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The Women's Colony

Ooh, the Women's Colony is now open for business! 

Cats with knits

Your daily dose of Lolcat

random road trip

If you've never had the chance to drive down the Oregon coast, I highly recommend it.  The coast is wild and heart wrenchingly beautiful.  Luckily I had a road trip partner, my pal Una, and we had lots of fun taking random pictures, mostly from the moving car as we whizzed down the coast and around the snowy parts of the state.

Here are a few pictures for your own armchair roadtrip pleasure...

This is the reason we went around the mountains to begin with....

there's a little of that snow in the distance.  The passes where we would have been were chains territory.
I love the fact that Oregon has about a billion shades of green

and some of it is lost in the Jurassic period...

what more can I say

Then we saw something interesting in the distance...

which turned out to be this guy.  No, we have no idea... on his back was a question mark.

we saw quite a bit of evidence of WPA era public works, which was a little poignant considering our own economic times.

and plenty of wide open spaces

this was also a motel

"you lookin' at me?"

for some reason I always thought Paul Bunyan was from Minnesota, but apparently he has visited Oregon too.  In the summer tourist season a guy sits inside of Paul and moves his eyes and talks to kids in the parking lot, while Babe blows smoke out his nostrils.

Always the ocean shining bright

even if it is a Tsunami hazard zone.


  

Doesn't it make you want to go on a road trip through Oregon too?

The Boyfriend Sweater x1000

So, you've heard the legend of the boyfriend sweater and how it ends relationships... But YOU are NOT afraid!  No sirree bob, your relationship is strong, as strong as an ox, as strong as a steel girder, as strong as that stuff that's stuck to the bottom shelf of the refrigerator.  And, you know that your boyfriend will love anything you knit for him, because, you know, your relationship is STRONG.  Well, here's the garment for that relationship! (click on slideshow for more ideas)

OK, you're armed with ideas now... get out there and conquer!

Sock Summit

So, if you were going to throw a big party and invite all your favorite sock knitters, who would be on the list?  Cookie A?  of course!  Cat Bordhi?  No doubt.  How about Anne Hanson?  you bet!  And what if it was really a fantasy league, like say, mega stars from sock knitting past...? !  They just announced the teachers for Sock Summit 2009.  I can't believe I'll not only be teaching at the same venue as the likes of Cookie, Cat and Anne, but also Priscilla Gibson Roberts, Anna Zilboorg and Barbara Walker, yes THAT Barbara Walker!  And the rest of the list is pretty darn special too.  I feel positively giddy with delight.

I've just come home from Madrona, where I had a fabulous time with the knitters and spinners.  Madrona is definitely one of my favorite knitting events of the year.  We had to drive down the coast to avoid the passes which were having snow issues, so we saw the beautiful redwoods, the gorgeous Oregon Coast and some other unexpected surprises.  Photos tomorrow.

For now, I'm off to knit and dream of sock summit.....

Retreat

I love the San Juan Islands.   With a setting like this, how could you not be inspired?

 

San Juan Island Redux

Bright and early I hit the pavement to drive up to San Juan Island for Cat Bordhi's Visionary Publishing retreat.  Along the way I stopped off at Clackamas, Oregon to visit Ashland Bay.  mmmmmm.... fiber! 

I met the lovely and charming Jill Laski, with whom I had only had a phone relationship before this time.

I got to see the warehouse, and I picked up some lovely, lovely items for my lace spinning class at Madrona. It was really hard to tear myself away from all that delicious fiber!

Why yes, officer, that is a Schacht spinning wheel, how did you find it under all that fiber!???

Then it was on to Seatac to pick up my friend who is also attending the retreat.  Where was I going to put her under all that fiber?  With some creative packing on my part we got her and her luggage into this already overloaded car.  We had room for more!

And then we hit the road up to Anacortes

and on to the ferry!  And now I begin a week of intense, exciting discussions of books, publishing, knitting and fiber arts.  The Cat Bordhi retreat is a very nurturing and safe place for people to discuss their visions, dreams and passions.  I won't be able to blog directly about it, because it is a protected environment and what is said at the retreat stays at the retreat.  But I will be able to talk about my own experience and the beauty of San Juan Island.  I love this place.

I love my house

I spent today makin' out with my new valentine... my house!  First I raked up leaves in the backyard and discovered tons of bulbs and other flowers starting to poke up from the ground... I think I'm going to have a spectacular garden.  Already some tuberose type flowers are blooming.  I can't wait for the rhododendrons later.  I love my house so much I don't even want to go on to Cat Bordhi's retreat or Madrona!  (Well of course I really do want to go - I just don't want to leave my house so soon).  Tomorrow I hit the road bright and early to make it up to San Juan Island by the end of the day.

Packets are ready for the spinners, packets are ready for the knitters, Now I have to put together my talk for the Seattle knitter's guild and then I'll be all ready for the fun!

that's a lot of yarn on those spindles