... 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.
The Wicked Traveler Socks are done! Hurrah! The weirdest part was finding the right buttons for 'em. But somehow in my stash of items there was a sample card from a button company. Look in the top left corner. 
See the date? Probably not. It's really small in the photo, Desi. Well, it says "July 1954." That means these buttons have been out of circulation for over 50 years! Well, welcome back. I'm not sure how you fell into my hot little hands, but my socks are the better for it. 
And nope. There's only one button of each style so they don't exactly match, but I think they're close enough. And durned purty, if I do say so myself! Can you guess which one's from the card and which one came out of my sewing box?
... because it's Christmas run-up time! See, I got the beaded cable part all done on both socken (plural for sock.) 
And here's what I can work on... 
... But I can't show you. On account of needing to practice my sneakiness. Guess you'll have to ask Spycat. So we'll call this project Spycat's Secretz. It's about 10% done, thanks to a day of hardly anything else. It helps when Tiny's sick and her care preempts going out stuff.
.jpg)
