Life's a Stitch

And more recently life’s a creative adventure with some travel thrown in.

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  • 25 Years Later

    IMG_1824 Once upon a time, long ago and far away, I was dating this guy. After a few times out he told me “If you are going to get serious with me you have to move to a little place called Lion`s Bay, British Columbia." Why, you ask? No political motivation at all, as many assume, it was just because it was a pretty place.

    "Oh," thinking about it for a second or two, "OK," I agreed enthusiastically. I was optimistic about the relationship and this raised-outside-of-NY-City girl could deal with anything.

    As an aside, that picture is the Canadian flag reflected in the windows
    of the vehicle next to us on the soon-to-be-defunct free Albion Ferry
    (Maple Ridge to Fort Langley, BC). They've built a toll bridge to
    replace it. Go figure. I'm sad about it.

    We weighed our worldly goods knowing that it would cost fifty cents a
    pound to transport them the 1749 miles from Omaha. Heavy, small,
    sentimental items accompanied us in our car.We crossed the border as permanent residents 25 years ago on Friday. Nearly half a lifetime ago.

    Well, the anything, referred to above, included a bear trap on our road, long distance calls if the police were needed and church services provided by a travelling minister. We heated our house with wood and back then the nearest grocery store was a half hour away. We couldn't go food shopping without a carsick child. Those twisty roads have now been straightened somewhat in time for the upcoming Winter Olympics.

    You wouldn't think a move across the border to an English speaking country would be any big deal. I was homesick for months and once had an irrational meltdown trying to convert gallons
    to litres, Canadian dollars to American, and miles to kilometres. Silly me. It wasn't about the math.

    Back then there was huge anti-American sentiment and being an invisible minority was disconcerting. You wouldn't believe the ignorant comments about "those Americans" without the realization that one might be in their midst. I had practice though, from my childhood, when people would talk about those Puerto Ricans, not knowing it was half my heritage.

    Little by little things got better. I found a job and populated the country with two more little Canadian/Americans. The country warmed to Bill Clinton's America. In the beginning I didn't feel like I belonged here. Then there were some rocky times where I didn't feel like I belonged in the US. But now I've found a place for my dual nationality and Bob's your uncle, eh? Remember when I wrote about that?

    Now it's double my pleasure. I get teary when hearing either anthem, both flags inspire me. I like poutine as much as Nathan's Famous frankfurters, junk foods at their best. We share in the sadness of all North American soldiers lost, too many these days. I have three children who have the luxury of working in two countries without the barriers of immigration. And I'm still with that guy, although after four years, I made him move closer to the city – the one that's regularly voted the most livable in the world.

    The immigrants:
    The immigrants

  • The reluctant knitter – a dilemma

    For this project, at least. Do you get those, when you hit a sticking point where you just can't go on? Having completed Hanami's 31 row repeat seven times, I was anxious to move on to the simpler straight knitting with y/o's disbursed at a reasonable rate.

    It was easy enough but I didn't like it one bit, the y/o's leaving little ladders to form above each eyelet. I know I'm speaking knittish, so if you're here to catch up you might as well move on. This is heavy knitting content.

    IMG_0773 Paid a visit to Ravelry, that blog quasher, but very helpful in this type of dilemma. Most every Hanami pictured, especially those made with drapey silky yarns, had a severe laddering issue in the eyelet phase. Even the designer's photo illustrates the problem.

    Frogged back a ways, about three hours worth, and to tighten things up a bit, tried a twisted stitch directly above the eyelet. Meh. the fabric is so slippy that the background tends to slide into chronic occasional unevenness.

    Someone tell me what to do, it's exhausting and headache provoking. I go from picking it up thinking it's not so bad, and it really isn't, to maybe I should stick to the dreaded basket weave for the entire piece. Then I put it down and walk away.

    Then I come back with a solution – I'll step up the frequency of the eyelets so there isn't as much contrast against the stockinette. Then I think, maybe I should bite the bullet and buy that new camera so you can really see what I'm taking about. I know, I should follow my husband's advice from way back, when I was his student of stained glass, "The artist is her own worst critic."

    Did you know that one definition of dilemma is an equally unpleasant or undesirable choice?

  • Will sing for knitting bags

    This time vacation karaoke was fun. No Idol wannabes, just people having a good time making fools of ourselves. Picked to sing a duet with a Scotsman in a white tuxedo, I was rewarded with a bag, perfect for large projects:

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    In Juneau, I increased the numbers in my bag collection:

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    Not generally a lap sitter, I think my real "red dog" was happy to see me:

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  • The scent of a woman

    IMG_0761 Picked up my Hanami, and Chuck observes, "You're working on your 'Oh Crap' again." I guess that's all I say out loud when it's in my hands. Hanami, in silk and toothpicks, is not a knitting while talking, watching TV or drinking wine kind of project.

    I reach the end of the row and take in a big sigh, catching a whiff of the yarn. I remark it smells like silk and clean cruise ship cabin. Chuck takes in a breath of it and replies, "No, it smells like you and (Blogless) Marsha ."

    "I don't think Marsha and I wear the same scent."

    "Yes you do – yarn."

    Out of the mouths of men…

    For those fellow Oh Crap knitters, you probably observed the provisional cast on in blue. Taking some artistic license, I've elected to repeat Hanami's little ruffle on both ends. Beads, however small, seemed too heavy for the yarn.

    More vacation pictures, Blogless Marsha and I in Sitka and feeling Alaskan sunset giddy, all dressed up sporting Eau de Yarn:

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  • Who’d have thought?

    Alaska for a vacation in the sun? We live in Vancouver, home port for summer Alaskan cruises and have hosted many visitors in advance of their ship boarding. Everyone gives themselves the same pep talk – it's not a sun vacation, hopefully there will be enough lifting of the fog to view the glaciers and mountain tops.

    We've been twice, another advantage of living in a home port, those last minute and resident-only deals. Six years ago to within a day, cancellations as the result of the SARS scare gave us our first opportunity. Six cool, sunny and one cloudy day produced the perfect trip. So this time, with an even better deal, we gave ourselves the familiar talk. Even if it rains every day, it won't matter as we've already seen the sights, and the price was well worth the opportunity to sit back and relax.

    Who'd have thought? The weather was better than in Hawaii. Six days with 18 hours of sunshine. The onboard naturalist said it was the best weather week he had experienced in ten years of cruise ship lecturing. 

    Sitka:

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    Hubbard Glacier:

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    Ketchikan:

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    My new happy place:

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  • Vacation knitting – a portable project

    Seduced by the outcome (refer to last post) of knitting thread with toothpicks I thought I'd push the envelope with thinner yarn and narrower needles yet (see two posts ago). This is Hanami in progress:

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    Seven 31 row repeats from hell, followed by calm waters, perfect cruise knitting. Reminds me of the Mediterranean/Trans-Atlantic voyage of my not so distant past. Six days of 100 kilometers per hour of sustained oceanic winds (the captain gently referring to them as "breezes"), followed by five days of absolute calm, even at 1200 miles in the middle of the Atlantic. At its worst, it sounded like we were on a freight train, hitting an occasional wall. As the ship would shake in an unpredictable shudder, one travelling companion would reassure me with these words: "speed bump."

    I view my travel opportunities as I do my yarn purchases – better get in what I can now, because there's no way I'll be able to afford them in retirement. It's off to Alaska we go, with my knitting buddy, Blogless Marsha, a reunion of our Alaska cruise six years ago to within a day.  See you in a week.

  • Two years, two months

    That's how long it took me to finish my Print O'the Wave shawl:

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    The details:

    Pattern: Print O'the Wave by Eunny Jang, a free pattern. I added an extra repeat to the width, but it  blocked so well I wouldn't have needed to go through the extra effort. I omitted the center graft by completing one center panel. It looks just fine.

    Yarn: Handmaiden Sea Silk  (mostly silk, some tencel and a teensy weensy bit of seaweed). Beautiful drape, sheen and stitch definition, thankfully it smells neither of silk nor seaweed. My only complaint surrounds the colour. I ordered three skeins from Ram Wools on final sale. They sent me two skeins of one dyelot (wheaten in tone) and one in the ivory that I was expecting. I alternated one of each dyelot for the main body, and used the remaining wheaty one for the edge.

    Needles: I found it worked best with one Bryspun and one Boye aluminum needle, both US size 4. It was too sticky with two Bryspuns, and too slippy with two Boyes. And forget the Addi's or Knit Pick's Options – the stitches jumped off those shiny beasts.

    This was knit to wear for our 25th anniversary in 2007. It wasn't finished in time and I thought it would look strange to wear it with the needles hanging off. It does give me faith that I can rescue a couple of other projects from knitting limbo. Or would that be purgatory?

    Now, about the couple of non-knitters who commented on my lovely table cloth…

  • “Bikini Protection”

    When I was a little kid I used to wonder how the medicine knew where to go to cure various afflictions. Now I know it's more a matter of marketing than science. Headache formula pain reliever is the same compound as arthritis formula, either one would do for either pain. It all works the same.

    But how about shaving cream for women? The kind that used to be for your armpits and legs, it now recognizes another part of your body. The can states that it has "bikini protection." It contains "calming chamomile and soothing cucumber with silk to provide protection and moisturization especially in your bikini area." What a crock. I have an image of the focus group that concocted that one. Questions like, "When thinking of your bikini area, what calming and soothing words come to mind?" Silk. Chamomile. Cucumber? OK.

    One of those words comes to mind, not for my bikini area, but for soothing my fried brain. Silk, on sale:

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    Aaaahhhhhhh.

  • Applause applause!

    Get it? Another Clap pun. You won't have to put up with many more because this time the Clap is done:

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    The particulars:

    Pattern: Clapotis, abbreviated to make a scarf:

    • the setup section
    • two full repeats of section two, plus the required partial amount of the final increase row.
    • 17 repeats of section three – this sounds longer than the original shawl, but it's not, as you are losing length by not doing the full eight repeats of the increase and decrease sections.
    • two repeats plus the final ten rows of the decrease section #4
    • section five

    Yarn: Noro Silk Garden, colourway #279, 140 gms (almost three skeins). There was at least one knot per skein, but in the 13 skeins I used for my Lady Eleanor and this project, only a few occasions where the yarn disintegrated to fluffy nothingness.

    I have a knitting wish – to go to the Noro factory to watch their manufacturing process so I may better understand the product's limitations. Someone told be their quality control allows for up to four knots per skein. I don't so much have a problem with the knots, it's the abrupt colour changes at the joining points. Sometimes the skein even reverses colour order. Now that drives me crazy.

    It doesn't stop me from using the stuff, I'm a glutton for Silk Garden punishment having knit 42 skeins of it in one form or another. That's just over three miles of Silk Garden. I would have expected it to be more. It sounds better in Canadian – just over five kilometers. And there are another 19 skeins stashed in my future 🙂

  • Let’s have another cup of coffee, let’s have another clap-o-tee

    A cheesy introduction to – you guessed it – another version of Clapoitis, the mini version. This will be #4 made from my leftover Lady Eleanor silk Garden, colourway 279. I think this is a step in the right direction for Noro, having concentrated too heavily on the darks:

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    It could have been worse. Remember the song Getting to Know You, from the King and I? " Getting to know you, getting to know all about you… putting it my way but nicely, you are precisely, my clap-o-tis."

    Or how about Oliver's  Consider Yourself,  "Nobody tries to be la-di-da and uppity, there's a clap-o-tis for all." This is what you get when you cross a musical theater lover with knitting.

    Good thing I'm not a pre-school teacher, cause then it might be, "If you're happy and you know it clap your tee!"