August 31, 2005...SP5 ENDS

Here we are at the end of SP5! I’ll miss it (unless I decide to join SP6). Looking forward to extracting the “secret” from my pals so we can finally reveal our true identities to each other. This is my first experience with secret pal events, and it has been fun for me, as I hope it has been for you, “YSP” in Seattle, and Wendy, in Pennsylvania. Thank you for your friendship, respect, and appreciation. You have both enlightened my knitting knowledge by sharing your creative ideas and gifts. I will contact you with my blog site info and E-mail address via E-mail.

Okay…the moment has come…(drum roll)!! Here’s “Knitmare” in all her glory!

"KNITMARE!" 

My son, Theo, who created my Blogger name, Knitmare; my husband, Paul, the Blogmeister; and myself. 

A fond farewell from the all-knowing Knitmare!

A package from my Secret Pal

This past week I received another fun package from my secret pal in Seattle (see picture following this post). Included were a pair of stitch markers, two skeins of sock yarn, a cute note pad and pen, some “Hula Pie” Hawaii roasted “coffee with an attitude,” from “The Bad Ass Coffee Co.” of Kona, Hawaii, and a book on Domino Knitting, a technique unfamiliar to me. In domino knitting, the pieces are knitted together while the work progresses, and it is supposed to be less stressful on the knitter’s arms and shoulders than other kinds of knitting. Domino is knitted on short, preferably wooden needles, or circular needles, using only a few stitches at a time. I’m looking forward to trying this new (to me--the technique’s been around for more than a century, also known as “number knitting”) method. Thank you, Secret Pal, for the thoughtful gifts!
The SP5 event will end on August 31st. It had been challenging to learn to work with E-mail on our very slow “dial-up” system. The blog has been fun, as well, even though I still don’t understand how to post by myself. For those of you who might be interested, the next “secret pal” event begins September 3rd. Go to hhttp://www.secretpalsix.blogspot.com. There is another event, too: hhttp://theneedleexchange.blogspot.com. I may pass this next event up since it runs to the end of November, competing with major holidays. This “old grey mare” can’t juggle as fast and as much as she used to!!

Secret Pal package. 

Our Return To The Redwoods In 1980

Four years later, in the fall of 1979, a job change for Paul brought us to Paradise from the beautiful Napa Valley, where we had spent seven delightful years. The following summer, we fondly entertained the idea of taking our family back to camp meeting. By then we had accrued two more family members, ages three and sixteen months. Some of the older church folks encouraged us by loaning us their 9x12 tents, Coleman stove and lantern, and other miscellaneous camp equipment to “try it out and see if we liked tenting” (with such a small army). After all, that first excursion in the motel did provide almost all of the comforts of home. “Roughing it” outdoors on the ground would definitely be a totally different experience!

We decided to go forward and embark on this adventure in the great outdoors! We called ahead to the camp headquarters to reserve a spot large enough to accommodate our sizable family of eight. In the meantime, I shopped for duffle bags, canteens, and appropriate camp clothing for the troop’s ten day stint. The third Thursday of July finally arrived, the anticipated date of our departure. We fearlessly and enthusiastically crammed everything we could think of (including the baby’s diaper pail for his cloth diapers) in the old yellow, Ford, station wagon (with it’s laminated wood trim). Then one by one we all piled in and got settled for the seven hour drive awaiting us, punctuated only by gasoline and very frequent “potty” stops along the way!

During the five year interim since our first visit, the camp meeting site had been changed and moved to a new location off of US 101. It was now in a thick forest of Pepperwood trees at the bottom of a narrow, winding road, through a breathtaking and magnificent stand of redwoods called Founder’s Grove. Weary from hours of travel, we finally reached the camp site that had been assigned to us. There we discovered Les Aggers, one of the older Paradise church members, putting the finishing clean-up touches on #7 Walnut. We learned he had spent the better part of that day trimming, pruning, raking, and removing poison oak shoots, in preparation for our arrival. He couldn’t understand what took us so long to get there?! We were deeply touched by and grateful for his kindness and benevolence in our behalf. He had worked very unselfishly to clear our large, shady, corner campsite, nestled under a cluster of redwood trees. We couldn’t have asked for a lovelier location, or gesture of kindness.

We believed God had chosen this beautiful spot for us and were very thankful. By the end of those ten days, we realized tent camping, in the “wilds of nature,” was both enjoyable and compatible with our family, and all too soon it was time to leave and go back home. That was the beginning of our annual ten day retreat into the redwoods, along the north coast of California.

A Trip To Our Favorite Neck Of The Woods

Thursday, July 14th, Paul and I departed to our favorite “neck of the woods” along the north coast of California. We have been making this same expedition for the past twenty-five years. In 1975, when Paul was a student at Pacific Union College in Angwin, he was assigned to attend Redwood Camp Meeting to promote the college and recruit students. The college graciously allowed the entire family to go along, which included at that time, myself and our four children, ages ten, six, five, and two. We were provided a motel in Fortuna, not far from the Pamplin Grove, which was (and still is) situated by highway 36 and the Eel River, the location at that time for Redwood Camp Meeting. Having never been there before, we found ourselves in an awe-inspiring, primeval stand of towering, majestic redwoods that seemed to reach up as far as the naked eye could see. I soon realized these were one of the natural wonders that defy capturing accurately with a mere, man-made camera. There was truly a sense of sacredness about the place.

Meals were prepared in a large, outdoor, mobile camp kitchen and all the campers would gather together at picnic tables in a rustic, open cafeteria-like setting among the tall, giant trees. While Paul promoted and recruited, the rest of us planted ourselves on the front row seats of every meeting we could attend. During the ten day event, we soaked up as many inspirational and biblical messages through the spoken word and song, as possible. That was my first introduction to an “old fashioned,” church, tent camp meeting, and I‘ve been “hooked“ ever since!!.