Monday, May 21, 2012

High Fiber--Adventures in Colorado and Other Stuff

Progress on the Fiji sock!
 

I just returned from a weekend trip to Grand Junction, Colorado, to help register voters. It was about five hours each way, so there was lots of knitting time in the car. (It's amazing how much you can get done cooped up in the car.) The yarn is Knit Picks Glimmer in Fiji. The pattern is the "Scrolls" design under "Eight-stitch Patterns" in Charlene Schurch's More Sensational Knitted Socks. It's a fairly easy pattern, just YOs, SSKs and K2Togs. I'm using an "Eye of Partridge" heel.

The visit in Grand Junction was a lot of fun. My friend Liana and I stayed in the home of a nice lady who turned out to be a quilter. She was doing some square-foot gardening in her backyard and had a grape arbor that was decades old.

All day Saturday, we called on people who didn't vote in the last election. According to new Colorado law, they would not receive a ballot in the mail unless they re-registered. For the four of us in our car, this meant driving around looking for addresses. We received maps and well-organized materials before we set out, but finding your way around Grand Junction isn't very easy for people who don't live there! We found that out when we tried to find the home of our hostess. It was like Mr. Toad's wild ride, and the GPS wasn't much help! During the day, it was easier, but still challenging. This photo says it all, I think:


Who ever heard of streets with fractions? Actually, it makes sense, as we found out. The numbers are miles from the border. We never found out what the letters with fractions were for. And so many streets didn't go anywhere at all! We had great weather, though, great food and great companionship! Best of all, people seemed genuinely happy to be able to register to get their ballots in the mail. I hope I can go back again this summer.

Earlier in the week I got the dragon quilt back from Julie:


The binding is on, and it's ready to give to our new grandson when he arrives next month. Also in the works for him is a larger Baby Surprise Jacket (BSJ):


I didn't take it to Colorado because I was trying to just take something small, because other people were sharing the car. I was sure I would have finished it, so needed another project. The sock took up almost no room. This BSJ doesn't need to be finished very soon. I'm using Swish DK and larger needles, so it should fit at 6-9 months, quite a bit bigger than the earlier one. One of the neat things about the pattern is that you can vary the size by changing the size of the yarn and needles.

We Skyped with Daphne on her birthday, and got to see Zachary with his eyes open. Here's a shot of the screen:


Stay tuned for more babies, knitting, quilting, travel and dogs. Have a happy week!

What's on my needles:Fiji sock, BSJ and Dogwood Blossoms
What's on my iPad: Just started Celia's House by D. E. Stevenson, one of my favorite authors. It's from Audible.
What's my app of the week:Flipboard. Great for news summaries on the go.
What's in my wine glass:Crane Lake Petit Sirah 2010. Very nice with a relaxing evening meal.

Note: This blog post was produced entirely on the MacBook. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for or cleaned.

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