Thursday, July 3, 2014

There and Back, Again

 The reason to travel is not only to have time to knit, but it doesn't hurt! I made two pairs of socks, two pairs of slippers, and most of a sweater (the hood and half a sleeve left). All this while we saw
rainforests (Hoh in Washington's Olympic peninsula),

rivers (this was the Fraser River passing through Hell's Gate, BC, Canada),

goats,

glaciers (standing on a glacier in the Columbia Icefields, looking up to two others),

dinosaurs (Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, Alberta, Canada),

deer (in the middle of Waterton Village, not four yards from our hotel),

waterfalls (Bridal Veil in BC),

whorls (in an incredible, Viking exhibit at the Royal BC Museum in Victoria)

(and Coast Salish in another exhibit at the same museum)

fluff (couldn't figure out what tree this was from, but thought about collecting enough to try spinning...)

flowers (we hit wildflower season)

and yarn

(in this lovely shop in Kalispell, Montana)!

This totem was in Duncan, Vancouver Island.

She who taught us to weave.

I came home with lots of yummy wood. The spoon from a store outside Glacier Park. The spurtle is a traditional porridge stirrer I bought in Barkerville, BC. And the two un-named tools (what are they called?), Ed at Glimakra USA made. They're used to hold unused heddles. No more heddle tangles! Yay!  
We were lucky to be able to visit with him and MaryJean (at Glimakra USA) when we drove through Montana. Unfortunately, we missed Joanne. But it was a lovely visit. We got to tour their work spaces and felt very welcomed. 

I was restrained. The many cones of yarn I bought from Glimakra don't count as expanding my stash. This is the only fiber I bought. It's tussah silk from the above pictured yarn store

And when we got home, one year after starting this project, I picked up the never-ending needlepoint from the framer.