Category: Travel

Newfoundland!

Yesterday was our 4th day in Newfoundland. We flew in Friday to St. John's, which was an all day project from the west coast. We spent Saturday and Sunday playing in St. John's, which is a surprisingly sophisticated city. It even had a yarn shop.

We wandered around downtown St. John's Saturday morning, had lunch, then spent the whole afternoon at the Geo Centre, a geologic museum. It's more exciting than it sounds. It really was a fabulous place.

This is my birthday trip for this year. My big day isn't for another couple of weeks, but I'm hitting one of those big milestones. Just as a hint, I'm getting the senior discount at museums at this point.

Sunday was lighthouse day. We went to the Ferryland lighthouse, south of St. John's, for a picnic and some spectacular views.

The next stop was the lighthouse at Cape Spear. This is the most eastern point in North America. There are two lighthouses, the old one that the lighthouse keeper and family lived in, and the newer one. The whole process is automated at this point, so no keeper has to live in the actual lighthouse.

Monday we drove to Trinity in Trinity Bay (there are two Trinitys in Newfoundland!). We're staying at a lovely Inn right on the water. This is the little town where Shipping News was filmed.
That dark red building in the foreground is the main Inn building. Yesterday we poked around town a bit, then headed north for some sightseeing.
The local craft and gift shop.
No, I didn't buy any. It was Briggs and Little and Paton's, both of which I can get easily. The Briggs & Little is a great basic sweater yarn, and I don't have room in my suitcase for a sweater's worth. I did buy this.
These are hand knit by locals. I managed to get here without a warm sweater. It's been moderate so far, though the wind yesterday was gale force at times. You'd have to be hardy to live around here. So I bought a sweater in case I get cold later on. I know, I could knit this, but not by the end of the week.
We had lunch by the sea in Bonavista.
After lunch we headed to Elliston and Maberly. These are the root cellar capitals of the world. Who knew?
And some spectacular ocean scenery.
On to the Bonavista Lighthouse.

This one was pretty luxurious inside. One family that lived here had 11 children. Usually the whole family lived here. If the lighthouse keeper didn't have an older son to help, he would hire an assistant. These were prestigious jobs, highly paid, and often passed down from generation to generation from father to son.

Another crappy view.

Inside the lighthouse.

Another senior discount.

 

John Cabot landed here in 1497.

Last but not least, another lousy water view.

We've had people asking us for weeks “Why Newfoundland??” I hope some of these photos show why.

Off to breakfast, and a boat tour of the area this morning.

 

Mexico!

Guayabitos, to be specific. We spent a week at exactly this same spot last year. We loved it so much that we booked for this year as soon as we got home. I won't do a long post with lots of photos, since the wifi is a bit slow, but here's my morning.

And that's pretty much been my week. Sunshine, ocean in the background, knitting, practicing flute, siestas, and a cold Pacifico or two. Happy hour daily with margaritas at sunset. Strolls into town for lunch and/or dinner.
We go home tomorrow, which will be OK, since you can't really stay here forever. And Zoe is patiently waiting for us! She became officially “abandoned” by her previous so-called family on Wednesday last week, and we left Friday for here, so she is being boarded with her vet family. We'll pick her up and bring her home on Monday!

Adios!

 

Toboggan Hat (And Ecuador!)

We're back from Ecuador as of late yesterday. This was a contender for one of the best vacations we've ever done. I've got the first load of laundry in the washer, but other than unpacking haven't gotten much productive done, such as download photos from the camera. So another major Ecuador post will have to wait. John is planning on doing posts on his blog One Eclectic Guy, so I might just leave it to him. I do have some fiber tourist photos though.

I found yarn shops in both Quito and Cuenca, but nothing was inspiring enough to take up suitcase space for the ride home. Most of it was fairly brightly colored yarn in big unlabeled skeins, so it was tough to even identify fiber composition. Here are a couple of photos. The one with all the yarn was in the back of a clothing shop.

The one souvenir I did buy was a woven shawl from a tiny little weaving shop we stopped at on a day trip out of Cuenca. It is a family run operation, they dye the yarn with natural dyes (those photos are on John's camera), then weave it and make shawls with hand tied fringe. Here are a couple photos.

The blue shawl I'm wearing in that photo is the one I bought.

That yarn was in a big basket in the shop. It wasn't for sale.

I am sort of discombulated today after a long travel day home. We left our hotel in Cuenca about 6:30 PM Thursday night, and got home from the airport aroung 2 PM yesterday. I have gotten some knitting done this morning on my Peace Fleece Toboggan hat though. I am making good progress on this. I took some photos of the technique for changing colors, but I'll save those for another post. Here's the hat.

I have lots more mini skeins in many colors to choose from for stripes!

 

Ecuador!

And we're off again! This is John's big birthday bucket list trip, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy it too! I figured I'd do a quick update since we leave for the cruise part tomorrow and who knows what the wifi situation will be at that point.

We left home Wednesday early AM. Our flight took us from Seatac to Atlanta, then on to Quito, Ecuador. Yesterday was our first full day here. We had a lovely 6 hour tour that included walking through part of the old city center. We saw some fabulous churches, including the San Francisco Church, which is right across the plaza from our hotel. Because all the good photos are on my good camera (and the little widget that transfers them to my ipad is conveniently at home), you get iphone and swiped web photos. You can't take photos inside anyway.

That really doesn't do it justice. You just need to make a trip here.

Here's the other major church we saw, the La Compania Jesuit church, which is also magnificent. This one has more gold leaf than anything I've ever seen.

Here's part of the lobby of our hotel.

And our hotel from the plaza. It's the taller building on the right, peeking through the umbrella.
We went up to one of the volcanoes outside the city for lunch, there is a little restaurant that looks down on the caldera. The volcano is Pululahua, and a couple hundred families actually live and farm down at the bottom of the caldera. You guessed it, the photos will have to wait until I get home.

After lunch we went to the Equator! Those of you on Facebook have seen these photos, but this was a total touristy hoot. There is a nice monument that has a cool museum inside, and a yellow line painted on the Equator line.

And that's us standing on the Equator. John's in the Northern Hemisphere, I'm in the Southern Hemisphere.

I'm off for a bit of a siesta before dinner. Quito is at about 9000 feet, and the altitude is kicking my butt just a bit. More updates later!

 

Project Roundup

I haven’t done one of these posts in awhile. There’s a reason I had all my projects out on the floor of my office, which I’ll get to later. First here’s what’s up in my knitting world.

IMG_6366

The sock in progress. Slow progress, but I do have one finished and the second one started.

IMG_6367

Douglas Fir Hap for Harriet Lorette shawl. I finished the increase section and now just knit straight on until I have a about a third of the yarn left then decrease again. I was struggling with this until I decided to change needles. I started this on Knitter’s Pride straight needles, and I have to say, I really wasn’t enjoying knitting with them. It didn’t help that the needle body is made out of some kind of black carbon fiber composite, and made it almost impossible to see what I was doing unless I was in bright light. I switched to my Chiaogoo circulars and am having much more fun with this.

IMG_6368

Hawk Affection. The Seahawks finally won this week, so I guess this won’t have to get burned in the back yard after all. That’s a good thing, this yarn is Hazel Knits Divine, and it really is divine. It would be a shame to burn it.

IMG_6370

Rogue! I’m having a blast with this one. The pattern is as much fun as the first time, and of course I love Peace Fleece. If you can’t figure out what’s going on in that photo, the sweater is knit in the round to the underarm shaping. You start with ribbing, then purl a turning row, then knit more stitches, then turn up the hem and stitch in place. Then you knit a few rounds and put the main body on a holder while you knit the pocket. The cables at the sides are more fun than a barrel of monkeys. And this time I get to knit this using Knit Companion, which is a whole lot easier. This pattern is well written, but it is a bit on the wordy side, with about eleventy billion pages. Knit Companion lets me just see the parts I really need.

IMG_6369

And a new project! This is a hat. A Toboggan hat, to be precise. The original pattern was written with 2 color wide stripes and a rolled brim. I hate rolled hems on anything, so I did ribbing. I then got the bright idea to buy a million little mini skeins of Peace Fleece in many colors and do mini stripes. It will be a stocking cap with a long tapered end and a braided tassel. And I’ll probably have enough leftover mini skein-lets to make more of these! Or, I know, a sweater! I have a whole sweater’s worth of that grey that I did the ribbing in, I could do a sweater with one row stripes of many colors!

When I get a minute I’ll show you the neat trick I learned to change colors exactly where you want it to change, while weaving in the ends at the same time. Remind me if I forget.

Last but not least, this one is in time out.

IMG_6372

This is the Ruby Slippers Cathedral Stole. It’s a fine pattern, with gorgeous yarn. I just had too many lace things on the needles. Once I finish the Hap shawl, this one is next in line.

So, back to the original question of why all my knitting projects were out of bags and on the floor of my office. The exciting news is that it’s time for our big fall vacation extravaganza. This one is John’s trip, he is having one of those big birthdays this week (sssshhhh, he turns 70 on Friday), so he got to pick the trip. We are going on a cruise, but not just any cruise. Wednesday we fly to Ecuador, spend a few days there, then fly to the Galapagos Islands where we hop on the Silversea Silver Galapagos for a week. We will spend a few days back in Ecuador then home.

I do have the knitting projects packed. I’m taking the first three projects in that line up. Because I’m delusional an eternal optimist, I have a spare ball of sock yarn packed as well. I also, uncharacteristically, have everything else packed as well except the last minute stuff. I get to work Monday and Tuesday, and we leave for the airport Tuesday right after work, so I need to be ready. I’m sure I’ll pack and repack a few times before then. Who knows what the internet situation will be once we get there, but if we are wired, you will hear from me along the way.

I’m off to find what else needs to go in my suitcase!

 

The End is Near

One repeat of the edging left to do, then graft the beginning to the end, and block. This might actually get finished.

We're on the Oregon Coast with my sisters and spouses this week. Here are a few photos, all phone photos. The car was packed so full that there wasn't room for the camera bag.

The Oregon Coast is a yarn shop rich environment.

And there has been a little studying going on. I'm hoping Sweetpea remembers it all.

 

Great Yarn!

The yarn fast is officially busted. I can talk ad nauseum about what made me decide to not buy any yarn for 1 year, 43 days, but I know you are here for the yarn.

 

When I fall, I don't fool around. That is enough yarn for 3 mid-sized shawls. The shop is A Great Yarn, which is a new shop in Chatham, it is a combined yarn shop and used book store. The owners couldn't be any nicer, and she carries some really unique yarns.

From left to right in the second photo:

Hikoo Rylie, color is Sandbar, which is a very soft pale sage. It is 50% alpaca, 25% mulberry silk, and 25% linen, about a worsted weight. There are 500 meters.

The second is Plymouth Linaza, color Red. This one is 50% alpaca, 25% linen, and 25% tencel, sport weight. 804 meters. I think it is the exact color of the lovely cardinal that has been serenading us out the window of our room at the Inn.

Last but not least is Zitron Glanz Punkt (who knows what that means?), color is Beach Glass. This is 60% silk, 40% modal (tencel), also about a sport weight. 600 meters total.

1904 meters added to the stash.

These little shawls-to-be will provide me with great knitting pleasure. I don't feel one bit guilty. The colors will forever remind me of this trip–the beach, the sandbars, and that very cheerful and brilliant red cardinal.

We've had a great adventure in Cape Cod. We got here Sunday in the late afternoon after dawdling around along the coast. Yesterday we dawdled around all day driving north up the Cape, dipping in and out of the Cape Cod National Seashore (a National Park). We mostly had the beaches to ourselves all day.

Today we stuck around the Chatham area. We went to the yarn shop, then spent a lovely hour or so at the Chatham Marconi Maritime Center, which is a small museum devoted to the whole Marconi wireless invention and the evolution of wireless from the early 1900s to after World War II. The first transatlantic wireless transmission from the US to Europe was from the towers that he built just north of Chatham. We saw the site yesterday, though the towers are long gone due to beach erosion. And Chatham was the location of one of the major wireless units that intercepted Enigma-coded transmissions from German submarines, then transmitted them to Washington DC where they were then decoded. It is a fascinating story, and we learned about the whole thing from the lovely enthusiastic woman that was running the museum today. We spent the afternoon in the sunshine checking out the waterfront, and have dinner reservations later this evening.

Tomorrow we head back to Boston for my medical conference which means three whole DAYS of knitting.

That's all I have to say. I'm going to go take a nap and dream about knitting.

 

Cape Cod Breakfast Conversation

We're on a little mini-vacation this week. I have a medical meeting later in the week in Boston, and we arrived a few days early to visit Cape Cod since we've never been here before.

Here was the conversation at the breakfast table this AM.

Me: “I'd like to stop at that yarn shop we passed* yesterday.”

John: “Aren't they closed today?”

Me: “What?”

John: “Aren't all yarn shops closed on Mondays?”

Nice try, dear. Nice try.

Here are a couple of photos. First is from Plymouth, the monument that honors the Pilgrims that came over on the Mayflower.

And next is the sock on the way to Cape Cod.

*Cape Cod appears to be a yarn-rich environment. We drove by at least three yarn shops yesterday. I'm getting a feeling that the yarn-shopping fast may be approaching its end.

 

It’s My Blogiversary–

And I forgot it!

Or I almost did, anyway. 11 years of Knitting Doctor!

It’s been a terrifically fun 11 years, and I’m not ready to give it up just yet. Even if I’m sometimes a pretty lame blogger and an even lamer knitter, I’m still here.

This will be short and very sweet, since I was in the middle of flute practice when I remembered it was an anniversary. We ended up having a great time on the cruise. Here are a couple of photos.

FullSizeRender-23

FullSizeRender-21

FullSizeRender-22

Yes, I took my flute and practiced. The guy in the Princess Theater wagged his finger at me and wouldn’t let me get up on stage. I did have a few people drift in and out, and one guy asked if I was part of the orchestra.

Here’s the link to John’s blog post about the trip, since I’m lazy that way.

I’m off to practice. Back to those scales.

Guayabitos

Good morning from Mexico!

We've been here all week. Guayabitos is a small town north of Puerto Vallarta, we are in a lovely bed and breakfast right on the beach. This is a very low key place compared to PV, not much to do besides hang out, stare at the ocean, and occasionally muster up enough enthusiasm to walk into town for lunch or dinner. I brought my flute so I've been able to practice, and of course the knitting.
And it's time for breakfast, so I'm off.
 
 

 

Souvenirs

I know you guys don’t care so much about the travel photos as you do about the potential for yarn shopping in my travels.

I am here to swear that I stayed on that Cold Sheep the whole time. On Monday, I’ll have gone EIGHT MONTHS without any yarn buying. That’s some kind of crazy record. I knit so freaking slowly that I haven’t made much of a dent in the stash in that time, so I probably should just continue on.

So what did I buy in France? Not much, as it turns out. We were attempting to travel light and didn’t have a lot of room for stuff. I didn’t look up one yarn shop while I was there.

I did buy pencils. Here they are.

FullSizeRender-1

IMG_1754-2

 

From the Louvre and the Arc de Triomphe, I especially like the ones with the sparkly things on the ends where the eraser should be.

I know you are all just thrilled.

Bon Voyage!

IMG_0420-2

Sweetpea has her passport ready and so do I! We leave in a couple of hours for our great adventure. We’re spending a little more than half of the two weeks on the Normandy and Brittany coasts, then several days in Paris before we come back home.

And as always, the house and vast yarn stash are well guarded by a crack team of house sitters, led by Lewey the Fearless Wonder Corgi, so don’t even think of showing up to sniff around the wool.

Depending on wireless access, I’ll post along the way!

Kauai!

We’ve been in Hawaii all week, but I just haven’t gotten around to posting about it. I have been taking photos, though. We’ve had a great time, it’s good to get out of the gloom that is the Pacific NW this time of year. We leave for home and reality tomorrow. For today, I’m going to enjoy every moment of this tropical paradise. Here are some photos.

image

A nice sunset, one of several.

image

That’s a monkey pod tree. I think the canopy against the sky looks like lace.

image

John just having fun, drinking something that looks radioactive.

image

Jurassic Park! Actually it’s the Allerton Botanical Gardens, but this is the tree in the movie where the little girl found the dinosaur eggs.

image

The Spouting Horn.

image

image

image

And of course some knitting! Aloha!