The final knitting cruise of the season was a beautiful day out on the water... knitting...

 ... chatting... (that's the knitting imposter, but he sure steers a great boat!)

 ...eating...

 

... observing...

 

 ... and laughing, and thoroughly enjoying each other!

Last week I took some folks on a visiting sailboat to the local cheese factory ... they specialize in goat cheese.

 

 ... and it's delicious!

 ... and after the tour, you can sit and drink Salt Spring Coffee in this lovely garden!

The summer is absolutely FLYING by here ... you, too?
*

THE DOG DAYS OF SUMMER

I am 3/4 finished the dog hair vest ... which is a good thing because it's recipient really wants it entered in the fall fair!


 It does feel as yummy as it looks, too.

My Ravellenic Games project was a Liz Abinante shawl, which I also finished...

It's called 'Ode to the Bay' and it'll be a Christmas gift for someone.  :)

And in other knitting news, check out this mitten story! That will be my next challenge -- I've been an Orca Network member for a long time, but stranded knitting is not one of my favorite things.

Much too busy having fun here! Hailey's been here for a week again, and we had the boys for three days, too. Lots of boating and going swimming at the lake....

Hailey goes home today, and I have to get back into Welcome Wagon mode now!

Happy BC Day!

I have boaty stories and life stories and knitty stories to tell -- my poor neglected blog!

We have, of course, been playing - a lot. Summer has arrived, big-time, so dinghy picnics are the norm on an almost daily basis! Here are some of the sights we've seen...

 A favorite beach...

 Jackson Rocks in the background...

 A hawk observing us from above... and a flat calm sea in the harbour...

 A weather-worn log....

 Layers of quartz in the rock... and the view out to Russell Island....

 

 Time to head for home ...

I hosted the July meeting of Vancouver Island region Welcome Wagon reps, and we had a lovely cruise over to Prevost Island!

Michael and I have found what may be our 'go-to' favorite local beach. It's on abandoned First Nations land, so we hope it's okay to be there, and we're respectful of the land... here's the shoreline approaching it...

 ... and the gorgeous little midden beach....

 ... and the view from it back into the harbour...

I even went for a 'swim' there yesterday -- if you can call immersing yourself for 1.2 seconds a swim. :)

We count our blessings every single day that we live in such a beautiful place!

Much knitting has transpired, too -- Ode to the Bay is nearly done:

... but the blue sweater is once again in the frog pile. Here's the thing... I frogged it once already because the back part went 'diagonal' and I couldn't figure out why! So I started again, being extra careful to make sure I had the stitch count for each of the sections (left front, sleeve, back, sleeve, right front) and knit almost to where I'd need to divide off for the arms... well, guess what?

 You can see the line of the raglan sleeve on the left .... and the entire back of the sweater follows that line instead of becoming straight up and down. I puzzled and puzzled over this, and showed it to a few experienced knitters. Esther had the idea that makes the most sense. . . instead of doing the proper 'M1R' and 'M1L' increases at all the increase points, I did them all the same! That's the only explanation we can think of ... so I'll frog it and start yet again, taking more care to do the correct increases, and see if it comes out right.

But it has to go on the shelf for now.... I have a dog-hair vest to finish!
:)