When Knitting Was a Manly Art

9:00am – Clear – Current temp. 74.8F(23.8C)

Max 88.5F(31.4C) – Min 58.3F(14.6C) — 0″ precipitation

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7:45am – Clear – Current temp. 68.7F(20.4C)

Max 85.6F(29.8C) – Min 55.9F(13.3C) — 0″ precipitation

Popularity: 8% [?]

Fire. Not a phrase that those of us who live in the woods like to hear.

Leaving the ridge at about 3:30 this afternoon, we saw a plume of smoke where there shouldn’t be a plume of smoke at a time of the year when there shouldn’t be a fire. It was on one of two roads off the ridge. We chose one and it was on the other. By the time we had reached the bottom of the hill, we passed two Oregon Department of Forestry fire trucks on their way uphill. By 8pm when we returned on the other of road, fire crews were still present, but no smoke and things seem to be under control. Too close though. About 5 miles down hill from us. No details yet, but we’ll be trying to find more information.

Projects. Faroese shawl. About 14 row completed. This is the central panel with left and right panels.

Kiri 2 – On and off I’ve been working on a second version of Kiri. This one in Jaegerspun Zephyr. This color is called ‘Spice’.

Finally… This coming weekend is the first weekend of The Great Oregon Steam Up. We’ll have two tractors at the show for both weekends and one or both of us will be on the grounds both weekends. If you’re in NW Oregon/SW Washington, join us in Brooks, Oregon for a fun time.

#1 is the orange and green spotted 1956 John Deere model 420

#2 is a 1949 John Deere model D.

Popularity: 9% [?]

9:45am – Clear – Current temp. 72.1F(22.3C)

Max 83.8F(28.8C) – Min 53.2F(11.8C) — 0″ precipitation

Popularity: 8% [?]

7:00am – Clear – Current temp. 62.2F(16.8C)

Max 92.1F(33.4C) – Min 62.2F(16.8C) — 0″ precipitation

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8:45am – Clear – Current temp. 81.7F(27.6C)

Max 91.2F(32.9C) – Min 64.8F(18.2C) — 0″ preciptation

Popularity: 8% [?]

Hot and busy. Trying to keep up with watering the nursery plants. We don’t have any kind of automatic watering system, which means everything is done by hand. Some of our more sensitive plants need watering every day with this heat The rest of the week continues with the same.

This evening we finished what I hope is the last hearing on our fight with the local concert venue. Horning’s Hideout started as a small private park, with fishing, weddings and Boy Scout campouts. About 10 years ago the Hornings discovered concerts and started hosting a few smaller ones. Five years ago they started inviting larger and larger concerts, including The String Cheese Incident which brought 3-5 thousand attendees to our quiet little ridge.

Years of complaining to the owners about traffic, tresspassing, noise and other problems fell on deaf ears. This year Washington County got involved and managed to shut down most of the concerts.

Tonight’s hearing was to hear a request of a “Mass Gathering” permit. An Oregon regulation that lets a property owner bypass land use regulations to host a gathering of more than three thousand people on their property, once every three months.

The County had little say in the process, as long as the permit application met a very vague set of requirements. Which they did, over the the deep disappointment of a couple County Commissioners. So we need to deal with one more disruption of our summer, with clogged roads, noise and way too many people.

But, probably for the last time. The Hornings have not only managed to alienate the neighbors, but also most of the promoters of these big events. String Cheese will not return, nor will any of the events that had to be cancelled this summer. Maybe we can get our lives and ridge top back next summer.

On the knitting front… Not much. A bit of sock knitting. A bit of shawl knitting. Not much progress on either.

Popularity: 9% [?]

7:45am – Clear – Current temp. 69.8F(21.0C)

Max 80.8F(27.1C) – Min 58.6F(14.8C) — 0″ precipitation

Popularity: 8% [?]

10:am – Clear – Current temp. 69.3F(20.7C)

Max 76.3F(24.6C) – Min 49.6F(9.8C) — 0″ precipitation

Popularity: 8% [?]

For the past three days we’ve been working to get Eileen’s 1949 John Deere Model D running, cleaned and ready to take down to The Great Oregon Steam Up. She’s 56 years old and has seen better days, but she’s running smoothly, the leaks have been fixed and this coming Thursday she gets loaded on a trailer and will spend the next two weekends at the show. 500 cubic inches on two cylinders, and an open stack from the exhaust manifolds. Loud and a wonderful beat.

The girls. Gina and Hannah. Our two mutts. Gina is a registerd Great Pyrennees and Hannah is a Heeler x Shepherd cross. Completely different animals. Gina is slow, deliberate and gentle. Hannah is all muscle and speed. She never seems to slow down, but when we need sheep moved, she’s the one we call on.

Swallows. I wish I now more about Barn Swallows. For the past 4 or 5 years we’ve had a pair of Barn Swallows nesting in our barn. Every year they return to the same place, rebuilding their nest in the exactly the same place each year if the nest falls – which happens with regularity. A couple of years ago we put a man made nest to help them out, but they just used it as a roost while they built their mud nest. This year I’ve noticed that we have two pair catching insects over our fields and entering the barn. Finally someone – offspring? – is using our concrete nest and both nests are active. Artificial nest on the left and mud nest on the right and the head and tail of a swallow sitting on her/his eggs.

Finally — Next project. I’ve cast on and knitted the first 14 rows of this traditional Faroese Shawl. Cast on 327 stitches and decrease, with shoulder shaping, down to 6 stitches. From ‘Knitters – The Best of Shawls and Scarves’.

Popularity: 9% [?]