I AM A SPINNER

Hmmmmmmm.

That sounds a little bold.

Okay ... I have spun.

There, that works.

I attended the Spinning workshop on Quadra Island, and I spun that whole ball of yarn myself. I was pretty excited about this all week, but even more exciting was my time with Sivia...

That's her, on the right, in the middle of the River Rock Scarf workshop she gave for our Guild yesterday.

I had the privilege of picking Sivia up at the ferry on Tuesday, and I gave her a tour of Victoria including Dallas Road, Saxe Point and the Inner Harbour before we went for dinner to the Med Grill, where the FibreFest Fashion Show will be held in June. She's a bit shy (and too modest) but very gracious, and I had a wonderful time with her showing her the city and talking about knitting and designing. I'm pretty excited about having her as my guest this year, that's for sure!

I bought three more of her patterns ... I think I'll have to live to be 92 to knit them all!

ODDS 'n' SODS

I got an email from a film-maker in Qualicum Beach the other day -- he was researching the herring run, and found an old article I'd written about it several years ago. He sent me this wonderful video he created this year!

One of the surest signs of spring in Victoria is the 'paragliders' down on Dallas Road ... these dudes are crazy!

They get airborne by basically running and jumping off the edge of that cliff, and then the thermal currents carry them back and forth along the cliff (curving off to the left in the photo) for someimes hours. They can control their height (to an extent), their speed and their landing -- but they mostly just 'hang out' up there on the currents!

We had a few winter winds this week -- here's what it looked like right in the harbour...


But the other morning I was at Clover Point and it was flat calm ... I arrived just in time to see new BC Ferry #2 go by (en route from Germany, where it was built...)

...followed closely by our Canadian Coast Guard...


All of which is to distract you from the fact that I have no knitterly news. I'm on Clue #8 of the 'Secret of the Stole' KAL -- only one more week to go! -- and still struggling with the edging on Sivia Harding's Moonshadow Stole - I've made it as far as Row 17, but keep ending up with a wrong stitch count and having to rip it back. VERY frustrating ... but I'm not giving up!

THE OGDEN POINT BREAKWATER

The breakwater at Ogden Point, which marks the entrance to the Victoria Harbour, was built around 1900 and named after one of the officers of the Hudson's Bay Company. Almost half a mile long, it is located at 199 Dallas Road, right next to the cruise ship dock. (The walk that starts here meanders all along the edge of the Juan de Fuca Strait and ends at the eastern end of the Ross Bay Cemetery, a few miles away). Work on this project included over one million tons of rock, ten thousand granite blocks, fifty three concrete caissons and over one million cubic yards of dredged fill, and it took 3 years to complete.

Local resident Ron McLean has created a great pictorial of Ogden Point scenes, some historical, here and here.

Yesterday our brand new BC ferry docked at the breakwater to host public tours before it goes into service in March. It was a great day for a walk along the breakwater - a sailing regatta was underway, several freighters were going by keeping the pilot boat busy, and of course, the new ferry ....







I had no desire to go aboard (especially after I saw the line-ups!) because I wanted to take my Secret of the Stole out to play, since I FINALLY got Clue #3 done...


I'm really hoping to cast one Sivia's Moonshadow Stole (AGAIN) today, but I also need to work on launching the new Victoria FibreFest website this weekend!

I RISKED LIFE AND LIMB ...

... but it worked out... sort of. :-)

So there I was, parked at Clover Point minding my own business and knitting (working on the heather-toned purple shawl I've decided I need to FINISH before I start the two KALs) when I spotted something interesting floating out in the water between the point and Trial Island.

I was pretty sure that the floating object was someone's lost dinghy, so I decided that I'd do my good deed for the week and 'catch' it when it came to shore.

Well. Here's the shoreline of Ross Bay, where it was headed ... ... and it was already dusk, and cold and windy.

I watched it for a bit to determine its 'trajectory' toward the shoreline, and then drove the van along Dallas Road closer to where I was guessing it would come in. I parked, and walked out on the beach, trying to keep my eye on it in the looming darkness, while 'plucking' my way over patches of loose gravel, kelp, logs and various other flotsam and jetsam.

It took forever to get close to the shore, and because of the south-west wind blowing, I kept having to walk further along the beach and kept getting further away from the road as the dinghy angled off.

Luckily I had a wool scarf on, so I wrapped it around my ears to keep the wind from hurting them. I was probably standing there ... or walking along the beach ... for about 45 minutes - that's a long time when you're not dressed properly on an exposed beach.

At some point, I heard a noise behind me and turned around, only to realize that the wind had shifted something on the beach behind me. But it was then that I became aware that I was totally alone - on an exposed beach, in the pitch dark, and about a city block from the nearest point of access to Dallas Road. What WAS I thinking when I began THIS adventure? What if I slipped on some kelp or a log and fell? What if there was an attacker lurking somewhere? Oh, and then there's the Ross Bay cemetery ... and no shortage of ghost stories associated with it.

I turned back to the sea and again managed to visually locate the dinghy floating ever so slowly toward me. I decided that since I'd already been there all that time, and since it was clearly too dark to make my way back in the light anyway... I might as well wait.

And wait I did, for another full 15 minutes as the tide carried that dinghy closer and closer to the shore. Freezing, spooked and chiding myself for my stupidity, I waited ... until, finally, one last big wave crashed ashore, carrying my prize to me ...

ROCKIN' and ROLLIN'

It's 8:45 a.m. as I write this, and the wind hasn't let up all night. It's been blowing about 40 kts, and even though we're fairly protected in the harbour, I still woke up to it once or twice in the night. Here's a shot from the Dallas Road webcam this morning looking south-west(which is the direction the wind is coming from) toward Race Rocks:

This webcam, along with several others, is maintained by a local windsurfer dude, and you can check it out (and all of his cams) any time at BigWaveDave.ca.

Today is almost the last of the Holiday festivities in our world ... we'll go over to Mischa's for a 'brunch' this morning because Hailey has to go back to Whistler this afternoon, and our oldest grandson, Joshua, may go home tomorrow -- and we haven't had a 'family' get-together since he got here.

Tomorrow I'll pick my sister Julie up at the airport on her return from Christmas with her daughter (our niece Doneen) in Calgary. We don't 'do' New Year's Eve so we'll take care of the boys so Mischa can go out, and then on New Year's Day we'll take Julie home to Qualicum Beach, and spend the night with our friends Susan and Sri up there.

And by the time we come home late Wednesday, that'll be 'enough' of the 'Festive Season' for us!

ON THE NEEDLES: diamonds for River's blanket.

... and I'll die of boredom long before I'm done these, so I'll have to get back to the purple shawl, or start a new project pretty quick. Whadda shame...

WELCOME TO CANADA!

I was down on the Dallas Road waterfront by 8 a.m. with my morning coffee and my knitting, just in time to see the new BC Ferry emerge from the fog! By the time I drove my grandson to school and got back down to Trafalgar Park, I was just in time to see it rounding Trial Island ... too far away to get a decent shot of it. I can tell you that it's HUGE, and very brightly colored. . .

According to the Times-Colonist, the 'Coastal Renaissance' is the first of three new Super C-class ferries, and it was built in Germany. It took 48 days to get here, including a trip through the Panama Canal. Here's the rest of the story.

PHOTO OF THE DAY: Fulford Harbour on Salt Spring Island is a place of mixed feelings for us -- we've twice had boating mishaps there. But it IS beautiful!

IT'S OFFICIALLY THE SEASON

Last night I took River to the annual Truck Parade on Dallas Road -- I think this was the 9th annual, and I've taken my grandson for the past 4 years. We try to get down to the water no later than 4 pm to get a good spot near Ogden Point where the trucks assemble. Last night we drove in the snow, which made it extra-Christmasy (in River's words!) and it was nearly dark when we found our 'perfect' spot to park, and found the Mustard Seed volunteers to give them our $20 donation. The whole event is a fund-raiser for the local food bank coordinated by The Island Equipment Owners Association, and it's the BEST 'Season Opener' I've ever experienced!

None of the pictures I took along Dallas Road turned out, but it's okay because we get to see the parade twice! After it goes by us at the water, the tradition is that we cut across Cook Street to River's place -- and he just happens to live on the 9th floor of an apartment building that the parade goes right past. So these pics are taken from the balcony ...



The whole thing only lasts about half an hour (there are only 80 trucks allowed), but these trucks are amazing -- I'm pretty sure that whole families spend the entire day decorating them.

To see some REALLY nice pics, check out the Times Colonist's gallery .

PHOTO OF THE DAY: This is 'Boom Bay' on Jedediah Island, a beautiful huge marine park in the Strait of Georgia behind Lasqueti Island. There are rings in the rocks here for anchored boats to 'stern tie' to.

Gotta start (again) somewhere

Once again I'm going to attempt to blog regularly about our waterborne life here in Beautiful British Columbia, and to detail my knitting projects and interests.

Today I drove down to Clover Point (as I often do) to knit, and watched a tugboat re-arranging and pulling a huge log boom along the Dallas Road waterfront. I wonder why we don't see these around Victoria very often? (I'm going to answer myself here: I suppose it's because of the slowdowns through-out the logging industry...) In any case, I always feel such a part of west coast history watching a tugboat pulling a log boom -- I'm glad it still happens, albeit infrequently.


And, as I was watching that, someone came out from the shore paddling a wake-board or something. I was too far away to get a good shot, but I'd love to know what on earth that person was doing there!


ON THE NEEDLES: I'm working on a little yoga-themed handbag that may end up being a Christmas gift for someone.

PHOTO OF THE DAY: I'm going to start posting a West Coast picture with each blog entry. Most of them are my photos (and if not, I'll identify the photographer) and they're just a hodge-podge of scenes from my life! Today's photo is the Deep Bay Marina as seen at sunset from the spit.