Tag Archives: ellensburg

36 hours in Ellensburg

Posted on May 2, 2018 | 2 comments

One catch up post!

I spent 36 hours in Ellensburg, WA to celebrate a friend’s birthday the weekend before Knot Another Fiber Festival. It was quick but we packed in a lot of fun!

Saturday was LYS Day. I wasn’t near my LYS, but Ellensburg has a very nice shop, Yarn Folk. Ann Miner’s shop has lots of high quality yarns and is full of inspiring shop samples. I didn’t need any yarn (do I ever?), but I needed a shawl pin so I picked up this leaf pin by One of a Kind Buttons. (More about the book in a bit.)

There was a sheep to shawl exhibit by Thorp Mill at the rodeo grounds, and I met this sweet lamb, as well as some spinners and weavers.

In the afternoon Vickie and I took a beyond basics block printing class at Gallery One. Every time I play with block printing, it gets a little better. So much fun!

This particular class was about chine collé (like collage, adding contrast papers in the printing) and puzzle blocks (cutting your carved block into pieces so you can put it back together while using different colors for the different parts). In three hours we sketched and carved blocks, and tried these two new techniques.

Pictured above, top row: Carved block (it’s been cut and put back together), original test print. Bottom row: Chine collé bird print, and puzzle block print. I’m looking forward to playing more with this block, or even re-doing it now that I know what I want it to look like.

In the evening we went to the college rodeo. Why yes, this was my first rodeo! It seemed about time my boots went to one.

Waiting

Birds on a wire

Matched set

I came home Sunday to teach a class, and picked up the new Mason Dixon Field Guide, Transparency.

I love the look of this Shakerag Top. (Thanks, Biscuit, for helping with the picture.) It’s knit with one or two strands of yarn to create the striping, but the yarn is all the same. This particular yarn is Jade Sapphire Sylph, a blend of cashmere and linen. I love linen and I love cashmere. It’s a little spendy, so I have to decide if I’m really going to make it. Also, deadlines! We shall see.

Knit on!

2 Comments

Posted in cat, classes, Knit, Other craftiness, travel

Tagged Biscuit, block printing, ellensburg, rodeo

Road tripping

Posted on June 1, 2016 | 4 comments

It’s been a multi-craftual couple of weeks.

I went to a piano retreat at Icicle Creek Center for the Arts at the Sleeping Lady Mountain Resort in Leavenworth, WA. No, I”m still not playing the piano, but it was a chance to hang out with the far-flung Adagio Babes, so I made my own personal retreat. I brought my guitar and yarn, and worked on singing and knitting. Pretty awesome. And the piano music was so beguiling I came home and played some, too.

My practice room: the Meadow Stage, with Sleeping Lady watching over. See her profile, forehead to the left, chin to the right, boobs to the right of that?

You can see her better here. The setting was inspirational!

I’m working up a 100g version of my Twin Leaf Crescent Shawl. The pattern rights return to me in June, and I want to include two sizes. Right now it’s only written for Black Trillium’s five mini skein, 165g gradient kit.

I’m using a 100g ombre gradient from Canon Hand Dyes. It’s very different because it’s one long shading from Lavender to Blush. So far, so good. I’m on the crescent shaping, and we’ll see if there’s enough yarn to make it work, or if I have to do a little more magic. Yarn chicken, it’s my life!

In between music and knitting, I took a little hike with friends. Not very long, but a respectable elevation gain.

Before I went to Icicle, I stopped in Ellensburg, WA to visit V. A very belated birthday visit. I made this double wrap bracelet for her: Beads, leather cording, silk thread.

There was enough left over for me to have a single wrap for myself. Win!

Even better, we went to the bead store, and I showed her how to make them. Double win!

Went to an art show and fell in love with Hita von Mende‘s paintings. This is her Crossing the Bar, 30″ x 30″. Wish it would fit over my fireplace, but it won’t…

What’s new with you?

4 Comments

Posted in beading, Knit, music, piano

Tagged ellensburg, Icicle Creek Music Center, Leavenworth, Sleeping Lady

Road trip over the Cascades, part 1

Posted on April 21, 2014 | 1 comment

Sorry for the radio silence last week; I took two road trips totalling about 850 miles. Both trips went to the other side of the Cascade Mountains, the sunnier, drier side, with a stopover at home in between.

The beginning of the week took me to Ellensburg in Central Washington. I went to help Vickie celebrate her birthday; we had a grand time. We caught a bit of the lunar eclipse on Monday, but it clouded over before totality, so no blood moon for us.

On Tuesday we visited a wind farm. The wind was blowing at a constant 35 miles per hour, the perfect speed for generating electricity! These turbines transform that wind into power for 80,000 homes. I love how these look; they are stark and somehow mesmerizing.

Each blade is 129 feet long.

I know wind farms are controversial in some places, but there’s a lot of wind and not many neighbors in this part of the state, so it seems to make sense to have this kind of renewable energy here.

We hiked a trail at Cave B Resort. It’s above the Columbia River next to the Gorge Amphitheater. The views are spectacular. Keep going down the gorge, and you’ll make it to the river. We turned around here due to time limitations.

I nearly stepped on a snake. Whoops!

We made a quick stop (it was really windy!) at Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park above the Columbia River to check out the petroglyphs. These were relocated here to save them from the rising water after the Wanapum Dam was built four miles downstream.

Sheep?

The next morning we took a stroll on the banks of the Yakima River. The river takes a wide turn here.

We saw this truck remnant in the woods.

I headed home Wednesday afternoon to get ready for the next trip on Friday. More on that in the next post. For now, it’s time to cast on for the Aloha Shawlette KAL! Are you knitting along with me? Come check out the chatter on Ravelry.

1 Comment

Posted in KAL, travel

Tagged ellensburg, hike, petroglyphs, wind farm