Winter Prediction?

Using the prediction the more woolly caterpillars one sees in the fall the colder the winter. Well I haven't seen these in quite some time but recently at work I have seen a couple, smaller than this one. Then this afternoon while doing some work outside came across this huge one. So does this mean we have a cold winter coming or did we just have enough rain this year so we have more of these around?

Ashland, OR

At the last minute work sent me and a co-worker to Ashland, OR for 3 days. Unfortunately once we were there we had to work most of the time. We did manage to squeeze in some sight seeing. The above photo was from a house in downtown Ashland. There were some lovely older homes with lots of cool design touches. This house also had a sunflower metal fence around it and a solid metal griffin statue in the garden.

One evening we found four hours so took off on a destination to see Crater Lake. The above photo is on the road where we saw some fly fishers in the rogue river along with other trails to hike but we just didn't have the time.

Yes we made it to Crater Lake before the sun set, but it was close. The scenery and drive made the trip all worth while. Sure wish we had had more time to go hiking.

On the way back from Oregon there were lots of storms from Oklahoma on so lots of nice cloud shots to be had. If I had been sitting on the other side of the plane I could have had an awesome anvil cloud that had built up more than 37,000 feet. The top cloud in this shot was also seen at 37,000 feet. Happy flying.

Summer Vacation Knitting

Pattern: Aeolian
Source: Knitty.com Spring 2009
Yarn: Dream in Color Baby, Visual Purple
Needles: US 3 Addi Turbos

Once the hand was finally through with casting and splinting, I was able to take up where I left off. Still working on the Herring Bone socks where I have finally made it down to the foot with 4-inches to go and the toe. Guess we shall see if I have enough yarn, as the ball looks small for where I am at this point. All though, yardage was greater than what was written in the book. If I am short, it will not be by much and I am contemplating just going to ribbing if that happens. This sock will not be frogged again!

Aeolian Shawl

This shawl was a very easy knit even though it looks complicated. I made 9 stitch Nupps and used a small crochet needle to purl with. Easy-peasy! Also when I started this shawl back in May, I decided not to bead since I had just done a large beading project with the American Beauty shawl. I just wasn’t in the mood to bead so headed off knitting this project, broke my hand as I was ready to start the edging projects. Well after six weeks on hiatus, I decided when I picked the shawl back up to knit on in July to add beads the edging. So, it was off to the bead store to find something to use for this project.

Voila!

Three weeks later, we have a completed shawl. I had really hoped to have this completed in time for my trip out West for a photo op but as we all know, that did not work out at all.

Summer Vacation Reading

This summer I have actually finished several books. For our trip out west, I read Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer, which is a look at the Mormon Church and its offshoots but it also chronicles some of the exploration of Utah. It was interesting to drive through many of the Southern Utah towns in the book and be able to recognize names or understand how the area came about. Overall, this book is written well and does a good job of balancing the religious aspects of the area. The author that wrote this book also wrote Into Thin Air another good read that I finished many years back.

The next book I took for reading on the trip was Bones to Ashes by Kathy Reich. DH picked this book up for reading on one of his many business trips a few years ago. He thought I might like it since the show Bones is based on this series of books and the author is a producer of the show. This book is number 10 in the series. I definitely liked the book and the style in which she writes so I picked up and finished the next book in the series, Devil Bones. DH found this one at the Vegas airport to read on the trip back.

While the TV show Bones takes the main character from the book that is about it. I saw at the back of Devil Bones a Q&A question where she said that she thought of the TV show as the character was starting out so pre-book series. So now that we have acquired the first four books in the series I guess I will be working on those next.

What I did for my Summer Vacation

Well it has been a long while since I last posted! In that time we have taken an awesome trip out west; the hand has healed and things are getting back to normal in that area; and some knitting projects that were put on hold due to the hand have finally been completed. Yea!

For the first day of summer, we caught a plane out to Vegas where we met up with our travel group. For the first four days, we spent hiking Zion National Park and exploring the area. There were lots of beautiful views, steep hikes and good food. We stayed in the cabins in the park, which were just perfect. Bus service runs 6 am to 11 pm through the main section of the park and then you can transfer to the bus system to see Springdale. Buses are free and make it easy to get around.

On the fifth day, we drove from Zion to the Grand Canyon National Park North Rim. On this drive, we stopped to explore the Checkerboard Mesa. We stopped in Kanab, Utah, known as Little Hollywood for the many western themed movies that were filmed there. For lunch, we ate at Houston’s Trail End restaurant. Then we took in the views of the Grand Staircase on the final leg of the drive to our next stop. At the North Rim, we stayed in the large cabins for the next four nights, which were similar to the ones in Zion and exactly what I would recommend when visiting this park.

The views were spectacular and the hiking superb. The trails on the top were gentle and undulating and provided many views of the canyon from different vantage points. On the last day, we hiked down into the canyon, which is straight down, and then you get the fun part of hiking it back up. The full trip down to the Colorado River is 14 miles or 28 miles round trip. DH took the trip down to Roaring Springs, which is around 10 miles round trip and straight down. If you were to continue down to the Colorado River from this point on, the trail becomes less steep and the switch backs longer.

I took the in between stop at the bridge with another in the group and we hiked back up for around seven miles total. This was perfect. The next day we packed it in and headed back to Vegas where we stayed and then caught a flight back the next day.

Kaibab Squirrel

Fractured

A couple weeks ago DH and I took off for one of our many hikes up the mountain on one of our usual hikes up the waterline. The trail was dry, which is the only time I will hike this one since there are some tall rocks and steep sections to climb up. Also I will only go up since coming down can be a bit dicey. At the top we can come down another trail which is decent to hike both ways even in the rainy season. Any way toward the trail start/end there is a natural spring fed stream bed that must be crossed. Do it wrong and you get wet since wet limestone with some algae tends to be quite slick. Well I did it wrong on the way back, did a slip and slide with the ring finger finding a rock in the way. After a trip to the local doc in the box and x-rays it was learned I broke the 4th metacarpal and was sent to see the hand guy (orthopedist) for casting. While it really doesn’t hurt it makes doing normal everyday things challenging. I have determined so far knitting is out for now as I can purl but not knit. It’s a hold the needle and yarn issue. Spindle spinning is getting better now that a little pressure on the thumb and index finger doesn’t make the broken area ache.

Spinning on the wheel however, not a problem. So I guess I will be making lots of yarn to knit with in the future.

This is fiber from Lynne Vogel and Three Waters Farm that I have had for a year now. I split the two 4 oz rovings into 9-25g balls to make 3-three-ply yarns. One roving is BFL and the other is Merino/Bamboo (bluer). So far I have spun one with 2 balls of the BFL and one MB and vice versa. The third 3-ply will be with one BFL, one MB, and a third that is a mix of the two. I will probably have some left over that I will then Navajo ply. When done I hope to have enough to make a Blythe Spirit Mobius.

BTW we have been back hiking in the past week just using a different trail up to meet the trail that goes up to the top of waterline. Just won’t be able to hike waterline for a while since you really need both hands to go up the steep rock section.

Of Projects Past

Well it’s time to bring my project list up to date. A lot has been completed since January and while I have completed their listing on Ravelry and on the right side of my blog, I haven’t blogged their completion. So here we have the review.

Hey Teach!

Hey Teach!
Knitty.com, summer 2008
Plymouth Yarn Jeannee Aran/Worsted
Color: 0005 lot35798

This sweater was requested by my sister for her birthday which is coming up in a few weeks. She picked out the pattern based on a shop sample that we saw at Only Ewe and Cotton Too in Crabapple, GA and then provided me with the yarn, and the buttons. We discussed length and any modifications she would like and this is what they were:

• added 2-inches to length
  
• increased arm-scythe to 9-inches
  
• Did ribbing with US 6 for arms and edging, wish I had done that with the cast-on so it didn’t curl. Pressing hem fixes this.
  
• 3-buttons only top, mid chest, ribbing
  
• Knit in the round, 3-needle bind off for shoulders.
  
• BO back neckline to provide more stability
  
• added 1-inch to front neckline
  
• did a stepped front neckline
  

This sweater is an extremely easy to knit garment and only took 3 weeks to complete (mid-Jan – Feb).

American Beauty

Bad Cat Designs
Great Adirondack Yarn Co Petite Silk Noir
Color: Cranberry Bog

Following Hey Teach this shawl jumped on the needle even though I have other things in the queue as well. This was another KAL that took place from Feb 15 through April. Charts were provided almost weekly and off the group went to knit.

For this shawl I knitted charts in order A, A repeat, B1, B2, B3, A repeat, A repeat, C, D, bound off as directed and blocked.

Finished size: 72” diagonal x 36” center height

Still have plenty of yarn left to do something else small.

Walkame Tunic

Angela Hahn, Interweave Knits Summer 2008
Tilli Tomas Fil de la Mer
Green with Envy

Talk about a fun knit and yarn that is just simply divine to work with and you have this wonderful tunic. After playing with different shirts to wear under this I have come to the conclusion a deep navy shows this color and its beautiful lace work off to its best advantage.

This sweater was started back in mid October 2008 where I had finished the bottom section and had knitted up to the point of dividing for front and back. This pattern has you knit the sleeves with the body and then seam the bottom side and 3-needle bind off the top.


This sweater then sat in time out while I finished a shawl, 2- scarves, a hooded scarf and the Hey Teach! In February I picked it back up made the divisions added an additional 21 stitches to the arms (one additional pattern repeat) to make them long enough and proceeded on.


While almost finished with the front section I began questioning whether I had enough yarn to finish this project. I was right that I was going to be short. Thankfully, kpixie contacted tilli tomas on my behalf and the company was most gracious in working to dye up another batch of this yarn so I could finish my project. Not expected but awesome outcome. Dyed yarn was a perfect match.