Archive for the ‘Methow Valley’ Category

Kick & Glide

Posted in knitting, Methow Valley on December 19, 2010| 1 Comment »

After the Big Snow last weekend, there was a terrific base for the cross-country ski trails, and the groomers have been out in force. We went out 3 times this week, right from the house (more or less). The Methow Community Trail that runs the length of the valley from Mazama to Winthrop goes by about 200 feet from the end of our driveway. We got permission from the neighbor across the road to cut a trail along his fenceline over to the trail. Here is a picture taken from the trail back towards our home:

We definitely had sore muscles after the first time out, but today we went out for an hour and a half and both felt a lot stronger.

The Methow Valley has one of the top cross-country ski trail systems in the country… check out MVSTA, the Methow Valley Sports Trail Association.

I finished another of the swirl-top hats, using Noro Silk Garden and Rowan Kid Classic in a raspberry pink color. I picked up one ball of this color from my friend Jessica at a stash reduction sale a year or two ago. For this hat, I tried out a different mosaic stitch pattern – it’s a slight variation of one I found in Barbara Walker’s Treasury of Knitting Patterns.

We’re off to the Coast tomorrow for 6 nights – for family events, including Christmas of course. See you in a week!

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Snow time

Posted in home life, Methow Valley on November 30, 2010| 1 Comment »

We have a new project underway here at home – a carport! Our builder said it could be done this winter if we got the concrete work done as quickly as possible. So Rick put together some plans, we got our building and land use permits, and it was off and running by mid-November.

Nov 16 - pouring the foundations

It snowed for the first time, and was really really cold that week – but the excavator managed to get the back-filling done just in time to protect the concrete foundations after they had set for a few days:

Nov 20 - piers in the snow

They started the framing just before Thanksgiving – brrr!

Nov 23 - begin framing

And yesterday, with more snow on the way, they had a boom truck come and place the beams, plus one of the upper walls that they framed up on the ground. They would have liked to have the other wall up too, but the boom truck came a little early.

Nov 29 - a wall is up!

It has been snowing here all day and they are taking a break.

We spent 4 nights on the Coast for Thanksgiving with family and some nice visits with various friends. It was cold and a little dreary in Seattle, so no pictures. But on our way home from Anacortes on Sunday we were able to take the North Cascades Hwy for probably the last time this winter. It was an easy drive and quite beautiful, especially in the Washington Pass area around 3:30 pm. I leave you with some scenes of early winter….

Just west of Washington Pass

Looking east from Washington Pass

Looking back at Liberty Bell

A ridge southeast of the pass

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Methow Spinners & Weavers Annual Sale

Posted in Methow Valley, weaving on November 17, 2010| 2 Comments »

METHOW VALLEY SPINNERS AND WEAVERS GUILD

Cordially Invites You to Our

Annual Show & Sale

Friday, November 19, 2:00 – 6:30

Saturday, November 20, 9:00 – 3:00

137 Old Twisp Highway

(a loop road off Hwy 20 between Twisp and Winthrop in the Methow Valley)

Towels, Blankets, Rugs, Scarves & More ~~ All hand-woven by our guild members

I’ve been really busy this week getting ready for the above event. I sold a lot of my work at the Seattle Weavers’ Guild Sale and then the following weekend out at Port Townsend – not that I am complaining, it basically paid for my new e-spinner and camera. But I wanted to have more to show at our Methow Valley guild sale this weekend. So I put on a purple warp for 4 more plaited twill scarves last Friday, wove them over the weekend, and finished the ends etc. last night. They were all woven with rayon chenille this time:

Plaited twill scarves with purple perle cotton warp

The two blue ones are not exactly the same – they were done with different tie-ups and treadling (one is the same pattern as the black scarf, the other the same as the green scarf).

Today I will put together some more shawl pins, as I sold out of those too. I was out of finished wood rings, but Rick still has quite a few that are cut out and turned, and he sanded them out and put finish on them for me the last couple of days. Bless him.

And I finished spinning the fiber I started on 2 weekends ago, and will ply it up into yarn on my new spinner today. Pictures later! I like to have some handspun for sale at our event, as people really seem to appreciate it, and I often feel the spinning part of our guild name is somewhat neglected in favor of the weaving part.

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Weaving up a storm

Posted in Methow Valley, weaving on September 28, 2010| 4 Comments »

I’ve been working on the looms a lot the last couple of weeks. Part of the motivation is wanting to finish some things (rugs for a trade and to have out on consignment; stockpiling things for the holiday sales coming up) but part is also my new fascination with the plaited twill scarves I started on last month.

So I finished 4 rugs using Pendleton fringed selvages. One was an order to match the 10-ft hallway runner I wove last month:

Really liked this next one, it reminds me of a Hudson’s Bay blanket. I have more of the material and I am going to try alternating it with some smooth selvages from Pendleton in similar colors. But, not this week!

And the other two:

By the way, Alfred has been hanging out behind the house a lot lately – just by himself. He is definitely bulking up some. We talk to him and tell him to stay around the neighborhood, with hunting seasons underway (had a bow hunter in the YARD last Sunday, looking for a deer he had shot. Gah).

I wound 9 yards of warp for a new series of 4 plaited twill scarves, in a grey-green colorway, using 5/2 perle cotton:

I decided to use a “dummy warp” this time, so I can be sure to have enough for the 4 scarves, and tie on a new colorway when I am done. I used 8/2 matte cotton and set it up with groups of 16 ends in alternating colors. Because of the way I have designed the scarf warp, it makes it easier to tie on and keep track of where I am.

In a bit of a marathon, I wove off all 4 scarves the last 2 days. Pictures later! Of course, they still need to have their fringes finished, be washed and pressed, etc. But I am happy with them.

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Purple Ribbons

Posted in fiberarts, Methow Valley on September 20, 2010| 1 Comment »

I did well at the county fair – two Grand Champion ribbons, one for my Mosaic Edge Cardigan sweater, and the other for one of the plaited twill scarves I finished recently:

I know these awards are supposed to be based on the merits, not in comparison to other entries, but the fact was that there seemed to be a lot fewer entries this year in all the fiberarts fields. It was disappointing, just because it is nice to see what other people have done. In particular, I noticed there were a lot fewer quilts this year than last year.

I am weaving away on more scarves, plus a few rugs. I came into the house from the studio yesterday afternoon, just as it was starting to rain and thunder. The next thing I knew there was a complete deluge, like someone was pouring ice water over the house. I say ice water, because there was a lot of hail mixed in. I can’t remember ever experiencing such a heavy, sustained downpour. Teasel was so freaked out she came downstairs and was slinking around with piteous meow’s, trying to hide… Sheesh!

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Labor Day Weekend 2010 – and beyond!

Posted in family & friends, knitting, Methow Valley on September 11, 2010| Leave a Comment »

It’s been such a varied week, I thought I would just do a kitchen-sink kind of post today.

In anticipation of the upcoming Okanogan County Fair, and also a new round of teaching the top-down raglan sweater class, I finally got the little cardigan finished that I knit over the summer. I still needed to darn in the ends, sew on the buttons, and block it. It was knit using Rowan Yorkshire Tweed (about 7 sts/in), which sadly is a discontinued yarn. I only had so much of the main color and couldn’t find more anywhere, so I had to get creative towards the end. It is knit in one piece from the top down, and for the borders I used a mosaic pattern called “Sanquar Check” from one of the Barbara Walker books (1st Treasury of Stitch Patterns I think, am too lazy to go out to the studio and check…) I had to go with 3/4 length sleeves due to the running-out-of-yarn problem, but I think I actually like them that way. So, finished object:

On Sunday of the Labor Day weekend, I set up my booth at the Winthrop Artisan Market. It was very windy, overcast, and a little cold! We had to tie all the pieces of my display down so they wouldn’t blow over. I did sell one rug and 2 shawl pins, so it wasn’t a complete bust…but nicer weather would have helped, I think.

Also that Sunday my Dad came over from Anacortes in his little Rialta motorhome, with his cat Squeaky, and spent 3 nights with us. Sadly, the weather remained cool and rainy, with occasional sun breaks, so we couldn’t do much outside. But still, we had a good visit. Took Dad up to see one of the houses Rick built cabinets for last year, and also went up to see the job site for an upcoming job this fall. It’s in a beautiful location up the Lost River valley.

Tuesday was Dad’s 91st birthday and we went up to Sun Mountain Lodge for dinner. We had one of the best tables with a beautiful view up and down the valley below, and it had cleared up some so the views were spectacular.

Thursday was the opening day for the Okanogan County Fair over in Omak. A group from our guild, Methow Valley Spinners & Weavers, had organized a “fleece to shawl” event. We had a loom already warped for a shawl with handspun yarn that several of us had supplied. We brought a washed fleece, a natural colored Romney from The Pines Farm in Maple Valley (south of Seattle). We hand-carded the fleece, spun the rolags into singles, then I was the “designated plyer” and made a 2-ply yarn. This was handed off to the weavers, who wove the shawl. We actually finished it in about 5 hours – I was amazed! Thursday was also the day that a lot of school groups came through, and the kids were really interested and asked a lot of questions.

That’s our guild display on the wall that my friend Diana puts together each year (with some help, but it is mostly her effort). We usually show what the guild challenge project was for the year, and as I last blogged about here, this year it was to “do something” with some emerald green and camel brown cotton yarn that we had been given an abundance of some time in the past.

The rest of this week, I’ve started on a new round of scarves on my little workshop loom. Last night we worked late and decided to go down to Twisp for dinner at Tappi. It turned out one of our favorite groups was playing jazz:

And here’s John with part of our dinner just out of the brick oven – it’s the “Malandrino” burger. Calling this a burger is more than a little misleading. And yes, we split it. It’s a full pound of beef, with grilled onions and grilled tomatoes, melted blue cheese, on a homemade pocket bread. Best eaten with knife and fork!

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Rescue Road

Posted in Methow Valley on August 6, 2010| Leave a Comment »

We’ve had several thunder and lightning storms, with heavy rain, this past week. Last Saturday, when I came back from a guild meeting in Omak (sorry, no pictures) it was completely black up to the north. Ominous looking. Sure enough, as I headed up to Winthrop it started raining heavily. Huge big splats of rain, and wind. The road was awash with water. Some of you probably know that it was during this storm that George Shangrow, who was a conductor, pianist and radio host in Seattle, died in a car crash en route to deliver a pre-concert lecture at the Methow Valley Chamber Music Festival.

On Tuesday I was down at the Spinners and Weavers guild room, weaving some towels on my loom there. Our guild room is about halfway between Winthrop and Twisp, on a loop road off Hwy 20 called the Old Twisp Highway. It runs along pretty close to the Methow River.

It started blowing and raining heavily. All of a sudden there were two women out in front of the building, in bathing suits and carrying inner tubes! I let them into the vestibule and got them some towels. They had been out floating on the river when the storm started, and were getting hailed on, then one of their tubes started leaking and deflating. They pulled out of the river and starting walking back north, trying to get back to their car. They said they had been walking for a while, and a woman in a car had passed them and just ignored them. They were pretty wet and cold by the time they got to the guild building.

So we threw their tubes in the back of my car and I gave them a ride up to where they had parked just north of where our road comes out on the highway.

Two days later, I am driving up to the guild room again, from Twisp. It’s a nice sunny day this time. Two young men in swim trunks were thumbing a ride on the Old Twisp Highway, heading north. I stopped but they needed a ride to Winthrop and I was only going up the road a little way. So a little while later, there I am weaving away, and they show up in front of the building. It turned out they also had equipment malfunction of some sort while floating the river. So I gave them a ride up to the main highway, where they had a better chance of getting a ride back up to town.

I’m beginning to feel like a river tubers’ taxi service!

I finished weaving those towels, washed and dried them, but they still need to be hemmed. I promise some pictures, plus ones of the rugs I have been weaving at home, in an upcoming post.

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Tuesdays are for Hiking

Posted in family & friends, Methow Valley, outdoors on July 14, 2010| Leave a Comment »

I finally seem to be back in the groove with my hiking group. For many reasons, Tuesdays have been hard to schedule for the last couple of months. Anyway, last week we went up to Goat Peak, a hike I have not done before. This is a manned lookout up above Mazama in the upper valley. Specifically, it is manned by Lightning Bill Austin, who is a poet among other things! Unfortunately, Monday and Tuesday are his days off, so we were not able to visit with him (which evidently often involves a poetry reading…)

This is a short but very steep hike. If memory serves, we started at 5600′ after a longish drive up from Mazama, and ended at 6800′. My valley floor lungs were suffering. But, despite the warm weather of late, at that elevation and fairly early in the morning, it was not really hot.

Beautiful views at the top (knoll before final ascent to lookout). Individual photos do not really do justice, so I made a rather amateurish panorama for you:

That’s the lookout on the left, on top of the peak in the foreground. The mountains are in the North Cascades to the south and west. We did not continue the final 1/2 mile or so to the lookout, since there were still significant snow patches on the north-facing side of Goat Peak, and we had achieved our other goal, which was to deliver a “travel bug” to its final destination in a geo-cache near the peak.

What is a travel bug, you might well ask? Welcome to the world of geo-caching – I still have a lot to learn! Here are the Travel Bug FAQs, but basically it is a trackable tag that is attached to an item and logged into the Geocache.com website, so that it “becomes a hitchhiker that is carried from cache to cache (or person to person) in the real world and you can follow its progress online”.

This particular travel bug originated in Chicago, and it took 3 years for it to reach its defined goal, which was to go to Lightning Bill!

This week, yesterday actually, four of us made it to Black Lake, which is a 5-mile hike up the Lake Creek trail in the Pasayten Wilderness (accessed via West Chewuch Rd out of Winthrop). Our group thought this hike is in the area burned in the 30 Mile Fire back in 2001, but this trip report from the Washington Trails Association website says it was actually burned in the 2003 Farewell Fire. It also says it is only 4 miles. Hmmm… felt like 5 miles!

Anyway, the trail has little elevation gain and follows along Lake Creek most of the way. Despite all the burnt trees, it did not feel really desolate, since a lot of the understory is coming back. In fact, the trail could use a good brushing-out!

After the very hot temperatures of last week, we were glad it had cooled off, and we had high overcast as well, so what could have been a long and hot hike was simply a little long. But it felt good to get out and get that much exercise! And to our surprise, there were really NO BUGS – amazing!

Our final destination, Black Lake:

It was actually kind of cold and windy at the lake, enough so that we had to put on our windbreakers to eat our lunch.

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Lewisia in bloom

Posted in home life, Methow Valley on June 9, 2010| Leave a Comment »

The weather has been mixed and not in synch with my plans. Last Saturday was warm and sunny, not that I am complaining, but on Sunday when I participated in my first Winthrop Artisans Market of the season, it was cold and drizzling. I even had to wear a knit hat and gloves, and put one of my wool rag rugs over my lap, at one point! Sheesh. There were very few shoppers and even fewer buyers. However, I will persevere…

artisans market in the rain

Then on Monday it was beautiful and sunny again, but I had too much going on to get out and enjoy the day. In the morning I drove down to Chelan Falls to teach a knitting class at Warehouse Woolery (I have seven people signed up for the top-down raglan sweater class). Then I drove back home and worked at the Institute office from 2-6. I also spent the whole day there yesterday starting at 8:30, but I did run back home at lunchtime and that is when I noticed the carpet of Lewisia flowers out in our yard.

Actually we first started seeing them about a week ago, but there are even more now. This is commonly called Bitterroot and was gathered and eaten by the native peoples in the valley. We don’t have any of this down at Benson Creek – it must be the stony soil here, or something. They are beautiful!

Lewisia in bloom in our yard

Today I am home and catching up with household tasks, plus hopefully doing some weaving. But it is once again cloudy and threatening to rain. Phooey!

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Suits Him to a T

Posted in Methow Valley on May 8, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Sometime in the last month, Rick was asked if he would be interested in becoming the new driver for the 1914 Model T that belongs to the Shafer Museum in Winthrop. He said yes, but nothing happened until this week. On Wednesday he got his one and only driving lesson, and today (Saturday) he drove it in the Winthrop ’49er Days parade, with me riding shotgun (actually operating the “ooga-ooga” horn with my foot….).

The first challenge was getting it started. Turns out the former driver, who “trained” Rick on Wednesday, had charged the battery yesterday and forgot to hook it back up again. Once we figured that out, she started right up. This car has no gear shift. You use a brake and a couple of foot pedals. I still don’t quite get it, but hey, we didn’t run anybody down and it kept running the entire time.

Here we are waiting in line for the parade to start:

I had some time to walk back down the line and check out the other “entries.” This is a very home-grown affair, with both groups (e.g. the Girl Scouts, in front of us) and businesses represented. For example, the septic services; yes, that girl on the far left IS wearing a dress covered in toilet paper!