'Snowshoeing' in Washington

This post is way overdue -- somehow last week got away from me entirely and I didn't manage to get any of my pictures posted at all! Thor & I went to Tacoma, WA over the holiday weekend to visit my mom and grandma. We had a great weekend! My mom and I spent Valentines Day at the Madrona Fiber Arts Festival -- while Thor got to spend the day poking around Sportsman's Warehouse and Cabelas. Everybody wins!

On Sunday we decided to go for a snowshoe during the day. This turned out to be a bit of a fool's trip as the snow was terrible and we ended up taking our snowshoes off after about 15 minutes of hiking.

Here you can see how much debris was on the trail when we started - it only got worse as we hiked higher.

The point at which we finally felt ridiculous enough 'snowshoeing' in dirt to ditch our snowshoes on the side of the trail!

Myself, mom & Thor. We tried taking this picture about 7 times. One of us always looked completely ridiculous...this is as good as we were able to get.

The view of frozen Snoquera Falls from below once we reached the top of our hike. A huge chunk of ice crashed off the falls while we were up there. It didn't come anywhere close to us -- but gave us all a real jolt of adrenaline none-the-less!

The view across the valley while standing under the falls. It was a very overcast day -- but the forest was beautiful with all the fog.

Nick's Swedish Mittens

I just finished these mittens for little Nick Nardecchia this past weekend. They were so quick to make! I finished one on the plane ride down to Phoenix - and then the other I knit while watching the Grammy's on Sunday night. I might have gone a little too quickly though -- I was converting a child's mitten pattern to an infant size and messed up on the thumbs. They are so small I can barely get my pinky fingers in them. oops. They're more like chewing nubbins now.
The stitch pattern I used is called 'Pattern From Gammelgarn' out of the book The Mitten Book by Ingrid Gottfridsson. (You might notice this is a rather pricey little paperback book...that's because it is out of print!). I used leftover yarn from Thor's Christmas stocking to make Nick's mittens [Rauma 3tr. Strikke-garn in Light Yellow (#120) and Gold (#148)]. The 'string' attaching the two mittens is actually a two-stitch I-cord that I grafted into the cuff ribbing on each mitten so it's pretty solidly attached!

The mittens.

Nick demonstrating how to use the 'chew nubbins.'

*Note adorable hat hand-knit by our friend, Stacy Maiano!*

A Wonderful Life

Thor's grandmother, Tat Guirey, passed away this past week, and we spent this evening at a very fun celebration of life we held at the house that she and her husband built in the 1940's. A ton of people showed up - Tat was born in 1914 and lived her entire life in Phoenix, AZ so she had about a million friends. Here are some pictures of Tat throughout her long life.

Snowshoeing at White River Canyon

The ladies (+ Nick!) went for a little pre-Super Bowl snowshoe yesterday while the guys stayed home and made chili. Jen, Stacy, Katy & I went up to White River Canyon on Mt. Hood for a leisurely afternoon stroll before parking it on the couch for the rest of the evening. We ran into my friend Tashiana out on the trail and she took this great picture of all of us (Laea is, naturally, focused on a stick at Jen's feet).

Katy, myself, Jen & Stacy (Nick's snoozing in Katy's backpack).

Stacy actually took this picture herself! My self-made pictures never turn out this well!

Cold Weather Riding

Last weekend my friends Abby, Margi, Sage & I drove out to The Dalles to pre-ride the first two stages of the Cherry Blossom Classic -- a stage race that will take place later this spring. It was freezing! Literally. It snowed the whole time we were riding, but it was dry enough that the wind blew the flakes off the road. Our original plan was to ride 60 miles - but we cut it off at 45 and went for soup and sandwiches instead. We rode with a bunch of ladies from Sorella Forte as well. Here's the group of us after the ride -- you can see all the snow in the background.