Out of the Woods...

We are fresh back from camping in our favorite place for Nature Boy's Annual Birthday Camptacular. What fun we had! A full orange giant harvest moon. A roaring campfire with vegan s'mores. A tiny Wee camper who roamed the camp site and even hiked a bit in the forest on his own two little legs.

I will now reveal, with much fanfare, the Worthy Cause my Compassionate Craft Week efforts will be going to....

Pathways to Spirit's One Heart One Mind Program! You can read about this project HERE.

I had originally looked at a local domestic violence shelter for my Worthy Cause but upon reading their information online, it appears they really prefer new clothing items and I was not sure how happy a woman or child would be to receive a handmade sweater, nor did I feel I could finish one quickly. I decided maybe I should look at other programs but still felt strongly I wanted to do something to somehow empower women.

I scoured the net looking for projects and One Heart One Mind just called to me. I used to live in Colorado and this program operates from there. I feel these young girls who live on a reservation need to know that someone cares and feels sorry for what our ancestors did to their ancestors. I emailed Pathways to Spirit about my interest and got a response right away, letting me know they appreciate any items for the mothers and children but they really are in need of items for the newborns. They thanked me for my interest and also said I could feel free to spread the word about this program, so I'm giving them a bit of a plug here.

I'm really excited to plan out my little projects and see how many of them I can accomplish in a week! Friday, October 1st is the official start date so I will post here and on Ravelry to update on my progress. Wish me luck!

Is anyone out there participating in Compassionate Craft Week? What items have you made for charity in the past? What groups have you made things for?

Camping Fuel

We have been busy at Knitsburgh. Well, maybe busy away from Knitsburgh, I guess we should say.

There was camping. It was wonderful and quite delicious too. For us, the forest is the best part, then the food. We always have an easy meal of dogs or burgers (meat for Nature Boy, meatless for me) for dinner the night we set up camp. The next morning, we make what we call "hash." We cook some chopped taters, onions, green peppers and a jalapeno pepper in some oil over the fire in our big campfire pot. We flavor it will generous amounts of dill, salt and pepper. This trip we also had sausages (again, meat for Nature Boy and meatless for me), roasted over the fire in our mountain pie makers. Breakfast was quite tasty.

Lunch is usually a granola bar and an apple on the trail. I made some homemade vegan bars using this recipe with a few substitutions. I used oats (ground into a flour in my food processor) instead of the almond and rice flours. I also covered the pan with vegan chocolate chips which melted and when I took it out of the oven, spread them with a knife evenly over the bars to make a chocolate icing. Then I put on some shredded coconut and some almonds and baked another 5 minutes or so. They were divine!

My favorite camp meal is our dinner on the 2nd night. We always make mountain pie pizzas. I use a local bread called Italian Peasant Bread, spread the outsides with some Earth Balance, lay down some pizza sauce, chopped onions, green peppers, olives, shrooms and even some fake pepperoni, top it off with some vegan chreese (used Daiya this trip, the mozz flavor and it was so melty and cheesy-like) and cook it over the fire until I can't take it and need to eat it right away. I usually burn my tongue. I usually don't care a bit. It's that good, hands down the best damn pizza I have even eaten in my life. I don't know if it's the fire that does it or the magic of the woods and the stars and the bullfrogs croaking or if it's how it actually tastes, but it's my favorite thing to eat. Until I've eaten two and then...

...s'mores!!! Vegan marshmallows, vegan chocolate and homemade vegan grahams (recipe featured here.)
So melty and sweet and crispy and smoky and messy and fun. I love roasting the marshmallow, not letting it get too burnt, not letting it be too undone. I love squishing it off the stick onto the cracker atop the chocolate, then holding it over the fire to help the chocolate get really gooey. So good.

After that, there's not much more. The last day we eat a breakfast of granola bars as we take down the tent and say goodbye to our chipmunk friend who is at our same site, year after year, with his little den under the stump. The feasting is over; on the ride home we much on the leftover chips and pretzels and plan the next trip. We can't wait to do it all over again!

An Assortment of Musings, Ramblings and Some Obvious Bragging

Hooray!!! Finally finished the Garter Stitch Kimono:

After it's washed I will have the Wee One model it. It looks very wide compared to his body right now though. He's long but skinny so I'm anxious to see how it will all work out. It was a fun knit but not as quick as I thought because a). I forgot how much more knitting garter stitch entails and b). the construction of a kimono type wrap means extra fabric to be knit to wrap around the body. Those two things plus my slowpoke knitting style equal slower than anticipated knitting.

Speaking of slow knitting--the Forest Footfall Socks for you-know-who are going along so slowly I fear they may not be done in time for the big birthday. Basically, I spend my days taking care of the Wee One and running errands and finishing chores so there is not much knit time. This week I may switch tactics and slow down on the cleaning a bit in the day to give me more knit time. I usually want to get the cleaning out of the way when you-know-who isn't here so our evenings are more relaxed but you have to do what you have to do for knitting deadlines. It's brutal. If you think that's bad ask me about what I'm usually up to on Christmas Eve.

OK, since you asked, I'm usually pulling an all-nighter to finish some sort of handmade gift. Sometimes sewing, sometimes embroidery, sometimes knitting. I admit it, I'm a procrastinator of the worst sort, but I usually get it done somehow in the end. Usually...

I've been thinking some about a post by Laura of late. She talked about neglecting things in her life and it really struck a chord within me. I'm going to try harder to work the spiritual side of things back into my daily life. I'm still pondering as to what my goals will be. Maybe just some free-form daily meditation, I'm not sure as of yet. Thanks Laura for inspiring me.

Talk about inspiration--so we went camping this past weekend with the Wee One and spent time with Mother Nature! We went to our fave place in the Allegheny National Forest and had a great time. Here is some evidence in case you doubted the fun:

OK, now for the start of this weekend, it's almost just about here and more fun is about to ensue...

Out of the Trees

Back from a recent camping trip with Nature Boy, Ms. Knitsburgh feels rested and re-connected with the universe. Here are some highlights of the trip:
The lake:
Spores!
Little hop-toad:
No balloon but found the note:
Fuzzy caterpillar:
Salamander!

As you can see, some knitting was accomplished. I turned the heel of Sock #1 in Pair O'Sox. Now on to the toe...at this rate, I hope they are finished before flip flop season begins anew!

So I recently joined up with Ravelry. I "applied" back in March but never responded to the invite and decided to finally get in the door and see what the fuss is all about. Holy crikey! I've been in Ravelry almost non-stop. Why did I not listen to the whispers and rumors about the super goodness of it all? The patterns, the patterns, the patterns! Seems someone there stole my name from me. If you are on Ravelry, you can find me listed under "Knitsburgher." Friend me up!

In other news, I've been gathering flower seeds and tomato seeds in preparation for the Spring. It's been getting much colder here and is much darker in the morning when I wake up. It can only mean one thing...winter is at the doorstep. I like the turning of the wheel and the seasons changing and all that, but I'm sorry, I much prefer warm and hot weather than cold. And if it's gonnna be cold there better be snow covering everything.

Recap

So here I write as I wait for NKOTB to appear on the Today show.

Where have I been, you ask?

Everywhere!

First, we went here:




Old Home's Day with Nature Boy's Family. I had a great time, despite preparing myself for agony. A long weekend with all of his clan in a tiny home where you can't flush the toilet because you have to conserve the well water does not ordinarily make for the best of conditions. However, it was fun and I think I might even go back next year! Oh, I won a flower arrangement and a plastic shelving unit too.

Next, we went to the woods! Camping! I seem to have lost these pictures during the Great Computer Crash of 2008. We missed the blueberries by a week or two, I'd say. We hiked through the forest and saw many different birds. I startled a deer and he startled me with a loud noise, like a grunty-huffy noise, before he ran. We also got to hear and see a bajillion bullfrogs on the lake at night while a gorgeous full moon floated above in the sky with all the stars. We made yummy food over the campfire and stayed up late soaking in the night around us.

Lastly, we came here:




Back to the beach. It was good, it was bad. It was enlightening. The ocean was beautiful and on the last day, we dove down under the water with Nature's Boys Dollar Store facemask (which works suprisingly well) and peered face to face with many diffent fish, blue crabs and skates. I came back feeling closer to someone I'd felt estranged from, but newly estranged from one I have always had a bond with. We are very glad we went and got to spend a week on the shore and fling ourselves into the waves again!

So what have I been up to since my return to Knitsburgh? I've been sewing a bit, sadly, not knitting very much though. I guess I'm in a knitting slump. I'm still on Sock #1 from the Pair O'Sox. I will post some pics of my sewing perhaps tomorrow. I'm working on laundry, then shower, then grocery shopping before I go to work at noon. I am not sleeping well of late and have a bit of a cold so I am exhausted right now.

Oh, special thanks to our fantastical neighbor for spending hours fixing our old, tired computer!!! We cannot express our thanks enough (although I still yearn for that sweet little blue wireless laptop...).

Happy Camper!

Went camping with Nature Boy (his b-day celebration)and had a fantastic time! Here are some moments for you to enjoy:







What's new with the knit? Not much; I may have to consider renaming this blog if this keeps up! Here is a bit of sorta knit related stuff for you to ogle that I took with me camping and touched nary a time:
Oh and Bigfoot eluded me yet again but if you are reading this, Big, I will find you, mark my words I will! And to that bear I thought I heard growling at night--stay away from my tent and let me sleep. (others in the camping party believed the growling was actually a motorcyle--passhaw, how silly are they!!!).