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.  

How can one resist a big fish building?

 Part of the interpretive center on the Lady Slipper Scenic Byway.  

Jim and Gus relaxing on Father's Day.

Knitting a sock by the campfire...

...and watching the clouds roll by at sunset.

First the big fish and then the big black duck in Blackduck.

The Bemidji Woolen Mill was open and a small Paul Bunyan (sans Babe) came back with us.

Catching up

September...Looking out the window I can see the latest painting project, which is the shed.  It took three days and (thankfully) the weather was relatively cool.  Jim and I finished before the heat wave hit.  It is beginning to rain and today is a good day to catch up on some projects.  The state fair begins this week and even though there is still a month of summer remaining, I see small changes like some of the sumac leaves turning orange and red.  Cooler sweater weather is on the way.

On Saturday, August 18, I volunteered to do a spinning demo beside the Three Rivers Fibershed.  Mary received an email inquiring about a volunteer spinner during The Great Makers Exchange at the American Swedish Institute.  The timing was perfect because I wanted to visit the ASI to see Gudrun Sjödén--A Colorful Universe and being a volunteer, my admission to the museum was free.  I did not take many photos during the demo time, as the stream of visitors was steady and the time seemed to fly by.

Twelve days pass...and I am back.  We took the little Escape Pod out to Banning State Park in Pine County.  It is a small park and three years ago we kayaked the rapids on the Kettle River.  Because it rained the first two days (5+ inches) the river was up and really rushing along.  It was a joy to get out and hike after the rain.

Late afternoon after the rain.  

Coffee time.  

The hiking was particularly good on the trail and along the Kettle River.

The spin-in after the campout Deb (Ewespun fiber Mill at Old Man Wool Farm) had some beautiful Leicster Longwool dyed the most beautiful moss green.  It was just the pop of color I was seeking for a project using the handspun Jacob wool from Chi Chi.  Her fleece was one I purchased at Shepherd's Harvest a few years ago.  I combed the wool and it spun up just beautifully.  

Pulling the wool through the diz that Mary's husband, Rob, made.  The Leicester Longwool spun and plied beautifully.  It will be a lovely pop of color against the grayscale of the Jacob wool.

Inspiration

The end of September campout was at the Camp-Inn Campout at Castle Rock County Park in Juneau County, WI.  While the majority of campers were teardrops, there were 28 home-builds, and various other tiny campers.  It was fun to visit with other folks from all over the United States.  

We spent Friday out and about the area.  We visited the Cranberry Fest in Warrens.  It is a small town, but is transformed with hundreds of visitors.  We took a short marsh tour to see how the cranberries are grown and harvested.  The guide is one of the local farmers.  At the end, we bought some craisins and cranberry honey.  The cinnamon craisins are delicious in the chocolate chip cookies I baked the other evening.

I finished my handspun beanie on the bus ride to the marsh.  The colors look just like the colors of a campfire.

The marshes before harvest.  

Wisconsin harvests about 60 percent of the country's crop of cranberries.  They are delicious and  I use them all year round.  Here is a link to some recipes.

Jim and I took a day to visit the Burr Oak Winery.  We tasted some whites and reds and settled on a bottle of white and a bottle of dessert wine.  The flowers in the courtyard were just beautiful.  Those mums were gigantic!

One place I was delighted to visit was Mielke's Fiber Arts.  I contacted Amy the day before and she opened the shop for a visit.  I found a left-handed Nalbinding book along with a larger needle, a couple of fun reads about spinning, spindles, and weaving, a Dealgan (Scottish spindle), and some naturally colored cotton spinning fiber.  I have some roving left from Texas, so the colors will coordinate nicely.  It was so nice to be able to wander around the shop and see all the wonderful tools for working with fiber 

A visit to Wisconsin isn't complete without cheese. We did not visit a cheese house, but we did buy a snack for the road.  The store carried a variety of cheesehead hats.  

The toe knows

Summer seems to be flying by!  Soon it will be time to set off for New Mexico and then we will be preparing for the state fair and then autumn will be upon us.

On Thursday, June 30, I was getting ready for my long walk and as I turned from the dresser to get my shoes - WHACK - I banged my foot on the corner of the cedar chest nailing the fourth toe on man left foot.  Words cannot describe how much that hurt, but I made up a few that are still hovering in the atmosphere!  Naturally my mind thought of Philmont and our upcoming 12-day trek.  On Saturday we went to urgent care to have my foot checked and to see if hiking was going to be in my future.   The X-ray showed no break, which was good.  I got a bootie with a square toe for protection and went back to RICE-ing the injured foot.  R-rest, I-ice, C-compression, E-elevation.  It is funny (or not) when something like that happens.

30.07.16  I started this post a couple of weeks after the incident and since that time I attempted to have my left boot toe-box stretched, which did not work well enough.  I was already at Peterson's Shoes, so I tried on a pair of Keen's hiking boots, Targhee 2.  Immediately I could tell the difference.  There was plenty of room for all my toes and the clerk let me walk up and down the basement steps and all around the store in them.  We had a camp-out that weekend and although I stayed back at camp with Mike while the others took a long hike, we managed about three miles.  The boots are very comfortable and although they are one eyelet lower than my other boots, they will be just fine.  Today we are attending to the last minute details of the trip, which is to finish packing our backpacks.  All my things are ready and partially packed, but with the forecast for the next ten days calling for rain in Cimarron, New Mexico those zip lock bags will be put to use.  Even with a pack cover it is so nice to have dry clothing since we take so few things along.  The four liters of water add over eight pounds of weight and then the food, fuel, stoves, bear bags, rope, and other crew gear are distributed in the crew's packs.

Happy feet at Wild River State Park!

In the meantime...on Wednesday of this week Deb from Old Man Wool Farm brought the loom to Anoka Fiber Works for me to see.  I have been looking for a used one that I can use in a studio spot at the co-op.  She had it on the trailer all covered up and we got it in despite the rain.  It was a busy day at Weaving Wednesday, so everyone got to see the new loom.  Deb and Winnie figured it had been on Deb's three season porch for 15 to 20 years.  Winnie had warped it at one point in time, and there was no warp on it.  I washed it off with some Murphy's Oil Soap and rubbed the steel parts with steel wool.

Like wheels, looms can be named and I decided on Anne.  I love Anne of Green Gables and am enjoying a fun summer read of the first book.  This loom was just waiting for the right moment to come into someone's life.  I am happy she came into mine.

Color-coded heddles make them easy to identify.

I snapped a photo before I took off the sectional warp attached to the warp roller.  

The sectional warp pieces need a good cleaning and new cords.  

The serial number below the logo is 4-280.  I checked on schacthtspindle.com and found that this loom was assembled in 1980.  I also checked the location of The Loom Shed in Oberlin, but it is no longer there.  

On my last walk I caught some movement to my left.  It was a family of turkeys.  They were trying to keep the little ones with them and I was thankful they went behind the sound wall rather than toward the road!

Mom, Dad, and the two kids...gobble gobble!

I was on the last part of my walk when the prettiest caterpillar caught my eye.  The colors are similar to some Zauberball Crazy in my yarn stash.

Hike on, new book, and finishing UFOs

Part of the preparation for the backpacking trip to Philmont is not only hiking, but also camping.  The Crew joined the Troop traveling to Cascade River State Park  on the northeastern tip of Minnesota for the weekend.  

Three of our personal tents.  Jim and I used Big Agnes, center) and will most likely take it with us to Philmont.  The "Darth Vader" tent on the left is one that Jim has had for a very long time.  

The woods surrounding the campsite was beautiful.  

Wildflowers were in bloom in camp and on the trail.

Shiny silvery birch tree bark.

Early morning spider web.

The spiders were busy on Saturday night.

Jim and I pose at the Root Beer Falls.

About that brown water...there is a reason for it in a text at the lookout point:

Why does the river look like Root Beer?  Is the river polluted?  NO!  

The brown color comes from the water that drains out of the swamps and bogs into the river.  The decaying organic matter in the swamps creates humic acid.  This is what colors the water brown.  The foam comes from the water tumbling over the rocks and waterfalls.  The aerated water with the humic acid and natural organic matter causes the foam.  Some of the dark color comes from iron deposits located along the river's course.  How do we know it's not pollution?  Because there isn't any development along the 17 miles of the Cascade River.  The Root Beer look of the Cascade River comes from all natural ingredients.  

Perhaps a gnome home?

Treading carefully over the roots!  I managed to slip and fall near the river.

By the end of the day we hiked 10.2 miles with our packs loaded with gear, maintained the lightning position twice on the trail, and opted to return to the campsite to wait out the storms Saturday evening.  Anybody not ready?  Hike on!

Sunday morning was glorious and cool.  The troop returned to camp (they opted to wait out the early storms and stayed at a camp on the trail). We broke camp and headed back home.  On the way we stopped at the visitor center in Duluth to stretch and take in the lovely view.

On Wednesday after weaving I made a trip to JoAnn, ETC for some ribbon to line the knitted strap for the wee Shetland bag.  I was a bit frustrated with the selection and quality of what was available, but I found some twill tape that will work and will somewhat blend in with the strap's colors.  I walked by the book section and the cover of this book caught my eye.  It is a pattern book by Lotta Jansdotter, a Swedish designer based in Brooklyn, New York. It is packed with photos and five simple sewing patterns--skirt, dress, blouse, pants/shorts, and jacket/coat as well as colorful accessories. The clothes are modeled through four seasons by Lotta's friends.  

Taking a peek inside at the five basic patterns and one of the accessories.

Sketches show the basic shapes of the garments with fabric swatches.

I would love to shop for fabric where Lotta shops!

The wee Shetland bag is blocked and ready for the finishing touches.  I had the pieces finished soon after the Shetland trip, but lost focus and it waited patiently in a bag.  I watched an old movie, Rose Marie, whilst weaving some yarn ends and steam blocking the pieces.  I will most likely line the bag with muslin so I can see to the bottom!

Another project with fond memories in every stitch.

For Wednesday weaving I warped the loom with the leftover neutral colors of Rowan Pure Wool Worsted.  There is a LOT of warp, too.  The leftover colors from various projects with the same yarn is the weft.  I hope to use up most of the yarn for the yardage.  What I will do with it when finished is anybody's guess.  At least it will keep me busy on Wednesdays for awhile.