I HATE MY CAMERA

Would someone please tell Santa I want a new one for Christmas? I'd love it if I could show you some nice photos from the last two days -- instead, I give you THIS:


This was River's Tae-Kwon-Do "Kick-athon" at the Bay Centre on Friday evening. (That's Michael holding the 'kick paddle' for him -- we took turns doing that).

The problem with my camera is that it seems like it can't decide, in compromised lighting conditions, whether I need a flash or not -- so it just takes a really shaky picture that looks like I've been into the eggnog a little too much.

So I decided to go up on the glass-fronted elevator to see if I could get better light....


And finally, on the top floor of the mall looking down....


Lousy pictures, but I'll tell you one thing ... River kicked 2000 KICKS in an hour and fifteen minutes!!! We were so proud of him! And several other club members did, too -- and it was all a fund-raiser for the local Food Bank, and a great success.

Saturday was the Knotty by Nature Grand Opening, of course, and it was a wonderful day! Knitters, weavers, spinners, demos, food, fun and fibre -- it doesn't get much better.





And here's my absolute favorite...

(This gentleman had earlier let me know that he knew about fibre... after all, he'd worn his cashmere suit!)

Left the store at 4 pm to pick River up again, and with my sister and niece, off we went to the truck parade. Then we made it back to the harbour just in time for the Lighted Ships parade!

I'm not even going to pretend I got any photos of these events, but someone did.

This morning Julie and Trisha headed back up-Island and Michael took River home. I'm spending the day decorating for Christmas (I was hoping to be done in time for yesterday's festivities, but it was not to be...) and knitting. We'll head back to our marina tomorrow!

THE VIEW FROM HERE :-)

It's been a looooooooong 36 hours, and I'd love to tell you all about it -- River's Tae-Kwon-Do 'Kick-a-thon' at the Bay Centre, the amazing Knotty by Nature Grand Opening, the truck parade, and then the boat parade. But as you can imagine, I'm asleep on my feet here, pretty much. I did want to show you the view out of our front window this evening, though...

That's our BC Legislature Buildings in the background, with the giant Christmas tree in the centre, and the smaller Christmas tree is on the bow of the sailboat across the dock from us.

My sister Julie and niece Trisha came down for the day, and River was with us, and it's been a great day -- more details tomorrow!

THANKS FOR OUR BOAT/HOME

First of all, I promised pictures of the Ella Rae shawl I finished yesterday.

I gotta tell ya, I've never seen blocking make such a huge difference! When I took this baby off the needles, it was the size of a nice bandanna -- but after blocking, it's over 4' tip to tip, and 30" long -- a huge difference. And here's a close-up of the beaded picot bind-off I did just for a little extra pizzazz on the edge:

Today I want to express thanks for our boat, Wind Walker, which has been our home for over 10 years now. She's a 1965 Chris Craft (the 'cadillac' of wooden boats in its day), beautifully crafted down to the finest detail with 14.7 tonnes of Phillipine mahogany. I tell people she's a "2-bedroom, 2-bathroom boat" which is technically true, although it's crammed into a space 38' x 13'. That's okay ... it works beautifully for us!

She was the perfect boat for us when we found her, and she's still the perfect home for us now. I'll say it again ... we'll never go back to land if we can help it.

Well, I'm off to run some errands, cruise the boat over to the Empress dock, spend a bit of time at Knit'n'Cafe, and then watch River at a Tae-Kwon-Do exhibition this afternoon!

THANKS FOR GRAND-S0NS

I know, I know, I'm really late posting today.... what can I say? I did finish the shawl I've been working on, but by the time it was blocked and dry, it was too dark to take a decent picture, so I'll do that tomorrow. I've been working today on getting my fibre-related library all catalogued so I can take the books over to the store before the Grand Opening. The books will be available for $1 per book per week, with all the donations going to CommunityKnitters.com. And I have tons of great mostly knitting books!

I managed to make it to Clover Point for about 20 minutes to knit -- back to working on Christmas socks for everyone now!

Today my THANKS is for our grandsons....

Jason's son Joshua, 14. He lives with his Mom up-Island, but comes to Victoria every third weekend or so!

Mischa's son River, 9. We see him almost every day, and he spends a couple of nights a week with us here on the boat.

Mischa's son Gibson, 2-and-a-half. We see him almost every day, too!

How lucky am I, huh?

Tomorrow morning we'll take the Wind Walker over to the public dock in front of the Empress for two nights while we participate in the annual Carol Ships parade. This is what it looks like over there this time of year... it's like being in the middle of a Christmas card!


Apart from the Knotty by Nature Grand Opening on Saturday, we'll be hanging out in the harbour and relaxing -- it's our last little break before the Christmas crazies, so we'll enjoy it!

THANKS

So much for that 'posting a thanks every day' thing I said I was going to do! What a flake, I lasted a whole day...

So today I'll say thanks not twice, to make up for missing yesterday, but three times.

I'm thankful this morning for my three children, all of whom are adults.

Jason, 34

Hailey, 31

Mischa, 29

All of my children make me proud to be a Mom, every single day. They are all smart, funny, sensitive, entrepreneurial, kind and loving ... well, I could go on, but you get the picture. :-)

And yes, I had a lovely day yesterday, thanks for asking. I knit about 4" on the current shawl, went for lunch with my friend Monika at my favorite little seaside bistro in Sidney, and then spent the afternoon hanging out! Back to work today...

A PLAY DAY

I think I'll get some more mileage out of this birthday thing (what, it's still the same week, ain't it??) and declare today a play day.

I worked yesterday, didn't I?

My friend Monica is coming over from Mayne Island, and I think we'll have lunch, and maybe go shopping, and maybe I'll take her to the new store, too. She was a spinner long before I knew her, and even has a diploma of some kind in the fibre arts.

Besides, I hardly knit a stitch yesterday, and whenever I'm picking someone up from the ferry, I have an excuse to leave early and go sit at the water in Sidney for a bit ...


And of course, there are two yarn stores there, too. Not that I need yarn... I'm just sayin'.

And there's a Starbucks. Right across the street from one of the yarn stores.

Yup. I've just talked myself into a play day. Catch ya later! :-)

KNITTING A 'CHEATER' MOEBIUS

First you knit a rectangle .... in this case it's about 10" wide and 19" long.

Then, without casting off, you turn the rectangle a half-turn, and then pick up the stitches along the cast-on edge with your second needle:

Then you use kitchener stitch (aka grafting) to sew the two sides together ... which, I'll warn you, feels like it takes FOREVER! However, the end result is worth it...

A lovely figure-eight moebius neck-warmer! (The photo with the truest colors is the middle one of these, by the way...)

Now I'm going to make a simple garter stitch shawl with the rest of this lovely Ella Rae yarn, and then it's back to Christmas knitting -- it's December 1st!

PS ... the NaNoPoMo theme for December is 'THANKS', so I'm going to try to include a THANKS with every post this month -- no guarantees I'll post daily, though. ;-) Today's THANKS is for Michael, the love of my life, who made my birthday -- and makes every day -- special. For my birthday, he brought me flowers ... and a new, adorable, watch:
...
(the watch band is navy blue and silver, which is my very favorite color combination, it has the actual numbers instead of dots, and that little design in the middle? It's a cloud and some stars, and I love it!