Tag Archives: knitting cruise

Our Last Day at Sea

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Towelphant

Towelphant

Waaah! The cruise is almost over. That means no more drinkie-poos at sunset, no more towel animals awaiting us on our beds at night, no more endless Diet Pepsi from numerous fountain sources all day long, no more food, food, food that I do not have to shop for, prepare or clean up after. Damn.

Our fourth day on the cruise – our last day and our only full day at sea – started with a real treat. I woke up first and looked out the window and saw that our ship was being escorted by dolphins! How cool is that!? I could see them from my bed! When was the last time you woke up to dolphins? This definitely made my list of the top-ten coolest things about this cruise. I tried to take a picture, but dang those critters is fast! You’ll have to take my word for it. Also on the top-ten list was the breakfast buffet, which mom and I hit, keeping our usual focus on the lox and bagel spread. Weird – love the dolphins, eat the salmon. Hmmm. Then it was off to the first of two sessions on our toe-up socks.

I was pretty well along on my sock, as were most people. So we spent the day catching up on each other’s knitting and trying to finish at least one sock. I think everyone got something out of this workshop – whether it was an entirely new way to knit socks, or just a new crochet cast-on or a better familiarity with short rows. For my own part, I enjoyed the class – it was a challenge – but I think I like top-down socks better. I have never had trouble fitting socks to my feet – I just knit till the sock hits the crease between my big toe and my second toe and then start decreasing. I like the look of the top-down version better, I think. But I am glad I took this because it was really cool to see the whole thing take shape.

The K2Tog Cruisin' Toe-Uppers

The K2Tog Cruisin' Toe-Uppers

At the end, we all lined up for a group photo, and those of us who had finished a whole sock, paused to model.

Two Toes

Two Toes

On Thursday – if not exactly bright, then certainly early – we cruised under the Golden Gate Bridge and made our way under the Oakland Bay Bridge to a dock. All the K2Tog contingent exited the ship at this point, some of us catching rides home, others of us (like me and mom) taking BART. My husband, Terry, picked us up and drove us home, so that by 11 a.m. we had been in a ship, a cab, a train and a car. I had to work that day (I asked for it!) so in the afternoon, I was back behind the counter at K2Tog. Mom stayed another week and a half and we had a great visit. I’ll post of the other cool things we made while she was here. Now, I had better wrap this up, because this Friday I am off to the Skein Lane annual retreat and I’m gonna have to write about that here as well.

Astoria

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Custon Threads

Custon Threads

On the third morning of our cruise, mom and I woke up to find we were docked in Astoria, Oregon (which continues to think is in Washington). Right outside our window, we could see two lines of white tents – kind of like a farmer’s market. This turned out to be a great little outdoor market featuring local artists and other vendors who were selling locally-made jewelry, purses, soaps, edibles, etc. Don’t know if this market is the idea of Norwegian Cruise Line or the local folks, but it is an excellent one. I always want to buy local when I am on vacation, and this market made it easy. We passed through them on the way to the shuttle that would take us into downtown Astoria where we were headed for the one yarn store, Custom Threads, and promised to leave time before the ship’s departure to shop.

Astoria is small, but it is charming. Adorable. Resilient. Nice. We were greeted there by a phalanx of local volunteers, all intent on making sure we loved Astoria. I sure did. It was just a nice small town. The downtown seemed to

Inside

Inside

be one main street  – Commericial Street – and two parallel side streets. The bus dropped us off half a block from our destination and we eagerly headed over, hoping for another great local yarn experience.

Custom Threads divides its space between knitting, quilting and embroidery – and quilting comes out the winner, I think. But there were some nice yarns here and some very nice people who helped up. I bought two skeins of Plymouth Yarns lace-weight alpaca – even tho I could have bought almost the same yarn at K2Tog (and with a discount) because I believe in supporting local yarn stores. I’ll make a nice Astoria shawl or something.

After the yarn store, we walked around. I was drawn into a small antiques store on a side street called Jonathon’s Ltd. What a find! Inside were all manner of wonderful treasures, all of them laid out neatly and cleanly in cases, on shelves and on the walls. Two very nice men helped us – the owners, I assume – and we must have been in there for 45 minutes or more, despite the fact it was only two small rooms. I came out with three treasures – a 1930s woodblock of a large tree set against the backdrop of a town that looked a lot like Astoria (this was a gift for my husband), a mosaic pin from Italy and a silver tea strainer from Holland that has a windmill with real turning blades on its handle. What fun we had in there – and I could have bought lots more. Be sure and drop in there if you go – it’s at 332 12th Street, 503-325-7600.

Mom and Fishy Friend

Mom and Fishy Friend

After that, mom and I had lunch at a really nice waterfront restaurant, Baked Alaska, where we sat outside and looked at a large bridge that goes between Astoria and Washington. A seal or sea lion came by. We could also see another cruise ship in town at another dock – the NCL’s Pearl. The food here was great – steamed mussels for mom and crab melt for me. The poor servers were swamped – two or three of them and three cruise ships in town! Soon, we were back on the shuttle to the ship and had time to shop at the outdoor market.

This was a really great market. One of my favorites was a woman who crocheted dozens and dozens of beaded bags. They were really creative (tho they would have been prettier if they had been made with higher quality yarn and materials). Mom bought a beautiful pair of earrings with freshwater pearls and blue semi-precious stones from one artist and we both bought some handmade soap from Woodland Scentsations. My favorite flavor was “blue spruce.” Smells reeeeeel gooooood on my husband.

Back on the ship, we headed for the London Room and another afternoon of toe-up socks. Mine is coming along:

I've Turned the Heel!

I've Turned the Heel!

Knitting in Victoria, BC

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The first full day of our cruise was – on reflection – my favorite, I think. I had never been to Victoria, B.C. and I was particularly excited at the prospect of visiting The Beehive Wool Shop, a famous and storied yarn store I have heard about or years from friends lucky enough to visit it. The Beehive is one of the oldest – if not the oldest – yarn store in North America. It has been in business for more than 100 years, and has only changed hands 4 times. On this day, which was bright, sunny and warm, my mom and Ellen (the owner of K2Tog and host of our knitting cruise) set out for the store.

Hello, Beehive!

Hello, Beehive!

Beehive window

Beehive window

The Beehive is on a corner in downtown Victoria, in a section of town that is a little seedy, but not dangerous. They have two large front windows in which they have very artfully arranged a selection of yarns and knitted items with a fall theme – the effect is very alluring and makes you want to knit something. Very nice.

But the inside of the store! This is one of those few yarn stores I have visited where my

Inside the Beehive

Inside the Beehive

heart beats faster when I walk in. Owner Valerie Huggett was there to greet us and very kindly offered us a 10 percent discount. So nice! My eye was drawn right away to a large table at the front that featured some beautifully made items that showcased various yarns and patterns. There were a number of fingerless gloves, the most remarkable of which was a pair designed by in Cheryl Oberle in entrelac. The shop offers them as a kit, and I was sorely tempted. Instead, I purchased the yarn and the pattern for a lace scarf displayed on the table – HeartStrings “Lead or Follow” lace scarf in Ella Rae Lace Merino in shades of sapphire blue. YUM!!!!

Fleece Artist

Fleece Artist

And I didn’t stop there. The Beehive offers a nice selection of Canadian yarn, including a huge section of Fleece Artist. I wanted all of them – but settled for a skein of Merino 2/6 in soft shades of pink, beige and green. I also bought a ball of Schoppel Wolle‘s Ambiente to make a self-patterning baby hat with ear flaps – a free pattern offered by the store with the purchase of the yarn. It was very cute and I thought it was a fine use of sock yarn. I’ll likely give it to friends who are expecting a baby boy in October. Mom got a couple of balls of Louisa Harding ribbon yarn in pale blue to make herself a scarf.

Friend Beehive staff!

Friend Beehive staff!

The three of us spent about an hour in the store, ooh-ing and aah-ing, getting ideas and inspiration. When we checked out, the store gave each of use a present – a bag containing locally-made soap from Laura-Victoria Hand Made Soaps, a hank of Berroco‘s NaturLin and a print out of a free Berroco pattern called “Pluie Soap Holder.” Now, how nice is that? My mom got one, too and so we can make these together. Mine is blue and hers is brown. I LOVE THIS SHOP. GO THERE.

Ellen and Mom at front table

Ellen and Mom at front table

Then we headed a few blocks away to the second fiber store in town, Button & Needlework Boutique. But I have to save that great store for another entry all its own!

Cruisin’ and Knittin’

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Our big-ass ship

Our big-ass ship

I have not been a big fan of cruising. When I was a kid, I went on a Caribbean cruise with my mom, my grandmother and my great-aunt and that was a lot of fun, mostly because I was 10 and I had the run of the ship. But as an adult, I have been less than enthusiastic about the couple of cruises I have been on. I don’t like to be cooped up in relatively small places with relatively large numbers of people. I don’t like planned tours. And I don’t like drunken revelers I cannot get away from.

But when K2Tog, the yarn store where I work a couple of days a week, announced a

Ma

Ma

“knitting cruise” from Vancouver, B.C. to San Francisco I was tempted. A lot. The cruise was a repositioning cruise aboard the Norwegian Star, a ship in the Norwegian Cruise Line. The plan was for about 14 of us to go together and spend a couple of hours each day learning to knit toe-up socks with the store owner, Ellen Graves. We would disembark in Victoria, B.C and Astoria, Oregon to visit local yarn stores and then leave the cruise in San Francisco, a few miles from our homes, and let it continue down to Los Angeles without us.

Me

Me

I asked my mom if she’d like to take the cruise with me, and last week we met in Vancouver and boarded the ship. The weather was perfect – about 75 degrees and sunny.We spent the morning trying to find breakfast – long story, but with a happy ending. If you are ever in Vancouver, track down the Maple Leaf Delicatessen on Burrard Street.  Sounds like you’ll be eating Canadian bacon with maple syrup served by Mounties, right? nuh-uh. It was all Ukrainian and Russian food served by a man and a woman who could not have been nicer or better cooks! We both had sandwiches and salads with Russian flair. EXCELLENT!

The ship left on a Sunday afternoon, going out through the Burrard Inlet and under the

Lion's Gate Bridge

Lion's Gate Bridge

Lion’s Gate Bridge. Mom and I sat on the pool deck and watched Canada go by. Then we went to meet the other knitters in the “London” conference room, which the ship’s excellent group services person had set aside for our use every day. Inside were a half-dozen other knitters, besides mom and me – Lynn, from Oregon, and her friend Kim,a new knitter from the Bay Area, Kathy, a knitter from San Francisco and a frequent cruiser, and four sisters on their first cruise. None of us had done toe-up socks before.

Toe-up socks in the London Rom

Toe-up socks in the London Rom

Toe-up socks. This was my first time tackling them, as I have been a big fan of top-down socks for a number of years. Ellen told us she does not like to teach this class because the frustration level of the students can get high. Indeed, this was not easy – crochet cast-on, wrapping stitches, knitting a series of stitches and wraps together – but I like a challenge. I chose a Christmas yarn from our store – a Universal Yarns self-patterning sock yarn in Christmas red, green, maroon and white, all shot through with gold thread. After a couple of false starts, I had turned the toe at the end of the first day’s session. It was like magic, how that flat, weird piece of cast-on and stitches became a three-dimensional toe-cap. Crazy!

My toe!

My toe!

After class, mom and I set the standard for the rest of our cruise – we left the conference room and headed for the Spinnaker Lounge, a large room at the front of the ship that is wrapped in windows. We took a table at the front on the right, ordered a prosecco (for me) and a bloody Mary (for mom) and listened to the ship’s band – Melodious Jones (“The Family Band from Las Vegas”) – sing some oldies. The room was virtually empty, so mom and I sat and sang along, sipping our drinks. It wasn’t long before the knitting came out and there we were, heading into the sunset, knitting, singing and sipping. What could be better?

Vancouver Sunset

Vancouver Sunset

Knitting to Vancouver

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On the train

On the train

I love to take the train. Even more than taking the train, I love to knit on the train. Last week, I hopped Amtrak‘s Coast Starlight in Emeryville, CA and rode it all the way to Seattle, an approximately 18-hour trip with nothing to do but sleep, read and sit and knit and look out the window at the rugged mountains and rolling rivers that weave through the Pacific Northwest.

I was on my way to Vancouver, BC where I was meeting my mother and then joining up with 10 or so other knitters on the Norwegian Cruise Line‘s Norwegian Star for a 5-day repositioning cruise. The trip was organized by K2Tog, the yarn store where I work, as a “knitting cruise” – we would have an on-board workshop in toe-up socks, knitting time, and trips to local yarn shops in the ports of call.

But the first leg of the trip was just me, my knitting and my iPod. I picked up the train in Emeryville at about 10:30 p.m. Friday night. With the help of a Tylenol PM, I was able to sleep okay in a coach window seat. I was kinda cold – they really air-condition the hell out of those cars – and my seat was opposite the staircase to the lower level of the traincar, so there was a light in my eyes. But I slept enough.

Sunrise

Sunrise

In the morning I awoke to this view outside my window. I am not sure what mountain this is, but it is not to far south of the California-Oregon state line and is as pretty as can be. The sky was pink, the rising sun turning the snow on the mountain a pink, too. There were lots of pine trees, low shrubs – maybe sage – with yellow blossoms on the ends of their scrubby branches. We passed rivers and lakes and saw lots of birds. No people. No cars. Just what was probably a state park. It was a great way to wake up.

another sunrise shot

another sunrise shot

Throughout the day, we continued north through Oregon, stopping in Klamath Falls, Eugene and Portland. I had a seat mate all the way, including one woman in a hijab who was traveling from Klamath Falls to Portland to be with her family for the Eid-al-Fitr. Most of the day, I sat in the lounge car, which has a dome-like glass ceiling, and watched the world go by as I knit and listened to a book on tape.

Which brings me to a book review: I was listening to American Gods by Neil Gaiman. I had purchased it from Audible in early Sept with some trepidation. I am not a fan of fantasy or science-fiction, but I have listened to three other books by Gaiman (Wall, Stardust and Neverwhere) and count them among my Audible favorites. This book surpassed them all and may be my all-time Audible favorite. No one can match Gaiman in terms of creativity and fanciful imagination, and this book was enormously aided by the choice of narrator – WHO – who acted each character perfectly. All of the characters – men, women, young girls, gods and crooks among them – were fleshed out in three dimensions and were entirely distinguishable one from another. I kid you not – if you enjoy a bit of magic in your fiction, check this book out. Listening to it really enhanced my enjoyment of the entire trip and made my knitting more fun, too.

Bobble baby hat

Bobble baby hat

Okay, back to the knitting. On the train, I started and finished a baby hat. I made it with one ball of Crystal Palace Taos yarn and designed it myself (this is a big deal for me). The pattern is below. I love the way it came out! When it was finished, I picked up a ball of Manos del Uruguay silky wool and started the first of a pair of fingerless gloves from a pattern I picked up at Churchmouse Yarns and Teas on Bainbridge Island outside Seattle when I visited there last year. What a yarn store! The pattern is free with the purchase of the yarn – ask for their welted fingerless gloves pattern. I am going to finish them off with a set of vintage pearl buttons on the welts, slightly offset from the center of my wrist.

We were due to arrive in Seattle at about 9 p.m., at which time those of us continuing to

Amtrak wine

Amtrak wine

Vancouver, BC would board a bus for another 3 hours. At 5 p.m., I decided I had earned a drink, so I headed to the café car to buy myself a glass of red wine. The attendant said the only wine he had for sale was a half-bottle of white. I don’t like white – and how good can Amtrak wine be, right? But I was set for a glass of wine and some sunset knitting, so I paid for my half-bottle and took it and glass to a table in the window. The attendant went on break, so I had the café car to myself. I looked at the wine – a pinot

Our Trento view

Our Trento view

grigio – and I saw that its label said it was from the Veneto region of Italy. My husband and I were just there in May, and when I turned the bottle around, the label said it was imported by a company in Trento. Trento was one of my favorite cities we visited on our trip! I had an instant flashback to the evenings my husband I spent in Trento, sitting on our terrace and drinking wine as we looked out across the view to the Castello del Buonconsiglio and the Duomo. At the same time, I was looking out the window at the coastline of the Seattle-Tacoma area speed by. Double vision! It was very cool. I called my husband at home to tell him.

My Amtrak view

My Amtrak view

The rest of the trip was unremarkable. We arrived in Seattle early (!!!), waited around for the bus for an hour, left there on time and got to Vancouver at about 12:30 a.m. Sunday morning. I hopped a cab to the Sheraton, checked in, and there was my mom asleep in her bed! Yeah! I went to sleep (oh, man, was I ready to be horizontal!) and prepared for the morning when we would head for ship.

Okay, here’s the pattern for the baby hat:

YOU WILL NEED:

1 ball Crystal Palace Taos (or about 200 yds of worsted weight yarn)

1 set of size 5 double point needles (DPNs)

stitch markers

Tapestry needle

ABBREVIATIONS:

k – knit

p – purl

pm – place marker

mb – make bobble

kfbf – knit into the front, the back and the front of a single stitch = 3 stitches

kfb – knit into the front and the back of a single stitch = 2 stitches

RH – right hand needle

ssk – Slip 2 stitches, one at a time, as if to knit, and knit them through the back loops

k2tog – knit 2 stitches together

s – slip 1 stitch knitwise

psso – pass slipped stitch over stitch closest to tip of RH needle

Cast on 72 stitches. Divide stitches evenly on 4 DPNs (18 stitches per needle). Join for knitting in the round, being careful not twist stitches. Pm for beginning of round. K 5 rows. Begin Bobble Pattern.

Bobble Pattern:

At the beginning of next row, k7, *mb (see below) in next stitch, k7*, repeat around, ending k3. K 3 rows. At the beginning of next row, k3, *mb, k7* repeat around, ending k4. K 3 rows. Repeat from the beginning until 5 rows of bobbles have been completed.

Make Bobble:

Kfbf – 3 stitches on right hand RH needle. Turn work. P3. Turn work. Kfb, k1, kfb – 5 stitches on RH needle. Turn work. P5. Turn work. Ssk, k1, k2tog – 3 stitches on RH needle. Turn work. P3. Turn work. S1, k2tog, psso – 1 stitch on RH needle. Continue knitting to next bobble placement.

K all rows until hat measures 4.5 inches from cast on. Begin decreases for crown.

Decreases for crown:

At the beginning of next row, *k10, k2tog, pm,* repeat across row until you reach the first stitch marker. Next row: *k until 2 stitches remain before marker, k2tog,* repeat across row until you reach the first stitch marker. Continue in this fashion until there are 6 stitches left on needles. Cut yarn, thread onto tapestry needle, run the needle under the 6 live stitches and remove from needles. Pull needle and yarn to inside hat and work in end of yarn.