Sunday, June 14, 2009

Estes Park Wool Market

This is the weekend of the annual Estes Park Wool Market. I went up on Saturday with some women from two of my knitting groups. This was the first year I've been able to attend. In previous years the event was always on Father's Day weekend and I could never get away but this year it was held a week earlier. It was amazing! I had so much fun. It wasn't fun just because of all the yarn, fiber, and animals, but because I really enjoyed being able to experience this with fellow knitters. That's what really made it for me! Here's a couple of pics from the day. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the Paco-Vicunas which was my favorite animal.

All of us with our loot!

This is a Wensleydale sheep. Isn't it pretty!

Knitting updates

It's been a little while since I've blogged about knitting. I've done a little of this and a little of that. But the biggest difference is that I've knit (almost) three pairs of socks! A while back ago, I told one of my knitting friends that I was not (yet) a sock knitter and that I was hoping that the new book by Cookie A, Sock Innovation would change that. I even broke down and invested in some sock blockers!

The first pattern from the book was Glynis. I loved knitting these socks. The pattern is asymmetrical but still intuitive and quick to memorize. Unfortunately, I didn't get to keep these socks as they were a birthday gift for a friend. (Not the greatest pic but they have since been gifted.)
The next pattern I knit was not a Sock Innovation pattern but still a Cookie A design. The Pomatomus is for the Purl Knit Cafe KAL. I have to be honest, I wasn't a big fan of the pattern but I agreed to do the KAL before the pattern was picked. After the pattern was picked I thought I might be pleasantly surprised and end up liking it. Well - the latter might have been true if I had picked a different yarn. One good thing has come from this...Lynn told me that she liked them well enough - so she'll be the lucky recipient of this pair (when the other sock is done).

And finally! I am MOST excited about the last sock knit! This was my first test knit and I loved it. It was challenging for me as I'm a newbie to sock knitting and I found it a bit intimidating. The end result...I loved it...test knitting and the finished socks! I love the pattern and how the sock design mirrors each other.

The Loretto Sock, designed by Kristi Geraci
more Flickr pics

Hermit Park

In front of our cabin at Hermit Park
Ronan, Tim, Amy, Seamus

Last weekend we camped at Hermit Park again. We stayed in the same cabin and camped with the same family. This time the weather was nice enough to actually sit by the campfire and enjoy cooking without freezing and huddling in the cabin. Seamus and Ronan actually had plenty of time to "explore" the surrounding area and do lots of climbing. There was one incident that was pretty scary. Seamus was climbing on a log up on a rock and all of the sudden started screaming. After having to scale the rock I found Seamus standing on the log with giant red ants covering his feet and ankles! It was like something out of a horror movie! Seamus was screaming, I was holding him under the armpits, trying to get his shoes off, and swipe all the ants off of him, and Tim was trying to get both of us off the rock. All ended well but shook us all up.

When I was a kid, on some camping trip - Girl Scouts or 6th grade camp - I remember baking cookies on the campfire. Keep in mind I've camped maybe five times since said camping trip. So I thought the kids would enjoy the same experience of baking cookies on the campfire. We started with a tube of Toll House chocolate chip cookie dough, a box, and aluminum foil.I cut the box top flaps off, covered the outside and lined the inside of the box with foil, and finally, added dollops of cookie dough to the inside of the box. The first batch went fairly quickly and tasted ok. The second batch took forever! And then something started to come back to me. I could vaguely remember covering the opening of the box with another foil covered flap. Wow! After that it was like a real oven! The cookies baked in the recommended 7-10 minutes. There was some technical difficulty. Apparently, I left a crack in the foil which was enough for the box to catch on fire - under the foil!So, though the cookies had a hint of smoke flavoring - they were enjoyed by all!

Catching up

Where to start? This past week has been a whirlwind of activity. I guess the easiest way to organize it all is to blog about them all separately. Here goes!