Camping and Knitting, Knitting and Camping

This weekend we scooted of to the mountains. The forecast said a 60% chance of rain. They were a little off. It was more like a 100% chance of 60% rain. The other 40% was probably the space between raindrops.

It was a wet, cold, and very quiet camping trip. By Saturday afternoon every other intrepid camper had given up and left. Rain or not, it was absolutely fabulous.

While I was hiking around, I came across a grouse, who was midst mating. His tail was flared far more than this, and he was looking intently into the bush. I tried to get a better picture of him with his tail fully flared. He heard me of course - I could not sneak up on a person with a hearing impairment if I tried - and he flew off into the bush. I hope He succeeds. Nothing worse than a male grouse who couldn't mate because of some dumb human.

I love this back country campground for its utter quiet. Humans are just a very small part of the world here. You begin to understand just what kind of people our ancestors were, to survive this climate, any climate without anything but what they could make from the forest and plains around them.

There are big grandness, and small grandness, so many things to see. Perfect pictures on any scale (or they would be if I were a better photographer.)

With the miracle of modern tarps, I knit in front of the fire. I knit in spite of the rain. I knit because it was lovely, and almost as good as crocheting in camping conditions. (The only reason its not as good is that there are so many more needles to lose, which is very bad when you are an hour and a half from a store with needles)

I finished the pair of silly socks but for the heels (peasant heels). I'm going to have to practise grafting. My first try at grafting was so bad it deserves a whole blog item of its own. I'm still shivering with the horror of how that turned out.

No, I'm really shivering because even with the van, even after an night in my own bed, I am still chilled to the bone. I need a serious upgrade to my long johns before we go back up there in the fall.