Camping & silk

This blog needs some serious updating and is way overdue.

I'm tired. A good tired, the kind that brings about a sound sleep. It's tempting to climb into bed right now but first the blog.

A week ago Friday Ed took off for the men's fishing camping trip at a lake on the east flank Mt. Hood. I'd been longing for solitude and quiet. I need a certain amount of alone time and it hasn't happened in ages. (Don't get me wrong! Ed's a wonderful guy to be around.) I planned to take my sleeping bag a few miles up to some friends large property where there is a pond, woods and a stream. But, Aurora wasn't keen about me sleeping out all alone in the woods. Okay, I'll wait until Sunday night when Ed gets back, he won't mind. Wrong! He said the same thing, "I'll worry about you all by yourself." Well, I know what it's like to worry about a loved one's safety and I'm not willfully going to subject them to worry. They do have a point. There have been mountain lions sighted in the area, and when I'm out walking I occasionally see black bear sign.

So I stayed close to home knitting on the two projects, catching up on some neglicted office work and taking care of a few orders. It struck me on Saturday exactly how opposite the two projects are. A shrimp and a whale. One is using 3mm needles to make a black chenille bais for edging the woven jacket. Six yards long by 14 stitches wide. Back and forth, the monotany broken by the middle crossed stitch. Do you see it snaking across the lighter blue project?The other project was a bath towel for Ed. Insane! Knit a towel? I became enamoured with the idea when a friend was knitting one. Love the idea of an air cotton towel that would dry quickly. And Ed just isn't fond on handknit socks. I used #15 -10mm needles (Pattern called for #19s but the work seemed too open) in blue cotton chenille. I'm very disappointed in the outcome, especially considering all the knitting hours.

This week is the week to finish Aurora's jacket/bolero. The raglan sleeves need adjusting, the bais put around the front, neck, and wrists and a proper button sewn on top.

During my last trip to the LYS (It's great to write that after not having one nearby for quite some time!) a beautiful book of baby patterns gently called me. Every item wants to be knitted. How unusual is that in a book? simple knits for cherished babies by erika knight Even better is that they are patterns that don't look intimidating to the knitter who's barely waded past k&p. I've already started on the cotton shirt.

The pattern & picture of adorable set of silk booties made me dig out a hank of green silk that Ed had seized at the Tacoma Spinning fair last Spring. Spinning silk. I'd forgotten how much I love spinning silk. I hadn't spun from a hank before (rovings only) and I need to do some internet searching on just what to do with the thick border on each wispy hank.

We finally went camping this summer! The annual church campout took place this weekend. The bummer was that once again Ed & I were in charge of the food. I don't know why we allow ourselves to get sucked into doing it summer after summer. The first few years were fun but dealing with the food the past couple years took the fun out of the experience. We weren't going to volunteer. hmphf. Thursday Ed gave up precious shop time to go in to Salem to shop with me. We stuck to the list I'd created during the week, then loaded the bags and bags of food into the trunk. Back home Ed went back to work in the shop and I got to work in the kitchen. Browning pounds of hamburger, chopping onions and garlic, making spagetti sauce.

Worn out by a busy week we hit the sack early Friday evening while some sang and played guitars by the campfire, and others played in the woods. The place we camped on our friend's property is at the bottom end of a gently widening hollow. Sound carries down from the woods and pond like it's an ampitheater. Laying in sleeping bags listening to the kids playing Capture the Flag followed by a midnight swim in the lake was not conducive to sleep. So we drifted in and out of sleep waking to look through the tent's mesh roof at the myriad of bright stars.

An afternoon game of darts followed by swimming and diving and zipping along the zipline into the water, and swimming some more followed by a couple sets of badmitton wore me out. Question. How many people -old & young - can fit on a surf board? Eight At one point we had three adults and 5 kids paddling away, when I steathily stood up on the back end of the board effectively sinking that end. How do you surf on a pond? Two ways: take a smooth running leap from the grassy bank (you are spared the details my clumsy attempt.); Get the teen girl with killer stroke to propel the board through the water while you "surf". :-) (She has the swimmer's powerful upper body build.)

When Ed turned in early again last night I was sorely tempted but the guys were tuning their guitars again and my violin begged to join them. It was good to play music and sing by a campfire. We just don't take the time to stop and get together and do stuff like that. The kids again played in the woods and splashed into the pond at midnight.

This morning I was the first to wake up. (Okay, I admit nature was necessitating a trip to the jilljohn.) I started the coffee and the campfire then took my spinning up the short distance to the pond rim. Spinning silk as the sun rose above the firs with steam rising off the pond was the best. (Picture was taken Thursday, lots more fine yardage on the spindle now.)

I want to return to the site to camp, look at the stars, spin, and perhaps swim if the water's not too cold. This time in the silence of the land without the backdrop of Capture the Flag. :-)