It was raining heavily and extremely foggy, so foggy that I couldn’t really see anything in the water – whether a big ship or not. I watched and listened as the noise was still happening at somewhat regular intervals and it was still getting louder. And then I saw it – a light, and then more lights in a straight, horizontal line, and then a group of lights at the end of the line of lights. Yes, there was a big ship coming into the harbour but the only thing visible were some very faint lights – very eerie!

It did rain today. But by noon, most of the rain was over. There were occasional showers and a bit of misting afterward. But we were able to walk around for another day.

We went to the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic today and wandered around the waterfront. I got to have a cup of tea and visit with long time knitting buddy and mentor, Lucy Neatby. I bought this little gem:

This will be my first double knit project (I don’t mean double knit as the yarn weight, I mean double knit as a knitting technique). I won’t tell you how absolutely touchable that yarn is (the light one is a silk/merino and the coloured one is cashmere/merino/nylon). It has been purring around me like an affection-starved cat all evening. Any guesses as to how long it takes before this stuff is on the needles?

And, yes, that is a full moon. Just for us.

Today we did even more sightseeing. We started off the day at Peggy’s Cove which is just shy of an hour’s drive from here.

It is a lovely little area which boosts 42 permanent residents. Of course, it’s biggest claim to fame is the lighthouse.

Another claim to fame for this area is the crash of SwissAir Flight 111 on September 2, 1998 just 9 miles off the coast killing all 229 people aboard. There is a buoy marking the spot which isn’t visible to the naked eye but which Mike and I were able to see with his binoculars. A very sobering monument.

Later in the day, once we had returned to Halifax, we went on a tour of the downtown core and the harbour front. We got to see a number of cool sights including this ship just leaving:

We also got to see this Italian ship which had just arrived in Halifax harbour this morning.

Check out the front of that ship. It has a helicopter on it!

It was a really big ship!

Tomorrow’s forecast is for rain. So, I’m not sure what we will do for our last full day in Halifax. Perhaps some shopping, perhaps sit in a bar with knitting and/or reading material, perhaps brave the rain to wander around some more. I will say, that our legs and feet are very tired. We have covered a lot of ground in the past three days and hardly used a vehicle for any of it. Perhaps a workout regime is in order before our next trip.

But I have to admit, he’s good for me. He pushes my limit on some things, reigns me in on others and, in general, knows me far better than any other person on this earth and is my very best friend – without exception. So, I guess that means we are very good for each other.

So, our tour of Halifax continues. Today we saw Pier 21 – the port of entry for many immigrants coming to Canada between 1928 and 1971. I don’t know if my ancestors came through Pier 21. My great grandparents came from Ireland in the 1920’s. But, whatever port they came through, someone was brave enough to seek a new life in an unknown land.

This is the door that over 1 million new Canadians came through:

I have to say that this was an intensely emotional experience for me. I’m not sure why. Perhaps because I’m not sure I would have the courage to make that sort of journey? But it certainly struck a very strong chord within my being. One of the quotes on the boards was “A Canadian is just an immigrant with seniority” – how true!

While we were at Pier 21 we got to see a tanker coming through to Halifax harbour.

It doesn’t seem very big. But those little tiny boxes on the left side are the back end of 18-wheeler trucks!! Can you believe it! That thing was MASSIVE!

We went to a Mac Store to see if we could find something cool for Mike. No luck. But it was fun to check it out. We then checked out another park and then onto visit this gentleman:

That would be Mr. Alexander Keith of…

… yes, the Alexander Keith’s Brewery. They make a lovely beer which we have all the time at our house. However, I will readily admit that an Alexander Keith’s in Halifax tastes much better than an Alexander Keith’s in Ontario. So, we sampled right here at the brewery!

After all that, we visited another knitting store (and I did do some damage there) and then Staples so Mike could buy a mini-video recorder (perhaps he will blog about this). Then off to dinner to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary.

And if we weren’t having enough fun, Mike bought me a lovely set of pewter earrings, pendant and pin that I had admired the first day we were here. Yes, I wore them to dinner tonight and will be wearing them again and again and … You get the picture.

Okay, must go. Time to put my feet up – they are very tired. And I haven’t been doing very much knitting lately. So I should do a bit tonight I think.

We arrived yesterday in time for dinner. This was the view out the window at dinner.

And this was the dinner view indoors.

That’s a glass of Alexander Keith’s finest sitting with my knitting. If you are in Halifax, you have to have a glass of Alexander Keith’s beer (ale, red or white, you pick).

Today we did a lot of of sightseeing. We toured the Public Gardens.

We did a tour of the Museum of Nature (I didn’t take any pictures). And then we hiked up to the Citadel and did the tour there.

Mike even found a knitting store on the way and we had a brief tour in there too.

So, we had a great first day. But we are seriously tired and ready for a good night’s sleep.

Oh, and by the way, there’s a Starbuck’s Coffee shop in the lobby of the hotel. Mike is very happy. Me too.

The first project I found was this one – a pair of socks that I have been working on rather sporadically since the spring.

As they were fairly close to completion, I abandoned my original task and sat down to knit on them. It turns out this was a huge mistake. No sooner had I started knitting when one of those lovely double-pointed needles leapt out of my hand, did a perfect arc through the air and landed, point down, about here:

That is the floor of the deck. So, yes my needle was now under the deck. The second part of the trick was that it was safely hidden under the deck between two supporting beams – like so:

See those 2 vertical boards at the bottom of the deck? My needle had landed right between them.

I wasn’t really sure how to fix this one. Mike (DH) came to the rescue. Armed with his Leatherman, a coat hanger (bent into various shapes) and with me holding the flashlight he managed to work the needle to the edge of the deck where it could be retrieved. Extra brownie points to him for sure!

Tools for the Rescue

The Rescued One

I have now completed the inventory of the knitting bag. It contains 4 socks at various levels of completion. You’ve already seen one. Here are the other 3 (one of them is the Rockin’ Sock Club sock from March 2009):

There are also 4 sweaters. The Traveling Sweater you have seen recently;

I have also been working on Flowers Of Life.

Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Green Sweater is stalled a bit.

And finally, the Irish Moss sweater from the book Aran Knitting is suppose to be for Mike. I started it on his 50th birthday in January. Given his heroic efforts of today, perhaps I should invest more time in it!

So, now I think I will go, sit on my deck, and try to work my way through some of these projects without further mishap. Stay tuned for a status report.

Last weekend we got the family together and had a big celebration. Can you guess the cause for celebration? It was my mom and dad’s 50th wedding anniversary (which was really the week before, but they were planning on being out of town for the big day).

I look at pictures of other people celebrating 50 years together. And then I look at my parents (notice the halo over dad).

And it doesn’t really look like they’re old enough to be celebrating 50 years of marriage (halo appears to be missing).

But really, they’ve been married for 50 years (mom knows his tricks).

In the doggy news, Rosco went to the groomers on Sunday and go a new do. Check it out.

And in the knitting news, the Travelling Sweater continues and is still a very comforting knit. I am now almost halfway through the body.

But I haven’t worked with colour since I finished Hibiscus and I just couldn’t stop myself. So this ended up on the needles.

This is Schoolhouse Press’s new pattern Flowers Of Life by Ron Schweitzer. I’m lovin’ it!

p.s. I have kits of Flowers Of Life made up for Sheeps Ahoy. I just haven’t put them on the website yet. I’ll be busy tomorrow.

The Knitting Camp I go to is called Retreat 2.75. There once was just Camp 1, Camp 2 and Retreat 3. But it was clear there was a need to add one more retreat. And so Retreat 2.75 was born. Many of us are what I like to refer to as ‘repeat offenders’ – knitters who come back year after year. I would be one of those. And because there are so many of us who return, it has also become a gathering of old friends; people I only get to see once a year, but with whom I share a very special bond. Now that doesn’t mean that newcomers are unwelcome. In fact we had a number of newcomers this year and they all commented on how open and welcoming this group is.

There was lots to learn, lots to see and share and lots to talk about. So, a few hightlights:

This is Janine. Some of you will know her as feralknitter. This is her own design called Starry Night. I always feel energized by reading Janine’s blog and seeing what she is working on.

We got a sneak peek on what is up-and-coming at Schoolhouse Press. Marilyn van Keppel knit this sweater in multiple sizes for an upcoming Schoolhouse Press Pattern. In the following picture, holding the sweaters, from left to right are Marilyn van Keppel, Janine/feralknitter and Meg Swansen.

It is a design from a children’s book whose name I did not write down and so have forgotten. The author gave permission to have his drawing translated into a real hand knit sweater. Here is a better picture of the sweater. Clearly my photography skills are in need of a lot of work.

Schoolhouse Press will be publishing a new book on garter stitch designs of Elizabeth Zimmermann. Publication date is not yet known but they are working hard on it. Cheryl Oberle made a coat in her own yarn for the book. Here she is modelling it for us.

Even if you think you have all the Elizabeth designs done in garter stitch, check this book out when it is released. You won’t find the Baby Surprise Jacket in this book. All the patterns are ones that are either not well known or have never been published before. We got to see a number of other designs that will be in this book. Trust me, it will be worth buying.

And I finally got a picture of both Meg and I – the Jedi Master and the Padawan.

I took along some knitting just for me – not for Sheeps Ahoy or to give away. This is Blue Moon Fiber Arts’ Traveling Sweater (although in Canada we call it the Travelling Sweater – one of those things like colour and color, get it?). This is what it looked like when I left the house.

I’m using their yarn Woobu in colourway Haida. I cast on in the Ottawa Airport before my first flight left for Camp and today it looks like this.

Now I have to say, I would have thought I would be much further along after 5 days at Knitting Camp. But then, if I told you what I actually took to work on you would think I was planning on being away for several months!

While I was away, the household did manage to function without me. My son Dennis had an accident with his cell phone and a swimming pool. Dennis and the swimming pool are fine; the cell phone is not. I will confess that our home phone is much busier as he has lost the ability to communicate with his friends via texting.

The day after I left town, my van stopped working leaving my husband stranded. I got it back yesterday after paying more money than my whole vacation to Knitting Camp! Today it is giving me more grief and will be going back into the shop tomorrow. This could cut into my yarn budget.

But despite those obstacles, the laundry was done, the house was clean and there were groceries in the fridge (and not just the ones that were there before I left home).

And now I shall go and pet some more wool. Stay tuned for more progress on the Travelling Sweater and to see what is going on the needles next.

Yes that is Hibiscus by Anne Featonby. And it’s DONE!

And now that it has had a bath, the colours look even more wonderful than they did while this lovely things was on the needles.

And, yes, this will be going with me to Meg Swansen’s Knitting Camp on Thursday. Think I better start in on the laundry, and figuring out what knitting to bring, and perhaps some clothes too.

This year, I remembered the poem that Shane Koyczan wrote and presented as part of the Opening Ceremonies at the Olympics earlier this year. Here’s a link if you want to hear him again.

So, I am spending Canada Day in much the same way I spent the summer’s first long weekend – like this:

This time, however, Hibiscus is a little further along. I can smell a sweater here, can’t you?

In other news, our son Dennis graduated from high school. It was a huge event here and we had a great family gathering to celebrate. Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures of the family gathering. But I did get some pictures at the graduation ceremony. Here is my little family: Mike, Dennis and me.

We are extremely proud of Dennis and all he has accomplished. He is turning into a fine young man (as I knew he would).

And now, I think I better get back to my knitting. I am heading off to Meg Swansen’s Knitting Camp next week and am hoping to have Hibiscus finished (which I think is well within the realm of possibility). I would also like to have Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Green Sweater finished. Mine looks like this:

Okay, yes, I know it’s blue. But the bigger issue is that it is only 4 inches long and will require a huge effort if it is going to be complete before I get on a plane Thursday morning. I don’t know if that’s really going to happen. Stay tuned.

So, what has been happening? Well first of all our son Dennis had his High School Prom.

Dennis and I

So another thing that happened was that my old laptop finally caused enough grief to cause us to go out and buy a new one. It has been in a rather rapid state of decline for the past 2 months. When opening a mailer causes the thing to crash (every time!) it is time to start contemplating other options. So, here is the ‘other’ option:

That is my new MacBook Pro.

I’m blogging on the deck today folks! Even the robins are impressed.

This is a very big deal for me. It is the first time I’ve driven a Mac. I’ve been a very staunch PC-girl up to this point. But I have to say, so far, the experience has been a positive one. I still don’t have everything from my old PC laptop on this new Mac-Baby. But, with lots of help from my favourite IT guy (the one I’m sleeping with), we are getting there.

And in among all those momentous events, this arrived in the mail (just to keep me soothed and sane):

That is Blue Moon Fiber Arts’ new sweater The Traveling Sweater and enough of their Woobu wool/bamboo yarn to knit it. The colourway is Haida.

My current plan is to make this my knitting project for this year’s trip to Knitting Camp. Of course I will need to make a swatch before then so I am sure to have the right needles when I travel. But I will stop just as soon as I’m done the swatch. You believe me, don’t you?

And, so there we have it – my first blog post using my new MacBook Pro. It took a bit of time, but I have to say, it worked very well.