Birthdays

Yesterday was Snaterkat's birthday and so Pinkphish and I made a cake. I was in charge of the sponge and the filling and Pinkphish provided the decoration. In the growing tradition of knitters' cakes the sheep were listing to one side by the time we got there. We ate lots of pizza and then massive pieces of cake and ended up feeling quite happily sick.

Whitewater

I don't often revisit the same pattern twice, but when I was sorting out my stash last week I looked at the Debbie Bliss Pure Silk and wondered what to do with it. I knitted a pair of Whitewater wrist warmers for my cousin 2 or 3 years ago now. At the time I hadn't been knitting with DPNs long and it was something of a challenge. I loved the way they looked and felt and Gillian tells me that she has worn them to death, so I felt it was time to try another pair.

I only used 1 skein on the first pair, even though the pattern called for two so this time I made them extra long. I found it much easier to knit them this time and quite enjoyed having a more complicated pattern to work. Since the demise of MagKnits the pattern is no longer online but I found an old print out tucked into one of my stash boxes. So here they are, extra long Whitewater in black.

Making the Most of It

This Summer has hardly been the best. The weather around here has been particularly awful. There have hardly been any rain-free days, which has saved me a lot of time watering but has meant I haven't done much sitting out or barbecuing. For once bank holiday weekend has turned out well. The weather has been gorgeous, particularly yesterday. After cycling to the next village for lunch we sat out all afternoon. I worked on the wall hanging I've been making for the bedroom and finished up with a barbecue tea, with tasty burgers made by my lovely husband (our anniversary was last weekend).

I was inspired by the felted table runners on this Etsy shop and spent quite a bit of time experimenting with techniques. I eventually ended up with something quite different but it is growing on me. The idea of making a large needle felted item had never occurred to me before. So here is my effort mid-progress. I am now contemplating whether to fill the whole thing with circles or to only go half way up. What do you think?

We've had quite a lot of vegetables. Most of the potatoes are gone now and we're working our way through the onions and garlic. In place of the potatoes I planted some winter vegetables. We've also had corgettes, brocoli, carrots, parsnips, french beans and leeks.

The greenhouse is producing a steady stream of tomatoes. I had a problem with rot on the peppers and aubergines. The aubergines have produced nothing at all. Each time a fruit starts to grow they go rotten and drop off. I've evicted the aubergine's from the greenhouse and the peppers seem to have recovered. I think it's been too damp in there but there's not much I can do when it rains constantly. Not bad for the first year.

As far as knitting goes I've been working on a jumper for Graeme. I have now reached the sleeves, which I see as the danger time for running out of steam. It's a mark of how poor the weather has been that I haven't been too hot while knitting this. I had to put it down on Saturday though.

I also knitted this cute toilet roll cover in a moment of boredom a couple of weeks ago. The words 'toilet roll cover' do tend to fill me with dread but they are a quick way of using up odd balls (of which I have many).

FOs

So what did I knit while I was away? Not a great deal to be honest. It wasn't my most productive holiday knit-wise. I managed to finish these Hedera socks, using the pattern from Knitty and some merino sock yarn from Wingham Wool Work (who by the way have revamped their website so it's useable).

I bought some gorgeous Claudia Hand Painted Yarn in the John B colourway from the Knit and Pearl Boutique in Santa Barbara, which looked fabulous in the Californian sunshine. I must say that they look rather orange in the British gloom. There's some pink and green in there as well so it's not as bad as it looks. I decided to make a pair of Jaywalkers from the yarn and I am pleased with the way they show off the patterning, though I can't say I'm impressed with the fit.

Since coming home I've made a couple of other things for wedding presents which I won't show you just now. I also spent some time hand dying with Pinkphish and made this little hat one evening from some KoolAde dyed yarn. I'm not quite sure what to do with the finishing at the top as there's not much yarn left. I'll have to have a think.

My creativity has been experiencing a temporary hiatus while I turn my attention to decorating our bedroom. Because I've been painting the built-in cupboards all our clothes are piled in front of my stash and as I result I find myself unable to make anything without feeling slightly uncomfortable about it. Yes, I do know I'm weird. I've nearly finished now though and am planning to have a major stash organisation in the near future which should help me along.

National Parks

So, by now if you've bothered to read all of this you must be pretty sick of hearing about my holiday, but I enjoyed it a lot so I'm going to write about the last bit today. Feel free to skip it.

After leaving San Francisco we drove inland, heading South East. We passed through loads of flat, dry farmland, where citrus fruits and grapes were growing. It was stiflingly hot. Reaching the mountains was a real relief. We got to Sequoia National Park first and stopped to see the General Grant tree, which is the 4th largest (by volume) in the world. It's so amazing how something living can be so big. (please note the small people standing next to the tree)

I find it interesting how the ecosystem depends on fire. The sequoia trees don't burn well but the forest actually grows better if there's a small natural fire from time to time to allow light to the ground.

We drove through the park into Kings Canyon National Park, where we stayed in a lodge (more like a motel). The canyon is really impressive. We walked about 6 miles from the end of the road up towards the mountains and back. I was petrified about seeing a bear, so I sang and made noise all the way. We didn't see any bears. We did see some deer and they didn't seem upset by my singing at all. G was probably the most disturbed by it. After 14 men went to mow he put his foot down. It was good to get into the wilds for a bit (and not see bears), but in the afternoon it was way too hot for walking. I really am a northerner.

So that's pretty much the end of the holiday. We drove back to Santa Barbara, staying overnight in Buellton, home of the famous split pea soup (no, really), where we had a really good steak at the Hitching Post.

San Francisco

At the end of our coastal journey we arrived at San Francisco. I was fairly sceptical about staying here. The guide book (Lonely Planet California) wasn't very inspiring and I'm not a bit fan of big cities. G had booked us into the Hotel Des Arts which was fairly chilled out and quite interesting. They're still in the process of adding the art so things changed in the foyer every day. Some of the guests were trying really hard to achieve that starving artist look, but the $200 trainers give it away every time. This hotel wins the prize for best shower of the entire trip (tall building = high pressure water supply). This was our room in the hotel. I'm not sure I'd want this on our wall at home but it made a change from the chain hotel chintz.

We didn't try to fit in all the touristy things, but just wondered a bit and did what took our fancy. We went in the Musee Mecanique which has loads of old slot mechines. My favourite was a football (soccer) game where all the metal men had little crochet jumpers on.

We also went round the historic boats in the harbour and on the trolley/cable car etc. We tried to go to the Museum of Modern Art but ended up at the Cartoon Art Museum (excellent Keith Knight exhibition) and Textile Museum instead. We cycled out to see the Golden Gate Bridge one afternoon. The rental place urge you to cycle over the bridge and back, but since I am so rubbish at cycling we didn't make it there in time to return the bikes so we just looked from one end.

On the way we stopped to see the Wave Organ, which is on the end of a pier. There's loads of pipes going out into the sea. The tides and waves cause notes to be played. Surreal.

We also went to the Stinking Rose garlic restaurant, which was amazing. How I love garlic.