Barbie Camp

Back in 2006, giddy with the idea of once again meeting up at Knitting Camp, a knitting virus, or maybe even temporary knitting insanity, infected my friends and me. I'm sure this temporary insanity has infected some of you at one time or another. You know - the kind of madness that allows you to convince yourself you can correctly cast on for that heirloom lace project at 1:30 in the morning.

At first our fevered knitting brains wondered whether it was feasible to knit a life-size Knitted Camp. Thank the knitting gods that the Camp induced mania subsided enough for us to realize that such an endeavor would be a mistake on so many levels. Instead we came up with the idea of a doll-sized camp.

Barbie 1 is wearing a garter stitch poncho with a picot edge cast on, a white, seed stitch halter top, purple capri pants with rib edges and a drawstring waistband, and is knitting a stole (an essential camping item).


Barbie 2 is wearing a white, sleeveless V-neck cabled sweater, blue walking shorts, and is wearing one Regia sock while feverishly knitting the other.


Ken is wearing Barbie 2's pink stole (hey, you never know - cross dressing in public in Marshfield, WI - it could happen) and knitting a cabled sweater.


The tent is knit of flat pieces which were seamed with I-cord and has a steek door The tent poles are knitting needles.


The fire is I-cord logs and, I believe, sock yarn flame.


The sleeping bag is one repeat of the Russian Prime pattern, edged with I-cord.



The camp was quite a challenge for many of us: the camp sign is Lynn Eudey's first attempt at double knitting; the tent "door" was Martha Gifreda's first machine-stitched steek; and the sleeping bag was my first attempt at 2 color knitting and I-cord. I had wanted to put in my first zipper, but ran out of time, so I cheated and used velcro as a closure. Maureen Taylor made the campfire, complete with marshmallows and extra logs for the fire, and Carol Cornelius knit all the Barbie clothes and accessories. The dolls and camp accessories (like the blender, table, boombox, etc.) were courtesy of Carol's grandkids.

I was quite tickled to find out that this camp has been set up at every session of Knitting Camp since we gave it to Meg. Now that is an honor, indeed.