Summer Update

As I said yesterday, It's been a busy summer. Here's an update.

The Ocean Spray we transplanted has died. Gonna try again.

My knee is healing, slowly. I have periods with no pain now. I've been getting Physical Therapy which is helping quite a bit.

We went on our annual week long camping trip to Priest Lake. It was a lot of fun. I did a lot of walking, which was hard on my sprained knee, but I think in the long run it was good for me. Despite the knee, I find I'm in much better physical shape than I've been in a long time. For instance, the walk from our camp site to the beach involves a steep hill. I've always had to huff and puff my way up it. This year I didn't huff and puff. That was a surprise.

One day we went on a hike up Lionshead Creek trail. I wanted to go up to my favorite place on this trail.

I forgot my main camera, but I had my phone with me. It took surprisingly good pictures. One of the granite peaks viewed from the parking lot of the trail.

I made it there! I haven't been able to do that hike in several years. It's all uphill to my destination but I managed it just fine. I admit, though, I did use my cane. Here's my favorite spot along Lionshead creek.

Lionshead Creek

 I was so excited when I got there I started to cry. I didn't think I'd ever see it again. Ruth took this pic of me and Zoey by the creek.

The hike aggravated my knee, but it was so worth it. Here is Sweet Hubby looking at one of the small pools made by the creek.

This is a view of the creek downhill. It's very steep so I didn't try to go down.

We hiked back to the truck. Then we went on a drive on the logging roads in the Idaho Panhandle National Forest. We went way up in the mountains where the Alpines grow. At one point we got a phone signal, so Sweet Hubby insisted we stop so he could check his email. We got out of the truck and explored the woods around us. There was a tall green plant loaded with green flowers that I'd never seen before. Ruth is standing next to it here. It's just a bit taller than she is.

It's called Indian Hellebore. It's a member of the Lily family. It has long droopy stems loaded with little bright green flowers.

Here's a close up. The flowers are about half an inch in diameter. The plant is very poisonous, so we were cautious around it.

We also found a patch of Huckleberries. They had a few ripe berries on them ,which we picked and I put them in a fruit salad for dinner that evening.

After we got home from our trip I got busy getting all the fair entries ready. The fair is next week.

My husband has officially been accepted to University Idaho. He will be working on a masters in computer science. Classes start next week, I think. Thankfully, he will be attending the Coeur d'Alene campus so we won't have to move. It will be weird having my husband going to school.

I did quite a bit of knitting while camping. I have finished layettes I want to post about, but I will have to wait until after the fair.

We are having very nice weather this week. Perfect temperatures for deck knitting, but the smoke from nearby forest fires is so thick I can't handle being in it for more than a few minutes.  Can't even see the mountains a mile away. My asthma is giving me all kinds of grief, so I'm staying indoors. A day or two of rain would be appreciated.

Our daughter, Ruth, is going back to school today. One last semester and then she'll graduate.

That's the news for now.

Live long and prosper. \\//

It's Fair Time!

Yesterday I hauled 31 items from the KnitWits to the fair grounds and entered them in this years North Idaho State Fair. 6 of the items were mine. Here are my entries for this year.

In Knitting, I have the Entrelac baby set, without the blanket. I've entered it under the category of Infant Layette Set-3 or more pieces.

I entered this baby cardigan and matching hat under category Infant Set-2 pieces. I finished these last week.

This has been entered under the category Infant Cardigan. I finished this last week too. It's my own design-a future free pattern. There will be more about this after the fair.

My last knitted entry is the raglan set (without the blanket) I made earlier this year in the category Knitted Infant item other than listed.

I've entered my Dogwood and Hummingbird cross stitch.

I entered this necklace in the category Beaded Necklace

That's it. 6 entries.

It's been a busy summer. I will catch up on things tomorrow.

Live long and prosper. \\//

Update (Humming Star Trek Theme)

Making progress on the Mini Star Trek project.

I've stitched the top words in metallic gold. Trying to decided if I want to outline it in black or not.

Speaking of stitching in metallic, I did a bit of googling to see if I could find some helpful tips on doing just that. Metallic threads have been so difficult for me to work with. I found a fantastic one that is so helpful it literally has solved all the problems I've had with it. This really works! I wish I'd known this a decade or two ago.

3. Say goodbye to fraying, slipping and tangling:
Use the slip knot method to thread the needle.
This method is fool proof: Your thread will be locked onto your needle and there’s absolutely no risk of fraying.
  
Lock your floss onto your needle to eliminate any risk of fraying

If you’re using two strands, cut a single strand, double the length. Fold in two. Thread as indicated above. Pull out about an inch and a half. Slip the tip of the needle through the loop formed by the thread and pull needle out. Tighten the knot so it forms a tiny knot at the end of the needle.
This looks like it might prevent your needle pulling through the fabric but it really does work with most fabrics (with the exception of fine counts and tightly woven fabrics).

I found this plus some other tips on Creative Poppy Patterns. Pop over and visit it.

I've been knitting too. I've finished the body and one sleeve of the baby cardigan I'm working on. It's coming out nicely, though I've not taken any photos of it yet. 

On Wednesday my daughter and I went into our woods and dug up a young 4 ft tall Ocean Spray plant and planted it in the yard. It turned out to be a very tough job. In fact, we ended up getting Sweet Hubby to help us because the digging was so difficult. Our soil is very rocky (Thanks to ancient glaciers) and also chock full of roots from all the Snow Berry bushes, trees, etc. It took two hours to get the job done. I've been wanting one of these bushes in the yard for several years, so I'm happy. I took a picture, but it's hard to see with all the greenery behind it. I've put in an arrow pointing at the one flower bunch on the bush. Here's hoping it survives the transplant.

We started out trying to find a baby plant. I thought I'd found one about 8 inches high, dug it up, and on the way back to the house ran across a young wild apple tree. The leaves looked exactly alike, so then I wasn't so sure I had an Ocean Spray. Decided to chuck it and go get a larger bush. 

I think I mentioned a few weeks ago I sprained my knee. Well, it's been giving me a lot of grief, so yesterday I went and saw a doctor about it. I will be getting some physical therapy, and she gave me a prescription for an anti-inflammatory cream to help with the pain. She doesn't think I've actually torn anything, which makes me feel much better about it.

We're going camping this weekend. Trying out a campground on the north fork of the Coeur d'Alene river that we've not stayed in before. It's been very hot this past week and will be for quite some time, so I'm looking forward to cooling off in the river.

Live long and prosper. \\//

Dogwood and Hummingbirds

Washed, blocked, and framed. It's officially done! It's even hung on the wall. Only took 12 years to do.

The name of the pattern is Dogwood and Hummingbirds by Canadian northwest artist Sue Coleman. I love it.

To those who want to say "But Dogwood only has 4 petals (bracts)." This is Pacific Dogwood which can have 4, 5, or 6 bracts, all on the same tree. This is the Dogwood I grew up with. It grows wild on the Pacific coast and is, in my opinion, the most beautiful of all the Dogwoods.

Live long and prosper. \\//

Happy 4th of July!

"Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Live long and prosper. \\//

WIPs

So, lets start July with a post about my current WIPs.

I've finished the knitting on layette set 31. Just have the little things to do. Buttons, pompom, blocking, etc.

I've been working on the crochet edging for the matching blanket.

I've started the cardigan for Layette set 32. Using a new pattern, just for fun.

I've made a little progress on the felt stocking. It has a teddy bear on it now.

I've also started a new long term cross stitch project. I dug around in my stash and found this kit by Eva Rosenstand.

Just a little done so far. It's going to be a challenge. There are no large blocks of color in this one. Lots of color changing ahead.

My sprained knee is healing slowly. I feel like I've had it for months, but it's only been just over 2 weeks. The most frustrating thing about it for me is that I can't sleep on my side. It's just too painful. If I sleep on my back, though, with a pillow under my leg, there's no pain, except in my back. Not being able to sleep on my side has given me a bad case of insomnia. I'm getting a lot of reading done, though. I'm just burning through the books. I've read 6 novels in just 2 weeks. I started reading Hunger Games a couple nights ago and I'm almost done with it already.

Our weather this weekend is cool and overcast. We did get a little rain yesterday while I attended a local rally in Coeur d'Alene and I got wet. I was there with a small group to help people register to vote while a protest rally for ending the separation of immigrant children from their parents coming to the U.S. for asylum was going on. It was an interesting event. There were quite a few people there, a few interesting speakers, and we helped a few folks register to vote. There was a potluck afterwards and the food was very good.

I got bad news from Barnes and Noble. They are no longer supporting the model of Nook I just happen to own. I have the original e-ink model. I love reading books on it. It's super easy on my eyes because I'm not looking at a screen made of led lights. I made sure all my books are downloaded on it before June 26, which is the last day they were supporting it. I've pretty much read all the books, so no big deal there, but I won't be able to download any new ones. I guess I'm going to have to switch to a Kindle Paperwhite if I want to have a supported e-ink reader. Right now I'm using my Samsung tablet with the Kindle app, which has a regular led screen on it. My eyes get pretty tired reading it, but it's better than nothing.

Live long and prosper. \\//

Oh My Goodness!

Dogwood and Hummingbird. I've finished it! Only took 2 days. Why didn't I finish it months ago?

I got frustrated with it when I started doing the back stitching on the back of one of the Hummingbirds. It was so confusing to stitch because the lines are diagonal across the squares and the back stitch thread is barely a different color than the stitches I had to stitch over. I had a hard time seeing them. I had a terrible time keeping straight which ones I'd done. I decided to put it away for awhile. Ended up being 2 years!

Last week I joined a couple Cross Stitch groups on Facebook and got inspired to finish it. I looked at the pattern again and figured out a way to stitch it without getting lost or confused. It feels so good to get it done. Now I just need to wash it, block it, mount it, and frame it. I should be able to enter this one in the fair this year. Huzzah!

I've also done a bit on the applique Christmas stocking.

I'm enjoying it immensely.

Yesterday, bad back and knees regardless, I took on the task of weeding the front flower bed. My daughter Ruth helped. I am so thankful she did because if she hadn't it would have been a huge job for me. With her help, we got it done in just a couple hours.

This morning my sprained knee hurt quite a bit more than it did the day before because of the yard work I'd done, but I think I'll be okay. I was expecting the backs of my thighs to hurt a lot, but they don't. Yay! The front yard is looking pretty good now. Tomorrow I plan to do a little work with the weed trimmer. Then it will be done. Maintenance from that point should be easy if I keep up with it.

We've had such nice weather all this week. They're predicting rain on Saturday. I'll be glad to get it. It gives me an excuse to put off the yard work in the back yard for a day. I could use the rest.

Well, I need to get dinner started.

Live long and prosper. \\//