We have returned! from knitting camp! The most fun you can have with 50 women ages 5 to 75. I went with my mom and my 9 year old niece Mallory.
It was truly a marvelous intergenerational experience. Most of the attendees were from the local area in East Texas, but also some who had traveled like we had. We each dyed a pair of ankle socks and knitted decorative cuffs for them. We also made "boa choas," fancy fringed neck-wraps; and funny knitted dolls. There was a workshop on mosaic knitting for advanced folks, but I didn't go near that! Mallory re-learned to use a spool knitter, too.
We had so much fun...knitting, talking, talking, eating, talking, knitting. The three of us sat at a table with two lovely young women, one of whom was VERY pregnant with her first baby (she said due date was in 3 weeks). Mallory came to me and whispered that she was worried that the lady might have her baby soon, and she should probably go home! I explained that having a baby takes quite a long time, so even if she started on it now, she would have plenty of time to get back to her house and the hospital. I am not sure Mallory believed me. She was very, very solicitous of the woman throughout the camp.
Most of the campers stayed at the cabins on the property, but we remained in our wonderful, ultra-comfortable Tyler hotel both nights. On Saturday evening before the fashion show and ice cream sundaes, the camp leader was giving us some instructions about emergency procedures, cabin captains, where to meet in case of fire, etc. There was one very serious young lady (about 8?) who raised her hand at the end of this and said, "What if there's a fire RIGHT BY THE DOOR of your cabin!?" The leader explained that each cabin had two doors for just that reason!
Then Mallory raised her hand. When she was called on, she said, "I hope nobody is planning to use drugs!"
I got to explain to her afterward what a non sequitur was, and she was tremendously pleased to see, that very night, that it is actually the title of one of the comic strips in the paper. Learning in action.
They have so much drug education in the schools that I guess she felt it important to bring that up. Also, she doesn't hate attention. Definitely an extrovert, that one.
Before we left that night, she told me, "Auntie Mary Beth! Some people are using drugs outside!" I said, "Mally, are they smoking cigarettes?"
"Yes!" she said.
So I got to remind her about legal drugs vs. illegal drugs...
That morning, Mally had realized that she didn't have any clean underwear with her. On the way home that evening (when we were insanely tired) she helpfully shared that she hadn't had clean underwear on for a long time. Like, maybe, 2 weeks. Or maybe 5 days?
She says, "I was sure I had put some in that suitcase, but now it is gone!" Thinks a minute. "Maybe a dog stole it!" I said, "Uh, Mally...where would that dog have been? In the trunk of the car?" (there are no dogs in her home). That struck us as funny, way TOO funny, so we were all driving along shrieking with laughter. Then she says, "Maybe some 'termerites' ate it? the kind that eat underwear?" (I suppose TERMERITES have more temerity than regular termites...to eat your underwear, indeed!)
Oh dear. Next we stopped at a light at Old Omen Road and she said, "Gran, that road reminds me of you." Why? "Cause it's old." My mother SHRIEKED with laughter and "Oh, oh, I'm going to wet my pants!"
What a great memory of hilarity for us all! I don't have memories like that with my own grandmothers; but then, my mom is a pretty singular and amazingly hilarious person.
More camp photos: 
Knitting with our new friend Mary (left)
; Mally showing the fringe of her boa;
and Mally in the fashion show modeling the prayer shawl Mom made for me earlier in the year.
