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Thursday, July 3

Jewelled Steps Socks Update...

Here are some pics of the Jewelled Steps socks I'm working on, from Cat Bordhi's "Pathways" sock book. For some reason, my brain just can't figure out the instructions for readjusting the stitches prior to working the heel.

I have the hardest time doing it! Maybe because I'm left handed and right-brained. For the Coriolis socks it was an agonizing 1.5 hours. For this sock last night was an hour. I think I am doing the reverse in my head. The pics of the needles is backwards for me. I have to look at the knitting from the view as I am knitting them, so moving the markers to the left would be to the right for me. I basically just gave up and put the marker 10 sts to the left of the steps, then added 15 for the wings.

Click on pics for larger view...

In the top pic you can see the expansion stitches nicely fan out on the inside (left side) of the right foot sock. Nice.

In the middle pic (I just updated this post with the new pics), you can see the steps, and the expansion section clearly. I like how this runs on the inside left flank of the right sock. Hopefully this will be mirrored in the left foot sock!

I decided to add a 3x2 rib on the cuff, but only in the back of the sock. The steps continue on the front half.

Some other thoughts, the wraps for the steps are pretty small at sock weight yarn. I'd do 4 stitches and maybe wrap 3 times. And, it's way easier to do the wraps by putting the stitches on to a short cable needle, quickly wrapping the yarn around twice, and then knitting the stitches.

Just Pics...

Oympic Peninsula Drive Pics...

Top: drive out to Lake Crescent

Middle Row Left: drive to Lake Crescent

Middle Row Right: view through the pass

Bottom Row Left: the lake

Bottom Row Right: snow on the peaks


Oympic National Park and Beyond...

To recap: we landed in Seattle on Tuesday, spent Tuesday and Wednesday in Seattle, hopped on the ferry from downtown Seattle to Bainbridge Island on Thursday, and drove up to Port Angeles on the Olympic Peninsula, where our journey continues...

Pics at the right are from the Lake Crescent drive. No captions needed! Click on for really great enlargements.

Port Angeles was kind of a dive (sorry to offend anyone from there!), but we took Rt. 101 out to Lake Crescent, which was one of the most beautiful drives we have ever been one--bar none. The mountains loomed, the valleys were gorgeous, and Lake Crescent was stunning! The road hugged the south shore of the lake, and there were ample opportunities for vistas and snapshots. We stopped at just about every turnout, as the angles changed dramatically, and the views were truly breathtaking.

We stopped somewhere to take a, you know, rest stop--I think at Granny's Diner or something. It was a cute little place, full of antiques--really homey.

We made it about 1/2 way up the length of the lake, and made a little excursion to see some waterfalls, but the map detailing the hike said it was about 2 hours, which we didn't have. Check out the pic of the deer outside the warden's hut!

We headed back to Port A, and decided to go out to Ediz Hook to check out the rocks. Remember, Wendy of the S'Klallam tribe told us we should go out there to look for jade, agates, jasper, etc.

The drive out to the spit took us past the Nippon Paper plant. It was kind of weird. The road goes right smack through the middle of the buildings! Then, it's a cool drive way out into the bay, and ends up at the Coast Guard station. The views from out there were dramatic. I took more pics...some of the pics are the same as I took on the ferry from Port A to Victoria, but being on the spit, you're literally standing on this thin strip of dirt and rocks in the middle of the bay!

I decided on this trip I'd try to take some unusual pics. So I took closeups, pics from ground level, closeups of rocks, trigs, grass, trees, etc. Note that I did not rearrange anything. All objects were just as I saw them.

It was very windy out on the spit, and getting a little cold. Luckily I had an LL Bean Gore-Tex jacket with me! The view looking back at the mountains was just simply amazing! The mountains are, I believe, looking south at the Olympic Range.

We were both eagerly searching for rocks: I'm a rock-hound--I collect them from every beach, park, mountain, lake, city, etc., that we visit! I have them from Brighton, England; London, the gravel beneath the Eiffel Tower (really), the Cliffs of Dover, Chartres; outside the Taj Mahal, all the palaces in Jaipur, Rajasthan (in India), and tons of other places.

I believe in the spirituality of Nature. I love the Earth! And I enjoy collecting all the varieties of rocks I can find.

Oh! On this day it was Jeff's birthday! We headed back to the hotel and were trying to decide on a place to eat where Jeff could have his Pacific Northwest Salmon, or something dramatic like that. I was just about on my last leg of energy, and getting a bit bitchy. I just wanted to make a pot of tea and rest. We scoped out the restaurants on the route back to the hotel, and couldn't really find a place where we wanted to eat.

My mom had secretly given me some cash and a card for Jeff's birthday, which I stashed away in my carry-on. We both were kind of beat, and we ended up just getting carry away (take-out) from an Italian restaurant within walking distance. We thought we'd save the "birthday dinner" money for someplace more romantic or rememberable.

We sacked out, as we had to be at the docks really early the next morning for the ferry to Victoria....