Saturday, April 10, 2010

Out & Back. . .

Today started out beautiful and sunny. . .the perfect way for a Saturday to begin! It is still a bit cool, but then, it's early April, and that is to be expected! Look what I saw on one of my first ventures out-of-doors this morning!
I love that the trees are blossoming and opening their first, spring-green leaves! Yes, I think that color is one of the things I love most about spring. . .which explains the next two photos. . .in the foreground is the natural Cascade 220 I bought on my Wednesday off work this week:
And here is the same yarn after I attacked it with leftover egg dyes and powdered drink mix! This is after they were all dried out on Thursday:
The formula included 12 red dye tablets, 6 orange and 3 yellow, aaaand 3 envelopes of no-name fruit punch mix! It was quite the process, and I was scrubbing dye out of the counter, floor and my hands for quite some time after the pot was full of cooking yarn!

But, I digress. On to the yarny (and other) things of today. Like, when I got up, I thought about knitting, but my heart wasn't in it. Yeah, I know, weird, right? Anyway, I remembered that I have this bit of blue and purple fiber from my friend Stephanie, so I decided to spin a bit.
The thing I am learning about spinning is that there are many grades of fiber, and many different preparations as well. While the colors are spectacular, this fiber was a little harder to draft than the gray I spun recently. Still, I made some singles with about half of what I have. . .it's not much, I know, but every bit of practice is making me better. I even did a little drafting without parking this morning, and I was very impressed with myself, indeed!
Speaking of the gray yarn I spun, here is a picture of what I managed to ply successfully. It is a lace or fingering weight, and it is pretty soft, I am thinking bookmark, since there is not much of it (plying is seriously kicking my spinning butt!).
So, after the spinning, and the obligatory laundry (I will spare you those photos), the Hubster and I decided to go for a walk!
And not just any walk, either! There is a nature center with a walking trail that is at least 6-miles long! It is all paved, so there is no tripping, but you are surrounded by nature for the whole walk. . .beautiful this time of year! (I am seriously going to have to start bringing my camera on these walks, because I missed the perfect shot of a cardinal in a still bare tree with my phone. . .yeah, these are all phone pictures. . .sorry!) This is the shot that didn't "get away!"
So, basically, my day went like this:
Coffee, spinning, laundry, breakfast, laundry, coffee, let's-go-for-a-walk! It's a nice day for a walk! Let me just finish the laundry first. . .

Drive to nature center (yep, we drive to walk sometimes. . .it is what it is), talking about how they have added more trail. . .might be 6 miles or more now. . .wonder if shoes offer enough support.

Start the walk on the mile-long slight decline, and enjoy the sights and sounds, and each other's company without much thought about the fact that it will be a one-mile incline on the way back. . .at the "end" of the walk. . .reach that last mile, feet and legs screaming with a half-mile left to go, collapse into car with barely enough energy to lift the water bottle. . .whew! What a way to end a walk!

Do I need to tell you how I will spend the rest of my Pretty Knitty day?

You probably guessed it. . .I am going to put my feet up and sit and knit and wait for another beautiful sunset, like the one God gave us yesterday:
Knit in Good Health!

1 comment:

  1. Sounds like a fun day! Hope your legs have recovered LOL (maybe yo need to get yourself some nice new tennies too)

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