Off to the Sierras !

Posted on July 17, 2014 by Jen

The High Sierras beckon us this year on our anniversary. Last time we went, Jeff, Emma & I had a great time , it was in the Inyo National Forest of the High Sierras, on the McGee Pass trail, hovering around 10,000 – 12,000′ elevation. This (slightly blurry) photo was taken while walking along a meadow on the trail, and it was in fact the last backpack trip I was on. Emma was a two-year-old packing puppy and that was seven years ago. Ages !

I can’t believe how long it’s been, and astonished at the pace life just races by. Here is Emma waiting for me as we climbed over the pass, the rock in the trail so sharp she had to wear her boots.

And just beneath the pass, resting a poor exhausted puppy Emma in the snow with Jeff looking a little impatient . . .

That trip was a stunning one, a beauty for sure, but I’m not feeling very confident in my packing abilities at all now. Though Jeff has promised me that we will go slowly and not far, for if I am going to want to backpack regularly ~ again ~ it is important that Emma and I do not get whipped by the trek. Emma is already a little bit limpy with onset arthritis, and I’m not much better, worried about carrying a pack for any distance.

But hey , the altitude & elements I can handle ! How can I not crave to sit and knit for hours with camp coffee by high mountain lakes such as these . . .

So interesting that being in the really high mountains has been such a part of me for as long as I can remember. Jeff and I are making a vow of sorts, to go regularly again, and this is a bit of a kick-start trek. Well folks, its time for me to go pull out all of my packing gear and assemble things ~ knitting included ~ see you all on the flip-side. Sierra Nevada mountains, here we come.

A True Robin’s Egg Blue

Posted on June 4, 2014 by Jen

I just picked this up from the duff of the forest floor. I nearly stepped on it while knitting along my woods path. In the woods we have a lot of robins , year round, so occasionally one finds a little shell cast aside, just like this, a stark contrast of blue shade against brownish tones of the leaves on the ground. Had I a camera with me I would have done well to photograph it against its natural setting, but I didn’t, and so I collected my little prize into my knitting bag and brought it home to photograph on some white linen.

This color blue, a greenish blue, is such a beautiful color, and I have it now here as reference when examining hues, if I may be forgetting what it looks like. Let it etch into my color memory, for I want to find a way to knit this color!

Shades Of Fog

Posted on March 1, 2014 by Jen

Knitting shades of fog, and of rain clouds, the colors reflecting this morning’s landscape, into a new project with the vernal influences taking hold for my nieces’ Spring Sweaters 2014. Delightedly I get to report showers mixed with rain and fog brings a fresh start for March !

We are on the tail end of winter friends, aren’t we?
Here on the mountain the misty clouds are speeding past us, hovering and temperamental.
In Northern California, we are finally having some much-missed moisture, and I’m just hoping for a continued rainy & foggy spring.

After The Rain

Posted on February 10, 2014 by Jen

It has rained for four days unending.

(A few glimpses from the knitting trail.)

I’m overjoyed because finally the moss on the mountain has drunk it’s fill.

Emma and I went out and soaked ourselves taking account of it all.

Now green can sprout from under last year’s brown . . .

Beautiful morning after rain . . .

The creeks are gushing and riverlets going in all directions.

Life is good.

Red Sky At Night

Posted on November 24, 2013 by Jen

Red sky at night; shepherds delight !

This photo was taken from the same spot as the photo in previous post ‘blue dawn’. In one day, the sky went from an awe-inspiring blue dawn to a rather surreal orange-red & blue sunset, making it quite a lucky day with the camera ! Usually I’m not so lucky. These clouds were like fresh blended fluffy bats of wool just off of the carder, hanging there for a long time into twilight. So, what about a blue dawn and an orange-red dusk? I am finding that the very thing I’m knitting is expressed so well by an Autumn sky photographed a few days ago…

Though the red is definitely subdued in the photo, it is at least suggestive of a ‘red sky at night ‘, knitted in Malabrigo sock yarn which I bought at my local yarn shop Yarns On First while browsing their beautiful yarns recently, in colors ” Botticelli Red ” and ” Impressionist Sky ” . Wouldn’t you say the sky in above photo is perfect model for an impressionist painting?

What pattern you see here actually, is Pretty Little Things gloves in the works, yes, sisters of Pretty Little Things (PLT) socks . These little charmers are taking their sweet time, and I’m giving them all the time they need, though I did want to show you what I’m working on at least. Happy, fun, and challenging are gloves !

Blue Dawn

Posted on November 21, 2013 by Jen

This morning early, as dawn approached, less than an hour ago, I was looking at shades of blue Malabrigo on their website, studying & sleuthing for that complete natural deep indigo blue, the color of a brewing storm.

I noticed as I looked up from the place I was sitting, in front of the wood stove, next to Emma snoozing in her chair, that the dawn sky with another rain storm on it’s way, showed me the very colors I am hunting for ! I kid you not. At about 6:20 a.m. I grabbed the camera, and captured it ~~ only moments ago! Here it is folks, ‘Storm Mountain Dawn Sky’. Such a color ! Now that I’ve taken this photo, I can hopefully replicate the blue.

By the way, I am totally into blue lately, absolutely yearning for it, and the sea of unknown possibility is sure to cast me out to drift in it !

Seasonal

Posted on October 8, 2013 by Jen

This knoll of Autumnal vines above I photographed last year in late afternoon, as its leaves yellow’d and fell into the ground or floated in the gusty breezes. Where I live , on a mountain ridge which borders Napa & Sonoma valleys, the seasons show not only in the trees, but strikingly so in these mountain vineyards. But something very dismal has been taking place on the mountain very near by.

Change is difficult, but I suppose is necessary all the same, or we’d become rigid as logs in our outlook of the world. Well, one colossal change which has taken place in my life, is that the vineyard very close by, through which rows and roads Emma & I walked frequently for years (her whole life), acres of historic vines, has for the most part been ripped out of the ground, and are presently heaped in massive sad piles. They are gone, and yet,at least I am grateful that I have these photos to remember them by.

These vines which were plucked out of the rocky soil of the mountain only weeks ago, once produced wines which won ribbons in blind tastings in France in their glorious past. They were beautiful and they were as jovial friends I’d pass by and wave to so often, as I would also the friendly workers who tended them.

When they were colorful and turning gold to crimson in my favorite months of October & November, they spoke of the cooling marine air pouring over the ridge, and they reminded me how happy I was that it is indeed Autumn… finally !

When they were bare as we walked along their long shadows in January, with uncut branches like tendrils, they spoke in words wintery and woody, and they spoke of the promise of a new year ahead.

As they became cropped & pruned it was is they were led to the starting gate at the race, building excitement from within, in February, with thick grasses carpeting the earth.

Then to leap out at the blink of vernal influence, and their main branches sprouting new growth in March !

And in April & May, the poppies come…

I have in recent weeks mourned their death. These old vines as I walked by them almost everyday while knitting, were very important to me, a part of me. Ah but this life, death, and rebirth, and planting new is to be expected. I wanted to make acknowledgement to the changes in this post, and my bereavements too, and even Emma’s as surely she notices, and misses her meadow walk along the canyon cliffs….

Meadow desktop

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But hey, let me cheer things up a bit I thought I’d mention a happy thing ! Kirra has won the giveaway from my book review & interview with Jean Moss, and I want to congratulate her !

((Kirra, I have sent your address to Taunton press , who have replied already that the book is on its way, and hopefully very soon the book will be in your mailbox, in time for you to make those great little gifts for your friends & family.))

Seasonal times indeed, with the gift-giving time of year nipping at crafters’ heels, time for us to leap for our needle cases and dig through our stashes and shop for more yarn as its officially 11 weeks until Christmas…yikes!!!

:: crack of whip echoes ::

Lets make tea and calmly collect our thoughts, shall we?

What gifts you planning to make this coming holiday season?

A Whisper In The Woods

Posted on July 13, 2013 by Jen

In the woods, on the mountain where I live, in Northern California, we are sheltered by many species of trees. I suppose the Douglas Fir, and even some Coast Redwoods, are most obvious, towering a couple of hundred feet and create a distinct silhouette of the ridge line. There are sturdy Black Oaks, well they are likely the most nostalgic of trees to me, as they have live moss on them covering their trunks and lower branches , and so become vibrant with green in the rains, then which browns in its dormant dry months. I love the moss, and so in my opinion, the oaks are absolutely essential to my happiness.

But I must say, the most cheery and unique of the trees, and possibly the most populated, is the Madrone. A Madrone tree covers itself in a veneer of bark of deep terracotta clay color, most of the year, then it dries like parchment, and is shed this time of year as the tree grows, along with its leaves. Leaves like little parchment bits in varying tones of terracotta, from a pinkish color to a rich reddish brown. I do wish I could capture the color range of this with the camera, but I never have been able. I shall with yarn some day. Bark peels like in the above photo, but usually much smaller, falling on to the forest floor with a faintest of rustling sounds as they land on the forest floor.

Note: I once gathered bags of the bark, as it is such a beautiful color, to experiment with in dying wool, but I never quite got around to it.

The most amazing thing about the Madrone, is that when the skin of bark peels off , it reveals a very bright grass-green new layer beneath, and as the green quickly browns within days, a very interesting pattern occurs of green-to-brown on the tree’s voluptuous smooth body, as it continues to peel. The papery peels flutter and fall to the ground, painting it terra cotta tones for weeks, and the trees change from terracotta to fresh green. It is a cycle magical to see.

The forest tends to be super quiet where I live. That is, quiet with near constant interruption of raucous jays and ravens, softly screeching red-tail hawks, piercing ‘laughter’ of the variety of woodpeckers as they call, oh and the grand pileated woodpecker steals the show when it goes to work on the dead trees !! I suppose even the continual chortle of the chickadees and various finches stops on occasion for a moment. And when one notices that truly quiet moment up here, it is marked by the fact that you can hear nothing but the Madrones shedding their bark and leaves, rather like the sound of stillness. I know then how it is quiet. I can hear the forest’s seasonal whisper!

Meanwhile, the morning light from inside my loft beckons whisperingly, as I am finished with a string of projects, looking ahead to what is next . . .

Summer Sky

Posted on June 6, 2013 by Jen

What a day it is today ! Actually, quite warm out, and the sun high in the sky, 1 o’clock, perfect time to finish the first sock of two , and have it drying out on the line. The blue summer sky with whispy clouds (clouds not in this photo) . Summer Sky socks for my sister-in-law (the one in Vancouver, who didn’t mention it , but I sensed a little bit of sock envy as I knit her father a pair the whole time I was there a couple of weeks ago ). I hope to have these on her feet by the Summer Soltice coming up.

Not just any sock, but once again, in my unrelenting quest for improvisation I went and striped everything, the heel flap , the everything ! And, did not follow a pattern, I think I finally get sock knitting !

April Walking

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Jen

Emma and I have been doing some spectacular knitting-walking amongst the wildflowers recently. It’s been a bit windy lately . . .

but thoroughly lovely this April !

Thought you might like to take a walk with us . . .

(click first image to go to slideshow)

Lupinus Albifrons

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Jen

Lupinus Albifrons. Known as just ‘ lupine ‘, it is one of the more populated native wildflowers of Northern California, and in April fills the mountain meadows, between grape vines in the rows, and trail-sides with deep blue & purple variegation. A small woody shrub when mature, however, where grass is mowed annually (as in the vineyard rows here on the mountain) and where seed is planted from the wind, you’ll see it popping up everywhere as young single stemmed flowers . . .

I luckily had just the perfect yarn handy when I became inspired from my walk of last week. I had a bunch of green which I over-dyed from grey wool which perfectly illustrates the ‘silvery’ grey-green leaves of the plant. The rich deep blue and purple played illusive games however with the camera, which wasn’t able to distinguish the two, and both came out as blue tones in most of the photos. But here it is , un chullo, for my brother’s birthday tomorrow!

I absolutely go wild photographing still-life knitteds ~~ its just one of the things I love doing, in every light possible , which enables me to make an assemblage of photos that catches different tones and characteristics of the yarns and knitted shapes . . .

The detail with which I experimented for the first time on this chullo hat, was to add a running crocheted chain just inside the typically chullo-esque double-crocheted edge, to neaten up the edge.

I love to make my chullo hats a bit of a hybrid with gnome hats by decreasing into a point, then finishing with a braid extending off of the top . . .

They blossom into a hat with a lot of character and playful whimsy . . .

The crocheted edges tame the curling tendency of the stockinette stitch. . .

Braid finishes being made on both ear flaps . . .

(the purple really pops in this photo below !)

Un chullo, inspired from the lupine flowers in the fields of Northern California. To be given to my brother tomorrow, and there could be nobody more appreciative than he, who wears them everyday , and who is also a botanical wizard !

NOTE : I have taken notes as I knit this one, so if anybody is interested, I could assemble a pattern of sorts from it.

Details on Ravelry HERE

Well, I’m off to walk the mountain with Emma, but I will leave you with a little slide show of the early morning walk of last weekend, from which this chullo’s lupine photos were taken . . .

Lupine of Northern California

Posted on March 31, 2013 by Jen

The other day I took this photograph while knit-walking , the fields bursting with wildflowers, always the first being the blue-ish purple and green lupine.
So it inspired the colorway of this chullo hat (which I’m knitting for my brother’s birthday, as he is a chullo fiend) I am delighted how rich the tones are with my over-dyed green yarn from last autumn, and the blue & purple work together. . .

Happy Easter holiday everyone !

A Morning Walk On The Mountain

Posted on March 15, 2013 by Jen

I speedily uploaded photos from our walk up the ridge, and now I’m off to town !

Stormy

Posted on December 20, 2012 by Jen

Cables ! ! !

Twisted while walking over hill and dale . .

and counted so I could watch my surroundings.

K (1,2,3,4,5,6), P (7,8), K (9,10), P (11,12) . . . repeat,

& twist cables every 13th row.

Knitted while walking in the last of the Autumnal color.

Environs greying more each day as the leaves fall to the ground and colors melt away.

Not the last, but another knitted gift for one soon to be Thirteen !!!

I have named it simply . . .

” Stormy “.

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Details of this project found on Ravelry here

Turning

Posted on November 1, 2012 by Jen

A high mountain vineyard.

Emma and I have been walking around this morning, for several hours. She was busy sniffing & tracking while I’ve been knitting. I have knit quite a lot while on the move this morning, I’m actually quite self-satisfied. I had a bunch of photos, but this one, with the yellow leaves turning on the vines, just seems to want to stand alone.

Other photos of this walk stashed here .