HOME AND GONE AGAIN

My trip to Whistler was lovely, and accomplished exactly what I intended -- R & R after the FibreFest. Here's some of the scenery I saw...




We drove out to a farm in Pemberton and picked strawberries...



... and then drove up the Pemberton Valley to the start of the road to Goldbridge...

Goldbridge is a tiny community just on the other side of that mountain, where my father and his brother are both buried .... long story, but we decided, when we saw the sign 'Summer road only', not to try to drive there.
Instead we found fibre...

That was all on day one! On day two we checked out the still-under-construction 2010 Olympics 'Sliding Centre'...


That sign was serious ... there was bear 'scat' everywhere there! Nearby was the 'Zipline' over Fitzimmons Creek -- and if you click on this picture to make it bigger, you'll see that the red dot is a human being 'zipping' by...


I had lots of time to knit...

And I finished this cotton blends shawl...

I finally got to meet Ruth Stewart, an artist and 'fibre creator' whose work I've admired for a long time -- and came home with some gorgeous new yarn, of course!

And Victoria's not the only place with beautiful First Nations spindles... Hailey took me to the new Squamish-Lilw'at Cultural Centre, and here's the front entrance...



Can you see the ancient photographs of the Native women working with fibre?

It was time to come home yesterday, but not before I got to see Hailey's old friend Mica, and her new baby Daniel, who drove from Abbotsford to meet us at the ferry ...



Got home just in time to grab some supper and head down to Clover Point, where we watched a rescue take place -- two guys who had been para-surfing ended up in the water with their 'kites' down and couldn't get going again, so this whale-watching boat had to pluck them (and their gear) both out of the water.


You'd think I'd be rested and ready to get back to work, but not quite -- Michael and I are heading out to Albert Head today for a few days. I'll be ready to get back to the real world soon....

COMING UP FOR AIR :)

When I signed in to my blog this morning, the page declared that I haven't published since June 15th. June 15th??!! That's forever ago!

Okay, so the FibreFest went amazing. THANK-YOU to everyone who helped, came and bought fibre-goodies, modeled, and supported me -- and the list is long!!

The Friday night fashion show was sold out, and the talent and creativity was incredible. I'll get some pics up soon, I promise! Hailey even convinced Michael to model (it took me a week just to convince him to come to the show with me); everyone looked wonderful, and it went off without a hitch -- which is really great considering that Hailey was finishing up her 'queue' cards an hour before, and we didn't have time for a dress rehearsal.

Saturday evening's Round Table didn't look anything like I envisioned but it was nice -- about 20 people came, and we created a circle and just knitted, spun and chat about things fibre.

The 'grand finale' was the outdoor market at Saxe Point, and it went great! We had a little sprinkle of rain in the morning when we were setting up, and then the rest of the day the weather was wonderful. About 3 pm the wind came up, so we started packing up early, but that was okay.


I'll have more pics up on the FibreFest site soon!
I 'crashed and burned' on Monday, of course, and then had a pretty leisurely day yesterday ... including a family picnic at Willows Beach last night (minus Joshua, and we missed him!), orchestrated by Hailey because she goes back to Whistler today.



And I'm going with her!

I can't think of anything I'd rather do for the next few days but relax and knit ... so I'll be back on Saturday, then Michael and I will probably go to Albert Head for a night or two. So I'll be back to my 'regular' life on Monday evening, June 29th. I'll have my laptop in Whistler so I may update before that...

SPINNING AROUND THE SPINDLE

Yesterday's Spindle Walk and 'Spin Around the Spindle' event was delightful! About a dozen women, mostly members of the Victoria Hand Weavers and Spinners, started out at the spindle at Laurel Point...

... and wandered along the sea-walk to visit the spindles on the causeway, at the old Hudson's Bay site (foot of Fort St. at Wharf) and City Hall ...

... before making their way to the Museum, where we were joined by others who didn't want to do the walk ...

... where we did 'Spinning Around the Spindle' all afternoon!



This is Claudia, demonstrating a nostepin, which she'll have for sale at the Saxe Point Market this coming weekend...

I never knit a stitch, but I did take some of my raw washed wool along, and got some picking/teasing accomplished -- it was a lovely afternoon!

KNITTING IN PUBLIC

Michael and I spent the morning getting the van ready ... that is, giving this giant yarn ball the throne it deserves!

The 'skirt' was apparently knit by Lucy Neatby a few years ago when she came to Salt Spring Island, from hand-processed Salt Spring Island wool. It's like a poncho for a giant -- the 'pom-poms' on it are about 5" in diameter! Here's a close-up that Esther took (you can click on the image to make it bigger):

Anyway, about 30 people showed up, the weather was perfect, and we all sat under the shade of the giant chestnut tree -- it was lovely!

Good thing we were packing up by 4 pm., though, or we might have been upstaged by this...

... yes, those cyclists really are naked. The World Naked Bike Day parade, with about 150 participants, went by!

Today we'll be doing a 'Spindle Walk' from the Laurel Point spindle sculpture through downtown, and ending at the spindle sculpture on the Museum courtyard on Belleville where we'll 'Spin Around the Spindle' from 1 -3 pm. :-)

WWKIP DAY!

And so, after 9 months of hard work, my 'baby', the Victoria FibreFest, starts today with World Wide Knit in Public Day at Mile O Park on Dallas Road.

Locals, bring a chair (with the 'barred' legs, please), your own refreshments and your knitting, from 1 - 4 pm -- and if you're not local, I hope you're knitting in public today, wherever you are! :)

SALT SPRING ISLAND

The former organizers of the now-defunct Salt Spring Island Fibre Festival offered to donate all their unsold T-shirts and canvas bags to the Victoria FibreFest, if I came over to Salt Spring to get them.

I didn't really have the time, but I went to Salt Spring Island yesterday anyway, and I'm sure glad I did!

I drove directly to my friend Susan Berlin's house -- this woman lives in a space about double the size of mine (which is to say: small), but has room for three spinning wheels and a loom (and a cat and a double bed and her stash and...)-- anyway, we had a lovely visit, then drove over to the former treasurer's house to collect totes full of goods.

Then we went to the Raven Street Market Cafe near the Fernwood Dock on the north Island for a lovely lunch before Susan took me on an impressive (and impromptu) studio tour!

First we went to Susan's weaving studio, which she shares with another artist. I forgot my camera in the van, and the studio was a bit of a hike in from the driveway, so no pictures. Bit of a story, though -- the building their studio is in was once a major 'grow op!'

We went next to Terri Bibby's Saori Saltspring studio right at the beginning of a class she was teaching, then we stopped in on Jane Stafford ...

who shares a huge studio on her property with Ulrieke Benner, an amazing felt artist.

I didn't get back on a ferry until 5:45, but what an amazing day! And to top it off, as the ferry was steaming out of Fulford Harbour, we passed the MV Duen, a beautiful, well-known Salt Spring Island-based charter boat.

ONLY FIVE MORE SLEEPS

... until World-Wide Knit in Public Day, the kick-off event for this year's Victoria FibreFest! I'm pretty stoked ... even though I still have a thousand details to attend to, and some things haven't gone as well as I hoped they would, the whole Fest is still going to be wonderful, I think, with some new events added this year.

At Friday's Knit'n'Cafe, Esther and Irma (on the right) showed off the charity blanket Irma made 'by mistake.' When we described to her how to knit 'dishcloth' squares she heard it wrong, and did an increase on each end of the row, ending up with diamond shapes instead of squares. She and her daughter laid it out on her double bed to play with the design, and ended up with this. Sure lends truth to that line, "There are no mistakes -- there are only new design elements."

I've managed to make it down to Clover Point only once since Friday morning, and this is what I saw...

And then, driving home 'the long way', I watched this beauty come in to the harbour ...

And last night we took some time out to go to an Art Show opening ... the artist being Jason's new girlfriend, Kristen.



Locals, Kristin's art will be hanging at Lady Marmalade (near the corner of Johnson and Government Sts.) until July 1st if you want to check it out. We ordered a small print (what else do we have room for?) but I wish I had more wall space -- I love some of her work!

TOO HOT TO WORK

... so what's a gal to do?



Go for a dinghy picnic up the Gorge, that's what!



We sure weren't the only ones playing...


This heron was about the only living creature we saw that had to work:

And that was all day *before* yesterday. Yesterday, I had a whole new way to goof off ... I joined some fibre friends in the shade of Wendy's garden for a little wool pickin' and spinnin'...


This last photo is our host Wendy on the left, and a woman by the name of Jacquetta Nisbet on the right. Jacquetta is 80 years old (and notice that she's sitting on the grass -- and had less trouble getting up than I did, from my chair, I might add!) and has just moved to the Victoria area from Metchosin. She brought her portfolio to show us prints of some of her work -- she'll soon be teaching some weaving classes, and I'll bet they'll be full!

I did actually get lots of work done early in the day on both those days, and I have lots to accomplish this morning before Knit'n'Cafe, too. It's going to be another hot one!