BLAME IT ON FACEBOOK ...

I swear I've been in a time warp  -- a month since I blogged??

First of all, I'm OKAY, really I am. Thanks for your emails and phone calls, and I want to apologize if you have actually been worried about me. I'm better than ever, actually!

For one thing, for several months now I've pretty much been sleeping through the night -- after years of being up sometimes for 2-3 hours, often anytime from 2 - 5 a.m. (If you ever look back at the time stamps for my daily entries, you'll see they were often written at 3:30 a.m. when I couldn't sleep)! I'm still one of those people who only needs 6-7 hours of sleep a night, but I'm getting it now, and it's wonderful.

So I wake up any time after 5 a.m., which I love... that's my absolute best knitting time of the day, when there's not a sound. But then I have to choose -- to spend that quiet time working on whatever shawl is on the needles... or updating my blog. Knitting wins every time ... see?

The 'Checkerboard' afghan I completed for my sister's friend...

It's 5 panels of 6 foot-long squares, all done in what I've always called 'popcorn' stitch. I'll be delivering it to Julie in Parksville this coming weekend, on my way up to the Campbell River Fibre Festival -- where I'm going with Issue #2 of WEFT Magazine.  :-)

I've finished two lace shawls since I last posted... the first is Alhambra, a 'stole' shape which was a test-knit for the designer. You can't see them, but this one is dripping with lavender-colored beads, too.

 Here's a close-up of the edging:

This one was also a test knit, and the pattern isn't released yet, so I can't tell you what it's called. Back...

 ... and front. And as you can see, the edging is loaded with beads. 

I took a break from shawls (and laceweight yarn and size 3 mm needles, lol) to knit this cabled headband in some bulky-weight yarn:

 

... and it really confirmed that I prefer knitting with laceweight on 3's! The Apple House shawl is about half-done, too.... here's a 'teaser' pic of it. 

We've been getting out walking and dinghying since spring arrived, of course. Here is a rare sight ... our Skeena Queen (the large ferry on the right) was leaving to go into refit for a month, and the smaller Bowen Queen was waiting to take over... the Wind Walker is docked just to the left of the marina boats you can see on the left in this photo.

 In lots of places along the shore, there are 'hidden' dinghies like this one ... and canoes and kayaks, too.

 Watching otters is still one of our favorite pastimes!

This is our neigbour two doors over .. the sign says 'Aero' and refers to the wind generator!

There's a sailboat that's been anchored in our little bay all winter (and the owner went away) -- it's designed to sit on the sand when the tide goes out: 

I think if I ever went cruising on a sailboat, I'd want one of those!

I've joined the organizing committee for the annual 'Sea Capers' celebration, which happens in June. I'm excited about helping with that -- I've already brought a few ideas to the table, and we'll be including them in the events! 

I spent the afternoon and did an interview with a local woman who raises flax to turn into linen to spin and weave with ... this is some harvested flax...

 ... which, through a long and laborious process, becomes this...

It's an amazing story, and you'll just have to get the May issue of WEFT to read the rest! :-)

Salt Spring is so gorgeous in the spring. Sometimes, after I've done a Welcome Wagon visit, I find somewhere to sit and knit.... like this view out to Sansum Narrows...

... and sometimes I think ... "I get to live here?"

Michael's good, the Wind Walker is good, knitting is good, the kids and grandkids are god ... LIFE IS GOOD!