Tortured Lace Equals Happy Lace

It occured to me that I haven't shared the done pics of my Travelling Heroine Shawl, despite the fact that I've been flaunting it up and down California. Currently it's got a Celtic wolf pin in it that I got during a vicarious trip to Edinburg. Vicarious in that I didn't go. Earth Mother did. And she told me all about it. And brought me a lovely souvenier. So I practically went.
This is my shawl, dressed.

Dress (verb) Take a piece of knitted lace, soak it in
water, stretch it until it screams, pin it in place, and leave until
bone-dry. While you and I would balk at such treatment, lace actually wants to be treated this way. Until it has been thus tortured, it will
refuse to do anything more than sit in a wad and scowl, looking more like used dental floss.

But look how pretty it is after the rack:
And my Elinore Gloves are all done. They took less than 25 grams of sock yarn so I used leftovers. I may have to repeat this little experiment!

The Good News...

... is that I can upload photos at last. The bad news is that I can't get HP Image Zone working so I can edit them. So if I took the picture sideways... well, let's just say it was a gravity issue. Yeah. Gravity. Now that we've got that straight, or sideways, here's the news:

I'm just back from the CogKNITive Fiber Retreat. What a blast and a half! 53 knitters, spinners, crocheters, and a few of their unwitting family members got together in Tehachapi, CA... ... to eat, shop, laugh, drive, and manupulate various strings and string-like materials. It was a great time. I am so glad I went this year.

Great moments:

• When Gemma pushed Nathan aside so she could hug me.


• When Tika and I got into a Battlestar Galactica/Caprica smackdown. (She was wrong, by the way. Caprica rocks.)


• When I realized that Chris didn't get annoyed by me, despite the fact she was my roomie.


• Playing with Gigi's spindle. (No, a real spindle. Get your mind back on the sidewalk! What? That was just me. Oh. Sorry.)


• Being told that I was in charge of choosing the restaurants next year because I did such a great job this year.

This time I planned to get there a full day early so I could settle in. Last year I was so excited I couldn't sleep and was shambling around zombie-style for much of the retreat.
Part of the festivities was a fund-raiser for the very worthy Mother Bear Project. While I didn't win a prize, I could drop off my bear.

I call it Bear 1999 because it's supposed to look like the uniforms in Space 1999. Yeah. I know.

And I have started a new pair of socks! Yay! The pattern's called the Traveler. It features cables, beads, and a little pocket in the cuff. The yarn is from the Mean Girls Yarn Club and is called "Totally Wicked." It came with the cute witch stitch marker in the photo, a bar of poison apple soap, and ruby slippers lollipop. I love my yarn clubs. Last year I was in the Jane Austen Yarn Club. Forrest Gump would like 'em, too, I think. You never know what you're gonna get.