Shasta Caverns, Crater Lake, and Oma

As with many other people in the US, Connor had a three day weekend for Labor Day. We around different ideas until we realized that we could see Oma. Connor and I last saw her in January and I had hoped we could visit her again after we were married. Mum had said she wanted to go up, so quick arrangements were made with my aunt and uncle and away we went. Of course we thought we'd do some sightseeing on the way up. Mum and I had talked about going to the Shasta Caverns for some time and Mum thought this trip would be a perfect opportunity to finally go for it. 

You can see how bad the drought is here in California. The treeline is where the water ought to be.

After purchasing tickets we walked down a long and dusty path, got on a boat, and crossed Lake Shasta.

After disembarking we piled onto a bus and drove up and up and up.

The view was fantastic. It was hard to believe that we started out on the other side of the lake.

Then we toured the caves. Mum had been before as a child and she didn't mention that at the end of the tour you enter a large cavern called the Organ Room. It was breathtaking. Once upon a time it was used as an Oddfellows meeting spot, long before paths were cleared and tours were given. And honestly, if you saw the way people used to go in, it was obvious why it was a place for secret meetings.

Connor is wearing his new Angel Island shirt

We got in pretty late, so we didn't see Oma until the next day. As usual, we surprised her. Later on she told us she didn't want to change her shirt because our hugs were still on it.

After a nice visit with Oma, we decided to go to Crater Lake. Connor had seen it in a previous blog post and wanted to visit himself. The crowds were legendary, so Aunt Janet and my Mum told us to get out and enjoy ourselves while they looked for parking. As soon as he saw the lake, Connor exclaimed, "It's like I'm in your blog!"

We got a few more doodads for the future patch project. I already had a Crater Lake patch, so we got a magnet for the fridge instead.

Since the trip, we've taken it easy. After three straight weekends of fun and adventure, we decided to spend time playing Super Mario Sunshine instead. We'll probably keep playing until the urge of adventure is overwhelming once again.

Oma Approved

January's adventure involved a road trip to see my Oma. After meeting all of Connor's family, we felt it was important that he meet more of mine. Plus, he needed to be Oma-approved. 

We drove up our usual route with the traditional pit-stop in Weed for ice cream and french fries. Mount Shasta had a good dousing of snow since I'd last been by. 

We had a great time driving up. I had hoped that Christopher would be the driver when we reached the Oregon state sign because I knew he would be willing to pull over on the highway. Mum allowed us one take before we all ran back to the car. Thank goodness we got it on the first go.

I had a feeling Oma would like Connor, but I didn't realize that she would be an enthusiastic supporter. They hit it off. Yay!

Also note that Oma is wearing the sweater I made her. She didn't know we were coming. She wears it because she loves it. I think it suits her quite well.

After a few days of visiting we drove back down, although this time we took the coastal route. I knew that this would all be new to Connor. What I didn't realize was that Christopher hadn't seen much of the coast either. We stopped to see the cobra plants. Of course at this point Christopher had to imitate the "Purple Cobra" thing from the Dodgeball movie.

As it turns out, not only do Connor and Christopher get on well, they egg each other on. Their bromance went to 11 on this trip. I almost felt like the third wheel.

 Just look at these guys.

We continued on and stopped by the Trees of Mystery. This time around we realized two things that no one in the family had noticed before:

1. Paul Bunyan is not wearing a black shirt. It is his chest hair. 

2. You won't see it in this picture because Connor is in front, but Babe is definitely a male ox. 

Shenanigans continued as we stopped for dinner in Eureka.

And they didn't end the whole trip. We weren't sure anyone was going to get any sleep that night in the hotel. There was far too much laughter.

Your Knitting Or Crochet Hero - 3KCBWDAY3

Today's topic for day two of the Third Annual Knitting And Crochet Blog Week is as follows:

Blog about someone in the fibre crafts who truly inspires you. There are not too many guidelines for this, it's really about introducing your readers to someone who they might not know who is an inspiration to you. It might be a family member or friend, a specific designer or writer, indie dyer or another blogger. If you are writing about a knitting designer and you have knitted some of their designs, don't forget to show them off. Remember to get permission from the owner if you wish to use another person's pictures.

This is a bit of a tough one because I truly am inspired by many people. But I will be talking about the person who inspired me to even pick up the needles: my Oma.

I didn't actually learn to knit from my Oma. She lived far away when I decided to learn. But it was the pair of mittens that she had made my Mum (when my Mum was in high school or junior college) that inspired me. I aspired to be able to knit a pair of mittens just as beautiful as her's. After about two years of knitting, I finally was able to do so. In the photo you can see the ones my Oma made on the left and the ones I made on the right.

Favoriting Oma

I was reading a bunch of blogs where the bloggers talked about how they have made so many friends while blogging. I started wondering where my blog friends where when it hit me: I am a big fat idiot. I have a bunch of blog friends who I care about and converse with on a fairly regular basis. But the actual friendships have crept up on me. I didn't even realize that I had made friends while blogging. Isn't that dumb? The ah-ha moment came when this package appeared at my door.

I am a big fan of Stansborough and kiwipurler was kind enough to take the time and effort to send me some samples. I felt so loved and appreciated when I opened up that package. I'll be hoarding the skeins until I can come up with a good design for them.

I just wanted to thank everyone who does chat with me! I appreciate all the kind words. And I love reading all your blogs too. I wish I could think of a better way to express my thanks. (Feel free to leave me suggestions.)

On a slightly separate note, the pictures of the Gnarled Oak Cardigan has gotten quite a bit of attention on my blog and ravelry ever since I added the pictures of my Oma wearing it. I wasn't expecting that at all. My favorite comment so far is this one.

Mission Accomplished

Whew! I've been gone for a whole week from this blog. But I assure you it was for the best reason. Remember the cardigan I made for my Oma? Well, instead of mailing it, I decided that I would travel up to Oregon and hand deliver it. It was a surprise delivery. Guess who loves her new cardigan.

And it fits my Oma so well! The neck is the right fit, the sleeves end in the right spot. She can layer another sweater under the cardigan if she wants. I'm just so happy to see her in it. Oma told me that it will be her Thursday sweater. On Thursdays she goes out to the shops with my Aunt. She'd been a little sad to not have  something nice to wear outside of the house. But now she has a cute little cardi.

The trip up was pretty uneventful. Mum and I did stop at a rest stop that we don't normally stop at. I'm not sure I'd like to stop there again. I'm pretty impressed with the snake drawing though. The signs were all over. I wonder how many people were bitten before they were posted.

There was a really neat map sculpture at the rest stop. This stop is a little south of Redding.

Normally we don't go up to Oregon in winter. The pass near Ashland is frequently icy and we don't have chains. But it was pretty mild last week. I did enjoy seeing the winter light by Mt. Shasta. This picture was taken at the rest stops just north of Weed. We stop at a lot of rest stops...

I plan on posting a few more bits and pieces of the trip this week. Then back to knitting!

Gnarled Oak Cardigan

The cardigan is done! I'm pretty excited to send it to my Oma. I'm fairly certain that this project will solidify my position as favorite grandchild. 

I'm modeling it here. It is a wee bit tight on me. I definitely would go 1-2 sizes up if it were for me. I only hope I haven't stretched out the cardi too much. The Tosh Pashmina seems to be a pretty forgiving yarn though.

For those who haven't followed the progression of this cardigan, it is the Gnarled Oak Cardigan by Alana Dakos. I made a modification to the button band, which is detailed on my ravelry project page. The buttons are 5/8 inch and are made of carved shell. This is the smallest size and took 4 skeins of Madelinetosh pashmina in the Denim colorway. I think I could have done it in three, but I didn't want to attach the two partial skeins I had to the button band. Plus it give me an excuse to knit a little something with the leftover skein.

Oma's Shawl

We last left off with me being bummed about my muddy shoe. Well, I actually didn't take pictures one of my days in Oregon. I was visiting with all sorts of family members I hadn't seen in awhile. I did remember to get a picture of my Oma the morning we left, though. Last year I made her a surprise shawl, the Cedar Leaf Shawlette, but had forgotten to take a picture. I remembered this year. She really looks good in it. 

My Oma is the reason I was inspired to learn to knit. She had made an amazing pair of mittens for my Mum. I aspire to be as good as her. (She doesn't knit anymore. She loves her gardening now.)

Oma has requested a cardigan. I'm plan on making it out of superwash wool so that she can just throw it in the washer, but I'm not sure what cardigan to make.  I thought about making a February Lady, but I figured the lace would need to be reblocked when it was washed. Now I'm kind of leaning towards a Deco. If anyone has any yarn and cardigan suggestions, I'd love to hear them. Something that is classic, but not boring, and will wash well.

In this picture, Mum said, "What if you took a picture of me doing this?" I took the picture. She shouldn't have said that if she didn't mean it.

After Mum and I left, we stopped in Weed. I got my jumping picture in front of Mt. Shasta. Note that the sweater now has a zipper in it. I put it in with my Aunt's machine. I'm super stoked it's done, especially now that the weather has turned cold. There will be more pictures of the sweater soon, courtesy of my brother.

As we continued south, Mum and I stopped by an old cemetery I had spotted by Arbuckle. It looked really neat and old.

I'm particularly fond of reading older gravestones. There is so much symbolism carved into them. And often you learn a little something about the town too.

Oma is one of the reasons I love visiting cemeteries. When she was a child, she and her friends would take buckets and brushes and clean up stones. When there were graves with no flowers, they would take some from graves with an overabundance of flowers and put a few on the neglected graves. Eventually the cemetery keeper hid to see who was cleaning the stones. Apparently my Oma and her friends spotted him and ran away, leaving their buckets, which they retrieved later.
Anyways, Oma enjoyed stopping by cemeteries whenever she passed by them, and that passed down from my Mum to me. I recall Oma taking me to a pioneer gravesite. The interesting one was where the person died from a bear attack.

After Arbuckle, we passed near Winters. I've never been to Winters, although I've meant to visit for awhile now. I heard there was a new yarn shop called Spin A Yarn. I didn't really know where it was in Winters, but assumed it was on Main Street. (It was.) I dashed in and found out that it was 10 minutes till closing time. I hurriedly found my prizes. A ball of sock weight Schoppel Wolle Zauberball in Fuchsienbeet and a copy of Interweave Knits Fall 2009 (50% off in the discount area!), which I'd been on the lookout for ever since I saw kiwipurler's Clasica Coat. Then we finished the drive home and got the biggest greeting from Scooter. He wasn't expecting me at the door.

Scooter insisted on being in the photo. I think he was claiming his dog pillow.

Solace In Solas

I'd been a little hesitant to buy yarn from people on ravelry because "What if I got ripped off?" That had been my excuse until I found some impossible-to-get yarn that I had to have and someone on ravelry was selling it. Short story, I now have a skein of String Theory Hand Dyed Yarn in Caper Sock - Solas. I don't even know what I want to make with it, but it's 400 yards of awesome. (Feel free to suggest patterns. I'm kind of leaning towards a scarf at the moment, but who knows.)

After breaking the ice, I searched ravelry and got some Malabrigo Worsted in a color that I hadn't been able to find at any local shops. Given the choice, I much prefer to get my yarn at local shops even if it is a few dollars more. It's important to support local shops.

My Oma sent me a surprise package of some craft booklets she had found while cleaning her house.

My favorite is definitely the 1964 sweater collection. There are a bunch of sweaters representing different countries. I may have to make myself the French Jacket. It has subtle detailing which I find quite attractive.