Out with it, then

I think I've finally realized why I've been so reluctant to blog about the knitting I did on vacation. I mean, I did finish a pair of socks before we even finished driving to the cabin!

The FO:

K's Clown socks.

But here's the honest to God truth: I don't like them.

They were fun to knit -- feather stitches are always fun, especially with shaded yarns, because you never know where the pattern will land. And I like the yarn. I just don't like the socks.

The good news is I have half the yarn left over, so I can make K the ankle socks she really wanted in a simple stockinette. With a ruffled cuff or picot cuff? Hmmm.

On to more pleasant topics. While on vacation, I also knit about a sock and a half for myself in my last ball of cotton/wool yarn:

I was able to make amazing progress on these with odd bits of time -- an inch while we ordered and waited at a restaurant, a couple of inches while everyone else still slept in, a couple of inches under a tree while the kids skipped rocks and I talked to the locals. A whole foot while we drove back to Spokane to fly home.

I am now about 3 stripes shy of being ready to bind off both socks (I waited on binding off the 1st until I got home and could look up suitable bind-offs for toe-up socks.) I'll probably power through it this weekend, because I can't wait to wear them And since I can't be without socks to knit...

I'm swatching for Dipsy's Dunes socks. I swatched the main stitch pattern last night, and today I've been fiddling around to see if I can do better than my usual on the 2x2 rib cuff. I've found the right trick, which I will share later -- too late to write it up tonight. For now, one last picture, Dunes at Midnight:

Back from Vacation, and moving slow...

Now that we're back from vacation, I am having a very tough time motivating myself to do "fun" things. Like knitting. Listening to my i-Pod. Blogging. It seems really strange -- I want to...work. Is this why they give us paid time off?

Glacier National Park was amazing. I thought mountains like that only existed in National Geographic and the Lord of the Rings movies. Despite the lines at the entrance gates, it felt like we were among a very small handful of people and a very large number of wildlife. We were clearly outnumbered.

I did do some knitting, but I ended up doing far less porch-sitting than I expected. This was mainly due to the very long daylight hours -- we ended up staying in the park until very late most evenings, and returning to the cabin only for a very late dinner (9 or 10pm) and bed. I haven't taken pictures of knitting progress yet, so for now I'll post just vacation pictures.

Early in the trip, M and oldest son R were suffering a light version of the bug that took down my daughter earlier in June. So our first hike was an "easy" one -- to Avalanche Lake:

I think it is so-called because the creek running down from it is snow white from minerals and agitation, and looks like an avalanche.

The second day was a visit to a remote village (was it big enough to call it that?) on the north west border of the park, Polebridge. It is accessible only by dirt road, and is not on the electric grid (though the buildings in town have generators.) Some shots of downtown Polebridge:

The third day was the absolute high-point -- a 12 mile hike along the Highline Trail. The first 8 miles are cut into the side of a mountain that varied from "cliff" to merely "breathtakingly steep." Fine terrain for bighorn sheep (not close enough for good pictures), more mountain goats than we could count, a marmot under every bush and rock, and a wolverine in one of the less-steep rock-covered areas. No pictures of him -- he ducked away into some bushes before we could even think to be scared. R and I looked at each other -- "was that really a...wolverine?" We weren't convinced ourselves until we got home that night and checked the wildlife guide -- right facial markings, right size, right habitat, and we saw him from about 30 feet in bright daylight. We're sure.

So, some goat pictures first, because they are not camera-shy:




Note that this first photo was not zoomed.

We encountered the baby (left) and his mama (not shown) about 3 miles in. Mama was absolutely determined to stay on the very narrow trail. M and I herded our bunch into a slightly-wide spot against the cliff wall and shushed them while they argued about whether we should "make the goat move." Mama, in the mean time, stood 3 feet away glaring at us in that threatening way universal to all mothers. My kids finally shut up, and Mama decided to pass us. Junior, in the mean time, had been goofing off around a corner and had forgotten there were people. As he ran to catch up with Mama, he was startled to see us and skidded to a stop at our feet. He stared at us wide-eyed for a moment, then dashed after Mama as fast as he could go.

But the real star of the Highline hike was the views:

The next day was river rafting, which likely would have been enjoyable if the Whiners and their two small boys weren't on our raft. No photos for obvious reasons.

The last day there son #2 and I came down with...something. Immodium, that elixir for all travelers, got us through but we weren't going to tempt fate with another long hike. So no Iceberg Lake, no Grinnell Glacier. Just an easy hike along a chain of small lakes. Nothing of note until we were almost back to the parking lot, then this guy and his harem:

Mr. Moose chose a particularly picturesque spot to stand. His two cows and their babies were at the far end of this small lake, and pictures of them were shot into the sun, sad to say.

The next day we loaded up and drove to the airport just as the heatwave hit -- 105 degrees, according to the car thermometer.

I promise pictures of knitting in the next post. (It will probably be a let-down...)

Almost Ready!

Less than 48 hours until we board the plane to go to...

Glacier National Park! I am so psyched!!

I booked two raft tours today -- one whitewater, one scenic.

Daughter keeps asking how deep the water is -- clearly she's worried about falling out of the raft. She seemed reassured that life preservers would be required, and not at all bothered that helmets would be provided as well. I wish I knew what her mental image is of "white water rafting." She asked today if "white" meant "easy." Like the color coding of ski runs. And I've decided not to tell her that the lakes are as deep as the mountains are tall. Once the water is over your head, how much difference does it make how deep it is? Right? That's very logical. But I remember spending a lot of time on lakes as a kid and being irrationally frightened at how deep the water was. When a cold draft would float by my legs, I'd have to remind myself not to scream. The fear never stopped me from jumping off a boat with a water ski, however.

The boys are busy arguing about whether there are really glaciers there. One says all the glaciers melted centuries ago. The other says there are glaciers, but they all melt in summer. The debate has scaled back now that I've got guide books to read aloud from. They are by no means convinced I am right, but they are no longer so certain I am wrong.

For knitting, I've decided to keep it simple after all. Trying to plan a Big New Project for the trip was just adding to the stress of preparation. So I will take Josephine (who didn't complain at all when I left her sitting untouched last weekend due to a sore shoulder), several balls of sock yarn, Charlene Schurch's Sensational Knitting Socks, and the two patterns I've pulled off other blogs (Dunes and Loksins.)

And I'll take the Interminable Christmas Cross-stitch Stocking as well. Yes, there's a story there, but I'll tell it later.

Kids, kids, and a little knitting

It was a good weekend, just not very productive as knitting goes.

K had a friend sleep over on Friday night. They spent hours in the pool, then fell asleep in front of Animal Planet.

E, our middle son, returned from his first Boy Scout "away" camp on Saturday night. He had the time of his life. He can't quit talking about it: how to treat hypothermia, how to treat frost bite, how to diagnose heat illness (slightly more relevant than frostbite here on the Gulf Coast!); how to inflate a flannel shirt; how to make lanyards from flat plastic cord; the tarantula, the two scorpions, and the water snake that was not a water moccasin; rappelling off a 40 foot rock. Perhaps most importantly, his best buddy -- a boy who shares E's impulsiveness and high energy -- is still his best buddy after sharing a tent for a week. Both of them started pestering their respective parents for a get-together as soon as they stepped off the bus.

And we celebrated R's birthday a few days early, on Sunday. He got his long begged-for i-pod and some tab books for his guitar. We have a long car-ride planned for the day of his actual birthday -- what's the point of an i-pod if you don't get it BEFORE the long car ride?

On the knitting front, my shoulder was aching on Friday night and every time I picked up the needles it got worse. So I decided to switch to machine knitting for a bit. I calculated the pattern for Autumn and got on the machine (which doesn't care which hand I use to run the shuttle.) I knit the back in one longish sitting. I'm very pleased that I didn't have to do anything to keep the colors from pooling:

I'm also pleased with how the lace rib came out:

There was enough hand-manipulation in that hem for me to finish my listen of "The Kite Runner." (A wonderful book, by the way -- about tradition and shame and redemption and good and evil. I highly recommend the audio version.)

On the vacation-knitting-planning front, I have found 2 sock patterns I want to knit with some of my nearly-solid stash. The first is Dipsy Doodle's Dunes of Tinfou socks. The second is Loksins from Too Much Wool. Lovely socks from both ladies.

Choices, Choices...

My paper airline tix arrived today by FedEx. We are going on vacation! I'm so excited! (Since I always find myself making the actual reservations for vacation at the last moment, I also find myself surprised when it all comes together.)

We're going to Glacier National Park. I was able to get lodging at a 2BR cabin on a ranch just outside the park -- no phone, no TV channels (though they do have a TV with VCR for videos), so presumably no internet and no way for people from work to find me. The kids -- even the almost-15YO -- seem to enjoy just hanging out in non-suburban terrain, so I'm expecting a few hours per day of "tourist-ing" followed by lots of porch-sitting, beer sipping, knitting time.

And on that point, I have begun to consider what knitting to take. Socks, obviously, but choices, choices:

Clockwise from the Sockotta (red ball band) -- casual/jeans socks for me, cotton short socks for K, funky purple wool socks for me, fancy-stitch grey or ivory socks for me, casual denim-blue wool for...someone (probably me!), and fancy-stitch blue socks for...well, me. The last ball of yarn is Rowan CashSoft DK -- destined to become a non-sock, one-skein gift for a family member -- in with the socks only because it is also a very quick, portable project.

One thing I don't get: On several podcasts and blogs, the host cautions us that if we knit socks for others, they will clamor for more. Not true for me. I LOVE wearing the socks I make for myself. I know I knit a nice sock. But other than my daughter, NO ONE has asked for a second pair. I recently found the pair I made for my husband 3 years ago in the cedar chest -- never worn, to the best of my knowledge. Maybe I should be thankful I've avoided the curse of Clamoring Kin, but I actually feel unappreciated.

And another thing I don't get: whatever happened to Fortissima Cotton sock yarn (the Easter-egg colored cotton for K.) I actually made K a pair of socks from this when she was 4 or so, and I had more than a ball left over. It was very nice to work with -- very smooth, very fine, good saturated colors (even after several washes), and the fabric had the give of cotton/wool blends. But I haven't seen it in ages. Too bad. I would love to knit some up for myself in less obvious colors.

But back to Vacation Knitting. The socks and single-skein projects all seem rather insubstantial. Don't I need something more complex and challenging as well? Two possibilities:

I've had this lace-weight for a while, trying to decide what to do with it. I now know it is destined to become a Print O' The Wave stole. Portable, complex, very rewarding, but too much to think about while drinking beer? Hmmm.

I'm also tempted by this sport-weight Merino that K and I found on our ski-trip to Taos. We visited Southwest Weavers, who had a gallery of some absolutely amazing modern-art weaving, but also extensive weaving supplies and a small but lovely selection of hand-dyed hand-knitting yarn. K picked a skein of this -- I figured I'd make a hat and some mittens, but she asked for a new poncho. Oops. Called the shop and ordered 2 more skeins -- thankfully they had the same dye-lot still in stock. Shown a number of potential poncho designs, K also selected the Grand Plan Top-Down Capelet from Wrap Style. Oh so much stockinette!!!

Sick-bed Knitting

It's been a productive weekend for knitting, but not for the best reasons. K is sick and has been running a fever since Wednesday. The doctor says this flavor of virus lasts about 5 days, so I'm trying to be patient. I'm sticking around the house, and since I'm worried I knit.

Josephine had been languishing, but yesterday evening I finished the back:

After that, I finished the leg of K's Clown socks. Before bed, I had her try them on to test the length. What could cheer up a sick little girl like trying on some fancy new socks?

Alas, I discovered they were very tight going over the heel (this is a recurring problem for my socks...) I double checked my pattern. The stitch is a variation on feather and fan in which you decrease on either side of the fan on rows 1 and 3, then decrease again and add 6 YO's on row 5. It leaves a respectable portion of stockinette stitch for the self-patterning yarn without being boring to knit. But somehow I miscalculated the narrowest portion of the pattern by 2 stitches. Times 4 repeats. Oops.

So, I frogged the whole thing at 11pm, added a stitch between each pattern repeat, recalculated the pattern, and re-cast on. At 2am I had finished the leg, again. I am trying Charlene Schurch's "forethought" heel, which gives a cute little bull's eye on the heel and (more importantly) doesn't disrupt the repeats in the self-patterning yarn as you transition from leg to foot. I worked the heel while K watched Animal Planet this afternoon:

Hey! What's that?

Just a quick post to show my finished Jaywalkers:
This is the first FO that was started after I started my blog -- a milestone!

Particulars: Strapaz Wolle "Cotton Effekt," 45% cotton, 42% wool, 13% polyamide. Note that for my size 10 feet, I needed 2-1/2 balls of this yarn. Knit on 2.5mm addis. Jaywalker pattern from Grumperina, modified by using 1x1 rib instead of suggested 2x2 ('cuz I wanted to practice tubular cast ons.)

I don't reckon they really need to be blocked, do you? Tomorrow I'm going to wear them with some jeans, a yellow chambray shirt, and my turquoise necklace. And I'm going to show them to people who will smile pleasantly and pretend to appreciate them, and I won't mind that they don't get it.

Of course, I'm already plotting my next pair. Daughter picked out some self-patterning yarn that I will need to cope with. It's an opportunity to figure out how to knit two socks at once on two circulars, and how to do short row heels (she'll outgrow them before she wears them out anyway.)