park here

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

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what a difference a week makes! i’ve been away in colorado to film a new craftsy class, which will launch in the middle of march (more on that in a day or two). anyway, when i left, the view out our window was something like this

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every branch surrounding the house was laced with snow and the kids were home from school.

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well enough that the wind was howling and the weather was kind of nasty—i needed to buckle down and get my bags packed

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a big box of stepouts knit by dear cherie arrived just in time; i loved unpacking this treasure box from her hands to mine. i’d been working for weeks on the script with a supervisor and the producer, which resulted in a long list of things to bring—enough to fill a second large suitcase.

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it takes several days to gather and organize all the demonstration supplies, swatches, yarns and samples that i need for the shoot and if i forget anything in the way of knitting, i’m out of luck, since there is no time to make more once i get there.

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all the while i was eyeing the sample skein of our new better breakfast worsted that erica put in my hands the week before last and now lay quietly waiting for me to pay attention to it. man, do i want a hat out of this or what?? it’s SOOooo cozy! i had to be content with giving it a squeeze and hug every now and then—too much else to attend to.

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because of course there was my own knitting to organize and pack, as well as my clothes (which admittedly are usually the lowest priority, haha).

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and don’t even ask what my desk looks like these days—oops, i guess you don’t have to  . . .

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we had photos shorts scheduled for several outfits before i left and there was knitting to finish up too—the first installment of our IMMERSION club went out just days before i traveled and i wanted to get these mitts in erica’s hands as well, in case she would see the recipient and could pass them on. they are just the simplest type, but in our breakfast blend DK, perfect for their purpose.

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she and i got together to make a set of mitts, cowl, and ear warmer for our darling UPS guy brice, after he inquired about buying some mitts from us. apparently, he thinks they are the BOMB. well, we couldn’t pass up that opportunity could we? we will update you with modeling shots as soon as we can catch him (he’s quick when he’s working). just wait til you see how cute he is (is there really any other kind of UPS guy??)

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thankfully, everything got done in the nick of time and off i went. i worked on two projects during my flights—sleeves for a new top design that i’ll show you in a few days and made a little headway on my physalis shawl in stone soup fingering yarn.

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when i first cast this project on i was between things and needed a quick knit—i totally thought i’d have it done in a few days as i had the other two that i knit. but no. on the other hand, it’s become a bit of a comfort knit to pick up when i want something cozy in my hands that i know by heart (it looks complicated, but it’s not all that, really).

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and i love it in this heavier yarn—it’s so dramatic. even though it will be much more stunning once it’s blocked, it still draws lots of attention from onlookers who are dying to get a closer peek as i work on it. these leaves are going to be over the top bold when it’s done. i used size 9 (5.5 mm) needles for the hem and size 8 (5.0 mm) for the body; i’m knitting the medium size and it’s looking like i’ll use somewhere around one and a half skeins. it will probably block out to the same size as a large.

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while the ultimate purpose of my trip was to film a class, i managed to build in a few days beforehand to visit our great friends luci and scott, who live in ft collins (they recently celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary and renewed their vows in vegas as one part of the celebration). i find this photo of them so amusing and cute, posing with the elvis that attended the ceremony. luci is a filmmaker who produces the brilliant moving postcard series of weekly one-minute films (i love her work!).

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soon after i dropped my bags in their guest room we were out the door to explore.

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the weather was much finer in colorado than in canton, and whiskey had been waiting all day to get out there and run. so we walked and let her go nuts for a  while as the sun began to set.

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i love this photo of the two trees leaning together and holding hands; it reminds me of david and me.

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back ant the house while we went over our options for dinner, scott showed me part of his collection of cozies (he rotates the ones from the counter rack periodically with an even bigger collection from a drawer). seriously, i had no idea.

one thing i did notice—the collection is seriously lacking in hand knit cozies; must rectify that posthaste (isn’t it great when you come up with a brilliant gift idea for that special couple?).

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scott took friday off so we could go someplace a little further afield and have an all-day outing. we talked through our options over a big breakfast and by early afternoon, were heading onto a lory state park trail under a gloriously warm sun and blue, blue sky.

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it was windy tho, so we kept our jackets on as we set out over the hills.

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mad textures were everywhere—i have a separate post brewing about that for later in the week.

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spring was beginning to show its face in colorado alright—in addition to feeling my allergies rearing, there were visual hints everywhere.

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soon we could see the horsetooth reservoir ahead; we wanted to get to the beach to see the water and explore the shoreline.

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at the crest, we had a wide angle view from above and began our descent toward one of its many land spits. the state park side is often quieter than the horsetooth open area side and on this friday, the grounds were nearly deserted.

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fires a few years ago claimed some trees, though much of the trail we were on was still intact. the blackened areas had weathered some as well, so the charred woods stood among new growth of grasses.

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clearly the ground here is full of clay, haha—everything was pinky red where it was exposed. the wide beach is filled will all manner of interesting debris. the wind carves every surface and tree into a curving element, which often catch me by surprise when i review photos—i don’t necessarily see it at the time, but that wind is some artist.

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lots of great big rocks create contrast to the smaller bits and pieces.

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they tumble down from the cliffs in huge slides like this one; standing at the bottom we could see exactly how this mass fell away and cascaded down, probably during an ice melt that loosed the cracked sedimentary layers.

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whiskey, of course was just beside herself with the fun, although none of us could quite summon up her eagerness to paddle around in the icy water.

while heading back to the car we realized we had time to check out another spot, so we decided to head back to ft collins via the poudre canyon highway and visit the gateway natural area on the way home. i was so agog watching the cliffs go by that i totally forgot take pictures along the road (sorry!).

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we hit the gateway natural area about an hour before sunset when the light was turning everything golden while we followed the creek trail into the woods.

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for some reason i was taken with this spot, where the water was like glass on one side of the shoal but running briskly on the other. there’s nothing like the sound of rushing water. we saw plenty of people who took advantage of the fine weather and running water to do some fly fishing.

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the trail divides around this magnificent thrust of rock at the center.

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whiskey could not believe her great good luck in having a whole day outside with everyone present—the best day ever.

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and another reservoir?? stop it. a little windy yes, but totally worth the climb to see it.

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now the sun was well and truly setting on our day; i got this wonderful shot of the light streaming through the grasses.

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and unbeknownst to me, luci took this beautiful photo of me walking ahead on the road and texted it over to me as we left the park; i love it.

back to the house for friday movie night; they were trying to see all of the oscar nominated films before the weekend. so we ordered some thai food and settled in to watch room, which we all really liked. i knitted away on my sleeves too; the perfect end to a wonderful day.

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more to come later this week—i didn’t even begin to show you all the photos i took last week. i’m headed for NYC on tuesday, but i’ve lined up several posts so you can enjoy them while i settle in and come up with some more stuff to show you.

i still have to start packing for this next trip as well . . . i have lots of yarn to wind and take along (i’m kind of hoping to finish up that one top before i go just so i can leave the yarn home, haha). i would feel slightly ashamed to frag along a second suitcase just for yarn, but i might have to (there are some books as well, sigh)

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i’ll be knitting a LOT and working on patterns for our spring ensemble, so there will be plenty of eye candy to drool over, as well as ideas for our photo shoots. erica will also be in and out this week with some posts about books—i have a stack of them that i’ve gotten behind on writing about, many with giveaway copies available so don’t miss those.

it won’t be ALL work—i’m looking forward to meeting up with our friends cathy and agnes while i’m in new york to play a bit—see you in the big city . . .

8 thoughts on “park here

  1. Looking forward to the new Craftsy class! Lovely scenery, thanks for taking us along on your walk. As for the parting shot of the yarn…marvelous!

  2. I just get lost in these wonderful posts! I would love the advice of anyone reading–I have a massive stash and have recently discovered an infestation of moths (gulp!). They are particularly fond of Kent and I am at a loss as to how to eradicate them (I threw away the wool rug that they seemed to have made their home base). Nearly all of my yarn is in ziplocked bags but they now are getting into the cedar lined drawers. Just looking at the photos of exposed yarn sets panic into me these days. 🙁

  3. I love your posts & wonderful photos!

    Oh & I love knitting Physalis too.

    Anne, I cannot wait to see you! We have lunch planned already.

  4. I don’t need a life when I can read your posts! what beautiful pictures. But – what pray tell is “a box of stepouts”? google is failing me here.

  5. I’m curious about “stepputs” too! Or is that autocorrect rearing its ugly head?

    And what a delightful Friday outing. Thanks for taking us along for the hike!

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