Back from the Wilderness & Feeling Fine!

Doesn't it make you wish you were there? I just love this place. Every summer, I backpack into the Siskiyou Wilderness, and this year was no different. My 12th trip in since 1996, the only thing to mar my wilderness wonderland was that Cole couldn't join me. Dang bad back! But I managed to have a stellar time anyway.

As you can see, we had a kick-ass time! There were loads of wildlife, including: a ruffed grouse, a rubber boa, a lazuli bunting, & wildflowers galore. (But sadly no wolverines, which I just today learned live there. No sign of bear this year, either.) Played some cribbage, drank a lot of tequila, & maintained a clean record during every game of pocket around the campfire each night; no ramming for this girl! But just to pique your curiosity, here's a shot of a group ram from Sunday morning (let your imagination run wild when contemplating what was cropped out of this picture):

I did a bit o' knittin' in the meadow too. Brought the socks I'm working on, the ones I'm calling Veltrelac Socks but which are in actuality Annetrelacs. That's what I'm workin' on in the first pic, & you can see how happy making they are. My first attempt at entrelac, they're proving much easier & less fussy than I expected. For the 1 or 2 non-knitting VW readers, entrelac makes a lovely diamond-shaped basket weave textured fabric. I'm using a skein of Schaefer Anne yarn, just like the pattern calls for, & it looks like it is indeed well-suited; the color blocks are shaping up nicely.

Had no major equipment failures this year (2 years ago, we brought the wrong fuel for the stove; doh!). There was one minor moment of panic when I discovered that when Cole borrowed my boots this winter he took out the insoles & didn't replace 'em! But I was able to sub the crappy insoles in my Keens and they were better than nothin'. He busted a lacing hook on one boot too, but skipping that pair didn't seem to do any harm. I made it in with my usual under-big-toe blisters which responded nicely to the Dr. Scholl's blister treatment pads I brought. Highly recommend those!

The only other 'death' might just turn out to be the Chicken. He might not see another summer in the high country. His rubber chix skin is so UV-degraded he' leaving pinfeathers behind; so sticky, I had to tote him in a prophylactic plastic bag! The 2 photos below show him today, and in better days. You can see more of Mr. Ba-gawk here if you are 'that type'.


FINALLY remembered to do a panorama shot of the valley this year! It's not perfect, but looks pretty cool. I'm standing about 100 feet from my tent on a small (2ft by 6ft) glacial erratic in the meadow to get a good vantage point. The big rock with the tree to it's left is also an erratic, and is the site of Cole & my wedding ceremony last year. (You can see the original size here if ya wanna.)


Coming home was AWESOME, despite the fantastic time I had. You may remember that when I'm gone, Cole gets very schmoopy & lonesome, & his coping mechanism is to clean. So I returned to a happy, welcoming husband AND a spic-n-span house. PLUS, while unpacking I found my missing brand-new lip balm that I thought I lost in the meadow. AND, there were a couple a packages of goodies waiting for me. More on that tomorrow, so be sure to come back!

Tags: backpacking, camping, Siskiyou Wilderness, California

It's July, You Know What That Means!

BACKPACKING! Yep, it's that time of year again - I'm headed into the wilderness for my annual backpacking trip. Only gonna be gone 4 days this year & no wedding while there like last year, but it should be hella fun. Did you know: if you do a search on the keyword 'Siskyous' on Flickr, 7 of the top 24 most interesting photos that come up are mine?

The cedar tree stretches over my regular camp spot, which I've claimed 6 of the 10 years I've gone on this trip. I'll be there again this year, I'm sure! Sadly, I'll be there without Cole; his back is acting up & he's afraid he'd get in but not be able to haul his ass out. So he's keeping the homefires burning while I'm gone. This would have been our 5th time there together, but I just cannot miss it. But know what? He completely understands. That's why I married the galoot.

I'm headed out in a couple of hours, & won't be back 'til Sunday night. But if you just can't get along without me, feel free to browse my pics from 2006 & 2008. (Somehow those are the only years I've put online).

Have fun 'til I get back, campers!

Tags: backpacking, Siskiyou Wilderness, California

Didn't Somebody Here Get Married?

(Apparently, this post got lost in the Blogger ether; I started drafting it *months* ago but didn't post... Gremlins. Or more likely, procrastination. But I want to share while it is still 2008!)

Wedded bliss, that's my home these days. Yep, I'm all hitched up with nowhere to go but stash-diving. After a two-month hiatus to wed, celebrate, and recover, I've got my fiber mojo back!

Before diving into the knitting, how about a wedding recap? We spent all our money on the party, so my Flickr account expired (I can still upload our pics, but can't put them into their relevant sets; I'm holding off 'til I've got the 20 bucks in hand). So, our photos *are* available, just not on Flickr yet. You can see photos on our 'wedsite', Cole Loves Velma, though; they're already up there. Pics from the July 18 ceremony are HERE, and the August 16 luau reception HERE. There are more pics on the wedsite for those looking to *really* get a dose of us in our our smoochy glory. Look for the 'Photo Galleries' link in the sidebar.

The picture above is my absolute favorite from our wedding, held in a spectacular meadow in the Siskiyou Wilderness. It was taken just after our ceremony ended. Me so happy! Check out the cute shawl I'm wearing; I knit it using my own COLORBOMB Creations handspun yarn! And the wire necklace? I knit that too!

We were married in our favorite place in the whole world, and The Hitcher was our good friend Mike 'Seldom Seen' Franklin, who came out of internet-minister retirement to marry us. Besides the bride and groom, there were 10 other souls present to witness our exchange of vows; just enough for everyone to have a role. There was the Family Wild-Tobish: Best Dude Jim, who read 'Oh, The Places You'll Go' by Dr. Seuss; Best Babe Brenda, who dressed & coifed Velma; and their boys, Augie & Gavin, Awesome Ring Dudes; Sean 'Mad Pup' Foster played Papparazzi; and Steve 'Boomer' Cox, Richard 'Woody' Seigner, Mark 'HRD' Cox, and Clark 'Not Just Clark' Schweitzer were our witnesses.

The setting could not have been more spectacular. A summer meadow, a July afternoon, sunny skies; all the ingredients for a picture-perfect wedding. Even the wildfires only about 10 miles away cooperated: the smoke didn't blow in to camp until the next day. After, we brought out the cases of Pabst Blue Ribbon and Lil' Debbie for our 'champagne and cake' toast! (Cole and I each had the bottled beer we'd carried in for the occasion, and saved our PBR for a more private moment.) Later, Steve and Mark set up a chocolate fondue and strawberry shortcake bar at the campfire (remember, now, we all backpacked in to this site!).

* * *

Our reception was a Full-Moon Potluck Luau-Stylee party, complete with tiki torches, Hawaiian shirts, leis, and the coolest cake you've ever SEEN! The weather wasn't quite warm enough to really warrant our tropical attire, but we donned it anyway, despite the fog. Can you see my goosebumps? ;)

We had our party at the home of our good friends Essence Torres & Grant Roden and their son Griffin, whom I occasionally get the pleasure of babysitting hanging out with. They have a couple acres above the Pacific up by Big Lagoon, and they really put on the dog for us. Check out the potluck spread behind us in the photo!

Here's the cake, I gotta show you the cake! I told my friend Kat, who baked it for us, that I wanted a 3-tiered cake with a tiki theme, and I showed her the image we used for our party invites (you can see it here). And THIS is what she came up with, exceeding my wildest hopes for a cake, and far surpassing the the one I found on the internet that inspired me. And did I mention it tasted good, too?

Besides Essence & Grant, our hosts, and Kat, baker extraordinaire, we got help from our friend 'Mix Master Max', who spun tunes for us into the night, by the glow of the Christmas lights strung along the fence.

In addition to the Full Moon we had for the party, which just barely peeked through the high, thin clouds, we also had a small earthquake. Just big enough for everyone sitting around the 10 foot bonfire to to turn around to see who had shaken their seats! We took it as an auspicious portent.

Most of the revelers camped with us overnight, joining us for coffee and muffins in the morning. Thanks to Nels (and his truck!) for all the help he gave us schlepping gear up there and back; couldn't have done it without you!

So began our new married life with each other, Velma and Cole, Cole and Velma. Couldn't ask for anything better.

*********************************************************************

That was my wedding post! Since then I've gotten all the wedding pictures up on Flickr, and I'm gonna put up the pics from the party there too. So if you want to see more photos, here are the links to our photosets (the sets are not identical):

The Courtin': on wedsite - on Flickr
The Askin': on wedsite - on Flickr
The Batchin': on wedsite - on Flickr
The Hitchin': on wedsite - on Flickr
The 'Moonin': on wedsite - on Flickr
The Partyin': on wedsite - on Flickr

There are some funny pics of the wedding party HERE, if you want a sense of what we're all about. And, oh yeah, I almost forgot: OffbeatBride.com featured our wedding! You can see their feature of us here (I love that one of the post tags is 'long-haired groom'.

Thanks for reading - now I'm going to get back to my state of wedded bliss!

Tags: wedding, reception, backpacking, photos

Knitterly Reconciliation

Not sure if the uptick in comments on yesterday's post is a result of the probing nature of my writing, the fact that everyone has an opinion to express about politics, or simply the fact that it has been almost four months (four months!) since my last blogging. Whatever; it seemed like the time to get back to it, and I guess you agree.

If the new Knitter's Review newsletter, Who We Are is any indication, I'm not the only one thinking and writing about coming together, post-election. Clara Parkes also seems to be thinking in terms of overcoming division. Here's the opener to her KR newsletter today:

"In all these years, I've only seen two things threaten the connection among knitters: religion and politics. And acrylic."

How true. She goes on to provide some statistical insight into the "common threads that connect us as knitters". Although I'm not a huge believer in statistics, particularly after my grad school experiences with them (as Disraeli said: "There's lies, damned lies, and statistics"), one from the newsletter caught my eye:

"we proudly and comfortably will knit in public (58.7%), although some of us tend to be a little more cautious about knitting with people until we've identified them as knitting-friendly (21.7%)" (bolds mine)

Hmmm. I am definitely part of the 58%+ that knits willy-nilly anywhere, anytime, in front of anyone, but you could probably guess that by the pics here. How about you? Are you a public knitter?

All of these photos are me, knitting on our camping trip 2 weekends ago for the All Hallows Heave, our annual Halloween disc golf tournament. At the campfire, while others carve jack-o-lanterns, in the sun & in the shade - I knit for 4 days, obsessively, on my Howler Monkey socks. I'm a slow knitter, so in those four days I only got as far as halfway through the heel flap on this top-down pattern. But they are knitting up like hair dye (nice 'n easy)! Bringing the 2nd one to do some more KIPing tonight on our new day for Purl 'n Hurl.

So if you are a public knitter, get out there and knit! But either way, here's to hoping that we can all find ways to do some post-election "knitterly reconciliation".

Tags: election, unity, knitting, KIP, common ground, socks

One Day to Wed!

We're all packed up (mostly), we've got all our backpacking/camping crap, and extra beer, and rings, and our officiant is on the way to pick us up... It's our last day of single-dom, and we can hardly contain ourselves, we're so excited. Here's a shot of our crap.

Back on Tuesday, newly hitched!

Tags: wedding, camping, backpacking

Campin' with Kat

So, you know I went on a short camping trip this weekend after working on the catering crew for my friend Chris who coordinates for Smokin' Moses. Put a few extra bucks in my pocket peeling potatos for 300 wedding guests in Crescent City, then hung out with my friend Kat on the Winchuk River in southern Oregon for a few days. Even though we had a little rain on Monday, we had a great time. Enjoyed the wildflowers, the ripe salmonberries, the millipedes that roamed the campground, and generally had a good time. On the way home we stopped at A Perfect Yarn in Crescent City and I picked up some of the Opal Neon sock yarn I've been coveting. Nice little vacation we had. Want to see more pictures? You can see them in my Flickr set.

Tags: camping, oregon

Lest You Think I Didn't Do It

For doubters (Rebecca-bo-beka), I give you this Kodak moment, proving I did spend the last week-and-a-half encamped in my favorite Wilderness Area. That is indeed the Velmanator on that rock, gimpy knees and all. Note the effort required to hoist both myself and all the crap I've carted in; also note that this is my EMPTY pack, what's left to hike out after all the food and booze has been consumed. 9 days in the wilderness requires, when done correctly, a tremendous amount of gear and alcohol. For some crazy reason, I decided I needed to create a list of all the paraphernalia I deemed essential to this trek. My purpose at the time I compiled it was twofold: allowing the obsessive-compulsive aspect of my personality to run free, and to give an idea to readers what a ridiculous mountain of STUFF I schlepped in on my back. To whit:


VELMA'S '06 SISKIYOU TREK GEAR LIST

On My Person:

• Halter bathing suit top (brown w/pink edging)
  
• Bikini bottoms (blue floral)
  
• Third St. Aleworks Got Beer? t-shirt (I wear it hiking in every year)
• Columbia convertible pants/shorts
• Leather belt, from Hot Topic (pink suede, what else?)
• Up a Tree Arborist Services baseball cap (memorial to my friend Xman)
• 1 neoprene knee wrap (for "good" knee)
  
• 1 cotton/lycra knee wrap (worn under knee brace)
• Donjoy Defiance knee brace (tiger-striped)
• Thorlo Trekking hiking socks
  
• Raichle Mt. Trail XT GTX hiking boots (bought 'em 'cause of this review)
• Canon SD500 Powershot + extra battery + case (LOVE it)
• 60gig Photo iPod + earbuds + Macally neoprene armband case
• 2 Leki Makalu hiking poles (couldn't do without them)
• Pair leather gloves (to deter blisters from poles)
• Eagle Creek Herbals organic lip balm
• Moleskine cashiers ruled journal (mostly to make a list of the things I forgot)
  
• Innova golf pencil
• 1oz. Repel 100 insect repellant (thinkin' I might lay off the DEET next year)
  
• Bandana (green, thanks for askin')
• Prescription glasses, sunglasses, case, & lenscloth (check me out, I'm sparkly)
  

On or In My Lowe Pack:

• 32oz. Nalgene water bottle, w/water (covered in stickers; what do they weigh?)
  
• Sierra Designs Electron tent (for gear; Cole carried his tent for sleeping in)
• Thermarest LuxuryCamp sleeping pad w/stuffsack
  
• 3/4 Thermarest Ridgerest sleeping pad (I need TWO mats to sleep)
• North Face down sleeping bag w/stuffsack (had it for years, don't know which model)
• Thermarest pillowcase (ah, filled w/ the down jacket & it's just like home)
  
• MSR Bath Packtowel (in lovely, dusty blue, to hide my grime)
• Evernew non-stick titanium1.9L cookpot + 2 lids (gonna trade 'em in for NON-non-stick)
• Katadyn Hiker water filter
• MSR Pocket Rocket stove (Cole carried both of the fuel canisters)
  
• Bic lighter (ubiquitous and useful)
• Red shop rag (also ubiquitous/useful; for dish washing, schmutz-wiping, etc.)
• 2 empty 1gal. Crystal Geyser water jugs (for toting filtered water back from the creek)
• 6 carabiners (for attaching all this crap to my pack, then bear-bagging the food in a tree)
• 1/2 lb. ground Co-op mystery coffee (NOT enough)
• 4oz. French, brown sugar cubes (freakin' expensive, but so adorable)
• #2 Melitta cone
• 20 #2 unbleached cone coffee filters (extra, so we can share)
• 12oz. coffee mug, w/lid (from Los Bagels)
• 27oz. stainless steel bottle, w/ 1/2 & 1/2
• Lexan spoon and fork (Cole carved us a spatula, 'cuz we forgot it)
• 3 17oz. Boddington's ales (Cole brought the PBRs, for rammin')
• 4 12oz. Olympia beers ("It's the Water!")
• 12 Tecate beers (for sippin')
  
• 750ml Jaegermeister (Cole carried the tequila)
• 1 lime
• Raminator (Dutch's one-of-a-kind, aluminum & plastic beer opening tool)
  
• 1/2 pkg. Fig Newtons
• 6oz. kumquats
• 2 chocolate Power Bars
• Bag of Jet-Puffed marshmallows (can't have a campfire without 'em)
• 5oz. bag of NY Style garlic pita chips
  
• 8oz. dried mango
• 4oz. sesame stix
• 2lb. granola (of which I think we hiked out 1.78lb.)
• 10oz. Mother's circus animal cookies (no camping trip would be right without 'em)
  
• 8oz. Hershey's Special Dark bar (my favorite, local Sjaak's, was out of stock)
• 8oz. malted milk balls
• 1lb. trail mix
• 8oz. sunflower seeds
• 8oz. almonds (I don't even eat 'em, I'm allergic)
• Granny smith apple
• 8oz. Rachel's hummus (note that this is the only actual food I carried)
• TP and baby butt wipes (Cole carried the shovel)
  
• 2 vintage cotton sundresses (just 'cuz you're in the wilderness, doesn't mean you shouldn't look hot)
• Floral halter from Tar-zhay
  
• Patagonia Capilene short-sleeve tshirt
• Stop Playing with your Balls tanktop
• Patagonia Capilene light-weight bottoms & mid-weight zip t-neck johnnies (longjohns, to you)
  
• Mt. Hardwear fleece zip t-neck (mine's an older version of this one)
  
• Patagonia Supercell rainjacket (mine's red)
  
• Mt. Hardwear Phantom down jacket w/stuffsack (mine's French Blue, oui oui)
  
• Pair polypropylene glove liners
  
• Thinsulate booties (ancient blue ones from REI)
• Keen Taos river shoes (for in camp)
  
• 2 pair extra Thorlo Trekking socks
• Outdoor Research Helium compression stuff sack (to put clothes in, duh)
• Petzl Tikka Plus headlamp
  
• Deck of cards & cribbage board
• Novel (The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger)
• Inflatable lawn flamingo tent stake
• 13 skeins wool yarn (green tweed from eBay, for sweater in progress)
• Zippered fabric bag w/ knitting tools: 2 pair Addi Turbo circular needles; Clover measuring tape; Clover stitch markers; scissors; pencil; 2 medium Clover cable needles; Chibi yarn needle w/o case; 7" Clover stitch holder; 4 Clover needle point protectors
• Knitscene magazine (contains Central Park Hoodie sweater pattern)
• $37 (for tourney entry fee, side bets)
• Lafuma butterfly chair (the discontinued - lighter - aluminum model)
• Solio solar charger (for iPod; wish they'd had the pink one in stock)
• 3M Nexcare instant coldpack (to ice my knee upon arrival)
• Prescription bottle w/meds (chock full of goodies for pain & allergies)
• SPF 15 Ecolips mint sunscreen w/clip
  
• 2 elastic surgical knee wraps (to keep my knees warm & happy)
• Zippered toiletries bag, w/: travel-size toothbrush/paste, lotion, & deoderant; lipbalm; bandaids; mirror; 2 hairties; 4 condoms (Cole brought more, yeah!)
• Empty, 10lb. plastic mesh mandarin orange bag (to stash beer in creek)
• Revolution Mini disc golf bag (lime green; my quiver) + Quad Shocks
• 6 golf discs: 171g TeeBird Pro; EliteX XPress; EliteX XL; Stratus; 172g Roc; 172g Aviar Pro
• Flannel golf towel, w/mini carabiner
• 3 agates (yes, I was carrying rocks for god's sake; for pocket - don't ask)
• Rubber chicken (for Hole #18 tee marker, see photo)
  

(That's me on the right, in the loud(er) dress + my friend Michelle + the Chicken).
Whew! So although my pack weighed in somewhere in the "Oh-shit-I-can't-lift-it" 75lb. range, I must confess that I didn't actuallymake it all the way in to the final destination with all this stuff; Cole actually had time to drop off his (1oolb.+) pack in camp, run up the trail to meet me, and hike MY pack the rest of the way in (I was about 2/3 of the way when he caught me) before I set foot in camp. Note also that there is virtually NO food whatsoever in my pack; he carried almost all of it, plus much of the gear. What a stud! And he managed to find me another heart-shaped rock for the collection he's amassing me. Not just a stud, but a sweetie too!! AND he went for a food & beer re-supply halfway through the week, carrying empties out with him. He rocks my world. How'd I get so lucky?

Tags: disc golf knitting backpacking wilderness velma rubber chicken Siskiyous

Where Did She Go?

This was my life last week while I was nowhere to be found. My annual trek into the wilderness to sit, sun, and savor with a group of tried-and-true friends. Here I am, looking lovely in the meadow as I sit and knit. Took the cabled hoodie with me to work on, and completed the back, which I am finishing here. I'll put up a picture soon (forgot to take one of it while in the meadow.

As every year, this year's trip was stellar. It's about a 4mile pack in to the lovely meadow you see behind me, and this year I got to go in early; 9 days, whee! We play disc golf while we're there, between swilling beer and napping. I uploaded photos to flickr today, so check 'em out.

I'm crazed catching up with email, laundry, news, etc. so no big post about the trip today, but I promise more to come soon. Be patient, my pretties. xoxo


Tags: disc golf knitting backpacking wilderness velma

Virtual hugs & an update

Virtual hugs & an update
I am completely overwhelmed by the outpouring of positivity from the readers of V-World! There really no words other than 'thank you.'

I'm heading out early (read: in the dark) this Thursday morning, the 10th, for a 4-day backpacking trip into the Siskiyou Wilderness in extreme Northern California, just shy of the Oregon border. For those several readers who know the area, I'm going to the next watershed over from Devil's Punchbowl. Lest you think that I'll be completely roughing it, it's just a 4.5 mile in hike along an old mining road that winds down into one of the most beautiful meadows around. Such a short hike, even for my defective ol' knees, warrants schlepping a few comforts from home, including a lawn chair and a fair amount of liquid libation of the adult persuasion.

Going on it's 16th? 17th? year, this annual full-moon foray into the wilds to Young's Meadow is an annual trek I've undertaken 4 previous years with a more-or-less stable (in membership, not in mentality) motley group of friends, ostensibly united by the fever of chasing plastic. Frisbees, that is. Yes, otherwise rational, employable and upstanding adults waltz into the woods every summer for a debauched tournament of Disc (aka Frisbee) Golf. Good times are always had by all.

So, don't be dismayed when you don't hear from me for the next week; I haven't gone AWOL again, I'm just frolicking.