Knitting Iris

8 years ago today...

...C and I were married in the back field.  It was a perfectly beautiful day.  Nobody officiated the ceremony.  The two eldest members from each side of our families spoke for us and read poems.  We said a few words to each other in front of family and friends, exchanged rings, signed the paperwork, and ate, drank, danced, drummed, and talked around the campfire well into the night.

All we had back then was ourselves, our dog, a funky old camper trailer with a wood stove inside, a garden, a phone, a chainsaw, an old truck, a car, and a garden.  No electricity.  Very little yarn.  Not much else.  Life was pretty simple.

A's Rollneck Sweater

Nephew A's rollneck sweater, done and ready for his 2nd birthday in mid September.  This one is made from KnitPicks Wool of the Andes in Mist and Coal.  Mist is a slightly bluish grey and Coal is true black.  I knit the child's size 4 and used just over 2 skeins for the sleeves and I can't remember how much for the body, probably about 4 -5 skeins.  Each piece was knit in the round up to the armpits, then knitted flat and sewn together along the raglan sleeves.  The rollneck was knitted last.  The pattern is Yankee Knitter Designs Roll Raglan. 

I've had this pattern forever and this is the 4th time I've used it.  A $2.95 well spent!  Now, C would like one in his size in the same colors as this one.  I'm thinking of making a more fitted and shaped solid version for me also, and 2 other color combinations for R (brown and red) and E(light and dark green).  It's just such a great, basic pattern that looks good on everybody.  No wonder J. Crew carried it for so long.  I'm so behind the times.

More reasons to love Canada

(top left): Maplerose, a store in Nelson selling all sorts of natural craft supplies, the kinds used in Waldorf schools.  I've seen all of this online, but it's nice to see it in person.  I talked with the owner about the area.  She told me that the Waldorf school in Nelson, a town of 13,000 people has the same enrollment as the one in Vancouver, B.C., a city of more than a million people.

(top right): Recycling bins in the town of Ymir, a town of under 300 people.  I can't recycle glass ANYWHERE in the state of Montana.  The closest recycling center for plastic, aluminum, steel, and paper is over an hour drive away from our house.

(Middle left): A skein of LanaKnits hemp yarn to try out.  Some Sandnes Lanett fingering weight superwash wool for yet another Rosebud cardigan.  A children's book.  Mackintosh's toffee:  I remember running up the dock and plunking my Canadian quarter down on the counter for one of these as soon as we went through customs at Bedwell Harbor each summer when I was young.

(Middle right): 100% wool felt from Maplerose.

(Bottom left): 2nd Regia Jubilee "India" sock under way.

(Bottom right): I finished the sleeves while driving and listening to music at the festival.  Last night I sewed it up, did the rollneck, and wove in the ends.   Picture soon.

Oh, Canada!

A truly family friendly event.  Music.  Kids.  Toys.  Crafts.  Face painting.  Acrobatics.  Clowns.  Hula hoops.  Trampolines.  Hoppity hops.  Fire twirling and hula hooping at night.  Paragliders and hangliders above by day.  Friendly people everywhere...from everywhere. 

(3rd down on the right) That's R walking around being a robot.  (2nd from the bottom) We went with the newlyweds.  Their truck topper was still decorated from two weeks ago.  We just altered it a little by sliding the side window open part way.  (bottom) There had been a biker gathering recently in the town of  Ymir where, as you can see, they had left their mark. 

We had lunch in Nelson on the way home and took a ferry across Kootenay Lake. The drive was outrageously beautiful, if a little bit too long and hot for the kids (but good knitting!).

We are all ready to emigrate. ;)

Oh, and E got stung (AGAIN!) just above his right eye minutes before we got in the car to go on Friday afternoon.  His eye was almost swollen shut the whole weekend.  He looked pretty rough, but he was such a trooper.  It's better now, only a little bit bruised looking.  He wanted and had a sunshine painted on his left cheek.

Huckleberry Socks

These were knit from Elann Sock-It-To-Me yarn in Highland Heather(?) with a solid purple Elann sock yarn as reinforcement in the heels and toes.  I wasn't impressed by the feel of this yarn.  It gave off that sulphur smell that some hand dyed yarns have (what is that, anyways?) and it was rough feeling, kind of scratchy and dry, while knitting with it.  I do like the colors, however, and the way the pattern changed here and there.

The pattern on the leg of the sock is the Blueberry Waffle Socks pattern, except these are huckleberry waffle.  It is an easy textured rib pattern that has a good amount of stretch to it.  The ribbing at the top is 3x1.

We're off for the weekend to Ymir, B.C. for yet another small reggae festival, Koots Roots.  I'm hoping to get some time to check out nearby Nelson, as I've heard it's a great, small, progressive town.  It is the hometown of Lana Knits and I came across, Maple Splendor, a Waldorf school supplier, online the other day, that has a store there.   

So sad :(

Just when the hops vine was looking so lush and the "cones" were starting to form, I had to tear this all down yesterday.  It was covered in white flies, which leave a honeydew all over the leaves, which in turn attracts wasps and yellow jackets.  It was covered with them and they were flying all around the front door.  It was getting treacherous just to go in and out of the house.  E was  stung 6 times in a one week period (only once at home).  So, yesterday morning while it was still cool and the bees weren't very active, the vine came down.   There is another one on the opposite side of the house trained to grow over the windows to keep the afternoon sun from the West from overheating the house.   The deer have eaten almost all the leaves off of that one in the past week. 

Oh well.  Fall is on it's way.  They closed down the top part of the Going-to-the-Sun road in Glacier Park yesterday due to snow.

My mom, the knitting guru

Before leaving for her trip, my mom finished off and sent out these sweaters (and hats) for R and E.  She asked me to take a picture of them wearing them and e-mail it to her at my brother's in NYC so she could print it out before they flew out from there, and so she could have the picture with her.

She taught me to knit when I was little, and I'm sure that her mom or one of her older sisters taught her, too, when she was growing up in Norway.

She's a better knitter than I am, but she says the same about me.

I now have a gallery of her knitting started in the side bar.  I'll add other pictures in later.  She's made several sweaters for the boys, at least one of which they have outgrown.  I'll just have to search through my photos to find some where they are wearing them.

(It took quite a few tries to get a not-too-goofy picture of the two of them together where the sweaters show to advantage.  There were cheesy grins, tongues sticking out, spinning around, falling down,  and running away.)

More on huckleberries...

   

Very little knitting progress lately.  Here is the second of a pair of socks that are now dubbed the Huckleberry Socks, of course.  I tried to knit on them last night at Shakespeare in the Park, but couldn't concentrate on the play, so I put it away.  I'm also trying to get to sleep a bit earlier in order to try and be a more positive Mom.  I need to heed my own advice sometimes.

In the bottom picture are huckleberry scones that the boys made with berries R picked himself.  Yum!  You can't get a half decent scone within more than a three hour drive around here unless you make them yourself.

Today is my big brother's 42nd birthday but I didn't finish his crocheted hat in time.  It isn't any further along than it was here.  Luckily, he is in London today on his way to Africa for three weeks or so with our Mom.  Lucky them!  It feels strange that for three whole weeks, I won't be able to just pick up the phone and talk with them whenever I feel like it.  Our Dad is sailing on the coast of British Columbia, so I can't call him either.  Thank goodness I have one other brother to call!  It would feel awfully lonely otherwise.  I'd better get crocheting, too!

Huckleberry Heaven

Kool Aid Striped Socks

A finished pair.  Never before have I had 3 single socks without a match on the needles.  Now I'm down to only 2 second socks to complete.  Whew.  That feels much better.  So many things to finish so that I can move onto fall projects soon.

I don't know how much wear these will get since they will have to be handwashed, or how long they will last before I accidentally throw one or both in the wash.

I'd prefer to dye superwash sock yarn, but at about a fifth of the price of the off-white Opal I've used before, it was too hard to pass up on the KnitPicks Color Your Own.

They remind me of the colors of fall chrysanthemums, which also reminds me I'd like to pick up a few of them to replace the plants that the deer ate right out of the pots by the front door.

Gone camping and in search of huckleberries and trout.