To Frisco and Back in the Blink of an Eye

It was just a week ago that I was packing our suitcases for our trip to San Francisco but as I write the bags have already been emptied and the last of the holiday laundry has been washed and put away.  I’m not sure where the time went but I know we had fun.

We left the clouds behind as we sailed under the Lion’s Gate Bridge and out of Vancouver last Monday afternoon.

  

They say a red sky at night is a sailor’s delight and that proved to be the case.  The weather was perfect for the remainder of our trip.

After a lazy Tuesday at sea the cruise portion of our holiday came to an end when our ship passed beneath the Golden Gate Bridge and into San Francisco Bay on Wednesday morning.   

After checking into our hotel we spent the afternoon shopping.  Or rather, Alison and I shopped and the guys patiently tagged along.  A few weeks before we left for our trip I’d learned that ArtFibers was reopening in a new location, which just happened to be on the same street as our hotel.  It had to be a sign, I’m sure of it.

ArtFibers is not your ordinary yarn store.  It carries only its own line of yarns, which are wound onto cones and sold by the yard.  There are samples knit up in almost every colour of every yarn, along with suggested yardages for common projects such as sweaters and scarves.  If you like, you can indulge in a little “yarn tasting” and try out the yarns for yourself before you make your final choices.  There were so many beautiful yarns it was hard to decide but I finally narrowed it down to four.

  

Just after we arrived at the shop and began looking around I heard some familiar voices.  A quick peek at their faces confirmed my suspicions—it was Jenny and Nicole from Stash & Burn.  They were there checking out the new store and recording their next podcast.  I have been a longtime fan of their podcast and am a member of their Ravelry group so it was a pleasure to meet them in person.

The next day we went on a wine tour in the Napa Valley.  We visited four wineries in all and each had its own style and offered a different experience.  We tasted all sorts of different wines, had an amazing picnic lunch, saw grapes being crushed, and toured a vineyard.

  

That evening we had a delicious seafood dinner at Fishermans Wharf before heading back to the hotel to watch the Giants beat the Atlanta Braves in the first game of the playoffs.

We’d planned to go to Alcatraz on Friday but discovered that there were no more tours available until the following day so we did some other touristy things instead.

We rode the cable cars,

checked out the crookedest street in the world,

and spent some more time at Fishermans Wharf, where we did a bit of shopping and were thoroughly entertained by some California sea lions,

There was an airshow going on and we got a good look at The Blue Angels and a few other performers.

After another seafood dinner we returned to the hotel for our last evening.  Once again we tuned into the Giants game but this time they were beaten by the Braves in extra innings.

Saturday morning it was time to say goodbye to the sunshine and head back to rainy Vancouver.  As much as I enjoyed our holiday it was good to return home, despite the weather.  Tomorrow we celebrate Thanksgiving and I am looking forward to having the family together for turkey dinner.  With great kids, good health, and a grandchild on the way we have a lot to be thankful for.

And yarn, of course.  Every day I am thankful for yarn.

Practically Perfect in Every Way

You know how some days you feel good just to be alive?  This has been one of those days.

First, there’s the weather.  We’ve had a real mixed bag lately, alternating between sun and clouds and pouring down rain.  Today there is not a cloud in the sky, with just the hint of a soft breeze. 

I mean, there’s no other way to describe it other than soft.  I sat out on the swing this afternoon and was struck by how the light touch of the breeze felt neither cool nor warm, just soft.

Meanwhile, the air has been continually filled with the sound of birds chirping and chittering.  The feeders are a buzz of activity these days.  I’m used to seeing house finches, chickadees, house sparrows, and Stellar’s jays year round but I’ve recently spotted many of my favourites, including juncos, white-crowned sparrows, towhees, bush tits, and flickers, returning from their summer grounds.  The goldfinches are still hanging around but are wearing their winter colours and will soon be migrating south.

  

I also woke up this morning with a sense of satisfaction.  Last night I finished the first pair of what I am dubbing “the Alaska socks”.

The yarn for this pair was bought at Mission Street Arts & Fibers in Ketchikan.  It’s Bear Feet by Raven Frog Fiber Arts in the “Northern Lights” colourway knit into a basic stockinette sock.

Ketchikan was our last port and Raven Frog was the only yarn left on my souvenir list (I’d already purchased yarn from two other Alaskan dyers in Juneau and Skagway) but, truth be told, there wasn’t much of a selection so I chose what I thought was the best of the bunch.  I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about the bright, neon green and purple bits but when I began to knit I was pleasantly surprised with how they knit up in predictable spirals against the navy background.  And with its cashmere content the yarn is oh, so soft.  I am going to enjoy wearing these this winter.

I also finished another pair of socks yesterday afternoon.  Two in one day—not bad, huh?

  

These are “Archery Socks”, the second installment of Chrissy Gardiner’s CSK.  We’ve been gearing up for October’s sock, featuring yarn from The Unique Sheep’s Gradiance Collection and got our first glimpse of the pattern today.  Instead of simply knitting the shades from light to dark along the length of the sock, Chrissy has designed a sock that combines the shades from either end of the gradiance in a colourwork pattern.  As much as I’d love to jump right into this one I’ll have to wait until I receive my yarn order from The Unique Sheep, which probably won’t arrive for a couple of weeks. 

What did arrive on my doorstep and added to today’s perfection was my goodie bag from the CSK, which was awarded to the first 100 members to sign up.

     

Besides a canvas bag, we received all sorts of goodies, including a needle case, a couple of yarn samples, a sock-blocker keychain kit, a scarf pattern, a stitch marker, a ruler/needle-gauge, notepads, pens and a pencil, a button, and a box of yarn-themed gift cards.

As if life wasn’t good enough, it is about to get even better.  On Monday afternoon we are setting sail on a two-day cruise to San Francisco, where we will spend three nights before heading home on Saturday.  My sister and brother-in-law, Alison and Stan, are traveling with us and we are all looking forward to exploring the city, touring Alcatraz, and going on a Napa Valley wine tour while we are there.  San Francisco is one of those cities I’ve wanted to revisit so I am very excited to finally get the chance.  Cross your fingers that the good weather there holds.

BTW, Hallett’s Ledge is back on track.  I’ve finished the sweater body but I’ve had to put it on hold for the time being while I work on some gift knitting.  I’m hoping to get back on the ledge before too long.

Falling off the Ledge

You know how it is when you start a new project and you’re all enthused?  You knit and knit and ooh and ah over your progress and don’t want to put it down for anything.

That’s how I feel felt about Hallett’s Ledge.

I cast on yesterday afternoon and happily knit my way through the ribbing.  When it came time to begin the decreases I plotted them all out in my notebook and began to tick them off as I worked each set.  By the time I went to bed I had several inches to show for my effort.

This morning I eagerly picked the sweater back up again and continued to work the ribbing.  I determined how long I wanted the lower half to be and worked a few extra rows to make up for the smaller row gauge of my DK yarn before beginning the increases.  Just after dinner I finally finished the ten or so inches of ribbing and prepared to begin the upper part of the sweater.  In only two days I’d knit about 2/3 of what it had taken me well over a year to accomplish on Fylingdales.  I was feeling great.

Then I counted my stitches and came up eight short.

Huh? 

It didn’t take long to figure out where I’d gone wrong.  Instead of decreasing every 4 rows once and every 6 rows 4 times I had decreased every 4 rows once and every 6 rows 6 times.  I’d obviously had six on the brain.  Sigh…

Resignedly, I frogged the sweater back to where I should have worked the final decrease and put the stitches back on my needle, ready to continue the pattern as written.  That’s when I realized that by doing so I would have to add an extra couple of inches between the last decrease and the first increase, significantly altering the lines of the sweater.  Blame it on the smaller row gauge and my long waist. 

Well, I’d rather do it right than do it quickly so I reworked the frequency of the decreases (every 8 rows 5 times) and ripped back a few more inches.  It’s on the needles again, ready to go, and with any luck I’ll be back on the ledge in a day or two.

I love knitting.  Especially ribbing. 

No, really… 

A Fresh Start

In another week summer will officially be over and autumn will be upon us.  I love this time of year, when the temperatures cool down and Mother Nature treats us to one last blast of colour before the grey of winter settles in. 

Fall also signals the return of sweater weather and, for us knitters, sweater-knitting weather.  For the last week or so my fingers have been itching to cast on a sweater, particularly Hallett’s Ledge, which was featured in the latest edition of Twist Collective. 

I really wanted to use some yarn from my stash but the only thing I had that was comparable to the Rowan Felted Tweed Aran that the pattern called for was some Joe Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed.  While lovely, I didn’t feel that the cranberry colour really suited this design; I kept picturing it in a light neutral, similar to the original design.  In fact, I couldn’t stop envisioning it in the very yarn that was half knit up into my Fylingdales cardigan.

Begun way back in January 2009, this sweater has spent most of its life languishing in a partly-knit state.  Every so often I would pull it out and knit a few inches but would soon grow bored with its repetitive stitch pattern and shove it back into its bag.  I really like the basic design of this sweater but the fact that it has drop shoulders kept niggling away at the back of my mind and I wasn’t sure that I would even like the finished product, should I ever manage to actually complete it. 

The yarn is also Jo Sharp Silkroad but in a DK rather than an Aran weight.  But the yarn is not your usual DK—it knits up more like a worsted and I didn’t think it would be too difficult to rework the numbers.  In fact, a quick check of the pattern showed that one of the cast-on numbers corresponded almost exactly to my required number of stitches making it relatively simple to sub in my preferred yarn.  Easy peasy.

So with very little regret and a great deal of relief (no more UFO on my conscience) I frogged Fylingdales, reskeined the yarn, and gave it a good soak to restore it to its original condition.

 

Then I picked up an unused skein and cast on for Hallett’s Ledge.

Now that I’ve given this yarn new life I am determined to knit it up into the sweater it was meant to be.  It has spent way too many months at the bottom of a knitting bag and deserves to see the light of day.

There and Back Again

Well, so much for staying quietly at home!

My sister, Jeanine, phoned me Wednesday afternoon and the conversation went something like this:

Jeanine: Hi, what are you doing tomorrow?

Me:  Nothing special.  Why?

Jeanine: How’d you like to make a quick, overnight trip to the cabin to surprise Dad for his 80th birthday?

Me: That’s a great idea.  Count me in.

Now, there had been talk of doing something special to celebrate Dad’s milestone birthday but between the cruise earlier this summer and everyone’s work and holiday schedules we just hadn’t been able to put anything together.  Jeanine, herself, had expected to be away but thanks to some vehicle troubles her own family vacation had been postponed and she found herself at home instead. 

Another sister, Anna-Marie, was also free and up for the surprise so we quickly coordinated food and travel plans and arranged to leave first thing the next morning.  It was so fun to see Mom and Dad’s expressions when we pulled up in front of the cabin mid-afternoon, bearing supper fixings and birthday cake. 

Our visit was short but sweet--just over 24 hours later we were back home again—but we’ll all remember Dad’s impromptu birthday celebration for a long time.  There’s definitely something to be said for spontaneity.   

Good Mail Day

Look what arrived in my mailbox this morning! 

It’s Miriam Felton’s new book, Twist & Knit, a collection of twelve designs, mainly featuring shawls and scarves, but also including a cowl, fingerless gloves, and socks.  Miriam’s aim was to create a set of patterns that could work for a variety of yarns so each design has small pattern repeats, flexible gauge, or special construction methods so that you can get the most mileage out of your one-of-a-kind or hand-dyed skeins.  In addition to the lovely designs, beautiful photographs, clear instructions, and excellent charts, the book includes a substantial resource section with tutorials for the cast-ons, bind-offs, and other techniques used in the patterns.  At $20 US it is well worth the cover price but for only $2 more you can also purchase the digital files for all the patterns but one (which is under contract for digital distribution), making it an exceptional value.  If you’re only interested in knitting one or two items the patterns are also available for purchase on Ravelry individually or as part of three digital pattern collections (shawls, scarves, and accessories).  Personally, I think the hard copy/digital option is the best of both worlds.  You can flip through the book for inspiration (knitting books make excellent bedtime reading) then print a digital copy of your chosen pattern for easy portability. 

Brilliant.

There’s No Place Like Home

This morning I woke up in my own bed and it felt good.  I love to travel but I’ve been away a lot this past month and have missed the rhythm and routine of ordinary daily life.  There has been way too little time lately to just be.

Having said that, we spent a wonderful week on Vancouver Island.  The weather could not have been more perfect.  On Tuesday we took Cameron’s mom to Port Renfrew to see the tree the family planted a few years ago in memory of my late sister-in-law.  Afterwards we walked the Botanical Beach loop trail, where we admired the rugged coastal scenery and spied some sea creatures in the beach’s tidal pools.

Then it was off to Nanaimo for a few days by ourselves.  Our hotel was right by the waterfront and we took several walks along the pier.  The fishing boats brought in fresh seafood daily and we ate our fair share.

We weren’t the only ones craving seafood.  One morning we spied this seal near the dock, hanging out alongside some crabbers, hoping for a handout.

On Friday it was onto Courtenay, where we spent the weekend with Cameron’s brother, Trevor, and his wife, Linda.  On Saturday we took in the Filberg Festival at Comox and on Sunday we played a round of golf at Arrowsmith, near Qualicum Beach.  My lucky number must be seven because I sunk a birdie on the seventh hole; the same thing happened the only other time I played this course!

Our campsite was right by the water and on Saturday night we saw the Zuiderdam cruise past on its way to Alaska.  It’s hard to believe that it was just a month ago that we sailed past this very spot on the same ship, as we began our own Alaskan holiday.

Behind our site, high up in the trees, was a bald eagle nest, which was home to two juveniles and their parents.  It was very cool to hear the eaglets’ insistent chirps and to observe the adults’ comings and goings.  What a treat.

Of course, no knitter’s holiday is complete without souvenir yarn.  I had planned to visit one of my favourite LYS’s, the Beehive Wool Shop, in Victoria but it turned out to be closed the day we were there.  I’d already checked out the shop in Nanaimo when we were there in January but I’d done my homework and knew there was an as-yet-unexplored yarn shop in Courtenay.  We stopped by Uptown Yarns before meeting up with Trevor and Linda and I scored a couple of skeins of locally hand-dyed sock yarn.  Imagine my delight when I spied a booth featuring the same Sweatermaker yarn at the festival the next day.  Naturally, I had to add a skein of laceweight to my collection.

Now that I am home for a while I am itching to sink my teeth, or rather needles, into some serious knitting.  Besides working on my current SKA project, there are a couple of other sock KAL’s I want to cast on for.  And then there’s the half-done Brandywine shawl and the languishing Twigs and Leaves cardi and the umpteen prospective projects calling to me and, well, you get the picture…

If this blog goes quiet again, you’ll know why.  Just sayin’.