SO much to talk about

Posted on Posted in Bare Naked Wools, book reviews/events, designing, food and garden, lace/shawls

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i had intended to just continue from the other day with a photo tour of the next leg of our alaska trip, but we were surprised on thursday by the release of the fall interweave knits anniversary issue—exciting because it includes my new design, edmonia shawl, which is knit in bare naked wools stone soup fingering yarn (shown in color granite).

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this is simple to knit shawl that is a good traveler and will be lovely to wear in fall and winter; light, soft, and warm, the fabric offers solid areas and open mesh, with a different edge for each side of the triangle shape. because it’s asymmetric, you can change up the look by switching the the tails around. wrap the solid part close to your body on cold, windy days and pile the mesh on top to capture warmth; when you need a little ventilation around your middle, switch it around to take advantage of the sheer mesh breezes.

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the pattern is available for download on the interweave site and also in the print version of the magazine, which i believe is out on newsstands now, but if you can’t find it you can also purchase it in the interweave online store, in both digital and print versions. this anniversary issue is chock full of wonderful designs, articles, and reflections by both current and past magazine staff and has a lot more editorial pages than usual to contain them. note that this pattern will not be made available through our own outlets for at least a year, since IK has first publishing rights.

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anne marie has started a KAL in our bare naked wools ravelry group, which should be a lot of fun, since this design rocketed to the top of the hot list at the end of the week and many knitters are purchasing the yarn and pattern to knit it. if chatting and knitting (and earning prizes!) with our fun squad sounds good to you, click here to check it out.

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the shawl is knit from side to side, starting with the far right hand tip (which is out of the photo here, sorry!)

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ah, here’s a photo where you can see it in the correct knitting orientation. it begins at the very bottom with just a few sts and increases on every right side row, but only along the right hand side, which forms the top edge when it’s tipped upright (just like the immersion shawl if you’ve knit that one). the left side has a sawtooth edging which become one “leg” of the triangle and the BO is at the widest edge, which has a pattern of points and mesh; this is the opposite leg of the asymmetric triangle.

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the result is a large wraparound shawl that will be a cozy, go-to piece, once the leaves start to fly. the IK publication unfortunately listed the yarn incorrectly as DK weight but it actually requires fingering weight yarn. in addition to the stone soup fingering yarn shown here, the design will work splendidly in any of our fingering and heavy lace yarns, such as hempshaugh lacechebris laceginny sportghillie sock, or better breakfast fingering yarn. looking for a lighter, smaller shawl instead? try knitting it in a finer, silkier laceweight such as cabécou brillant lace on smaller needles!

many thanks to everyone for their excitement and enthusiasm on the part of this design; we are all super pleased that it’s been embraced so happily.

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so, are you ready to see some more of alaska? after leaving ketchikan, we headed overnight for the tracy arm fjord. i woke at dawn (around 4 am alaska time) as the captain began announcements that we were taking an alternate route due to heavy fog in our intended destination.

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heavy fog not only reduces visibility for sailing and sightseeing, but is a danger to the glaciers as well, since repeated and/or constant use of the fog horn can cause the ice to crack and tumble into the water.

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by 5 am there were lots of people out on deck or leaning over their balcony railings as we passed the first chunks of blue ice and viewed increased whale and porpoise activity. we were lucky on this trip that the level of whale activity remained high throughout and we got to see some wonderful play almost every day. on this morning i saw an orca leap high up out of the water and arc back down, but it was too far in the distance and too quick to get a good photo to share (it is, however, imprinted permanently on my brain so i can see it any time!)

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soon we were treated to beautiful landscape wonders as well, with the foretold fog creeping about and flowing down each gap and crevice in the rock formations. it was like being inside a japanese scroll painting and the colors were phenomenal.

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i really had to restrain myself from taking a million pictures of the same thing, haha.

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the change in the color of the water as we moved inward from open sea was due to the outflow of fresh water from the snow and ice melt. intricate textures created of rock face, streams and waterfalls, trees, lichen and the color changes as they protrude and recede kept me glued to the window and railing of our cabin.

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the fog comes and goes, swirling about the boat to envelop it at times and then moving off to another area at others, leaving us in the clear. even the open decks were so thick with the fog at times that you couldn’t see to the other side of the ship.

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soon the rock face began to show signs of lower vegetation, spread out across the surface in seussian clumps.

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i suppose that wherever little rivulets of water find their way, so does a seed or two and later, a seedling.

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the ship traveled slowly enough that we could really enjoy the show.

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you can practically hear the bulldozing of the glaciers pushing around the matter that forms these vast folds of rock and compressed material.

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the light and atmosphere was so dramatic at each turn; i couldn’t help myself; i hope you enjoy going over this ground again with me!

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now, the other fjord that we were supposed to ravel is apparently much more spectacular (maybe it’s completely lined with ice? i don’t know), but barb and i did not have any standard to go by and we were quite taken with what we saw.

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soon we had a glimpse of the glacier beyond the rocks—that blue in the distance between the sky and the rock is it.

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then around a bend further up the narrows, we passed this ice floe which poured out from between two mountains of rock.

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upon turning around, around, we passed even closer on the return trip. and all of that gorging on scenery before we even had breakfast—how about that?

at nine we met for class while we watched the return passage out of the fjord and the voyage to juneau. since it was a short day, we mostly spent it repairing mistakes and getting the project as much on track as possible. not too much activity to take pictures of.

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after lunch we were headed into small transport boats that took us to the dock in juneau, where we had the afternoon and early evening to roam about. after a short roam around town and a visit to a small jewelry artist’s gallery, we visited seaside yarns, to meet up with owner melissa highfill (left, above) and good friend eve for some late afternoon knitting and yarn chatting. haha, looking at these photos now, i have to laugh at us in our warm jackets; it’s so hot and muggy here at home that i can barely stand the shorts and cami i’m wearing at the moment.

well, melissa is not only a yarn shop owner, but the dyer behind a tree hugger’s wife yarns.

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stupid me, i did not take enough photos in melissa’s shop and the few that i have did not turn out well. which is really, really unfortunate because she has the nicest shop that we visited in alaska—lots of great yarn, including her own hand dyed brand and some spectacular hand dyed quiviuk, some of it 100 percent and some in various blends. barb bought some of that and of course as soon as i got home i wished i had gotten some too. but i did bring back this sweet skein of baby targhee (above, in dirty glacier), which will be knit into a sample for the new little nothings book we are putting together.

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i’m already swatching! pattern will be going out soon to a test knitter.

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our ship was scheduled to leave juneau around 11 pm, just as the sun was going to bed, and as we made our way back on board, i caught a beautiful shot of the water, just as it was reflecting the early evening sky—which is about 9 pm in late july—isn’t that something? wait, i have another photo from a different angle . . .

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and i think that’s the perfect place to end for today—i’ll be back in another day or two with the last part of our trip and news about what’s happening with my knitting and other knitspot projects (a LOT!).

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meanwhile, it’s dream time . . .

9 thoughts on “SO much to talk about

  1. These are incredible photos, Anne! What an interesting land/seascape. I did not know about the foghorn’s effect on hurting the glaciers – so interesting. The comparison to Japanese scroll paintings seems very apt.

  2. I have no desire to go on a cruise except I think I would be ALL ABOUT an Alaskan cruise (particularly if it includes knitting! and you and Barb!)

  3. Seeing these pictures makes me miss the Yukon and Alaska something fierce! i lived there for 7 glorious years and return every 3-4 years to visit friends and family. I especially miss the long days of summer, the scenery and the hiking.

  4. Wow! Fabulous shawl! Fabulous scenery! Fabulous yarn! Fabulous colors! I’m satiated, except for the fact that I couldn’t feel the yarn or the crisp, cool air!

  5. Oh! You have me yearning to return to Alaska! It is so incredibly beautiful. Thanks for the new vocabulary word–seussian–an adjective I’d never heard!

  6. Hmmm, any chance the next BNW club will have quiviut? Or a quiviut blend? That would be super!

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