Knitting Iris

Purple & Orange

Trekking #81 socks for a friend's birthday, yesterday.  Toe up, Addi Turbo #2 circular, Magic Loop.  Heels and toes reinforced with a second strand of Heritage Heirloom 4 ply sock yarn.  3 x 1 rib over 56 stitches.

The sunflowers and black-eyed susans are from a friend from her garden.  The asters we picked up the road in the mountains yesterday.

The skein?  The world's ugliest yarn, dyed by yours truly, in honor of Project Spectrum.  C likes it so I guess he gets a pair of socks knit from it.  Don't you think I really could use a week at Yarn School with Adrian to learn a little more about dyeing?  Maybe next year.  Or it might be better for me to stick with natural dyes?

Treasure Island

Which is the real treasure? 

The things we saw and learned about?  Seals, tide pools, slugs, tides, rowing, steering, and so much more. 

The things we feasted upon?  Pancakes and blackberries, peanut butter and jelly, Peak Frean cookies, fried oysters, steamed & buttered clams, ling cod, prawns, ice cream cones, and more. 

The things we found?  shells, rocks, sticks, "Real" buried treasure!  ;)    

All of the above, but more than that, watching our kids and my parents experience it all together, and experiencing it all with them myself, too.  I just wish C could have been there, especially for all the feasting on fresh seafood.

Don't worry, GB, you'll get your turn next month!  Grandparents are still the best thing in all the world to these boys.

Ever Green

The ever-green forests and coastline of my childhood now seem exotic, almost impossibly green and lush, yet still deeply ingrained and familiar.

A yarn of scurvy, toothless pirates

Only brought in 4 prawns but my were they tasty.  We caught a whole bunch of little lobster-like creatures as well, bringing one back to the boat for further investigation.

We couldn't find it in any guidebooks on board but the boys drew pictures and we took a picture for future reference.  A little googling turned it up to be a squat lobster.

My dad saw that seashell on middle left of the book cover and joked that it looks like the kind of hat I'd knit. ;)  Not yet anyways, but the Sweatermaker (of Vancouver Island) merino sock yarn is half on it's way to becoming a pair of socks.  I picked it up at the Fun Knits booth at the Gibson's Fiber Fest.  Shelley was super helpful at keeping the boys, who were extremely restless by that point, entertained while I looked through sock yarn and ogled her Kauni sweater and the Kauni yarn she had for sale.  It was awfully tempting to pick some up right then and there even without a plan for what to make with it but I steeled myself and walked away only with the sock yarn.   Indigo Moon's yarns, some chemically and some naturally dyed, were gorgeous and tempting as well (she said the yarns would be online soon).  We were also able to walk through the classrooms where there were so many inspiring workshops taking place.

E's multipurpose stripey pirate/Santa/gnome/elf socks were completed somewhere along the way on the trip, I can no longer remember where.  Pirate flags were sewn, in true procrastinator's fashion, in secret, late the night before we left home, a few weeks ago.  The boys had seen the fabric at a store in Seattle about a month prior and had asked for some.  At the time I said no, but then re-thought things when they kept talking about making pirate flags, adding it to an online order later.  These were quick and easy and I managed to get four of them out of one yard of fabric, one each for the boys and their cousin and one for my dad. They're made to slip onto the end of a stick and one was adapted to be hung on the boat.

The last pics: I just loved the combinations of colors at the beginning of a dock we tied up at, with the blackberry brambles growing through.  There was no chance of scurvy on this trip with all the coastal red huckleberries straight off the bush and blackberries eaten on pancakes.

Sunshine Coast?

Well, it didn't really live up to it's name but that didn't prevent us from enjoying ourselves.  At least it was never really cold, except for the littlest bit on some mornings.  We didn't get too many glimpses of the snow-peaked mountains,  but all that rain made for some lovely fog, clouds, rainbows, and waterfalls. 

Gosh.  These pictures make it seem so peaceful which, what with 2 boisterous young boys and 3 adults, all of the same family, crammed into a medium-smallish sized boat together for 7 days, most of the time it was anything but.  I guess the Harmony Islands, where we spent half of our time, only kind-of lived up to it's name, seeing as we brought our own brand of mayhem to it.

Below:  the views from my chosen knitting spot, at the edge of the water at low tide, during the only short little while that I had all to myself. Well, just me and a couple of harbor seals and a starfish crawling around on the rocks nearby, that is.

The weather did finally change on our last day out, allowing us to jump in for a quick swim.  Some of the mountain peaks revealed themselves and E collapsed for a much needed nap on the return trip to Pender Harbour, lulled to sleep by the waves and the hum of the motor, and the occasional flap of the one sail we were able to set.

First things first

First things first: immediately rip open Sockapal-4-za package.  The  socks and my feet have finally met.  They're beautiful and they fit perfectly, and are knit by Gail who 1) knits, obviously 2) homeschools their two children, 3) lives in the same town in Missouri that my MIL lived in when I first met her 14 years ago, the furthest east I had been up until that point, and 4) writes a rather witty blog.  The yarn is so perfectly caramelly and late summer/fallish, and is hand-dyed by Lisa Souza.  Very nice stuff.  The color is Pumpkin, by the way.  And, yes, Gail, I agree that the pattern carries a certain likeness to Klingon head ridges, that is, until they're on and clinging to my feet, when they instantly become lacey and lovely and quite non-Star Trekkish.  Thank you, too, for the fabric and soap as well.  Another great sock exchange, Alison!

I really could have used these socks for the chilly mornings in Oregon and the rainy days along the coast in Canada.  That's O.K., though, since I have them now and the mornings are now chilly enough to want to start a small fire in the woodstove, but it's still to dry to do so with out fear of catching something on fire with the sparks.  I think there's a ban on doing so anyways, so socks will have to do.

Second things second:  unpack car, including such things as a dyepot full of Dahlia dyebath, a gallon jar full of Rudbeckia dyebath, and a milk jug full of flowers cut from my parents garden in Seattle, clam shells collected from our feasting along the coast, little hemlock cones, reindeer lichen, and madrona bark from our trip up the B.C. coast, hazelnuts brought from Oregon, acorn caps from Washington, dye plants and elderberries gathered from the sides of the roads on the way home yesterday.  And 4 gallons of frozen blackberries for making jam.  Doesn't everyone carry home along with them these sorts of things in their car, across states and countries?  Tell me, am I the only one?  Is this normal behavior?  Well, it's normal for me, anyways. 

So far. So good.

It felt like the final stage of a long pilgrimage as we walked about 15 minutes across town and through he doors of Twisted.  It's awesome, Shannon and Emily!  Great to finally see all the work you've put in so far.  Nice selection of yarn, many of which I'd not seen in person before, and piles of beautiful handpainted and other sock yarns to choose from, not the pattern above, but so many others.  I couldn't even choose, so asked C to pick something out for a pair for himself.  He chose a nice, regularly spaced striping Austermann Step colorway.

Then around the corner for Thai dinner with Shannon, S, and Jessica.   Followed by watching a sky writer out front of the restaurant.  We couldn't have been far from Amy.  Here's another part that she posted.  Such a perfect summer evening in the city.

Then it was off to the coast to visit with an old friend of C's who was having a family reunion in Lincon City.  We walked into a house full of kids, board game players, and knitters!  Spent the day at the beach and the evening knitting with three other knitters, including Cat Mazza of Microrevolt.org (KnitPro).  She's super sweet.

Then onto the NWWRF.   Something for everyone, C, myself, and the boys, respectively: good reggae music, a field of wooly sheep just beyond the stage, and cousins and other kids to play with.   Great festival again in an even better location this year, i.e. close parking and camping with lots of shade, frequently cleaned porta potties, even propane heated shower stalls set up in the woods!  Fun, peaceable, festive, easy atmosphere for young and old alike.  We even had the fun surprise of running into my cousin from Seattle there with his two boys.

Beware the pirates of the mossy, wooded forests of Oregon!

Goodness, I'd forgotten the good vibe Oregon and it's folks give off.  I swear, you can just feel it in the air.

An impromptu and surprisingly fun stop by the campus of my alma mater, in an attempt to avoid any more traffic on the trip north along I-5.   Got some funny questions and remarks from the boys.  E:  "Where is the school yard?  Where did you have recess?"  and in the library, "Where is the kids' section?", "Are you sure there isn't a kids' section?  Maybe we should ask someone."   On the field outside my old dorm rooms, above, "Why is this grass so green and nice?"  Ahem.  Apparently nothing like ours at home.

As it turns out, the entire campus was like a playground to these two, climbing around sculptures, hand railings, tree stumps, bike racks, and more.   Rough housing and running around on the perfectly groomed green grass, the brick central square, and chasing after squirrels.  Finding crow feathers and green acorns on the oak trees.  Funny, I barely remember the seasons changing during those four years of school, let alone had any clue what kind of trees grew on campus.    In the library, I had to show them where I'd go when I'd take a break from studying, to look back through old issues of Life magazine and laugh at the old advertisements.

R commented something to the effect of how exciting it was seeing a college campus.  I hate to break it to him that it's not ALL fun and games.

    

The past two days have been spent at my parents' house in Seattle just kickin' it...kind of...sortof...not really.  Actually, unpacking, getting ourselves and our clothes and things clean, doing laundry, regrouping and repacking, mowing and watering the yard, R recuperating from a summer cold picked up somewhere along the way, me icing a nasty swollen and sore bee sting on the ankle, watching movies and late night TV, picking blackberries, swiping flowers from the yard for dyeing, and knitting some.  Missing C.  Being the tooth fairy to R.  And contemplating how green my feet and toe nails are after mowing the lawn.  E:  "Mama!  Your feet are as green as an evergreen!."  Wondering what grass clippings would do in the dyepot.   Yeah,  just chillin' for the most part. 

Off for the Sunshine Coast this morning! 

Gone to sea with me hearties.

Somewhere on the coast of British Columbia, Canada, circa 1977, when my biggest brother had a 'fro, taken by my dad from the dinghy.  This isn't the picture I was looking for to post but it'll have to do.

Yesterday evening we left for the coast, first for a night in Portland with Shannon and Jessica, then a night on the Oregon coast near Newport to meet up with an old friend of C's from St. Louis, then the weekend near Eugene at the Northwest World Reggae Festival (turn up the volume here) with C's sister and her family, and then C gets a ride back home while the boys and I head north to B.C. to meet my parents for a few days or so of sailing along the coast.

It seems we'll be at home little more than we'll be out of town over the next few months. It has the potential to be a bit of a whirlwind, maybe we need to install a revolving door, but I'm going to try to not get overwhelmed and squeeze some blogging in when I can.  The house is already a disaster wish so many unfished projects but what else is new?  I've just got to walk away, collapse into the car, and face it all when we return.  Oy. 

Only a handful of certainties:  Sock knitting.  Book reading (Swallows & Amazons).  Pirate play.  Sandy, salty bodies.  Solid family time.  Blackberries. 

Possibly even some yarn dyeing on the road. And we might even time it right to get to go to the Fiber Arts Festival in Gibson's Landing.

Be back in a couple of weeks or so.

Sockpal:  If you've sent my socks, I'm sorry that I'll be gone when the arrive.  It pains me, too.  If they're not done, well, then you lucked out because now you've got another couple of weeks leeway!  I always forget, anyways, during these sock exhanges that someone out there is knitting for me, too.  When I showed the ones I'd knit to a friend the other day and told her I was getting ready to send them off, she exclaimed, "Oh!  That means that you'll be getting a pair in the mail soon, too!"  Seriously, I'd forgotten all about that part and got all excited.  Guess I'll have to wait.

Summertime in Montana

Maybe not quite what you'd hope for or expect...

from your summer vacation in Montana?

This last one is looking at the same mountains from essentially the same spot as in these pics, out in the field at our place.  These above were all taken last Wednesday.

It seems that every few summers we get at least a week or two of skies like this, although some days can still be crystal clear.  It just depends on where you are in relation to a fire and which direction the wind is blowing, away or towards the nearest forest fire.  It seems that now we're paying our dues for the past month or so of cloudless blue skies and 90-100 degree days.  That's not a cloud below, it's smoke, taken on our return from picking berries last Friday.

We're leaving for Oregon tomorrow and I can't help but feel some trepidation about leaving at a time like this, when the fields and forests are so dry and each step is crispy, crunchy, and especially when something like this happened last week during a quick thunderstorm, just a quarter mile or so away, really just in the trees right across the field in the third picture down above.

Just clicking the camera to take a picture feels almost as if it could set off a spark.  There are stage 2 fire restrictions in effect right now that call for no open flame fires ANYWHERE and logging operations are on "hoot owl" hours which means they can only work from 1 am to 1 pm and then they have to stay on site for two hours to watch for fires that could have been cause by sparks.  If they go to stage 3, most forest service roads and campgrounds would be closed off which doesn't bode well for berry picking, hiking, camping, and tourism in general.

If you'd like to see some fantastic photography of another nearby homeschooling mom of four of the most wholesome looking children imaginable/knitter extraordinaire/fiber artist/and now photographer, then look here.   She started the knitting group that we both used to go to but she's since moved just a little further away and that group has dissolved.  Unfortunately, we live just a smidgen too far apart to just run into eachother often or see eachother regularly but we can still peek in on eachother online.  We must make an effort to get together when we get back, Camilla!

Sockapal-4-za socks, finally finished.

No berry picking until the socks were finished for my Sockpal 4.  That was the deal I made with myself last week.  Friday morning the bind off rows were reworked, a little looser than the first time around, the ends woven in, they were photographed, then washed and hung on the line to dry.  By Friday afternoon we were in the woods, in the mountains, we were filling our bellies and a bucket, staining our tongues and fingers.

Pattern:  Marigold Sock Pattern , free at Flint Knits   Very rhythmic, soothing knitting, even in a time crunch.  Pretty vertical eyelets with horizontal garter rows.  I made the XS size.  The next size up seemed like it would be a bit baggy.  Knit on size 2 Addi Turbos with the magic loop. 

Yarn:  Blue Faced Leicester, sportweight 3 ply, dyed by me with Pro Chemical WashFast Acid Dyes.  Reinforced toes and heels knit doubled with a 75% wool 25% nylon 3 ply, dyed to match.  The color seems most accurate in the top left picture.

I'm so sorry these were late.  They should have been done long ago but I kept putting them off, having a hard time figuring out what yarn to use, and getting into a sewing phase.  I had emailed my pal fairly early on about her color preferences with an anonymous email account.  I read her response once but by the time I got back to it again Yahoo had suspended my "fake" account, erasing her email.  Hopefully I remembered well enough, sock pal 4.  I included a skein of cochineal-dyed sock yarn in the package as I think she mentioned purples and blues as her preferences, and possibly pinks, as well?  How'd I do, sock pal 4?  Was I anywhere close or is my memory failing me?

They go in the mail today, priority mail.  There's no reason to pay for overnight shipping here as they can't guarantee it from here.   It's out of my hands  and now all I can do is cross my fingers and hope she likes them and that they fit.
Phew!