Dazed and Confused in Edinburgh

Here we are, in Edinburgh.  We left PDX at 6 a.m. July 8, and arrived here at 6:45 a.m. July 9.  Do I need to say we are dazed and confused?  Our innkeeper at Ard-Na-Said (which means top of the arrow) let us stow our bags and gave us coffee.

Ard-Na-Said, our home away from home in Edinburgh.

We kept our sightseeing to a minimum today:

The main thoroughfare going in and out of Edinburgh Castle.

There are lots of charming nooks and crannies at the castle

A stroll down the Royal Mile

At the end of the day, we strolled over to the Salisbury Arms, where we had our first Edinburgh pint.

Cheers!

2015 Travel Season

Travel season starts on July 8 for Taylor and me.  While we are excited to continue exploring the world, our hearts will be with Solomon Pearson Dennen, aka Soup, in Taipei, Taiwan.  Born June 25, 2015, he is the light of our lives.

Travel Season 2015

We are leaving for Scotland, Cornwall, Jersey, Normandy, Brittany, Cambridge and London in two days!  I wonder if I'll see ukuleles over there?

Swirl at Last

Meet my finished Swirl.  I started this June 3, 2014 and finished it May 17, 2015.  This was a long involved project, but I love the finished garment.  I hope to get a photo of me in the Swirl before too long.

November 17, 2015

The Summer of Rogue Knitting

I've been taken with the Jane Thornley mode of free range rogue knitting all summer long.  Working with minimal instructions, color and texture has altered my attitude toward knitting.  I will definitely  use these new techniques in future knitting projects.

Midnight on the Rogue - a relaxed yet elegant shawl.  Gaye Lawson, a fellow rogue knitter, and I decided that this is the "opera" shawl, and the previous shawl is for more casual events.

I used odd yarns that I would not normally use.  The dark blue has thick and thin runs.  I can't imagine using it for anything other than a rogue.

I mentioned in the previous post, that I started Jane's summer mystery knit along.  I had no idea where I was going except that I was making a vest. Color and texture led the way.

I finished the vest as we drove, once again, through the Rogue River area, to Ashland Oregon.

I love the beautiful mess in my lap as I sipped my Dutch Bros coffee and admired the scenery.

Finished vest with vintage red glass buttons.

Captured

I've been captured by the Rogue Wave.

The wrap is on the mannequin inside out, but you get the general idea.

I happily knit this Rogue Wave Wrap on my two week road trip through Ashland OR and northern California.  But..............it clearly wasn't enough to satisfy my newly found desire to knit free range.

When I got home, some of the knitters at my local yarn shop, Yarntastic, decided to get on the bandwagon with me and knit their own Rogue Waves.  Thus, the Scrap Wrap project was launched by the Thursday night knitters.  Lesley, the shop owner provided a kiddie swimming pool and the knitters provided left over yarns. The knitters dove in, marking the beginning of their own Rogue Wave/Scrap Wrap.  Even though I had already knit mine, I succumbed and started a second.

I wanted to knit a second wrap for two reasons.  First,since I hadn't followed Jane Thornley's directions for increasing three stitches at the beginning of each row, I wanted to see what I thought of the results when I followed the advice of the the woman responsible for my foray into free range knitting.  Second, I wanted to experiment with using variations of blue, with no pop color.  Although I'm not finished yet, I like the result.  The stripes behave in a different manner, and the monotone lends a serene, elegant mood to the shawl.

Then, a week ago, just home from the Thursday knitters group I checked out Jane Thornley's latest forum post on Ravelry.  Oh dear, I had missed, by 5 days, the beginning of her summer mystery My Little Vest Along project.  Well, I could barely contain myself.  I ripped into my stash and started pulling out yarns in their various color groupings.  I thought about the blues, but quickly determined red was my color for this project.  I got the first clue and was off  and knitting.  Less than a week later, I got the second clue. I loved blending and mixing colors and textures as I knit. I waited impatiently, but finally clue number three arrived and I am in  heaven. It's all I can do to keep my hands off of it. I don't have any idea what the finished vest will look like, but I know I'll love it.  In the meantime, I know I will have finished with clue number two and be anxiously awaiting clue number four.

Will this really be a vest?

Knitting on the Rogue

Exactly one week ago today, I was at Garabaldi, on the Oregon Coast, with my old friend Katy, and my new friend Gaye.  We were having a knitting/Mah Jongg/gourmet dinner/adult beverage kind of holiday.  One might call it camp for grown ups.

I had never met Gaye before, but when she walked in wearing her Jane Thornley, Rogue Wave Wrap, I knew she was my kind of friend.  I explored Jane Thornley's web site and Ravelry pages, and I think she is also my kind of friend.  I immediately knew I wanted to embark on a knitting "off the grid" kind of adventure that is the basis of Jane's designs.  In other words, I wanted a Rogue Wave Wrap.  Katy, Gaye and I went to a few knitting shops on the coast, and began digging through the sale bins.  Katy and I started collecting what would eventually become our own wraps, keeping in mind that we both had lots of left overs in our home stashes.

As I started thinking what my own Rogue would be like, I recalled that I actually had already knit a rogue/off the grid type shawl.  I called my previous shawl my Stash Buster Scarf.

When I got home, I gathered stash yarn and combined it with some of Katy's hand spun silk and
added it to my sale bin yarns.

The light blue on the bottom right is Katy's hand spun silk.

Several days later, Taylor and I got in the car and started a two week road trip to Ashland OR. Napa CA and Davis CA.  Actually, Taylor started driving and I started knitting.  As we got closer to Ashland, I realized I was now in Rogue River country -an appropriate location for my current knitting endeavor.

Jane's directions are minimal.  Anyone should be able to follow them to make a triangular shawl, starting with the bottom point.  I, however, managed to "go rogue" before knitting more than 4 or 5 inches.  Jane recommends that the knitter cast on three stitches at the beginning of each row.  She said, "Cast on."  I read, "Cast on," and proceeded to do my own thing.  This is, after all, knitting "off the grid."  Instead of casting on, I increased three stitches at the beginning of each row by picking up the bar, or knitting in the front or back of the first three stitches.  The result is:

If I wasn't such a rogue knitter, the red at the top of the wrap would be at the bottom.  As the stitches lie, that band of red (which is actually purple) will be the neck edge.  When I realized that my wrap was coming out upside down, I considered ripping out my stitches.  However, I imagined that Jane would have told me to go with the flow - so I did.

I'm definitely in the flow with this project.  Since we are in Ashland to attend plays at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, this project provides relaxation between shows.  It is also appropriate because Ashland is kind of a hippie type town where I'm sure there are many "off the grid", "rogue" kind of people.  Here's a sample of what I found walking down the road next to Lithia Springs Resort, where we are staying.