IF IT'S NOVEMBER 1st ....

... it must be time for NaBloPoMo! And, in spite of the fact that I'm completely out of the habit of blogging now, I'm foolish enough to try, for the 3rd or 4th year in a row, to blog every day for a whole month. Maybe it'll be just what I need to kick-start the routine again? We'll see ... one day at a time!

For my loyal readers, I'll start by saying all's well in our little corner of the world, in general. That little corner is still Salt Spring Island, we're still afloat, still married, and still sober. I'm still knitting, still loving my kids and grandkids, and still being the local Welcome Wagon person. I still love my life. :-)

Some of the highlights since last time I blogged are:

1. The new anchorage we discovered in Ganges Harbour, called Churchill Beach ...

It's really that beautiful, and just enough 'off the beaten path' to feel like we were alone, and yet close enough to dinghy into 'town' - Ganges - if we needed anything. Watching the dinghy races was fun...

We returned here several times over the summer (it's only an hour's cruise from our dock, so a perfect day trip or weekend getaway) and will again next summer, I'm sure! 

2: Lots of time with our grandsons, of course! They're growing up way too fast ...  

3. A visit from our old friends Ed and Jenn and their family from Alberta. We did a 3-day cruise to Bedwell Harbour with them, and Jenn and I drove up Mt. Maxwell:

4. Several day trips to our old favorite anchorage at Russell Island:

5. Being with Jason for the grand opening of the Victoria Public Market at the Hudson .... Jason is on the board of directors and this project was several years in the making, but will be huge for downtown Victoria!

 

6. Attending the Westcoast Workboat Association's fall rendezvous in Ganges. I've been doing a bit of writing for the Islands Marketplace publication here on Salt Spring, so this was an event I covered... 

 

7. Much knitting has taken place, of course. One of my favorite accomplishments was this christening shawl, done in crochet cotton - it's 4' in diameter! 

8. Just this past weekend I went to Knit City in Vancouver with WEFT Magazine, my not-so-new-anymore west coast fibre-related newsletter -- and then carried on up to Whistler for a few days with Hailey!

Nice of her to wear a toque I knit her for Christmas last year! 

 Howe Sound from a lookout on the way to Whistler...

 A little walk around Nita Lake after lunch with Hailey and her friends...

Okay, that was a looooooooooong overview, looooooooooooong overdue!

Tomorrow... more knitting, and being in the fog.  :)

The 'Romance' of Life Afloat

This is an old editorial column I wrote several years ago, and I was just motivated to re-post it because of a comment from another live-aboard on Facebook. . .

“The Romance of Water”

Picture this: The water is flat calm; the sun, though about to disappear behind some nearby cliffs, is still brilliant and hot. There's not a sound for miles. Our boat, with its generally reliable engine, is 'dead in the water.' We've radio'ed for help, and its on the way. I'm sitting out on the bow watching for our rescuers to round the point to tow us in. Michael appears beside me ... with two identical bowls of key lime pie yogurt sprinkled with a bit of coconut. Smiling, we indulge ourselves in our dessert while we watch the sun set behind those hills. 


Now picture this: We are awakened in the dead of night with the sound of a howling wind, and the strange sensation that we are moving. But we shouldn't be - we were securely anchored in a secluded and protective cove when we went to sleep. With groggy brains and foggy eyes, we peer out through the tiny windows in the aft cabin in an attempt to determine what the problem is. There is blackness all around, and there shouldn't be - there were lights on properties on the nearby shore when we went to sleep. It turns out that we are adrift in the channel outside the cove, and we have to scramble to start the engine, pluck our way back into the anchorage, and re-set our anchor - in a driving rain at 2 a.m. 

Picture this: We've been out for an evening jaunt around the anchorage in our inflatable with our guests - but it's starting to get dark now. Just as Michael is about to turn up the throttle on the Merc to get us back to the Wind Walker, our guests point behind us .... to the full harvest moon coming up over the Island on the other side of the channel. As we cut the engine entirely and begin to drift into the darkness, our guests now point in the opposite direction - where an amazing sunset sits like an autumn-colored blanket across the distant hills. No words are spoken by any of us for several minutes, while the scene around us takes our breath away. 

Now picture this: We are awakened in the dead of night with the sound of a howling wind, and the strange sensation of water dripping onto our heads. Although we are securely tied up in a marina this time, something is terribly wrong. Turns out there's yet another leak in the windows of our old wooden boat, and we need to roust ourselves out of our cozy bed, and tape up plastic baggies in a spot or two to temporarily stop the Chinese water torture one more time. "All in a day's work" when one lives afloat. 

What do all these scenarios have in common? They're all 'part of the parcel' when you live aboard. And we wouldn't trade ANY of them for a day of life back on land - and that, by definition, is the 'romance' of life afloat!

Halllllllooooo out there!

The trouble with not posting to my blog in several weeks is figuring out where to start now!

Let me say right away that Michael and I are doing great, life is great, and there are no major events to report -- a lot of 'same old, same old,' actually. But I do get to live a pretty wonderful life, so my 'same old' is pretty cool! With that in mind, let me recap some 'highlights' since I last posted...

We've cruised out to Russell Island a time or two ... the first time was during the VanIsle 360 sailboat race, so we got to see a few of the participants go by from the anchorage:

 ... and there's no shortage of wildlife out there either -- this pair has a nest at the centre of the island!

... and this poor overworked mama has no less than twelve babies! (Remember that you can click on the photo to see it bigger/closer up).

I finally took the time to visit the Gulf Island Spinning Mill! Here's my friend Carol working with the carder...

 

 ... and Amy preparing roving for spinning

 ... Bob in the background tidying up...

 ... and the spinning machines doing what they do best...

It was a fun afternoon!

Oh, something new did happen for me .... I applied to become an artist at Mahon Hall's ArtCraft, a show that runs seven days a week here in the summer - and I got accepted! Mahon Hall is a beautiful old heritage building in Ganges, and the show (the major project of the Salt Spring Island Arts Council) has a reputation for being pretty high-end - so imagine my surprise when I was one of twelve new artists who got accepted, out of over 60 new applicants, apparently!

So my lace shawls are now on display and for sale. :-) I went to the opening reception (you have no idea how weird it is for me to say those words -- I've never seen myself as an 'artist', much less as someone who goes to opening receptions!):

We have a new yarn store here on the Island, and Pat, the owner, hosted World Wide Knit in Public Day (Pat's on the right) ...

Some of you might notice a familiar icon on the left... I loaned her my 'Neatby sculpture' for the day...

The store is called Elderberry Yarns, and it's owned by the same mother-daughter team that own ElectricTree Yarns in Kamloops. She was only open for a month and then moved to an even better location -- it's a gorgeous store, and I'm hoping to teach some classes there in the fall.

I finally made it up to the top of Mt. Maxwell... the view over Sansum Narrows is absolutely stunning!

I also finally joined the Salt Spring Weavers and Spinners Guild (there is no knitters guild), and I've been to a few meetings. One meeting was a 'dye day' at Mary's house ... her studio was very full of busy people by the time I arrived, so I just observed and took pictures. This one made it into an annual publication called 'A Day in the Life of Salt Spring', published by the local newspaper!

Much knitting has transpired, of course... several more shawls and cowls are done, and now I'm working on CHRISTMAS stuff -- I promise myself every year that I'm going to start early, and I've finally done that!

This post is already too long and I have many pictures of a family cruise we took over the Canada Day weekend -- so I'll try to do another update in the next few days, and then try again to get back on track posting regularly!

MY DRIVE-BY POST

We've had a road trip since I last posted! I had the opportunity to take WEFT Magazine to a new Fibre Festival in Campbell River -- and it was perfect timing for a little get-away for both of us. It was a very busy, but fun, time. We had to go to Victoria first, so we drove the Malahat and stopped in Mill Bay to see the new marina there. (You can read my April, 2010 post about the storm that destroyed the old one...)

 The view out to Mt. Baker is as stunning as ever!

Then we just had to stop at Leola's Studio at Whippletree Junction just south of Duncan. I've known, and been a fan of Leola for several years, but seeing her in her studio was amazing! I didn't need to take more pictures... there are lots on her website here and on her blog here.

The first 'Vancouver Island Fibre Festival' was lovely -- Shelley Mackie from the former Fun Knits shop on Quadra was one of the organizers, and the City of Campbell River was a major sponsor, so the event was held in the Community Centre there. It was dubbed the Vancouver Island Fibre Fest, and doubled as a fund-raiser for special needs programming in the community. It must have been successful because they'll do it again next year! 

I got to see some old friends, and met a few new ones. One of the highlights for me was meeting Kate, a long-time 'bloggy buddy' who lives up there. Kate and I have a lot in common .... we are both writers, we both love the sea, we're both parents, and knitters, and readers ... and we've been reading each others' blogs for years. It was great to put a face to the name! Kate blogs at Rocks, Waves, Beach...

 

This baby was adorable in her hand-knits, AND being packed around by Dad ... so Mom's hands were free to fondle all the yarnie goodies, of course!

We rented a cabin in a little resort on the south end of town, owned by a knitter, of course! It didn't hurt that the cabin at Driftwood by the Sea was cozy, and spotless, and the view out to Cape Mudge was stunning...

I sold several WEFT subscriptions, so that was good, and only came away with a 'little' yarn... 

 The blue cone is a wool-silk blend from Leola's, the green mohair was a purchase from one of the vendors (I can't remember which one, I was pretty overcome by all the yarn fumes...), the gorgeous hand-spun has silk COCOONS spun right in -- and that skein was a gift because I transported a loom from Victoria that someone in Campbell River had purchased. Finally, fibre this deliciously sinful  really SHOULD be in a 'plain brown paper bag,' shouldn't it?

It's from Anna at the Qualicum Bay Fibre Mill ... and I offered to do a little 'experiment' with it for her. I'll keep you posted!  :) 

More about our road trip adventures next post...

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!