Knitting Iris

August Trekking Socks

My August Trek-Along socks were started in Alaska and brought back home.  Then, they trekked to Seattle and up into the San Juans, where they were finished except for the bind off on the second sock which didn't happen until about a week after we returned back home, due to C's dad and his wife's visit.

The pattern is rpm from the Summer 2006 Knitty.  I modified them by knitting them from the toe up.  Actually, I'm not sure if I changed it any other way as I didn't look the pattern over much after the first few rows of the spiralling pattern.  It's essentially the same as a ribbing pattern that goes straight up the sock, only this ribbing spirals around as you go.  They look a little bunched and droopy here, but they fit nicely.  I knew I'd love these socks, both the colorway and the pattern.   Although I made a handful of mistakes along the way, I didn't go back and fix them, figuring no one will ever notice them, except maybe the judge at the county fair where these socks are going to trek to next, entered under the Knitted Articles, Socks division.  After that, these can go on my feet for a real, hiking trek.

As I mentioned before, all this traveling/trekking has wreaked havoc on my plants.  I'm afraid I'm going to have to choose between having a garden or travelling in the summer as the two don't go together well.  The flower pictures are all from before we left for Seattle.

Since we eat mostly apples and bananas during the rest of the year, I tend to become a fruit-stand addict this time of the year.  I bought a 20 lb box of peaches last weekend and we're trying to eat as many of them fresh as we can possibly stand and canning the rest.  The cherries grown along the Flathead Lake just south of us are in season and are plentiful and are far cheaper and better than any others we've had this summer.  We've been eating grapes daily for the past couple of weeks and the boys talked me into buying apricots, plums and tiny champagne grapes.  They're begging for fruit.  I wouldn't dare say no.  The kitchen counter and fridge are loaded and they're free to help themselves.  So, what do we do this evening?  Go and pick more fruit: HUCKLEBERRIES!  Dessert, straight from the bush.  C even suggested we do this every evening.  Twist my arm.  ;)

Trekking beyond Hope

These socks may not have Trekked Along much in June, but they had their first real trek on Saturday afternoon in Hope, Alaska.  Only hours before his wedding, the groom took C and I, a couple of his brothers-in-law, and his 8 month old nephew hiking on the Hope Point trail.  We climbed from about 100 feet to somewhere around 2500 feet above sea level, I'd guess.  It was lush and green for the first part, hiking the Hope Point trail along a creek through devil's club taller than ourselves then ascending steeply to above treeline where we were climbing, sometimes on all fours, through thickly covered wildflower meadows.  There were bunchberries, columbines, monkshood, chocolate fritillaria, roses, geraniums, bluebells, chickweed, fireweed, yarrow, false hellebore, ferns, spirea, and the more, including some I couldn't identify and the most incredible yellow-greenish paintbrush that I've never seen before.

We reached the first part of a ridgeline leading to a higher peak, but had to turn around and descend with just enough time to come down, get cleaned up (see how dirty those socks got?!), and get the groom to the wedding site to meet his bride on a bluff at the edge of the water below and then on to the reception in Hope (far down in the valley in the top left picture).

Sock's Like Brach's, Like Alicia's

I've had my eye out for some of those Brach's neapolitan coconut candies and the sock yarn ever since I saw Alicia's version of these socks.  I ordered the sock yarn from Abundant Yarn and Dyeworks in Portland, Oregon but haven't been able to find the sweets anywhere.  Then yesterday, in a grocery store over an hour away from home, I spotted them in the bulk candy bins.  It was then that I knew I would try to imitate her picture.  Gathering all of the elements for the picture shoot, it felt like trying to copy one of the masters.  Socks? Check.  Chair? Check.  Candies? Check.  Skirt? Check.  Camera? Check.  Only, unlike Alicia, I have no sister to call over for the photo shoot and so had to stand in first postition for maybe the first time since my last ballet lesson in 1985, unshaved legs, wrinkled skirt, balanced on a chair, lean waaaay out with the camera, and try to take a decent shot.  39 mostly crooked and blurry attempts later and some cropping and photoshopping, here it is.  Here's Claudia's version, with pretty picot edges, of course.

As for the one white heel, I couldn't find the ball of solid brown yarn anywhere when it came time to knit up the heel of the second sock.  Of course, as soon as the white heel was turned and I was an inch or so up the leg I found the yarn...exactly where I'd been sitting and knitting with it last. 

I LOVE THESE SOCKS!  I'd knit them over and over and over and over again, or maybe a baby sweater like this, only possibly inside out so that it might look more like this.

        

Not exactly Trekking Along in June.

I can't really say that my Trek Along yarn actually "trekked" during the month of June, but it did come along to many places with me.   The yarn is Trekking #126, ordered from Abundant Yarn, I think maybe the only place in this country carrying that colorway.  It was in my knitting bag as we canoed past this pink lily a few weeks ago:

The first sock had some set backs, twice when I wasn't happy with the toe, and once when the heel, using this pattern, ended up looking like a pointy elf hat for the foot.  Then, it came along to the beach one afternoon while I ignored it, preferring instead to pretend I was a quilter, browsing quilting catalogs and pictures of Denyse Schmidt's studio.  The sock/yarn came to the beach two other times as well where it gained a few rows between dips in the lake to cool off (me, not the yarn):

On Saturday at noon (yes, already into July now) the finished first sock and the toe of the second one came along as R and I sought out the last of the wild rose buds for the necklace he wanted to make for a wedding present for Shannon.  At home, while he worked on the necklace inside, I sat outside under the roof of the woodshed to keep dry, knitting to keep from fretting about the thunderstorm threatening to drench the wedding ceremony:

Later that afternoon, the clouds parted wide open and the sun shone through just as everyone started arriving at Shannon's parents' house and seating themselves for the ceremony.  Even though I'm sure it would have been socially acceptable to knit during the wedding ceremony and reception of a fellow knitting blogger, the socks and yarn remained tucked in my bag during the beautiful and sweet ceremony and while we square danced the night away under the blue skies and big tent:

and through the late-night tricks and day-after-the-wedding antics:

and as I ogled all the flowers from the wedding and the three wedding shawls Shannon knit for herself, her sister, and her new sister-in-law (she can share them with you herself).  After the Newlywed Sunday Brunch, I sat awhile with her sister, parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins on the big front porch where she and S were married the day prior.  I was turning the heel on the second sock while Shannon turned the heels on a pair of fantastic STR socks, of course:

Both June and this wedding weekend flew by so quickly.  So, despite good intentions, no actual trekking of the "hiking" sort occured.  Stay tuned to see where these socks trek to on Thursday!