Tag: wilderness

Year-Round Camping in Florida; Enjoying Nature While I Knit

The peaceful days of camping in the wilderness go perfectly with knitting. What could be better than having coffee outside, with knitting on my lap? We camped twice in the last month and here is a look at the knitting projects I took along.

I live in Florida where we can camp year round. We take our travel trailer north to the Ocala National Forest and enjoy the natural springs, or old Florida settings which are free of traffic and commerce. Sometimes, out in the woods, the internet is sketchy or nonexistent.

As an older woman I am perfectly able to live without access to the internet, at least for a short time. I do work online, but it can wait a few days. Camping for me means relaxing around the campfire, bike-riding, and knitting. Usually my two cats don’t go with us, and that is a form of freedom in itself!

red dirt bike with rider

During this trip, my son took off on his dirt bike, and I worked on my recent knitting project. I’m knitting a fun, little project with wool, which I will use when we camp!

knitting project, seating pad, in colorwork with black cat
Seating pad project and Fontana my cat

The item is meant to keep your bottom warm while taking a sitting break in winter. The SkiBUM Felted Seating Pad comes with a color-work graph. I began by following it, then changed to more simple designs. I do a lot of knitting while riding in the truck. The bumpy ride makes it difficult to follow a chart.

My wool chair pad will be used when we camp. My folding chair has no padding. During cool nights around the fire, my butt was cold! I was using a little foam seating pad for some insulation. The wool felted pad will also be used when eating at the picnic table. I’m sure I can use it year round on our trips. This project is perfect for using up some wool stash! I’ll be writing a post about it soon.

Two Weeks Before This

We also camped on the days following Thanksgiving. During that two day trip I worked on my cotton top (Knus Light) while enjoying the grassy woodland view from our campsite. I saw a lot of Woodpeckers and heard Carolina Chickadees. From over by the lakes, the calls of the Sandhill Cranes could be heard all day long. Lots of deer crossed our path while bike riding. This area is full of wildlife.

Mornings were a little chilly, so I wore my fingerless mitts (Stellar Parallax pattern). I LOVE it when I can wear my hand knits.

Our campsite for 2 nights
Knitting in nature while wearing fingerless mitts.
Knitting the Knus Light top

I really enjoy this cooler weather. Getting outdoors, without sweating, is such a treat. It won’t last long.

Advice For Knitting on the Go

Be sure you have all the items you may need! Needles and yarn of course, but scissors, a crochet hook (for those dropped stitches), stitch markers and holders, and embroidery needle, in case you finish and need to weave in some ends. I like a simple project for the ride, and maybe one other for day knitting. We always have more than one project on the needles, right?

Thanks for reading. Here are more knitting stories.

Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.

New Hampshire Little Orange Mushrooms in the Woods

mushrooms
A Cluster of Orange Mushrooms

The New Hampshire woods are always full of interesting items to see. In Fall we get to find some new types of mushrooms.

I don’t know what kind of mushroom these are, but I came across them as I was hiking the woods around my place. See my next post where they are more open and flat and I take a guess at their name.

Unless you pay close attention when walking in the woods, you will miss these little bunches of fungi. I take my camera (no iPhone at the time – hence the lack of photos to share) and don’t touch them because most likely they are poisonous. If I can remember where they are growing I might try to return in a day or two and see how they have changed.


One thing I’ve learned from reading about (and viewing) mushrooms is that they will change their look quite quickly – some of them. They may only last a few days or they can last into winter and beyond. Some are delicate and easily broken or mashed and others are as hard as a rock.


As I photograph the mushrooms I see in my area, I look them up in my books for identifying. That is not easy I have found. In order to really be sure of a mushroom name, close observation of all parts is needed. Read this article with excellent photos, at NH Garden Solutions to see what types of mushrooms you may find in the Fall season.


My Audubon “Field Guide to New England” only lists a few mushroom types and warns that at least 10 of the mushroom species in New England are deadly poisonous to eat so making a mistake in choosing can cost you your life. I will only be photographing and not picking to eat.

*Blog update: It is 16 years later as I update these old blog posts and I am always struck by how easy it is nowadays to share photos online. In 2010 I carried my camera with me (if I remembered) and took only a few photos at a time. Growing up and using film cartridges that had to be mailed away, only to return 12 or 24 photos is ingrained in me, I guess. Back then we had to be discerning about what pictures we decided to take. Space for preservation was very limited. Even though I had progressed to a digital camera, I never took loads of photos of the same thing! Now that I have an iPhone, I tend to be the same way, unless it is something I really want to be sure I capture correctly.

These old posts are not very well written, or SEO compatible, but I’ll be keeping the ones that I can save as a memory of what I used to do.

More from the blog…