Our first destination in Colorado was the Great Sand Dunes.  We arrived in the evening so we made our way to a wilderness area campground and worked on setting up the tent and making some dinner. Kudos to my chef husband who does such a great job preparing for our family.  We were in this really neat desert like area and enjoying bowls of mexican pozole that he had prepared before we left and froze for one of our dinners.  The mosquitos were a bit intense so we hopped in the tent pretty early and crashed out after a long day of travel.




We broke camp the next morning determined to make that day and all the rest of the vacation lovely!  Shortly we were at the Great Sand Dunes.  They were magnificent and so unique.  The park rangers let us know that there was a storm brewing on the other side of the mountains that was causing some really intense winds that day on the dunes.    We headed over to the dunes and they were not kidding! We layered up so that we would not get too sand blasted.  It was beautiful and intense at the same time.  If you have ever walked in lots of sand in lots of wind you will understand why I did not make it to the top of the dunes.  My body was aching and ready to head back after topping a couple of the dunes so I went back while the boys kept moving.





I went back and rinsed off in the stream that is at the foot of the dunes.  The fellas joined me later and we all enjoyed playing around in the stream at the base of this awesome geographical feature.  I really recommend you stop by the dunes if you are ever near this National Park.


I had brought about 4 knitting projects with me on this vacation, Jan's Poncho (my perpetual long term project) the Cat's Paw Headband, my summer linen shirt, and yarn for the Welcome Blanket.  It was this first night in Colorado that I cast on that first square for the blanket.  I had not idea I would be starting it in my birth state in the mountains- funny how the universe works sometimes!

Up next- Part 3 Durango!

So I am starting to go through our vacation photos and am ready to start sharing in some of our adventures.  As I shared we had been planning this two week road trip adventure to take our boys to the beach.  We had not gone to the beach together as family and here we are with this teen and pre-teen boys so we decided to go for it and planned out our southern trip starting off in some fun cities like Memphis and New Orleans before spending a week on the beach in the gulf and then finishing up with other cities like Savannah, Charleston, Asheville and Nashville.

About a month prior I thought it would be fun to get a custom camp mug made since I would be taking my knitting with me.  In fact I take my knitting with me on all adventures and like the idea of carrying my own reusable cup while traveling.  What I did not know what how the design I made would be telling of the future!  Big shout out to fellow Etsy artist Driinky for the awesome job on the mug and shipping it super fast.





Our first day we drove to Memphis.  We pulled in that evening and set out to find Beale street and some yummy dinner.  I ran into a school mate from my younger days- it was fun to find her on Beale street while she was visiting a friend and they gave us a recommendation on yummy BBQ to eat.  The boys requested to go by the Bass Pro pyramid before we left town and found a camping spot for the night.





We walked through Lafayette #1- eerie and beautiful!  As we made our way to Jackson Square for some Cafe Du Monde, I found a yarn shop The Quarter Stitch.  A sweet little yarn shop but I held strong on buying anything!  Souvenir shops, voodoo shops, and some poboys later we started making our way to dinner back in the Garden District.


About half way through our second day in New Orleans we started hearing folks talk about rain- lots of rain coming the next day.  Then my folks texted us and told us about a potential tropical storm heading our way.  As we finished dinner and went back to the flat we were staying in, we started to see the impact of what was headed right where our beach destination was.  It only took about half an hour of looking at weather projections to decide to pack up and leave New Orleans early (we were planning on heading out the next morning on the original plan) and get some distance from the approaching storm.  So we sadly packed up and said goodbye to our hosts and drove a couple hours north in Mississippi and hoped that maybe this storm would pass!

After sleeping for a few hours and catching some breakfast and weather channel the next morning we decided to go an hour east still hopeful the storm would pass.  The rain had already set in.  We found a hotel with a pool, hot food and bar!  We still did not know what we were going to do.  The next morning it was more evident the true impact of this tropical storm- now named Cindy.  It was going to not only impact several of the beaches in Florida but also the other areas in the South that we were planning on going after the beach.  We made a gutsy decision to just scrap it all and head West!




We had camping supplies with us so we looked through the atlas and set our sights on Southern Colorado!  It was a tough couple of days of driving through Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas but once we hit New Mexico the mountains started to show themselves and we got some space from the rain!


We found fun spots along the way and started chanting our "I Hate Cindy" (the tropical storm) song all along the way.  By now you understand that though the mountains were not going to be the original focus of this family and knitting adventure- it now was integral to our vacation plan B!  Who knew how telling my cup would be!  Knit Your Own Adventure Part 2 coming soon!

You may remember that I was taking a break from the wool Pussyhats for the summer months.  I attempted to do my second knitting pattern!  I incorporated an existing lacework pattern known as Cat's Paw into a headband pattern.  I did the first sample in some kitchen cotton and it came out a bit heavy.  As I was curating the yarn to make this in I discovered Quince and Co. Willet Cleaner Cotton- a responsible US cotton yarn.  There is more information about the ethical side of this yarn here.  I really enjoyed the delicate quality of the yarn as well.  It is more of a sport weight which works great for lace work.




I started working on this at the pool side while my youngest swam all afternoon in June, continued on it with my knitting buddy, then onto New Orleans at Cafe Du Monde and on the steps outside St. Louis Cathedral in Jackson Square in the French Quarter.  I finished it yesterday in the wee hours of the morning back at home before knitting on my Welcome Blanket.




This headband is now available in the shop- all proceeds after the cost of the yarn and shipping will go towards the Women's March.  I really respect this movement and know that it is not done and am proud to make something with my hands that will continue to support resisting this administration.

If you would like to try and knit this yourself I listed the pattern on Ravelry.  Thank you so much for your support in this craftivism movement!

I am sporting my red white and blue today while I am knitting away on my Welcome Blanket.  You may have heard about this new craftivism project imagined by the co-founder of the Pussyhat Project.  It is a call for 2000 blankets with yardage that will add up to the proposed "Trump Wall"  after the blankets are displayed in a museum in Chicago they will be distributed to refugee families in the US.

I was super excited to have another opportunity to using knitting in my craftivism and resist the current administration's policies.  Using your hands and voice to share when you disagree in these troubling times is epitome of freedom and patriotism in my opinion.



I decided to go with an easy to care for natural fiber.  With some of the reading I have been doing about super wash wool I decided to go with cotton.  I used Knit Picks Billow cotton in natural, cornmeal, and turmeric.  The yarn does shed a bit and has a thick/thin in the ply but I actually love the rustic feel that gives to the squares.



I decided to go with a wheat pattern and color selection.  My family helped me center on this as it reflects both my midwest heritage of farming and interestingly enough it is the flag of Volga Germans which is part of my Russian heritage.  There was a Volga German settlement in Russian that my great grandparents came from.  Many immigrated and settled in the midwest US to continue farming.




I started my first square on vacation this past couple of weeks.  What was suppose to be a beach vacation turned into a mountain vacation thanks to Tropical Storm Cindy- more on that in the next blog post!  But the special part was that I was able to start my first square in the state of my birth- Colorado- neat huh?



If you want to follow along in my progress feel free to follow my progress on my Ravelry page.  I am heading out to share some good food, drink, family time, and knitting as we light up the sky.  Cheers to all who share in our freedom raise our voices and knitting needles when we don't agree with policies that a so hurtful to our rights and our world.

There has also been a this simple chive blossom infused apple cider vinegar that is so subtle and lovely!  I am looking forward to diving into some more infusions this summer- what are some of your favorites?

Happy Memorial Day all- remembering and honoring those who serve and served.  I cringe at how divisive our country has become.  I think that there is a stereotype that if you are liberal you are not patriotic.  As a liberal democrat; I am deeply patriotic because I honor freedom and the ability to make choices very highly.  Choice in what religion you want to practice, choice in who you want to love, choice in lifestyle.  For that I thank everyone that works to defend those choices.

So I am looking through my stash for some red, white and blue and contemplating a project to start.  I am thrilled that this little gnome is going to a new home.  He honors the flag that I am proud to display in my home.  He has a little knit wool hat that I found a sweet pattern for- seriously sweet!



As I think about the political climate that is ever so frustrating in our country right now I wanted to give an update on the Knit and Resist project.  I was going to go ahead and knit up the May hat with the yummy Shelter American Wool from Brooklyn Tweed but since the other hats have not auctioned off I decided maybe wool hats in the summer are not that appealing!! So I will postpone the hats till the fall and re-start the hats paired with highly curated yarns.  In the meantime though I am researching some fun summer headbands in beautiful cottons and linen fibers.  So stay tuned for some summer knits matched with great yarns and proceeds going to organizations that are diligently working on resisting the current administration.


Big shout out to Krista Suh in thanks to sending me a print of the Herstory print telling the story of the Pussyhat Project.  I signed up for a copy of the print and it is hanging in my yarn cabinet as a continued reminder of the power of craft and handmade.  You can download a copy on her site.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend all!

I thought I would highlight one of the fun things in my state this Memorial Day weekend.  As I may have shared my partner is a huge cyclist.  He bikes functionally everyday as his main mode of transportation and he also rides recreationally.  This is the 9th year for a local bike and music festival that happens on Memorial Day weekend and the one big family ride to do with him.




The ride starts from our town and uses another trail to hook into the old Katy rail line that is now a rails to trails highlight in our state.  All along the way is music, food and tons of folks having fun on bikes ending in another town 30 miles away where you camp and have more food and libations.  As the boys have gotten older they now take off with friends and my partner and I pedal on down meeting up with friends for cocktails along the way.




This year I invested in a new saddle for my bike and this is the best I have- err my butt has felt since I started doing this ride.  Should have done that years ago!  This year I did a simple pompom yarn addition to my bike and added my vintage shepherd bell!



We only hit one patch of super pour down rain and got to dry off while listening to Split Lip Rayfield!  My partner is still out today making his way back into town- while I am enjoying a cocktail at home. Maybe now that I have a new saddle on my bike I will contemplate riding the second day next year- maybe!



I wanted to also share this great company I discovered that is bringing back the nostalgia of souvenir glasses and towels!  I happen to collect vintage souvenir state glasses of states that have special meaning for me, but I was all about getting a fresh towel with our state on it!  Be sure to check out their stuff- super fun!

Have a great rest of your weekend friends- I am off to do some knitting in the hammock!