Introducing: Zoetrope

I had so much fun coming up with this pattern, though like most of my patterns its seems,  it had a long time going from inspiration to release.

Shortly after I took up running* last year, I quickly learned that if I wanted to run in the cold I would need a good hat and being a knitter, I thought I could create an awesome running hat. I was in the midst of a colorwork binge and thought a running hat with a running motif would be fun, and then I remembered my history of photography class from college and Zoetrope was born.

In that class, one of the photographers we learned about was Eadweard Muybridge, who in 1877 accidentally helped create the motion picture by winning a bet for a friend. The bet was whether or not all four of a horses hooves left the ground while in a full gallop, by utilizing a series of cameras, Muybridge proved that they did (wild times in 1877!).  Muybridge also discovered that by placing the series of images on a spinning disc, when viewed though a single opening, the spinning image appeared to move. Like this!

History lesson aside, I took Muybridge's "Horse in Motion" images and converted them to a colorwork chart, which is framed within a filmstrip. Each of the horse panels are different, meaning that if you spun it fast enough and while looking through a slit, the horse would appear to be running. Or you could just look back up at the animated gif above.

The hat is knit out of Quince & Co's DK-weight Chickadee in Egret (white) and Crow (black). One of my testers also successfully used a fingering weight yarn.

Zoetrope comes in three sizes: 17.5, 20.5, 23.5 inch/ 45, 52, 60 cm circumference, features an optional braided tassel, and, if I may say so, is a little addictive to knit, as once the horses start to appear, I just wanted to keep going.

Zoetrope is available for purchase for $5.00 USD

or you can queue it up on Ravelry.

*haven't really run since.

Roadtrip: Grafton Notch and Step Falls Preserve

Mr. Cleaver & I took advantage of the wedding to stay at a B&B and enjoy a mini-vacation in Bethel.

Since the wedding didn't start until the late afternoon on Saturday, we took the morning to do some hiking. Based on a recommendation from our lovely  innkeepers at the Rivendell B&B, we took the drive up Route 26 to Grafton Notch State Park.

Grafton Notch is unusual for a state park in that the highway literally runs through the middle of it. The portions of the park we explored were all accessible via little pull-off parking lots off 26. Each of the falls were little mini-hikes that took no more than 10-15 minutes tops.

In all of the spots we stopped at in Grafton Notch, the landscape had been carved by glacial runoff, and nowhere was this more evident than our first stop, Moose Cave Gorge.

As you approach the gorge the temperature noticeably drops from the ice cold waters still running through the cavern. The drop was incredibilty steep, and apparently earned its name from an unfortunate moose that slipped and landed inside.

The next stop south was Mother Walker Falls. Due to the season, most of the falls were less full than they would be in the spring, but the newly turning color in the trees made up for any lack of rushing water.

My favorite of the three stops at Grafton Notch was Screw Auger Falls.

The most sprawling of the three falls, Screw Auger features a small upper and dramatic lower falls, as well as a number of beautiful picnic spots upstream.

Our last stop was just outside of the state park at the Nature Conservancy's Step Fall Preserve. Also off 26 - Step Falls has a blink-and-you'll-miss-it sign, but is well worth the hunt.

The climb to the top of the falls is steep (and due to concerns about time, we didn't quite make it all the way up), but the view is breaktaking.

Now that I know how relatively short a drive Bethel is from Portland, I'd love to make a number of return trips to this beautiful area.

Speaking of trips, I'd added a Roadtrip tab to the top of page to collect the posts on the other lovely spots we've visited.

Roadtrip: Lake Mooselookmeguntic

Mr. Cleaver and I got back Tuesday afternoon from a few much-needed days in the woods at Stephen Phillip Memorial Preserve campground in Oquossoc, Maine. Though it was grey when we arrived, we lucked out on the weather and had a fantastic time hiking, canoeing, and sitting around the fire.

If you're ever in the Oquossoc/Rangeley area, I'd highly recommend the camp, as well as a stop at the road-side vista point Height of Land, and the breakfast burrito at the BMC Diner in Rangeley.

It's wonderful what some time lakeside does for the soul, isn't it? I've included some of my favorite photos below, but if you'd like to see some more, the full set is available on Flickr.

February Sunshine

While the Mid-Atlantic has been getting pummeled with inches upon inches of snow, we've been sitting up in Southern Maine with hardly a flake insight. Amazingly it is February and there is more grass to be seen than piels of snow. I'm sure we'll get hit with a doozy of a storm as soon as I post this, but in the meantime, Mr. Cleaver and I have been taking advantage of this February Sunshine.

Last weekend we took my first trip to the Maine Audubon sanctuary in Falmouth. In the past, Mr. Cleaver has gone to the sanctuary to cross-country ski, but we just wandered the trails, holding hands.

It was still cold and breezy, but the sun was so nice we sat on the ground and soaked it in.

I didn't think it possible, but this weekend was even nicer - so we went to the beach.

We picked up pizza and pier fries at Lisa's Pizza and took a walk along the shore at Old Orchard Beach - one of those places that is crawling with tourists in the summer, but lovely and quiet in the winter.

We're currently at a 50% chance of snow for Tuesday, but in a Maine winter, you take what sunny days you can.