Fall traveling - no crochet content

My husband and I just returned from our final trip in the camper for the year. We traveled to Western PA to visit relatives from my Mom's & my Dad's side of the family. My sister flew in from Texas, and an aunt from Kansas, to my parents in NC. Then, along with my brother, they drove up to Western PA. Mom organized a family get together and we visited with family we haven't seen in a while. Great times.
We stayed at a campground in Shelocta.


From there we drove to Blackwater Falls State Park in Davis, West Virginia. We spent a night in the Blackwater Falls Lodge, and the next day hiking through the park and looking at the falls.


Then we drove to Cass Scenic Railroad in Cass, West Virginia. We had a trip on a restored logging railroad, up to the top of the mountain where we had lunch. We had a tour of the machine shop (Hubby's favorite) and a tour of the company town (my choice) and saw a diorama of the town, railroad & mill, and watched a video about the history of the town and railroad.



When we got home we had to winterize the camper. Winter will be here soon in PA.

"Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio?".....

I know that I've been neglecting the blog again. I got sidetracked with projects and paperwork. Our CGOA Chapter is working on the "60 Scarves in 60 Days Challenge" on "Ravelry". We are planning to donate the scarves to a local YWCA and the PA Breast Cancer Coalition. Then came this year's announcement about the Special Olympic Scarves. We've participated in the SO project for the past two years, so we're making scarves and donating them this year.

In just a week or so we start on the "Caps for Good" project. A joint effort with Warm Up America and Save the Children, these caps will be collected and sent to poor women in other countries. This is a very important project and we're eager to participate for our second year.
The scarves are already being given to me, so I want to set up a system in the back of my car for organizing the various projects until each group is given to a "chair" person who will box and ship them, or deliver them locally.

Tunisian Lace with bobbles and shells

Many people think that Tunisian is simply the "afghan stitch", and don't like it because it's "thick & stiff". I've posted before about tips to make your Tunisian work soft and drapey. This is a lovely stitch pattern in Tunisian lace, that will change your mind about Tunisian - it's lacy and has bobbles and shells (or fans). This would make a lovely shawl!

I think I'll watch it over again, with hook and yarn in hand.

Knitters' Day Out

Last weekend I had fun with my fiber friends at Knitters' Day Out. This is a big event in the Harrisburg area. Friday night is a Market, and classes, Saturday is Market, more classes, and a buffet lunch.

Friday night I met up with a friend and we toured the Market, drooling over the lovely yarns, checking out the crochet books & hooks, and thinking about what we might buy and how many yards we'd need. We met up with a lot of crocheting and knitting friends during the evening.

This year I attended as a volunteer teacher! I had proposed a class on Tunisian for Knitters, and my proposal was accepted. I reworked my Introduction to Tunisian with the focus on it's similarities and differences to knitting, not crochet. I had a suitcase full of swatches, and samples including some of my original scarf designs. I am a right-handed crocheter, who also knits; I asked my best student to come along and assist me, she's a left-handed knitter who also crochets. We figured we'd be able to help everyone. I had a sold out class, with 15 eager knitters who knew nothing about crochet or Tunisian. They all left with great swatches of Tunisian knit and Tunisian purl, and some even got to learn a honeycomb pattern that's one of my favorite stitch patterns. My assistant brought along the baby afghan that she's recently finished, a honeycomb stitch worked in a variegated baby yarn. It was lovely! I hope all the students had as much fun as the teachers.

After class, we hit the market, again. I found out that my students did get to the vendor and they bought Tunisian hooks. I think that they will be even more surprised than I was when I opened the hooks. They are double-ended or cro-hooks. I love that because I can use them for Tunisian, and double hook patterns. But they don't look like most of the hooks that I showed them in class.

I filled out the evaluation & said I'd love to teach next year. But first we had to double check the dates for Knitters' Day Out and the dates of the Chain Link Conference in Greensboro. Sept 9 & 10 two weeks before the conference, I should be able to do both!!