Sunday, March 31, 2013

It Isn't Easy Being Green

Since I was very young, I have always claimed "green" as my favorite color. But it was always a very specific color that I was after, like the green from the crayon box. However, I really appreciated seeing all the greens while surrounded by Nature, in the woods, on drives, around the cabin we vacationed in. 
Blocking the feather and fan pattern

When presented with various specific and different shades of green however, I was extremely particular. Not one was good enough for me to love and claim as part of the palette of color that was supposedly my favorite. 
Blocking

A quick review of my Ravelry page shows that I have knit one dark blue-green and red shawl, a Slytherin scarf for a brother-in-law, a hat that contained remnants, and an Ariel scarf for a friend. 73 projects, only four of them green. And green is listed as my favorite color on my profile here too...

So when my swap package showed up at the end of February with a green skein of Malabrigo Rios (Colorway 128 Fresco y Seco), I definitely said, hummmmmmmm...
 I looked around for a pattern on Ravelry, searching "Malabrigo Rios, one skein" and found link to a memory that this color evoked.
Action shot: windy day!
In 2011, I took a hiking vacation in the Pacific Northwest. Not to be missed were the amazing waterfalls along the Columbia River Gorge. Multnomah Falls was the mightiest. The pattern that turned up was named Multnomah. The colors in the yarn reminded me of the great scenery that I saw on my hikes.
Upper half of Multnomah Falls, OR, taken from the famous footbridge
 I began knitting immediately and lo and behold, fell for all these amazing colors coming off the skein. I couldn't stop, and soon was running out of yarn. I ordered another skein from the same shop that my swap buddy had bought my skein from, but alas, the kettle dyed yarn was wildly different.
 A visit to my own local yarn shop revealed that they had the Sock yarn of my colorway in stock. It was similar enough that I decided to use it instead of the yarn I ordered. The ladies at the shop advised me to double the amount of stitches as I added the new yarn.
 It took me another full week of knitting to get those 500+ stitches per row all knit up 40 times! I was rather fatigued by the process, but I think the result is well worth the effort!
 And I decided that I truly do love green to knit with. Even if all the shades aren't exactly perfect, the combination, just like Nature are really exactly right!

(PS Happy Easter!)


Thursday, March 28, 2013

Late March Snowshoeing

Spring Break began cold, white, and snowy. Sunday and Monday we had a 100 year record-breaking snow-fall for this time of year. Tuesday the weather already started getting a little warmer and melting the snow. I made a quick decision to head out to Mounds State Park with my snowshoes. Showshoeing in Mounds has been on my to-do list for nearly 10 years, and the two hour hike was magnificent and well-worth the wait. I just hope I don't have to wait so long for the next opportunity. In the mean time, here's looking forward to a slightly belated Spring.






Monday, March 4, 2013

SWAP!

This past month I signed up to be part of a swap on the Whole Latte Chocolate Love group on Ravelry. It's for knitters who enjoy chocolate, coffee, and knitting, of course. We put together packages that contain chocolate, coffee, yarn, and little special things that would go well with those items. Below is a partial view of what things I had in my buddy's box: Squish Me hat pattern from Knitspot, matching Bare Naked Wool DK weight wool in colorway cocoa, some Malabrigo sock yarn, truffles from Concannon's Bakery, other dark chocolates, and Main Street coffee, which recently got bought by Concannon's. I also finished some handmade quilted note cards.My goody box was right up my alley! My swap partner lives in Omaha, NE, and got me all kinds of things from her home town: Scooter'coffee (founded in Bellevue, NE, in 1998), a large bag of Baker's Candies' famous meltaway dark chocolates (family-owned factory in Greenwood, NE), and a skein of Malabrigo Rios yarn from the local yarn store, Personal Threads Boutique. She also thoughtfully supplied reading material on each of these places. I love learning something about other places and supporting local business. To top the box off with the chocolate theme was a little shower kit that included shower gels in cocoa velvet truffle scent and buttercream delight scent. Till next time... I'll be wide awake and knitting!