Somewhere in the Mountains

Early morning mist rising from the lake. Somewhere west of Revelstoke, BC.

Lake Louise, Alberta

Lake Louise, Alberta. The lake is 70m deep and gets its blue color from the "rock flour" (fine rock dust from the glacier runoff) in the water. The silty water absorbs all the colors except the lovely turquoise and vivid blue.

The iconic (at least in Canada) Fairmont Hotel at Lake Louise. The Fairmont faces the mountains & glacier.

Obligatory sock knitting photo!

Close up of the mountains from the first photo. It looks like someone went up there and etched a figure 8 in the snow.

I like this photo. That is all.

There is a path along the lake which makes for a nice morning's walk. I like the dots of color (hikers) and the reflection in the water in this photo.

The air was so crisp and fresh, with the most amazing subtle pine smell. It almost hurt to breathe the air, it was so fresh and clean. Wonderful. My Toronto-fed lungs didn't quite know what to make of it.

Good morning, Mountains

View from our motel in Canmore, AB.

Approaching the Rocky Mountains

Trans Canada Hwy 1: Leaving Calgary and heading to Canmore, Alberta
The mountains are getting closer!

Knitting count: A couple inches of a sock done in the airport/airplane. 1 face cloth completed on the plane and in the car. New sock toe begun!  I'm suiting the knitting to the situation, alternating between mindless knitting and pattern-required knitting depending on the circumstances.

Interesting fact: On the plane I was sitting in the sitting with another knitter! Told her all about Ravelry. She was headed to Calgary for a knitting class.

Westward Bound

Monday I fly out to Calgary to meet my Mom for a bittersweet road trip. We'll be driving through the Rocky Mountains and ending up on Vancouver Island to visit my brother. Then I'll fly home from the island.

I'm very excited to see the mountains. Living here in Ontario we have hills, not mountains. According to Wikipedia, the highest parts of the province are some of the escarpments in the Grey-Bruce regions where you can reach the dizzying heights of 1,400-1750 feet above sea level.

So yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing real mountains. And the car knitting time! No work, no children, no husband. Just me & my Mom who's made this trip a few times before. No doubt I'll be spending the rest of today going through my stash and planning what yarns to pack and what I'll be knitting.

That's the sweet part.

The bitter of the bittersweet? This trip is a bit of a memorial to my Dad who passed away last September 28th. Mom & Dad used to drive their trailer from coast to coast after they retired. They've been to each coast several times and even driven up to Alaska, the NWT, and the Yukon. This is my Mom's first road trip without my Dad. And we'll be arriving at my brother's home in time for the anniversary of Dad's passing - which also happens to be my brother's birthday.

This will be a fantastic trip and a difficult one. I'll be missing my husband and daughter but I'm glad to be able to be there for my Mom as we mark this difficult anniversary.

My Dad and I are very much alike. So for the next week, I'll be there sitting beside Mom as we drive through the Rockies, listening to her chatter away. I'll be the strong, silent type to her outgoing personality. And I'll try to be a tiny portion of the emotional "rock" that my Dad was to her over the course of their 49 year marriage.

Tin Can Knits BOGO pattern sale

Tin Can Knits' Low-Tide Cardigan,
knit by me

If you've followed along over the past year, you know I love Tin Can Knits' designs. I've test knit for them in the past and their designs are top-notch. In fact, I was just wearing their Low-tide Cardigan yesterday.

Well, they're having a Fall sale: buy one pattern, get one free. The details (along with some amazing photos of Scotland) are on the TCK blog.

What it boils down to is this, the sale runs Thursday, September 19th for one week only, until Thursday September 26th.

Copied from the TCK blog: 

"Simply shop on our website (or ravelry.com), add 2 or more products to your cart, then enter the following coupon code: BACKTOKNIT – the lower-priced item will be free!  The Small Print ::: The coupon applies only to products for sale via the Tin Can Knits Ravelry store, the full list is here: http://www.ravelry.com/stores/tin-can-knits-designs – please note that print books are excluded from this promotion."

I also made a Low-Tide Cardigan for my daughter.

Yarn + Saturday Morning Cartoons

When I was a kid Saturday morning were the time to watch cartoons. There was no Cartoon channel, no Netflix and no VCRs (never mind DVRs!). If you didn't tune in in time, you missed your show.

Well, now I have a chance to combine childhood memories with my current favorite way to relax on the weekend. I'm so excited to have been asked to participate in the Tripping Yarn Balls Yarn Club which is featuring a Retro Cartoons theme for this year!

The Tripping Yarn Balls yarn club is a collaboration between Play at Life, Please Stand By Yarns, and Shameless Twist. Each of these dyers create gorgeous yarns. Play at Life creates the stunning Maki yarns which are dyed in gradients. Her club yarns will be dyed to complement her Maki gradients. Please Stand By Yarns, who is a fellow Canadian, specializes in self-striping yarns which, when knit from both ends of the skein, result in matching socks. And Shameless Twist is a color genius who will be working with a new luscious super wash merino/cashmere/nylon base for the club yarns. Sign up are open on the TYB site.

So where do I come in? I'll be designing two exclusive sock patterns for club members. Club membership come in 6 or 12 month signups, so during each 6 month time frame members will receive one free sock pattern designed to complement the club yarn.

I'm completely psyched up to revisit the cartoons of my childhoood and see them represented in yarn.  I loved the Pink Panther, the Wonder Twins, Aquaman, Pinky and the Brain (Snarf!). What were your favorites to watch as a kid?