How The West Was Spun

Blackhawk Trail Ride

Way back when, in the pre-BFS (that's Bee Fields shawl) days, we used to actually trail ride.  And now that we are finally seeing light at the end of that tunnel, I thought I'd throw in some pictures and a brief recap of a ride we took just before the BFS hysteria ensued. 

We had been wanting to ride the Blackhawk Trail, which is a portion of the Nebo Loop in the Uinta mountain range, for a while.  There are tons of trails in this area, but this one seemed a nice 13-mile loop and would afford us gorgeous views.  So, back in July, we trailered up the very steep and windy access road to the trail head, which is nicely situated with a big parking lot for horse rigs, several bathrooms (I really cannot tell you how nice this feature is!) and good water for the horses.

The trail starts out at a fairly high 8500-foot or so elevation, so you've done the bulk of your climbing in the truck.  It's a nice, rolling single-track trail through small groves of trees:

and then back out into the open meadows with spectacular views of the surrounding mountain peaks. (Gratuitous horse ears in shot, just for you, Cathy.)

The only thing Diggs doesn't like about the meadows is... uh oh... cows.  We ran into several large groups during the ride, and part of the reason his ears are so "alert" in the photo above is he is 99% sure there is a cow hidden behind this sign.

The trail is wonderful to ride for our Fox Trotters.  Fairly smooth, packed dirt with little rocks and it lets them really step out in their gaits and motor along.  We did quite a bit of running walking, even on the steeper uphills.  The crew took a break at a local stream while we had a snack and looked at the map.

There's Hap's rather round bum on the far left, with D; Pam and Shahara in the middle; Dan's riding his paint horse, Abbey; and John's digging for more food from his packs on Jazz.

It was a great trip.  Sadly, the day after we rode the loop, the area was hit with another devastating fire (as so many areas have been this summer in Utah) which you can read about here.  We haven't been back since, but would like to ride it again to see the damage and what the area looks like post-fire.  A reminder that when you are in the high mountains out west, and the sky looks like this:

It's getting time to gather the troops and head for home, with an eye to the sky.

All for now.....

September Kit of the Month - Mock Turtle Socks

We head back to a great small end-of-summer project for our September kit of the month.  Designed by Kendall Frazier, these Mock Turtle Socks are a fun take-along project that in bright summer-y colors, but knit in a 100% merino wool to keep your feet warm once the leaves start to fall.  These socks feature an easy-to-memorize mock cable pattern that stretches from cuff to toe.  The kit contains a skein of our 100% (non-superwash) merino wool with enough to knit the pattern in 1 of 2 sizes, plus the pattern printed in color on cardstock in a protective clear envelope.

The kits will be available in two colorways:

Tuscany - a rich blend of sienna brown, terra cotta, deep cedar green, and yellow sunflowers (the original prototype was knit from this colorway)

Octopus' Garden - rich ocean blues and kelp green

 

As always, free shipping on US orders placed between August 15th and midnight on August 31st, with discounted shipping to Canada and overseas.  All orders placed during our preorder period will ship out on September 1.

All for now....

FO!

Thus fulfillling the old adage (which I think was applied to drop-spindle spindling, but still applicable here) that you get more done in minutes than in hours. As you may guess, I haven't exactly had a ton of undivided knitting time recently, but in little fits and starts - car trips to the Post Office, waiting for water to boil, 15 minutes before I pass out at night - I have finished an entire pair of socks. 

Project Specs

• Pattern:  Math Whiz Socks by Anne of Knitspot
• Yarn:  Fearless Fibers Merino in the "Mocha Spice" colorway (100% nonsuperwash merino wool)
• Needles: US size 2 DPNs (bamboo)
• Modifications:  Not many.  I only did 2-1/2 repeats on the leg and they are plenty long enough for me there.  I did "my" rounded toe, since I like the way it fits my foot better.
• Summary:  Great little take-along pattern.  Once you get the first pattern repeat set up, you can just read that to set up subsequent repeats.  I also totally groove on the fact that the pattern is stretchy enough that you don't have to have any pesky ribbing at the cuff.  Just cast on and start. 

And a closeup shot:

Now we just need to get rid of these damn 100-degree days here and I'm ready to wear these with a pair of clogs for a crisp fall morning.

All for now......

A little help from my friends

While I've been embroiled in the great Bee Fields dyeing project of 2007, my birthday sort of came and went with a whimper.  Thank you all for the lovely email birthday well wishes.  They were very appreciated and gave me a smile even while I was feeling....ahem... a little stressed with the several hundred orders for the Bee Fields shawl.  We are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel (I hope) finally!

Saturday, Miriam volunteered to come down and help skein, which she did and what a HUGE difference that made.  D and I shipped about 65 kits out this weekend.  Woot!  After we dropped Mim at the train station, we headed north for a better-late-than-never birthday celebration with Margene at her place.  She and Smith fete'ed me in grand style with wine, a fantastic sweet potato dish, and chocolate birthday cake.  (Had I mentioned that Margene took her own 2-night turn at the skeinwinder at the beginning of this whole dyeing extravaganza?  I'm sure I did, but it is worth mentioning again, because that also was a HUGE help.)  And what would be a birthday without a few presents?

Thanks to Ravelry and her stash queue, Margene knew just what yarn I coveted from her stash, so she thoughtfully picked up a couple of skeins to add to mine.

Clockwise, from the top: Chocolate-covered sunflower seeds, a wonderful hand-made card (complete with cowgirl boot!!), hand-made soap - the lip balm from the Pioneer Soap Company is already on my nightstand, and finally, 2 skeins of Claudia Handpaint.  The colorway is Purple earth and worth a closeup shot, me thinks........

We had a lovely evening that went by far too fast.  Thanks Margene!!! 

AND, if that wasn't enough belated birthday fun, at the end of the week, I got a package in the mail from Virtual Yarns, which wasn't exactly a surprise, as I ordered it for myself, but I used birthday gift monies from my mum and Da. I picked up a kit for Alice Starmore's Birdsfoot Wrap in the Capercaille colorway, which is a sort of rich, tweedy brownish-burgundy color in their Hebridian 2-ply. 

(For those of you who wonder at the whole gift/purchase of yarns for someone whose entire front living room is packed with boxes of yarn, both coming and going, I say pffftttthhhh.  You obviously haven't been working your obsession hard enough.  So there.)

All for now......