friday's flowers: changing flowerscape

I've been exploring a new spot for my photowalks. The road has been known to us for a long time, but we hadn't really looked at it as a photowalk destination until last spring.

We found this patch of California poppies during our search for wild irises.

With the advent of summer and the blossoming of Queen Anne's Lace, I thought it would be fun to go back and check out the same spot to see how it had changed.

Wow!

A few poppies were left, snuggling deep below the greenery. There were so many new flowers present...and good amount of ladybug activity, too. I haven't even captured the tip of the iceberg.

I don't know what these flowers are, but they were fascinating to photograph.

Especially when the wind caught their petals.

So much yellow.

This was a totally happy place to plant myself and my camera.

I've never seen a buff colored lady bug before and was totally captivated! The sun was going down and it was windy, and the 'ladies' were really active, making the shot challenging...I learned that sometimes it's just about being present and quietly observing and not worrying about the things you can't control.

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend! I'll see you on the flip side! xo

The bird a nest, the spider a web, man friendship.”
~William Blake

a quick hello

Inspired by the yellow in the garden I started something new.

I'm away from the 'puter for a short bit...the plan is to catch up on the knitting and the photography of said knitting!

Fingers will be crossed when not knitting!

Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot;
others transform a yellow spot into the sun.”
~Pablo Picasso

Squid sock pattern by Nikki Burns in Hazel Knits sock yarn 'Stick o' Butter'

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brambling along

It has been hot here. Really hot. To cool off, I started a new pair of socks!

Blackberry Bramble socks.

The yarn is STR medium weight in the colorway 'Mist'. I modified it by adding a picot edge...I think I'm in a picot mood these days.

Can you believe it's almost August...the ripening berries tell me it's true!

Dwell in possibility.
~Emily Dickinson

Blackberry Bramble sock pattern by IrishgirlieKnits
STR medium yarn in 'Mist'

friday's flowers: critter alley

There's a 100 yard stretch of road that we've dubbed "critter alley". This last month it has been teeming with all sorts of life and activity. Ladybugs. Dragonflies. Damselflies. Butterflies. Spiders. We go walking nearly every evening down this stretch of road...you have to time it right...too late and the sun and warmth are gone and so are the critters.

You really never know who you're going to come across. Every evening is a new gift.

I've dubbed this post "critter alley". It is a smattering of captures from the past couple of months, not only from the 'alley', but also from my daily walks around the garden...a place where dragonflies and spiders abound. We are so lucky to have so much life fluttering all around us.

Enjoy your stroll down my virtual "critter alley". Perhaps you'll see something that you've never seen before!

Everytime I look at this image I see more and more in it. Click to enlarge and see how much you see!

Well, did you see something new?

I hope you all have a had a great week and are cruising into a fabulous weekend! xo

Love is anterior to life, posterior to death,
initial of creation,
and the exponent of breath.
~Emily Dickinson

picot fence

I am so behind in my knitting photography, all I have to show you is the above picture, which I took last evening on my walk.

However, I have finished my Port Ludlow socks and they are in the queue for their glamour shots. I have started the toe on the second Charybdis sock, and am racing down the foot of the above Slip Jig sock.

I was asked a short while ago about a good tutorial for a picot edge...I actually posted one quite awhile ago...so I'll share that one with you, it's here. I hope it helps...there are many other pictorial tutes on the web, so if mine doesn't cover all the bases for you take a peek on google and ravelry, too.

I hope you all are having a great week!
Happy Friday-eve!

Twilight: A time of pause
when nature changes her guard.
All living things would fade and die
from too much light or too much dark,
if twilight were not.
~Howard Thurman

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charity begins at home

As many of my long time readers know, multiple sclerosis is close to this knitter's heart. I have a dear friend with MS, know many others with MS--many of them knitters, and I work as a research scientist in an MS laboratory here in Oregon.

I was so disappointed to hear that Claudia was not able to ride her tandem bike this year in support of MS, as I had supported her efforts for quite a few years. My disappointment was short lived! When Brooke said she was going to ride, I thought I would try to run a little booster campaign here at Chez NK to help her with her fund raising.

Without further ado, meet Brooke! We work together in the lab and she's also a new knitter. She's been training and doing lots of rides around the greater Portland-metropolitan area and is very excited to be on a team to support people with MS in yet another way. The Oregon ride will cover ~150 miles in the Willamette Valley and occurs the last weekend of July.

The National Multiple Sclerosis Society and its different state chapters provide funding for innovative research seeking new treatments and ultimately a cure for MS, educational progams, and most importantly, support programs and services for patients and their families. The Pacific NW has one of the highest incidence rates of MS in the world and the funds raised from the Oregon ride help over 7000 people living with MS in Oregon and SW Washington. Like many other organizations, contributions are down in these difficult economic times, and sadly the need is still present.

I'd like to take this opportunity to invite you to support Brooke's efforts and to make any kind of donation you're comfortable with to Bike MS: Explore Oregon fundraiser for MS. I've put a new link on the side bar to Brooke's donation page.

As a small token of our appreciation for your donation, I will be giving away two signed copies of Chrissy Gardiner's book Toe-Up! as a thank you to two lucky donors. Just let me know in the comments of this post that you've donated (I don't need to know how much) and I will put your name into a random drawing to take place after the ride.

Thank you, thank you...from the bottom of our little knitterly hearts...thank you!

The camellia and rose images were taken in the gardens where we work!
And that's the Sauvie Island bridge behind Brooke.

busy as a...

We had a busy weekend, much like this little fellow!

The sun didn't make an appearance until after noon on Sunday, foiling morning plans to go to the farmers market for a photoshoot. Oh well...we'll keep our plans secret next time so as not to tempt fate!

We went to see Inception Saturday evening with Jen and her DH. Good times, good movie...complex movie. Great special effects...and of course it's a Leonardo DiCaprio film...'nuf said. :)

I did get a lot of knitting accomplished...I even finished a pair of socks...but no photos just yet...I was chasing bees and dragonflies instead.

It sounds like you all had lots of fun this past weekend, too!! I'm so glad you shared your adventures with us!

Happy Monday!

play day

Saturday's play list:

early morning coffee
knitting
pixels
more coffee with Mr. NK
more knitting
more pixels
movie and dinner with friends

What's on your play list?!

friday's flowers: lilacs redux

This Friday we're visiting the archives for a trip to Woodland, WA and the Hulda Klager lilac garden.

We went there quite awhile ago and I only used one or two of the images thus far...needless to say, I have many more. I'm holding a few back just in case I need to whip out a post on short notice! :)

Many of the original buildings are still on the property,

including the family home, which is intact and has many of the residents' clothes and other items on display. The rooms are very small, fairly dark, and there were a lot of people milling around, so it was very, very challenging to get a good picture.

But on to the gardens, and the real subject of this week's FF post. The lilacs.

I've never seen so many different lilacs in one place. Hulda Klager grew, hybridized and tended to all this plant material through floods and all sorts of trying times. You can read more about her here.

In addition to a plethora of lilacs, there are other flowers, too...

This amazing Chinese peony plant was hiding under a canopy of some very old trees...I spent about a half hour just shooting it.

okokokok...back to the lilacs.

one more for good measure.

I think that's it for now.

What are you doing for fun this weekend? We're hanging out and catching up with ourselves...i.e. knitting, photography, maybe a movie and a trip to the local farmers market.

I hope your weekend is fabulous!! xo

When lilacs last in the door-year bloom'd,
And the great star early droop'd in the western sky in the night,
I mourn'd--
and yet shall mourn with ever-returning spring.
~ Walt Whitman