Hiking in the Mountains

I'm ready to go back to Camp Loopy tomorrow. This time I'll be hiking in the mountains as I attempt to make mittens with cables. I'll have some company since my Counting Sheep has decided to come with me to camp. He's number 55.

Between sessions of camp, I have been working on my Kudzu shawl. I've done more since this picture was taken. I'm really liking the results.

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Last Sunday I went to our local theater to see a production of Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None". One of the characters, an older woman, knit almost all the time she was on stage. She truly was knitting, not just waving her needles around. She seemed to be making something brown and square...maybe it was the start of a scarf. I wondered if she continued working on the same project for the run of the play. Maybe she'd end up with an actual finished object. Anyway, at one point she said, "Where is my other skein of wool?" Needless to say, she ended up murdered. This was an Agatha Christie story, after all.

Whippoorwill at Camp Loopy

This summer I went to camp. Camp Loopy, that is. I haven't been to camp since I was a 13-year-old Girl Scout and that was a long time ago. (A shout-out to Lazy Acres in Rye, Colorado!) This camp is a bit different. It's sponsored by Loopy Ewe and has three sessions. The first has the theme "Campfire Nights". Each participant made a two-colored shawl, cape, or scarf. I have wanted to make the Whippoorwill shawl (Rav link) since I saw it on a worker at my (now-closed) LYS at the beginning of the year. This was the perfect time to do it!
I'm really happy with this! Come fall (late November around here) I'll be glad to wear this.

The pattern is quite simple. It is mainly stockinette with only a few rows doing something different. The yarn I used is called JulieSpins Merino 370 (Rav link). It's very nice to work with.

As usual, blocking is the magical step that takes a project from a bit of knitted cloth to a great finished product.

Next week I'll be at camp again for the second session, "Hiking in the Mountains". I'm going to make cabled mittens. I've never made cables before. I've never made mittens before. Wish me luck!

Blue In Progress

I may not block much lately, but I do knit.


I have been working on this hooded shawlette called Jo's Pride (Rav link). It's part of Woolgirl's Victorian Writers Club. The design by Sivia Harding is inspired by the book Little Women. I read (or actually reread) the book in preparation for this knit. I really enjoyed the book. And I'm really enjoying knitting this.

4-year-old puppy

I know some people disagree, but Lucy will always be my puppy. Even though she's now four years old, she's still a puppy to me. Her birthday was last Friday. She got a dog couch! It's from L.L. Bean. She seems to like it a lot.

A Block Against Blocking

I seem to have a block against blocking. Here are two different scarves that have been done for a long time, except the blocking.

I have cleared off my blocking board. Now I need to clean my soaking sink, which also gets used by my boyfriend to brush his teeth quite often. You know how men can dirty a bathroom. So cleaning the sink will definitely be next on the list of pre-blocking tasks.

Dog-Friendly Memorial Day

A few days before Memorial Day weekend, we thought it might be fun to go somewhere for our three days off. I Googled "dog-friendly Texas vacation" and near the top of the list was a link to Canyon of the Eagles nature resort. They had one vacancy left! So we took it. This is a nice place on Lake Buchanan about 20 miles from Burnet, TX, in the Hill Country. It was pretty, peaceful, and best of all (according to Lucy) there was a big lake to play in.

Resting for a moment.

Posing with Mom.

Almost everyone at the resort brought their dog. Lucy met many of them but a couple memorable ones were Nagy and Lightning. Nagy was a fellow yellow Lab, though she was much smaller than Lucy. Her dad insisted they were comadres. Lightning was a retired racing greyhound. She'd lost a leg due to infection and was adopted by a vet student and her husband. Both of Lucy's new friends were sweeties.

Since I can't put all my photos in one post, below is another one with more pictures from the weekend.

Canyon of the Eagles Wildflowers

As we hiked, we saw so many beautiful wildflowers. Here are a few.