trip report
Went to Yosemite this weekend and managed to make a good amount of progress on my Tivoli-T. I started out just under the armpit, but it's amazing what 12 hours on the road can do for your knitting progress:
Okay, I know, some people finish their entire Tivoli in about that amount of time, but I'm possibly the world's slowest knitter, so this is leaps and bounds for me!
Speaking of which, I attribute the whole thing to being an English knitter. I spent a considerable amount of time practicing my Continental knit stitch. I think I'm almost proficient... except that I can't work any sort of decrease, and I haven't even tried any increases yet. I guess more practice is necessary.
So on the drive up, I got more details on this pissing contest Ryan has entered. Apparently, his co-workers are trying to prove how macho they are by managing to knit extremely manly things. I don't particularly understand the logic in it, but if it means that I get to teach him to knit and he learns willingly, I'm psyched. We talked about different design options, and Ryan has decided that a felted intarsia project will be the perfect first knitting project for him and will win the contest. A grey beer cozy with a red lip and bottom and a red "block" O. For those in the know, that would be Ohio state colors.
Perfect, now all we need is red and grey wool. I don't have any and the contest ends August 22, so that means no ordering Wool of the Andes from KnitPicks. So that means a trip to the yarn store. Yay! Wait, when do we have time for this??? So fate swooped in, and intervened by dropping a yarn store into the middle of the gas station restaurant that we had dinner at on Saturday night. Talk about my dream come true! Having delicious lobster taquitos and a mango margarita and being able to stock up on some Cascade 220 for Ryan's felting project! All with the ambiance of a Mobil gas station. Only in California, I say. For those interested, such a gas station is located at the junction of 395 and 120 outside the Tioga Pass entrance on Yosemite's east side. The restaurant is located inside the gas station convenience store and is called Whoa Nellie Deli. We had an argument in the gas station over the color of the yarn. He thinks I'm insane, but I swear there's a lavender tinge to this yarn (color 9324), but when I photographed it, it looks absolutely grey (sigh):
On the adventure front, we stayed in Tuolumne Meadows and did a day hike from the campsite in Porcupine Flats to North Dome. The best part of the hike: a very white tree of Gondor-like semi-dead tree near the top of North Dome:
Yes, that's Half Dome in the background. We went into the valley on Sunday, and I have to say that while El Cap is downright jaw dropping, the theme-park feel made me want to stay away. We took a look at Midnight Lightning, but I think someone was on crack when they said that there's a lightning bolt shaped hold on that problem. I just didn't see it. And no, I didn't even try to get off the ground on it... I know better than to try a boulder problem when it's 90 degrees out!
Oh, and don't fall for the pea soup advertisements at the Spike and Rail Restaurant in Selma on the way back on highway 99. It's not all that. There's supposed to be another pea soup place that's amazing... Oh well, next time.
