Mossy Cottage Knits

More Fun Than Should Be Legal...

(Lots o' photos, Dear Readers. May be slow to load.)

Whoa.

I cannot believe the Garden Party has already come and gone. Why, not ten minutes ago, The Mysterious K and I were fussing over where to put the snacks; whether or not to put little bouquets of flowers out; which tablecloth to put on which table; whether the cooler should go here, or here, or here; what the weather was going to be like...and—blam!—the party was two days ago!

(Side note to God: Thanks for the weather, Dude. I’ll knit ya’ something.)

The final guest list consisted of MaryB, June, Rebecca, Patti, Karen, Kit, Beth, and three ladies I met for the first time at the party but who all get an enthusiastic and unequivocal thumbs-up from me: Kim, Cheryl (who came to us via TMK's swimming group) and, most exciting of all, for me at least, Perclexed, who has been a long, long, long time reader of the blog and who claims to be too shy to go to knitting parties, but who was, in fact, funny, warm, fun and a real addition to the partay. In other words, she brought the brewskies and the slices of lime.

TMK and I added what we hoped was some variety to the party by playing (thanks to TMK’s iPod) the Arizona NPR interview of Cuzzin Tom and Meredith of F.I.R.E. in which they talked about Dulaan, Mossy Cottage and alla' youze knitters out there; playing (thanks to TMK’s DVD player) a slideshow that F.I.R.E. sent us containing soulful pictures of the many faces of Mongolia set to beautiful, achingly haunting music; and, segueing from the sublime to the ridiculous, handing out party favors! See?

Yep, more beaded stitch markers than anyone would ever need, anytime, anywhere. TMK and I spent a couple of hours last weekend churning these puppies out and while we thought that was the fun part, come to find out it didn’t hold a candle to the thrill of watching people pick out and claim their favorites. You woulda' thought we had handed them actual treasures, not just pieces of glass strung on silver wire.

(For those of you who are surprised that TMK would allow herself to be caught dead making such sissy things, in her world, it wasn't about the sparkly beads and the pretty, girly things, it was about using the tools. Grunt.)

Some photos:

Photograph 1: The grub. Folks brought amazing nosh including three-bean salad, a homemade chocolate hazelnut cake; oatmeal, caramel, chocolate chip bars; antipasti; strawberries; and mango and ginger stilton. TMK and I contributed a round of brie, cut in half, one half with rind, one half without. All I'll say is that both halves were gone by the end of the party. Hah.

Photograph 2: MaryB, June and Karen, all cozy in TMK’s and my new wrought-iron, canvas and mosquito-netting tent/awning thingy which ended up being perfect for the party.

Photograph 3: Kim (hidden), Karen, Rebecca, Cheryl, June, Patti, Perclexed and Frankie’s butt under Tent #2 which we rented to hedge our bets against the weather.

Photograph 4: MaryB working on—get this—Dulaan Item #46. I bow down to you, Mary. In fact, I proclaim, “We’re not woooorthy! We’re not woooorthy!”

Photograph 5: June working on a beautiful dark green, light orange, dark orange and buttercream Fair Isle sweater for the project. She calls this sweater “Teaching an Old Broad New Tricks” since, while she is an uber talented and experienced Fair Isle knitter, she is using this sweater to teach herself a new method of holding the two strands of yarn.

Photograph 6: Confession time: Although technically the party ended at 6pm, a few of us knit, gabbed and ate until well into the evening, in fact, late enough for TMK to fire up the BBQ and produce a platterful of barbecued zucchini and sweet orange pepper strips to help fool our bodies into thinking we hadn't just spent the last seven or eight hours eating cakes and pastries. This picture shows the evening winding down and is a little dark because...well...sunset was at about 9:00pm. You do the math. And why are Perclexed and I hiding our faces in blankets? Who knows. We were most likely teasing Kit who didn't want to be in the picture. Sigh. You would never know I’m 45 years old.

Okay, that wraps up the “people portion” of the show. Now for the important part, the Dulaan Haul:

Here, a picture of a pile so tall you can’t even see the box it’s in!

Here, the box from the side:

Here the entire stash, including three fleece blankets made by Perclexed, laid out for your viewing pleasure.

And, again, the stash, minus the blankets but plus Frankie. No, she will not be mailed to MongoLEEa.

Lastly, a photo for MaryB and Rebecca who are convinced I never knit anything, ever, at any of the knitting get-togethers. This pink MegaUltraBulkyChunky Hat was half-done by the end of the evening and finished the next day. Neener, neener.

Posted by Ryan at June 6, 2005 11:28 AM