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.

Reasons and Excuses

It has been over a month since I've blogged. It's been quite the busy month. I've been traveling a lot. We had a major deadline at work that I've had to fit in around plane rides and furlough days (that's right, I'm on furlough). I've been extremely stressed, and it's shown in my work and in my knitting. In fact, there's not much knitting to show. I worked on a sock and I knit a chalk bag for myself. I just sewed in the liner, so no photos of that yet. I haven't finished anything in months, it seems. Yet I'm itching to start a sweater or something else that is big and time consuming. Here are some photos of my trips.

On a walk back to the hotel from the Smithsonian Folklife Festival.

Cherry Lake in the UP of Michigan

City of Rocks, Idaho

Fieldwork in Florida

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.

UP!

It's so hard to get back into the swing of things after spending almost a week in a place as beautiful as this:

But I'm back, and back at it. I woke up at 4:30 am EST last Tuesday to catch my early flight out of Traverse City. My plane was delayed in Detroit, so I didn't get into Salt Lake City until around 1:30 pm MST. I forgot to grab my bag getting off the parking lot shuttle, so I had to wait for the bus to come back around. I didn't get out of the parking lot until almost 2:30. Then I drove back to Elko, arriving at 5:00 pm PST. I dropped off my stuff and went right to Frisbee. I just didn't want to be at home yet, even after such a long travel day. In fact, I didn't get into bed until after 10:30 pm PST (or 1:30 am EST). Then on Wednesday I worked then went climbing and rappelling (my first time!). I stayed out late that night, too. I was surprised to feel so jet-lagged on Thursday.


I've been busy, but it's been fun to be back, even though I'd rather still be in the woods. A bunch of us went to the Indian restaurant last night to celebrate some August birthdays. They had belly dancing, which turned into Bhangra dancing. Everyone was dancing: the belly dancers, the waiters, the owner, a few kids, and some of us. Afterwards a couple of us got a quick lesson from the owner's son. I was quite tired leaving the restaurant. That's the best thing about Elko, in my opinion. It's possible to be surprised with something extraordinarily fun at any time.

So, knitting. I haven't knit much since getting back, but I finished the Endpaper Mitts while in Northwoods. They are really small because my gauge was waaaaaay off. I gave them to one of the caretakers who also plays the viola. I love the viola and she said she'd use them when practicing. Since they didn't have an intended recipient, she was the perfect giftee.


I liked knitting these. You can see that I screwed up a couple times. I'd start to get confident that I knew the pattern without checking the chart and then I'd mess up. I didn't notice this huge mistake until it was really too late to go back without much irritation. I also had trouble with the purl stitch. It was always really loose and I couldn't seem to tighten it up, especially on the thumb. I have a ton of of yarn left. I think I might just add them back into the Panda Silk stash for something with lots of color.

I'm working on the second sock for my sister. I'll see her next year at my grandparents' wedding. They have been married for fifty years, but have always wanted to get married in the church. The priest they have been working with told them they can finally get married because after fifty years it's obvious that their marriage is blessed. I can't wait. I hope my brother will be able to get leave from the Army for this, because we should all really be there. I'll also get a chance to see Jen and family, so that's a huge bonus.

I may not have anything to blog about for another couple weeks because of the wedding and other travel coming up (I'm going to Burning Man, too). I'm thinking of entering the February Sweater in the fair, so cross your fingers.

Nevada Weekend

I don't have any knitting progress to show. My only knitting news is that I'm headed to Chicago tomorrow, so I'm going to get a lot of knitting done; buy a lot of yarn (I'm sure); and hang with my knitting friends.

Last weekend was a constant reminder that I'm not in Kansas (or anywhere in the Midwest) anymore. I went to a dinner party where we mostly talked about rocks--both mining rocks (gold) and climbing rocks. I went to a ranch where I fed a leppy (warning: opens in QuickTime. Watch it. It's short. And good) and played with barn cats. I went to the quietest parade ever (while parades are not unique to the West, Elko seems to have a parade every month). Then I finished the weekend at the Basque festival, where I watched Basque dancers and the weightlifting competitions. I also went to the picnic, but I didn't eat anything because the Basque only eat meat.

The most frightening thing I saw this weekend was the road to the ranch covered in Mormon Crickets (don't follow this link if you don't like big, ugly bugs). I'll post a picture soon, but let me just say this. Eeew. At first I thought they were frogs. They are almost as big as frogs, and they jump. I stayed in the car.

Summertime

I finished the Something Red sweater on June 15, but it's taken me this long to find a good button for it. This was an easy, fun, fast knit. Very satisfying. I didn't see that wonky bit in the raglan part until I posted this picture. Darn. I'm not ripping back now.


Last weekend I went camping with friends at Diamond Fork in the Uinta National Forest, in Utah. There are some hot springs there, which we visited. It was a fun, and much needed, weekend away.


Then, to brag a little about how great my job is, I stayed in Salt Lake City for a meeting with colleagues about the programs we do. Basically, we got together to talk. Just talk. That's about all we did. We talked about where things are going, how we're feeling about things now, and ideas for the future. On Monday we're having a staff retreat, where everyone on staff is going to talk about these same things (and more). I do like it here.

It's good to say that, because the week before was the worst. Things are on the upswing, though. A new program that I developed, Play Your Hand, is really fun. I think when the word gets out there will be a good turn out. We had a few folks to learn poker and blackjack, and I think they had fun. Next week is La Loteria, and families are encouraged to come to all future game nights (kids couldn't come to this past one because those are licensed games in Nevada and minors can't be in the same room, even though we weren't gambling--or so the gaming board told me). So if you're in Elko on Wednesday, please come play some games at the Folklife Center.

I'm working on a February Sweater and the partner to a sock I made a while ago. I'll write more about those someday.