Winter into spring

The Welcoming Committee couldn't have been more gracious.  Margene even wore her Jadis, to show me what is possible with beautiful yarn and pattern.  The four of us commemorated the occasion with several Wasatch Brewing Company Devastator Double Bock ales.  I will confess:  Margene and Smith had to catch up with us.  I think the count evened out towards the end of the evening.

Our last ski week of the season threw weather at us.  Sunday's bluebird day did not warn of Monday.    Snow.  Wind.  Horizontal snow.  Bitterly cold wind.  New tracks on each run, 2 inches of snowfall per hour by midafternoon.  It was glorious.

The remaining days were cold, crisp, clear, blue.  The landscapes had more than a foot of fresh cover.  Perfect.

Park City finally has a yarn store.  Located in the back of Fawn, it is an outpost of Soul Spun Yarn from Salt Lake City.  A quick inspection before dinner showed Malabrigo, Manos, Crystal Palace needles,  Berroco Ultra Fine Alpaca, and other soft skeins arranged by color.  Debbie Bliss pattern books and Ella Rae patterns crooked their fingers at the surprised knitter who wandered through.   

My week was marked more by reading than by knitting.  I finished The Siege of Isfahan by Jean-Christophe Rufin (excellent, but read The Abyssinian first, which is even better).  Then I whipped through a Jodi Picoult novel (good), and Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer.  Yes, I'm probably the last person on the planet to read it.  Could not put it down, and spent the time in the plane's economy class sardine box suffering frostbite and hypoxia along with the climbers.

I finished #1 sock of AppleLaine (merino 65%, mohair 20%, silk 5%, nylon 10%).  It is lush, soft, lovely.  My Foxfire merino/alpaca/silk scarf is closer to being done.  I started Maelstrom socks in Dye Dreams LusterSox (BFL).  I discovered Stephanie and Mona at CTS&W last year.  They did not remain a secret for long, since their yarns and colors are so good.  

I brought everything I needed to start the Snowdrift scarf.  I have two skeins of Jade Sapphire cashmere/silk in Sterling.  The gauge is finer than the stole calls for, so it will be smaller.   I'm good with that, since the yarn is so very clearly calling for that pattern.

It was not cast on during the week.  Soon.

Knitting while traveling seems to be a series of stitches in between interruptions.  I've settled on an easy way to tell whether I'm on a decrease row or a knit row when working a gusset or a toe.  If the next row is to be a knit row, I weave the free needle through the center of the sock.  (No splitting of stitches allowed here.)  And if the next row is to be a decrease row, I weave the needle through the row of decreases.  This turns out to be easier than squinting at the stitches to see what I have just done.

I came home to blooming snowdrops.  All the early spring suspects have begun their journeys toward the sun.  I left a socked-in winter landscape, and came home to patches of sodden lawn, wet gardens, deer damage, and signs of renewed life. 

It is time for spring.

Comments

[kmkat]

Great trip! Into Thin Air is a haunting book. I read it nearly ten years ago and a couple things are still in my brain -- the female climber who made her guide carry her, and the radio-telephone call between the guy that died (a well-known climber whose name I would recognize but cannot recall) and his wife, when he was stranded near the summit and too disoriented to climb down.

[margene]

It was so wonderful to see you, albeit briefly. Your vacation had it all...good books, good skiing, good yarn, good knitting!

[Kim]

What a fun trip for you!!! Hmm...I love Jodi Picoult and I don't think I have read that book either.

Love that cashmere!

[Marcia]

Try Krakauer's book on the Mormons, "Under the Banner of Heaven". We have quite a little library now with LDS related themes because of our "connection" to the area. It's actually a good read.

I'm doing the dance of joy here about the PC YARN SHOP! It's about damn time! (Although the shops in Salt Lake are pretty good, and I love Three Wishes out in West Jordan. Those of us who don't ski go yarn shopping!

[Carole]

I enjoyed Into Thin Air very much. I love a book that makes you feel like you are RIGHT there.

[Anne]

So glad you had a good trip. We had fresh snow at the ski hills here on Friday into Saturday. And glad you got to catch up with the M2's. Sorry (as usual) we missed you in person. :(

[Kathy]

Welcome home!!!

[Pat]

Looks like it was an all around wonderful vacation!(the last time I skied in Utah, I was 12 years old!)

[gayle]

Um, you're only the next-to-last person to read Into Thin Air. (I'll have to go check it out...)
Glad you had a good trip. Your ski vacations have been wonderful-looking. Even I think they looked like fun - and you know how I feel about snow!

[Manise]

Welcome Home! Sounds like you had a really good week.

I've never felt so, so cold or such despair as I did reading that book. I second kmkat's comment.

[Lorette]

It looks like a lovely trip, all the way around.
You need one of these to keep track of sock decreases:

http://www.hideandsheep.net/page/page/5341531.htm

[Cindy D]

Visiting with Margene and Smith must have been fun!

Into Thin Air is a page turner for sure even if you're the last to read it.You've piqued my interest in The Abyssinian.

I can't put down..... Things I've Been Silent About: Memories by the author of Reading Lolita in Tehran, another must read.

[Judy]

Think I'll look for the Abyssinian. Snowdrops is on my short list, too.

[Caroline M]

I am a sock toe squinter, if I can't see well enough to make it out then it's too late in the day to be knitting anyway.

We have catkins now and big fat fluffy bees zooming about, I have mowing guilt already.

[Mona]

I'm looking forward to seeing your progress on the Maelstrom socks. It was nice to see you at SPA...