Part 2 A Day at Lassen Volcanic National Park

I started adding the pictures on Sunday and finally finished Wednesday night.

All of the pictures should be clickable to enlarge. I've put in as many pictures that Blogger will let me.


On to Lassen Volcanic National Park. First stop was the visitor center. Dd has a National Park Passbook, so she likes to get the stamp at each park we visit. She forgot her book though, so we used a piece of scrap paper to get the stamp. We also asked for specific sites, that were wheelchair or scooter friendly. (Dad has severe nerve-damage in his feet so uses a scooter to get around some places.)


One of the things we could do was to stick around the visitor center for a talk about old-growth forests. We decided that we would have a quick lunch at Manzanita Lake, nearby, then come back for the talk. We were late for the talk, but it was ok. The ranger doing it was showing us the difference between fir trees and pine trees. I don’t remember a lot of what she said, but once donned her “old-growth/snag tree suit”, it became more interesting. She told us how insects, fungi, bacteria, disease, fire, animals and birds help to destroy a tree before it becomes a snag. Did you know that some of our best forests have hundreds of fungi down in their roots, which make them very healthy? Apparently in Germany, there are some areas where there are only a couple of fungi, and the trees are not doing well at all. (That’s the one fact I can remember from it.)




Once we left the visitor center we headed up to Devastated Area Interpretive Trail. It is pretty devastated!! Actually it is amazing how much re-growth there has been over the years. We walked the trail there. I thought it was going to be a mile round-trip, but it was maybe ½ mile. It wasn’t bad at all. The scrubby trees help to shade a lot of the trail.




We continued on around and up the side of the mountain until we came to Upper Meadow. It was a beautiful alpine meadow with a creek running threw it. Dd had to stick her feet in the water. Goofball. It’s straight off the glaciers.





After the meadow you keep going up and around the mountain, to the highest point of 8,512 feet elevation. I was just amazed that we were at such a high elevation. Lassen Peak is 10,457 feet.





After the highest point, you start coming down the other side, where there are several lakes. The first one, Lake Helen, had cliffs of snow/glacier on each side of the road all the way to the lake and even under the lake. It was so blue!! The second one is Emerald Lake, very aptly named as it is green!! There was no place to stop at Emerald Lake.





Our last stop was Sulphur Works. You can imagine the smell there. Dh had a name for this place, but I don’t think I have it right. Mubbling Pudbots or something like that, instead of Bubbling Mudpots. It was actually pretty neat to see the steam rising from these holes, and you could hear the bubbling mud. Occasionally you would see a sploot of mud pop up.





There was one place we didn’t go, but ds really wanted to hike it. Bumpass Hell. I think it should be pronounced Bump Ass Hell. I mean really, that’s what it looks like. Apparently there was a guy with the last name of Bumpass, was walking through this area where there are geothermal vents. He fell through into one of them, losing a leg in the process. I did find some really good links when I googled it. One day, I am sure ds is going to go back to all these places we missed and hike the ones he wants to.

Part One, the start of our camping trip to California and Mt. Lassen Volcanic National Park

Tuesday afternoon we wanted to be out of here by 2, but dh said it probably would be closer to 3:00 pm. Well, he was right. Even though it was close to 2 when we left the driveway, we had to stop and get gas, stop for a quick Subway trip for ds, and stop back at home for one forgotten item. By then it was 3, and we were finally on our way. It was decided that if we were going to be that close to Corning, CA, we were going to go that extra hour south and back to stop at the Olive Pit and pick up some delicious green olives, stuffed with almonds, or garlic, or in smoke flavoring, or wine. They are so good!! Dh’s sister advised us to check out the Olive Hut instead of the Olive Pit. It is smaller, homier, and less expensive, oh and less of a tourist trap. So, we drove straight through with a quick stop at sil’s to drop off some mirrored closet doors. That was a very long drive!! 8 hours!! We stayed at The Holiday Inn Express and the next morning found us at the Olive Pit, just checking the prices, and on to the Olive Hut. Sil, was right!! We did like the Hut better. I started in on a migraine though as we left the first place. (I am attributing it to the heat, by 9:00 AM, it was 90+F). It lasted a short while fortunately, and did not go into the usual pain; it was just that aura stuff going on.

I think we left Corning around 10:30 and headed the hour back to Redding and across to the east to Burney. We had reservations for camping at McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park, with my parents, who had dd for the weekend previously. We got there just shy of 2:00 pm, and were able to set up our camp, even though it was in another loop, separate from my parents. We thought it would be good to be a distance from them, but it was a nuisance really. So, when we were offered another site closer to my parents, we took it, the next day. It was soooo gooood to see dd again after 5 days without her. I felt I could totally relax once she was within my sight again. Her comment to me, “I never want to do this again…..until next year!!” I know she enjoyed helping grandma and grandpa a lot.





That evening before sundown we took a small hike down to the bottom of the 129 foot falls. It was so much cooler down there, than the 90 F heat of the area. On our way back up we saw bats. At first it was one chasing a dragonfly, then it was 15 chasing all manner of little bugs. That was pretty cool. That black dot in the middle of the photo is a bat.






The next day we moved our campsite after the other family checked out. Later we headed down to the lake. Lake Briton is a mile away so we took one of the vans. Dd really wanted to swim since it was so hot!! There is a nice beach, very crowded though. And the water is ICY!!








Friday we took off to Mt Lassen, with a stop along the way at Hat Creek Radio Observatory. A few years ago, when we went to Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon, we checked out Lowell Observatory. When you hear observatory, you usually think telescopes, right? I do!! Well, this was radio signals sent up by satellite dishes, then when they come back, they are fed into a computer and it comes up with a picture of the image. It was different, but cool in its own way. If you google Hat Creek Radio Observatory, there will be all kinds of links, but I think this one above is pretty good explaining what they do. (They also work with SETI).










More later.......

Loud Noises, Big Trucks, Buff Men

Today is a stay at home day for us. One of those days where we can stay in our PJ's, not worry about bad hair days, etc. Well, after dh left for work, I thought I should get up and just take a shower. I can wear sweats today, but I should at least take a shower. After I was dressed, I came out to get a cup of coffee and was on my way to have a devotional time, when I heard this huge sounding truck coming. I knew it was headed for our house. You see, this year we have had some roof leakage, and there are some really soft spots on our roof, so we had a roofer come out, take a look and we are having his company do our roof. He called me Tuesday afternoon this week to let us know that they might be able to start by the end of this week. I had been anticipating them coming today so had moved some of the stuff from the front of the house, like the gardening supplies we keep out there. Good thing I did. So, on to this truck. It is huge!!




It is loaded with supplies. There is a big crane that looks like it starts from the back of the cab and extends the length of the bed. On the end of it are prongs like on a forklift. Then coming out from the side of the truck are arms that set down on the ground to stablize the truck.




When they got the crane operating, and the first load onto it, they swung it up and over the little ornamental cherry tree, towards the house and up onto the roof, meanwhile the two buff young men scrambled up the ladder to receive the load onto the roof.




When the crane went into operation, the whole truck shook. Must be a reason for those stabilizing arms. ;) They started unloading it as soon as it stopped moving. Oh, and this crane is operated by a remote control panel that one of the guys has. You'd think I was a girl in a candy shop for the first time, the way I was in awe at what was happening. We've always lived in an apartment until this house, and we've never had the roof done, so this is a new learning opportunity for us. I was trying to be unobtrusive, not wanting to appear like a desperate housewife in Aloha, so I didn't get any good shots of these two guys. :)

Cedar Creek Socks

I started my Cedar Creek socks a while back, but haven't gotten too far on them. They did go on the camping trip last week and I was able to get about 3 more repeats done. I have them on one needle, magic loop style. They are the first socks from the Rockin' Sock Club at BMFA. I am taking a friend to an appointment today, so maybe I'll get more done. I actually like the way these are pooling.

Emergency Relief

Even though I am in Oregon, I have signed up for the ADN.com newspaper. That is Anchorage Daily News. Every Tuesday they have a knitting column by Catherine Hollingsworth. Today's article is about helping fire victims from a recent fire in Hooper Bay. There were 14 homes destroyed and 17 families displaced, losing EVERYTHING!! Right now is the time that they are subsistence-hunting, as winter will be setting in soon. Most of these people did not have insurance and do not have the means to replace the items they have lost. This means clothing, winter/survival gear, hunting gear, even their knitting or crocheting stashes. What would it mean to you if you lost your stash? Please help as you can. I have linked to Catherine's article as well as a Red Cross Fund set up. The Red Cross has been depleted after last year's hurricane season.

If you can't access Catherine's article, let me know and I will ask her if she will let me post the article here. I have emailed her before, and she is really nice.

The Start of the Updates on Life

Brief explanation of my hiatus: We went camping for most of last week, just got back last night. Will have pictures soon, but I have to upload them and label at least some of them.


Last weekend, while dd was gone visiting her grandparents, I went to a Tea Party. I have never been to a Tea Party before, and was looking forward to it. To me, this was a celebration of how well Laurie, an acquaintance of mine, has done on her recovery road from Leukemia and a bone marrow transplant. But, those who put the party on, said it was for all of us who chipped in to help out. It can go either way!!

I really only have a couple of pictures, but here goes. FOOD!! There was so much food, and it was good!! There's another table, but I didn't get a picture of it. There was lemonade, fresh strawberries for strawberry lemonade, mimosas, champagne, and tea. Everyone went for the cold drinks though, it was a rather warm day.




It was fun seeing the girls dressed up with their hats, parasol, etc. They played some extreme croquet, which I did not participate in.














Here's just a random shot of people at the party. Neighbors, caregivers, and a friendly support system that has been through this same process of cancer and transplants. Laurie is the second from the right, with the short, blondish hair and glasses. The woman in pink with her back to me, is another cancer/transplant survivor that Laurie has connected with through email. This was their first meeting I think. And Christine who has given many, many hours of her time to stay with Laurie and, catered this event (with the help of the daughters) is on the left in the brown dress.




It was a fun party. Thank you Laurie for inviting me. You can visit Laurie's journal for her party recap, dated August 5, 2006. The link is at the top of this post.

Relief from Anxiety OR Bad Blogger

I couldn't figure out what title to use tonight, so you can choose for yourself.

I was told that to be a good blogger, I needed to update more often and to take my camera with me everywhere. Huh, I should have known that!! I forgot my camera at least twice this week, even when I did think about it one of the times. The first time was when I met Mrs. Darling and Mel for dinner on Tuesday. You would have thought I would have it, but I forgot. Then today when I took dd to the airport for her first trip alone. I thought about it as I we were sitting at the gate waiting for her plane to come in. Duh!! What was I thinking?!? Well, I wasn't. I was so anxious for this trip to be done with, I've been in knots. It started yesterday some time. Got worse today, until at 1:45pm, I got the call from my mom, that dd had landed safely and they were on the way to pick up luggage. Instantly my stomach calmed down.

I did take one picture to show you tonight. I finished a CIC vest. Using some of BMFA's Blue Boo's, their unsellable yarn. I took three different colors, combined them and came up with this. I think it's kind of cool looking.





These are the three colors I used....on the left is a sage green with some pink mixed into it, the middle is yellow with some pink, and the right is blue. There's a little bit of rust color in one of them too, I think the greenish one.




I still haven't found the quilt block photos that I sent to Dorie. Oh well.

I scored on fabric today. After the airport, I stopped by Fabric Depot for their 40% off fabric sale. I found some for this months quilt block swap, and I bought all kinds of celestial fabric for dd. She wants to make another Sunbonnet Sue block for me, out of celestial fabric. Planets, moons, stars, etc. They have some beautiful quilt fabric there.

More Quilt Blocks

I got a comment from Dorie on Monday letting me know she got the quilt blocks I sent out. I am so glad they got there. She has a picture on her blog. Well, I thought I had pictures, but I can't find them, oh, I remember now where they are. I downloaded a new Adobe Reader, since I had such an old one and it would remind me every time I tried to use it that I should download. Anyways, it also downloaded an Adobe Photoshop or something like that. I'm pretty sure that's where my newest photos are. Now, just to figure out where on my computer that program is......


Tonight I met up with two fellow bloggers. Wonderful women!! We had dinner at Stanford's and just chatted away the whole time. Thank you Mel and Mrs. Darling for a wonderful time tonight!!

Off to bed now, I've had a full day with volunteering at the library, knit-in at our house with friends and dinner out with new friends. I've been battling the cruddy migraines for the last week so today was refreshing to not have any, just the residual "I'm not all here yet, but I think this cluster is abating".

Quilt Block Swap for July

I got my quilt blocks in the mail yesterday. They are beautifully done. It looks like Dorie did it all by hand stitching. Dorie, that is an amazing amount of work. I'd like to learn how to do that. Do you, or any one else have any reference books for hand sewing/embroidery that you could not live without?

Dorie hasn't received mine yet, so I will wait to post them.


You can click on the photos to see them bigger. The colors are pretty accurate as I took the photos outside today.

The Heat Wave Has Broken!!

YEAH!! It cooled off so nicely last night around 11:00 PM. I feel much better today. Having temperatures hovering around 100 F is not good for anyone!! I had a migraine set in on Sunday evening. The only thing I can figure caused it is the heat.

I've finished listening to a good audiobook about the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. In fact it is called "1906 A Novel", by James Dalessandro. It is a good book, detailing the corruption of city officials at that time. Many parts of the book are true. Now I've started "You're Wearing That?" by Deborah Tannen. The narrator has such a soothing voice that I can't get through very much of it before it puts me to sleep. It is really good though explaining the mother-daughter communication snafus that we run into, at least I experience them.

Little bits of knitting going on here and there. Finishing up the doggy sweaters. Just little details. Started a vest for CIC out of 3 strands of different colored sock yarn. It is cute. I'll post a photo after I get further on it. Two new quilt blocks are done, ready to be sent out tomorrow. Will post those later as well.

Babies Grow Up

When I was a kid, my brother and I took plane rides to far away places, without our parents. Well, ok, it was twice, maybe three times, but they were far away!! We lived in California at the time, just north of San Francisco. Our grandparents would travel between California and Minnesota every year for the honeybee crops. Twice we flew back to Minneapolis to spend the summer with them, one of them being the year I was 12. I was going to help my cousin Chris with her toddler and new baby (her husband was in the family business as well as her parents) Chris was 24. That was a memorable summer taking care of my cousin Rachel and her brother, Jeremy, doing dishes, and just helping all around. One summer I remember flying to Portland to stay with my mom's sister. I think we were younger for that trip, maybe around 9 or 10. Anyways, this is all leading up to.......I purchased a one way ticket to grandma's house in California for my dd (12 years old). I did this last night, and now I am almost having regrets!! I guess I need to explain the one way ticket thing, don't I. We are meeting my parents near Mt Lassen National Park the second week of August for a camping trip. DD is going down the weekend before for parts of 6 DAYS!! We will meet up with them again mid-week. I don't think I've ever been away from my daughter that long before. Usually a night or two does the trick, but this is 5 nights. I hope I can wait out that long with out breaking down. Sure dd and I clash a lot, but we also have some very meaningful moments, especially lately.

On knitting news, I whipped this baby out. I love it!! Close your eyes Jean!! My model rolled the hem up because her hair was pulled up. You could wear it either way, turned up, or down. It's a pattern from Jen. She designed it!! It is easy to remember and turns out so well. I used STR lightweight, Star Sapphire is the colorway on size 3 needles.

Summer of Lace

The most recent Amazing Lace Challenge: Is your camera feeling abandoned, neglected, and ignored after the poetry challenge? Do you find bad pictures of yourself showing up all over the internet and wonder how they got there? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, Challenge #4 has just the answer. Get ready to take some photos! My question: If I bound off my lace project right now, what could I use it for?


Hmm, that got me thinking about my Feather and Fan Stole that I have put down to work on other projects, like the F&F for my sister-in-law, socks, doggie sweaters, etc. I have picked it up briefly here and there, not really making any progress with it at all. I came up with two things it could be.

The first would be a dresser shawl, it's too big to be a dresser scarf.
















The second thing it could be, a lap blanket for my grandmother, the same grandmother who taught me to knit as a child, and she even uses the feather and fan pattern to make baby blankets. I happen to like this option better than the dresser shawl.

For the Birds

We had rain today, I thought it might mist a bit, but it turned into a real rain for about 2 hours. This afternoon as it dried up, I looked out my kitchen window and saw this little guy. I don't know what kind of woodpecker he is, (maybe a Downy Woodpecker) and I haven't seen one in the neighborhood for a while, though I do hear them often.



You can click on the picture and see him a little bit better. He's on the top of the little tree just above the van.


I went outside to see what else there might be. I heard lots of different calls, and saw robins, chickadees, bushtits and pine siskins all over the front yard/neighborhood. The birds must have liked the rain and the afteraffects of it.

Updates

I've just updated my reading list, so you can check back to it here.

I also realized I hadn't put any photos here of the quilt blocks I received as my swap or the ones that I sent, so you can check them out here (received) and here (sent).

The weather has changed again on us, it is depressing and tiring. It cooled off a lot, which is nice, but the sun hasn't been out. When the weather does such a dramatic switch like that, it seems to make me more tired than usual. I think it has something to do with the drop in pressure, but I'm not a meteorologist or a doctor, so I really don't know what it is.

A couple of new things in knitting news: I just joined a group for knitting pink scarves for breast cancer, that's the Think Pink Rose on my side bar. I have lost several friends to bc and it is one of my biggest fears. It seems to be the most aggressive forms affect those who are "too young" to get regular mammograms. So, please get your mammograms if you can!!

And I am knitting a couple of doggie sweaters for a friend. I hope they turn out cute. I met one of the doggies yesterday. She is so cute, and does lose her heat quickly so needs a doggie sweater quickly if our weather keeps cool like this.

Freedom

What is freedom? By definition, 1: the quality or state of being free: as a: the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action b: liberation from slavery or restraint or from the power of another: Independence........2 a: a political right......

To me, it means I can worship the way I want to, read the books I want to read, talk to the people I want to talk to, learn anything I want to learn about, no restrictions. Are we really free? It sure looks like it, but sometimes I wonder.....

Thank you to all of those who have fought for our freedom, and especially those who are fighting now. Happy Independence Day.

Here are a couple of cute cards that were forwarded on to me.

Flying Squirrels

On Monday or Tuesday morning, I was looking out my kitchen window. Now, my kitchen window faces the driveway and the street. Out by our mailbox, under our flowering ornamental cherry tree there are masses of wild strawberries that we purposefully planted there. We enjoy seeing the little white blooms in the spring and then the tiny, red berries. I've tried them, there's not much flavor, and it mushes when you pick it. So, I was looking out there and I saw this little furry tail sticking up in the air. I thought it might be a kitten, it was pretty small. Then I realized it was a squirrel in these strawberry plants. He sat up and was eating the strawberries. Oh he was so cute!! You can just see home sitting up here.










I tried to get closer and he went flying. Too cute!!

Why is it.......

Sometimes when you are discouraged over events that happen in your life, something else happens that lifts you up? I've been discouraged, mainly because I have procrastinated on some knitting projects for CIC that I wanted to do in the name of relatives. I've done three little pairs of these socks, but have said I would do 24 pairs. Well, tonight I happened to turn the TV on and Dateline NBC was on. There was a family that had adopted two twin babies back in 1999, these twins were 7 in 2004 and their family took them back to Russia to meet older siblings, two more sets of twins, they had recently found that these children were in orphanages, when they hadn't been before. To make a long story short, they showed images of these children in the orphanages, and how they did end up adopting these children ages 10 and 12. It was such a sad story, with a happy ending, it has inspired me to keep knitting on these socks and vests so I can say, "I accomplished my goals this year!!"

My Weekend of Fun!!

Friday morning had us on the road by 10:00 AM to Eugene and the Black Sheep Gathering. I did not take any pictures while I was there but took some of the stash once I got home. I did take the camera, but it sat in the van most of the time. DD did get some pictures of her cousin and aunt though. We stayed with our sister-in-law, Na. So, on Friday we did our shopping. DD bought three bunches of roving, and one skein of STR in the colorway Sherbet. She got home today, started up our borrowed spinning wheel and is spinning a Corriedale pencil-roving from these folks at Crown Mountain Farms. The colorway is Watermelon. She's doing a pretty good job of it.




I bought mostly alpaca lace weight for a couple of projects I came up with while I was there. Actually one of them I did have the idea earlier in the week, while I was working with some cotton colors at Blue Moon Fiber Arts. My blog pal, RandomKnits is doing a pair of fair isle gloves, so in working with these solid colors of cotton, I was able to visualize a bit with the colors. When I saw the alpaca from Pacific Meadows Alpaca(no website, but I do have their email address) in Junction City, I knew that would work for these gloves. It is almost sport weight.




Later Friday night I thought about this yarn and realized I could make some nice lace scarves for Christmas presents, so I went back and got these colors. Even later on Saturday night I thought of another project, but I didn't go back for more. I hope they will be at OFFF in September.





From Mckenzie Alpaca Breeders, I also got some other lace weight alpaca. Some for myself and some for a friend. I think a shawl is in order from this blue alpaca.







Let's see, I bought sock yarn, from Blue Moon Fiber Arts, in Star Sapphire, that's the bluish one, it should be more purpley, and Waterlilies.




And from Crown Mountain Farms, this is by Dicentra Designs, in Goldwine.




One of the very first buys of the day, though, were quilting yards. One booth, Bear Dog Yarns(no website)had quilting material as well as roving and yarn. She told me it was a last minute decision to bring it and I was the first one to buy any. I some how ended up with two of the rainbow looking one. Oh well, I am sure I will use it.




I think we were out of there by 2:30 on Friday afternoon. I went back on Saturday to meet up with some other bloggers. You will have to check out their sites for photos of the small group. One woman, Dene, came from near Houston, TX, with her dh for vacation. They were touring all over Oregon and parts of Washington. This was the last day of their vacation and they were headed back home to TX on Sunday. That was pretty cool!! I also met Chrissy, a local knitter, mom, and designer. Nicholette from Vancouver who is blogless, but she teaches classes at Yarn Garden, Jen who is on the Summer of Stash site with me and her cute little boy, who is 9 months old, and then there was Lavender Sheep She was off shopping while we sat and knit for an hour. The time flew so quickly!! After taking one last look through the main building, I drove back to Na's, rested and knit the rest of the afternoon and evening.




I finished my CIC socks, they are so cute!! I knit them on one circular US 3's out of LionWool, colorway is FlowerGarden. It looks like stained glass to me.




Left Na's this morning about 10:30, we got home and it was about 100 degrees out. We are in a heat wave right now. Upper 90's for at least the next day or so. Then it's supposed to cool down, but I haven't checked how much. It kind of sounds like not a lot!!

UGH!! Too much time has passed.....

In between posting here. I have good intentions of keeping updated here, but then I sit down and really have forgotten what I want to write about. I do have some awesome photos to share though. I finally got a project done, and another almost done, etc.

First is dd's quilted head scarf that she finished last week. She's been learning the quilting trade from my aunt. The darker side, is material with all kinds of fruit on it. The pink side, obviously is all pinks and greens, dots and stripes, big and little. She has now started on a 16 patch hotpad.









My FO, Jeanie Townsend's Spring Twists in STR Spring Fling colorway. I enjoyed this sock so much that I must have ripped it out at least 3 times. I didn't follow the pattern completely. There are four repeats of four rows for three sections, I didn't do the fourth repeat on each section, so it is shorter. Then I decided to do PGR's short-row heel. (I think that's the name of it). It seems to fit my heel better, though I think on the next sock I need to make the heel a little bit deeper. I did these on Magic Loop, then finally as I got past the heel I put them both onto one needle. It went a bit faster that way. Jeanie has a yahoo knitting group with her great patterns. She is such a great designer and very generous.













And I finally finished spinning up some roving I had gotten from BMFA about 3 years ago or so. I am pretty sure it is merino/tencel, in Black Cherry colorway. I haven't measured it either. No plans currently on the drawing board. This is actually one of the better pictures of it. One of the photos was nasty, it looked orange.







And now blogger had decided it doesn't want to load any more of my photos. I was going to show the CIC socks that I am doing two on one circular needle. Oh well, another time.

I think I am all ready for the weekend. DD and I are heading out for BSG tomorrow morning after setting up for communion at our church. Hope to see some of you there. Oh, I heard tonight the most ridiculous thing about BSG. Some government organization wants them to change their name. Black Sheep Gathering apparently isn't politically correct, so let's change the Black to Rainbow. Have you ever seen a Rainbow sheep? I will check into it and let you know what I find out, if I was hoaxed.....

I've Been Busy Today

It's been a full day!! I finished my Purple Lace Shawl, which you will see in the previous post. And I had my WWKIP Day as well. Last week, dh got an email from one of his coworkers, advertising this. It's only the second annual festival. We thought "hey, why not go and check it out." I thought, "hey, there's my "Knit in Public" venue!!" I had my CIC socks that I knew would be an easy project for this event. One woman came up to me and asked, "Are you purposefully knitting in public? You do know this is Knit in Public Day, don't you?" I told her yes I was and yes I did know!! It was kind of cool. Then later another woman came up to see what I was knitting. She thought it was socks, but it could have been golf club toppers as well. She was one of the security gals there for the day. She thought I was doing a great job!! It's always fun to hear others react to knitting. I had a good time, too much beer though, since I hardly drink anyways. I didn't take my camera to record my KIP, but I did take a picture once I got home. I'll finish up the socks tonight.

The Mess of Unravelling

The Amazing Lace Challenge Part 2

UGH!! I never knew how hard it could be to unravel something knitted, from the beginning. It's not a simple frog, it's under here, over there, hmm, it's through here several times. Not a pretty sight!! (For those who aren't knitters, frogging is ripping out your knitted product, as in ribbit or rippit)






It took me 4 days of off/on working on it to finally get it undone, and BACK ON THE NEEDLES AGAIN!! I came up with this little song to go with it.







(To the tune of Back in the Saddle Again)
I'm back on the needles again
In where a stitch is a friend
Where the playful kittens romp
On the lacy purple pomp
Back on the needles again.

Well, I won't take up song writing anytime soon, I promise.












And the Final Take on the Purple Shawl:




This was a definite learning experience, I won't take it for granted that even though the ball says it's the same color and dye lot, I will compare them closer. Seriously, though I did learn that I could undo from the wrong end, and start knitting "backwards", and it looks close enough that most people wouldn't know it had been done.

Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful

Amazing Lace Challenge # 2.......... Part 1


I think this shawl has turned out just beautiful. I love the way it washed up, it is nice and soft. And I finished it in record time for Na's birthday next weekend!!












What is this?????? I found this when I was weaving in the ends. The very first ball of yarn must have been a different color of purple. It is very noticeable and I will have to start at the beginning of the shawl to frog it!! It will be shorter than I had intended it to be, but what else can I do? You can kind of see the color change right in the middle of the photo. To be continued.............


Last but not least, I finished this last night. It is cute. Not hard to sew at all, and has some nice pockets inside and out. I have seen some other fabric to make some with horses, some with musical instruments and notes, other girly ones, and some that remind me of Pride and Prejudice. It's dimensions are approximately 12 inches across and 9 inches tall.

Summer of Stash

I did join one more blog group, but the only thing I have to do is not buy any yarn this summer, until Labor Day. I have to go back and read the rules, but I think I can have at least one exception, maybe even two. I can buy books, patterns, and needles or anything else needed to keep knitting, just no yarn. I can do it, I have 2 more shawls to make, yarn for two sweaters, tons of yarn for socks and tanks. My exception will be for Black Sheep coming up in 3 weeks or if I need to get more yarn for Kim's shawl, it will be somewhat different than the rectangular ones I have done so far.

I received "A gathering of lace" in yesterday's mail. I am very happy with it, and will let any of you that are local, borrow it. Amazon was very quick this time. I ordered it the same day I ordered the sock yarn.

I did finish the dark purple feather and fan today. I was weaving in ends when I saw the most dreadful thing I have ever seen!!! The very first skein of yarn is a different purple, lighter and not as pretty. I bought them all at the same time, same dye lot, etc. I am seriously considering buying some dye to fix it. It's LionBrand Microspun, so is acrylic. Will it work? I'll take a picture as soon as I figure out what I am going to do and have blocked it. I am very proud of myself (not to the point of falling though, I hope) that I have completed a gift for someone and it isn't late or after the fact.

Tomorrow I am going on a field trip, by myself no less. I found 3 quilt stores just on my side of town, and I mean MY side of town. I don't have to go through Beaverton at all, in fact, I go the opposite direction, towards Hillsboro. I can't wait to check them out!! I sewed a quilted bag today, well, most of it. I found I didn't have the little magnetic closures it called for, even though it was on my list for the fabric store last week. It's not my fault they didn't have the right size. As soon as it is done, hopefully tomorrow afternoon, I'll post a picture of it as well.

She's Reading, She's Reading, Uh HUH

Ok, you have to be in the right frame of mind to hear the above Title. I am so jazzed right now!! I've got this stupid little tune from Nemo that Dory sings, I don't even know the words to it, but the above title is running through my head with this tune.

So, the conversation at our house this week goes a bit like this:

DD: So, when does the Library Summer Reading Program start?

Me: This week on Thursday, do you want to sign up for it?

DD: What are my reading options?

Me: Well, there's the "Read to Me", or the "I Read it Myself". You can do either one. (Age wise they will only let her do the "I Read it Myself", but why does she need to know that right now.

DD: No, I don't want to sign up, I want to do my own reading program. I want to be reading by the end of the summer.

Me: Ok, I have a good program we could start.

DD: (with a raised voice) NO, I want to do it my way AND WITH DAD!!

Me: Ok, but you have to realize that Dad is tired when he gets home and wants to play on the computer, and you will have to be responsible for pushing him to help you.

DD: Ok.

End of conversation.

That very night, after I have gone to bed, dd and dh proceed to read a chapter in Mr.Putter and Tabby Feed the Fish. Dh tells me about it when he crawls in bed. The very next morning after taking dh to work, I come home to find my girl sitting on the love seat with a blanket over her legs reading the next chapter to herself, but out loud. And she read it again last night to her dad.

AND I CAN'T PRAISE HER OR SHE'LL STOP READING. What's a mom to do??

On to knitting, I am almost done with the purple feather and fan shawl, less than one ball left to knit up.



I received this in the mail today, it took 3 days to get here, I am seriously impressed with their service.



I designed and knit these (from leftovers) last week for an afghan for a local homeschool mom who recently had a heart attack.