"Properly practiced, knitting soothes the troubled spirit, and it doesn't hurt the untroubled spirit either." ~ Elizabeth Zimmerman

6/27/07

Rock Heaven

Part 2 of the camping trip.

On Sunday we decided to chill for the day. We explored the campground, visited the little store it had, and then went our seperate ways. Sue had a brand new tiny little inflatable sail boat that she was dying to try out, so she headed for the lake. Dan went with her. He sat on the beach and read a novel while she assembled it, then followed her around in his kayak in case she might need rescuing. When they got back to camp I asked him if the boat was fun. He said it was 'fun, and funny'. I guess Sue was pretty entertaining. I should have gone down and watched.

Doug went for a long ride on his bike. He loves to do that on camping trips. Ruth got out a jigsaw puzzle to work on at the picnic table. I took the dogs on walks, cleaned the inside of the trailer out, then sat at the picnic table and worked on my bead crochet lariat. It was a very pleasant day. The sun was shining, but it was not hot out. There was a nice cool stiff breeze blowing.

When Doug got back from his bike ride, we scarfed down some lunch. Then the three of us and the boys went for a drive on some logging roads in the mountains. While driving around we came upon an interesting rocky face, so we stopped and let Ruth investigate. There was lots of granite. She found tiny little garnets in it. Was quite pretty. Here's some photos I took while there. Click on the pics to enlarge them.

Ruth investigating the rocky face.


Gotta get a close look at those tiny garnet crystals.


After the 4 mile hike the day before, Morgan was having no more of that hiking stuff. He refused to get out.


A tiny little tree. We were up in the alpines, where a short growing season, thin air, and hard winter makes the trees grow very slowly and small. Call it natural bonsai. This tree is probably a few years old. It was just too cute. That's my watch next to it.


This is some very very tiny pink Penstemmon that I found growing on some rocks.


A view of Priest Lake from where we were in the mountains.


When we got back from this little trip we had dinner. Sue made Chicken Mediteranean and I make Elk burgers. We gave some trees we'd cut down last summer to an elderly fellow, he needed them for lumber or something, and in return a couple weeks ago he gave me a couple packages of frozen Elk burger. I saved it for the camping trip. Mmmm...was it ever good. I think we got the better end of that deal.

Monday morning it was cold and rainy at Priest Lake. It was a good time to leave. We packed up and came home.

I'll be putting the rest of the pics from our camping trip in my Yahoo photo album, so the family can see them.

Yesterday I went to bead group. Made good progress on the bead crochet lariat. Boy did I get lucky though. I've been using some purple silver lined Czech rocailles in this project that I carried in my shop and brought home when I closed it. I only had the one hank and discovered yesterday that I was 2 strands short of what I needed to finish the fringe. No one around here carries that particular color. So, basically, I thought I was screwed. However, Cindy came up with a tube of Japanese rocailles that are so close in color and size that they are virtually identical to what I've been using. Thanks for rescuing me Cindy! Just have two branch fringes left to make.

Bill got out a bucket--a big BUCKET--and dumped it out on the table I was sitting at. It was stuffed full of 4mm druks they just got in. My goodness, I didn't know druks came in so many colors! They were gorgeous! Druks are round glass beads made by the Czechs. I love using them, but the color selection around here hasn't been very good. Bill has fixed that problem.

On the way home I stopped and picked up a couple skeins of light denim blue yarn to make a baby jacket. I'm going to try Caron Simply Soft. It's pretty cheap, as prices go, so I'm not expecting a very good quality yarn, but there isn't anyone close by that carries Patons Canadiana or Plymouth Encore-my favorites. (And who's fault is that? Sigh...)

Daughter Sarah's best friend Charo is home from the army-permanently. She's pregnant and there's going to be a baby shower next Saturday. Sarah and Charo have been friends forever. So I want to make something for the baby rather than buy something ready made. I've chosen an aran style baby jacket from 101 Knitting-To-Go Projects by House of White Birches. It's done in worsted weight yarn, so it should knit up fast. I've already got the back half done. I doubt I'll have it done by Saturday, but there'll be enough I can show it to Charo anyway.

Have a great day!

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