Astrogirl

I walked 13.7 miles, not counting the shelter/water trails, which where probably .3.

Breakfast (Duff & Dell’s) the next day was very good, so the whole laundry experience seemed a little easier. Laundry was a one mile walk each way to and from the hotel, but it was all flat, and the weather was nice, if too windy. I got a sub at Angelina’s and left town with it to eat on my way to Cheshire.

It seemed like a looong walk on streets to get out of town. I’m sure it wasn’t more than a mile, but for some reason, walking in town seems farther. I climbed the first mountain, ate half the sub and moved on. Before descending into Cheshire, there’s a great view at the Cobbles. I ate the rest of lunch there, though it was really windy.

In Cheshire, I picked up and sorted my maildrop. The weather was fantastic, and there was a bench at the Cheese Monument, right across from the P.O. After sending back some odds and ends, I went to Diane’s Twist to get an ice cream before beginning the climb out of town. From this point on, I did not see any other hikers until I got to the top of Mt. Greylock the next morning.

-more later-

I hiked 20.6 miles to get here, not counting the .5 mile out of Upper Goose Pond Cabin (thought it was pouring down rain. I’d actually rather walk in rain than camp in it anyway). It’s not that I resent that .5 mile or anything, but I also had to walk another .5 past the point that *says* Dalton, MA (MA8 and M9), so by the time I got to the motel, it was dark, and I was really tired. The weather had improved a lot by the end of the day.

By the lunch time, taken at October Mt. Lean-to, the sun had come out.

At about 5pm, I crossed a road and started climbing Day Mountain. I had to have water here, so I stopped. This was a very tight valley, and it was already kind of dark, but then some fog blew in. I had a hard time figuring out where I was supposed to access the AT up Day Mtn. On the profile, it looked bad at the end of the day, but I thought it was really easy. It helped that I was made nervous by darkness, and once I got up to the top, I could see that it was still kind of light out. After that was the town descent, which seemed was pretty short but it was dark over there too — lots of tree cover, so the rock hopping was rough.

The owner was at the desk when I got there (7:30pm on a Sunday), and the pub was open until 8:30 (the ONLY close place to get food, other than a gas station).

After showering and changing, I went over to the pub. I was tired, and the lighting was weird in there. I was also very hungry, so the lighting mattered less that it otherwise might have. The food was not good, and I also picked a locally brewed beer that I didn’t like. After bed, the pub/offices sounded like they were moving elephants over there, but since they closed up early on account of it being Sunday, this was OK too. The bed was firm, but the TV remote didn’t work, and batteries didn’t solve the problem (I was carrying the right ones, I would not have bothered to buy them!).

I hiked from Mt. Wilcox South to UGPC, 14.8 miles. I hiked another .75 miles or so on the approach trails for Mt. Wilcox and UGPC, but I did make pretty good time. There was a lovely pond between the two Wilcox shelters. Benedict Pond was much bigger and more dramatic, but when I passed by, it was raining.

Today was warm and muggy with lots of mud, rocks and roots. I feel like I rock hopped for 15 miles, trying to stay out of the deep mud. Often, there’s evidence of someone else going ankle deep in the mire, so you can often see where the deep parts are. Other times, it looks firm and you step in and…yuck. I don’t really mind getting wet or having wet feet (though days of it generally causes blisters because it softens the skin so much), but when I took my shoes off, my feet were black from the mud.

The think about rock hopping is that sometimes, it seems to not be worth it. You’re doing the extra work to keep your feet out of the mud, but taking the risk of winding up on your ass in the mud, something that did happen to me this day.

When I got to UGPC, I immediately went for a swim. The pond was definitely cold, but not extremely so. I was a lot cleaner and the cold water is great for the muscles and feet after the long work out. Looking at my clothes, it occurred to me that putting them on in the morning would really, really suck. I hung them in the bunkhouse hoping for mostly dry clothes.

I’ve learned that generally, when I think my clothes are as wet as they can get, I’m wrong. You learn this when you decide that rinsing them out is a good idea, only to find them a clammy horror in the morning.

The cabin itself has a terrific porch facing the pond, though you can’t see much of it from there. In the bunkhouse, people were paranoid about getting wet from blowing rain, so all the bunks near the windows (which were just screens) were empty. Awesome — that’s where I’d want to be anyway. I had my tarp handy, and I figured that if rain blew in, I’d throw it over me.

I was pretty wiped out, so I put off taking pictures until morning. This was not a good plan, as in the morning, the rain was just pissing down. The caretaker had an Irish Wolfhound (cream colored, not grey), who was pretty awesome. She also had a smaller dog that looked like some kind of whippet cross. There were the legendary endless pancakes in the morning, and that was nice, especially with the idea that we’d have to trudge off into the rain, first completing the .5 mile trail BACK to the AT, but without butter…not as tempting as I’d thought.

I met several SOBO thruhikers, Boulder, Plank, Detour (I think) and Caveman. There were other long distance hikers completing a big section to finish their through: Second Chance and DC Turtle. They were hiking with a former thru, Late Start. I also met someone from Whiteblaze here, Wysteria and her two hiking companions…and I didn’t write down their names.

I was planning to get to Dalton on the 14th which is 20 miles, so I really didn’t hang around much in the morning.

I hiked from US 7 (Sheffield, MA) to Mt. Wilcox South, 12.7 miles

The hike starts out next to the Housatonic and uses some local roads before climbing.

This shelter is actually two shelters, one old and one new. It was pouring down rain when I arrived there, and no one could find the water source — everyone was backtracking down the AT. I eventually found it in the morning, and then I realized that I *would* have found it the day before, but I could not hear it running. It just looked like a puddle in the near dark, but the next day, I could hear the water running underground.

I elected to stay at the new shelter, not pitching the hammock because of the rain. When I arrived, there were two dads and four boys (age 10-16, roughly) wearing jeans and sweatshirts. Apparently they had changed because they were not wet. One of the dads informed me that they were “mail technicians” (postmen, I assume). I said that perhaps their boys valued sleep less than I did, and I asked if I’d be happier in the other shelter. They said the boys would be in their sleeping bags by 7:30 or 8pm, and I took them at their word. They were exactly right. I’ve never camped around boys that age who were so quiet. They got up really early (6-6:30, I think), but I have no problem with that. I was actually a little too warm in the shelter, but there were no bugs due to the pouring rain. By morning, it was just foggy.

In the older shelter, there was an older woman who I talked to much more the next day. She took one look at the boys and decided to stay in the older shelter, at that point, on her own. Another guy came in after dark, a southbound section hiker, and by the time he came to the newer shelter asking where the heck the water was, everyone was asleep except me. I explained that yes, supposedly it was here, but that we couldn’t find it.

I got going by about 8:00am, which is pretty good for me. Again, the boys were thwarted in their desire for a campfire.

I ran into Lynn (the woman at the other shelter) later on, and we both stopped and ate something at Finerty Pond and then moved on to Upper Goose Pond Shelter.

So, Lisa over at The Hem Line gave me an award! It’s always nice to know people are actually reading my blog. I’m always surprised when I get comments, even.

While I’m aware this is pretty much an electronic chain letter, I do enjoy many blogs, and am willing to indulge in some harmless linktastic madness.

With that out there, here are seven of my favorite blogs, in no particular order:

The QC Report,
Rachel Lucas,
A Dress a Day,
Just Bento,
Chronically Uncool,
Sew Retro, and
Miss Celie’s Pants

I also enjoy Tino’s blog, but I don’t read it every day because he doesn’t post enough (hint, hint). Also, I’m pretty sure he would think this mutual-admiration-society thing is silly, and I already link to him anyway.

If you want to put the logo on your blog, please do these things:

1) Add the logo of the award to your blog
2) Add a link to the person who awarded it to you
3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs
4) Add links to those blogs on your blog
5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs

So, I made these leggings:

from Kwik-Sew 3455.

These were a snap to make, and I think I will do another pair. These are a tiny bit too big, and I think I’ll increase the seam allowance and trim when I am done.

These are swimsuit fabric, and I have some swimsuit fabric that looks like the American Apparel “small dots”, but black instead of silver. The fabric cost $10 and they want $42 for them, so I figure I’m ahead there.

I totally blew off a pattern review contest for August. I really *meant* to do it, but I got very busy with work, we did a bunch of house maintenance and I kind of lost the muse. When I’m in the mood, I’m very productive with sewing, but if I’m not, I get nothing done.

I’m going on a backpacking trip next week so I’m mostly preparing for that. I’m not sure when I’ll get back to producing clothes, but it will almost certainly be a couple of weeks.

So, I made a skirt. The fabric is something I picked up for very little at a church bazaar while visiting St. Louis. As it turns out, I also picked up a red invisible zipper at an estate sale later the same day. I bought a cigar box of zippers, and I got lucky on that one. I cannot find invisible zips in anything but neutrals without driving 50 miles each way, and I don’t plan projects much, so I’m often kind of screwed by the lack of a missing zipper. The fabric is at the bottom of the textile heap.

And my invisible zipper foot? Best sewing machine thing I’ve bought in years. If you don’t have one, you need one. Seriously.

The pattern:

I made View 2, but without a waistband. I don’t like them because I am not the same size all the time, and they make the fit really unforgiving. It does fit very well and sits right on my waist. If I lose weight (crossing fingers), it will sit a little lower but still be wearable. I love the pockets!

It’s not red because the illustration is red, honest. It’s red because I have a lot of stuff that will go with it, and it’s not black. I have way too much black. Here’s a close up of one of the pockets. They are BIG! Yay!

My sewing machine part came, and it’s far higher quality than what it replaced. The old shuttle hook had plastic parts, and this one is all metal.

Instead of talking extensively about the projects, I’m going to link to my Flickr stream. I’d probably say the same stuff here anyway. Click on the picture to go to Flickr and read my comments.

This is a Woman’s Day pattern from 1951. I recently acquired another one that I will put up on flickr later. They have the most gorgeous pictures, and I think this is rare for photos on pattern envelopes. Most are not as nice as the drawings, but the Woman’s Day patterns are the exception.

Yes, it’s another halter top, but I think this is the last one for the season. The thing is that it only takes me a few hours to make one, requires little fabric and it’s still incredibly hot here, so it’s hard to think about stuff for cooler weather.

Here’s the pattern:

I also whipped up this skirt. The inside has not a single raw edge, but I don’t have pictures of it. Not yet anyway.

I may still make that wrap around top. Inside the pattern I found pages from the May, 1951 Woman’s Day. Those are also on Flickr.

I use the hell out of the Wii Fit. I like the exercises (though I’m really tired of the music) and I love having my weight recorded every day.

When it weighs you at a different time than the previous day, it tells you that you should weigh in at the same time every day because your weight can fluctuate up to 2 lbs. during the day. So, it recognizes that you could gain (or lose) 2 lbs. that is not actual loss but simply a water weight change. If you gain more than 2 lbs, you get this dialogue:

This list is a bit too short and does not include things like “I ate too much salt yesterday” or “female related bloating”, which kind of leaves me with no answer but “I don’t know.” Once I picked indigestion because I could not figure out what it meant by that and it had no appropriate answer. I found out then that it thinks that is a polite way of saying “I’m constipated” and recommended more fiber in my diet. Whoops! On top of all that, it *knows* I exercise 6 days a week, so why does it even offer that one?

A few days ago, I registered a 1.5lb gain and it gave me the “Try to think about reasons for your weight gain” business while telling me my weight could randomly fluctuate up to 2lbs. a day. WTH?? So, I said I didn’t know, because I don’t know, and today, it gave me this shit:

Okaaaaay.

Another complaint regarding the weight tracking: There’s no trend line. Why on earth? It has all the information, and for a computer, figuring a trend line is pretty simple math. You have to just imagine the line for yourself because no one at Nintendo thought of this.

I used to record my outside exercise in the Activity Log, but since it *still* tells me that I should do other exercise away from the Wii, I don’t bother. It even asks “refresh my memory, do you do any other exercise?” and tells me about the log when I’ve just added TO the log. It makes the software seem really dumb.

I’m still trying to get a decent picture of the “zen sitting” (Lotus Focus) balance game. Hopefully, I’ll remember during the evening hours when we won’t get so much reflection off the television.

View A, the playsuit, is really high-waisted, so there’d be a lot of midriff showing if I just used the bodice. Since that is not what I’m going for, I took the pieces for the bodice, copied and extended it down. The fit is good, but I’m a little disappointed with the crappiness of the fabric, in hindsight. I bought the end of the bolt because I love black gingham and I didn’t pay much attention to how, um, lightweight the fabric was.

My top:

Side view, which is where the interesting stuff is anyway:

My sewing machine was misbehaving, but I already blogged about that. At the moment, I’m not making anything and I’ve been buried in work. Hopefully, the part will come today.