This is terribly cliche, but there is just too much to do and so very little time in which to get it done. I just spent almost two hours responding to e-mails as far back as the beginning of July.
I have about a million details constantly floating through my head these days. There is the normal stuff like playdates, errands and meal planning. There are the yarn dyeing and selling plans (there are some good ones – finding time to implement them is going to be a challenge!) There is the planning packing lists for camp – not only things like clothes, flash lights and bug spray, but also food stuffs for Julie since I don’t know I can trust there will be food for her at every meal there and of course trying to figure out what knitting supplies to bring for the campers.
Here’s a conundrum: There will be somewhere around 60 campers. Some of those are kids too young to knit, but I’m not sure how many. Some of the campers probably won’t be interested in knitting – there is another instructor that week teaching art-from-nature stuff, which sounds really cool, and then there will probably be some people like my husband who have no interest in anything crafty at all. Of those that want to knit, some will be beginners, others more experienced. How many sets of straight needles in sizes 4 through 7? How many copies, for example, of the Fiber Trends clog pattern and needles to match? Blah blah blah, and it all – yarn, patterns, needles, whatever other materials I need – needs to fit in one of the large Rubbermaid totes or less. Because I have to haul it all the way to northern Minnesota in our small car, then ferry it on a boat to the island on which this camp is located!
Oh, and then there are all the knitting projects floating around the house constantly vying for my attention – right now the pants for Sophie mostly have it because I need to write up the pattern and get a display model into the shop before the newsletter goes out if they decide to offer that class, and if they don’t I still want to get the pattern written up to sell for Fall.
Now that I’ve got that off my chest, let’s look at some pictures!
On Thursday, we were supposed to pick up our meat order from the awesome farmers that deliver to the Twin Cities once a month. We missed the dropoff time that is closest to us, and so we ended up driving all the way out to Stillwater to meet them. While we waited for them to get there, the girls got to run around a bit, and Julie had a great time climbing up on this big rock. She talked about it all the next day and has asked me several times when we get to go back and play on the big rock. Crazy kid.
Thursday night was the last session in my sock class. Here are a few of the beautiful works in progress that were present.
They were even prettier in person. Wednesday is the first of two sessions for my next class, Damage Control. I think there are probably a couple of open spots still if anyone is interested. If you constantly worry about making a mistake and not being able to fix it, this is a great class for you! (Sorry about the shameless self-promotion, but just so you know, the class already has enough people to go for sure, and I don’t get paid extra for more students.)
On Friday, Sophie wore a couple barrettes in her hair for about fifteen minutes. As my readers who’ve been around long enough may remember, up until a few months ago she had a pretty shaggy head of almost-black hair, then she lost it all and regrew brown hair. Finally, it’s almost long enough to decorate again – people sometimes have a hard time telling whether she’s a girl or a boy. Still, it’s too short for things to stay in very long.
Friday night, my neighbor-friend Laura came over and we had a little dye party. We experimented with a bunch of test-sized skeins of about 20 yards each. I wanted to play around and think up some new colorways before the big shipment of blanks arrive (still no word on when to expect THAT.) Laura had some great ideas, and we ended up with some really pretty stuff and some less pretty stuff.
I wound it all into little balls, and I’m going to knit it up into a test swatch to see how various combinations will look as an end product.
Here’s the current state of Sophie’s leggings…
That’s the longer of the two legs, and I still have a few inches to go.
I’ve made plans with Laura to go to the Harry Potter movie tomorrow night after the kids are in bed, and unfortunately I can’t work on the leggings in the dark because of the increases every few rows. I think I’m going to take that sample swatch and a few of the test balls with me instead. That way I can keep my hands busy after I’m done eating popcorn and candy and I’ll also have a nice surprise when the lights come back up. I am SO looking forward to this movie, but not as much as I am the book.
Today we got together for a little walk and some coffee with our newly-returned canuk friends. I got a little giggle out of it when Jen said “Zed” instead of “Zee.” I’ve really missed those little accent quirks, along with just being able to talk to my good friend about so many little things.
Julie and M held hands and ran ahead of us in their matching Crocs.
So sweet!
Oh, and hey, are y’all going to Stitch and Pitch? I am! The tickets came in the mail over the weekend, along with our coupons for freebie bags. I’m going with two girlfriends, and I *will* be drinking beer and eating nachos.
One more thing – I there’s going to be a contest. I’m going to put it in a post all by itself in just a minute!
I just wanted to let you know that I posted the current state of my blankie: http://noricum.blogspot.com/2007/07/current-state-of-sock-yarn-blanket.html
I ordered some stitch markers from your friend’s etsy shop–I got them yesterday, and they are great!