8500 Feet

That's how high up I was on Saturday. My friend Danielle and I hiked up to Donner Peak. Here are some wonderful shots - some as we were going up and some from the very top. (It was very windy!)

From the top here we could see 3 if not 4 separate ski areas - Mt Rose (at least 40 miles away as the crow flies - that'll tell you how clear it was), Northstar, the Sugar Bowl (which was actually behind us), and I think Boreal as well. Donnor Lake was directly below us - a beautiful shade of aquamarine

This is a shot of my friend and I - an older man was really nice to take our picture. Like I mentioned it was extremely windy - a girl coming back down warned me to keep a hand on my visor. That's it strapped to my tank strap. That's her dog - Mango, a real mutt! :-) She's a great dog, though - so energentic, and smiling everytime she came back around the corner, wondering why we were going (to her) so slow!! Dogs are great!

There were a lot of people up there! Danielle couldn't believe how many. A lot of families, too - that was great to see.

I can't believe any one seeing that view could belive that such beauty just happened. Our Creator is so wonderful - and He had this whole world as a canvas!! :-)

Wedding Gift

This past Saturday, I went to a wedding. I think that this was the most beautiful wedding I have ever been to. Everything about it was simple yet elegant. The decorations were minimal - roses and babies breath. The altar area up front had only the communion table covered with a navy blue cloth and a cream crocheted runner. Two vases on either end held roses with candles and communion effects in the center.

On the left was the piano with a larger flower arrangment near it and on the right was a harp (that was played beautifully I might add as guests were coming in.) The bride's dress was as simply elegant as the rest. Almost no decorations except on the top of the bodice - just a slender satin sheath.

I know both the bride and groom fairly well. Cassidy is the Youth Pastor at SBC and Erin plays the violin on the worship team. Both are excellent, awesome people - so on fire for Christ. They definitely centered the wedding around the ceremony. Both wrote their own vows, and even what Pastor Greg had to say was really neat. One thing that I really liked was that Cassidy, in his vows, said "...I will put you above all others, even Ministry." That is so important to remember. Many Christ-centered marriages have become rocky, as one or the other partner over dedicate themselves to serving and to ministry, neglecting family at home.

The reception was just h'or d'ourves, mainly to keep the guests busy while photos were being taken. I left before the bridal party came in - there were just too many people crammed into too small a place. But I heard that instead of throwing the bouquet - Erin passed out single roses to all the single ladies. They also had a little book titled "Our Love Story - aunthor: God." It was very cute, but also a great testimony to those (like me) who have been praying for a solid Christian mate/partner.

Below is a couple pictures of the present I made them:


The doily is 22" across, made with 8/2 cotton on US3's. The pattern is the center portion of the Shetland Tea Shawl from "A Gathering of Lace." The border is a the modified print o' the wave from the Shetland Square I made in green wool not too long ago. It knitted up fairly quickly, and I really like it. This might become a staple wedding gift! :-) Erin told me a month ago what her home's colors will be - navy, rust, and cream. Very glad I had the navy cotton on hand. ;-)

I have been finishing up other shawls still on the needles - this is one of them I finished up last week:



Regal Silk, 100% silk from Artyarns, the Shoulder Shawl in Syrian Pattern from "Victorian Lace Today," on US9's. Just look at the sheen of that. I got these 4 skeins almost as soon as I learned how to knit over 3 years ago. You know what they say - Third time's the charm? Yeah, this is the 3rd project I've started with this yarn. Sometimes it takes a while for you to realize what the yarn would like to be. :-)

It was going to go into the present bag for Christmas, however...um, yeah, I'm keeping it. ;-) I wore it on Sunday, and it was a perfect sheild against the cold AC. I also got lots of compliments. :-P Thanks, everybody.

On another note - I got the invitations to my birthday party out. Yeah! Now all I need is to get the food and order the cake, and all that will take place in the week before the 24th. Ooh, I'm getting excited! Yeah!

Ravelry

If you haven't heard about Ravelry - you are obviously not a Knitter! :-) J/K This site is the buzz around the knitting blogosphere - and has been for months now. I can't wait to get my invite. But it might be a little while yet. Here's my status:

You signed up on June 8, 2007
You are #7784 on the list.
1293 people are ahead of you in line.
12261 people are behind you in line.
31% of the list has been invited so far

Look at the number behind me!!! And there are over 4000 people already on Ravelry! That is a lot of knitters, my friend! ;-)

It's up...

Laura at Jimmy Beans Wool got my pattern up on her site. This is a nice picture of the finished shawl. Go here for the free pattern.

Thanks again!

Still Burning

I took these two pic from my car w/ my phone yesterday afternoon on my way home from work. The direction the smoke is blowing is the direction I live. Nice, huh? Yeah, I'm a little raspy and stuffy this morning, and there was a fine layer of ash all over everything when I left the house this morning. No worries - the fire has to come through several neighborhoods before it gets to my apartments, and this morning it is burning higher up on the hill moving south-west. I didn't have time to take one today. I was going to try to get a night shot, but it was still too light out at 9pm last night.


(Yes, I know my windshield is dirty. My whole car is dirty {camping.} I'm going to wait until the fire is done before getting it cleaned though.)

Thank goodness no homes nor lives have been lost so far, but as of this morning @ 8:30 am the fire is only 5% contained and up to 2000 acres. That's not a lot as far as wildfires go, I know, but when the winds kick up this afternoon, it could burn a whole lot more before the end of the week. This fire started Monday about 2:30pm, and has gone every which way because of the unpredictable wind. Hopefully the cooler temps coming later will help lay the fire down.

This is what I saw last night driving home...

Well, not exactly - this was taken by someone else, but that is pretty much what I saw at 9:30 last night. I actually live to the left of the picture, and the fire is about 2 to 3 miles from where I live. Kinda spooky - I've never been this close to a wildfire before, and have never seen one at night. Thank goodness it rained a little last night, but it is still going strong this afternoon, moving south, and getting bigger!! The weather service expects the winds to blow toward the east later, moving the fire toward homes and unburned areas. Eeek!! I've been praying for the men and women fighting this fire, as well as any one whose homes will be in the way.

I won??!!

I actually won something! I submitted an original pattern for a monthly pattern contest at Jimmy Beans Wool in June and they picked my pattern! Yipee!! They're running a little behind, which is why the pattern isn't up yet, but it should be up fairly soon. And just look at all the loot I got:

There's so much stuff there, it's so cool! Starting at the bottom and working up:
4 patterns
Pick-up Sticks Sushi Wallet kit
Berroco Suede Ballet Slipper kit
2 hanks of Lorn's sock yarn
1 ball of Noro Silk Gelato (silk ribbon)
Lantern Moon Ebony Wood Needles
2 hanks of O-Wool
1 hank of Blue Sky Alpaca's Royal
Mountian Colors Sock pattern w/ 1 hank of Twizzle
A nice bar of soap (smells great!)
Kitty toys kit
and a hank of Manos Cotton Stria

Thank you to the staff at Jimmy Beans and all the companies who donated prizes for the contest!! :-)

I also recieved a gift certificate...but I used it on this:



Laura at Jimmy Beans Wool was kind enough to special order me this roving from Lorna's Laces. Yes, they actually carry roving dyed all their awesome colors. The one at the top is "Black Watch" (green, blue, and black) and the bottom is "Purple Iris." (They have a merino superwash, as well as a nice wool blend (which these are). I've already opened one up and played around with it a bit. These are going to spin up so easily! I have a feeling I'm going to be spinning this weekend! :-)