About watching series & Hart of Dixie

I love watching series. To me, they form the perfect distraction while crafting. A lot of crafts don't require my full attention (spinning, crocheting, sewing, knitting, etc.), which means that part of my brain is unoccupied. In my case, unemployed brain cells somehow always react on this with exclaiming "Hey guys, we're free, let's go think stressful, worrying and controlling thoughts, yay!" (those nasty little fellas, grrrr...). Not good! So, to keep them busy and preserve my sanity, I like to watch series while crafting. Am I alone in this, or is there anyone out there who recognizes this? Please, let me know! (I'll feel less weird :P)

Quite a lot of series have been played on my laptop already. I really enjoyed all House M.D. seasons, just as The Office (US). Private Practice was another favorite, although somehow I liked Grey's Anatomy less. I'm watching Game of Thrones together with my boyfriend, we're both anxiously waiting for the third season! (Though this one's a bit different from the rest, I don't watch it while crafting...its story-lines demand way too much attention.) The Big Bang Theory never fails to amuse me, same counts for Two and a half Men, Anger Management and Arrested Development (which I'm watching together with my boyfriend as well, since we have to wait 'till spring 2014 for the next GoT season to begin). I lóved Pushing Daisies (that one stopped way too early). There're also some older series I still like, for example Frasier, The Nanny, Friends, Dharma & Greg and King of Queens. Oh, and I even like documentary series! Mark and I just finished Discovery Channel's Naked and Afraid. He brought An Idiot Abroad under my attention, which I find hilarious. When I'm in the mood, I find Through the Wormhole very interesting. And how about Louis Theroux' Crazy Weekends?

Well, it might be clear I watch a lot of series. Some of them I found out about via IMDB, some others via television. But actually most of them were pointed out to me by online friends and blogs. I love reading other people's reviews of books, movies and series. When it appeals to me, I try to get hold of the movie/series/book and watch/read it for myself, forming my own opinion on it.
Since I wrote a book-review already a little while ago, I thought...why not do the same for series? I can add my two cents to that immense online database of reviews and opinions, and maybe help others find out about nice new stuff to watch! I won't write about the very famous and obvious ones though, like The Big Bang Theory or whatever. There's already plenty of reviews and blogs to be found online on those ones, and everyone has heard of them anyway. Instead, I'll try to focus on less well-known series.

The series I'd like to start with is called 'Hart of Dixie'. I just finished its second season. I know the third season has already started in the US this fall, but I haven't watched the first episodes yet. I prefer getting hold of a complete season all at once, instead of having to wait for another episode every week. So I might wait a little while...expectantly though, because I really liked its first two seasons!

Hart of Dixie is about doctor Zoe Hart. Zoe is quite a little know-it-all, a young and hip lady from the Big Apple who just graduated as a doctor. She has her whole future planned and thinks she figured everything out just perfectly well, when something goes wrong and circumstances force her towards Bluebell, a small town in the deeeep south of America. Here she finds a job as a general practitioner, and that's when the real adventures begin.

Little miss Know-it-all, arriving in Bluebell.

Now...if the term 'doctor' (in the framework of tv-series) already scared you off, please don't stop reading yet. There's only a very small part of the series dedicated to medical interventions. Which are limited to a bare minimum anyway, because dr. Hart is a general practitioner and has to take care of a lot of humdrum problems (a big switch for her, coming from the busy state-of-the-art hospitals of New York...). So this is not yet another typical medical series, with those typical emergency situations, spectacular reanimations and love affairs between doctors and nurses. Instead, most of the series evolve around the character of dr. Hart and a lot of other interesting inhabitants of Bluebell. And this is done in a very sweet and heartwarming way.

A typical meeting of the town Belles.

I find the culture of the Southern United States very interesting. It's so distinct from every other American part, really having it's own unique identity. Southern people generally seem to be socially more conservative than the rest of the country and have a very strong sense of community, something that also applies to a lot of characters in Hart of Dixie. Many of Zoe's female peers in Bluebell are so-called Southern Belle's. The definition of a Southern Belle is a beautiful and charming woman (born in the deep south of course), possessing an undeniable natural charm, having a warm and dazzling smile and impeccable manners. She can be recognized by her hospitality and graciousness. This sounds all very nice and dreamy, but don't be fooled. The elite Southern Belles are in charge. They will get literally everything they want and won't avoid blackmailing and manipulation. While always remaining charming! I find it hilarious how they say the meanest things to each other with that lovely smile plastered on their face…that's really a special Southern Belle-skill.

The beautiful, complicated Lemon...

The über Southern Belle is Lemon Breeland, who also plays a big role throughout the series. She's definitely not Zoe's best friend, although they slowly grow a bit closer to each other over time. Lemon is the head of the town Belles, a group charged with maintaining the history and heritage of Bluebell, a job that she takes véry seriously. Lemon is quite something. I hated her character in the beginning, but during the episodes her character is really evolving and you get to know more about her background. She's not an easy person, and neither makes life easy for herself. She makes choices that will have you gnashing your teeth…but right at the moment when you can't stand her anymore, she does something that makes you respect her, and sometimes even - yes, really! - like her.

Wade Kinsella, one of the competitors for dr. Zoe's heart.

A lot of the series focusses on the romantic relationships between Zoe and different men in town. The two biggest competitors for dr. Zoe's heart are Wade Kinsella and George Tucker, who are complete opposites - of course (in some aspects Hart of Dixie is still as predictable as many other romantic/drama series…nothing wrong with a bit of predictable entertainment though!). Of course the whole town is involved in the romantic complications, literally nothing can be kept secret in Bluebell. This is something else that Zoe really has to get used to, coming from a big city where it's easy to stay anonymous. Which must have been very convenient for her by the way, because she has a tendency of letting things get completely out of hand and causing weird drama's and escalations!

Hart of Dixie contains some very interesting, funny and plain weird characters. Here are some of my favorites:

• Annabeth Nass: Annabeth is Lemon's best friend. In contrast to Lemon though, she seems to not take everything too serious, she's a bit more down to earth, while still always staying a very charming and bubbly Belle with a definite sense of humor. Green is definitely her favorite color (I believe there's something green in every outfit she wears - which are mostly vintage dresses and skirts by the way). Annabeth is much easier to love in the series…she's a bit unfortunate in love, which unexpectedly brings her closer to Zoe, a friendship she has to keep secret from Lemon.

Annabeth & Lemon.

• Lavon Hayes: Lavon is the mayor of the town. He's not your average old-and-bearded mayor though…imagine a very good-looking former football linebacker here! He's one of Zoe's few allies in town, always having her back (though regularly a bit unwillingly fulfilling the role of a lady-friend, listening to her rambling on about her latest date or hormonal problems). 

Wade & Lavon…breakfast, anyone?

• Burt Reynolds: this is Lavon Hayes' pet alligator. Yep, you read that right…this is the weird one! 

Zoe feeding Burt...

Okay, last but not least…one of my favorite scenes, in case you're not convinced yet. In this specific episode Zoe decides she wants to be a Belle (one of her many crazy impulsive actions). Prospective Belles have to go through a period of initiation. Part of this initiation is having to sing the Belle's Dixie every time the secret word is used...

I hope you liked my first series review! Any comments are more than welcome, and if you want to share your own favorite series: go ahead and fill me in! Right now I'm watching 'Raising Hope' which is definitely becoming a new favorite…so I see a next review coming ;)

To cozy crafternoons

This post will - in contrast to my usual posts :P - contain mainly pics and only little text. I want the pictures to speak for themselves, I hope I succeeded in capturing the pleasant atmosphere of the cozy afternoon I had with my best friend Eeffie last week.

I really enjoy those crafty meetings we regularly have, sharing our passion for fibers, dolls and a lot of other random stuff. I meant this post to be a little homage to 'crafternoons' (or mornings, evenings…nights?!) with likeminded people, celebrating creativity while inspiring and helping one another.

Our goal for this afternoon was to dye some fibers. After following an awesome workshop on wool dyeing some time ago, it was time to try it out by ourselves. We ordered acid dyes and un-dyed roving, bought vinegar, rubber gloves and sealable bags and started saving plastic bottles a couple of weeks earlier (preparations, preparations!).

Because we also celebrated Eeffie's birthday already (she would turn 36 some days later, which is still a very young age - really, it is!), I bought her some extra un-dyed fibers she could use for more dyeing practice. Eeffie's youngest cat Pebbles found all those different kinds of fiber very interesting!

Another great advantage of sharing a creative hobby is the ability to share tools and supplies. We divided all the bottles of acid dyes we ordered in two - still both having more than enough for what we aimed to do with it, while simultaneously saving money, yay!

Dyeing roving is such an exciting thing to do! It's like a blank piece of paper, ready to be painted on. We experimented a bit with mixing colors and leaving in blank spaces. I managed to kick over my bottle of fiery red(!) acid dye, I can be so clumsy…haha! Even though we made a great mess, luckily no permanent damage was done.

Okay, so the grown-ups are making a big mess with dyes, while the kids are obediently sitting on the couch, busy with the i-pad. There might be some role-inversion here…just saying!

Above is the roving cooling down after being heated for about 30-45 minutes. Pretty colors are already showing here! We almost couldn't wait to rinse them, to see if the colors had really set and wouldn't 'bleed' anymore...

…which it didn't! Check out Eeffie's beautiful shades of green! I think this can only be spun up into grass :)

No cozy afternoons without coffee and cookies. And a little piece of cake, for Eeffie's birthday!

Beside my roving, I also dyed some fibers that will be used/sold for Blythe reroots. It was my first 'professional' try at this, and I'm beyond happy with the results.

I also got to try out Eeffie's blending board, making my very first two rolags ever. It's amazing how you can make such an interesting blend out of otherwise dull, plain fibers. I'm very curious to see how this will spin up, with the fibers aligned in a different direction then usual (horizontally instead of vertically).

With 5 cats living in Eeffie's house, we had a constant company of those curious creatures. Here you can see the oldest (left, Casper) and the youngest (right, Pebbles).

Thank you Eef, for this cozy 'crafternoon' and all the others we had. May there be lots more to come!

Do you have regular crafternoons? With whom, and what do you do on these creative meetings? Let me know in the comments, to continue this celebration of crafting together!

Summer holiday 2013 part 1: Canyoning in the Sierra de Guara

Even though I still haven't finished my journal of last year's summer holiday (I will, I promise! Better late than never right?!), I thought it was time to record the adventures of this summer. Autumn is starting to take over, but in my head I can sometimes still feel the Mediterranean sun on my skin. Its warmth is slowly fading, but the memories definitely aren't!

Mark and I had two weeks off, the last two weeks of August. The main season is almost over by then (so...not too many noisy tourists, and more important: not too many Dutchies still celebrating their holidays abroad. Seriously, you will run into those 'cheeseheads' at the most obscure places, even though we're from such a tiny country!), but the temperature is still perfect! Our first destination was Sierra de Guara, a sparsely populated area in the north of Spain, just south of the Pyrenees. You can compare the Sierra de Guara a bit with the Grand Canyons in the United States. It is a mountain massif (most of which is part of a national park) with a number of rivers cutting through it. Over time (lóts of time), these rivers have formed spectacular gorges, cracks and canyons through a process called erosion. Which makes this region just perfect for what we came to do: canyoning!

On the French side of the tunnel...foggy, but still dry. 

After a prosperous drive to the south of France, we had to make a decision: stop somewhere, camp for one night and drive the last bit to Lecina (our destination in the Sierra de Guara) the next morning, or keep on driving and arrive at Lecina that same evening. We chose the latter option, everything went so well and quick until then, the sun was still shining and we had enough time left. So it seemed like a sound choice! 
Well, of course we shouldn't have done this. It's probably never wise to drive 1400 kilometers in one day. 
You cross the border between France and Spain by driving through a one-way tunnel, high in the Pyrenees. On the French side it was a bit foggy, but still dry...and on the Spanish side it was literally pouring. Bienvenido a España!

Driving through hairpin bends over small roads (some even unpaved), along deep ravines (which, thank goodness, were pretty much invisible due to the mist and rain) it started to rain even harder. Like I already mentioned before, the Guara is very sparsely populated and some small towns are even completely abandoned, which gave our trip a spooky touch. At one point it was raining so hard that it became impossible to keep on driving. The windscreen wipers did the best they could, but they simply could not equal this amount of water. So we stopped at the side of the road and opened a huge pack of potato chips. 
Because food is always a solution :P.
Marks car got covered with moisture and was filled with the sound of ticking raindrops and cracking paprika chips. Outside it started to get even darker, because the evening was setting in. Yup, we should've stayed on the French side.

A while later, the amount of rain diminished enough to take off again. We continued our way towards Lecina. The number of towns and houses we passed decreased even further, until I seriously started to doubt if we were still on the right track. I believe I even sensed a hint of uncertainty in Marks voice, my never failing navigator. We should really arrive soon now, if we wanted to still be able to put up our tent and maybe find something to eat. At that moment, we were both a bit worried and frustrated, but right now, afterwards, I also kind of love this part of our trip. Thinking back of it fills me with that bittersweet sense of complete desolation and adventure. A feeling I did not often experience so far during my travels in Europe!

The Escalade base camp...by daylight.

Anyway, around 8 in the evening we finally arrived at the camping, which lies pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Exploring the dark, slippery terrain, we found the base camp of our course organization (Escalade) somewhere at the very back end of the camping. Finally, people! Dutch-speaking people! (Seriously, 90% of the Spanish people we met did not seem to speak a word English. And we happen not to speak a word Spanish, besides 'si' and 'ola'.) They were still eating, just starting their desserts. There were some participants of the course of the week before, all of them cozily sitting under canvas covers around wooden camp tables. Mark and I were welcomed at the table of the guides and chief of the camp. One of them introduced us to everyone, but it was too dark to really distinguish any faces (so the next morning everyone had to be introduced again). We were lucky, the cook of the camp told us she had some leftovers of their diner! It's a good thing it was so dark we couldn't see what we were eating, because - even though we were very hungry - we both thought it was, eehm..well, let's say 'a very special meal'. I don't mean to be unthankful, we were happy to have our stomaches filled again. I just hope I won't ever have to eat that 'special meal' again, whatever it might have been. 

After diner we went back to our camping field, trying to find a fairly dry spot. Which was impossible of course, it was still raining steadily. So we ended up building our 'emergency tent' (a small one, that we only brought for staying the night along the road) out of the car. Eehm...yeah, how should I explain this... We sat ín the car, with one window just a little bit down. Mark put the frame of the tent together and shoved it out through the window opening, while I was acting pretty useless and filming him with my phone, because it all seemed just so hilarious and terrible at the same time.  In the end, we had a tent. A wet tent, with wet bedsheets and wet not-so-happy campers. All we could come up with at that point, was to run to the camping bar and settle down for Bailey's. The bartender must have seen I needed it, because he gave me a double portion.

Mark building the tent, while our bedclothes were drying in the sun
(including my teddybear :P )

The next morning we woke on the hard ground. Because why should our air-mattress stay filled with air when all other things went wrong anyway? Oh well...it was a new day, and the sun was shining. So we crawled out of our wet tent and sat down to cook water for coffee. Priorities first, and I think we deserved it! It took like forever before the water finally boiled on our small camping stove, Mark almost started showing withdrawal symptoms. Luckily we only had to do this ourselves that one morning. The canyoning-course was all-inclusive (breakfast, lunch and dinner...and coffee), and would officially start that same day in the afternoon. So we had plenty of time left to set up our real tent and make ourselves a little home for the coming week! I left this task to Mark, while I broke down our emergency tent and laid everything to dry in the sun. We met our neighbors the evening before already; a very kind German couple who also came for an Escalade (canyoning) course, only a more advanced one. That morning another attendee arrived, who would be in our own course group. He set up his tent besides ours, and so our camping field became cozy and dry in that saturday-morning sunshine.

In the afternoon our course officially began. Now let me start with explaining a bit about canyoning, and about why we chose to do this for our holiday. Canyoning (or canyoneering, as it's called in the US) is traveling in a canyon (following its course) using a variety of techniques, like abseiling, ropework, and technical swims, climbs and jumps. I took this definition from the wikipedia-page about canyoning, which I actually found pretty accurate, comparing it to what I've learned so far. So, if you're interested: read on over there! Why did we choose this kind of holiday? Canyoning is kind of related to climbing. You use a lot of the same techniques, especially when it comes to the ropes, belaying and abseiling. So with that in mind, we hoped to expand our knowledge on gear and ropework, but also on subjects like the weather, geology, etc. All those things are equally important to climbers as well as canyoneers! In other aspects, climbing and canyoning are also completely different though. The water adds a whole new dimension, and  canyoning (especially when you compare it with single pitch sport climbing) needs a lot more preparing and planning beforehand. We were just curious to see how we'd like this! And so our canyoning adventure began :)

The Rio Vero.

We met a couple more course attendants, though luckily the groups were quite small. It was the last week of the season for Escalade, so we were their very last course-group! All other attendants were male, but thankfully there was one other girl in camp: the girlfriend of the chief of Escalade, who was a guide as well.
We decided to go to the 'Basender' that afternoon. Our camping was located on the Rio Vero, one of the rivers flowing through the Sierra de Guara. Actually it's not much of a river these days anymore, rather a shallow stream. But a long time ago, the Vero must have been a strong flood, because it formed a deep gorge with several side branches. Its walls are high (around 800 meter), with lots of holes and little caves in it (typical for limestone). The Basender canyon is one of those side branches I mentioned, ending in the Rio Vero. From our camping, it took about 45 minutes to get to the start of this canyon, most of which involved climbing. This is inevitable, because with canyoning you always descend, following the river or river bed from its highest point to where it ends in the final current (in this case, the Rio Vero). This is not how it has always been though, by the way! In the earliest days of canyoning, brave men tried to defeat the canyon uphill, against the current (why, oh why?!)! 

Carrying boats upwards ladders...great idea guys.

The Basender is now a so-called dry canyon, there's no stream of water in it anymore (though I believe it still happens to become filled with water again when it's the rainy season). This meant that it's a perfect canyon to practice abseiling and rope techniques, without having to worry about the water-aspect yet. In the next picture you can see a typical canyon-topo: a little map that shows the process of the canyon, including all rappels or abseils (stated with R's, the height of the abseil next to it in meters), typical landmarks and other information. As you can see, the Basender doesn't have very high abseils and is a real beginners-canyon. One shouldn't think of it as a inferior canyon though, because it's also a very beautiful canyon with lots of so-called halls (open cave-like spaces) and stunning geological structures and formations. Our first encounter with a real canyon could definitely have been worse! Although we did not yet have to worry about the specific techniques of abseiling, ropework and belaying during this first day (the guide did all this technical work, we only had to enjoy and admire), we already found out that a lot of techniques were familiar to us, similar to what we do when climbing. We were ready for more!

I will make a little day-to-day list and try to give a short(?) summary of what we did on that specific course day, to provide you with a clear overview and spare my dear readers the (maybe very boring) details :)

Sunday: we did the Basender once again, only this time we had to execute a lot of the techniques by ourselves, after they were explained to us in the base camp. Did I also already tell you about the camp dog, Boef (belonging to the chief and his girlfriend)? He was a very enthusiastic young sheep-dog, crazy for balls and flashlights. He came with us this day to the Basender, with his own little harness for abseiling! Such a shame I don't have a picture of this :)

Filling our water bottles at a natural spring in the Rio Vero.

Monday: we started with more theory lessons. We practiced a lot of knots and how to build a variable abseil, and learned a bit more about necessary materials. In the afternoon, we had to show our newly obtained skills in the Portiacha canyon, another side branch of the Rio Vero. This canyon had some higher abseils (31 and 35 meters), that were really exciting! In the evening, we made plans and preparations for the big canyon we would do on tuesday.

Me abseiling in the Portiacha canyon.

Tuesday: on this day we probably did the most exciting canyon of the whole week: the 'Foz de la Canal'. This canyon, about an hour drive away from the camping, was our first canyon wíth water (and oh my goodness, it was cold!) Absolute climax was its 70 meter free abseil insíde a waterfall. I will not forget that moment, standing on what felt like the top of the world, looking down over the edge, seeing the waterfall disappear into a small current somewhere deep down under me...and then letting myself slide down the rope right into that mighty falling mass of water. It clanked onto my helmet, the 70 meter wet rope was heavy to put through my belay device...it was hard work, but totally awesome. Oh yes!

The 70 meter waterfall/abseil in the
Foz de la Canal canyon.

Wednesday: time to relax a bit after our heavy day before, so we started with more theory lessons about weather, geology and safety. In the afternoon, we got the directions to another side branch of the Rio Vero and were sent away on our own, towards this 'mystery canyon'. Our assignment was to draw our own map/topo of this (dry) canyon, and compare it afterwards with the real one. It was a fun task, giving even more insight in the specific topography related to canyoning.

Thursday: today we did the Liri canyon (another one with water), on about 1,5 hour driving from the camping. The furthest away so far, and of course the one on which our car stopped working. I'll get back to that later, in part 2 of this summer holiday journal. The Liri was comparable to the Foz the la Canal, only without that superhigh abseil. It did had a lot of smaller abseils though (12, I believe), so plenty of opportunities to practice and get a bit more accustomed to quickly setting up and taking down abseils. We still lacked a bit of speed in those parts, which is definitely necessary if you want to do longer canyons (and get out before dark :P). The Liri also containt some nice jumps and natural water slides, which are fun! 

Happy Mark. I love seeing that smile so much :)

Friday: on this last day we did our least scary/exciting canyon, but also the most beautiful one. It was the Rio Vero canyon, which contains a lót of water. So plenty of swimming was involved, following the stream through cave systems, small tunnels and rock parties. The Rio Vero canyon doesn't contain any abseils, but it's neither a very simple, danger-free canyon. Every year a couple of accidents happen here, because water can do crazy things in caves and holes. For example there are syphons, gaps between underwater boulders. These gaps can create strong currents that can suck body parts in, trapping people underwater. Mark almost fell into one of those, and scared the hell out of me. Never do that again mister! There was also a sump (underwater passage), and some secret pathways that were pointed out to us by our guide (making us follow routes we otherwise would have never dared!). The Rio Vero canyon ended near Alquezar, a historic town around a medieval castle. Here we settled down for some well-deserved cold beers, before the taxi came to pick us up.

The pics of Marks waterproof cam turned out quite blurry, but this was
inside the Rio Vero canyon.

So...did we like our week of canyoning? My first answer is a definite YES! We had an awesome week that I wouldn't have missed. Of course we had our lower moments and frustrations, but overall it was a wonderful, adventurous and challenging experience. I'd like to add some pro's and con's though, just to make my point :)

Pros:

• Canyoning means awesome surroundings. Period. You will reach places that are otherwise impossible to reach, finding treasures that mother nature has hidden very well. The geological structures, rock formations, different kinds of colors and caves you get to see are simply breathtaking.

• Canyoning is quite adventurous. It's more adventure than sport, actually (although the more difficult canyons require an excellent physical condition and perfect knowledge of techniques, material and rescue possibilities). It also requires a lot of preparation beforehand. You really have to sit down and make a plan. Make note of the time you need to get to the starting point of the canyon (which can reach up to several hours!), how long you will be inside the canyon and how much time is required to get back to your car afterwards. You have to take note of the weather, and its consequences for the canyon, especially when it's a water canyon. Rain can mean flooding, or even result in dangerous flash floods! You have to take note of the abseils, and how long they are. This will help you decide what materials you will need, how long your ropes have to be, etc. Besides this, you will have to prepare what you will take with you in your special canyoning backpacks. Besides ropes (which already weigh heavy enough), you want to bring as little as possible. You at least need a rescue set though, and when you will be in the canyon for, say, six hours...you might need some food too (oh..and coffee? Maybe? No..?). Well, you get the idea. Traveling through a canyon isn't something you undertake without preparation.

Landing on the ground, freeing myself of the rope. 

Cons:

• The water is cold. I mean, seriously, freezing, terrifying cold. After all, it's melting water. So even during summer it's still not comparable to the water you normally swim in outside. I am probably not someone who can stand cold very well, and having my period on the first day we went to a wet canyon might neither have helped. That very moment I jumped in the first deep pole, wearing a wetsuit that was a little bit too big (allowing the water to flow in way too much and quickly), my stomach cramped together and the coldness literally hurt. After a while, you'll get used to it. Getting a smaller, better fitting suit the next day also helped a bit, but still I had my moments where I was wondering if this terrible cold was really worth it. Of course you will never have perfectly fitting gear when it's provided by the course organization. It might be possible to solve this problem by buying a very good neoprene suit that fits me perfectly and is also thick enough...but that brings me to the next con:
• The materials you need to go canyoning yourself are expensive. Reaaally expensive. We actually hoped we could use some of our climbing gear, but it turns out most comparable materials differ a tiny bit from each other and can't be used for both purposes. Climbing gear normally isn't 100% waterproof (doesn't have to be, so why make it more expensive?). Climbing ropes are dynamic, having a certain stretch (so falls won't be too static). Canyoning ropes on the other hand, have to absorb the water very well, and are more or less static. You will only be abseiling on them and don't need to take falls. These are just a few examples of a lot of subtle (but important) differences between climbing and abseiling stuff. So, if we want to proceed with this newfound activity, we will have to invest in new materials and gear...not something you decide on overnight!

You surely want to know you can trust your gear!

• To get to the starting point of a canyon, you sometimes have to walk/ascend for a long time. Of course this is part of the adventure, and the route often goes through beautiful scenery. A canyon can really start in the middle of nowhere, far away from civilization or roads! But well, if we wanted to go hiking, we would've chosen another holiday. In this situation, it's just something that's necessary to get to the point where you can begin with what you actually came for: descending the canyon. The fact that the route towards a canyon can take up to 6 hours, resulting in being tired of climbing all those hours before you even start canyoning, can be a little bit annoying. For the Foz de la Canal we had to ascend 500 meters in altitude, which was normally done in 1 hour (already pretty fast!). The macho men in my group though thought it was necessary to show off and do it in 45 minutes, with me trying not to loose them or keep them down. Seriously guys, was that really called for?! Pff, men...:P

Minutes before that terrifying 45 minutes of ascending.
Look at those macho men!

To summarize it, canyoning is definitely super duper awesome, but it also takes time, energy and money. It's not the easiest activity to undertake, but the trouble you will go through beforehand will be paid back for once inside the canyon. And don't forget the ultimate feeling of reward and satisfaction when you're finished, relaxing with a cold beer, evaluating the exciting, difficult or beautiful moments you just had and going through the pictures you took with your go-cam.

I'm a bit jealous of the German couple, who took the advanced course as I mentioned earlier in this journal. Their last day of canyoning was quite special, also for the guides who came with them. They traveled towards the canyon on the evening before, sleeping in a mountain hut (with only their neoprene suits with them, because you can't take any clothes with you in the canyon!). The next morning they had to rise incredibly early to ascend (by foot) to an altitude of 2500 meters, where their starting point was. Can you imagine the temperature (of the air as well as the water!) on that height? They would be inside this very difficult, technical canyon for about 14(!!!) hours, which meant they had to hurry and keep going if they wanted to get out before dark. So, a bit of pressure was involved. Afterwards one of the guides who went with them showed us pictures and movies he took with his waterproof cam. There was a lót of water, strong currents, crazy water slides and waterfalls. They were all extremely tired, and satisfied. Now thát is the kind of adventure you can undertake when going on with canyoning and proceed to learn the necessary knowledge and skills. Kind of promising, and attracting...

I do hope we will pick up canyoning at one point again. I don't know when and I don't know where, but I'd love to do it again.

Well, that was the first part of my summer holiday journal! I hope to write the second part soon, in which I will tell about the broken car adventures, and our second week in France, where we went for rock climbing (which is the wrong sequence, we found out. After canyoning all the callus on your fingers will be gone...and hell that hurts!). If you have any questions or comments so far, please feel free to let me know!

It's dyeing day!

Last weekend it was time for another Wool Wench workshop! A little less then a year ago I visited Suzy's 'Find your inner yarn hero' day, which was pretty awesome and useful. This September she organized a new creative meet-up with some fellow fiber lovers, to focus on dyeing techniques this time. I did some experimenting with dyeing fibers myself before (mostly using Kool-Aid), but never worked with chemical dyes so far. I always drool over all kinds of pretty fibers, rovings and yarns in the yummiest color combinations you can imagine. Being able to actually create those mysélf would be a creative dream come true!

By the way...I've been thinking about how crazy it sounds when you say 'I'm going to a dyeing workshop today'. C'mon, say it out loud. Get it? There might be plenty of odd sayings that only make sense to fiber lovers, but this must surely be the most macabre one. No worries though, we had a wonderful and 'lively' day together!

Suzy's collection of dyes, ready to be used by us.

Arriving at Suzy's home I was greeted by her 5 year old son, who immediately started showing me his complete collection of superhero lego figures. I was a complete noob when it comes to superheroes, but I'm totally updated now. Chima-characters, Iron man, every possible villain...you name it, I met them all! Actually this little fella entrusted me with the fact that he is turning into the Hulk himself. He already spotted some green patches on the skin of his hands... Good luck with that Suzy!

Soon my bestie Eef and the two other participants arrived as well, and after providing everyone of big cups of coffee, we took place at the kitchen table and Suzy started explaining some stuff about mixing colors, color wheels and color schemes. We all got a big empty piece of paper ahead of us, ready to be practiced on. Everyone took a pencil and started working...we were all super concentrated, it's funny how all color wheels turned out so differently from each other even though we got the same assignment! We could also already experiment a bit with the colors we might want to use later on the roving. This 'try out' beforehand can be quite useful to get a good idea of how specific colors mix up, blend and work together.

The 'easy peasy' dyeing method in sealable plastic bags.

After working on our paper 'inspiration boards' for a little while, it was time to start with the actual dyeing. Suzy had 100 grams of superwash merino roving ready for each one of us, and showed us the easiest way to dye such a piece of fiber: a quick and not-so-messy method using a sealable plastic bag, in which you gently pour your dye. Still a bit scared most of us used some 'safe' color combinations, carefully trying to do exactly as Suzy was telling us. The plastic bags were sealed and put in a pot with hot (but not boiling) water, for the color to set in.

Meanwhile Suzy proceeded to teach us more hand dyeing techniques, in which we also gained a bit more control over the actual process. Slowly we became braver, using more contrasting colors and going a bit more crazy every time. This is actually the fun part of dyeing: going wild, experimenting and trying out new things. You'll almost never really know how it'll turn out! It depends on the dye, the fiber, the heat, the amount of water and vinegar and probably even more things I don't know about (when you think about it, dyeing fibers is totally about chemistry! Chemical reactions happening all over the place...) When dyeing roving, it will be a surprise how it will look when it comes out pot, and then it will be a surprise agáin what it will look like when spun up!

In the pot...keeping it hot!

Most of the participants also took some undyed (homespun) yarn with them. Dyeing finished yarn is in one way pretty much the same as dyeing roving...but on the other hand, the final look is completely different. It just depends on what you're going for! I really liked this part of the day, because I love the look of hand dyed yarns a lot, especially the beautiful gradients they often show. For one of my yarns I really had a 'plan', I even pre-made the color scheme I wanted to use on my inspiration paper. The scheme was based on the beach: sandy colors combined with the different tones of the ocean. Suzy happened to have the perfect colors for this idea and the final result came out just as I hoped. For the other two yarns I just tried things out (although I actually hoped to make a yarn with lots of blank spots in it, I love those! It was way harder than I thought to back down on the dyeing :P). For my 2-ply merino I picked colors I normally wouldn't choose, and this specific yarn was quite a favorite among the final results! Never stick to your safe habits ;)

A basket of rainbows!

Somewhere halfway the day Suzy served us a nice lunch with delightful quiches, while her little 'Hulk' kept on showing us his very best superhero moves, kicks and jumps and told a silly story about a guy who's bum cracked up and who had to pick a new one (huh?!). Plenty of extra amusement for sure!
When the yarns and rovings stayed in the pot long enough, the most fun part of the day began: getting them out of the pot (hot hot hot!), rinse, wash and dry them, and...hang them al together on the drying rack. This rack slowly became a rainbow of colors in Suzy's kitchen, while we were all standing around it, awing like we were looking at a holy grail. One 'ooooh' followed the other 'aaaah', when another finished yarn or roving was added to the rack. Wow!

The drying rack, filled with our results of the day.

I surely learnt a lot about dyeing this day, although I also realize we only focused on one way of coloring yarn and roving, which Suzy simply called 'hand dyeing'. Other methods are for example dip dyeing, kettle dyeing, tie dyeing, etc. There are so many more possibilities to explore! But, today's method is a good basis, it gives the dyer a lot of control over the final results and is not too difficult to execute. Eef and I already made plans on buying ourselves some chemical dyes and organizing some experimental afternoons. I can't wait to try out more color combinations! I had fun naming the yarns I dyed during the workshop, heheh! Glacier Tales, Strawberry Lemonade and A Day at the Beach...you think they're suitable?! I decided to put them in my shop (I'm not able to knit/crochet évery yarn I make...even though I wish I could!). Go take a look if you're interested!

My own results! The 3 yarns on the left are available at my Etsy shop :)

Thank you Suzy for this nice day and for sharing your knowledge with us. I am inspired by al the pretty yarns that are hanging around in your house...it's like walking in a fiber enthusiastic's museum :) Keep up the good work!

Handspun for me!

Lately I realized I never really made something for mé with a yarn I spun myself. Most times I put them in my Etsy shop, while scraps and leftovers are used for dolly hats and beanies. So...wasn't it time to try out some of my handspun for myself? Actually, putting it that way...using my own yarn might even give me some useful information on how I can improve their usability!

Being a real lover of scarves and cowls, the decision for a neckwear piece was quickly made. A little while ago I already made a little girl's cowl with super bulky thick-and-thin thread, so this time I wanted to go for a thinner yarn to work with. It would again be a knitting project though, just so I'd get more practice (my crochet skills are way better!). I am really fond of the look of single yarns for projects like these, but I knew that wasn't the easiest way to go. Every spinner knows that it's not easy to get a single, non-plied yarn balanced (for non-spinners: this means that the yarn doesn't twist around itself anymore). And working with an unbalanced yarn means trouble! Your final work will crook and twist, it's impossible to make it equal and straight if your thread is not balanced. But, again...creating a balanced single yarn is quite a challenge!

To make a long story short: this project was an excellent chance for me to get more experienced with single yarns and setting their twist. I learnt new techniques like using steam and even smacking! (Imagine a girl smacking a hank of yarn against the floor like crazy and now try to convince yourself she's not a lunatic...even my cats looked quite astonished :P). Since my plan was to make a loose cowl that could also be worn during the colder summer days, I wanted to go with a bright color. I ended up with Bonfiber's "Pretty in Peach", it actually was exactly what I was looking for! I ordered 6.5 oz and used all of that for this project. 

I also ordered new circular needles, since I grew sick of my old cheap ones and also needed a longer string. I picked the KnitPro Nova needles (4.50mm), and did not regret my choice. In fact, I even already ordered more of this series...they knit so smoothly! Finally, I also used some blank, undyed merino roving, I think about 0.5 oz. So...for anyone who feels inspired by this project and would like to make something similar, here's a little necessities list:

- 6.5 oz (superwash) merino roving in any color you'd like
- 0.5 oz (superwash) merino roving, undyed
- circular knitting needles, about 4.50mm (depending on your preferences), at least 80 cm string
- spinning wheel (duh!)

I spun quite an even single, though I did intentionally put in some thinner and thicker parts to get a nice structure in my final project. I set the twist using different methods. I'm not gonna describe them extensively here now, I still have way too much to learn on this area! Maybe one day I'll feel experienced enough to write a blogpost about balancing yarns...in, like, a hundred years or so :P Anyway, there are plenty of good advices, video's and tutorials on the Internet, so just google ahead!

I wound my newspun yarn in two balls: a big peachy ball and a small blank ball. I casted on the amount of stitches I thought I would need for a loose cowl, and knitted one row with the undyed yarn. Then I switched to the peachy yarn and knitted 10 rows. After every 10 rows, I'd do a blank row again, until my cowl was big enough and my yarn was all used up. Simple as that! Of course you don't have to do a blank row after every 10 colored rows...it's whatever you prefer, I just thought it would make a nice variation!

Since this project was so super easy (only knits, round after round after round), I think every amateur knitter can make it. Even if you don't spin your own yarn, you can order a similar thread (go support all the indie spinners on Etsy and buy one of their special handspun yarns to show off in your project!) and work on this cowl while watching tv, sitting in the car, or on the train...it needs no counting or extreme attention, it'll just give your hands something to do!

After finishing my cowl, I noticed it had become a bit fuzzed. This was probably the result of often bringing the work-in-progress with me in my bag and having it in my hands over and over again. To solve this, I asked my mom to bring her fabric shaver over. It was the first time I used this thing, and I was actually pretty careful at the beginning, not sure if I would harm the yarn. But, it worked like a charm! Those fabric shavers are also known as lint/fuzz/pill removers. I'm afraid my mom won't get hers back soon, I've used it a lot after discovering it's usefulness!

My cowl ended up loose enough to be worn during Spring or cold Summer days. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, I think it makes a colorful and comfy accessory, and having made it myself gives it an extra special feeling. Feel inspired? Go ahead and use this post as a guideline for your own next knitting project, if you like! I'd love it if you'd let me know...any thoughts, comments and advices are welcome!