Yopping Update #7 - Home again, home again Jiggety Jig

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 I'm bacckkk!

It is late Sunday afternoon and I have a window of time to write this post.  Last Sunday we left at noon to go camping, and it was an amazing five days.  The campground was quiet, the lake was gorgeous for swimming and we had excellent meals.  The weather was warm during the days, but cooled nicely in the evening.  Our campground was on the shady side so we could relax there if the beach was too hot. 

master chef at work

master relaxer

Our daughter and her family were never far from our thoughts as our beach towels can attest.

selfie in front of smokey lake

The first day my son and I did a 4km hike that involved scrabbling over big rocks in some places.  It was tiring, but I felt so good knowing I could manage the distance and difficulty. The next day I swam a mile in the glacier cold lake.  It took me just over an hour and I was glad the sun was nice and hot when I got out so I could warm up!  Where is the hot tub when you need it?

On Thursday my son went for a 15km hike and I stayed in the campsite and swam a half mile later in the afternoon.  

My husband got his solar panels working so we could recharge our batteries a couple of times during the week since the campground did not have electricity.  

We woke up Friday morning, the day we were leaving, and the sky was very smokey.  We headed home hoping that there was not a forest fire between home and the campsite.  There wasn't, but as we got closer and closer to home the smokey skies got worse and the heat was intense.  So, yes, we arrived home just as our hometown was in an extreme heatwave, with smokey skies from the fires to the south and east of us. 

Thankfully today is a bit cooler and the skies not as smokey. 

I already swam at the pool this morning for forty-five minutes, and then my son and I went birding for two hours.  After a yummy Thai lunch he is napping, and I am relaxing on the back porch.  Hubby is reading blogs on his computer.  It is a nice quiet afternoon, and we bought some fresh salmon to bbq for supper. 

Can you tell we are having a wonderful visit with our son?  Oh, yes we are!

I did manage to do a wee bit of knitting in the campsite and turned one heel successfully, totally messed up the second heel, tinked back the second heel as the campground was getting darker and darker, and then last night re-knit the second heel as I sat on the back porch racing to finish before it was too dark to see.  

So, I actually knit three fish lip kiss heels for one pair of socks!

If it cools down enough I should get to start the foot of the socks tonight.  It is hard to knit when my hands are sweaty holding the needles and then the wool doesn't slide easily.  I know, I know - first world problem.

The weather app is predicting rain tomorrow.  That will be a nice change for sure.  

I bought a new plant for my back porch today, 

Silverweed

and my son bought me an air plant which will be sitting on my kitchen window sill after it posed for the picture below.

The big deal about these plants is that this is the first time I have gone into a garden store since the pandemic began.  Baby steps to re-integrate into the world now I have my two vaccines.  I take it as a huge win, as was going into a grocery store for a big shop in person to get all the supplies for our camping trip.  I felt so brave and proud of myself. 

I will leave you with a picture that came up on my fb memories.  This is my aunt on her 100th birthday five years ago posing with one of my cousins.  My aunt is wearing the shawl I knit for her.  She was a grand, grand lady, and I miss her so much.  

Until next week - hope you are all well and finding your own reasons to be proud of yourself. 

Yopping Update #6 - Sunday Best

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One progress pic:

This is as far as I got this week on my Sunday Best socks as this week my son has been in town and we have been getting ready to go camping today!

I did manage to get to the pool three times this week and with all the pre-camping errands I have averaged 10,000 steps a day!!

Next week I am sure that although there will be very little progress on the knitting front, there will be lots to share about our camping trip.  We haven't been out in our camper since October 2019!  This probably explains why it has taken us all week to get ready to leave.  

I checked the campground information yesterday, and they do note that it is bear country (but we have lots of bear spray), and also that there is a momma cougar with two cubs who has been seen frequently on one of the trails (not one I plan to go on!)

Mostly I plan to sleep, and swim and play crib with my son.  I hope also to sing along to my dh's guitar playing and maybe, just maybe I will knit a wee bit more on the socks.  

I have started the planning for my friend's gansey.  I have asked her mom to sneak me a sweater that fits her well so I can get the dimensions from it without having to let her know I am knitting for her.  Hopefully she will have found a sweater by the time I get home from camping. 

We had to get the truck starter fixed this week too, and while waiting for the repair my dh and I walked around and saw this lovely mosaic on the sidewalk near the river.  

Yopping #11 - Second verse, same as the first

 

Does anyone else remember that song by Herman's Hermits. 

I'm Henry the Eighth I am....

There is a line where he says - "Second verse same as the first."

I feel that way about my blog post this week.  It should have the same title as last week's entry.  Gnomes and Spinning.

First my finished Gnome - 

Here we Gnome again by Imagined Landscapes

He has joined his buddies atop the piano. 

I spun on my turkish spindle (will ply them tomorrow) 

I had a much more successful long backward draw after Highland Heffalump's suggestion to spin from rolags. 

And then spent time plying another sample - this one Icelandic which I think is my favourite so far.  I love the colour and so easy to spin. 

Handsome Icelandic boy

I have the Dorset Horn sample on the wheel but you will have to wait until next week to see it.  I also have another gnome on the go, but he is naked right now and I need to knit him a wee little sweater - so next week as well. 

The big news this week was yesterday my husband, nephew and I put two solar panels on top of our camper.  It was a full eight hour day and we are all tired today, but doesn't it look like fun?

picture from my living room window (note slanted driveway we are working on)

Auntie and Nephew

husband was taking our photos and supervising from the ground

We are all pretty pleased with ourselves.  

Of course we expected a nice hot day to do this work, and probably it was good it was not for the sake of my nephew who was on the roof most of the day, but the skies were very smokey and cold from the fires in Oregon, Washington and California.  I think by the time we were done the temperature at 5 pm was only 57 degrees (14 Celsius).  By 6 pm when I started dinner it was already so dark it felt like 8 pm.  

this was taken about 2 pm - very apocalyptic, no?

So today we will take it easy.  My husband is napping and here it is 2 pm and I am still in my pjs.  

I hope everyone is staying safe, and keeping their outside activity curtailed if your skies are as smokey as mine.  

Boy, 2020 has not been fooling around, and we still have 3 1/2 months to go!  

Yopping Update #15 - On the road again

Saturday Evening:

I am in our hotel about to go to bed after a L O N G day which started at 5:15am.  Alarm went off, shower and then we got the last few bags into the camper, grabbed a quick cup of coffee, ensured the cat was in, and by 6:30am we pulled out of the driveway.  

I was a little anxious about making the ferry, because I had hoped for 6:15 departure, but we got to the ferry on time and were boarded and on our way by 8am.

After a ferry breakfast (and more coffee) we settled in for the ride.  Both my guys napped and I spent the time joining a writers group.  Hopefully it will help me get on with publishing my novel.

Then off the ferry at 9:30 and drove into the city where my son's race is tomorrow.  A couple of stops along the way to get a national parks pass needed for our camping trip and for my son to pick up his race package.

We were at the Provincial museum by 11 am and even scored a deluxe parking space (well I thought I had....more about that later.)

We spent 3 hours at the museum which had a wonderful display about the Mayan peoples and another about the indigenous peoples of our province.  It focused on the reclaiming of their languages, but there were amazing masks too,  and in one room there was over a dozen inspiring totem poles. 

By 3pm we were all very tired and it was time to check into our hotel.

Oh look.  A ticket on our truck!   ARGGGGG.  I had misread the time on the ticket and it was only good for two hours.   55 dollars later.   DRAT!!

A nap at the hotel and then a long swim (I was the only one in the pool for 45 minutes), followed by sushi dinner put it all in perspective.  It had been a good parking spot with very little walking which was good for both my husband's knees and my hip!

So now to bed - up early for the race to cheer our boy on. 

Oh, and on the knitting front?  I have started the border on my shawl, but it is left at home as we head out camping after the race.  I did bring along my sloth toy to knit so perhaps I will have something to show next week.

Sunday 10:45 am:

He did it!  And so did we.  What we did was found our way (in our big truck and camper) to the 13km point where he had to pass heading back to the finish line.   It was so great to see his smiling face running by us.

He finished in record time taking 2 minutes off his August time and this race had a lot more hills.

We got parked relatively close to the finish line and he found us and now we are heading for a well deserved breakfast before continuing on our camping journey.  It is a beautiful day.  Sunny with lovely small fluffy clouds.   Perfect weather for wearing my fisherwoman's sweater which I have had on non stop since yesterday morning!

Happy Thanksgiving from Canada.  My blogging family is something I am very thankful for.

Yopping 42 - Home Again Home Again

Where to begin?

I have been home since Wednesday Afternoon, and besides Laundry and sorting out the camper I have been dealing with a horrible headache since Thursday.  I blame the cold and the rain.

But,

this greeted me at my front porch when I got home.  My Bleeding Hearts had volunteered and bloomed for the third year in a row.  So, yes, spring will come.  It always comes.

I have had time to sort out my projects since coming home and I finished Maggie's Cowl with less than a yard of wool to spare.   It needs to be blocked - as does my Wingspan.

I picked up my Cotton Tee that had travelled with me the last two months but never saw the light of day.  It is such an easy knit that I finished side one and started side two and you can see it is progressing very quickly.

The yarn bowl that I won arrived when I was away - it is so beautiful:

And, my Simply Knitting subscription started and I came home to two issues to peruse through.

Next week I plan to pick up my Oceans of Time that I started before I left and I have to get to my April spinning now that I am home.  It will be nice to be back at the wheel after my two months of using the drop spindle.

The only craft purchases I made while travelling were the two basket kits.   I did not buy any yarn.  GASP!  I know right?

But I knew I had lots of yarn I had purchased via my dh for Christmas and I didn't want to get ahead of myself with yarn stash when I have sooooooo much fibre to spin.

We spent our last weekend camping on the Oregon coast and it was very windy, but sunny.
After the biggest storm the beach was full of a kind of sealife I had never seen before.

They are called velella - there were hundreds of them on the beach the day after the storm.

One of our last days in our home away from home - Beachside State Park - Oregon.

I'll miss these little guys - my favourite cacti.

and this was our last night in California - camped by the river and this ancient cottonwood tree.

And since I will be teaching a botany course this summer it seemed like ALL the plant world was getting my attention - especially these lovely wooden flowers - pine cones. 

You can follow other yoppers and their progress here.  

I still wish I was away camping, but I think once the sun reappears and the cherry blossoms come out I will be happy to be home. 

Yopping 39 - What? A FO?

A FO! My wingspan is done and I love it!

Another kit purchased - a new obsession thanks to my son.

A week to finish my March spinning. I better get on that today.

 We spent first part of week at Gilbert Ray canpground in the Saguaro National Forest and then headed North to Grand Canyon.  We have been here since Thursday and will head for Death Valley on Tuesday.

Today is laundry and then visiting Williams on Route 66!

The museum was awesome and I included a few shots for y'all.

And my favourite tree at the rim of the Grand Canyon.

Until next week!

Update 38 - koolaid and raffia

Still waiting on wifi and no knitting to speak of but I did spin a little more at Dead Horse Ranch State Park.

I found some Kool Aid packets im Eloy (which you can't get in Canada) so I have all the colours for dying yarn when I get home.

My son and I each bought a basket weaving kit so we worked on them a couple of times before sundown.  Slow progress but once the base is done I think it will speed up.

I bought this cool sewing kit in Eloy as well. 10 pre-threaded needles and a wee pair of scissors.  I have already used the gray to fix hubby's hat and I have a pair of pants that keep slipping down so I need to do a quick alteration. 

That is my week.  Today we are off to the desert museum to see ALL things deserty.