Skip to main content

Trip, Clapotis and Mom

It was quite a trip to Australia, New Zealand and Fiji.  There were 11 flights to get from Vancouver and back.  Having said that, there were only two days spent on a bus driving from place to place, a pleasant change from the Ireland/Scotland trip that had us doing 14 days on a bus.  Here are a few photo highlights of that holiday.

With a kangaroo statue in the Sydney Wildlife Zoo

Viewing point at the Stratosfare Restaurant in Queenstown, NZ overlooking  Lake Wakatipu

 A dusky sunset on the beach of the Sofitel Spa and Resort in Nadi, Fiji
As you can see by how I am dressed. the temperatures did vary a lot.  If you look closely under that white jacket I am wearing the Waiting for Rain shawl as a scarf.  Of course in Cairns and Sydney, Australia as well as Nadi, Fiji, no wool was needed.

I did manage to get through the trip with one carry-on suitcase.  As you can imagine that meant everything taken to wear had to be fully coordinated with layers to add or delete as the temperature required.  It was wonderful to travel so lightly, but it meant my yarn purchases had to be kept to an absolute minimum.  Stay tuned for details.

Taking the Clapotis project was a good decision.  With all the flights there was a fair amount of  time sitting around meaning there was plenty of time for knitting.  Here's a quick look at the progression during the trip and beyond.

On one of the many flights

On one white bedspread with 5 stripes

On another white bedspread with 8 stripes

Complete at home with Mara checking it out
This knit worked out better than I had hoped.  It fit into one small bag and was easy to start and stop.  The variegated yarn worked out better than I hoped for too, giving that dreamy, ethereal look.  (For yarn click here and scroll to the bottom of the post.)

I took the completed Clapotis to the farm to show Mom and before the trip there was finished Mom owned it.  She was so fond of it she wore it daily until the weather got too warm; how satisfying to create something she really wanted.  Here she is wearing that Clapotis at my niece's graduation in Madison, Wisconsin yesterday.

Mom found a new way to wear it!
Happy Mother's Day, Mom.  Enjoy that Clapotis!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Anatomy of a Sock

I've been knitting socks for a relatively short time.  One of the disconcerting things for me as I started following patterns for socks is the pattern designer assumes the knitter (in this case that would be me) knows all the parts of a sock.  So I thought I'd devote a post to improve my own knowledge about the anatomy of a sock and maybe some of you will learn something about the humble yet necessary sock as well. Here's the names of the parts of the foot as I know them. #49 ankle, #50 heel, #51, instep, #52 ball, #53 big toe, #54 toe, #55 little toe, #56 toenail. There are some parts more important for this discussion; first the heel of a foot is generally used to refer to the entire C-shape from the ankle to the instep.  Speaking of the instep, it refers to that curve near the bottom of the foot.  And what seems to be missing in the design above is the sole which generally refers to the bottom of the foot in total or plantar aspect in more technical terms...

Ode to the Cat

It has been six months since Mike, the cat's, passing.  I think of him every day and miss him especially when Paul is away.  Mike was a being in the house with me and we were close.  Grieving his death has been muddled with my Dad's passing and sometimes I feel guilty about that happening.  As time passes the ache becomes less hurtful for both and I am starting to get mostly good memories in its place. Recently I helped celebrate Pablo Neruda's birthday with Jami, my poet and overall very creative friend.  Guests were asked to select one poem written by Neruda to read to the small group who gathered for the celebration.  I picked this one: Ode To The Cat -- Pablo Neruda There was something wrong with the animals: their tails were too long, and they had unfortunate heads. Then they started coming together, little by little fitting together to make a landscape, developing birthmarks, grace, flight. But the cat, only the cat turned ou...

Knitting-Related Guinness World Records

I had to share some of the Guinness World Records connected with knitting.  It is amazing to me the type of skill, stamina and unique characteristics these record holders have in common. How about trying to knit with these SPNs?? Ingrid Wagner and her large needles and knitted swatch The largest knitting needles measured 3.5 m (11 ft 5.8 in) long and had a diameter of 8 cm (3.15 in). Ingrid Wagner, a rug and art creation artist, from the UK used the needles to knit a tension square of ten stitches by ten rows at the Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, on March, 10 2008.  (And I complained about getting certain SPNs stuck in my clothes.)  See how this swatch was done with merely 5 people managing the needles.  And what about the yarn?  It is truly ex-bulky.  It looks like they're knitting in a warehouse, but with a wingspan of almost 24 feet or 7 m, you'd need all that space.  Or h...