Back from Beyond

Hi folks,

I'm back from here:







It was actually a restful vacation where I did things like get a massage at Hollyhock (the local Hippie Yoga Palace), go to the farmer's market in search of salal jam and honey, eat oysters whenever I darn well pleased and nude it up in a place so uninhabited that no one would ever see me. When I was little, our family used to kayak and camp all the time. The ocean kayaks that transported us up rivers, across lakes, and through mud are now at Mom's cabin. I thought it would be fun to go kayaking but the stupid stabilizers (air bladders on the side of the boat) wouldn't hold air. I was sad.


p.s. I know I look completely melty-faced demented here.

But I kayaked anyway!



Jon married me because I am a silly goose, so I already know that as well. I was determined to take to the water in some manner other than swimming, although I (barely) did that too. I rowed the dinghy:



That's Oslo on the bow, balancing. Shortly after Jon took this photo Oslo decided to jump ship and take a swim. Once he went in, though, I think he realized just how cold it is in the middle of the Sound and he swam alongside the boat where I grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and hauled him back in. Silly dogs. They just don't listen to their mamas! We also visited friends (Scott and Delia) in Teakerne Arm. They help run the local oyster co-op and this is their float house. Where they live. All year round.


Their house is in the center background of the photo.

Of course, no vacation would be complete without knitting! I took an unfinished sock, an unstarted Phildar tank (#28 from Printemps 2005), an unstarted Phildar cardi (#30 from Printemps 2005) and the Sienna Cardi. And guess what?? All that I did was finish Sienna. Big surprise, eh? Yeah, it totally shocked me too!

Here she is a-blockin':



And here she is at home, all finished up!



I'm really pleased with how it turned out. I knit it in the madder-dyed Shilasdair yarn in size 39. When I tried it on pre-blocking it was waaaaaay small, so I blocked it much bigger and it obliged. Thankfully. This is what I got done of the sock before I discovered I'd broken a needle:



And the tank:



I'm trying to knit this in the 41" size at the base and then at the 38" size at the top. I am shaped like a pear. Unfortunately, this may make me fanangle a little and I'll probably end up procrastinating on figuring it out until I am 70 years old and a *completely* different shape. Le sigh.

And here's the progress on the Phildar cardi:



Amazing! It's an invisible cardigan and this is my leftover wool! I am way more talented than I originally thought. Where's the emperor? I have some sweaters to knit for him.

Lest you think I didn't do my fiberhound job and ferret out the scent of new wool (wow! how many animal hunting references can I cram into a phrase?) I did happen upon a little store called Mad About Ewe (sadly web presence-less) in Nanaimo, BC, that carried the most uniquely Canadian wool I know of.





Yep, you read those tags right. Fleece Artist. Yum yum yum yum yum yum yum!!! Just one skein of Lady Godiva and 2 skeins of 2-ply cashmere. I vowed to only by yarn I couldn't find at home easily and to spare my pocketbook (thanks for the sucky exchange rate Bush, you pansy...). I love this yarn, I really really do. Now I just have to find projects for it (that I will never finish anyway so what in the hell does it matter?). And of course, I also picked up some of Joy's wool:



That there is 12 skeins of Joy's homegrown Cortes Island Romney/Hampshire/Leicester/other breeds X lopi yarn. I measured out a skein using my niddy noddy and it comes to about 148 yards/skein. More than enough for two sweaters. I will dye it and let you know how it turns out.

Peace out!


Sunset our first night at the cabin