Yes, the 12th annual Crafty Moms weekend! I looked back in my Shutterfly albums, and the very first crafty spring beach trip was in 2003. There were four of us moms then, and we took our 4th graders and our spouses with us. The next year we ditched the kids and spouses. The group has waxed and waned in the following years; this year we had 15 moms.
I love this time away so I can reconnect with friends, and also work intensively on projects. This year, I knit most of the second version of a shawl that will be published at the end of the month.
I can’t really show you what it looks like, but here are several other things I’ve designed during past Crafty Moms weekends.
Rockaway 2-way Beach Beanie/Cowl
I loved this group of young adults hanging out on the beach.
It was a pretty rainy weekend, with a few sunbreaks.
I’ve done some songwriting on previous Crafty Moms weekends, too. Not this time, although I was hoping my new travel guitar would arrive before I left. Missed me by 4 hours! And I had too much knitting on deadline, anyway. But this is what I found when I got home.
It’s the Limited Edition Holden Village Taylor GS Mini Guitar on the right. I’ve named her Minerva (Minnie for short), and she has a huge sound for such a little thing! The top is old-growth Engelmann Spruce from near Holden Village in the North Cascade Mountains in Washington. The trees were harvested as part of a mine remediation project that will clean up the creek there. Part of the proceeds from the sale of each of these guitars will go to El Porvenir and Living Waters for the World. El Porvenir has a special place in my heart since I worked on a service trip with them in Nicaragua in 2012. You can read more about the guitars here and here. The combination of a fundraiser for El Porvenir plus tonewood from Holden Village (a place I’ve never been, but a place that inspired Marty Haugen to write Holden Evening Prayer, a gorgeous piece of liturgical music that we’ve sung on Women’s Retreat and at church) pushed me to order this guitar.
Larry Breedlove designed a beautiful 12th fret inlay that portrays water flowing from between two mountains. There’s a lot of inspiration in this little package, and a lot of win for everyone.
Speaking of win: We have a Tauriel winner. There were 195 comments, wow! The winner is Lynne Phelps; I have sent her an email to get her info to Bonne Marie. Thanks all, for reading and commenting. And I hope all the rest of you download and knit this wonderful pattern!
How was your weekend?
PDXKnitterati 
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That is one beautiful instrument! I always love the photos you include from your trips (or even just your backyard), too.
Thank you! I love to share the fun. The new guitar looks good and sounds good, too!
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The new guitar is lovely! Thank you so much for the Tauriel pattern, it caught my fancy the very first time I saw it. I am so thrilled! Now for yarn selection, choices, choices….
What a great posting of the Holden Village GS Mini – beautifully done! I’m the fellow who got the project started, and I found your post while looking for another posting by a friend. We are delighted to support El Porvenir with this – over 200$ of each purchase goes to clean water in Central America. Nearly 400 instruments have sold — a lot of good is being done, a lot of music being made! I so appreciate your spreading the word about this on your blog! Cheers, Dave Olson Bellingham WA
Hi, Dave! I love my new GS Mini; it is beautiful and it sounds great. It was brilliant of you to think of this superior use for the old growth Engelmann Spruce that had to come down. Kudos to you for a wonderful idea, and the follow through to make it happen. Thanks so much!
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