My KnitCamp: the good, the bad and the ugly

     About now I think enough has been said about Knit Camp UK.   But I will write a summary of what I actually did and the highlights of other camp events.  First the good...it was very,very good.  Then the bad...it was mostly inconvenience and disorganization.  But it went down the tubes quickly and  many people had serious problems.  I was lucky.  The Ugly... what happened after the whole thing was over.  Ugly, criminal and unconscionable.  Really naughty.

Our home at Stirling University

     We arrived at Knit Camp on a Monday afternoon, and found the Stirling Management Center which is a hotel-ish building on the campus of Stirling University.  After checking into our room, which was a lovely double room, I headed over to the pub in the Student Union for the Clap-o-Tea.   To enter the Clap-o-Tea one had to have knit the Clapotis shawl, and one also needed to wear it to the Tea.  I dutifully knit a new Clap, my second in three years, and wore it to the Tea, despite the fact that it was the warmest weather we encountered in Scotland.  By the time I got there most folks had met up with friends and had a couple of drinks, so I wandered a bit and sat with a lovely woman and her husband from Texas.  It was at this Tea that we heard of the first really bad thing happening; the lack of work visas for the 6 American Tutors as well as the fact that two of the tutors had been deported, one back to the US and another to Holland (I think).  This pretty dramatically affected many students as Tuesday class schedule had all 8 tutors classes fully booked . (say about students18 per class).  A meeting was called for 7:45 the following morning to see what was going to happen.  Since I had a Scottish teacher the following day I was not impacted, but Cindy, the woman I sat with was certainly affected as her tutor was not even in attendance at all. A number of tutors had pulled out due to contract issues, but the Knit Camp Director neglected to contact anyone about this!!!!  Since it was out of our hands  we went out to dinner in Stirling and had a lovely time.

Signboard outside restaurant in Stirling, we ate elsewhere!

     The following morning there was a big meeting to tell everyone what was happening.  I didn't go to the meeting, but I doubt that it was a happy event.  Students were told that the Non EU tutors had to leave the country ( fly to Dublin) and re-enter with new visas or some such folderol and that people had the choice of taking the class of their choice of getting a full refund.  Well, that created a more than mild pandemonium.  Again, I was not effected as I had a Fair Isle Knitting class with Liz Lovick .    Many folks took the option to take an existing class, despite the fact that most of the classes were already fully booked.  Classrooms were too small to fit extra students.  Tutors did not have enough materials or handouts, tempers flared. As a matter of fact NONE of the handouts had been prepared by the administration of camp for any classes, despite the fact that tutors had sent the prepared handouts and patterns weeks earlier and expected them to be copied and ready in their classrooms. So various "classroom assistants" had to run around like mad women trying to xerox class notes, come up with materials and sort out computer glitches.  These classroom assistants should all receive medals and lots of praise for all the work they did.  And there was not an assistant  in every class.  Lots of tutors had to just drop back 10 yards and punt. My class was totally wonderful.  Liz is extraordinarily knowledgeable and prepared tons of class notes and a CD of the PowerPoint directions she gave in class. Somehow she had enough for everyone even with extra students.  However the room was VERY crowded and became unbearably hot in the afternoon. We learned a lot about the history of Fair Isle and Shetland Knitting and started a small hat with yarn supplied by Jameson and Smith.  After I got home I decided to rip out the little hat and make a pair of Fair Isle Gloves, someday.  Story of my life!
     More to come later.

Knit Camp UK

  When I decided to attend Knit Camp UK in Scotland I really scrutinized the class list.  There were originally something like 49 instructors (called tutors in the UK) and each had about 4 classes.  For some odd reason I printed out that original class list and poured over it for days choosing the perfect classes.  There were several American teachers from whom I had taken classes in the past, so I eliminated those folks; there are techniques that I have tried and don't enjoy ( intarsia, modular knitting) , so I eliminated those classes. Although I am a die hard spinner I knew that my wheel, even my lovely Majacraft Little Gem, would not be making the trip. Out with the spinning. And there are a couple of things that I am really good at, like gloves, that I do not need to take a class in.  That narrowed it down a bit, but I still found 8 or 10 classes that I knew I would thoroughly enjoy.  I HAD to take a class with Liz Lovick.  I was  lucky enough to do a swap with her a couple of years ago on the Traditional Knitters Yahoo group and we have casually corresponded over the years.  I really wanted to take a class from Gudrun Johnston as I admire her work, and though she lives not too far from me, I have not been able to take a class from her.  Plus she is a an authentic Shetland Knitter. I really wanted to take a photography class, to improve my blog, because I am, in all honesty, a crap photographer.  And a couple of other classes intrigued me.  I kind of cast fate to the wind, signed up for  four classes, received a receipt and went about my life.
   A couple of months later, maybe March, I checked the Knit CampUK website and noticed that one of my instructors was no longer listed.  I got out my original list and found that several other tutors names were missing.  My naive  thought was that those classes were full, no longer available,  these were pretty famous knitters after all.  Then, several weeks later, I decided that I just HAD to take a class with Jared Flood. I bought a book by the instructor for my Wednesday class and decided that perhaps we would not be a great match. So I requested a change to Jared's Baby Surprise Jacket class.  I received no reply.  Tried again, no response, used a different email address, nada.  That is when I joined the Knit Camp UK Ravelry group and became aware of rumblings about the administration of the event.  I admit, I then sent a pretty surly email, demanding that I at least be notified whether it would be possible to change the class.  Canned email that the person was on vacation... Well, I got a bit hot under the collar and eventually, after several exchanges, received an email from a new person, hired to " put out  fires".  Class changed, all was well.
   {As an aside, I really had no interest in the baby surprise jacket.  I have made several.  It is not a pattern that I enjoy, and I think it looks kinda dopey on babies.  It was Jared Flood I was interested in.  Not him, personally, just taking a class from him, and it fit in my schedule.  Never did take the class, but I got to sit next to him at breakfast one day}.
     Time went by, I faithfully watched the Rav boards and became curiouser and curiouser about what was to come.  Things were hoppin'.  People were up in arms, classes were canceled willy-nilly.  And communication from the powers-to-be at Knit camp UK ground to a halt.  But there was this other person who did put out fires.  She seemed lovely.  In fact she was lovely. I met her.  Weeks passed.  Then one day in July I received an email  that my photography class instructor would not be attending.  Double booked...so sorry, but we have this other person, Mary Jane Mucklestone, well qualified, who can teach you class.  I googled her, I already read her blog.  I was happy.  And well I should be... she was absolutely brilliant.  In fact I had considered one of the classes that she was supposed to teach, but now she was switched to do the photography.  Photography class settled.
   Just before I went to Scotland I checked the website for Knit Camp UK and noticed far fewer tutors.  The numbers changed almost daily from 49 originally down to 29, a low of 24 and up to 29 again.  I had to stop looking as I had made a not small investment in this trip, and I was planning on getting the most out of it.  At this point I was signed up for 4 classes, three of them neither the original class or the original teacher that I signed up for.  But I was still pretty happy, and optimistic that the whole thing would be world class.
  Part two to follow... the actual Knit UK Camp.  Dum-de-dum-dum-dummmmm

OK, I'm back, maybe

    I have not really been away for 6 months; well, mentally perhaps, but physically, not really.  I have not blogged.  I have thought about it, stared blankly at the screen, and just not had much to say.  I took a couple of trips, I was sick for a while, I decided that no one read my blog, except perhaps my husband, who thinks it is the only way he can find out what I am up to (I know, you'd think he could figure that one out).  'Nuff said.  No one seemed to miss me.
    But I did knit, and I did spin, and did a couple of sheepy/wooly things.  In February I attended the NETA Spa in Freeport Maine.  This is a rather loosely structured fiber event held in a couple of hotels in Freeport, the East Coast hub of outlet shopping as well as home of LL Bean.  I attended SPA a few years ago in Portland Maine and had a really horrible time.  Really bad.  But I needed an escape and some fiber revival and a weekend outing with my daughter.  So, we went.  It was awful, worse than I remembered.  The organizers of this event have an agenda...to have no agenda.  Quite honestly it has grown in scale and attendance enough that it now has the feel of disorganized pandemonium.  A few folks have tried to organize classes, etc, but their efforts are thwarted by others who just want to sit around and, well, drink.  There was a nice, but very small marketplace and a fashion show and worst knit item show.  I put my spiral shawl in the fashion show and got third place in the worst knitted item show for a perfectly ghastly orange sweaterish thing that I got at Goodwill in Concord.  Well, I won't go to that again.
   In May I went to New Hampshire Sheep and Wool in Contoocook.  This has always been a favorite event of mine, and it was great this year as well, except the weather really and truly sucked.  It was cold and rainy and horrible.  A few of my favorite vendors were not even there, and I don't blame them.  And I had a raincoat failure. In addition,  I went with a friend who was having, perhaps, a worse time than me, partly due to the fact that though she is a knitter, she is not a spinner and New Hampshire Sheep and Wool is rather weighted toward the sheep breeder and the spinner.  We left early to get hot soup and for me to buy a much needed new, truly waterproof raincoat.

Mass sheep and wool purchases

   Later that month I went to Massachusetts Sheep and Wool in Cummington.  What a great event!  It is smaller than New Hampshire, with many of the same vendors, but it has a different vibe.  It is more down home/4-H oriented with perhaps a higher proportion of small indie dyers and fiber producers.  Though I did not buy a lot I had a really nice day, and the weather cooperated, at least while I was there.  It was raining when I left, though.  I came home through Shelburne Falls, Mass which is certainly one of my favorite towns in New England.

Class in the courtyard

Photographed fiber/mittens

    Last Fall I read about Knit Camp UK  to be held in August in Stirling, Scotland. And after much discussion with my husband, who is not what I would call world traveler material, I decided to sign up for the entire week-long event as a part of a longer trip to Scotland.  Over the winter I joined a Ravelry group, planned the remaining 10 days of our trip, and really started looking forward to the whole thing.  About March rumblings began on Ravelry about the whole planning-or perhaps non-planning of the event.  I remained optimistic, signed up for 4 classes and hoped for the best.  A few weeks before we left, the bottom seemed to fall out of Knit UK.  Three of my four classes were changed when teachers pulled out due to contract problems.  There was a lot of pissing and moaning.  But I had the rest of the Scotland trip to look forward to so I remained optimistic.  In the last week before I left things went pear shaped.  But I was already in Scotland, having the time of my life, and all I could do was continue to hope for the best.  Well, to make a long, convoluted story very short, it was great!!  Really wonderful.  My classes were perfect, though not what I originally planned to take, Stirling University was a perfect setting for this event, and I met many, many inspiring and fun people, all making the best of what could have really been a nightmare of unknown proportions.  Unfortunately  most of the blame fell fully on one poor person who got in over her head planning an event that really needed a staff of 4 or 5 full time people.  Instructors pulled out at the last minute, Ravelry pulled out of their sponsorship if the Weekend part of the thing, Rav Forums went nuts, and yet, when we all got there, it was just hunky-dory.  Not without problems, but it ran surprisingly smoothly.  I doubt that this particular event will ever happen again, but I think anyone who was actually there would probably go again.
  Pictures, well, I actually took a "photographing your fiber" class with Mary Jane Mucklestone at Knit UK.  I found out that my cheap crappy camera from Best Buy actually has some great features and that it takes far better pictured than I ever imagined.  But I don't have many pictures of actual fiber events.  I have over 1000 pictures of Scotland, but only a few from Stirling. 
      Will I try to do better posting?  Well, no, I don't think so.  When I started this whole blog thing I thought it would be fun; a good way to keep in touch with friends and family who might be interested in my knitting and spinning.  Not so much.  I am not an enthusiastic writer, I was about a far from an English major as one can get,  though I like the computer I don't like being chained to it.  I may to try to blog about knitting and spinning now and again, but expect this blog to go away by the end of the year.

Fears and Finishing

  We all have fears, some more terrifying than others, some rational and others totally irrational.  I spend a lot of time being afraid, but most of my fears are normal mother, US citizen, unknown type things; stuff over which I have little control.  I have a couple of pretty normal, and likely totally unfounded fears.  I don't like elevators, airplanes, driving in the city, stuff like that.  But the one I have really never understood is that I really am scared to death of those drive through car washes.  I have never had a bad experience in one, in fact, in Alaska, Gabe and I used to go to the car wash fairly often as a kind of "event". ( We lived in a small town, not much happening.  Gabe was my former corgi).  The local car wash was at a gas station which also had a drive thru espresso window.  In the morning of any nice sunny day ( in a town where it rained 300 days a year) we would drive to the P.O., pick up the mail, get gas, a mocha at the drive thru and get in line for the car wash.  I don't remember the car wash being especially traumatic, but since that time something has happened to my car wash mojo, and now every time I go I get all sweaty palmed and jumpy. I go anyway, a couple of times a month, mainly because they aggressively salt our roads and my car needs to last three more years, at least.  So last Thursday I took both corgis to get their nails done, paid a couple of bills and got in line at the car wash.  Two or three cars ahead of me went through with no obvious problems.  I was calm, or fairly so until I remembered the last time I took Eliot to the car wash he raced around the car chasing the wand that sprayed the car.  Not too much fun.  I paid and noticed that the attendant was busy flirting with a young girl at the self serve car wash. My anxiety level was pretty high, Eliot was having some sort of flash back and Riva was snoozing in the back seat.  I couldn't back out, there were three cars in back of me.  I pulled into the bay and the doors closed.  Therein lies the problem.  The doors didn't used to close, I don't even think there were doors.  The car wash started, sprayed 1/3 of my car  with thick goopy soap and stopped.  Eliot and Riva were plenty interested and planning an attack from inside the car on the wand.  The red light went out.  The water went off.  The doors stayed shut.  It became obvious that despite the bright sunny day there was a power outage.  And I was stuck inside a car wash, with my car running, with 2 moderately excited corgis.  I sat tight for about 2 minutes then tapped the horn a couple of times.  Then I played a tune on the horn, tried to call home ( no cell service inside a brick walled car wash).  Finally I just lay on the horn, long and hard.  I saw the guy in the car behind me get out of his car a couple of times , hopefully to alert the car wash guy that I was totally flipping out inside the car wash.  Eventually, probably less than 5 minutes, though it seemed an eternity to me, the front door opened and I drove my car , now 1/3 covered with dry goopy soap out and back around the building.  I explained to the guy that I had not gotten my $8.00 car wash and that I needed to drive through the self serve wash and hose my car down.  I don't like the self serve wash because it leaks and It was 20 degrees out and I didn't have on boots or a rain coat.  They guy looked at me like I was freaking crazy and told me to get back in line again and he would give me a free car wash.   Not likely, ever.
    So, the Kid's sweater has moved on to greener pastures, in Ohio.  Not sure an overdue handknit sweater is a great 20th birthday present,  but it really is lovely and I hope it fits.  The swirl shawl is finished and blocking and is gorgeous, but I wish I made a different color.  And now I officially have no incomplete projects.  I have plenty that I haven't started yet, but none that are WIPs!!  Well, I do have that sock that my mother started about 1955.  One sock is complete and the other is about 1" past the heel.  But that is not MY WIP.
  Here are some pictures to prove it!

 

 

Next time, spinning.  And I promise to be quick about it!

Finished, finished, back on the needles, finished

   So,  I actually finished a bunch of stuff.  A little hat that goes with the sweater I knit my Great Niece Annalise last Christmas ( 2008).  All the holiday gifts, including the guy sweater, which nearly got sewn together, but upon a final fitting was dis-membered, again, 2.5" added to the already orangutan length sleeves, reblocked, and  is about to be shipped off to Ohio with all the other forgotten stuff.  The mittens, scarf, socks for almost everyone, and a couple of odd things plus a lovely Multnomah shawl.  Yep, all done.  And spinning as well, I am about to Navajo ply 3 full bobbins of Three Waters Farm BFL.

                                                                           And what else has been happening around Chez Foster?

Well, having the Kid and his girlfriend here for weeks and weeks was wonderful and a real diversion from my daily routine.  Amanda learned to knit and is already on her third project.  She's a natural, and I am sure once she returns to school in NYC she will find lots of knitting diversions. Snow has been happening and as a result of the snow I have been skiing and snowshoeing.  Daily snowshoeing is really fun, challenging and invigorating.  We have new trails this year, miles and miles of trails, all cleared and pretty well marked.  And of course I can't get lost because I have my two trusty corgis along for the ride and they know the way through the woods perfectly.  And Riva does not bushwhack.  She always sticks to the marked trails.  But even if I got lost they are all  carefully plotted on the GPS.  Of course I would have to actually bring the GPS and figure out how it works if it is to be of any real help.
  As a further diversion I have been working my way through all 7 seasons of "Northern Exposure".   I remember when we first started watching the show back when we lived in Colorado.  We thought that the whole thing was pretty interesting  since we were living in a particularly rural part of Colorado.  Little did we know that in a few short years we would be heading to the Last Frontier ourselves where Mike would be doing exactly what Joel was doing on TV.  I just started the 4th season and I have to say that I am really enjoying the whole thing.  I am not a big fan of commercial TV, and until the last couple of months I have totally avoided watching anything on the Networks.  That has changed because I now have a DVR and can tape and watch stuff at my convenience (without commercials!!).  I have been watching "Accidentally on Purpose" and "Modern Family"  Both have their high and low points and neither can really compete with either "Northern Exposure" or "Dharma and Greg"  which are the only two shows I have really watched consistently over the last 20 years.  Well, I admit to a slight BBC addiction, Monarch of the Glenn, Father Ted, My Family, Ballykissangel, and of course Trailer Park Boys, yep, I watched that one faithfully and then got it again on Netflix. But now BBC has fallen victim to Gordon Ramsay mania and I don't watch it any more.
  So anything new on the needles?  One looooong lost project, the Swirl Shawl in Jojoland Melody.  I am half way through the 3rd row, meaning I am exactly half way through the shawl.  It is infinitely fiddly and tedious, but I am sure it will be gorgeous if I ever get it done.  I am not really a huge fan of Modular knitting, but I think I liked the Koigu Log Cabin Vest a bit more that the swirl shawl.  I just swatched for the Tea Leaves Cardigan and actually got gauge with the recommended needles. ( and I even washed and blocked the swatch!)

Once in a Blue Moon

   So, that's about all I am managing to write lately.  I envisioned the Blue Moon of last night, the first New Year's Blue Moon since 1990 to be really auspicious; to be the harbinger of better times ahead, to be the end of war, global warming, religious intolerance, and narrowmindedness.  Sorry, wrong Universe.  Well, I am hopeful that better times really are on the way.
   Resolutions; why bother.  I have never really made resolutions. I guess the closest I got was a couple of years ago I did the "Year of knitting from your stash"  Since purchasing sock yarn was exempt , I survived the year, barely.  I may actually change the focus of my knitting this year and lean a bit toward larger projects, sweaters, a couple of vests, some felted projects.  Part of this is related to my wrist issues, and my desire to knit at a slightly larger gauge.  Of course part of it is everyone I know has enough socks, hats, gloves and scarfs to each clothe a small country, so small projects are somewhat undesireable.  My second focus has to be to knit more of my handspun. Now that I am learning to purchase, or to dye more fleece or roving, I have enough of each yarn to make things larger than fingerless gloves.  I have several bags of more than a pound of each batch of wool, so I guess I need to get on to those spinning/knitting projects. And Weaving.  Yikes, I dunno about that one.  I am  not a good weaver.  It is a bit fiddly, mathematical and easy to screw up for my taste.  I am going to sell one loom, for sure, and probably keep the Harrisville 36" and make an attempt to actually weave something that is not just, well, awful.
  Anything else, personal, social issues?  Will I loose 20 pounds, journal every day, cut back on beer and coffee, drive for Meals on Wheels, accept the 100 Mile Challenge and become a locavore.  I doubt it.  All good ideas, but realistically I seem to be barely able to keep my head above water following  what I have done the past few years.  Oh, I know I'll read more Library books and spend less money at Borders.  There , I feel better. Happy New Year!

Long time no blog

   It would be Politically Correct for me to say that I have been swept up by the Holiday Spirit, and too busy to blog.  Well, that could not be further from the truth.  I have no Holiday Spirit, other than the one that  seems to be giving me subliminal messages to carry something along the lines of an AK 47 every time I need to enter a store during this oh-so-festive season.  I am not fond of Holiday music.  I don't have a favorite Holiday movie, though I did watch Love Actually the other night, a movie I actually do love, but it didn't do much for my  bah- humbugedness.  My Holiday shopping involved 6 gift cards from Barnes and Nobel, a bunch of Grafton Cheese and some Lake Champlain Chocolates.  I also bought my husband something totally awesome  that I just knew he would absolutely love.  But he found it.

  On a happier note, I have continued some happy spinning projects.  But on a pretty sad wheel.  My Majacraft Rose has spun miles of yarn with me, and some of her more delicate parts have worn out in recent weeks.  In the course of replacing them, a couple of other bits and pieces fell apart, from fatigue or perhaps mis-handling. She is now all put back together and is happily plying some smokey, rosy BFL from Moonlight and Laughter.   This fiber was not particularly easy to spin, but it was a challenge I needed and really embraced.  Recently I have spun a bunch of merino/silk, some bamboo, and some bombyx silk. Those fibers are all slick  and therefore relatively easy to spin.  They were all two ply, spun and plied with a wollee winder.    Mindless spinning bliss.  BFL, for several reasons is my favorite fiber to spin, but it is not always simple.  This particular fiber was a bit tuggy, therefore had to be separated into fairly slim sections and pre-drafted vigorously in order to keep the color bands intact.  Some of the color bands were shorter than the staple length of the fiber so I had to be particularly vigilant to keep those colors from fanning out unevenly as I drafted.  Honestly, had I not paid attention the whole thing could have turned to muddy brown.  Instead, I spent a bit of time separating and pre-drafting and ended up with a spectacularly vibrant, but subtle yarn.  I love it.  This is not a time consuming process at all, and as a result the spinning goes much faster than it would if I had not pre-drafted.  I would hazard a guess that it all comes out close to the same time-wise , and the final results are well worth the time spent on fiber prep.

  Knitting is coming along nicely,  I even have some left over gift type stuff that could possibly be emergency presents, if only I could think of anyone to give them to. I am not saying that my projects are all completed, just that there is a light and 10 days at the end of the tunnel.  My husband, who has even less Holiday Spirit  than yours truly was moved to make 13 pepper mills.  Last year he made rolling pins.  He works in a gifty, friendly office.  More power to him. 
   I actually went to Webs last week and bought yarn for a sweater.  Now, I need yarn for a sweater far like I need another hole in my head, but every January I knit a sweater, I have enjoyed them all, wear them, and I just wanted to keep up the tradition.  I am making the Tea Leaves Cardigan by Melissa LaBarre.  I am using Madelinetosh Worsted in  Norway Spruce color (variagated deep blue-green).
  It is 2 pm and I am going to take a nap.  My youngest child gave me about 20,00 new grey hairs yesterday.  He returned home from college in Ohio for his 6 weeks winter break.  Before he left Ohio he bought 2 new snow tires to replace two of his 4 bald-ish tires.  I noticed this morning that they put the tires on the back of the car.  He has a front weel drive car.  Oh, well, he made it here.  He left Columbus at noon ( instead of his planned 7 am start, naturally) and drove to Vermont, straight through, arriving  in the middle of the night.  He is blissfully still asleep.  How do kids do that?