It's been awhile...

Sorry, blog. Camp is working out just fine, with the usual minor irritants and the major fun. Nights and evenings off with friends are what keeps me going, as well as campfires at night when I finally get to sit down and knit. The kids this session are pretty much fine. A lot of my old faves are back to work as SITs (which is nuts) and it's great to hear their memories of being a kid here. I'm just a little down these days because we had a tragedy in the community (a very special baby died), and the Bong Tree is, as usual, a major time suck (one of the busiest places at camp, and the kids love it, so it's worth it). I'm just up there allllll day long.

More soon! Tomorrow is our big USA celebration, and we're all prepping for that. So! Gotta go prep the Treasure Boxes for afternoon classes. More soon. I have written, I just haven't uploded.

monday update

Monday, June 16, 2008

Holy crap. Remind me never to miss the first session again. My poor replacement. She comes in knowing nothing about the millions of intricacies necessary to keeping sane in the crafts cabin, and (seemingly) she gets little help in how to run things. I show up a week later and my whole staff is stressed and mutinous. I think we’re turning things around now; we’ve had two really successful days in a row and I’m quickly identifying what needs to change and what we can improve upon from last year.

THERE ARE SO MANY PEOPLE HERE WHOM I DO NOT KNOW. This feels so, so strange, akin to waking up at a sleepover and realizing you’re in the wrong house. Or something. I hope that I get to know most of them over the next four weeks, but in truth, I doubt I will. My job keeps me pretty isolated and I’m so happy to see the dozen or so old friends that I have here, I just feel little motivation to play the new counselor game.

Oh! I’m teaching yoga at 7:30am every day. Well, so far. I’m replacing one of the best yoga teachers I’ve ever known (Susan), who starts a very slow, very deliberate practice for anyone who wants to join at 6:45am—I cannot do what she does, nor am I willing to try and replicate that, so I’ll be doing faster paced and must less accurate yoga for thirty minutes before the breakfast bell. At 7am, I alternate swimming laps in the lake and jogging around the farm every other day. Tomorrow is a swimming morning. Hooray!

The kitchen has been laaaaaame so far. Where are the veggies?? Today I think there might have been some broccoli under the cream sauce, but for the most part—ugh. Too many carbs, not enough proof that we have an actual farm and we grow actual tons of food. And there hasn't been enough of the food, which is adding insult to injury. Hmm and arghh.

It’s late. I’m outta here. More updates later.

friday update

Friday, June 13, 2008:

Arrival! Picked up the rental car this morning and packed it up, then drove over to the elementary graduation ceremony, which was heartwarmingly sincere and really helped add a feeling of closure to the school year. I feel really honored to be a part of this community. After the ceremony I jumped in the car and aimed it West. 8 hours later I’m driving through Brevard, and am so ridiculously pleased to be back that even the Big Kmart looks rosy-hued.

I’m in Tajar, the staff cabin, which is excellent, but am directly across the hall from D., who has been playing the same song on her keyboard and commenting aloud to herself for—checking watch—about 90 minutes now. Oh well, it’s only 5 weeks, and I’ve put up with her for longer than that. It’s weird to be in the “new” Tajar, since the old one made such an impression on me in 2001 (I think?).

So far haven’t seen many peers, but have come across a group of teens that used to be campers (and are now on Riverside) and another group of teens that used to be campers (and are now SITs). Where is Laurie? Where is Lilla? Where are Michael and Sunee?

Walked up to the Bong Tree in the gathering nightfall and just stood there with a giant grin on my face—just me, the moths circling crazily around the florescents, and the tools of my trade—staring at the tie-dyes we made last year and the batiks and the buckets of dye that has (miracle of miracles!) already been set up and organized. [Sometimes I love getting to camp a week late.]

To return to a place you love very much: that is a delicious feeling. When your feet stop on their own in the middle of the path so that you can listen closely and smell the smells and bask in the mountain range lit by moonlight—that’s how you know you’ve found a special place. Gwynn Valley, you are my love.

Thursday mutterings

To put in the car:

Box of camp clothes
Backpack w/ Ukraine stuff
3 bags of knitting projects
Laundry bag full of shoes
Toiletries bag
Computer
purse
bag o' groceries: mineral water, popcorn, lunchbox of cheese & snacks
Bags of glass votives for discovery project

The final 48 hours: Tuesday night

Ok. It's almost time to pack for summer. I can't pack my clothes yet, since there are still three more days of work to not be naked for, but I can pack my knitting. I've put a lot of thought and planning into which exact projects to pack up for the next 3 months. It wasn't easy: there are a handful of projects that need to be finished, so obviously I must bring those, but what about after those? I have two halfway-round-the-world flights to sit through, plus two whole weeks of vacation at my Mom's house, plus 5 weeks of summer camp (not that I have much free time there, but the locale just screams for handwork: picture sitting in a rocking chair on a wide, old fashioned porch, fireflies twinkling in the dusk, the bullfrogs burping placidly in the lake nearby..)

Anyway, here's the list I finally decided on. (all links lead to Flickr)

1. Purple so-called scarf (wip)
2. Noro stripey scarf (wip)
3. green smooshy socks (wip)
4. the orange cardigan (plus sweater design book, buttons, extra skein)(wip)
4. the green wool-ease chunky yarn for banded hat (w/ button)
5. the wedding blanket [click here to see it, if you are not Nathan or Suzannah. No cheating.]
6. Green superwash lace from Tess Yarns for the Lily of the Valley shawl (Ravelry link)
7. Acero sock yarn, just in case!

plus:
*two skeins of purple Gjestal sock yarn for stash swap

Whew!

Flickr game!

I had fun doing this, and I think you all should try it.



The concept:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

The Questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name.


I like the finished mosaic-- it feels like a conglomeration of aspects of me, made more beautiful through better photographers' eyes.

Sunday update

[First, can I say that I have "Yeah!" by Usher stuck in my head? And I kind of like it. What's going on in there?]

Hokay! So this was my weekend:

Kenny came up and we went on sort of a cardio kick. Running for miles and miles on Saturday at Waller Mill Park, running through downtown & campus this morning, and tomorrow is my weekly 5k date with Julie, so... [I saw this shorty she was checkin' up on me] Ahem. Sorry about that. It's hard to hear my thoughts. My legs are so tired, but I'm proud of how long I kept my heart rate elevated. I bought a scale at Big Lots, and I wanna see some action happening there. [Next thing I knew, she was all up on me screamin'...]

I got really organized. I bought some of those vacuum packing bags so that our woolen things (and my yarn stash) won't get eaten by moths when we leave for the summer. Most of my winter things are in a trunk with cedar balls, [But what I do know, is the way she dance, make Shorty alright with me], and I like the way you can pack up all these sweaters (or, okay, yarn) and suck the air out, leaving something that looks kinda like if a knitter went to space. I feel very prepared for a moth invasion. [And I said yay-uh! Yeah! Yeah, yeah!]

(that's the sock yarn stash. it is very flat now.)

Before I could pack up my winter coat, I realized I really needed to wash it. I'd been avoiding that since the tag says "dry clean only." But it also says "100% Wool." Dude, I know how to wash wool! I filled the tub with tepid water, put in a butt-load of Eucalan, and soaked the heck out of the jacket. It came out squeaky clean, chemical free, and more importantly, it cost me nothing. Here it is drying in the afternoon sun:


I was craving chips & salsa on Saturday. I go through these chips-and-salsa-phases sometimes, but I'm only eating baked chips right now because of the whole deep fried not being so good for you thing. Plus the gourmet baked chips at our neighborhood grocery store are pretty expensive. I remembered making home made tortilla chips my junior year with my housemates Liz and Aaron, so K and I picked up a stack of small corn tortillas in the Mexican aisle, brought them home and cut them into quarters, and baked them with fresh lime juice, thyme, and salt. Awesome. And very, very crunchy. And oil-free!

Before baking, and

Mmm. Delicious.

My herb basket is kicking out the jams these days. It helps that most of the time I remember to water them. [I get so caught up, I forgot ya told me-ee] It's a far cry from my container gardening days of yore, but the thyme, lavender, parsley, and oregano sure are handy when making pizzas or sauces.


And let's see, hmm, what else? Oh yeah [yeah!(shut up!)] I have 9 days of school left! Then it's off to camp, and then Charlotte, and then Ukraine! I'm so ready to be at camp, man. I smell the milkweed and fresh cut grass and I'm teaching the kids at school "Inch by Inch" and how to make beads out of polymer clay. I'm there already.

In the meantime, though, I'm really loving having the house to myself during the weekdays. I love it when K comes up on the weekends, but when it's just me on these peaceful, quiet, sunny evenings... well, just look at this scene. Knitting project ready on the coffee table, internet TV at my beck & call, big blue couch... doesn't that say comfy to you?

I love our apartment in the warm months. [Take that. Rewind it back. Lil' John got the beat that make your booty go-- AUGHHH!]

I think I need to call it quits for tonight...

Another one bites the dust

Another ball of stash yarn, gone. Another hat for the Xmas pile; check.

Pattern: Loop d'Loop by Chris Bylsma (scroll down for pattern link)
Yarn: Manos del Uruguay worsted weight wool, 1 skein exactly
Needles: size 9
Mods: no dropping of the edge loops. I like it better, but I still could have casted on fewer stitches. It's a wee bit tall.

(it's after midnight. what am I doing? why was it so important to finish this hat?)

A Finished Object to share!

Pattern: Cozy Cable Socks by Terry Morris
Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy, Chinatown Apple colorway
Needles: US Size 1; 40" circ (two at once with no cable needle!)
Knit while: on airplanes; at work; in bed.

Inspired by these by the Knitting Philistine (I still want that Jitterbug colorway...)

Also on the sock needles right now: another pair of cabled two-at-a-time socks in Dream in Color. I was in Arizona, I had finished the socks above on the plane, and I was in a yarn store with good friends. And they had Smooshy. Plus I had a whole 'nother day of lectures & presentations to listen to. I mean, what else was I supposed to do? Not start a new pair of socks? Ha.

Pattern: my own, since I was impatient and wanted to be knitting socks right now

They look a little big (and indeed, they are 80 sts around) but the yarn, I found, tightens up quite a bit after machine washing. It also pills like crazy, but I forgot to tell Kenny that "machine washable wool" doesn't go in the dryer. So, my fault. Pills and all, I'm extremely happy with both of these pairs.

I think that the Chinatown pair might have been the first time I did a heel flap correctly:
See how it's long enough? See how the actual "turn" doesn't come until it's curving under my heel? I think this is the way it's supposed to be. Or maybe I have freakishly long achilles tendons. But the other two pairs of socks that I've made cuff-down have definitely been ill-fitting in that particularly petty little piece of my anatomy. These fit like a glove. Er, sock. A real good fitting sock.

Instant gratification

I really missed that feeling on casting on, knitting away for a few hours, and then holding up a finished object, crying "Ta da!"

So I made this:

Ta da!
Pattern: Loop d'Loop by Chris Bylsma Designs
Yarn: Noro Silk Garden
Needle: Size 9 KnitPicks Options circ.
Mods: added extra bits of Kureyon at the end, since I ran out of the Silk Garden before the hat reached an adult-head-sized width. If I had cast on fewer (like the 40 sts reccomended for the Adult Small size, rather than the longer 46 for the Medium-Large), I feel certain this would have been a one-skein project.



And now back to my slow progress on the Silky Wool cardigan that I started the week before my birthday and still somehow is not done... I'm setting a goal for myself that it will at least be done before I leave for camp. In 3 weeks. I can do this!