Wow, I've been absent for quite a while now! The last few months have been busy with camping, kayaking, work, life. Haven't been blogging...shame on me. Blogging seems to come to me "in fits and starts." I've actually thought about just stopping, but came to the conclusion that I'll just post when I can and hopefully you'll still be here to see!
I have recently taught myself to crochet. I have always been drawn to knitting and never really liked the look of crochet. I remember seeing my grandmother crochet afghans, and true to the 'granny' squares she was making, I've always had the idea that crochet looks very granny-ish. But something changed my mind.
I was looking for a pattern for a knit animal to make as a present for a friend. I search online and though there are quite a few, the ones that were the cutest (which was the goal in this case!) were the crocheted Amigurumi. These are small crocheted toys with origins in Japan and tend to have the low, wide set eyes and overly cute features seen in a lot of Japanese pop culture (think Hello Kitty...).
So I taught myself to crochet and it was really just to make some Amigurumi and that's it. I don't think I'll use it for anything else, but I will use it quite a bit for making these cute little toys.
I did end up making a penguin. The pattern was taken from Ana Paula Rimoli's book, "Amigurumi World." (You can see what the penguin looks like in the upper right hand corner of the book cover)
After that I got a little more ambitious and made a bigger toy, an Amineko (toy cat) from a Japanese designer. He is a present for my Mom for her birthday and is winging his way (via the USPS) to her as I type this. I thought I'd share a couple of pics so you could see what I've been up to.
Hope all is well with everyone and I hope to be posting again soon!
Well, as the title of this posts suggests, there hasn't been too much knitting going on. The weather here has been pretty warm/hot and we've been spending a lot more time outdoors working in the yard, going hiking, etc. I do have the sock started that I mentioned in my last post, but I haven't gotten a pic of it yet. I'll try to do that soon as I'm quite pleased with the Fair Isle.
So other than the knitting, we have been quite busy. Here are some pics (presented in no real logical order or fashion) to show what we've been up to. This is a shot of our two cats in their new outdoor enclosure.
They used to be outdoor cats but we were worried about them being out near the road and traffic. So we decided to build them a 'pen' that they could access whenever they wanted through a window in our basement. Though I don't have a shot of the whole thing, you can see that they are adapting well to their new outdoor experience.
This is a shot of a butterfly that I took in Newry, Maine which is near the New Hampshire border. It's where we were when we were visiting Grafton Notch State Park (for a second time!) and this little guy was just posing there, waiting for his picture to be taken!
Here is another little creature. He was running around while we were taking a break on Table Rock which is the summit of the mountain we had just climbed. He apparently has quite a racket going on, begging from hikers who stop here for a bite to eat before descending.
Not to mention that this is his view...not too bad, eh?
After the hike, we drove in to Rangeley to take a look around and the town was covered with lupines! To see them covering huge fields, all that deep purple, dotted with pinks and whites is pretty breathtaking! I had to stop and take a couple pictures, of which this is a favorite.
And speaking of flowers, I have recently gotten pretty interested in orchids. I have actually had two orchids for a while now, a phalaenopsis and a dendrobium, both of which I got at Home Depot on clearance. The were marked down because they had both just bloomed and I decided I would take them on and get them to bloom again. Well that was about a year and a half ago. And though they haven't done too awful much during that time, I never gave up hope that they would one day bloom. Well today, all that patience was rewarded with the first sign of a flower spike peaking out from beneath one of the large leaves. I was beyond excited which I know sounds ridiculous if you haven't gone through it yourself, but trust me, it was a big moment! Here is a shot of the new growth, but you'll have to look closely, it's very small. It shows up in the picture as almost white against the green, between the stalk and first leaf on the left side.
I'll surely post more pics of it as it's growing for any other orchid enthusiasts out there. I'll also show you full shots of the two orchids that I mentioned above along with my two latest additions, both Cattleyas. I know I still have a lot to learn about them, but I am enjoying reading about them and (at least for now being good and only) visiting them at the local garden centers.
LISTENING TO: THE CARDIGANS - Super Extra Gravity
I've been a fan of The Cardigans, ever since I first heard "Carnival" from their excellent Life CD. Though they've gone through quite a few changes in direction through the years, showing growth and maturity, they continue to deliver solid melodies and smart lyrics along with Nina's smooth-as-silk vocals. Here is a favorite from their newest album called "I Need Some Fine Wine And You, You Need To Be Nicer."
Hi everyone! We had such a fun day today! We decided to go somewhere neither of us had gone before, which in this case was Grafton Notch State Park in western Maine. Ron read about it in the literature we got with our State Park Pass which is what prompted our interest in the first place.
We started the day out with breakfast here at home (veggie omelets!) and then packed up a cooler with food and water. We recently got a GPS while we were on our visit to my parents in PA so we didn't even need a map...just plugged in our destination and away we went! The ride there was nice, very scenic and took about two hours.
The first place we stopped when we got there was Screw Auger Falls. It was basically a picnic area situated along a beautiful stream with cascading waterfalls such as the one below.
After that we headed up the road to Mother Walker Falls where we did some off-path exploring of our own. It was a lot of fun and we probably got to see a lot of things that the average person wouldn't. This is a cool waterfall that ran kinda behind and under some large boulders and this is where it came out.
The next place we stopped at was Moose Cave. There was an actual cave there that had a river (well, creek...) running through it. It was so named for the unfortunate moose that fell into it long ago. You couldn't enter the cave but you could look down into it and see the water. At that same stop they had an area you walked through called the Moss Garden. It featured a couple different kinds of moss including this cool Reindeer Moss which was very stiff and in a way resembled coral.
The last part of our visit was to take a hike though the beautiful forests of Maine. The path that we took started with the Eyebrow Trail. Let me state here that we rather foolishly didn't look into the difficultly level of this trail before starting it. And if we had we might not have done it. But we did do it, and at least in this case, all's well that ends well. It started innocently enough as a level path through the woods, very nice scenery. Then we come to a stone staircase...
...which we head up. The incline was a nice change of pace from the beginning part of the trail. But as we're going along we realize that the incline isn't leveling out. We just keep heading up! And not only that, but it's getting steeper! Here's Ron as we've come to an area so steep that there is a guide wire to grip.
Then there was the next part with the ladder(!)...
..and then the oversized metal staples that someone helpfully pounded into the stone.
At this point we were about an hour into the hike and were were wondering if we had bit off a bit more than we could chew! But we had food and water with us and the weather was beautiful and being two moderately fit young(ish) men, we decided to trudge on.
We're really glad we did, because not too long after that we were rewarded at the top of the mountain with some extraordinary views...
The path then headed back down the mountain and at this point joined the Appalachian Trail! So we got to walk a mile of that which seemed very cool in a historic kinda way.
Here's a shot of Ron crossing one of the foot bridges along the trail...
After all the hiking, which took us two hours, we were pretty hungry. So we headed back to our first stop and made use of the picnicking facilities. And from there made our way back home. Overall it was a great day and we'll surely be heading back again for some more hiking...maybe some easier trails this time, though...
On the knitting front, I am working on a pair of socks from Charlene Schurch's "Sensational Knitted Socks." These are my first big intarsia project and I'll have more info on that including a picture or two in the next post.
LISTENING TO: GOSSIP - "Standing In The Way Of Control"
I was first introduced to Gossip on Charles' blog. This trio from the northwestern US rocks. An awesome mix of punk ideals and soulful vocals...something you might think wouldn't work well together, but they manage to pull it off. Check out the video for the title track.
Here is a quick picture post...this is a Skull Cap that I made for Ron. I wanted to make something that I could do in one or two sittings, something quick and satisfying after the long process of making the sweater. So I combined two patterns and made this hybrid hat. Not too shabby, eh?!
I haven't had a chance to post any pics from vacation yet, but I'll do that soon, hopefully during this long holiday weekend. More soon!
As I type, we're in the process of packing for a trip to PA (we leave tomorrow morning for a visit to my Mom and Dad), so I'll keep this one short. But I couldn't help but take a moment to let you know that, at long last, the sweater I was making for Ron is done! I've posted some pics below (of Ron modeling, nonetheless) so you could see how it turned out. See you when we get back on Thursday!
This a close up of how the sweater fits together...see how the sleeves carry up over the shoulders and even onto the front and back? Pretty cool, huh?
This past week was a gorgeous one here in Maine. Ron had off the whole week (he has tons more vacation time than I do) but I was able to take Friday off for a long weekend. On Friday we spent most of the day working on the small "pond" in the backyard. The pond is a simple round tub of black plastic. Though it's not much to look at on it's own, it was already in place in the ground and we thought we'd see what we could do with it. That basically meant landscaping around it. Though it is not done yet, here is a look at what we have been able to do so far.
This is pretty much the blank slate we started with. However you can see the first part of the rock garden to come behind the pond.
This is a closeup of the first piece that we constructed for the rock garden. It has a mini rhododendron in the middle with some moss fitted into the cracks as well as some 'hens and chicks.'
This shows the same corner, but expanded to include some more plants including a curly-needled mugo pine to the left along with some more moss. There is still some more work to be done, like adding some flowering and/or trailing ground cover. But we'll have to wait until we're sure we're out of frost danger to do that which may be a few weeks yet.
On Saturday, with the sun and blue skies above, we hopped in the convertible and headed a short distance to the nature trails at Bradley Pond. This was the first that either of us had been on these trails even though they are just a few miles from home. It's a nice walk, some of it in the woods, some along hay fields and some along the shores of Bradley Pond itself. Here's a pic I took of Ron resting along the way.
Since it was such an exceptionally nice day and we wanted to get outside a bit more, we headed down to Popham Beach. Well, not to the beach itself, but right 'next door' to Fort Baldwin. The fort, to quote the Wikipedia, is "a coastal defense land battery near the mouth of the Kennebec River" which "was constructed between 1905 and 1912." It was the first time I had been there and it was very cool to see.
Here is the sign that welcomes you to the fort itself. No horses allowed!
Battery Cogan is the first building that you come to after climbing up hill. The room/tower at the top of the structure allowed soldiers to overlook and keep watch on the water below.
Here I am taking a rest. Though the sky was a beautiful blue, the weather was still a little cool, hence the sweater.
Battery Hardman is the third of the buildings that comprise the fort. You can see the chimneys that rise out of the top of the grassed-over roof. Most of the rooms in the fort had a nice brick fireplace.
The tall and imposing looking building below is the Fire Control Tower. While this is usually open to the public, we were there a few weeks before the official open of the site, so we didn't get to climb to the top.
However the picture below was taken from ground level, at the edge of the hill, looking down on the mouth of the Kennebec River and Popham itself.
LISTENING TO: Belly - "Star"
My friend Barb and I played this one to death when it first came out. It compiled most of the three EPs that Tanya Donelly released as Belly after her exit from Throwing Muses. They were all a great indication/teaser for the direction she was taking for the ultimate release of "Star." Despite the consistently high quality of the songwriting and overall catchiness, most people only remember the especially radio-friendly "Feed The Tree."
I am sending out a quick post today which is a pleading request for help finding Veda Hille's first two releases. The first is called "Songs about People and Buildings" and was released on cassette. The second is called "Path Of A Body." Both of these are out of print so I am unable to simply purchase them. If anyone happens to have one or both and is willing to do some kind of trade for a copy of one or both, please let me know! Thanks for any help!!
.JPG)
