AuburnChick's Adventures

BRIEF INTERRUPTION…

Littlest Chick will henceforth be referred to as Rockin Rooster. Thanks, Megan, from the Stitch-It Ravelry forum, for this suggestion! We mulled over each idea very carefully and decided that this name fit the bill nicely, being something he will not outgrow as he ages.

AND NOW, BACK TO YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAM…

AuburnChick has hit the road again. Soccer Chick’s team is playing in a national tournament in Virginia Beach, so we loaded up the car and headed out Thursday afternoon.

Packing for this almost week-long, 13-hour each way trip proved challenging. As fellow knitters, I’m sure you can identify with the following scene.

I arrived home from taking the kids to youth group and decided to get busy preparing for the trip. What’s the first thing a knitter packs when going on a trip? Clothes? Um, no. Toiletries? Wrong-o. Of course, it’s the knitting that goes into the bag first. Clothes and other stuff go in last, and if there’s no room, my motto is that you buy them when you get to your destination.

I currently have three works in progress. This is way more than the one I usually have, but into the bag they went, along with all possibly-needed accessories and patterns.

Next, I decided to pack yarn and needles for the charity blankets I hope to cast on this week. I don’t think I’ve mentioned this before, but I am heading up the West Coast Oddball Baby Blanket project that’s based over on KnittingHelp.com. You’ve seen the other blankets I’ve worked on. Well, wonderful Shandeh, brave leader of the entire project, decided to split the country into regions to make the project more manageable. I was asked to coordinate one region. I’m very excited about this. I created a blog for the project, found here. My region covers the states of California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, and Hawaii. If you live in one of these states and want to participate, please let me know. We have a thread going over on Ravelry in case you’re not on KH, so you can stay connected there as well. Or, you don’t have to be a part of either site. Just drop me a line, and I’ll explain how the project works. It’s a fabulous way to use your talents to benefit others…without having to make a humongous time commitment to knit an entire blanket.

Within 30 minutes, I had filled up two bags with knitting supplies. My family was not amused that half of our trunk is devoted to my hobby addiction.

Now, being the techie that I am, I also cannot leave home without my gadets. Enter in my laptop, with its 17″ screen (aka a LARGE computer bag), and my new camera.

Oh, I didn’t tell you about that yet? Well, remember that my old camera was kicking the bucket. It finally quit sputtering and completely died. I just cannot be without a camera. My blog requires the frequent posting of pictures, plus I want to capture every drop of sweat that Soccer Chick works up on the field.

After much inquiring and research, I finally went to Best Buy, where I totally disregarded everything I had previously read and fell into the tech trap that frequently engulfs me the moment I step foot into that place. To be fair, I passed by the $899 cameras. There’s a line I won’t cross, and that was it. Stepping over to the cheaper aisle, I was quickly overwhelmed by all of the shiny gadgets. I was like a kid in a candy store…I wanted everything!

Timing is everything. At that very moment, Mr. Young Salesman appeared at my elbow.

“Hello, you look like you’re confused and thus willing to spend an exorbitant amount of money right now. Allow me to lead you down the path to debt.”

Yeah, that was me alright. And boy did he lead me astray. It was almost like he had chocolate in his pocket, and my sniffers knew that and followed blindly behind him.

Sure, I’ll take that expensive camera that happens to be on sale this week (of course).

4gb memory card, that’s also on sale this week? Of course. Why not. I’m gullible today.

Extra warranty? In case I drop my camera in the toilet? Sure thing! You go boy. Ring it up!

To my credit, I bought the generic camera bag.

I walked out of there the proud new owner of a Nikon Coolpix P80. It’s got 10.1 megapixels and 18x optical zoom. No longer will I have to wait until the second half of the game when Soccer Chick is on my side of the field. I can photograph ever hair of her unshaven leg from across the park, if I want. I’m sure she’ll appreciate this comment, but since she doesn’t read my blog (thinks it’s stupid, but what does she know), who cares.

Here are a few of the pictures I’ve taken so far…

My Leaf Lace Scarf…

A Little Slip of a Thing…

Pele (Soccer Chick’s dog)…

Molly…

Aubie…

This is Ziggy, Soccer Chick’s teammate’s dog…

I plan on posting more pictures from Virginia. I can’t wait! The scenery is beautiful up there, which should give me ample opportunity to play with my new toy.

Filed under: Knitting | Tagged: best buy, blanket, camera, Charity, coolpix, Knitting, knittinghelp.com, lace leaf scarf, little slip of a thing, nikon, Oddball Baby Blankets, Pets, ravelry, scarf, soccer, stitch it, travel, virginia |