The Color Census

This is Day 1 of the third annual Knit and Crochet Blog week (3KCBWDAY1), and this is my first time participating, since I wasn't even blogging when it happened last year. I have a pretty busy week ahead, with out-of-town guests arriving on Wednesday, so I probably won't blog every day, but some of the daily themes may actually show up in the coming weeks. I wanted to post on the first day, at least, so here I am!

Today's theme is color, a topic which I love, and as both an avid knitter and photographer, something I think about a lot. You may remember one of my musings on color from last summer, right after I attended Sock Summit, when I posted this photo:

The yarn in that photo was almost all of my purchases from the Sock Summit marketplace, and the distinguishing characteristic of that yarn was that it was all in the red/pink/purple family. Only two of my purchases did not fall into that color family:

I've been thinking a lot about those purchases, some of the other yarns in my stash and projects that I have made, and I decided to conduct a color census in my yarn stash and projects. Here are the results, including a representative photo or two of typical yarns or projects in each of my preferred color families.

Red/Pink/Purple:
Stash: 51
Projects: 42

Violeta, Hazel Knits Artisan Sock

Robin Shawl, a She-Knits design

Blue:
Stash: 37
Projects: 16

Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock Lightweight, Azure Malachite

Simple Things, a Mary-Heather Cogar design

Green:

Stash:16

Projects: 20

madelinetosh tosh sock, Cedar

Crow's Feet, a Linda Welch design

And here are those poor orphans that don't seem to get much love from me.

Brown:

Stash: 8

Projects: 2

Gray:

Stash: 6

Projects: 0

Yellow:

Stash: 5

Projects: 1

Orange:

Stash: 3

Projects: 2

Do I feel bad about not knitting much with the "orphan colors" that have the lowest results in the census? No, not really. It makes me happy to knit with colors that I love, and like to wear, so that is all the justification that I need. But guess what? My current sock project on the needles isn't red, it isn't purple, it isn't pink, it isn't green, it isn't blue...

Walks, Hikes and Wanders #8: Heading Down the Burke

Last month, I wrote about walking north on the Burke-Gilman trail from my hometown. Two weeks ago, Mr. D and I started from the same point and walked south. As we noticed before, the newly remodeled trail was wider, and the surface smoother.

The recent rains meant that McAleer Creek was rushing, as we looked down on it from the bridge.

It was a chilly, blustery day, but spring was in full swing, as you can see from this wonderful blossoming magnolia tree that we saw along the trail:

We crossed over the Seattle city limits after about a mile-and-a-half, and continued on for another mile. Along the way we came across some ducks enjoying an overgrown puddle, and later, some blooming daffodils.

We turned around at 125th Street and power walked back to our starting point, so the focus in this part of the walk was exercise, not photography. Before we headed for home, we made one last stop for a reward: Great Harvest Bread Company, where one of the free slices being offered that day was Italian Easter Bread, sweet and delicious, filled with marzipan. YUM! (I hope it didn't reverse all of that good exercise...)

Yarn and Wool in Strange (Or Not So Strange) Places

Even though there wasn't a yarn store, I did find a bit of yarn-y and fiber-y goodness on Orcas Island...

Walks, Hikes and Wanders #7: A Mountain on an Island

I had a birthday recently, and to celebrate it, Mr. D took me on a two-day getaway to Orcas Island in the San Juans. We arrived around noon on Sunday, and once we got checked into our B&B and had some lunch, we headed to the trailhead at the south end of Turtleback Mountain. The owners of the B&B told us that the trail to Ship Peak was a nice one, and that it would be a pleasant two-hour hike, with some spectacular views. It was a beautiful day; perfect weather for a hike.

The trail is on an old logging road and climbs up the south side of Turtleback Mountain,  on the west side of Orcas Island. At first the trail was gentle.

But, surprise, surprise, the trail got steeper fast. Fortunately, there were benches placed strategically along the trail. Here is Mr. D observing the view to the southwest from one of them:

As you can see, the vistas were beautiful.  Here is the view to the south, looking across the islands to the Olympic Mountains in the far distance.

At Ship Peak (931 feet) there was a beautiful, but different view, across farm fields to Mount Constitution, on the east side of the island.

There was also evidence of Orcas Island's geologic past, this incredibly old stone alongside the trail.

We decided to hike further past Ship Peak before turning around to go back down. As we were making our way upwards, we encountered a local hiker, and she directed us to a trail that loops back down the mountain on the west side, and then rejoins the trail we came up on shortly before the trailhead. She told us to keep watching near to the ground and we would see the turn-off. Sure enough, about ten minutes later, we did.

We meandered our way down the mountain, back to the trailhead. Just up the road from the trailhead we came upon a scene that convinced us that spring, in addition to the hiking season, is finally here.

Happy Spring, everybody!