Trees of Mystery

As we cruised up 101 we decided why not visit some of the tourist attractions we'd passed by so many times before? Went to the Oregon Vortex (which David chuckled through doing little quiet "mumble, SCIENCE, mumble, HOAX, techie techie etc. ) Trees of Mystery are at that stop with the museum/gift shop and the huge statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe - the blue ox. Apparently in the old days Babe's head used to move back and forth and steam would shoot out but it scared too many little kids so they changed it. I figure the kids today could take it, considering what they see on T.V.

The museum is worth going in to. They found many of the artifacts when a giant tree fell on the original building, followed by a flood. The Yurok baskets are just amazing, realllllly amazing. How did they see to weave anything that small and delicate in tiny grasses without the aid of half-glasses?

There's a sky ride in enclosed capsules kind of like a ski lift:

And then a hike to some of the more memorable trees. A lot of people like to get married under the Cathedral Tree. As you get close, a recording of the voice of Nelson Eddy wafts out singing "I think that I shall never seeeeee, a poem lovely as a treeeeeeee." And if you're old enough to remember Nelson Eddy - well, you're no longer young - sorry to be the one to tell you.

Here's the heart I left in San Francisco:

And the other groovy leaf sculpture from that restaurant:

These little seal cubs had been abandoned and were being rehabbed at a center in Crescent City (which has a cute little yarn shop by the way). They have to be taught how to eat. Insert fishy in mouth - seal p-tooeys it out, reinsert, repeat 'til it realizes that fish ain't so bad.

This is what 59 looks like these days on a trip. If the link is not clear, it's from Gloria Steinem T-shirt-wearing days that said "This is what 40 looks like."

Had to take a breather from the Oregon cardi (started to run out of a few colors I brought - more of them at home) and start a new mystery project for a baby-to-be who has a greater than average chance of being born with red hair.

Had to be Koigu of course.

By the way, all you who buy that nice double-ply toilet paper at Costco? - nothing will make you appreciate it more than 23 rest stops (post-coffee-drinking) between Seattle and San Francisco. They all have the low-flow machinery that sounds like it's going to suck you down to hell when you flush (now THAT could scare a child). Some of them have the automatic sensor where you put your hands under the faucet and you get (albeit freezing cold) water. Then, right up on the wall where you expect to find the soap dispenser is a button that says "Push." Instead of soap a blast of air jets out so strongly that the loose skin on your hands starts forming little waves as it is pushed back toward your wrists... Sheesh!

Stopped in Eugene and went by several yarn stores. Knew I wasn't in the right place when I asked if Joan Schrouder taught there......"Joan Schroooder? Gee that name sounds familiar...do we know a Joan Shrooder?" Last top was Dyelots Fiber Studio. As soon as Janis opened the door I remembered her and she immediately said "Oh Yes, Joan knits with our little group, isn't she wonderful?" and we waxed poetic for a few minutes. When one of the smarter knitting icons lives in the town your shop is in I figure it behooves you as a yarn store to invite her in and suck her dry for all she knows. Plus, just after we'd said hello, out bounced a darling little Pembroke Corgi named Lucy that I had many a scratchy and scritchy discussion with while there. Bliss! Janis was kind enough to show me how to take silk caps and pull them apart and draft them out so you can knit directly from the silk without spinning it. She says she'll put an instructional video on her site about this soon. I'd always wanted to do this so I purchased some and will try a scarf in linen stitch with two contrasting colors, oboyoboyoboy. I think Amelia of The Bellwether has also shown this. Check out her blog - she unselflishly shares all she knows and she's already forgotten more than most of us will be able to absorb!

Wish You Were Here

April 20th two years ago I lost my sweet Scarlet doggie to Lymphoma. She was a Cardigan Corgi and we had a very deep and special connection I haven't had with any other animal companion. Miss you constantly Scarli, and wish you were here....


I'm not home so this isn't a very good picture of her - took it from my Ravelry profile page, which is "dims" by the way if anyone wants to check in. Shout out to Nina (pronounced Nynah - many of you know her). She's "Ancora" if anyone wants to go welcome her and friend her up.

[Update - now I'm home and here are a few more pix of her.]

Okay okay, I adore any picture of this dog - she was my best friend.

Here's the cute Stitch doggie in Heidi's arms from Heidi's yarn shop.


I kept running back in every day for one more thing and to see Stitch.

Went into a restaurant for lunch and saw a wrought-iron leafy on the wall. I love leafies of all kinds. They are right up there with the "P" flowers---and dogs of course.



In Garberville I saw a Corgi that had the same coloring as our current Pembroke Corgi, "Trixie." I jumped out of the car to say hello and ask for an introduction. It was a male and boy was he cute. This happens all the time - accosting cute doggies - so David just drives around the block. I was wearing huge sunglasses and as he rounded the corner to pick me up the woman (who was my age (59ish) said, "Oh, is that your Dad?" I said "No, my husband" and she huffed off with the dog as if David was cradle robbing. His hair IS snow white but if she'd seen the eye wrinkles under the sun glasses there wouldn't have been the question. David got a huge kick out of it. I've been "Dad"ing him ever since.

Forging Ahead

With the Oregon Cardigan. Just put in the underarm steeks - although instructions seem a bit strange in one sense - leaving a single stitch of a pattern repeat on one side of the stitch and the rest on the other - whereas on the other side of the sweater, there is no odd stitch out. Will ponder before I go much further. Called Dear Friend Patricia who was a voice of sanity.


We're forging our way back from S.F. and are in Ukiah tonight. Great yarn store here called "Heidi's." Very cute store dog that is so sweet - adopted from a shelter about a month ago when the store owner's dog died. How can people abandon these wonderful animals. They named him "Stitch!" So cute!

Didn't take much in the way of pix here and just a few in San Francisco. Having lived in S.F. for several years it feels like another home. Recently they are placing large decorated hearts all over the city from the them of "I left my heart in San Francisco," much as Seattle did with the big pigs, and other cities have done with their special themes. Unfortunately that picture is out in the car and not downloaded


Always fun to see urban art throughout the city too.


We're SO predictable. We go to Golden Gate Park, say hi to the last of the Bison herd that is still there. The year we left in '92 was the year the Bison keeper - who'd been with them forever - retired. They decided to neuter all the males so that no new babies would be born and the herd would gradually die off. One of our previous years in the city we reached their outdoor pasture hours after a calf had been born - the placenta hadn't even detached yet. Pretty thrilling!

We go to the Beach Chalet for brekkies:

It's half a block from where we used to live at condos across the street from the beach and down the hill from the Cliff House. When we lived near, the Beach Chalet was old and sadly in need of repair, which didn't happen until we'd been gone for a year or so. The WPA artwork on the bottom floor is really wonderful and you can see it if you click on the site above.

Views from Cliff House down hill along beach (much steeper than it looks) down toward last condos on the left where we lived . In the old days this area was called "Playland" and had a roller coaster and other rides and attractions. Golden Gate park ends at the beach. In the second picture you can see one the two former working windmills that brought in water to the park. Most days of the year the beach is deserted as the fog would come in every afternoon and most days were grey (very happy-making). As soon as a warm sunny day hits, everyone and their brother calls in sick from work and suddenly it looks like any beach in So. Cal. with no place to park and wall-to-wall people. I used to do my 5-mile race walk down a path near the beach to the Zoo and back. Those were in the height-weight proportionate days. Didn't see a smidgen of fog this time. What was the deal?

The second windmill is down at the other border of the park and is under construction, but this one has been redone for years. Really lovely flowers are planted at all times of the year. How could I have left out Poppies in my list of favorite "P" flowers?

And, there are always a million "Painted Ladies" (Victorian houses in pretty colors with well-thought-out trim and gilding). I know where they are in the city so I go have a look but don't try to photograph. Once in a while tho, you run into someone that just didn't do a swatch to see how it would turn out large scale:

There must be some paint ratio of how many eye-searing colors per inch it takes with other colors added to make it all work. Knitting swatches help. Surely paint swatches must help. Ack! And these are all colors I love normally.

The smaller the bag, the bigger the cash outlay

Medford seemed to have a thing about pansies - they were everywhere!. Pansies make me very happy. In fact, just about all the "P" flowers make me happy - petunias, pinks (baby carnation relatives) peonies, and sweet PEAs. Some people might think I have Pedestrian taste in flowers but I likes what I likes.

Then we stopped by Ashland because it's so darn cute. I didn't realize that the store Websters was there. I've been acquainted with them on-line forever. Geeeeeze - do they have cool stuff. Besides being a knitting/spinning/weaving store (not too many stores combine wares for all three), they have many clothes by artisans of all types of fiber arts, and tons of local jewelry to boot. I only went in for point protectors. I came out with one of those small bags - the teenyness of which is in direct proportion to the largeness of the cost of the items contained. Eeekers.

There was an amazing carved wood statue on the way into town.

Then the next day (Tuesday) I went over to Feral Janine's very cute craftsman house in Berkeley. Said glad hellos to doggy Shadow - as I was in withdrawal without my Trixie dog (at doggy summer camp on Vashon Island while we're on the trip).

Then - more excitement! Lala and Rachel came over (the thrice married). I always read Rachel's blog and was thrilled to meet them at last. We went down to a quilt museum in San Jose for an exhibit of Chinese tapestry weavings. Some very modern and wonderful pieces. Had a nice lunch and headed back. What a great day. Ryan - we wish you'd been with us! Got tons of helpful tidbits from Janine about my Oregon Cardigan progress that finally sank in. I'd heard them all in her classes but it's different when you are finally making it happen and have to know the answer right NOW!

Nice to be back in S.F. Not enough fog for my taste but plenty of roaring wind the past couple days. More friends to see, Britex to go to, no hassle with getting visas for India - which is the reason we're usually here. I'm so relaxed I'm pinching myself. That's AFTER taking my meds.

Road Trip Knittage

On our way down to S.F. I'm trying to knit 4 (or more) rows every day on the Oregon Cardigan by Alice Starmore. Each row takes about a half an hour to knit. Here's the usual daily setup:


Attach chart to crack above airbag cover. Knit, look out window, stop for coffee, stop at next rest stop. Repeat. New day. Repeat. Tomorrow I get together with Feral Janine for fun and a small grilling about little niggling Fair Isle questions. Oboy!

Does your sweater need dog tags?

Picture this: you’re working diligently on your latest project, which just might be a kit from a well-known designer that set you back some real $$$. You’re about 9 inches along and visit a coffee shop to knit with your knitter homies. Then, you get home and realize you left it at the coffee shop. You call, but it’s not there. Did you drop it on your way to somewhere? Did it fall on the ground as you shut the car door? The heartbreak of not getting back a project that you have put a lot of time and money into (or even “just” the time) is not to be thought of. That’s why I went to Pet Smart the other day to the “make your own personalized pet tag” machine and made a dog tag for my sweater and other projects of the future.



The cost for the tokens for the machine (which you buy from the cashier along with the little split rings for attachment) is $6.50 for two tokens (the non-gold colored kind) or $8.50 for 3 tokens for the gold-toned metal kind. Not cheap you say? Compared to a couple hundred spent for a kit – not so bad. But wait – there’s always a way around paying a lot. I’m a huge fan of going to Fed Ex/Kinko’s and laminating small cards for my wallet. You could print out a page with circles, hearts or dog tag shapes for you and all your friends and put “If found, call whosit at 206 whatsit” on 3 lines to fill up the shape per the picture above. The people at FedEx Kinko’s will be happy to show you how the laminating machine works. Cut out all the shapes and spread them evenly inside the laminating sheet, so that after lamination you can cut around each shape leaving a laminated margin of at least ¼”. If you just laminate the whole sheet of paper, when you cut out the shapes, they won’t hold together unless the plastic of the laminated sheet is pressed to itself around each one. Punch a hole at the top of the shape (leave enough room for this when you are making the shapes) and you are ready to tie them on. Use the split rings if you have them, or tie on with yarn. You don’t want to stretch out any stitches, so tie them on the edges of the project, at the bottom of a steek, or anywhere it won’t pull on the main stitches. So the tag can be seen easily, copy your original onto neon pink or chartreuse colored paper. Voila! You now have your best chance of getting your baby back if it goes walkabout!