And then, if you're interested in how to make the spool-knit heart, look
here...
Friday, February 8, 2008
A VALENTINE'S DAY CONTEST
So Grace let me know about a Valentine's Day contest that looked like fun - even though the blogger hasn't 'fessed up' what the prize will be yet. Check it out and read all the great love stories, if that sort of thing interests you -- and add your own, and then tell 'em "Skipper" sent ya!
And then, if you're interested in how to make the spool-knit heart, look
here...
And then, if you're interested in how to make the spool-knit heart, look
here...
REMEMBERING...
She was fun and funny, crazy, annoying, brave, disturbed, loyal, creative, sad, tenacious, sassy and practical.
She was my mother, and today would have been her 81st birthday ...
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
CANADA INTENDS TO KNIT!
Just read this info on Ravelry and I'm passing it on! I think it's a great idea, and if you have a blog, I hope you'll post it there, too.
Slogging away on the Secret of the Stole, clue #3, but nothing else earth-shattering going on here.
Slogging away on the Secret of the Stole, clue #3, but nothing else earth-shattering going on here.
Sunday, February 3, 2008
DOWN TO THE WATER
Occasionally people have asked me, since I live on a boat, why I need to drive ‘down to the water’ so often.
Well, the answer is that even though our marina is located in the heart of downtown Victoria, and there’s often lots going on right here (and I love it!) – it’s not the same as looking out over the panorama of the Juan de Fuca Strait, which separates us from Washington State. It’s about 30 miles across to Port Angeles from here, and there’s always something going on – whether it’s great storm-watching, windsurfers, or this…
Sometimes several times a day freighters go by, en route to or from Asia (often China, Japan, the Phillipines...) and heading to or from the major port of Vancouver, BC. They all have to go right past the Victoria waterfront! Here’s a map of the shipping route from open Pacific to downtown Vancouver – the dotted line through the American San Juan Islands and the Canadian Gulf Islands is actually the US/Canada border, but the shipping lanes are pretty much right alongside that:
As you can see, it’s a busy area with lots of tight corners and lots of boat traffic. By international maritime law, a ‘pilot’ – an experienced local mariner who becomes an ‘advisor to the ship’s captain -- is put aboard inbound ships (and outbound pilots from Vancouver get taken off the ships) right here, at Clover Point. Pilot boats, built to withstand heavy seas, are usually painted a bright yellow, orange or red, and they are used to transport pilots between land and the ships they are piloting. These boats literally come alongside 100,000-ton freighters and maintain a speed of 7 or 8 knots while the pilot transfers. The pilot has to be agile, too – he or she sometimes has to climb a swinging ‘Jacob’s ladder’ 40 or 50 feet up to the ship’s deck, in all kinds of conditions.
So when I sit and knit at Clover Point, I sometimes witness this event two or three times in an evening.
Yesterday Michael came with me, and he sat and read the paper while I knitted -- I had to frog almost 30 ROWS of the 'Secret of the Stole' so I am slowly re-knitting it now. Good thing I love knitting!
Oh, I promised a pic of the 'Kiri' Shawl that Annie in Taiwan sent me..
It's beautiful, and she says it was her first lace project ... I wonder how much frogging *she* had to do. :-)
Well, the answer is that even though our marina is located in the heart of downtown Victoria, and there’s often lots going on right here (and I love it!) – it’s not the same as looking out over the panorama of the Juan de Fuca Strait, which separates us from Washington State. It’s about 30 miles across to Port Angeles from here, and there’s always something going on – whether it’s great storm-watching, windsurfers, or this…
Sometimes several times a day freighters go by, en route to or from Asia (often China, Japan, the Phillipines...) and heading to or from the major port of Vancouver, BC. They all have to go right past the Victoria waterfront! Here’s a map of the shipping route from open Pacific to downtown Vancouver – the dotted line through the American San Juan Islands and the Canadian Gulf Islands is actually the US/Canada border, but the shipping lanes are pretty much right alongside that:
As you can see, it’s a busy area with lots of tight corners and lots of boat traffic. By international maritime law, a ‘pilot’ – an experienced local mariner who becomes an ‘advisor to the ship’s captain -- is put aboard inbound ships (and outbound pilots from Vancouver get taken off the ships) right here, at Clover Point. Pilot boats, built to withstand heavy seas, are usually painted a bright yellow, orange or red, and they are used to transport pilots between land and the ships they are piloting. These boats literally come alongside 100,000-ton freighters and maintain a speed of 7 or 8 knots while the pilot transfers. The pilot has to be agile, too – he or she sometimes has to climb a swinging ‘Jacob’s ladder’ 40 or 50 feet up to the ship’s deck, in all kinds of conditions.
So when I sit and knit at Clover Point, I sometimes witness this event two or three times in an evening.
Yesterday Michael came with me, and he sat and read the paper while I knitted -- I had to frog almost 30 ROWS of the 'Secret of the Stole' so I am slowly re-knitting it now. Good thing I love knitting!
Oh, I promised a pic of the 'Kiri' Shawl that Annie in Taiwan sent me..
It's beautiful, and she says it was her first lace project ... I wonder how much frogging *she* had to do. :-)
Saturday, February 2, 2008
IT'S JUST LIKE CHRISTMAS
... and no, I don't mean because of the weather, which has been considerably warmer since last time I referred to it.
It's like Christmas because I got two parcels in the mail day before yesterday! The first one was from an International Scarf Exchange participant in TAIWAN, who sent me a gorgeous fuschia-colored lace shawl and a few other goodies. It matches one of my favorite sweaters perfectly -- I wore it to Knit'n'Cafe yesterday, and it got lots of 'oohs' and 'aahs' -- thanks so much, Annie! (I'll get pics later today and post them..)
The second parcel was my first-ever mail-order from Elann.com and I'm pretty impressed. After stringing a kazillion beads and casting on at least twice before, this is definitely the perfect wool for Sivia's Moonshadow Stole KAL (see sidebar). It's an alpaca-merino blend in an almost-navy-blue laceweight, and it's lovely. I also bought the Harmony Guide '450 MORE Stitches' -- and I placed this order Monday, and the parcel arrived Thursday, nicely packaged and intact.
On the bad news front, I just discovered this morning that there's a fairly serious error about 12 rows back on my 'Secret of the Stole' and I'm going to have to frog that today. Aaarrrggghhhhh..... Lesson learned: when you have a *hunch* there might have been a mistake in the row you just knit (even though the stitch count is correct)and then you knit another row and you're *pretty sure* there might be a mistake, it's not a good idea to knit another 10 rows -- other than the fact that with a few more inches of fabric to stare at, the mistake is more glaringly obvious!
It's like Christmas because I got two parcels in the mail day before yesterday! The first one was from an International Scarf Exchange participant in TAIWAN, who sent me a gorgeous fuschia-colored lace shawl and a few other goodies. It matches one of my favorite sweaters perfectly -- I wore it to Knit'n'Cafe yesterday, and it got lots of 'oohs' and 'aahs' -- thanks so much, Annie! (I'll get pics later today and post them..)
The second parcel was my first-ever mail-order from Elann.com and I'm pretty impressed. After stringing a kazillion beads and casting on at least twice before, this is definitely the perfect wool for Sivia's Moonshadow Stole KAL (see sidebar). It's an alpaca-merino blend in an almost-navy-blue laceweight, and it's lovely. I also bought the Harmony Guide '450 MORE Stitches' -- and I placed this order Monday, and the parcel arrived Thursday, nicely packaged and intact.
On the bad news front, I just discovered this morning that there's a fairly serious error about 12 rows back on my 'Secret of the Stole' and I'm going to have to frog that today. Aaarrrggghhhhh..... Lesson learned: when you have a *hunch* there might have been a mistake in the row you just knit (even though the stitch count is correct)and then you knit another row and you're *pretty sure* there might be a mistake, it's not a good idea to knit another 10 rows -- other than the fact that with a few more inches of fabric to stare at, the mistake is more glaringly obvious!
Thursday, January 31, 2008
WAITING TO EXHALE
One of our favorite pastimes here in the harbour is going for rides in our little inflatable ... an activity we're sorely missing and looking forward to when these cold days get behind us! Michael is specially looking forward to taking the boys out now that Gibson is a bit older...
Living in what's called the 'Upper Harbour' we usually don't have to go far for entertainment - there's a working shipyard right across from us.
This tug is the Benjamin Foss, which was built in Houma, Louisiana in 1980 and is 75 feet long and 26.3 feet wide. It's currently running out of Gray's Harbour, Washington, but we see it often here. Here's a clip from a press release about Foss Maritime in Seattle:
"The Foss Maritime Company’s commitment to environmental stewardship was underscored last month when a top maritime organization recognized 59 of its vessels for outstanding safety records.
The Chamber of Shipping of America (CSA) honored the Foss vessels at a CSA achievement dinner in Washington, D.C. Altogether, the ships have achieved the equivalent total of 362 years without an environmental mishap."
Pretty impressive, huh? Well, we hope to be in our little dinghy to great ol' Ben next time she goes by our marina!
Living in what's called the 'Upper Harbour' we usually don't have to go far for entertainment - there's a working shipyard right across from us.
This tug is the Benjamin Foss, which was built in Houma, Louisiana in 1980 and is 75 feet long and 26.3 feet wide. It's currently running out of Gray's Harbour, Washington, but we see it often here. Here's a clip from a press release about Foss Maritime in Seattle:
"The Foss Maritime Company’s commitment to environmental stewardship was underscored last month when a top maritime organization recognized 59 of its vessels for outstanding safety records.
The Chamber of Shipping of America (CSA) honored the Foss vessels at a CSA achievement dinner in Washington, D.C. Altogether, the ships have achieved the equivalent total of 362 years without an environmental mishap."
Pretty impressive, huh? Well, we hope to be in our little dinghy to great ol' Ben next time she goes by our marina!
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
DEFEAT THE DOLDRUMS WEEKLY TOPIC
"There are many people who ADORE receiving hand-knit or crochet items; but there are just as many who have no appreciation whatever of how much love, work, and time goes into a hand-made item. Share a story of a hand-made gift you gave to someone and how it worked out - good, bad, or ugly!"
A little over a year ago I knit a wool hoodie for my now-9-year-old grandson River. I had a couple of skeins of Lopi in my stash but had to buy several more -- so it cost about $80 and took me a couple of months to make, but it turned out beautifully.
He loved it, too, but of course, it itched, so I suggested that he could wear it as a coat over top of a lighter hoodie or sweater - I'd meant it to be used in the cold. I also asked his mom to encourage him to do that so he would wear it.
Well, I think he's worn it maybe twice ....
On the 'good news' front, my daughters have both been recipients of scarves that they've loved, and my son requested a blanket similar to these so I made him one in his colors of choice, and he adores it!
A little over a year ago I knit a wool hoodie for my now-9-year-old grandson River. I had a couple of skeins of Lopi in my stash but had to buy several more -- so it cost about $80 and took me a couple of months to make, but it turned out beautifully.
He loved it, too, but of course, it itched, so I suggested that he could wear it as a coat over top of a lighter hoodie or sweater - I'd meant it to be used in the cold. I also asked his mom to encourage him to do that so he would wear it.
Well, I think he's worn it maybe twice ....
On the 'good news' front, my daughters have both been recipients of scarves that they've loved, and my son requested a blanket similar to these so I made him one in his colors of choice, and he adores it!
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