Pemberton is Beautiful

Whistler is a nice place to hang out, but Pemberton is BETTER. I love it here.

Our first night after settling in gave us just enough time for a late dinner to sample the 100 mile diet west coast flair from Wild Wood Restaurant and Bar.


BTW the United Nations has declared 2008 the International Year of the Potato, my organic lamb dinner had the best mashed (with skin on) potatoes I have ever eaten and John's halibut had mashed yams stuffed into baby potatoes...Carb love!!!!

And a fab first night in our lodge of choice...Pemberton Valley Lodge....

A hot tub evening, some great wine and enough sleep to deal with the drive from Pemberton to Whistler for the market in the morning....It was going to be a nice change to drive south instead of north to get to a market!

Whistler was (for the 3rd weekend in a row) perfect weather--crap, I will certainly be stricken with monsoon like weather for next weekend for sure now. Dinner with Rebecca and Jean Pierre was the perfect end to the weekend.

Now the big question for tomorrow...

Zip trek
Hiking a Glacier
Horseback riding
Kayaking

Or sleeping late in this gorgeous suite, lighting the fire, enjoying some organic locally roasted beans and knitting on the balcony looking at the mountains while John swims in the pool???? hmmm. Apparently to be sorted out over breakfast....

Did I tell you that I LOVE Pemberton?

Stanley Park

The day started early with knitting exchanges over coffee at Granville Island---spun wool, felted pears, stories of projects yet to be finished. Your typical day for three chatty knitters before an outing.

There was a small bit of crafting today, but the day primarily ended up admiring the craftiness of mother nature herself. Gratuitous photos to follow.

Hiking Stanley Park and the Sea Wall on a day like this is a MUST do in Vancouver. When we parted ways today it was for all of us to enjoy our own exciting adventures, Toni in Saskatchewan, Pearl in Alberta, Judy is in England and John and I are off to Pemberton for 4 days. It looks like we will be hiking a glacier.....

But the sexy nights will be given over to knitting and the Europe Cup finals.

A Typical No Focus Morning.

Committing to finishing a bunch of children's hats I start the day with spinning --of course-- What do you get when you have upholstery trim, single ply yarn, kid mohair scraps and over spun purple bits?

My brother used to work at this amazing design and home decor store in Vancouver years ago and he would always save these weird bits for me...At the time I don't remember being particularly grateful giving it the usual "thanks for more weird stuff". Little did I know how avant garde and insightful he was. Thanks Richard for the great wiggly bits that made this yarn a funtastic art spin...

We will call you.....Crazy Chesterfield.

This yarn is a blend of baby alpaca and kid mohair with silk on one ply and hand spun and dyed merino on the other. Blended with upholstery trim and overspun purple and red coils this was a fun spin.

Yarn Stats
90 yards
140 grams
$45.00

And the final package ready for a good home...


This is the perfect example of how my days don't turn out as planned. Do they sell people blinders? If so, I need a pair. How ridiculous to have a list of things that must be done (laundry for example) and then to dive into something like this...Wait....I will punish myself BY DOING LAUNDRY.....That is my "sit in the corner" stint for the day. But that will have to wait a bit

......I'm working on this lime green and black hat --and that would certainly take priority, right??
Right.....no answer from the craft goddess, oh, er, I'm sure she would support me here.

A Little Elbow Grease

Out of panic, I oiled the new fishing line and the bobbin on the wheel to see if I could stop that horrible noise that interfered with my calm, zen like spinning time. It worked! Shocking to me as my Magiver like attempts do not usually work.

Another fine spin on the day...

Yarn Details

69 yards
115 grams
$40

The first ply was handspun merino and corriedale blend in rusts with bits of purple.
The second ply was a commercial yarn from my stash from Italy. (kid mohair, metallic thread and rayon) in red, rust, purple and I think I saw a fleck of blue in there.

And just for the photographic record. This is what 13 hats knit at the same time looks like sitting on a couch.



Yikes....off to a paying job today...

Forever in Blue Jeans

My weight loss last year left me with several pairs of great jeans that were loved and worn that I just couldn't part with. Since I'm not a quilter, I figured they would just end up at the Sally Ann.
But now....

Tah dah...repurposed for knitting!!

This is done in two plies. The first one is a merino and corriedale blend. The 2nd ply is the denim with a navy handspun silk and recycled bamboo, silk and wool in navy and pale blue.

78 Yards of knitting goodness
100 g
$45.00

Just after I finished this, I melted the fishing line on the bobbin. Damn, forced to stop spinning today which gives me the whole afternoon to knit. Double Damn!

People Amongst the People

This installation was completed in Stanley Park about a month ago and I only got around to seeing it on Saturday with Mike. The Coast Salish do not "do"totems, so their work has not been included in the totem exhibit up to this point. The work of Susan Point is incredibly beautiful and how wonderful to finally have the Salish work represented here in their original land

---which by the way they were turfed from in the 1880's. Yes, ironic.

It's been almost 5 years since we've lived in British Columbia. This is finally the year when we've promised ourselves to explore as much as we can. I know I'd make a lousy tour guide so I will not give up my knitting day job.

Facing the North Shore and Lion's Gate Bridge

Embellishment Details

Stay tuned for our regular knitting programmes.....

Whistler Recap

I gave John a break this weekend--(it was the Europe cup and Turkey has made it to the semi finals) so Mike and I made the trek on our own. A vanload of craft items and the approach of this weekend being about journey rather than destination..... although --when the destination is the Westin Resort and Spa --I'm thinking it's about the destination.

In the room, I'm a sucker for a fireplace, and fireplace knitting. Apparently so is Mike.

Much of Saturday was self indulgent, walks in the village, photos, lattes and any trek near water.

The market is and will always be my favourite place to hang out. If you wonder why...perhaps this will answer your question.

I never took any pictures of the actual market last week, so here's just a few...


Here's JP's booth.
And a few of this week's set up. Thanks to Mike.


The weekend overall was lovely. Weather, sales, company, just all of it....I want to remember these days, once I'm in September, the rain is definitely a challenge.

Sometimes you have to slow down

My apologies for not posting for --wow, almost 4 days, very unlike me since I got this thing going.... My blasted eyes have slowed me down by refusing to work. I know, you knit with your hands, right?

In this case my eyes are just not cooperating and the double vision is making it almost impossible to work with the needles. People tease me all the time about never looking at my knitting. Well this is finally proof that I must, or my eyeballs wouldn't be running interference.

I'll let the professionals sort out the details, but in the meantime, back to my life as much as possible. A day without knitting is definitely a day without sunshine!

A Mountain of Knitting on the Mountain.

Toni is the only one I know who loves the mountains (and knitting) as much as I do. Since we both have annual memberships it was off to Grouse for a full day of knitting adventure. Lots of pics and little about knitting.

I was thrilled to see that we still had snow, and it meant knitting on the cushy couches in the lodge.

This is where we were knitting. Altitudes Bistro has an exciting view of Cleveland Dam as well as Coal Harbour and Stanley Park.

We planted ourselves in the far corner and enjoyed the view of the tram travelling up and down the mountain. This is the original tram line. The journey is 12 minutes up or down the mountain. The newer tram does the same journey in 8 minutes. Hey, that's 4 extra minutes of knitting, skiing, or skating.....PROGRESS.

Toni was working on a beautiful knit chevron scarf . Apparently she has about 5 of these on the go and switches to whatever colour she fancies at the moment. What a great way to pick what to knit. Me, same old thing -----and I was (as usual) trying to finish a mountain of work.

After several hours, it was clear that the waitress was hoping we would move on. Every once in a while we would see her circling like a shark. She was polite enough, but once the knitting starts piling up on the table, it's pretty obvious that I'm not going anywhere. She did have a point though, we had both eaten enormous cheeseburgers, so it was time to get off our butts.

First off to the bear habitat. Forgive my picture of a bear through an electrified fence. This is Grinder one of the two orphaned grizzlies in the habitat.

Apparently this guy is a huge fan of bears.



Toni was trying to talk me into the lumberjack show...You were joking, right Toni? Fortunately we ended up at the Birds in Motion show.



This is a 10 week old owl.

This is a 2 year old falcon ...what an amazing creature....Not as attractive while it is snacking on pulsing warm on mouse bits. I'm sure it would not have been thrilled about my charred burger choice either....Who am I to judge?

Knitting and Nature

Knitting isn't just about the experience of knitting. It ties you to other things. It's a sensory connection. It allows inclusion if you desire, or let's you be separate. It's hard to explain the feeling to a non knitter, but it gives you something wonderful. Why did I bring my shawl here to photograph. Not exactly sure, then again, who needs an explanation.

The next time Toni and I head to Grouse it will be to do the Grind and to test out the new Zip Trek opening at the end of the month. Maybe we'll take knitting. I would love to be photographed at 100km an hour in a harness heading down the mountain with needles in my hand. Now that would be a sight!