Wordless Wednesday

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110 Flights

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Remembrance

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Snowflake Monday

Mount Harvard, at 14,420 feet, is the third tallest mountain in Colorado and fourth tallest in the lower 48. Named in 1869 by members of the first Harvard Mining School class while on expedition with professor Josiah Dwight Whitney (whose name rests upon the tallest mountain in the lower 48, Mount Whitney in California), Mount Harvard is one of five Collegiate Peaks names after big schools. That initial expedition set out to prove (or disprove) rumors of 17,000-foot peaks deep in the Rockies. I wonder how surprised they were when they found only 14,000-foot peaks?

Three Harvard graduates attempted to erect a 14-foot metal pole atop Harvard when I was two years old to to raise the mountain's height enough to make it the second tallest in the contiguous US. Darkness foiled their ploy with only a few hundred yards to go, but Tim Wirth (who later became a member of the U.S. Senate), his brother John and another man finished the job the following year. The pole lasted until the mid-1980s, more than 20 years, before it disappeared.

Many alumni of the five schools of the Collegiate Peaks continually jest about raising the height of "their" respective peak with rock piles to make it the tallest.


This is yet another snowflake with broomstick loops, worked on the 3rd round. See a photo tutorial for working broomstick crochet in the round here. When I first began naming my snowflakes after Colorado mountains, I vowed to use or learn a new method for each of the Collegiate Peaks. This snowflake is the third broomstick crochet snowflake I designed, so I think it fits in nicely with the third highest summit in Colorado.

You may do whatever you'd like with snowflakes you make from this pattern, but you may not sell or republish the pattern. Thanks, and enjoy!


Finished Size: 7 inches from point to point, depending upon size of loop holders used
Materials: Size 10 crochet thread, size 8 crochet hook, 6 loop holders, empty pizza box, wax paper or plastic wrap, cellophane tape, water soluble school glue or desired stiffener, water, glitter, small container for glue/water mixture, paintbrush, stick pins that won't be used later for sewing, clear thread or fishing line

Mount Harvard Snowflake Instructions

NOTE: For the white snowflake version of this pattern, I used breath mint tins as loop holders, creating very large loops, and then I pinned them out of the round just to see what it would look like. I liked the shape, so I stiffened the angular loops. For the rock version of this snowflake, I used three straws cut into halves, and I gave each loop two twists before placing it upon the straw, just to see how that might visually affect the final stitch appearance. The technique makes the bottom of the loops favor a double crochet base, in my opinion, and I like the look enough I may be trying that again in another broomstick pattern to see if it further improves the overall appearance.

Ch 3, sl st into 1st ch OR make magic ring.

Round 1: * Ch 12, 1 sc in ring; repeat from * 4 times for a total of 5 petals; ch 5, trtr in ring to form 6th petal. Pull magic circle tight.

Round 2: Ch 2 (counts as 1 dc), 4 dc in same petal, 10 dc in each of next 5 petals; 5 dc in next petal; sl st in 2nd ch of starting ch 2.
If you're not reading this pattern on Snowcatcher, you're not reading the designer's blog. Please go here to see the original.

Round 3: Pull up loop and place on loop holder; pull up a loop in each of next 9 dc and place on loop holder ; * draw up a loop in each of next 10 dc and place on a new loop holder; repeat from * around 4 times.

Round 4: Yo hook as if to make a sl st and pull up to same height as loops. Give hook an extra twist. * 1 sc in top of combined next 5 loops, 1 hdc in same loops, 1 dc in same loops, ch 4, 1 sc in 2nd ch from hook, 1 hdc in next ch, 1 dc in next ch, 1 dc in same loops, 1 hdc in same loops, 1 sc in same loops, ch 8, 1 sc in next 5 loops, 1 hdc in same loops, 1 dc in same loops, ch 4, 1 sc in 2nd ch from hook, 1 hdc in next ch, 1 dc in next ch, 1 dc in same loops, 1 hdc in same loops, 1 sc in same loops, ch 8, sl st in 2nd ch from hook, 1 sc in next ch, 1 hdc in next ch, 1 dc in next ch, ch 3; repeat from * around 5 times; sl st in starting sc; bind off. Weave in ends.

Finish: Tape wax paper or plastic wrap to top of empty pizza box. Pin snowflake to box on top of wax paper or plastic wrap.

If using glue, mix a few drops of water with a teaspoon of glue in small washable container. Paint snowflake with glue mixture or desired stiffener. Sprinkle lightly with glitter. Wash paintbrush and container thoroughly. Allow snowflake to dry at least 24 hours. Remove pins. Gently peel snowflake from wax paper or plastic wrap. Attach 10-inch clear thread to one spoke, weaving in end. Wrap fishing line around tree branch (or tape to ceiling or any overhead surface) and watch the snowflake twirl freely whenever you walk by! Snowflake also may be taped to window or tied to doorknob or cabinet handle.

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Yellow Friday

I missed it last week, so I'm doing it this week. And I might be doing it next week. And the week after. I might just be making a Yellow Friday fashion statement for the rest of the year.

Rick Reilly sums up my feelings on the subject perfectly. (NOTE: This blog post was written before we read in its entirety the "Reasoned Decision." I no longer have much respect for most professional cyclists, but I still believe in fighting cancer with all we've got.)

This is still my favorite commercial after all these years. I still, after all these years, get teary eyed when the kids rush up to the hospital window. And THAT is what it's all about. Period.


10 October 2012 Update: News hit the fan today regarding all the testimony gathered by the USADA in its lengthy investigation. I was heartbroken as I read the names of riders who came forward but glad they finally opted for honesty. I'm angered, deeply hurt and disappointed by the lies that have been fronted all these years. Nevertheless, my stance on cancer has not changed. I hate cancer more than I hate doping. People choose to dope. People don't choose to get cancer.

I still will do all I can to help fight the disease and support those who battle it on their own personal front lines. Long live Yellow Friday.

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Trail of Hope

Rhododendrons and all things northwest botanical were going to be the focus of yesterday's Wordless Wednesday, and today I planned to write about our drive up Mount Rainier.

But let's face it. With 2,292 photos waiting to be retouched, and about 600 of them being anxiously awaited by a new bride and groom and their respective families, it just isn't going to happen this quick.

I have a stash of old trip reports ready to go for those days when I just don't have time to write anything fresh. In fact, I have a good month's worth of posts prepared and ready, just waiting for that orange "publish" button to be pressed. But so many exciting things are happening, I'm having a great difficulty resorting to the archives.

I had not planned to write about last week's unexpected mountain bike ride because, well, because it wasn't planned. The Lizard unexpectedly got the day off. I had previously scheduled the day off to pack for our redeye flight to Washington state that night. We took advantage of the gorgeous weather and the joyous few extra hours together by pedaling up Waterton Canyon once again.

I hadn't planned to write about it because it was just another ride up Waterton Canyon. Just like many before. Loaded with flowers, butterflies, bighorn and fresh signs of bear activity.

Sharp-eyed Mrs. Micawber noticed I'd plugged that tiny little plus into my list of amazing numerical milestones on Tuesday, and she hoped the ride was, "a good one."

I'll let the photos speak for themselves.




Yet there was something truly special and miraculous about this ride. I mean, aside from The Lizard being able to join me (the best part of all).

When I first got back on my bike after this summer's latest back development, I had to work back up excruciatingly slowly. I'd wanted to jump from 1 mile to 5 miles to 10 miles to 15 miles to 20 miles to 30, and then begin commuting to work again. I secretly hoped I'd have my 60-mile days back after just a two-month break.

I quickly found out I cannot make 5-mile increment improvements. Sometimes, I can't even increase by 1 mile. It's going to be a long journey. But it's better than no journey at all.

I am back up to 20 miles now, but it has not been an easy ride. For the last couple of weeks, I ride 10 miles out, then 10 miles back. Because I know I can. Even if it hurts.

Typically, I begin hurting by about mile 8. I force those last 2 miles before turning around because I'm headstrong, stubborn and a glutton for punishment, I guess. Then I ride back home the next 10 miles in pain that sometimes causes me to wonder if it's worth it.

Last week, I got to mile 8, and I didn't hurt. I rode to the normal turnaround point, and I still didn't hurt.

So I rode further.

I went a half mile more, up the first steep incline at the end of the gravel road, prior to the start of the Colorado Trail, which eventually snakes its way all the way to Durango, skirting a few fourteeners along the way.

I haven't done the steep part in a long time. I get sidetracked by bighorn, and they are more fun than the bike, sometimes. I hadn't done the steep part at all this year. I didn't know if I ever would again. I didn't know if I'd be able to climb again. The grade before the steep part is barely 1%. And it hurt. How could I ever again expect to go up 10% or 12% grades?

I've had to do a few flights of stairs the last month, one or two flights at a time, of course. That's another thing I've immensely enjoyed in the past. Stairclimbing, particularly 60 flights at a time such as I used to do at work to try to stay in shape during winter, is another activity I thought I'd lost forever. But I've learned in the last few weeks that if I keep my back straight or arched when I go up stairs, it doesn't hurt as much.

Yes, I climbed stairs hunched over. Probably the worst thing in the world, but I didn't know that then. I just climbed, never giving my posture a second thought because, quite frankly, every ounce of energy went into maintaining a steady breathing pattern, which doesn't ever come easily for me.

So now I'm trying to develop the habit. I'm trying to reteach my body to go up stairs without stressing the bad disc. My body is trying to relearn how to ascend without wincing, without tears.

I wondered if I could apply the same principal on the mountain bike.

And I MADE IT UP THAT HILL.

I made it to the start of the Colorado Trail. And I didn't hurt. I DIDN'T HURT!!!

I turned back. I shot photos of the bighorn in the river. I stretched. I shot more photos. I did not hurt. I shot the butterflies. I still did not hurt. The Lizard returned from his 30-mile loop of the Colorado Trail and nearby feeder routes. We pedaled down the canyon together, and I did not hurt.

I didn't hurt until 2 miles from home. I pedaled 19 miles with no pain! The most I'd been able to do before that since the onset in June was 8 miles. Last Wednesday, I did 19 miles pain free!

This instills so much hope I might be able to do it again. Maybe often.

Thanks, Sue, for asking. Yes, it was a GREAT ride!!!

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Wordless Wednesday

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Numbers

Five days off. 2,026 air miles. 493 miles on the rental car. Two national park trips. One renewed annual pass. Ten zillion wildflowers. Two sunrises. Two sunsets. One wedding. Two very happy friends. One botanical garden. One mountain bike ride. One tangle with a thorny bush. Eight dollars, one license and one wallet found in parking lots and turned in to various law enforcement authorities. Three tiny bears. 2,292 photos. Three hours downloading. And somewhere in the midst of all the fun, 2,000,000 visitors.






I missed the magic number, but not one drop of excitement.

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Snowflake Monday

This snowflake was born of an idea I've had for a long time, more than a year, and finally decided to cook. I even took my broomstick on a cross-country skiing road trip in February of 2011, thinking I could work on my idea in the evenings after full days of skiing and taking snow pictures. I'm getting old, and all I wanted to do after each day of skiing was soak in a hot mineral bath with a cup of hot herbal tea and then sink into bed for at least 8 hours.

The broomstick was in my crochet bag for months afterward but didn't see the light of day until Thanksgiving last year, when I pulled a muscle and needed to soak in a hot mineral bath once again. The aroma of spearmint, chamomile and lavender brought back the yearnings to create a broomstick crochet snowflake, and ideas started popping into my head so quick, I wasn't sure I'd remember all of them.




My grandmother taught me broomstick crochet when I was a teenager, and to this day, I still use the chopped-off broom handle my grandfather sanded down for her more than 40 years ago. (I still use the L'Oreal highlighting tool she used for crocheting with thread, too.) Working broomstick crochet in the round, however, was something I didn't know if I could pull off until I actually gave it a try. Unfortunately, that broomstick just won't do for snowflakes in the round. I had to find a new way to hold the loops.

My second attempt was on very large circular knitting needles. Pulling the loops around the flexible needle cord and then pulling them over the huge plastic knitting needle ends was tedious and frustrating. I continually had to finger reshape the loops. There had to be a better way.

My third attempt was done with empty breath mint tins that were not round but all the same size. The technique worked, but I had to take the lids off the tins to get the loops over the tops. Not that big of a deal, but I do like to recycle as much as possible, and this rendered six tins less than suitable for other uses.

The next attempt was with pencils, and that worked very well with the exception of occasionally leaving marks on the thread. The pencils inspired me to try straws cut into sections (which work very well as long as I don't pull the thread too tight and misshape the straws in the process), batteries (which really are too heavy for threadwork, but again, they were consistent in size), lip balm (close to perfect), bead tubes (also close to perfect, but I don't have enough empty ones of the same size), and glitter tubes (same problem as beads).


The Lizard and I typically each get a new lip balm at almost every ride we participate in, so I have a huge supply. The lip balms turned out to be one of my favorite broomstick substitutes, second only to cut mini M&M tubes, which provide recycling opportunities for me and sweet treats for The Lizard who cut the tubes for me. (I should never be trusted with blades sharp enough to cut plastic. I'm far too much of a klutz!)

Because broomstick crochet in the round was a new technique for me, I was going to name the snowflake after one of our Collegiate Peaks. The Lizard encouraged me to use "a prettier name" (yes, those were his words); he said this snowflake is too lovely for a name like Columbia or Harvard.

Hot mineral baths played an important roll in the development of this pattern, so why not name it after one of the key fragrances that inspired it and a mineral oil-named landmark (of which there are many in Colorado): Lavender!!! Not only is the name beautiful, the color marvelous, the flower heavenly, the mineral bath soothing and the scent intoxicating, but Lavender also is the surname of an early San Juan Mountaineer and co-author of a San Juan climbing guide, Dwight Garrigues Lavender. Born in Telluride, Lavender at the age of 18 found a note in a bottle atop Uncompahgre Peak. The author, Chester Price, invited anyone who might read the note to join him in climbing in the San Juans. Lavender wrote Price, and the two joined Melvin Griffiths in forming the San Juan Mountaineers.

Because of his successful ascents of many difficult peaks, a route on one of my favorite mountains, Sneffels, bears the name Lavender, and a peak in the La Plata Mountains northeast of Durango also bears his name.

Lavender was the first to partially ascend the north face of photogenic Mount Sneffels. The col, or gap in a ridge, that now bears his name may be seen here. See photos of a current summit register still bearing his signature from 1930 here (scroll about halfway down the page, but note photos of Teresa, whom I enjoyed hiking with back when I could still climb mountains). Lavender also was among the climbing party first to reach the summit of Jagged Peak, deep in the Weminuche Wilderness and considered by many to be the most difficult mountain to climb in Colorado. Lavender is responsible for the name of El Diente Peak. One source claims he designed and produced the first pitons made in the US at an engineering workshop of Stanford University.

Polio claimed Lavender at the tender age of 23 just a few months after he graduated from Stanford in 1934. During his short life, Lavender participated in more than 30 first ascents.

Because I'm naming the flake Lavender, I simply HAD to make one with my very own hand-dyed thread from the Ravellenics.


You may do whatever you'd like with snowflakes you make from this pattern, but you may not sell or republish the pattern. Thanks, and enjoy!


Finished Size: 6 to 7 inches from point to point, depending upon size of loop holders used
Materials: Size 10 crochet thread, size 7 crochet hook, 6 small loop holders such as pens, pencils or 3 straws cut into halves, 6 medium loop holders such as lip balm, bead containers, pill bottles or glitter tubes, etc., empty pizza box, wax paper or plastic wrap, cellophane tape, glue or desired stiffening agent, water, glitter, small container for glue/water mixture, paintbrush, stick pins that won't be used later for sewing, clear thread or fishing line

Lavender Snowflake Instructions

Ch 4, sl st into 1st ch OR make magic ring.

Round 1: 12 sc in ring; sl st in starting sc; pull magic ring tight, leaving enough ease for stitches to lie flat.

Round 2: Ch 3 (counts as 1 dc), 1 dc in same sc as sl st, * sk next sc, 2 dc in next sc, ch 3, 2 dc in same sc; repeat from * 4 times; sk next sc, 2 dc in same sc as starting dc, ch 1, 1 dc in 3rd ch of starting ch 3 (ch 1 and dc count as final ch 3 sp, and you will be working over post of dc just completed during next round).

Round 3: Ch 3 (counts as 1 dc), 2 dc over dc post below, 1 sc in gap between next 2 2/dc groups, * 3 dc in next ch 3 sp, ch 5, 3 dc in same sp, 1 sc in gap between next 2 2/dc groups; repeat from * 4 times; 3 dc in next sp, ch 5, sl st in 3rd ch of starting ch 3.

Round 4: * Ch 5, 10 sc in next ch 5 sp; repeat from * 5 times; sl st in final sl st of Round 3. Binding off here makes a wonderful and stress-free little snowflake.


Round 5: Sl st into next ch. * Using small loop holder, draw up a loop through each of next 3 ch and place loops on holder, draw up loop through each of next 10 sc, placing loops on medium-sized loop holder, sk next ch; repeat from * around 5 times.

Round 6: Yo hook as if to make a sl st and pull up to same height as small loops. Give hook an extra twist. * [YO and draw up a loop through next small loop, yo and pull through 2 loops on hook] 3 times, yo and draw through all four loops on hook (dc cluster made), ch 5, 1 sc in 2nd ch from hook (sc picot made), ch 3, 3 sc in next 3 medium loops, ch 3, 1 sc in next 4 medium loops, 1 hdc in same loops, 3 dc in same loops, 1 hdc in same loops, 1 sc in same loops, ch 3, 3 sc in next 3 medium loops, ch 5, 1 sc in 2nd ch from hook, ch 3; repeat from * around 5 times; sl st in starting dc cluster.
Please go here to see the original.

Round 7: Ch 3 (counts as 1 dc), * 1 sc in next sc picot, ch 3, 1 dc in middle sc of next 3/sc group, ch 3, 1 dc in same sc, ch 3, 1 dc in middle dc of next 3/dc group, [ch 3, 1 dc in same dc] 3 times, ch 3, 1 dc in middle sc of next 3/sc group, ch 3, 1 dc in same sc, ch 3, 1 sc in next sc picot, 1 dc in next dc cluster; repeat from * around 5 times, omitting last dc of final repeat; sl st in 3rd ch of starting ch 3; bind off. Weave in ends.

Finish: Tape wax paper or plastic wrap to top of empty pizza box. Pin snowflake to box on top of wax paper or plastic wrap.

Mix a few drops of water with a teaspoon of glue in small washable container. Paint snowflake with glue mixture. Sprinkle lightly with glitter. Wash paintbrush and container thoroughly. Allow snowflake to dry at least 24 hours. Remove pins. Gently peel snowflake from wax paper or plastic wrap. Attach 10-inch clear thread to one spoke, weaving in end. Wrap fishing line around tree branch (or tape to ceiling or any overhead surface) and watch the snowflake twirl freely whenever you walk by! Snowflake also may be taped to window or tied to doorknob or cabinet handle.

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Friday Funny

What a GREAT way to raise money for a favorite charity! To keep from getting dizzy when the aircraft begins spinning, focus on the budgies, not on the earth.


This project is raising funds for Children's Hospice South West. To support the project and have your name appear on the film, please use CHSW page here. If you would rather help a facility that serves children in your area, that's perfectly appropriate, too! Still, hats off to this group for coming up with such a unique idea, and to Crochetroo, who very well may be the source behind the trendy popularity of the crocodile stitch, for providing the budgie patterns.

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