16.11.08

winner!

a couple of months ago, i posted about pipe dreams and purling plans' 3-day breast cancer walk. although it's taken me forever to do so, i'm happy to report that not only did mel complete the walk and raise a ton of money for a great cause, but also that i won a prize in her fundraising raffle! my first blog "win"!! and i could not be more excited about what i got.. check it out - a beautiful, soft, lucious skein of malabrigo lace. in my favorite color, no less... thanks mel!

malabrigo really is the sh*@ - it's worthy of all the hype

i'm thinking of maybe making a small muir (rav). what would you do with a skein of malabrigo lace?

13.11.08

totally unoriginal

i have no willpower. i started 2 more sweaters. both for me. shame.


the ubiquitous central park hoody (rav).

knitting this with cascade 220 heathers on size 8 needles at a gauge of 18 sts / 4 in. so far this is a fast, easy knit!

and the also ubiquitous february lady sweater (rav)

knitting this with berroco ultra alpaca in yucca mix on size 7s at a gauge of 20 sts / 4 in. this is much more slow going, but that's what you get with all-in-one-piece top-down sweaters...

oh! and i must share my new favorite recipe for brussel sprouts. those of you kindred spirits who looove brussel sprouts (like me!) will love this recipe and those of you who think brussels are ick should give this one a try - so yummy.

our climbing adventure last weekend was amazing!! going back for more this weekend.

7.11.08

what's my line?

that's the name of the famous (i use that word verrry loosely) climb i did last month down in the cochise stronghold, southern arizona. cochise is a well-known climbing destination, a truly beautiful place, and i feel so lucky to live so close by. we did this climb quite a while ago now, but i'm posting this today for 2 reasons: 1) all my knitting / yarn / WIP photos are on my other computer that is now living with the bf since his was stolen - boo; and 2) i'm heading back down to cochise tonight for another adventure, so i had better get this out before i have a serious backlog of cochise shots.

not able to drive down and camp at cochise the night before, my partner and i left early in the morning and were on the trail by 8am. after a somewhat long and steep hike up to the rockfellow / cochise dome area, we found ourselves bushwacking through a densely vegetated wash. after some minor frustration and a few scratches on the arms and legs, we arrived at the base of the dome.

cochise dome from a distance

the climb follows a rash of chickenheads (plate-like features) up the right side of the dome, which is otherwise fairly featureless. the climbing was fairly easy, but just getting to the start of it involved sketchy unroped climbing up an approach gully that dumps you out at a ledge 300 ft off the ground. from there, you have to pendulum over the the chickenheads to start climbing. that was... exciting... if you like the exhilaration of 100 m of air below your feet as you go swinging on a stretching 10mm rope, trying not get swung around and dragged across granitic protrusions.

having made the pendulum swing and following up the 1st pitch of chickenheads - see them?

i led the next easy pitch up some more chickenheads, using them to set up a belay anchor. no gear, no bolts, just a few big chickenheads and some nylon slings.

i was loving it up there, although i did get pooed on by a bird - maybe that same one that's dive-bombing me in the picture?

view east from the pitch 2 belay

one more pitch of climbing, 2 rappels, and we were back on terra firma and had a great time. i can't wait to go back and climb again tomorrow! there is so much to see and so many more undiscovered areas.

view of rockfellow dome from the start of our climb

knitting content coming soon - i've started 2 more big projects and finished a couple of small ones...