granite and silk

After my knittingless backpacking trip to the Sierra, I was briefly back in Phoenix, and then it was back to Southern California, retracing my tracks across the Mohave on I-10, this time for a very knittingful climbing trip !

Here we are, reclining in the shade -- him resting, me knitting -- after a hot and sunny climb up to the summit of Tahquitz.


Nothing as lovely and peaceful as sitting in the shade of a pine tree, muscles well worked, and getting in a few rows of lace knitting.


I love the incongruity of these textures. The roughness of the granite against the lovely, luxe softness of the silk-merino yarn ....


The yarn, by the way, is a fingering weight silk/wool from Henry's Attic (used to be called "Silk and Ivory"). I dyed it with cochineal waaay back in 2007. It was one of my early natural dyeing experiments, back when I was living in Vermont. How time flies!