Barn Raising Quilt Project

While waiting to hear (fingers crossed) good news from the hard-working BMFA crew ...hard at work trying to unravel the server crashes and missing classes, I have been making squares for the Barn Raising Quilt charity project. The pattern is easy and the resulting squares can be quite beautiful. After a soak in Eucalan and a spin in the salad spinner they are left to dry on the kitchen counter as normally sunny Southern California is in June gloom at the moment. By the way, that link is supposed to get you a free sample...so it is worth a click!  The squares are going to be assembled at Abundant Yarn and Dyeworks in Portland and the quilts will be auctioned off at Sock Summit to benefit Doctors Without Borders.

Sorry, sorry!

I know it has been a very long time since posting here...however, life has been busier than usual for me. 

 

My DD has defended her thesis successfully - so, as you might imagine, there were a few nervous moments before and many celebrations afterwards. All went well and she is quite happy to have survived the process unscathed. Graduation is in a few weeks and it looks like a wonderful swirl of events pre and post hooding.

I have been teaching quite a bit and have met many interesting, wonderful people at Skein. If you are tying to catch up with me (except for graduation week), I can be found there on Tuesdays, alternate Fridays and Saturdays.

On Sunday, Greg and I went to Brookside Park to check out the AKC Show. You know, I think it might be true what they say about people looking like their dogs!

Then there were a few things that just tickled me....

The other news I have will have to wait. As many of you already know, Sock Summit is coming up in August...I am set to go - airline reservations made, room booked. What classes I will have remains to be seen. Once the dust settles from the registration server crash, the brave souls from BMFA will let me know!  My fingers are crossed that I will have more than one-hour-wonders.

Cool Sock Blockers on a Humid Day

The sock blockers arrived!  I have wanted some since I first saw them on the cover of Cat Bordhi's latest book, New Pathways for Sock Knitters, Bk. One.  A friend from the past two BMFA sock camps on Orcas Island, Chappy, sells them (her husband, John, makes them) through her website. They are really beautifully finished and well worth the money. You can have just about any image on top...hedgehogs, for some crazy reason appealed to me.

Day 3-Alpaca Farm on Way to Orcas

Monday, after a leisurely breakfast at the cafe in Roche Harbor, the van was repacked and we headed off on more pre-camp adventures.  A few projects were being finished on the drive...one ended up on the dashboard for a quick shot.  That is the top of Alice's head in the review mirror. 

We made two stops on our journey to the to the ferry and our ultimate destination, Rosario Resort and BMFA's Sock Camp. 

Krystal Acres was truly beautiful.  After making many purchases at their Country Store, we headed out for a brief tour of the farm and met some of the sweet alpacas. 

This one is named Houdini and will be the sire of all farm offspring this season! 

We were able to pet and feed some of the animals-they are very social and like to be with their pasture mates.

The other stop we made that morning was a vista point for whale watching and a short hike to a lighthouse.  I managed to snap a few shots there, too.










I didn't see any whales, but the view was fantastic.  Some people stayed back to work on projects....I am glad that mine was shipped ahead so the vista point wasn't missed.

Oh, that reminds me...the packages are finally on their way back home, stuffed to the rafters with yarn.  UPS tracking is fantastic...if you are obsessive, like me, you can check on your package's progress hourly.  The last time I checked the two boxes departed West Sacramento, early this morning.  At least they are off the island and moving in a southerly direction.

Tomorrow's post will be a consolidation of camp pictures...socks and funky monkeys.