mmw: July 2020

29.7.20

It's a process...

29.07.2020 Everything is a process, particularly knitting. I have been working on the End of the Road Gansey since June. It should have been finished by now, but the progress slowed once I got to the gusset. The sleeve was a bit generous in size than I wanted, so after trying it on last night I decided to frog back to the beginning of the texture stitching. Instead of starting the gusset at that point, I opted to work just over an inch and then began the gusset. Keeping notes is so important when not working from a written pattern. Before undoing the shoulder seams and frogging the whole texture section, I made notes of the row repeats, the neck shaping section and length to the new beginning of the gusset. Good thing I use a pencil with a good eraser!

A minor setback, but the sleeve will fit better. The photo was taken before I adjusted the numbers on the schematic.

2.7.20

End of the Road

02.07.2020 On June 1, I started a pullover, using the schematic and notes from my Camp Gansey. A friend gave me 15 skeins of Rowan DK Tweed in a lovely colorway aptly named Bliss. After knitting g a swatch, I decided to use the same stitch counts as the original sweater. Using smaller needles and yarn, the fit will have just the right amount of ease. Yesterday morning was perfect for knitting on the deck before the heat set in. I finally snapped a photo that captured the color of that beautiful yarn. The notes and schematic jotted down two years ago were enough to recreate the new version, which I dubbed End of the Road Gansey.

The texture stitch pattern is Ridged Rib (2 + 1 stitches, 4-row repeat) and works well with the weight and texture of the yarn.

The texture and tweedy bits make this yarn one of my all-time favorites.
Sadly, it was discontinued years ago.
This is how the color usually photographs, even in natural light.

Using my new dot journal for the schematic. It is nice to have the other sweater as a guide.
The time of day and the light were perfect for getting a good photo.

❤️

Camping

15.06.2020 It was lovely and breezy today, although a change is in the air. The next two days will be very hot. The good thing is that it will not last as long as it would in Alabama or Arizona. We squeezed in our first (short) outing with the Escape Pod II last weekend. We went to Jay Cooke State Park, a place I camped with Ben when he was new to the Scout troop. The swinging bridge that replaced the one washed out by a flood in 2012 is good place to stop and observe the rushing water and snap some photos. We hiked the two mornings nice and early while the weather was cool. The ferns and early summer flowers were blooming.

Jim and Gus on the swinging bridge

The view from the bridge was beautiful.

The weather was perfect and the hammock comfortable.

Hiking early in the day when the weather was nice and cool.

It was a treat to see gold lady slippers on the trail.

26.06.2020 Last week at this time we were camping at the Winnie Dam Campground in northern Minnesota's lake country. It is on Winnibigoshish Lake in the Chippewa National Forest. Speaking of forest, we hiked one of the trails, the Lost Forty, where the old growth pines are 300 to 400 years old and were spared from being axed due to a mapping error in 1882. It was so beautiful but the mosquitoes were ruthless and stopping to take photos was difficult. It was cool enough to be wearing hats, long pants and jackets, and some of the beasties managed to bite around our faces. I snapped as many photos as I could. On the way back to camp, we stopped along the Lady Slipper Scenic Byway to see the Pink and White Lady Slippers, Cypripedium Reginae (Showy Lady Slipper Orchid), Minnesota's state flower in bloom. There was an elevated walkway at an interpretive site so one could view the natural surroundings and the wildflowers in bloom without disturbing the ground.