Monday, August 21, 2006

I Wish I Was There

"There" being in the Sierras with my husband. He's been calling every day (using a cell phone, and tonight he was calling from 11,000 feet in the middle of nowhere!) and regaling me, however briefly, with stories of his adventures. Fortunately, he hasn't had any epic adventures yet and I hope it stays that way.

This first couple of days have been spent getting acclimated to the altitude as well as obtaining the necessary backcountry permits. They did a hike yesterday and on the way back to camp, Tom began feeling a bit dizzy and nauseated. We think he had a touch of altitude sickness. Today they hiked up to 11,000 feet and he feels fine. They'll move camp again tomorrow, then hike to the summit of Mt. Whitney on Wednesday. On Thursday, they'll find a route to climb.

Tom says the scenery is spectacular there. There are crystal clear lakes, abundant wildflowers, and hummingbirds. He also saw some partridges or something like them.

On Spinning Jacob
So I'm sitting here, looking at 10 pounds of Jacob roving and wondering what in the world possessed me to buy 10 pounds of the stuff when I can't finish the current projects I've got on the needles or on the wheel. I can't even finish spinning four ounces of fiber, much less 10 pounds!

Nonetheless, I've got it now and I've got to spin it. I'll need about 1100 yards of bulky weight yarn. I can spin bulky. But here's a question for all of you spinner/knitters out there. Should I use a two-ply handspun or use a single? The Einstein Coat is knit in garter stitch. The bodice of coat is knit with the garter rows running horizontally; the bottom of the coat is knit with the garter rows running vertically. I'll want a yarn that doesn't give much. I'm thinking that that would be a single. All thoughts and opinions are welcome.

I'm almost, almost done with the Milanese Lace Scarf for my One Skein secret pal. If I knit fast (ha!), I might be able to finish it before bed. Of course, I might not have enough yarn for the last 10 rows. If I were smart, I'd put in a lifeline, but that's too much like work. Yeah, like tinking 10 row isn't like work?

Hey, I like to knit dangerously!

1 comment:

Sheepish Annie said...

I think you may be right. The single will probably not have the same sproingy-ness. I tend to over spin so I don't use the singles much. I did do a pair of socks using leftover Jacob singles and that seemed to work out very well. Tom's on a mountain, you're casting aside lifelines...what a risk-taking family you be!!!