Extravayarnza

Tuesday we went on a proper hike with Mum. We had water, snacks, sunscreen, maps, and all those sorts of things. Our goal was Raven Cliff Falls in Ceasars Head State Park. The weather was perfect & the full canopy shaded us from most of the sunlight.

On our way into the park we stopped at the visitors center & took in the view of Table Rock Mountain.

The trail we chose lead to a viewing platform and was about 4.5 miles round trip. Now, I walk that far most days in Lansing without too much ado. However Lansing is flat, very flat. This hike wasn't nearly as difficult as the one I had gone on the night before, but parts were still quite steep.

I ended up sleeping the whole way home & most of the evening... 2 days of mountain hiking is quite a lot for a flatlander!

Luckily this time I brought my camera. I've posted a few of my favorite shots from the day. More photos & captions can been seen on flickr by clicking any of the photos.

By the time I get photos all edited and uploaded I keep ended up sitting here past midnight wanted to get down every little thing that happened in the day & equally wanting to fall over in bed.

Mother's Day was all about family. We drove up to Flat Rock, NC to meet up with my Aunt & Uncle at the resort where my Mum & Stan were married this winter. I rarely get to see my Aunt Nancy & to see here twice in as many months was really wonderful. I know my mom loves living so close to her sister. The brunch we went to was quite nice and we had a very energetic server. I managed to forget my camera, but we drove up there with an amazing fog coating the mountains and it was quite an amazing site.

Later in the day I met a good chunk of Stan's family. Gosh people in these parts are friendly. I had the most delightful time & although it will take me a bit more time to learn names and so forth I feel really happy to have made to first meeting.

Monday was all about touring Greenville and shopping. We headed over to Downtown's Main Street and set about finding the Mice on Main.

We found 5 of 8 little mice sculptures. I love these sorts of projects. I need to get to Ann Arbor at some point to find the fairy doors.

For me the most important shop to go to on Main was Mast General Store. They have a neatest collection of outdoor cloths, shoes, hiking supplies, and old fashion candy and toys. I knew on this trip I wanted to find a good pair of hiking shoes. I ended up finding out that I walk really unusually (I'm 1 in 100. Apparently walking mainly on the outside back of your heel is weird...) and that I'm a little hard to fit in a shoe. Luckily I found a great sneaker style hiking boot from The North Face. They're grey & green and fit my feet really well. My heel completely slipped out of so many of the shoes. I really wanted lower boots since they're for summer and I'm usually in MI where it's flat and ankle support isn't as big of an issue. I really love the shoes I ended up with!
I also found a super cute purse there. Lots of pockets, zippers, and magnets. Plus it's purple.
After shopping we had lunch at a little outdoor restaurant right on the falls.
They we went across Liberty Bridge and explored Falls Park.



Later we explored Cleveland Park, went on a much too long adventure in finding a pet shop (mom's single Red Cloud needed some fishy friends), and finally went home for a break.
I barely had time to get the arch supports fitted into my new hiking shoes then it was back out the door with Stan and the dogs to head over to Paris Mountain State Park.
We planned on a shorter 2 mile fairly easy hike (since I had new shoes that hadn't been broken in yet and had spent most of the day walking). We got to the turn around point and decided to go a bit further. By the time we were done we had hiked 4 miles and had gained (and lost again) 700 feet in elevation (most of that over about a 1 mile section of steep difficult trail). It turns out we hiked the most difficult trail in the park.

I marked our route in red. It was beautiful. I think if I lived here I'd do that hike every week.
Now I'm back to mom's, sunburnt and tired, and I think I'll take some much earned rest.

Hi y'all!
We've all arrived in South Carolina and are having a positively pleasant time. I'll be back here in a day or two, but I wanted to let you know I've started a photo set on Flickr for the trip. Click on either of the photos below to go there & see what's been going on.

I hope you all had a lovely Mother's Day~

I'm preparing for a scary busy bit of time. I'm leaving tomorrow morning with my brother & my dogs to drive 12 hours to visit my mum. I've never been to South Carolina, so this should be a fun trip!
After I get back I get to breath for a couple of weeks (while waiting for Rachel to have her baby). Then it's off to TNNA and then a few days back to prepare for Louisa Harding to come to the shop!!!!

The very next day is WWKIP day and I'm co-hosting a Lansing/East Lansing event with Woven Art.

Yips!

The rest of the summer is no easier...

So, I'm packing/cleaning/preparing to leave my shop all by it's self for the first time (in the hands of totally awesome employees, but I'll be so far away...)

I managed to finish the knitting on a very cute little project. I'm knitting a couple of Louisa Harding patterns to celebrate her coming to the shop June 13th.
I used her new summer silk yarn, Mulberry...

and knit a lace purse from Knitting Little Luxuries

The knitting is now all finished, I just need to sew up the silk lining when I get back from Mom's.
I should be able to blog while I'm away, so hope to see you all soon!

This is a gratuitous (wow that word threw me for a loop on spelling) posting just to show off my new haircut. Considering that my previous cut was self inflicted I'm quite bubbly and froody (bonus points for knowing what froody is) about my new style.


It was done by an aveeda institute student & I think she did a great job! Now I just need to get it parted just so & styled just right tomorrow morning...

Last year when I went Trillium "hunting" I ended up with a handful of blurry photos and poison ivy. This year every single photo was in focus & I came through with nary a scratch. I thought I'd share a few here. I still need to crop a bit and decide which ones to print, but I'm so happy with the results I just need to share them.

This is a shot from Scott Woods & really needs to be seen at full size. I love how abundant the Trillium are here. They are so fragile and easily killed (picking the flower kills the whole plant!), but in central Michigan they just seem to carpet the forest floors in the spring.

This little group was in the dog park.

There's quite a few more of these on my Flickr page, just click either of the photos above to see them~

My hand has also healed enough for me to knit! Since Sunday night I've been working on finishing up a pattern that I've been meaning to write for years. I use this sock (or rather a version of it) to teach magic loop socks & I finally feel comfortable enough with the wording to write it as a pattern. As a shop owner I've always had trouble finding a leaflet pattern to carry in my shop with short row heels and/or toes. I hope this will fill what I see as a bit of a hole in basic sock patterns.

The pattern is being sent to test knitters tonight & I still have 3 more socks to knit before I can do the photo shoot. Hopefully if I can keep up my current pace the pattern will be available in a couple of weeks.

Knitting has slowed almost to a stand still here at Chez Extravayarnza due to an accident washing dishes where my fingertip made a good bid (but thankfully unsuccessful) at leaving my hand. Not bad enough for stitches, but since this was my right pointer finger it's quite necessary for knitting and in a great deal of pain at the moment.

So, I'm instead reveling in the joys of dog ownership in the spring. I do love the ease in taking walks with the pups in the spring/summer/fall. (I love walking in the winter too, but my winter boots need a rest).
Right now at the dog park (which has earned a bit of a reprieve) the ground is coated in wild Bleeding Hearts (aka squirrel corn), May Apples, and Trillium.
Trillium are my favorite Michigan wildflower. Last year I had to hike through a 1/4 mile of poison ivy to view their fleeting blooms. This year the North West corner of the park I visit almost daily is carpeted with them. I can't tell you how happy this makes me!
Soon the canopy will fill out and all we'll be able to see is green skies and brown ground. I try to really enjoy this early spring carpet of life in our forests.
We've enjoyed 7 days straight of 70 degree (20 C) plus weather.
The downside to all this warmth for those who own Shelties is that this is the big time of coat blowing. Robin has built up this thick fluffy undercoat from a long winter & has decided that it simply must go. I brushed out an entire grocery bag of fur off of him alone tonight & he looks about 6 inches less wide. I think there is still plenty more undercoat where that all came from too. Luckily he doesn't shed much on his own, it all sits there until I brush it out.

So, I suppose I'll close this out with some photos...

So, I have a whole bunch of pictures to show. Both knitting & of the pups, but although I uploaded them to the computer & edited them I totally forgot to put them on flickr before I went to work. I did however upload the video I took of Robin & Toshiko at the park yesterday.

Robin has a system worked out... He likes to splash in the water, but he doesn't swim. Toshiko however figured out how to swim last Friday and has totally loved it since then. So, I throw a stick into the lake. Robin watches it, wishing it was his. Toshiko does all the work swimming out to get it. Robin promptly attempts to take it from her as soon as she gets back into the shallows. This generally works out pretty well for him.

I'll be back tonight or tomorrow afternoon with a whole lot more to say. It's been a long week.

Also, for those of you in Lansing. I have a small favor to ask.
As I'm writing this 1/3 of our fantastic dog park is being blocked off due to unexpected popularity. Yes you read that right. The park is so popular they're closing a 1/3 of it (including the beach where this video was taken). One of the people who lives near the park is apparently good friends of our mayor and told him the park was too loud and disturbing the peace of the neighborhood. So he immediately decided that it should close. We found out Sunday night & it will be fenced off by end of day today.
Friends of Lansing Dog Parks has set up a mediation between the mayor, the neighbors, and themselves to hopefully resolve this. However I'm asking for those of you who use to park to write to our local city counsel and the mayors office to explain why the park is important and should remain open. If one person can apparently cause such an instant and dramatic effect in him, hopefully if we all speak up we can change his mind.

Thank You.

To be honest, I haven't had much sock mojo this winter. I generally churn out at least 1/2 a dozen pairs (usually closer to a dozen) during the endless Michigan winter. This year I can count only 1 pair. One little pair of socks that took from from early January to Mid-April to knit. I think I may have knit a pair in October as well, finding out would require unpacking boxes since much of my knitting is yet to be unpacked.
Much of this winter was spent knitting flat square things. Swatches for the shop and squares for the knit-a-long blanket dominated my knitting. I do have an almost finished sweater that's begging to see the light of day in my knitting basket. A sweater that should have been finished in November, but was set aside due to the move.

However I love my single lovely pair of socks. They're Yummy...

The yarn is Yummy from Fibranatura. This is a super new sock yarn that came in shortly after the shop opened in it's new space. I really love it. It's 100% superwash merino in a densely spun 3-ply. I think it will hold up well, but today's the first wearing.

When I finished these a few days ago I jumped right in with some sock yarn that's been in and out of my stash for about 3 years now. We kept selling out of this colorway & customers convinced me to part with mine. Then it would come back in and I'd once again grab 2 balls for the stash and this just kept happening over and over again. However we have 30 balls in right now & Stephanie has reminded me how super awesome this yarn is knit up, so rather than lingering on my needles for months I've knit half a sock in 2 days.

However I've decided this yarn is pure evil. I'm a grown woman who now has Skidamarink absolutely stuck in her head. Every stitch so far of the socks (with exception of those knit in the dark which is seeming like a better and better idea) has been accompanied my the singing of this song (luckily in my head). I'm completely unable to stop! It's like how my new dog Toshiko inspires me to grab her ears and sing Do Your Ears Hang Low.

Those who have known me a long time know that I'm up for just about any sort of craft or art medium. I mainly knit, but am also quite the seamstress (my other life is as a professional theatrical seamstress). I also dabble in spinning, crochet, beadwork, braiding, various types of carving, metal working (mainly jewelry), work working, Chinese watercolor, pastels, and acrylic painting.
There are still quite a few crafts that I've always wanted to try; pottery, making glass beads, and weaving come to mind. Through a very lucky find on Craigslist I'm getting to try my hand at weaving.
This is my "new" (to me) Kromski 24" Rigid Heddle Loom

I followed the tutorial on Kromski's website & warped the loom for a simple scarf. I used Jojoland Melody (sock yarn) to give some simple interest without worrying about changing colors. I'm kinda wishing I had choose something a tad bit heavier (my next project will be sport or dk weight), but I'm about 1/2 through my scarf and feel I'm starting to get the hang of this.


We have a whole slew of birthdays this Sunday in my family (my Grandparents and one of their daughters share the same birthday). My Grandma is turning 80 and one of my aunts turned 60 last week. This scarf is hopefully going to be finished in time to be a birthday present for my Grandma. I'm hoping to get another one finished for my aunt as well.
Wish me luck~