Sock Summit!

Kathleen-
I'm so glad you dragged me to Sock Summit (though to be honest, I was pretty happy to be dragged!).

Following is a selection of photos, with more to come (I haven't photographed all my yarn yet!).

Flying into Seattle:

Name Badge:


Portland welcomes Sock Summit:

Delicious cupcakes from Saint Cupcake:


Book Signing with Nancy Bush(!)


Ravelry Party! With Shetland Triangle Shawls:

Barbara Walker and her AMAZING lecture:

Matching yarn:

Matching Socks (and Clogs!):


My spinning class with Abby and Denny, who are hard to take pictures of since they're always moving! Sandi Wiseheart was in the class too (but I'm choosing not to post the picture I took of her, since apparently I can't make it non-blurry). After accosting her in the elevator when we first got there, it was nice to have her in class!


Sock Team overlooking the Marketplace:


The amazing luminary panel:

Steph and Tina doing thank-yous, just before singing Happy Birthday to Elizabeth Zimmerman.





I'm still jet-lagged, and need to go through all the new yarn tonight, but it was a fantastic trip!

September Already?

Hey Flan, Wherever the summer went I do not know. I sort of remember a work induced haze of screaming children and angry parents. Thankfully, all the "little darlings" are back in school and work is back to the regular chaos and insanity and not the extra strength version.

We dodged the bullet on Hurricane Gustav and are now watching for Ike. Who knew that so many people could discuss the potential doom and gloom for so long? My co-workers and customers alike had one topic of discussion and all the focus on what "the storm" could do was very freaky to those of us who had never experienced one. My preparations largely centered on having enough wine in the house. I was told not to buy anything that had to be refrigerated, so I bought red instead of white. Then I decided that might not be enough and bought some gin as well. Our part of the Gulf Coast was fine and in our little section we didn't even lose power. Fingers crossed we are lucky enough again.

We celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary by going to the Georgia Aquarium and looking at all the fishes. Apparently, fishes are romantic. Seeing as I am generally terrified by all things aquatic, I felt that inviting The MIL along would be a fine idea. She had a great time and the fishes are rather impressive.

Naturally, I knit on the way up, the way back, and a little whilst we were there. Delightfully, The MIL asked if I would like to go to a yarn store and I got a little trip to Knitch. There was some beautiful yarn that I got to make a little something for my future niece and a lovely time was had.

Sadly, my knitting mojo seems to be sputtering. I picked up stitches along a neckline and, when I had over 100 too many, decided it would be fine. 450 stitches at 1x1 ribbing and an inch and a quarter later it's not fine. That one's on time out.

I got some knitpicks Crayon and made all the bits of a pullover and then lost interest in making up, so that's on time out too.

I'm working on a project for the future niece, but it's worsted wt on size 6s. Very slow going. Bribe myself to work on it.

Started the Cables & Os from "No Sheep for You" for The Mommy's Christmas present. Started a sleeve as a swatch. Found out that the guage I have is 1/2 an inch too small. Time out again.

In sheer desperation, I started the February Lady Sweater for me and had to rip back and start again. So far, looking ok, but now I'm paranoid and overly cautious.

I have had to delegate the laundry basket for all of the items on time out. There were too many when just lying around the house. Today, I am going to try and organize a bit. Hope everything is going well.

What Happened to Blogging?

Kathleen-
Since last I blogged, I've been to Madison for a conference, where I saw this guy perform (SO funny).

Then we went to Montana for vacation. "Montana?" you say. "Don't you usually do that in August?" And we do. But this year we're attending a ton of weddings, and this is when the trip worked. So to Montana we went.

We were supposed to start with a river trip, but due to abysmal weather conditions, the trip got called off. So we went to the Archie Bray Foundation, and looked at cool sculptures:


And creepy ruins.


Then we went to the ranch, where we spent lots of time feeding the wood stove and relaxing:

And watching the deer cross the bridge because the river was too high to cross otherwise (indulge me, I love this picture of a startled deer).

Followed by a river trip that included Mike and I each learning to row a raft:




Snakes:who climb trees (can you say creepy?!)
Lewis and Clark historic campsites:


Beautiful sunsets (which followed cataclysmic thunderstorms)


birds:

and really cool rock formations:
Then we came back to Minnesota, and I got stuck in a post-vacation catching up kind of slump. Combine that with the traditional summer blogging slump, and you get the gap from my last post.

But I'm back! And I've been knitting! and spinning! and I have projects! All to be shown in my next post, since I've got enough pictures and catching up in this one.

NOLA

Hey Flan,

We have returned from our weekend celebration in "Nawlins" or New Orleans LA and oh what a time we had. I even found yarn.

The one thing everyone tells you when you announce you're going to New Orleans is that you must go to Cafe du Monde for beignets and coffee. Ever one to follow directions, here's a photo of mine:

The hotel where we stayed was pretty unremarkable, so no link for them. However, we had dinner at a fabulous creole restaurant.

The following morning we enjoyed a jazz brunch buffet. There was an abundance of local cuisine and a 3 piece jazz ensemble to serenade.

Fortified, we hit the French Quarter for some shopping.

There was the MOST fabulous pen shop with a French proprieter who makes his own inks.

There was a delightful store split into two halves, one for lingerie and one for clothing and accessories.

We had lunch- well, everyone else had lunch and I went yarn shopping- outside Jackson Square.

I found some Malbrigo worsted weight and it's the softest yarn EVER. So in love. Sadly, the store has no website. They're The Quarter Stitch and have needlepoint and yarn. Also, they wrap your purchase like a present, with colored tissue paper and then a clear bag and then colored ribbons. It was so pretty.

We went to THREE used bookstores. Apparently, there's a law in New Orleans that used bookstores must play Opera really really loudly. I was not aware of the fact that I absolutely detest opera, but now that it's been played very very loudly and gave me several headaches I am no longer in favor of it.

A bit shopped out we decided to go to the Aquarium. Ironically, they had lots of birds.

Ready for some food, we went to a bar and enjoyed some $1 daquiris. The "to go cup" is very popular and I admit I ordered another at the end of the meal so I could walk around outside with it. On the whole, I think I was a little underwhelmed with the novelty, but the daquiri was quite nice.

Now we are home and recovering from walking miles and miles. I hope you had a nice weekend.

Also, Happy Easter to everyone who celebrates it.

Accomplishment

Kathleen-
I've joined the ABC-along that Vicki is hosting. I loved this when people did it in 2006, so I figured I'd jump on the bandwagon this year.

The resolution is helped by my cute new camera, a Christmas present from my father for the hiking of Grand Canyon. Which brings me to my entry for A.

Accomplishment.


Mike and I upon arriving on the rim after hiking the Grand Canyon. The longer (and picture heavy) post is below.

On the morning of New Years Eve, we started out on the South Rim.

The view from the rim looked like this:
A couple hours later, at our lunch stop at Indian Gardens, we were looking up at this (note that its still Fall down here):
After lunch, we were looking down at this: Known as the Devil's Corkscrew.
Five hours after we started, and a vertical mile later, we were on the banks of the Colorado River. I promptly twisted my knee on the sandy section of the trail. At the time, just badly enough to brace it and limp for the rest of the trip.

Being at the river bank meant we still had 2 miles to go to our stop for the night, the incomparable Phantom Ranch. At the bottom of Grand Canyon, it's like a mirage to see a collection of cabins that look like this:



One of the joys of hiking Grand Canyon in the winter is that there's almost nobody around...which is also why there are virtually no pictures of Mike and I together in the Canyon....nobody to take the picture!

We had an amazing steak dinner at Phantom Ranch on New Years Eve, stopped by and chatted with some NPS people who were staying at the Ranger Station, and were in bed by 9pm. I have to say I didn't miss staying up till midnight one bit!

The next morning we got up EARLY for breakfast, packed up, and started to retrace our steps.

Note that its still partially dark when these pictures were taken (also cold!)


We ran into some friendly deer just a few steps down the path.
Recrossed the silver bridge (oops, I didn't tell you about the bridge on the way down. Phantom Ranch is on the North side of the Colorado River, we started on the South. There are 2 bridges, and we crossed the silver bridge, which is used just by hikers. It's a suspension bridge, impossibly long and swaying when you're on it.)
And a few minutes later, turned and looked back as light broke into the Canyon.


Before we left the bottom, pictures of us at the river:

Scenic views from lunch on the way up (what you can't tell is that it was so windy we had to constantly hold on to everything loose, or it would blow away).

A friendly bird that came within a foot of me while I was lying on the bench at our lunch spot.
We still have all that to climb?
1.5 miles to the top (still cold, windy, and I was moving VERY slowly by now).
We hiked up that!
The light was starting to change as it moved towards sunset, and it looked like an impressionist painting:
A kind gentleman took the photo about 150 yards from the top. At this point, I was good to go. Note that it's getting dark again.
Accomplishment! Mom took this pic when we hit the top. Note that it is actually dark at this point. It took 10 hours to climb out, literally dawn to dusk. We probably would have been quite a bit faster were it not for my bum knee and the fact that both Mike and I had colds.
That's accomplishment on both our faces!

And no, I didn't take my knitting! But my next post should have knitting...