Saturday, July 5, 2008
SOCK KNITTING
Even writing that title sounds good. I personally don't know anything about sock knitting. But I'm about to.
I had signed up for a sock-knitting workshop up-Island today, but for a variety of reasons, can't go.
SO ... I've decided to spend the day (and save $40!) teaching myself how to make socks. I've got yarn, I've got tutorials, I've got an open day, and I've got my family's blessings to disappear to wherever I need to, for quiet concentration.
Meanwhile, I did a little more research on Big Eagle and found this...
San Diego Times article. Very cool!
And since I haven't managed to get my Tall Ships pics up yet, here is our local newspaper's slide show of the parade.
And don't forget to enter my blogoversary contest.
Later!
I had signed up for a sock-knitting workshop up-Island today, but for a variety of reasons, can't go.
SO ... I've decided to spend the day (and save $40!) teaching myself how to make socks. I've got yarn, I've got tutorials, I've got an open day, and I've got my family's blessings to disappear to wherever I need to, for quiet concentration.
Meanwhile, I did a little more research on Big Eagle and found this...
San Diego Times article. Very cool!
And since I haven't managed to get my Tall Ships pics up yet, here is our local newspaper's slide show of the parade.
And don't forget to enter my blogoversary contest.
Later!
Thursday, July 3, 2008
OF PIGEONS AND MEGA-YACHTS
Don't forget to enter my blogoversarycontest!
Last night down at Clover Point, I was watching, with great amusement, boats 'pulling out' to pass one another. It always amazes me to see this ... there's miles of ocean all around, but they just have to pass within a few feet!
While I was being entertained by these boats, this dude landed on the hood of my van, and would not leave!
But the most interesting thing that happened was that we (Michael was with me, for a change!) saw the pilot boat returning from 'way out in the Strait, and finally we could see a huge yacht emerging from the mist behind it. (As an aside, a friend who worked for Customs for 30 years once told me that when famous people are coming in to the harbour, and especially if they have an entourage, the Customs folks are 'ferried' out to their boats to clear everyone so they don't have to go through that once they tie up. (I guess a little thing like clearing Customs is an inconvenience that only us 'little people' have to deal with!)
So we left Clover Point and drove along the Dallas Road waterfront to follow this yacht in to the harbour. We lost sight of it just inside the Ogden Point breakwater momentarily, and this emerged instead...
This 'tender' to the yacht must have been lowered into the water in the few moments we lost sight of it -- it's about a quarter-million dollar boat itself!
Then the 'Big Eagle' came into view...
The Big Eagle is best known for being part of the fleet of Bernie Little, owner of the Miss Budweiser Unlimited Hydroplane Racing Team. (In 1995, Bernie Little became the first owner to win five straight World Championships. Along the way, Little also pushed through the 100-victory barrier, and was the first person to pilot a race boat to break the 170-mph barrier. On the last day of the 2002 season, Little clinched his 22nd title to claim the World Championship trophy that is now named after him.)
If this interests you, you can watch a video of these boats here…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6kvInEAtiA
The Big Eagle was launched in 1980, is 172’ long, and one of America’s 100 biggest private yachts. Big Eagle was featured in the movie Striptease as ‘Big Sugar’.
The yacht has two main suites and four cabins, all with their own marble baths, and sleeps twelve comfortably while overseen by a captain and crew (including a chef) of ten. Celebrities know it, especially from Cannes where its been tied up during the Film Festival. Over the years Sharon Stone has been on board, as well as Alicia Keys, Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgewick, Kevin Spacey, Sean Penn and Robin Wright, Roberto Cavalli, Cuba Gooding Jr., Sofia Coppola, Zoey Cassavetes, Benjamin Bratt, Harvey Weinstein, David Carradine,and Quentin Tarrantino.Joan Rivers, among others, loves this boat and has chartered it for her own use (and a host of friends) both in the US and in the Mediterranean and the Caribbean at Christmastime.
Long based in Fort Lauderdale, the Big Eagle was sold after Little’s death (for about $8 million) to two businessmen from Texas.
So I have no idea who's aboard here in Victoria, but I'd sure love to know! lol
Last night down at Clover Point, I was watching, with great amusement, boats 'pulling out' to pass one another. It always amazes me to see this ... there's miles of ocean all around, but they just have to pass within a few feet!
While I was being entertained by these boats, this dude landed on the hood of my van, and would not leave!
But the most interesting thing that happened was that we (Michael was with me, for a change!) saw the pilot boat returning from 'way out in the Strait, and finally we could see a huge yacht emerging from the mist behind it. (As an aside, a friend who worked for Customs for 30 years once told me that when famous people are coming in to the harbour, and especially if they have an entourage, the Customs folks are 'ferried' out to their boats to clear everyone so they don't have to go through that once they tie up. (I guess a little thing like clearing Customs is an inconvenience that only us 'little people' have to deal with!)
So we left Clover Point and drove along the Dallas Road waterfront to follow this yacht in to the harbour. We lost sight of it just inside the Ogden Point breakwater momentarily, and this emerged instead...
This 'tender' to the yacht must have been lowered into the water in the few moments we lost sight of it -- it's about a quarter-million dollar boat itself!
Then the 'Big Eagle' came into view...
The Big Eagle is best known for being part of the fleet of Bernie Little, owner of the Miss Budweiser Unlimited Hydroplane Racing Team. (In 1995, Bernie Little became the first owner to win five straight World Championships. Along the way, Little also pushed through the 100-victory barrier, and was the first person to pilot a race boat to break the 170-mph barrier. On the last day of the 2002 season, Little clinched his 22nd title to claim the World Championship trophy that is now named after him.)
If this interests you, you can watch a video of these boats here…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6kvInEAtiA
The Big Eagle was launched in 1980, is 172’ long, and one of America’s 100 biggest private yachts. Big Eagle was featured in the movie Striptease as ‘Big Sugar’.
The yacht has two main suites and four cabins, all with their own marble baths, and sleeps twelve comfortably while overseen by a captain and crew (including a chef) of ten. Celebrities know it, especially from Cannes where its been tied up during the Film Festival. Over the years Sharon Stone has been on board, as well as Alicia Keys, Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgewick, Kevin Spacey, Sean Penn and Robin Wright, Roberto Cavalli, Cuba Gooding Jr., Sofia Coppola, Zoey Cassavetes, Benjamin Bratt, Harvey Weinstein, David Carradine,and Quentin Tarrantino.Joan Rivers, among others, loves this boat and has chartered it for her own use (and a host of friends) both in the US and in the Mediterranean and the Caribbean at Christmastime.
Long based in Fort Lauderdale, the Big Eagle was sold after Little’s death (for about $8 million) to two businessmen from Texas.
So I have no idea who's aboard here in Victoria, but I'd sure love to know! lol
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
AAAAAHHHHHhhhhhh .... I needed that
(WARNING: Picture-heavy post...)
We are back from our little jaunt out to Albert Head. It was quite an adventure, I might add! A fitting way to celebrate the ten-year anniversary since we bought the Wind Walker.
Don't forget to enter my CONTEST, by the way...
So we had two glorious days at Albert Head (have I mentioned how much I love it there? It's only half an hour from our harbour, and here's the view of the city from there...)
I said I'd get much knitting done, and I did .... I started my second 'Interlude' Wrap (that's a .pdf of the free pattern, if you click on it)and I'm about a third done already. I donated a blue one I knit to Afghans for Afghans, so I'm keeping this one for myself.
Here's a close-up of the pattern ... I love it, and it's a relatively easy knit. I'm doing this one double-stranded -- one strand of merino laceweight, and one of a merino-nylon fingering weight blend.It'll be perfect for September evenings!
I also started a test knit for a Whistler designer who hand-dyes all her own wool, and it's beautiful. This scarf is called 'Shifting Hues'...
Here are some of the sights from the anchorage:
And I took these from our dinghy:
Oh, and we had company for one night, too ... Mischa and River went off camping for the long weekend but Jeff had to work Monday, so he brought Gibson out to us Sunday night for a 'sleepover.' Jeff drove, and we dinghied, to the beach at the Albert Head Lagoon parking lot...
It was lots of fun to have Gibson aboard overnight!
Jeff drove back out to get Gibson when he got off work yesterday, and it's a good thing we didn't have a two-year-old to contend with, because ...
... at about 7:30 pm, the wind came up to about 30 knots, and for some reason, our anchor slipped and we found ourselves only about 30' from the rocks. (The first night at anchor there were some 'rollers' curling around the point, so Michael put out a stern anchor as well, to hold the bow into the waves. We've safely anchored at Albert Head many times in more serious winds than that, so we're not sure if that stern anchor somehow fouled the bow anchor, but we also ended up with rope wrapped around the prop, and had to cut the stern anchor free). It was about 7 pm., so we simply pulled up the bow anchor to move back to our original spot to re-anchor.
Twenty minutes or so later we realized that we had dragged again, and we were now only 15' from the beach shore -- it would have been a softer landing than the rocks, but still not our idea of fun! So we up-anchored again, and decided (foolishly, in hindsight) to head back into the harbour and come home.
Well. We were hitting 8 to 10' rollers coming out of the Head and then severely 'confused seas' with about a 4' chop and whitecaps the whole way home -- a 45-minute passage of serious anxiety! Luckily there didn't seem to be any damage to the prop, and the port engine worked great the whole way. But - I had dishes on the floor, books fallen out of the bookcase, and salt spray over my front window by the time we got in. Not a pleasant ride at all, but at the time we thought it was a better idea than not getting any sleep at all because of not trusting our anchor!
I was smart enough to insist that we not try to come under the bridge and get in to our marina with that wind blowing, though, so we spent the night on the main docks at the Empress Hotel, which I always enjoy - especially when I'm relieved to be tied to a dock! This morning at 7 a.m. we woke up to the sounds of LIVE MUSIC coming from the legislature lawn a few hundred yards away -- Canada Day celebrations were underway, of course! A little too loud for our liking, especially at that hour, so we were back on our own little quiet dock by 9 am.
I still have pictures of the Tall Ships Festival AND the FibreFest to share -- more tomorrow. :-)
We are back from our little jaunt out to Albert Head. It was quite an adventure, I might add! A fitting way to celebrate the ten-year anniversary since we bought the Wind Walker.
Don't forget to enter my CONTEST, by the way...
So we had two glorious days at Albert Head (have I mentioned how much I love it there? It's only half an hour from our harbour, and here's the view of the city from there...)
I said I'd get much knitting done, and I did .... I started my second 'Interlude' Wrap (that's a .pdf of the free pattern, if you click on it)and I'm about a third done already. I donated a blue one I knit to Afghans for Afghans, so I'm keeping this one for myself.
Here's a close-up of the pattern ... I love it, and it's a relatively easy knit. I'm doing this one double-stranded -- one strand of merino laceweight, and one of a merino-nylon fingering weight blend.It'll be perfect for September evenings!
I also started a test knit for a Whistler designer who hand-dyes all her own wool, and it's beautiful. This scarf is called 'Shifting Hues'...
Here are some of the sights from the anchorage:
And I took these from our dinghy:
Oh, and we had company for one night, too ... Mischa and River went off camping for the long weekend but Jeff had to work Monday, so he brought Gibson out to us Sunday night for a 'sleepover.' Jeff drove, and we dinghied, to the beach at the Albert Head Lagoon parking lot...
It was lots of fun to have Gibson aboard overnight!
Jeff drove back out to get Gibson when he got off work yesterday, and it's a good thing we didn't have a two-year-old to contend with, because ...
... at about 7:30 pm, the wind came up to about 30 knots, and for some reason, our anchor slipped and we found ourselves only about 30' from the rocks. (The first night at anchor there were some 'rollers' curling around the point, so Michael put out a stern anchor as well, to hold the bow into the waves. We've safely anchored at Albert Head many times in more serious winds than that, so we're not sure if that stern anchor somehow fouled the bow anchor, but we also ended up with rope wrapped around the prop, and had to cut the stern anchor free). It was about 7 pm., so we simply pulled up the bow anchor to move back to our original spot to re-anchor.
Twenty minutes or so later we realized that we had dragged again, and we were now only 15' from the beach shore -- it would have been a softer landing than the rocks, but still not our idea of fun! So we up-anchored again, and decided (foolishly, in hindsight) to head back into the harbour and come home.
Well. We were hitting 8 to 10' rollers coming out of the Head and then severely 'confused seas' with about a 4' chop and whitecaps the whole way home -- a 45-minute passage of serious anxiety! Luckily there didn't seem to be any damage to the prop, and the port engine worked great the whole way. But - I had dishes on the floor, books fallen out of the bookcase, and salt spray over my front window by the time we got in. Not a pleasant ride at all, but at the time we thought it was a better idea than not getting any sleep at all because of not trusting our anchor!
I was smart enough to insist that we not try to come under the bridge and get in to our marina with that wind blowing, though, so we spent the night on the main docks at the Empress Hotel, which I always enjoy - especially when I'm relieved to be tied to a dock! This morning at 7 a.m. we woke up to the sounds of LIVE MUSIC coming from the legislature lawn a few hundred yards away -- Canada Day celebrations were underway, of course! A little too loud for our liking, especially at that hour, so we were back on our own little quiet dock by 9 am.
I still have pictures of the Tall Ships Festival AND the FibreFest to share -- more tomorrow. :-)
Saturday, June 28, 2008
GOING OUT TO PLAY ... AGAIN
There's not a cloud in the sky, it's a long weekend, I survived the FibreFest, we have fuel in the boat tanks -- Albert Head, here we come!
Much knitting will take place -- back Tuesday! :-)
Much knitting will take place -- back Tuesday! :-)
Friday, June 27, 2008
MY BLOGOVERSARY
First of all, there's something wrong with that word -- as a writer, it doesn't sit right with me. It should be blogiversary, shouldn't it?
But whatever the word is, the definition of it is 'the anniversary of when you began blogging,' and my first blog entry was on July 5th, 2003. We were living in Nanaimo then, and I think all my blog entries were about two sentences long.
You may have noticed that it’s my five-year blogoversary in a week (check the sidebar…), but what you wouldn’t have known (unless you’re my sister) is that it’s also, at the end of this month (Monday, June 30th to be exact) ten years since we bought the Wind Walker and moved aboard. On June 30th, 1998, she slipped off the 'ways' (where she'd been surveyed for our purchase) into the water, and the previous owner put the keys in our hands. What a happy day that was!
So I have a few reasons to celebrate, and I thought it would be fun to have my very first contest!
So here’s the deal – the contest will run for 2 weeks, ending at midnight PST Thursday, July 10th, 2008. And here’s all the ways your name can be entered to win:
1. If you are blogless, and you leave a comment on my blog wishing me a happy anniversary (and either include your email or email me, so I'll have a way to contact you!)
2. If you tell people about it on *your* blog, and link to mine (and then let me know you've done that).
3. If someone you’ve told leaves a comment on my blog saying that you sent them.
4. If you answer these ten questions correctly, and email the answers to skipper at mvwindwalker dot com, you earn TWO entries (to do this you’ll have to read back through the archives on my blog, including back to the original blog).
Here's the questions:
- What was projected to happen at Blackberry Point when we did a kayak ‘mother-ship’ trip there?
- When were we sponsors of Nanaimo’s famous ‘Bathtub Race?’ and what did we have the privilege of doing for it?
- When did I pose the question … “if a web log is called a 'blog,' why isn't a Ship's Log called a 'slog?”
- Three years ago was the first time the Tall Ships came to Victoria …. which one did I watch arriving off Dallas Road?
- What did the Wind Walker win second prize for?
- When did I announce the start of my ‘most ambitious project ever’ – the ‘beach blanket’?
- When did we acquire a canoe – and what was my first lace project on the needles at the time? (I know, that’s really two questions…. I’m cheating on my own contest!)
- What item have I knit for two of my grandsons?
- Where do I want my ashes scattered when I die?
- What’s the name of the two sailboat races I’ve watched at Clover Point this spring?
On Friday, July 11th at 1:30 pm PST I’ll draw a name from the names I’ve entered (at my regular Friday Knit'n'Cafe, so I have witnesses)! If you win and you are a knitter, you’ll get a lovely knitterly gift basket in the mail; if you win and you are not a knitter, you’ll get a lovely snackerly/goodies gift basket in the mail.
And that’s that … enjoy!
But whatever the word is, the definition of it is 'the anniversary of when you began blogging,' and my first blog entry was on July 5th, 2003. We were living in Nanaimo then, and I think all my blog entries were about two sentences long.
You may have noticed that it’s my five-year blogoversary in a week (check the sidebar…), but what you wouldn’t have known (unless you’re my sister) is that it’s also, at the end of this month (Monday, June 30th to be exact) ten years since we bought the Wind Walker and moved aboard. On June 30th, 1998, she slipped off the 'ways' (where she'd been surveyed for our purchase) into the water, and the previous owner put the keys in our hands. What a happy day that was!
So I have a few reasons to celebrate, and I thought it would be fun to have my very first contest!
So here’s the deal – the contest will run for 2 weeks, ending at midnight PST Thursday, July 10th, 2008. And here’s all the ways your name can be entered to win:
1. If you are blogless, and you leave a comment on my blog wishing me a happy anniversary (and either include your email or email me, so I'll have a way to contact you!)
2. If you tell people about it on *your* blog, and link to mine (and then let me know you've done that).
3. If someone you’ve told leaves a comment on my blog saying that you sent them.
4. If you answer these ten questions correctly, and email the answers to skipper at mvwindwalker dot com, you earn TWO entries (to do this you’ll have to read back through the archives on my blog, including back to the original blog).
Here's the questions:
- What was projected to happen at Blackberry Point when we did a kayak ‘mother-ship’ trip there?
- When were we sponsors of Nanaimo’s famous ‘Bathtub Race?’ and what did we have the privilege of doing for it?
- When did I pose the question … “if a web log is called a 'blog,' why isn't a Ship's Log called a 'slog?”
- Three years ago was the first time the Tall Ships came to Victoria …. which one did I watch arriving off Dallas Road?
- What did the Wind Walker win second prize for?
- When did I announce the start of my ‘most ambitious project ever’ – the ‘beach blanket’?
- When did we acquire a canoe – and what was my first lace project on the needles at the time? (I know, that’s really two questions…. I’m cheating on my own contest!)
- What item have I knit for two of my grandsons?
- Where do I want my ashes scattered when I die?
- What’s the name of the two sailboat races I’ve watched at Clover Point this spring?
On Friday, July 11th at 1:30 pm PST I’ll draw a name from the names I’ve entered (at my regular Friday Knit'n'Cafe, so I have witnesses)! If you win and you are a knitter, you’ll get a lovely knitterly gift basket in the mail; if you win and you are not a knitter, you’ll get a lovely snackerly/goodies gift basket in the mail.
And that’s that … enjoy!
Thursday, June 26, 2008
IT'S A WRAP
... and a shawl and a stole and a .... well, lots of knitted things!
The 2008 Victoria FibreFest is officially over, and what a great one it was -- the best ever, in many ways.
The Festival started with Friday night's dinner and fashion show at Med Grill. Last year we sold 30 tickets, this year 64! Here's some of the highlights ...
I intended to upload several more photos, but Blogger is being really slow this morning and making me crazy, so maybe later!
Saturday's events included classes and a yarn crawl, and then Sivia's presentation in the evening.... her take on it is here.
The main event, Sunday's market, was awesome! The sun came out, the wind died down, and the folks started streaming in the gates at about 9:45 a.m. and never stopped until 4:00 pm. I don't have any pics yet, but a few other folks have blogged about it, so look here for now. :-)
I'm still dragging myself around here, not yet back to my usual energetic self, but each day is a bit better. Today the Tall Ships Festival starts, so I'll be out and about for that a bit later!
The 2008 Victoria FibreFest is officially over, and what a great one it was -- the best ever, in many ways.
The Festival started with Friday night's dinner and fashion show at Med Grill. Last year we sold 30 tickets, this year 64! Here's some of the highlights ...
I intended to upload several more photos, but Blogger is being really slow this morning and making me crazy, so maybe later!
Saturday's events included classes and a yarn crawl, and then Sivia's presentation in the evening.... her take on it is here.
The main event, Sunday's market, was awesome! The sun came out, the wind died down, and the folks started streaming in the gates at about 9:45 a.m. and never stopped until 4:00 pm. I don't have any pics yet, but a few other folks have blogged about it, so look here for now. :-)
I'm still dragging myself around here, not yet back to my usual energetic self, but each day is a bit better. Today the Tall Ships Festival starts, so I'll be out and about for that a bit later!
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