A little building mixed with a little knitting...that's my life!

Yup, this photo pretty much sums it up, knitting and building! And they both came in use this weekend!

Each year, the Mountain Circle Foster Agency in Greenville, CA holds it's annual fundraiser Running with the Bears (www.runningwiththebears.org/) Marathon. 

And each year I help the Indian Valley Chamber of Commerce (indianvalleychamber.snappages.com/) with their Aid Station. This year is no exception.

​This year's theme - The Indian Valley Chamber of Commerce Pirates!

We have a new group of volunteers that I've been working with, and they are some of the most creative men and women that I've met!

Pat Bradley took on the task of building a ship bow, out of cardboard! Can you believe it. Look at how incredible this is! And it's cardboard! The runners will be able to step behind the bow and take their photos. So cool!

I sent a link, via Facebook, to Pat about a new exhibit at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, "Wild Card." (www.exploratorium.edu/wildcard) Everything is made from cardboard. Her response..."my people!" And then my friend Janay (aka The Window Lady (www.etsy.com/shop/thewindowlady) said "those are my friends." Of course they are! Janay knows the coolest people!

My task on this project has been building the fill in props. ​

This is the beginning of the "Rum" and "Whiskey" cases. I was luck enough to find shelf paper at the Dollar Store that looks like wood grain.
​
Did you buy all of them" the checker asked. "No, I think there's two left."
She just laughed and said "well, you might as well grab the last two!"

It's so realistic!

And amazingly enough, I didn't ruin my nails on this project! Sydney, my manicurist, was so happy for that fact! Typically I come home from a weekend away, with completely trashed nails. 
"Now what have you been building" she always asks as she looks at my broken and chipped nails. "You should wear gloves!"

Each night, after work, I'd stay late to work on the crates. I love how they look!

The pilings were next. Don't they look real!

​I used "sono tubes," as the base and covered them with the shelf paper. Sono tubes are used to pour concrete pilings. But the guys at the hardware store know better than to think I was actually using them for their real purpose. 

​"So, what are you building now" they'd ask. 

And of course we need some type of signs to keep the runners brains engaged with a little pirate limerick! Had to make another trip to the hardware store. This time I needed the 36' stakes for these signs, and a new staple gun. Oh how I love my new staple gun!

The last item I built was the docks.

​My Faithful Sherpa and I drove to the back of some warehouses where I knew we could find free pallets. Then we drove back to the storage yard where we have our container, and I started in on the build. 

Actually, we call the container our "garage." 

Lots of friends stopped by and with quizzical looks asked "what are you doing?"
"Oh, don't ask" he would tell them. "It's just another one of Eva's crazy projects!"

They'll be used just for looks, but I loved how they turned out. And I also loved that I got to use a sawzall! Now that was fun!

I was tired by the time I finish with the build. But I was satisfied with the progress. And I couldn't wait to sit down and knit. It's always the perfect ending to a perfect day.