Feed Back and Gratitude

by carmen | Jul 4, 2008 | Uncategorized

Over the years I have gotten many letters, e-mails or photos of customers in my designs, but these photos and note truly made me smile.

‘We’re back at home with no occasion yet to wear our amazing toques ‘.

Thank you so much for putting them on for photos in the hottest weather in Whistler in July!

How often do you get thanks for a job well done? When was the last time you were appreciated in a business sort of way….seriously, I want to know. When was the last time you had a compliment from your work or creation that made you feel like you had just done something amazing.

I wish we could all feel like that every day! Yes, I know this doesn’t happen, even in the magical world of knitting for a living. I would gratefully like to thank this customer for making me feel like more than just a knitter, production worker and wool junkie —-

Have a yarntastic day!

Decisions, decisions

by carmen | Jul 1, 2008 | Uncategorized

Even though we had all the time and determination in the world, we knew that it would only be possible to fit in one or two of the things we were dying to try…We still have 15 more weekends in Whistler to cross things off our list, but seem to be treating each experience as if we might not wake up tomorrow. Gruesome or ingenious?

Only because we knew that the list was long and our brains were a bit sun baked, we chose to take the decision making outside and ended up at this excellent early morning breakfast place. Hellooo Pony Espresso…Any place that has caffeine in the title is going to be a winner as far as I am concerned.

The place was packed, but I have never been happier waiting for my breakfast. The restaurant bakes their own bread and bagels, there is ample hot sauce for your eggs on every table and your plate is heaping with local potatoes…..

After throwing every brochure and map on the table……..

ZIPTREK! Based on actually having made a decision, we decided to hike for a while to make sure all our food was well digested before we sailed over the top of anyone or anything. I did not want to yak on any of the indigenous population….

Best find on the trek, the local train and bus station. I don’t know what it is I love so much about old treks and tracks..

I had this brilliant idea that would involve knitting while flying in a harness at up to 80km an hour and trying to photograph it. Then I realized I only had two arms, so I decided to bring some knitting and worry about photos later…….Then I read the liability waiver that I had to sign and that I wanted to live. Reluctantly, I left the knitting behind.

John takes the waiver signing very seriously.

It was a three hour tour that involved some decent hiking as well as the zipping and was an amazing eco tour. Each step of the way, I realized that we were doing something that was not leaving a human footprint. BC is fortunate to have so much of the world’s rain forest, but I didn’t realize that we actually hold 25% of the world’s deciduous rain forest. (which is much more rare). The ratio of tropical rain forest to deciduous is 36-1… Our entire trek took place on Blackcombe Mountain.

Here are the some pictures without my going on and on and on…

Meet your new best friend, the harness.

This would be the “trekking” part.

This is the “zipping”

The average speed on 3 of the 4 legs of this are roughly at 50km. The longest run was at about 80km. The last run (which is a bit shorter) we were able to do upside down and backwards…without hands….made me wish I had tried to smuggle my knitting in my pants!

This was something that I’ve wanted to do for a while and I love crossing it off the list of things to do. However, now I think I’m going to find bumbling around on my two legs at a much slower pace rather dull and inconvenient. No wait, I wasn’t able to knit airborne, so back on the ground IS a good thing.

Back to the room for some great BC wine and some mad crochet…I have an idea…….

Pemberton is Beautiful

by carmen | Jun 30, 2008 | Uncategorized

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

by carmen | Jun 28, 2008 | Uncategorized

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.

by carmen | Jun 26, 2008 | Uncategorized

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…

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

by carmen | Jun 25, 2008 | Uncategorized

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…