AuntyNin's Place

The Peacock Feathers are coming along nicely, though the project is reaching the "limbo" point where each row takes forever to complete. Still, it's almost to the end of Chart 5, and will most likely be finished well before Labor Day. One thing I'll say is that I am not looking forward to pinning out all 150+ edge loops for blocking. No photos today, as I've been giving The Infernal DigiCam a "timeout" for fighting me.

While meandering around the web I happened upon the announcement of a knitters' cruise at Seasocks 2007. There's something frighteningly appealing about the combination of two of my favorite things: the ocean and knitting. Of course I've booked myself a cabin - some temptations are just too good to pass up. Next comes the question of how to get to Los Angeles and home from Vancouver. Of course there are options - the cruise line will arrange flights for me, or I could figure things out on my own (with or without the assistance of Patricia, the travel agent coordinating the cruise), or I could combine the cruise with one of my other addictions, train travel. That last option is the most appealing to me, as I purely love riding trains, and I've been wanting to find an opportunity to take Amtrak's "Empire Builder" eastbound through the Rockies. Then again, ViaRail Canada has its own eastbound service, from Vancouver to Toronto, that also might be possible, depending on budget. Hmmm. Fortunately, the cruise isn't until next April, so I have time to ponder and plot and scheme. (Insert evil laugh here.)

After reading some of the posts on the forums about this cruise, I wonder if Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines really has a clue as to what they're about to unleash on one of their ships. Somehow, I feel very sorry for both the ship's crew and the non-knitting passengers. It'll be a loooooong five days for them.

There's something magical about blocking lace - an unlikely looking pile of yarn becomes a shawl. Case in point: Ene's Scarf is now firmly pinned to the blocking board:

This is progress, since it's been almost a month since the knitting was completed. The first obstacle to blocking it was lack of pins - every pincushion I own decided to go into hiding as soon as I wanted to block this. Then the blocking pins were ordered, but only arrived the evening before I left for Newfoundland, so blocking was delayed yet again. I know, excuses, excuses... still, it's blocking now.

The Amazing Lace KAL progresses as well, with Peacock Feathers up to the middle of chart 4. One thing I must say is that this pattern has been exceptionally well produced. The instructions are clear, the charts are actually large enough to be easily readable, and thus far I've not found anything that appears to be an error. Well, no error in the pattern or charts, I mean. My capacity for misreading patterns should not in any way bring blame upon the designer. It's not her fault that I share one lonely brain cell with four other people, some of whom seem to have been monopolizing it lately.

Since there's not much other knitterly goodness to discuss today, I'll just supply a little eye candy - a scene from the Conception Bay region of Newfoundland:

There's a reason they call Newfoundland "The Rock."

The wandering knitter has indeed returned from a visit to family on the island of Newfoundland. It was something of a whirlwind visit, because my dear aunt is a very energetic lady, always on the go. Add to that the fact that I hadn't been back there in over 45 years, and you have the ingredients for a busy few days.

On the knitting front, this pair of socks got finished and given to my aunt:

Love the way that "Socks That Rock!" colorway creates spirals down the leg.

We spent a good bit of time driving around the Harbour Grace area, seeing the sights. One that impressed me was the airfield where many pioneers of aviation began their transatlantic flights - including Amelia Earhart.

Yep, that's it - just a grassy field, sloping upward to a huge rock outcropping. You get a new respect for those early aviators looking at this field; it's also somewhat surprising to me that people still fly small planes out of this airfield.

Next, here's a little bit of scenery - the view from my aunt's front door, literally across the road from the bay.

The trip went smoothly, with no difficulties (for me, at least) at the border, though some folks were asked to "step inside the office" for a bit. Crossing the US / Canada border on the train is a rather boring experience; the train pulls up on a siding and the relevant customs team boards it, moving methodically from one end to the other. Passengers are asked to stay in their seats until the process is done; this is more difficult than it sounds, as it can take anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours for the customs folks to get through the entire train. To pass the time, I (of course!) knitted yet another sock; perhaps it was the sight of the knitting that caused the customs agent to look surprised when I answered his "What are you bringing back with you?" by saying "A few souvenirs and a bottle of rum." It was the rum that made his eyebrow twitch. No, I don't enjoy twisting people's minds at all...

The Amazing Lace project didn't travel with me - it requires too much concentration to be worked on when there are distractions around. It's growing gradually, slowly, with much pausing and counting of stitches, especially on the "eyes" of the peacock feathers. Still, progress is progress. It'll get done . . . eventually.