We just returned from a wonderful week backcountry camping in the Grand Canyon and I am happy to report that I was able to haul my butt out of the Canyon at the end of our trip. Unfortunately my camera died on day 2 and I have a grand total of 8 pictures from the trip. Here are our happy faces at the beginning of day 1 hiking into the canyon. I was much less happy at the end of the day and found solace in starting a lace pi shawl while recovering. DH actually had to carry my pack for about 1.5 miles at the end of the day. He is my hero!! My legs wouldn’t hold up any longer with the weight, I felt like I was in a scene from a movie when the person comes stumbling into town and then collapses.
So first lesson was that lace knitting is the lightest project to work on. I think i increased my pi shawl to 290 stitches while still in the canyon.
The real revelation was that the best blister protection is the Dr. Scholl’s lambs wool (can you say roving) and it works by felting with your wool sock. I swear by it. No irritation from tape and it created great protection when I felt any hot spots. At the end of the day, just remove the felted pad from the sock. I thought it was a big improvement over moleskin, which tends to slip around and bandaids. At the end of 6 days: no blisters!!!
We did some remote camping and for 3 nights we were the only one at our campsites and we saw very few people in the canyon. I felt so cozy with my handknit hat, cowl, socks in the tent but lost a hat at Granite Rapids. Early spring is the time to go. Not too crowded, flowers beginning to bloom and cool weather (OK so it snowed one night and there were 60 mph winds but the tent held up).
I’ve developed a new spa program too. I only use a spork (combo spoon and fork) and mug to eat with and my portions are limited to the size of my mug. So I’m thinking of marketing a book and including the mug with recipes, that and 5-7 miles of hiking daily is a good fitness program. DH thought we might be slowly starving, but I never felt hungry.
Now I am on a felted clog binge. I had wanted to make these for a long time and the local Michael’s had a sale on Paton’s Classic Merino. First I made a pair for myself and then DH and my son wanted a pair. I will surprise Chelsea with another knitted item. The Paton’s Classic Merino felted easily – I have to finish all the felting projects quickly because we move onto the boat May 1 and will no longer have access to a top loader washer. I erred in the cuff of my pair and decreased much more than suggested but I have a narrow foot and they fit great. I felted DH’s and am finishing my son’s.
I looked forward to the snowstorm all weekend. How childish that I was looking forward to an unscheduled day off work. I only work 2 days a week and will have to reschedule all these patients anyway but….yipeeeee!! Overnight the house was shuddering with the wind. Snow frames all our windows and the wind and sleet are still blowing.
I’ll remember this sweater because it is about my 4th Fisherman style sweater and the first where I have gotten rid of the cable needles. I worked with techniques from EZ’s knitting glossary and a video I found on 
The cowl has been reworked again. Since it is too big and I am too lazy to rip it out, I have now knit up an I-cord so it fits snuggly. It’s great to wear when I run because I like my hair in a pony tail and hats don’t stay on.
And for a random photo, this large sea creature was offshore last week, hmmmm.
Tim and I were on a quest today. I wanted to see the snowy owls that have been seen at Jones Beach and was afraid they may leave as the weather warms. We drove out to West End Beach 2 and met a mixed batch of birders. The first group we met was happy to point us in the right direction although we didn’t really know where they meant. The second group was quite a contrast and were quite closed and tried to discourage us from looking. Tim’s strategy was to use the binoculars to look for groups of bird watchers who might be watching the birds we were looking for. This didn’t work too well but then someone told us that the area had become so popular that it was fenced off. This we could find. Even then, we wouldn’t have been able to see the Saw-Whet owl sequestered there until a photographer showed us it hidden in a pine tree. It wasn’t the Snowy owl though so we were off to the nature center. There the guide told us they hadn’t seen it that day but had seen birders in the west end of the park. This seems to be our best strategy, find the birders who might actually be looking at something and then try to find it. We saw a snowy owl but it was off in the distance and really looked like a piece of styrofoam.
There’s a barge offshore and it’s pumping sand onto the beach through a big pipe.
The seagulls are having a feast on the critters deposited with the fresh sand behind the tractors.
from my deck today, when the skies cleared and yesterday. 
In fact, it was so nice today that a charter fishing boat was out.
We awakened this morning to the pitter patter of little feet – above our heads. We looked up and the skylight was covered with what I think were Eastern Starlings that were taking advantage of the ice melting off the skylight.
Island and North Country Life 