three strikes...

As I have said before, I'm a perfectionist...so to alleviate some of my anxiety, I have created the 'rule of three'. One little bitty mistake is fine (especially if only the designer might notice)...

Two little mistakes are also passable since it's usually my thing that's getting done so I can smile and reassure myself that it has character...

However, three strikes and you. are. out.

I really wanted these socks to work out. I really did. This isn't even the first time I've frogged them...*sigh* Still, after reading suggestions from the designer (whose advice I will follow) I'm actually confident it will be the last. They are in time-out right now but I doubt it will be for long.

And so being the fickle little thing that I am, I immediately went to work on some fun socks and these are chugging along very nicely :)

*sigh* it's gone...

So, I've been working on this other thing. I guess it's safe to blog about since I'm finished.

It's a shrug for a bride...(never you mind that laundry it's clean)

A friend of my mother has a daughter who is getting married...

My mom recommended me and she accepted. It's my first commissioned piece...

I enjoyed the process, modifying the pattern for size and specifications. It was a bit like being a hair dresser; hoping that what I think she wanted is indeed what she wants...

In the end I was very pleased with how it turned out, and she's promised me pictures. It is a bit strange working so hard on something that I'll never see again and for that reason, I may not want to do this again. Another thing I wasn't counting on when I started this was that I would have so much trouble remaining momogamous to one project. I usually like to play around with different things, some of which get finished and some which don't...so it was really hard not to knit other things up--especially since I came home with all that delicious yarn from sock camp. Now, having finished, I immediately cast on two new things, aaaahhhhh....

Monkey Socks in Kaw Kaw (camp special colorway but you get it here)

And a Mobius scarf in Eggplanted from BMFA...

Also, on the list of really cool shtuff, my new-very-best-friend-from-sock-camp made me a present. You can buy some too if you go to her Etsy shop...

This one I ordered from her shop...

It's called 'frog pond' but this next one was made just for me :) I've turned it inside out (the outside is all like the pocket) so you can see all the features--inside pocket, 'key' ring, loop for hanging stuff on, row counter and carabeener features on the drawstring...

My. so. cool. MONKEY BAG!!!!

OK, one more thing and then I swear I'm done with sock camp...

So, after charity knitting but before the sock puppet/talent show we had dinner...

The wine was fabulous...

The company divine... and then something really weird happened...

It snowed...

*sigh* Then it was time to go home...Saturday was only awesome because there were no hitches in my elaborate system of cars, ferries, busses, vans, planes and trucks needed to get me home. So, next year? I can't say no...

Ooga wants to see his friends again...

Sweet, sweet, bittersweet Friday...

The last day was a doozie... there was charity knitting...

Four of us around a blanket that will be finished and donated to the homeless shelters in the area...

A Sock Camp Sock Puppet Show and Talent Extravaganza...

...and the best part ever, the Sock Yarn Monkey Parade...this is Ooga Chaka...

And all his friends....

and yes, that green one up there is a boy, why do you ask...

...and then there was Thursday

Thursday was more classes and more yarn and some not photograph-able stuff involving water, knitting needles and possibly some SCUBA gear...

Then there was this, which I think qualifies as actual yarn pron because it's a photo shoot on a flakati rug (looks like a sheep skin but not a skin, just wool felted on one side)...

It is our Sock Camp yarn, especially dyed for us *sigh*

OK, I'm back. So, I must say I enjoyed every class I took. I enjoyed each of the teachers and all that they had to bring to the table. Being a teacher myself, I earnestly felt that each of them brought their best...that having been said, I learned so much in JC's class that my mind almost melted...face it, if the Yarn Harlot says that she wants to take your class, it's gotta be good :) It was all about casting-on. Any of this information can probably be found anywhere on the net or at your local yarn shop but collected all together with her fabulous, "assume the position" thing (it's hysterical, it involves giant knitting needles and 17 feet of wild acrylic i-chord in neon green and save-your-local-hunter-orange), was wonderful...it's possible then that this was a good thing because I was in a semi-exhausted state and may have been more open to new ideas. Therefore, my ability to grasp the wonderfully out-of-the-box ideas in Cat Bordhi's class must have been expanded and it all just made perfect sense. It was almost eerie...I totally made a tiny Coriolis sock and I felt like I just got the whole, thing...it was awesome--there maybe some recall issues though...hmmm, maybe I did melt something I might have needed :) And to prove it, I can't remember if the, "you can knit with anything" event was for sure Thursday but I'm pretty sure...maybe it was Wednesday, but since I couldn't take pictures of the swimming event, here ya go...I will tell you this, the gal in the black shirt is a vegetarian and yes, she's been asked to knit with a meat stick...mull that over for a minute and you'll know what the definition of 'good sport' means...

Now that I think about it, I'm sure that the knitting thing was Wednesday...and that's Hot Flash and the Stephanie trying to help Claire knit with a tiny plastic hanger that was all hook and no hanger...

But, there were no photographs allowed for the underwater knitting portion so you get this and my trying to help you create a picture in your head...several beautiful knitters, with excellent sportsmanship, taking to the water...wait, it's coming...to practice... the time honored art of ...underwater knitting. It was declared that mayhaps, we were privy to the only group (cluster? bevy? murder?) of underwater knitters, maybe anywhere.

Next: charity, yodeling, monkeys, and Dinginess crab...oh yeah, you know you're jealous...

And Wednesday was MONKEYS!!!!!

I'm a perfectionist. It's hard to tell because I deliberately muss things up so that no one can see that I haven't met my own expectations...elaborate subterfuge for an undetectable event, I know. My mom has said before when she has visited from out of town, "Honey, if you hadn't told me we were going the wrong way, I never would have known!" No need to rat myself out, I'm sure...but...I got all the way down my monkey and had to rip him all out because *drum roll* I thought I dropped a stitch. My very-best-new-friend-I-made-at-camp gave an eyebrow to note the event, but since she's a bit of a perfectionist about her knitting too, she didn't skip a beat...Anyway, Wednesday was Monkey Kaw Kaw day. We were treated to a wonderful new pattern by one of Blue Moon's own and the yarn to knit them with and we all immediately launched into a full scale trade the likes of which have only been recently seen in grade school lunch rooms:

"I'll trade you my Rooster Rocks for some Pond Scum."

"Naah, got any Hot Flash, I'd trade for that!?"

"Uh uh, but I do have some lime colored stuff..."

"Man, what I wouldn't give for little taste of Dragon Dance for my Monkey's hiney..."

I was so looking forward to what I fully expected to be the creative equivalent to our homework. And I was not disappointed...

But first, a trip to our local yarn shop, and dinner on beeeeuuutiful Orcas Island...I bought one little harmless flat of yarn (that's this really cool thing where the yarn is machine knit in stockinette stitch and then dyed...so cool!) and we saw this in the corner...

Then we had a lovely dinner at the, "Thai Sisters" restaurant and then came 'home' for the evenings festivities...It was a relay race that involved knitting for speed, and then for some real fun, a TP relay course...and that ended up looking something like this... And this...

Who says that knitters don't know how to have fun :)

April 15, 2008, or, "And I thought I was talented..."

So, Tuesday...classes all day. First, was Cookie A....beautiful, funny, talented and yet so self-deprecating...what a treat! --No, I'm not in love-shut up, I'm saving that for JC:) We launched into traveling stitches and how and when to use them and Einstein was again proved to be correct in that time flew (relatively, of course). Naturally, I couldn't follow directions...I decided I wanted to make an actual sock out of my lesson, as a memento, since the color yarn I bought matched my camp t-shirt--just sayin'. So, I start in right away with the whole, 'can I do this and change that?' and whatnot...lets just say she was a very gracious teacher. Lunch was next and fabulous and so was my class with Tina (who by her own proclamation is only one of the brains and talents behind Blue Moon Fiber Arts) and Stephanie (aka the Yarn Harlot) which was a life altering experience for many and especially one gal who had her whole gauge altered by one bit of advice from TYH. The day was over in the blink of an eye and the tiny break between classes and dinner time was barely a breath...taken with the denizens of the resort... Not shy...especially noting that NONE of us had anything even remotely resembling food...I hung with my homies at the bar and enjoyed walking among the Greeks ...(aaaand I may have resorted to eating a wrapped up sandwich and half a bag of chips which I ferreted away at lunch because I miiiiiiight have spent a tiiiiiiiny bit too much on yarn--unless you're my husband and then it was JUST ONE SKEIN!!!!!)

Then, there was homework. Cat and Stephanie didn't do their homework again but made up for it...again...

I'm going to go ahead and say this; I thought I was talented and I thought my shit was cool...until I got to see the rest of the homework...

Stunning...dudes...

...I don't even rank.

Warning to my Mom: This is testament that ours was a 'y-chromosome free' reproductive event, because if you were 25 years younger, and wearing a rooster on your head...this would totally be what you would look like...And I mean that as a compliment :)