Renegotiating

Some days it feels like spring. Some days it's still winter. You know how everyone from any state will say "you don't like the weather here, wait a minute and it will change?" Well, Nevada isn't quite like that, but it is unpredictable from day to day. Last week we had freezing days and warm days. By August it will be sunny, sunny, sunny, but for now we just don't know.

Jacque, Brian (the guy I've been seeing--for those of you who haven't yet heard), and I headed up to City of Rocks, which is across the border in Idaho. We checked the weather before we left and decided to believe the Weather Channel rather than noaa.gov. Wishful thinking. We all slept in Brian's old, giant Suburban, thank goodness. When we woke up in the morning, the truck windows were fogged up, but you could see ice and frost on them. Brian was hoping it was just because it was warm in the truck and cold outside. Nope. An hour later, when we really woke up, there was an inch of snow on the ground. So even though we were supposed to meet a whole group of people for a rock climbing weekend, we didn't want to hang out in the snow all day and so returned home.

We did climb in Lamoille Canyon all weekend, which was nice.


All this iffy weather makes it hard to settle on a project. I ordered yarn for a sweater, but it hasn't come yet. I've been making smaller things in the meanwhile, including the Daybreak I'm working on now.

I've finished two hats: Pasha and a basic hat with flower and a little something special. Pasha was fun, and I didn't have any trouble with the lace. I used Plymouth Yarn Dye For Me Baby Llama Glow that I bought in Portland. The sparkly bits add something to this already great pattern.


I've been wanting to try incorporating some LEDs into my knitting, so I ordered a kit from the Maker Shed. I knit a basic hat from some cotton (so I can wear it, yay!) and then used some of the yarn left over from Pasha to make a flower. The center of the flower is the LED. I wanted the battery to be at the top of the hat, but it was too far for the conductive thread. It's now on the inside of the hat behind the flower. Surprisingly, it doesn't bother my head. I can unsnap the flower, but I can't detach it. The flower is too floppy so I tacked it down. When I snap the flower to the hat, the light comes on. I'm thinking of an emergency-light beanie next. There are so many times when we climb late but have forgotten our headlamps. A beanie with some bright LEDs might be just the trick.

Adventures Abound!

Life has taken a good turn lately. I've settled into being in Elko for another year, at least, and that's put my mind and heart at rest. No more soul-searching about where I need to be right now. I'm going to be here. Well, except when I'm traveling, which I seem to be doing much more of these past few weeks.

I went down to Lubbock and Alpine, Texas, at the end of February. It was a declaration of my commitment to Cowboy Poetry. I also got to know Alissa and Andy Hedges, Andy Wilkinson, and most of the members of Cowboy Celtic better. I discovered I really enjoy the way Andy Hedges sings, plus we made friends in each other, and I like that most. Visiting another Gathering was pretty interesting. I was on the fringes of the inside, which was a nice place to be. It was so great, in fact, that I'll be visiting the Dakota Cowboy Poetry Gathering over Memorial Day.

Besides that, I went to Sensory Illumination. I got to wear cyberlox. I want some. We did a little bit of climbing in Boise. Then I took an impulsive road trip to Portland with a new friend.

Trees and water. Oh, how I miss you both.

This weekend we're headed to Zion for some camping and hiking. We climbed last weekend, but there really hasn't been enough climbing.


Ah, but has there been any knitting, you ask? Of course! In fact, I've been knitting a lot. I started Side Impact on February 7 and I'm only just rounding the corner on the second sleeve, but it's lace and stockinette. I never promised to move quickly through the lace panels. In fact, I finally memorized the six-row, seventeen-stitch, lace pattern yesterday.

In between I've knit two cozies. The first wasn't for anything specific, just because someone joked about whether that was what I was knitting.

The second is an iPhone cozy, sort of for the same reason. Lesson learned: do not be flippant about knitting or you might end up with cozies.

Red Rocks

We climbed this past weekend in Red Rocks, outside of Las Vegas. Great fun. I led a 5.7, which is a step up from what I usually lead. Here's me on lead.


I got a few centimeters of Side Impact finished, but Jacque and April drove off with my knitting on Sunday. I could have gotten a lot finished on the drive home, but instead had to content myself with tormenting one of my friends by fiddling with the radio. Oh well.

So far Side Impact is fun. I'm terrible at lace, even in small side panels, so it's slow going. I'm thinking of starting a second sweater in a chunkier yarn for that instant gratification.

Another "Why I Don't Blog" Post

I've been teaching a theatre class at a dance studio in town. It started as two classes, but the younger students' class was too small, so it was combined with the older class. Now I have one class and the students range from 6 to 16. It's been interesting. The classes are fun, but it's still hard to gauge what they've learned this month. They know the areas of the stage as much as they know left from right, and last week they caught on pretty quick to vocal expression. There are a couple of kids who are really outgoing and a couple shyer ones. Overall, so far, it's been fun. But (here's the blogging excuse) I seem to have no time for anything anymore. Which really isn't true. I'm just having too much fun hanging out to get the important things done. At least the class forces me to sit down and write a lesson plan each week. This week we're going to talk about beats. I'm having a little trouble planning for this one since there are a few students who can't read much yet (being only in first grade).

In my knitting world I'm all over the place. I started a rattle for Aimee's cousin's new son, but I need a cat toy for the inside and I haven't made it to the store for one yet. So I started the shorts for Sandman. I think those will move pretty quickly, but I don't get much couch time to work on them. I've been watching Firefly with Jacque, and we're going to try some game knitting on the next episode. I think I need something wacky right now. I need to seam the Audrey sweater and do some finishing knitting, but I haven't been interested in that since I picked up the other things. There's also a hat I really want to make for a friend in Chicago, where I'm going in a couple weeks, so I'll have to pick that up soon, too. I can probably knit most of that on the airplane, though, so I'm not too worried.

I don't have any new knitting pictures, so here's a photo from last week's climbing adventure. Picture courtesy of Karl.

Summer Photos

I have a post in mind (what I've learned about knitting from climbing), but I've had such a busy summer that I thought I'd get the photos out of the way.

First, thank you for all the kind comments. I might have put the sweater in the UFO pile if left to my own devices. I'm still enjoying knitting Holly and made great progress on a recent flight. I have two other somewhat pressing projects to finish, but I can't take my hands off Holly.


Jacque and I hiked the Ruby Mountain Crest Trail a few weeks ago. I had never done a multi-day backpacking trip. I also grew up where it's relatively flat. I think I've acclimated pretty well to the altitude, because that wasn't a problem at all. I could breathe even at 11,000 ft. Jacque helped that by keeping our pace slow. I have a tendency to walk fast and then get out of breath. The trip was amazing. It was hard in some places, and simply fun in others. These pictures are chronological.

A gazillion-mile switchback at the end of the night. Just before Overland Lake (below)*

The Crest (we saw this same view after climbing that peak, and then again five more times)

Liberty Lake

The Parking Lot!

Then a group of people drove up to the City of Rocks to celebrate my birthday (and Jason's but he had to stay home on doctor's orders. Boo). I had no idea my friends in Elko were so amazing. I knew they all wanted to climb--that was really the point of the trip--but they also surprised me with an awesome gift, which I opened after cake.

Presents!

Last weekend I visited Jen and family. I just needed to see their faces. It was soul-soothing.

Now it's September and I'll be around for awhile. Maybe I'll actually get some knitting done this month.

*edited to add photo. My apologies for multiple versions of this post.

Pucker

Pucker is done. Remember a long time ago when I was knitting with size-two needles and thought I was knitting on sixes? Well, this time I thought I was knitting on size six, but it was actually a two. So Pucker's neck is a little tight. Besides that, I think the top is lovely. My pictures are bad because I took them myself, but you get the general idea.


There's been some climbing, but not much to report on. I haven't gone in two weeks. I have made new friends, though, which is nice. I also had to buy a new computer, this right after splurging (actually, I'd saved for them) on a washer and dryer. But now I can do everything I want. Except transfer my files from my old computer because the new Mac has only one firewire port and it's not the same as the cord I have.


I'm working on the umbrella and I've started the socks. I might also start a hat for a friend who is leaving soon. I'll report on the chalk bag when I get some action shots. It looks great and I think it will work. I may have to make more--handknit chalk bags for all my friends!

Quickie

Holidays. Gathering.

The Gathering was fantastic. Please check out the cybercasts on our website to see what amazing shows you missed. I had the time of my life this year.

It's been busy. Christina took all the chairs, so typing at my desk is difficult. Here's a photo summary of the things I've been doing when not at the holiday festivities or the Gathering. There were other projects, too. I'm just missing some photos.

Postcard. Aimee, did you ever get this?

Legwarmers.

Hat.

Bike Helmut Earmuffs.

Climbing on January 18th. I needed this right before the Gathering.

High Five

I've had this post in my head for a while now, but since I released myself from the guilt of not posting regularly, I haven't taken the time to write it.

The Rubies. View from Dead Snag, December 7, 2008

I have never given so many high-fives in my life as I have lately. It all started at Ultimate Frisbee. Score? High Five! Make a good play? High Five! Pass a friend on the field? High Five! The hand-slapping moved to the crag, too. Lead a route? High Five! Successful climb on top rope? High Five! Good try at climbing anything? High Five! Belay? High Five! Then it moved home. Playing Cranium and get an answer right? High Five! Tell a good story? High Five! Goofing off at the bar? High Five!

It's nice to have supportive friends, friends who encourage you in all your pursuits. I love rock climbing partly because I love the encouragement along the way and the excitement everyone feels when someone accomplishes their route, or just gives something a try.

Knitting is like a high-five sometimes. Finish a hat? High Five! There's no one giving me a high five at one in the morning after I weave in that last end, of course, but the feeling is there. I feel accomplished, satisfied and excited.

I haven't finished all my Christmas gifts. In fact, one that I started way back in September hasn't been touched since then. The intricate, detailed pattern got confusing and I ran out of time to deal with it. My plan is to finish everything (except Patti) on the plane rides to and from Detroit. Here's what I've finished so far.

Gryla's Howl, now finished.

Climbing, Not Knitting

Today was a day of many climbing firsts.

1) I red-pointed a 5.6 lead on slab (red-point means I got to the top without falling, slab means the rock was mostly smooth and at an angle). I think I like slab. I like using the downward pressure with my arms, rather than having to raise myself to my hands.
2) I climbed my first multi-pitch (which means that one person climbs to a ledge, then another person climbs, and so on, then you climb to another ledge, and so on) on mixed gear and bolts, also on slab and with no walk-off. I did two pitches and more than half of the third. It was the end of the day and I was the last to climb it, so when I got to a harder point I decided to just come down so we could move on. I wanted to get on that pitch, but it didn't matter to me that I reach the top. We were very high, which was exciting. I think that's the highest I've been. Does that count as another first?
3) I tied in to the middle of the rope.
4) I learned a mountaineer's coil (because I had to carry the end of the rope with me on the last climb--my first time carrying anything extra on a climb).
5) I learned to flake and to coil the rope.
6) I used a prusik on the long rappel down (tied a little differently).
7) I expelled some gas in front of the four guys I was climbing with. I was definitely the girl of the group today, but I think I held my own, even in the bodily-function department (though much less than they did).

I did a tiny bit of knitting while waiting for my turn, but it's hard when there's chalk on my hands. It's very drying stuff. I did a little sewing today, too. I was belaying Jason when I realized there was a hole in my pants. In the spot just below my chalk bag, and which would have been very noticeable while climbing. So I grabbed my knitting bag and the little sewing kit I carry with it and sewed up my pants. The guys were surprised I had needle and thread with me, but I was very glad I'd decided to bring my knitting bag up to the climbing area.

There may be a picture of me climbing, but I forgot to take my camera. I wish I had because the aspens are all turning yellow and were just beautiful as the sun moved through the canyon. We went down to the creek after climbing, since it had been a warm day and we needed to cool off. I was walking on the rocks and found a poor little rainbow trout caught in some fishing line wrapped around some sticks. Jason walked back with me to help the poor thing, but the hook was deep in the trout's throat. Jason broke the line, so I hope the fish went someplace nice to die. I'm mad at the person fishing, though. It's so irresponsible to do that--not just to leave the fish but to leave line tangled up like that. This is National Forest and should be treated with respect. Grr.

Next post will probably be about knitting, including a picture of a gift I'm giving. My last few posts have been without pictures. It's time for something pretty and knitted.