Knitting Musclemom

I'm back (do I always say that?)

No, I have not disappeared off the surface of the earth. I've been really busy.

First, I went to Camp Stitches White Eagle in June, where I attended three days of classes with Cat Bordhi. I learnt so much, it was absolutely great! For the first time, my husband came with me to a knitting retreat; it was held at White Eagle in Hamilton, New York (a mere 5.5 hour drive from Toronto):

These were the cabins; a bit rustic for my DH's taste (he's a bit of a snob when it comes to hotels), but it was in a really nice area on a lake, and the food was surprisingly and consistently good.

And of course, the highlight was Cat Bordhi's classes. Here's when she showed up how to measure the circumference of the foot -- I found out I have been measuring my foot in the wrong place all these years:

Here's the whole group, minus Christine and me, who were taking photos:

 

and here's Christine (Ravelry link, I don't think she has a blog) in a blurry picture. She attended with her mother (second from the right on the group photo) and fed us all delicious treats during the morning and afternoon breaks (ok, she mostly fed me -- ok, I was stealing all her food, I admit it!):

Cat Bordhi is not only a great teacher, but she is also a lovely person. We often sat at the same table for meals and when Colin and I mentioned that we were planning to leave Toronto in 2 years when our daughter graduates from high school, she encouraged us to visit Vancouver and see if we would like to live there. I think it's a great idea!

Here's what we got to knit -- all the techniques explained and the socks we knitted come from her book, New Pathways for Sock Knitters:

   

This is a miniature bowl that we knitted to practice her way of doing short rows. Then I knit this:

This is a baby sock knit with the upstream arch expansion. And then I knit this:

This is another baby sock knit with the Coriolis arch expansion. And finally, the pièce de résistance:

An adult sock, knit with the Riverbed architecture and incorporating a little stitch design to make it more interesting (otherwise, it's knit all around, but I would have died of boredom). I really, really learnt so much and I now understand her book and how to follow my own measurements and incorporate my own stitch designs into the sock architecture chosen. A very worthwhile workshop; you get so much more out of three days (actually, a.m. and p.m. on Friday and Sunday, a half day on Saturday) with one instructor, especially when it's someone of Cat Bordhi's caliber!

I was a bit worried Colin would be very bored, since there is not much to do around the area; it's a rural area, and it's very pretty, but let's face it, there wasn't a whole lot to see. Well, he actually had a wonderful time; he took the canoe out on the lake, he went for drives (in his Porsche, obviously!) and he just relaxed with his book. He actually didn't know how much he needed the break until we got there, and he just did nothing for the whole time we spent there. By 10 p.m., we were exhausted -- all this oxygen and pollution-free air is too much for our city-polluted bodies -- and we slept really well. See, doesn't he look happy (please ignore my totally out-of-control hair, it was, to say the least, quite humid)?

 

We came back to Toronto, rested and relaxed. And the next day, on Canada day, my brother called me to say my stepfather had passed away. He was 91 and survived my mother by 3 years, even though he was 17 years older than she was. It was sad, but he had been in poor health for the last six months, and he died peacefully at home, without pain or prolonged agony. This is one of the last photos I have of my mother and my stepfather together, taken at Christmas 2004, when my mother was already very ill:

 

It was the last family gathering we had before she passed away in May 2005. His passing away, of course, brought back an absence I have been trying to get used to for the last three years.

Anyway, on to more cheerful things. I got myself a new car, a VW GTI. I picked it up on Thursday and I absolutely love it! It has the premium package with leather seats and summer performance tires, satellite radio, and of course, it's manual. Yes, I hate driving automatics, I guess it's my European origins that come back to the surface when it comes to driving cars.

And since I saw Cat Bordhi with this shawl:

I liked it so much I have started knitting one. It's Sivia Harding's Norwegian Woods Scarf; I happened to have the pattern already and I am knitting the shawl version of it, which uses 900 yds of yarn instead of 470 yds. Here is the blob so far:

 

I am knitting it with an 8 oz skein of Brooklyn Handspun Signature yarn. And this is my exclusive work-in-progress at the moment, because I know from personal experience that if I don't stick with a lace project until it's finished, I will lose interest and let it languish forever after. As with the Mystery Stole 3, half finished since last year. No, I'm not unravelling this one, I worked too much of the whole project. I will finish it.... one day.... (yeaaaah, right). Here's a close-up which shows the semi-solid subtle quality of the colour:

 

This is a really lovely yarn, nice to look at, nice to knit with. I have almost 400 stitches per row now, so I guess I will be knitting it for a while more. As long as I finish it before I get sick of it, I should be okay.

Here's a last shot of the canine beasts; admire the really modest sleeping pose of the boy dog!

Saint-Martin

I have been very quiet, but I had a good reason. It started on this day:

The day of the big snow storm, March 8th. Yes, we were at the airport and yes, at least half the flights were cancelled. However, international flights were still operating and there was our plane being cleaned and loaded, which was very reassuring.

After a thorough de-icing and taking off, this is what we arrived to 4 1/2 hours later:

It was sunny, it was 28 degrees (celsius) and it was heaven. This was followed by two weeks of rest, sleep, swim, sun, food. Just three of us the first week (older son is at university) and a fourth one, a friend of my daugther's, joined us the second week.

Yes, that's me from the back. Like many French women, I don't wear a top. Ever. I despise wearing a top -- I think it's the most unconfortable piece of clothing ever. I can understand the bra; but I don't understand a bathing suit top. I H-A-T-E it. So I go to French islands where nobody cares if women walk around on the beach not wearing a top. And frankly, when I see some men walking around with only shorts on, I don't see why I should wear a top -- they need it more than I do.

Of course, my daughter hates that I don't wear a bikini, but she was raised in Canada and thinks it's indecent. Proof:

See, she's there to save the day and show only her mother is mad. Anyway, we had a really restful time; here's one of our only outings at a restaurant:

 

It's called the Chanteclerc, and it's in the marina of Marigot. The food is wonderful, but it takes one two days to recover from it. Since we're in a villa, I cook most meals at home; the choice of food at the supermarket is wonderful; Air France flies in everything twice a week from France, and even if it costs a small fortune, it is great to cook and eat. 90% of the food is organic, the vegetables taste like they should, the lettuce actually has a taste of lettuce, the tomatoes have that tangy tomato taste and the strawberries feel like they have just been picked. You can find absolutely everything, as long as you are willing to pay for it. But I make the excuse that out of 14 days of meals times three meals a day, we only end up eating out about four or five times, so it's still less expensive than restaurant food and at least, I know what I'm eating.

The weather was great and less hot than in previous years (around 26 to 29 degrees every day), so we never had to switch the air conditioning on.

We also went to Orient Bay on the east coast of the island; it's a long stretch of beautiful beach (it takes about an hour to walk back and forth the whole length), and about a third of it is nudist. Needless to say, my daughter and her friend got some sunbeds with an umbrella and lounged on the regular side of the beach, while my husband and I went back and forth for a wonderful walk. No, no photos allowed in the nudist section, sorry. But here's the rest of the beach:

All in all, we had a great holiday and came home on Saturday, rested and actually happy to see even Toronto was sunny.

As for the knitting... you think I had TIME to knit? Actually, I managed to finish 1 sock and half of a second one. I will post photos next time. I will just show a last photo of the full moon on the last evening of our stay: