For Bonnie

Earlier this year, in March, we went to Hood River and The Dalles in Oregon with our friends Bonnie and Richard for some wine research. We also paid a visit to Sporfarm to meet Patty’s Shetland sheep and shop in Patty’s studio. I told Bonnie and Richard I would knit a scarf or hat for each of them with their yarn selection. Richard chose a nice reddish yarn for a hat. Bonnie could not decide between two yarns so I told her to buy both.

After some consultation, Bonnie chose two of my favorite scarf patterns to highlight the beautiful colors in the yarns. One was a basic bow-tie scarf and the other the Landscape scarf.

We already are talking about another wine research trip in 2014. No doubt yarn will be involved as well.

Bluefaced Landscape

The Landscape Scarf is one of my go-to patterns when I want to show off some special yarn. And, wowee, is this special. It is Bluefaced Leicester in natural colors from Sporfarm. I purchased it on a trip to The Dalles, Oregon, earlier this year.

Working with it was a dream, so soft. And I love the natural colors and luster. I started with 258 yards and knit nearly every inch of it on US6 needles. I did change the pattern (as I usually do) by alternating garter and stockinette bands. And I made the picots on two stitches instead of three because I thought it looked better.

More Than Just a Hat

Forest

More hats. So what is special about these hats? The yarn! They are from Patty at Sporfarm in The Dalles, Oregon.

Vineyard is hand-spun merino, fingering weight. Forest is wool, closer to worsted weight. Sporfarm yarns have beautiful colors and are a joy to knit with. I have a little of each left over that will show up in some other project.


The pattern is Heads are Round, a great, all-purpose top-down hat pattern. They look a little pointy-headed on my “model” but they fit very well on a real head.

Vineyard

Another Wine and Wool Tour

A long weekend in the Columbia Gorge area of Oregon resulted in great finds in wine and wool.

We toured several vineyards in The Dalles, some of which had been pruned and some that were scheduled for pruning soon. Most of the vineyards are set in gorgeous areas surrounded my mountains (although Mount Hood was shrouded in clouds) and by acres and acres of cherry, pear, and apple trees. I would love to go back when the fruit trees are blossoming.

We also had a chance to taste some great Columbia Gorge wines, particularly wines from The Pines 1852 and Viento.

Now to the wool side of the trip. We met several fiber critters: alpacas at Foothills Yarn & Fiber in Hood River and  Sporfarm in The Dalles. Foothills is new to me and I am excited to try the yarn. I have purchased yarn from Sporfarm for many years and have enjoyed every stitch. We also visited Knot Another Hat in Hood River.

Top: alpacas at Foothills
Below: Shetland sheep at Sporfarm

Left to right: Noro (on sale!) from Knot Another Hat;
alpaca from Foothills; and from Sporfarm, wool in Forest,
merino in Vineyard, and natural shades of
Blue-Faced Leicester

We also enjoyed the scenery along the Gorge, which is ― well, gorgeous ― such as this view from our hotel near sunset on a cloudy day. The next day the mountains had a dusting of snow.

Guess I need to stop talking and start knitting!