell, and a shawl
   
8. What is your favorite FO? (Post a pic if you would like.) I make felted purses and sell them at auction for charity. Some of those turned out amazing. but I don't have them anymore : (
   
9. What is your oldest UFO? ha, ha, ha. Okay, it's a sweater I was making for a boyfriend around 15 years ago. I out grew him, and knitting at the time : )
   
10. Are there any techniques that you want to learn? CABLES.
    
11. Are you on Ravlery? What's your ID? spunkyknitter
    
12. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements? Nope, not my thing
    
13. Do you collect anything? Disney Trading Pins (Specifically Holiday ones), yarn (duh!!)
    
14. Do you have a yarn winder and/or swift? Yes, and couldn't live without!!
    
15. Do you love sweets? What are your favorites? Dark chocolate, oh who am I kidding? Anything works for me.
    
16. What are your favorite scents? Vanilla, lavender
    
17. Where do you keep your needles/hooks? I have a holder that keeps them all in order.
    
18. Do you have a wishlist (Amazon, Etsy, etc?) Hmm, didn't know I could do one on Esty. I'll go there right after this : )
    
19. Having a birthday this summer? no, I'm in January, but I ofetn thought of celebrating in July
    
20. Are you allergic to anything??? Please let your pal know! I'm allergic to walnuts and hazelnuts (and penicillin, but pretty irrelevant : )