This and That

I so love elk noses. Blog meet Bashful.

Out of the woods and the fieldwork went well. For the most part it was hot and dry. But we had one day of hellacious electrical storms that rattled both me and the elk. At about 5:15 in the morning when I got in the pen, I couldn't hear the thunder yet, but I could feel it in the ground...in the form of serious tremors. It was the strangest sensation and one I've not experienced before. About an hour later, we starting hearing it and seeing it. I've never seen a storm quite like that...it was literally constant thunder and lightning. I think several storms were combining. Streak after streak of lightning with some of it going horizontal across the full sky...again a first for me. The elk were getting nervous as it got closer and closer. So was I. I finally sent my tech out for cover just before it hit but the elk made it clear that I was not to leave them. A bit nerve-wracking I must say. This exclosure I was working in has huge, tall Ponderosa pines scattered all through the pen, as well as tall snags. Not many places I felt safe. Luckily right when it hit, the wind picked up and pushed it through fairly quickly. Long enough to soak me to the bones, but that period of feeling seriously unsafe wasn't too long. For the rest of the day, we got hit fairly constantly until dark. Nothing quite as bad as that morning...though it came close. Not a good day for fire season.

Otherwise, the data collection went well. This is part of a very long term study looking at effects of herbivory...using different intensities of grazing pressure by elk and cattle. Because we only collect data at one time of year, we do a VERY intensive effort. Pretty much if it's light out, we are collecting data on what the elk eat. It's the fourth year and already we are seeing some interesting things in terms of the diets and in terms of the vegetation response.

I have to share one thing. We typically meet many types of folks out in the woods. Doing the research that we do (using tame animals) really is unique and it normally catches many folks off guard. They don't know what to ask and more often than not, they end up asking something that is rather absurd. I got one of these questions this week. For this research, we are working in exclosures that are built to keep out grazing by the wild/domesticated herbivores. So they are 7 hectare 'pens' built with 8 foot high game-proof wire. Within the main exclosure, we have 7 individual pens that are separated with electric wire for different grazing treatments. I was standing around waiting for the girls to get up and feed again late in the evening when 2 guys walked up to the pen. So I'm standing in the pen with the elk and am talking to these guys through this game-proof fence. They asked me if we were in a pen. I didn't answer for awhile wondering if it was a trick question. I almost responded 'no, actually you are'. But I didn't want to be mean. That, and I tend not to mess with dudes in the woods when I'm out there alone.

As for knitting news...despite the fact that I feel like I haven't knitted in a very long time (I can't take knitting in the field with me...I work pretty much constantly if it's light out and that doesn't leave many hours for sleep...and I simply can't stay even remotely clean for the life of me...most people can use those wet-wipes and stay presentable, but I pretty much stay brown..not good for yarn). Yet somehow, today, I ended up with an FO. My Prairie Tunic is finished! But you are going to have to wait a bit until I can get some modeled shots. I've got another 2 days of partial fieldwork this week and then leaving for Vancouver for a couple days for meetings. I hope to have at least one more thing finished by the time I get home...as we have 16+ hours of driving ahead of us to get there and back. And I plan on knitting as much of that as I can.

If you've stayed with me this far, I have to share a photo of the amazing quilt that my mom made me for my birthday. At Christmas we were browsing a fabric store and I sort of fell in love with this display quilt. The design, not the colors. About the same time, I saw this fabric that was the most incredible chocolate brown. Mom's been wanting to make my brother and I quilts and so we decided if we could find other matching fabric, she'd do that one for me. I really didn't know if she'd get it done in time so when the box came last week and I saw the 'Do Not Puncture' written on the sides, I knew exactly what it was. I. Love. It. Seriously. Love. It. THANKS MOM!
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Now Playing: We are sitting here listening to an old LP called 'Earl Scruggs His Family and Friends'. This album has Joan Beaz, Doc Watson, Bob Dylan, The Byrds, the Morris Brothers, and Earl, Randy, and Gary Scruggs. Banjo-pickin' from Earl Scruggs and guitar pickin' from Doc Watson...need I say more?

Public Service Announcement

I'm very behind on responding to emails and on replying to comments....apologies. But thanks much to everyone who left a comment on the last post...it really IS a beautiful place! I also haven't read any blogs in several days. I've been frantically trying to get ready for a brief fieldwork stint that is a logistical nightmare. As of first thing in the morning, I'll be in the woods until the 12th. I promise to get caught up on replies, emails, and blog-reading/commenting as soon as I get back. Well, probably after the shower. :)

Have a great couple weeks everyone!

Release

We took off for a few days into the high country...a much needed break away from everything. We went into the Eagle Cap Wilderness here in NE Oregon...one of our favorite places to go backpacking. It's just a beautiful place and this year, we hit the timing right on. Lush, green, beautiful, not too cold at night (40-45 maybe...no frost!), remnant snowfields, alpine meadows filled with penstamon, phlox, Indian paintbrush, columbine and more.

As is typical with us, we started with a plan which went into the trash several miles in! Decided to take the path less traveled which meant heading up a trail that is still open, but not maintained. A 1500 foot elevation gain in 2 miles. I'm thinking the first mile took care of 1000 of those feet...without much in the way of switchbacks. Recipe for erosion disaster and recipe for quite possibly the steepest trail I've gone on with a heavy pack that wasn't associated with an elk capture. But the view from the top and the lake nestled out of view? Well worth it (though I'm still in a bit of an argument with my legs on that one)!

Just a few pictures for your viewing pleasure...

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Now playing: Little Road by Cheryl Wheeler

Bakin' and Knittin'

So I've found that I enjoy food blogs almost as much as I enjoy knitting blogs. And lately I found two resources that are amazing:

Foodgawker
Tastespotting

I don't know exactly how recipes end up on these sites (if they are submitted or 'found'), but dozens of recipes from hundreds of food blogs end up there daily. There is simply a picture of each dish with a one line description....clicking on the picture will take you to the original post where you'll find the details and recipes. You can subscribe to these as feeds and each individual picture will show up as a post. Beware though that if you are anything like me, you will very quickly have more recipes that you know what to do with.

But that's not always bad...


Why I have the urge to bake in 95 degree weather, I'll never know. I'm guessing it's all the berries in season. All of these are new to me recipes and all are very good. First up...I'm getting about 2 pounds of raspberries per day from our bushes so I decided to make Raspberry Almond Bread. I made one to try and we loved it so much that two more have found their way baked and into the freezer for winter enjoyment.

Second...Oregon blueberries. Oh my. The first recipe was for Blueberry-Oat bars...a VERY healthy, vegan recipe and again, we both loved them. The second recipe came from reading this post by yaiAnn. I love blueberry pie, probably my favorite of all pies, but I'm pathetic and have never actually made one from the berry. I've always just used canned pie filling. Yeah, I know. yaiAnn's verdict after trying this recipe was that everyone should Make This Pie. I listened. Blueberry Pie with Cornmeal Crust. Excellent. And I agree. Make This Pie!

And, I've also been practicing monogamy with knitting. Seems if you do this, WIP's will turn into FO's much more quickly. Who knew? But I needed a break from the crazy colors of Bellatrix so instead turned full attention to the Prairie Tunic. The back is done, and I'm about a third of the way through the front. Life is going to get very hectic soon with fieldwork, meetings, a couple backpacking trips etc...I'm hoping to finish this up before that happens. We'll see.

In the meantime, have a good week everyone!
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Now playing: Everybody Knows by Leonard Cohen

9 years...

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Now Playing: All My Days by Alexi Murdoch

Memes

A couple memes to take care of.

I've seen this Flickr mosaic meme around blogland and thought it would be a unique way (read cheat) to satisfy the Random Things meme that I was tagged for by both Alana and ponyknit quite awhile ago (there is no need to discuss how long ago...it's embarrassing. Nor is there a need to discuss when I actually did this mosaic, but never got around to posting it. Also embarrassing). This mosaic of pictures represents a visual answer to twelve random questions about me. Click on the image to find the rules, the questions, and the answers embedded as notes on the pictures. The links below offer credit to the photographers of the individual pictures.

1. DSC09513 - Rachel's eye, 2. Spears, 3. Untitled, 4. Baby blue, 5. Gary Oldman, 6. lavender-mint lemonade, 7. Lago Pehoe Panorama, 8. Blackberry Cobbler, 9. The mystery of the enchanted forest, 10. El Rei D. Sebastião, 11. Unconventional Tree With Green, 12. Elk



Next...Tiennie did a day of meme catch up yesterday and gave the 'order' for her readers to go forth with one. And while she did do the Flickr meme, I also liked another one that she did. Except I decided to change it. Originally this meme was to identify movies for each question. Since I did a movie meme recently, I decided to change it up and do this one with books instead.

Book Meme…indirectly tagged by Tiennie

1. One book that made you laugh: A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

2. One book that made you cry: Refuge by Terry Tempest Williams
3. One book that you loved as a child: The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
4. One book you've read more than once: Truck Stop Rainbows by Iva Pekarkova
5. One book you loved, but were embarrassed to admit it: This is hard because I read what I read…I’m not embarrassed by any of it. But I guess I’ll say that the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich would most closely fall into this category; because it seems I’m always defending my choice to read these books. Obviously not great literature, but they make me laugh; and anything that can make me laugh is good! Each year I got the latest of her books at about the mid-point of my field season. And by that time, amongst the stress and exhaustion that the field seasons bring, I desperately needed the laugh out loud response that her quirky humor always gives me. Rarely does she disappoint in this respect.
6. One book you hated: The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway (sorry Hemingway fans)
7. One book that scared you: In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (maybe more circumstantial…reading this at night completely alone in the woods. Smart, no?)
8. One book that bored you: Hayduke Lives by Edward Abbey (the only one of his that I have not liked)
9. One book that made you happy: Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. Odd choice maybe. I have my reasons.
10. One book that made you miserable: The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. Not the book itself…the subject matter…devastating effects of racism.
11. One book that you weren't brave enough to read: War and Peace. Not going to happen.
12. One book character you've fallen in love with: Jamie from the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon
13. The last book you read: Five Quarters of an Orange by Joanne Harris
14. The next book you hope to read: The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Anyone who wants to participate in either, consider yourself tagged and go forth!
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Now Playing: All I Want is You by Barry Louis Polisar (I finally broke down and bought the Juno soundtrack. This song makes me smile every time I hear it).

Photo a Day. And a Finished Sock!

One of the first knitting blogs I started to read was Quiddity. At the time I started reading, she was in the middle of a photo-a-day challenge and the thought of doing something like that intrigued me. Since then, I've seen other folks start participating in this challenge and it's peaked my interest again. So, the other day, as I was using the process of photography to calm myself, I started thinking seriously about doing it. I finally made the decision to start on July 1.

This is more of a personal journey than anything. I've only gotten 7 days into it, but already I appreciate the benefits of slowing down even for a few minutes a day to just think about what I want to photograph and to immerse myself in my surroundings. And that's really the point of why I wanted to do it. Sometimes the photo will reflect my life (what I did on that day) or it will just be an attempt to capture something unique or beautiful that I see around me.

While it is more of a personal journey rather than a group-joining effort, I am posting the photographs on my Flickr account if anyone is interested in following along (in a set called 365 - Photo a Day). For some of the daily pictures, I'll be adding commentary, most days I probably won't. Depends on how I feel.

I have now also added some progress bars/pictures for my long list of WIPs on the side and I'll try to keep that updated. I actually took quite a bit of time to knit this weekend (I was caught up in the garden and needed some time off work). So even though the progress pictures are on the side now, I wanted to throw in this picture for the post. I finished one Bellatrix sock. I really like the sock (even if I do have to squint and look sideways at it some times!) and the fit seems perfect. To see the modifications I made, check out the project page on Ravelry here. For the most part, pooling wasn't an issue, but you can tell it started on the sole. But it isn't so extreme that is bothers me very much.

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Now Playing: Breathe by Alexi Murdoch

I Have Finishing Problems.

Thanks so much for the supportive comments on the last post. I do believe it will all even out eventually and I feel like life is starting to swing the other way for a change.

So on to something more cheery. I have a startitis problem. Actually, as the title suggests, starting stuff isn't a problem...it's finishing it. I honestly don't care how many WIPs languish on my needles for months or years. Maybe it's because I have so many other deadlines in life, that I need that flexibility with knitting. Whatever the reason, it is getting a bit extreme! So I decided to lay them all out in their glory...hoping that either the embarrassment in showing them all, or the physical act of finding them and photographing them will motivate me to finish some of these this summer. Remember, I have a lot of WIPs, so bear with me. Also, I do have some questions about some of these that if any of you knitting geniuses out there want to offer your insight, I'd greatly appreciate it (if you see something bolded in red, there's a question following)!

Here we go...from longest on needles to shortest.

WIP #1. Marc--started last summer. Last time I worked on it was Octoberish. I have the front, back, and one sleeve completely done.
Verdict: This is a very plain, easy sweater and the first one I attempted to knit...no shaping or anything. When I pulled this out to photograph it again, I realized that I do still really like it...as just a comfortable sweater to throw on. So I do want to finish it.
Problems: I do have 2 dilemmas that basically stopped me from working on it. To shape the neckline, you use decreases. I knew enough back then to use the correct decreases (slanting the right direction), but the left side really looks horrible (see below). At the time, I had no idea there was any other way to SSK other than slipping both stitches knitwise. I know I need to rip this portion out and reknit it, but I need to know if another SSK will make it better? Such as slip the first stitch knitwise and the second stitch purlwise? Also, I'm not too worried about seaming on this sweater except for the shoulder. The pattern has you bind off stitches as you go, making for a pretty bulky area to be seamed AND it sort of stairsteps up which I have no idea how to seam. A lady at a LYS told me that I should rip back and instead of binding off, just continue knitting and do a 3-needle bind-off. Suggestions on what is best? I know how to do a 3-needle bind-off, but what I don't know is do you simply not knit the stitches that should have been bound off and then just turn the work normally? Or do you do a wrap and turn before those stitches?

WIP #2. Surplice Lace Top. Started last summer and haven't worked on it since.Verdict: Another that I still like and really want to finish.
Problems: None at this point outside of lacking motivation!


WIP #3. Summer purse. Started last spring and haven't worked on it since.Verdict: Let's start by saying that it doesn't look this bad in real life. Honest. BUT...I'm not a purse person and so I really don't have a desire to finish it. It was one of those pre-blog, pre-Ravelry projects that I found in a LYS and just tried it...I like it in theory, but I don't have any idea what I'd do with it. Also, my gauge is off on this and it'll come out even smaller than is practical. Finally...it's simply a b#$%* to knit. I'll probably rip this one out and then try to find something else to do with one skein of silk and one skein of whatever that almost hemp-like yarn is. Any suggestions?


WIP #4. Back to School Vest (Ravelry link). Started this spring.
Verdict: I am determined to finish this although it's still sitting in a corner due to my stupidity of knitting while stressing. Most likely I won't work on this over the summer, but return to it this fall.


WIP #5. Swallowtail shawl (pdf). Started this spring.Verdict: Just started the beginning but I know I'll finish this. I'm anxious to see how it will look with this color yarn. I'm hoping to get back to it over the summer. Lace knitting is so much cooler in the summer than heavy wool bulk!


WIP #6. Prairie Tunic. Started about a week ago.Verdict: Not far into it but loving it already. The yarn is great to work with and has great stitch definition. Definitely a priority to finish.


WIP #7. Bellatrix socks (Ravelry link).Verdict: Okay, you've seen my color choices...I'm sort of a bland gal. So when my brother gave me two VERY colorful skeins of STR for Christmas wanting me to make socks out of them (for me, not him), I sort of eyed them (and yes, cringed a little bit) and put them away wondering if I had the nerve to knit them. This spring, as I was in a situation to wear something other than work boots or hiking boots, I started pulling out some of my 'crazy' socks and I remembered how much I like funky, colorful socks. (yeah, it's strange that is something I needed to remember...but live your life in the field like I do wearing about 4 articles of clothing all year long and you too will forget what other clothes you even own!). So I started researching the options for STR...knowing that I did want to avoid the pooling problem that seems to be common with this yarn. I found Bellatrix and really liked it...but many of the comments on Ravelry say that there is a major sizing problem and they are too loose. I finally found an alteration to the pattern that I thought would work (I'll post more about it later) and so far so good. I actually really like how this sock is knitting up even if it is pretty bold! And this is such a fast knit that I hope these will be done fairly quickly.

Finally...remember this mess? Welp, I tried twice to fix it and in the process stretched the yarn enough that it wasn't doable. At this point I was more than annoyed with it and so I ripped the whole sock out. I should have just put the yarn in time-out but I didn't. I started another pattern, got 3 pattern repeats down, saw that it wasn't right (and we won't even discuss my stupidity on that one) and so that yarn is now put away until it can learn to play nice.

There they all be. I'm determined to finish at least 3 of these before I cast one for something new (and ripping out counts as finishing in my book!)

If you've stuck with me this far, I have one more question for the knitters. One of the first things I started knitting was a felted vest by Fiber Trends. I made the decision a few months ago that I just didn't like it anymore and wouldn't wear it. So I want to rip. The yarn is 100% feltable wool, worsted weight. What do I need to do with the yarn after ripping to make it usable again? Do I put it into a skein and do a quick dip into water and let it dry or do I just re-wind it and leave it alone? Any suggestions would be great.
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Now Playing: Eons Later by Peggy Honeywell

The Power of Photos

I've been sort of struggling since I got home. A lot of different things happened while I was in Pullman both professionally and personally that caused me pain and anger. I thought that once I moved back home, back to my own space and support, that I could let go of it all and just move on. Didn't happen. This resulted in not only emotional consequences but physical ones as well. So this week I had to return to Pullman for a brief trip to help a fellow graduate student with some data collection. I think returning to that location brought everything vividly back all at once...I had to either break down from it all or force myself to figure out how to let it all go. I chose the latter. On the drive back, I decided to take it slow, stopping frequently to get out and just walk around. And I actually pulled my camera out for the first time in months for something other than knitting gone bad! Taking photographs has always been an outlet for me and I realized that I haven't had that desire for a very long time. Each time I stopped, I didn't get back into the truck until I felt completely calm.

As simple as it may sound, it helped immensely. For the first time in months, I felt some of that anxiety I've been carrying around lift, I felt my gut unclench, and I felt all that anger start to drain away. I share this now because while I did get back to a schedule that would allow me to be creative again...in gourds, drawing, photography, knitting...emotionally I haven't yet been able to get to that point. And the obvious lack of anything substantial on this blog proves that. I don't know if I'm completely there yet, but it's looking more promising! So I'm hoping a shift in content will occur soon as I start being able to tap into those creative urges again.

For now though, I figured I'd share a few of those photos from my drive with you.

(and yes, this last photo is the highly invasive, nasty plant called Cheat Grass...I can despise it for ecological reasons, but still love the form, color, and flow of it!)

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Now Playing: Whatever Gets You Through the Day by The Radio

Give Me Strength...

...to finish fixing it.

I wonder...when will I learn to knit only straight stockinette or garter stitch when I'm distracted and stressed? On the positive side of things...with all this practice, I'm getting so much better at fixing mistakes.

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Now playing: 'By Way of Sorrow' by Cry, Cry, Cry (trio formed by Lucy Kaplansky, Dar Williams, Richard Shindell for one incredible folk CD)