AAaaaaahhhhh ... summer

I can't believe it's been six days since I posted! And I think I promised a glimpse into Vancouver Island's only fibre mill, which I had the privilege of touring two weeks ago. Owned by Anna, the entire operation is housed in a Quonset hut on her property north of Qualicum Beach -- she showed me this photo of the first 'rung' when the hut was being built...

That was almost four years ago, when she bought the mill and trucked the equipment up-Island from Crofton.

Anna said the first thing that happens when people bring fibre to her is that it gets 'registered,' so to speak, so that she can identify each individual order all the way through the process.

A 'project card' is completed for each order, and then it is weighed...

... and bagged....

... and then washed -- there are eight sinks along small section of wall, but I arrived too late in the day to see the washing.

Then the fleece is laid out to dry, sometimes with the help of a giant heater or two...



There's only Anna, and only one way through the process, so from this point on, the work takes a lot of time - that's why, when you take a fleece to a mill, it may take weeks to get it back. It gets processed in order....

The next step is carding, and Anna's machine is an amazing creature, built in the 1870s in Philadelphia. Standing about eight feet high and with about a badillion moving parts, it's amazing to watch -- you'll hear my one-word comment at the end of this little movie that about describes it all!

How cool is THAT?

But we're not done yet ... if you want even nicer fibre for spinning, that roving still needs to take a little trip through the pin drafter -- a machine that's only 50 or so years old! In Anna's words, the pin drafter 'combs and attenuates the roving', making it more compact to store and easier to spin because it will 'feed out' better.




Finally, if you want Anna to spin your yarn, this machine can spin 14 cones at once!


Until I get Anna's website up and running, you can reach her at annarunn at telus dot net (you know the drill)!

VEMF and

While we were enjoying Symphony Splash, our son was the General Manager for another local event called the Victoria Electronic Music Festival, held in Centennial Square on the same day.



Depending on who you listened to, the event got good press and then bad -- I wandered through long enough to give Jason a hug and look around, and it felt pretty good to me, but the local paper reported several arrests and troubles. About 10,000 folks attended, and what I loved about it was the diversity of the crowd -- from kids to ancient hippie-types (you know, like me) everyone was dancing and laughing and having lots of fun.

I also finished socks #51 on that weekend, and Hailey immediately claimed them ...

I still need to tell you all about my tour of the Qualicum Bay fibre mill, but first let me describe the day I was there. There are a lot of forest fires burning on the mainland right now, and the smoke is drifting across the Strait. Here's what the area looked like, in full daylight...



It was pretty eerie!

Ok, tomorrow's post will be about the fibre mill tour, and then I can tell you about our road trip yesterday (which was, in short, uneventful and lovely)!

I'M BAAAACCK

No way .... this is the first time I've posted in August?? Well, it's been a busy month already, that's for sure. It started off with the annual BC Day Victoria Symphony Splash, always a highlight of our year, last Sunday. Here's the decorated and sound-ready barge, first being moved from the Upper Harbour (where we are) to the Empress docks where the concert took place:


Michael and I and Gibson in our inflatable towed Hailey and River in a borrowed aluminum boat (lots of room for stretching out, and for food, toys and blankets, which would be needed later):

The theme this year was a salute to our Navy's 100th anniversary, and they were there to help celebrate:

Here's a sense of the crowd, which they always estimate at about 40,000 people around the harbour:



We love doing this 'by boat,' where we get front row seats:



Here are a few shots of our neighbors -- always part of the fun!


The boys have a good time!



The concert was amazing, as always ... during the grand finale it's always almost dark...

... and the final number has cannons, a pipe and drum band, and fireworks!




And then, in the darkness, alone on the stage, the pipe and drum band plays 'Amazing Grace' as the crowds slowly make their way home, and Symphony Splash is over for another year...

I have much more to tell you about .... Victoria's Electronic Music Festival, my trip up-Island (during which I got a tour of the Island's only Fibre Mill and interviewed its owner, Anna Runnings), the BC fires, and last night's dinghy dinner -- but it's just taken me 45 minutes to complete this post, and today is our 31st wedding anniversary, and we're going on a road trip! More later... :-)
***(EDITED TO ADD: And I just found out that we share our anniversary today with what would have been Elizabeth Zimmerman's 100th birthday -- another reason to celebrate)!

TGIF :)

Well, it hasn't really been such a grueling week, I'm just sick of being sick -- this summer cold is hanging on for dear life and making me crazy!

But a knitting cruise is always good therapy -- we had seven people join us on Wednesday! We headed out to Albert Head but there was about a 4-5 ft swell, so we changed direction and ended up anchoring in the nook behind the Fisgard Lighthouse -- it was calm, and hot, and lovely.

Then the wind came up so we headed back in to the harbour, but we were having fun and it was too early to come home, so we docked in front of the Empress for a bit... that was lovely, too!


That pair of black socks is nearly off the needles, but more importantly I've finished several pattern repeats on the lavender heather shawl (about a foot) and now you can see it:

That's the main pattern down the centre back, and this is the pattern that repeats on each arm...

I'm loving it! Today is Knit'n'Cafe so I'll probably have the socks ready to graft by the end of the day.

I keep forgetting to mention that my blogiversary contest garnered precisely three entries, so .... I'm going to see that each of those folks gets a 'consolation prize' of some kind.I know from my stats that I have a lot more than three readers, so I don't know what happened, but I appreciate those of you who took the time to enter, and you'll be hearing from me!

CHATHAM/DISCOVERY ISLANDS

We went with Julie, Erin and Hailey on an overnight cruise, and got back day before yesterday. Instead of turning right at the harbour entrance to go to Albert Head, we turned left and went over to the Chatham/Discovery Islands off Oak Bay. Hailey's young eyes spotted the blow of the gray whale that's been hanging around, in Enterprise Channel, so we hung out and watched it for a bit.(Sorry, no pics -- sometimes you can either HAVE the experience, or you can RECORD the experience!)

Here's where we ended up anchoring.... it was lovely. Haro Strait, San Juan Island and Mt. Baker in the background...

A whale-watching excursion cutting through...


It was busy and we weren't 'tucked in' quite as much as I'd like, but it went fine ...

Today we're off the dock again, this time on another knitting cruise -- it looks like we'll have seven or eight guests, and I think this time we *will* go to Albert Head -- we just have to anchor further out than we're used to. I'm looking forward to it!

THE NON-CRUISE BOAT CRUISE

The day started out gloomy and gray, but the sun eventually came out and it turned in to a lovely day. Unfortunately the 20-knot wind never abated from the moment we woke up ... so the knitting cruise was unable to go cruising!

Six intrepid knitters turned up, though, and to my delight, they all elected to stay and make a day of it ...


We knitted, we chatted, we laughed, we ate great pot luck contributions -- all on the bridge of the Wind Walker, which never left the dock. By the time I remembered to take pictures, Anne and Ruth had already gone, but Deb, Della, Wendy and Louise and I hung out until almost 4 pm. It would have been really nice to actually untie the ropes and change the scenery, but we had a great time, anyway!

I have started another shawl of my own design .... it's in a heathery-lavender color in Jagger-Spun 100% wool, and it's already looking like my most challenging project to date:


Some time today Hailey arrives from Whistler for a week or so -- I'll finally be able to put FibreFest 2010 'to bed' with her help! But more importantly, we'll celebrate her (last week) 33rd birthday by following the tradition we started when she was about 18 -- we'll go to the Salt Spring Island market for the day tomorrow! Then by the time we get home, Julie and her friend Erin should be arriving from up-Island, and we'll hopefully go for an overnight cruise Sunday and Monday.

Looks like lots of 'R & R' and knitting time for me ... "just what the doctor ordered" since I'm still not 100% back on my feet yet.