...6 visits and counting...

Another long, overdue post. No excuses, just way overdue. Summer is flying by and I can't believe that it has been almost a month since we were at the cabin. The husband and I arrived on July 1st and it was beautiful. We are so fortunate to have this cabin. It has been in the husband's family since the 50's and every time we go there we say "Boy, this place is so great.....we should come here more often."

We had a great time fishing, boating and relaxing. Just what the doctor ordered! The husband headed home on July 5th just as the knitters came rolling in for our 6th year of knitting at the cabin. I'm sure he was glad to get out of there before the thundering herd arrived.

They came armed with wine, yarn, food and as always laughter. We started the week as we always do: Bloody Marys. It's not always about the wine.

We usually have a movie theme for the week. Last year it was Meryl Streep, the year before Kevin Kline. This year was a little different. James Bond vs. GLEE. There are some of our group that are not exactly thrilled with the idea of musicals. When I broached the movie subject at a pre-cabin planning meeting one knitter was heard to say "I HATE musicals" (you know who you are....) So when we discussed it further and came up with the idea of Bond vs. GLEE same knitter said she'd give it a try as she likes James Bond and had never seen an episode of GLEE. (NEVER?.....really.......NEVER!)

We started with Season 1, Volume 1, Episode 1. After the first 15 minutes......she was hooked. What can I say, it's just plain GOOD! We watched the entire dvd.........

Another tradition we have adopted over the years is to have a group knitting project. The past projects have included everything from bath mats to sock monkeys (guess who's idea that was?) This year our project was Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jacket. What a great project! I had never knitted one and was really looking forward to it. In preparation for the trip we gathered patterns for everyone and each knitter selected her yarn. I also bought a copy of the Baby Surprise Jacket DVD. This dvd is outstanding. It's narrated by Meg Swansen and is done so that you feel like you are having a private chat with Meg while the two of you make this wonderful sweater together. Besides the knitting and construction of the jacket, there are also many tips and tricks that Meg shows. These are worth the price of the dvd alone!

We were a very productive group. Here is a sampling of the sweaters we worked on...

You can see that each sweater is as different as the knitter that made it. Yet, another successful group project!

We did do some other things while we were there.

That's Carol being pulled behind the boat! What a riot.

We also did a bit of fishing and were successful!

Carol caught 1, Leianne caught 2 and Heidi (who had never been fishing) caught 2 also! Who says that men are the best fishermen?

This group of women are very special to me. I love that I can share this beautiful place with them. Wonder what we'll come up with for next year?

...wounded sockateer...

Thought I would give everyone the heads up regarding hotflash.......

(this is us at the cabin last summer.....in our pjs.)

A week ago yesterday she had surgery for a torn rotator cuff. OUCH! I saw her yesterday (she had those same jammies on) and she is coming along great. She said she might even try some knitting!?!? I know that she would love to hear from you so drop her a line here . I'm not sure how she injured herself but I have a sneaking suspicion that processing all of those VISA slips at Stitches last might have something to do with it! Get well, Hotflash, we love you!

...ladies at the lake...

We just returned from 4 days at the cabin. It was great fun! The weather was great, even with the outrageous thunder storms! I worked on "oh baby, oh baby" until the starting time for the Olympics when I started my "olympic lady". Here are pics of both.....

I love this little gem! I wound each colorway (Quilla and Little Bunny Foo Foo) into a center pull ball and then wound them together into one big ball. It will be adorable when finished!

...here is the progress on the "olympic lady"...she just gets more beautiful with each passing row....
And speaking of Olympics.....HOW 'BOUT THAT MICHAEL PHELPS!!!
HE ROCKS!

...all the president's men...

More from the road. We traveled through South Dakota and got to see Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse. WOW! Here's the view at Mt. Rushmore...


There is a flag from every state that line the walkway to the monument. This was really cool.


On the pillar below each flag is the name of the state and when they were admitted to the union.

...oh yeah, there were mountain goats, too...

After Rushmore we went to the Crazy Horse Monument. On the way, we came around a corner to find this....

...yep, that's George....

Here's what we saw at Crazy Horse.

This statue is 1/34th the size of the actual monument and it represents what the monument will look like when it is finished. Pretty cool.... Oh, that hole in the side of the monument is large enough to drive a dump truck through. Amazing.....

We continued on the road to Helena, Montana, where we had dinner with my Aunt and Uncle. So good to see them! The the next morning we were off from Helena and ended the day, finally, at the cabin. Road trip complete......

We covered 9 states in 2 1/5 days. I was at the cabin until yesterday when I flew from Pendleton to Portland.

As Dorothy said....."there's no place like home...."

...one time... at knitting camp...

It was another great year at Camp Knitty-Ha-Ha. The weather was warm, the wine was yummy, the knitting was plentiful and the goddesses were a blast. I laughed, I cried, I finished a bunch of stuff! Here is how things started.....

...yes, that is many bottles of wine in front of the fireplace, and the "stuff" in front of the fireplace is, in fact, yarn and/or fiber waiting to become yarn....

...our movie marathon featured the lovable Kevin Klein...

...our daily view from the deck, (pretty easy to get used to!)...

...winding some finished spinning...

...another skein done...

...bloody mary's in the morning...

...complete with garlic stuffed olives...

...cat naps....

...and wildlife...

...bear trap...

...and a present from the bear.....(in our yard!)

...finished projects....

...and felted bags...

...pics together ...

...saying goodbye...

...until next year...where did I put that corkscrew?

...off to camp

We are off to Camp Knitty-Ha-Ha this morning. Just so you know, I have more bags with knitting and spinning stuff going than clothes! Needless to say, we do have a washer and dryer so I am in no danger of running out of things to wear. But I really could not take the chance on running out of things to knit and spin while at the cabin!

No photos in this post, but rest assured there will be plenty of pics and stories when we get back. I'll be posting when I return as we have no Internet at the cabin. Sometimes you just have to rough it! Have a great week!

Camp with the Goddesses.............

What do you get when you put a group of friends together in a mountain cabin with a bunch of wool and a lot of wine? A Riot!!!!!

The Goddesses have just returned from our latest adventure, a week at Camp Knitty-Ha-Ha! Actually the camp is held at our family cabin in the Blue Mountains of Eastern Oregon. The cabin is a great place to get away from it all and just enjoy each other and knit. As if this wouldn't be enough fun we decided we needed a theme for camp this year. We put our heads together and came up with..........sock monkeys. Yes, I said sock monkeys.

We each brought yarn and using a pattern that one of the goddesses found on the Internet we created our very own sock monkey. During the knitting and construction of said monkeys there was a fair amount of laughing, tears, swearing, frogging, muttering, etc. You get the picture. But when all was said and done we did come up with some pretty great looking monkeys! Each monkey seemed to take on a personality of it own as the were created. You can only imagine!

Each monkey was knit from the toes up, the "butt" next and then the torso, followed by the head. We knit the arms, mouth, ears and tail separately and stuffed and stitched them on. Then came the "features". We decided to needle felt on the eyes, mouth line, eyelashes, and various tattoos! All of the monkeys have heart on their chest but each has it's own special tattoo somewhere else!

After all of this the real fun began! We needed to have photos of our monkeys out and about doing what monkeys do. And believe me, they were very busy!

There was tree climbing,

.................................feeding ducks

..................and even riding in the canoe!

But at the end of the day I think that everyone, monkey and goddess alike would agree that the best part of Camp Knitty-Ha-Ha would have to be sitting on the deck and admiring the wonderful view with special friends!

~knit on~

cockeyed