New Mexico Knitting Retreat

I have arrived safely in New Mexico for our knitting retreat. I have never been to the Southwest before and so far I am smitten with the adobe, cactus and MOUNTAINS! I was not expecting mountains. We flew into El Paso where we gathered the group members and were met by our amazing hostess Barrett. We stopped in downtown El Paso to have a group lunch at the posh Cafe Central before heading on to the Luchesse Boot Factory. While at lunch, Barrett presented each of us with a custom made tote bag full of local goodies like pistachios and pecans and some needed goodies like sunscreen and bottled water.

The boot factory is a sight to behold. Who knew cowboy boots were such art?! This vegetarian settled on browsing and trying not to guess/know what animal the boot was made out of.

Luckily the store had other things to look at like artifacts from the area.

After the boot factory we made the 2 hour drive to Tularosa, our knitting retreat homebase. There are 11 of us staying at an amazing home owned by the family of our gracious hostess Barrett. We were greeted by Cowboy, an adorable puppy with one blue eye. Cowboy has yet to learn the art of holding his bladder so one must be careful when scratching that cute belly.

After getting our room assignments we partook of a glass or two of wine before heading out to dinner.

On our walk home from dinner I had my first sighting of a vinegaroon. Pretty cool.

Spy Pond

"Don't step on the grass because when you step on the grass it will change to the durt and when It rained durt gets into the pond."

Today is a beautiful, sunny, not too hot day. Luckily, the crafty ladies and I had planned to get together while we are all simultaneously in town. We went to Spy Pond, a hidden gem I knew nothing about until today. It is a cute little pond with plenty of trees and shady spots to sit and knit. I think I even saw a place where you can rent boats to use on the pond.

Liz, Louie, Bonnie and me (totally love those arm's length photos!)

I brought a few projects to the pond but my priority was to get the seaming done on my ribbed shrug. I cast on for this project almost a week ago and have been knitting like crazy on it. The push to get it done quickly is partly due to my curiousity about the fit (I made up the pattern based on two others I had thought about making) and because I want to bring it with me to New Mexico (I leave on Thursday!). I got the seaming done and it looks pretty darn nice until you take a close look:

It may be hard to tell in the photo but I must have reversed it between finishing the first seam and starting the second seam. I did stop to eat a chocolate chip cookie. Darn! I am too much of a perfectionist to have an inside-out seam so I am going to have to redo one of the sides. As soon as I get that done, I will post some finished pictures. Even with the reversed seam, I can tell that I am going to get a lot of use out of this shrug.

Yarn Harlot, Cumulative Action and Sheldon the Turtle

Last Thursday Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (aka The Yarn Harlot) graced the Boston area with her presence (and Canadian accent!) at the Borders bookstore. Here is her impression of the local crowd. I was not one of the underwear tossers. That is what I get for not reading Vogue Knitting. Admittedly, though, I much prefer Interweave Knits. (...as a total tangent, is anyone else in love with the sweater on the cover of the newest Interweave Knits? It is called Tilted Duster. I love it!)

An unflattering and blurry picture of Stephanie

after she recovered from being showered with underwear.

I'm a regular reader of the Stephanie's blog, but I have actually never read any of her books nor have I heard her speak before. I should get going on that book thing, I know. I really enjoyed spending the evening in the company of so many knitters and liked Stephanie's talk.

There was one particular point that Stephanie made that has stuck with me. In talking about the generosity of knitters, she brought up the term cumulative action. Her point was rooted in a story about her brother-in-law, a professional fundraiser, and a fundraising campaign she is running. Through Knitters Without Borders Stephanie has raised over $300,000 for Doctors Without Borders. Not only did she raise a huge sum of money, but she did it really quickly. Her brother-in-law wanted to know how/why/what's her magic ingredient? Stephanie cites cumulative action, the notion that a small act repeated over and over again can make a difference, as the reason for her fundraising success with knitters. Stephanie says a person needs to believe in cumulative action in order to be motivated to give and who better to understand that than knitters. Cumulative action is the essence of what knitters do...we repeat a small action (knitting a stitch) over and over again until we have made a knitted fabric. If we think of the impact a small donation makes, it doesn't amount to much. If we think of what our donations combined with the small donations made repeatedly by many people can do, that is where a difference can be made. I thought it was a pretty insightful notion both about creating change and about the patience (and faith) it takes to add your small action to that of others or to repeat your small action over and over again until it has made a difference.

It was a crowded house.

On a related note, I took a leap of faith today and entrusted my Sockapalooza package and Sheldon to the United States Postal Service. I've had knitting get lost in the mail before and that is mildly heartbreaking. I'm crossing my fingers that both packages will reach their intended people.

Sheldon the Turtle is headed to Minnesota. My sister-in-law gave birth to a baby boy last week and that calls for a knitted animal.

Sheldon is nekkid and vulnerable without his shell.

Yarn: cotton yarn from my stash

Colors: lime green and brown

Pattern: Sheldon from Knitty

Variations: Since Sheldon is intended for a baby, I decided to skip the button eyes in favor of little crocheted lumps as eyeballs.

Tchazo and Sheldon had a little cuddle before Sheldon went on his way.

As promised. It's a Biggun'.

I have been accumulating finished projects for a few weeks and it is about time I get them up here for you to see. If you are here to see Sockapalooza socks, those are at the end of this post.

Yarn: Berger du Nord - Belle

Color: 9027

Pattern: Friday from MagKnits

Variations: None except that it isn't blocked yet. I am hoping it will hold its structure better once it is blocked.

This is a going to be a present so I am just giving a little bit of a peak. This is knit with Fleece Artist yarn in Barbara Walker's Seafoam Lace stitch pattern. I haven't blocked this yet either, but I already love how the pattern and color look together.

I made this necklace with some beads that I got while bead shopping with my mom in Minneapolis. I plan to eventually make earrings with the rest of the bright green beads (in honor of my mom's tendency towards compulsively matchy-matchy jewelry!).

This necklace was made to satisfy my non-chunky, simple necklace day need. I've already worn it a few times. It was made using stuff from my bead stash, which rivals my yarn stash. I'm not sure which stash wins at this point.

SOCKAPALOOZA 4!!

Here they are! They are done. Never have I knit a project with so much hype attached to it. It has been great fun reading about and seeing everyone's projects on the pligg. I can't wait to send these on to my pal and, of course, to get my package.

Yarn: Fleece Artist Merino

Color: Sea Storm

Pattern: Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch using Slipped Stitch Rib

These socks were knit in planes, trains and automobiles. In Minnesota, Massachusetts, Wisconsin and in many places in between. In front of the TV while watching Colonial House and in front of the campfire while watching the flames.

I am sending out my package with the socks, extra yarn from the skein, stitch markers and a card that I made. I wasn't able to find out a lot of personal information about my sockpal so these extras will have to do.

Here is a little close-up of the beaded stitch markers and the quilted card.

What are my socks on? I was thinking about buying some sock blockers, when I came across this website that tells you how to make your own sock blockers. My grandma, who can no longer do many of the crafts that she used to do including tatting lace and quilting, has been satisfying her need to create by crocheting around coat hangers. My extended family regularly gives her supplies and she churns these out in massive quantities. They are actually great for hanging shirts that slip off of hangers and tank tops. I realized that they would also make fabulous sock blockers as they would help prevent rusting and would soften the effects of the narrow edge of the hangers. I came up with these on my first try.

They are the right size for my feet but my sock pals feet are a little longer than mine. Hence, the loose toes in the first photo. They are definitely an affordable alternative to fancy schmancy ones like these. Although, I wouldn't mind having a set of those too!

Happy and speedy knitting to all of the Sockapalooza knitters who are working to meet that deadline.

Partners in Crime

I have been fortunate this summer (my summer off!!) to have crafting buddies to share my time with. Here are some of my partners in crime:

This is Liz. She is a Jane of All Crafts. On our afternoon of crafting she did needlepoint and knitting and is also known to make jewelry. Notice we had plenty of fuel to keep us in crafting energy.

This is Bonnie. She finished her first ever knitted item during our crafting day, but not before developing a yarn stash. Her stash development was partly my fault. I brought her to the sale at Hub Mills earlier this summer. Bonnie has also been known to engage in a variety of crafts. Hooray for first projects!

What is it about crafting? It is hard to stick to one medium.

This is Becky. She and I originally met through knitting (Thanks Stitch n' Bitch!) when we were both new to Boston. We recently met up at the Common to engage in some sock knitting. She has finally decided to try knitting some socks after resisting my attempts to convert her for quite some time. We had gone to Windsor Button to pick out the necessary supplies. It was a hot and humid day (notice the shine, I mean "glow" on my forehead). We found a bearable spot near the Frog Pond and knitted the afternoon away.

What have I accomplished with all of this creative time? That will be posted soon...hopefully today.