Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Midwest Birding Symposium Update

By now you probably know that I'll be attending the Midwest Birding Symposium in Lakeside, Ohio in just a little over 3 weeks. I'm also one of the lucky few chosen to be an "Official Blogger" at the Symposium. I'm really looking forward to this road trip with my best birding friend Lynne (also chosen as an Official Blogger). And if any of you have any good tips on the best way to get through the Chicago expressway system with a minimum or stress and/or profanity, please share them with me in the comments.

It looks like there's a multitude of fun activities and events planned for attendees at the Midwest Birding Symposium, but did you know there's going to be a raffle too? I understand that the money collected for raffle tickets goes to benefit a variety of birding, conservation and natural resource groups. I checked with the folks in charge of the symposium to see if they were still looking for raffle items and if they'd be interested in any of my handmade fiber treasures. The answer was "Yes!" So for those of you who are attending the symposium, please be sure to register to win one of these following items I'm donating:

8-Pointed Star-Shaped Ripple Afghan
Stripes are Pink Camo and Cafe Au Lait
I'm still crocheting on this one -- it's about half done and already pretty large. It will definitely be big enough to cover an adult -- probably even an adult and her small dog or cat!
It's 100% acrylic plus machine washable and dryable.


Lace Shawl
Knitted with silk/wool yarn and adorned with beads on the entire shawl
(click on the photo to enlarge)

Included with the shawl is this adorable copper shawl pin in the shape of a little birdie (from my personal collection)
Haven't registered for the Midwest Birding Symposium yet? No worries because there's still time and space available. If you think you can make it to the festival this year, I even have a discount code for you to use. Mention MBS2011BB25 on your registration to take advantage of the group discount rate.


Hope to see you there and if you can't make, check in with the Nature Knitter blog on Sept. 16-18 to get all the latest news from this "Official Blogger."

6 comments:

Lynne at Hasty Brook said...

I've been thinking about getting around Chicago too. Can't wait !!!!!

Gaelyn said...

This will be an awesome experience. Don't think I'll make it but look forward to your posts. Very cool to be chosen as a blogger for the event.

Love that shawl. That's a whole lot of work to put beads in. And the birdie pin is adorable.

Used to live in the Chicago suburbs and never could figure out a way to avoid the traffic. Good luck with that.

troutbirder said...

Sounds like great fun. Say hi to Lynne for me. :)

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Anonymous said...

For driving through Chicago...are you leaving from Rochester? My advice would be to take I-90 all the way to Rockford, IL. Then get on I-39 and go south to I-80. That route will avoid a lot of the congestion in the Chicago area. When we drive through there, we definitely plan to go through late morning/early afternoon (to avoid rush hour as much as possible) and put yourself in the center lane and stay there unless you need to exit. I think the route I suggested only adds about 25 minutes to your trip and I really think it would be a less stressful route than taking I-90 down through the city. Good luck!!
Janet

RuthieJ said...

Hi Lynne,
Just requested a TripTik from AAA. Hopefully that will help us. Janet's given us a good hint too.

Thanks Gaelyn. My grandparents lived in Chicago and I'll never forget the family vacations to Chicago with my dad driving the toll roads and all of us kids having to sit quietly in the back seat so we didn't disturb his concentration.

Will do Ray.

Hi Janet,
Thanks so much for the info. I actually looked at that I-39 to I-80 route. Even though it's a bit out of the way, I think the savings on stressful driving would definitely be worth it. Driving from Rochester should probably put us through there in the middle of the day also.