It's a Sign

I've just returned from a family trip from the North Island of New Zealand for my husband's father's 90th birthday and his sister's 50th (it's a BIG family!). When this family decides to have a get-together, there are usually no less than 50 people in attendance! Coming from a small family, this is great fun for me.

On our way to Claire's 50th, we passed this sign located in a small town called Eltham. Just HAD to stop and snap a photo!

I completed two hats during the trip (photos coming soon!) and started a gift for a friends baby (also coming soon).

Flying back to Christchurch, here is a view of the Southern Alps of New Zealand, with a fresh dusting of snow. Winter is coming! I would swear this photo could pass for Antarctica.

  

Flying over the Nelson Lakes area of New Zealand, I looked down and spotted this lake, which looks disarmingly like the continent of Antarctica. I took this image from Google Earth.

I guess I'm thinking about Antarctica. Which is perfectly normal for someone who has spent most of the last 14 years there.

Cozy Toes

Too cute! I just finished these felted slippers from French Press Knits. I was inspired by two things: 1) The Yarn Harlot had made them and 2) It's starting to get a bit chillier here in New Zealand as winter approaches.

I got the yarn on the north island while traveling. It's from Creative Fibre in Tauranga, New Zealand. The color is called 'Fern' and is inspired by the 'Ponga,' a native New Zealand tree fern. It is an '8-ply' yarn which works out to be similar to worsted weight.

The buttons are made from 'Paua' shell, the New Zealand Maori word for a shellfish similar to Abalone.

These cute slippers are a pretty fast knit as you use big U.S. 15 needles and worsted-weight wool yarn. The Yarn Harlot says you can knit them in 90 minutes. I'm not sure about that -- but I should time myself if I make a second pair (and I JUST MIGHT!). You knit 2 or 3 strands together to get a denser felt on the finished product. The pattern calls for 150 grams of yarn, but I made the largest size (9/10) and weighed all the pieces on my digital scale and it only weighed 115 grams before felting...so 120 grams would cover it for the largest size, but I guess it depends on the kind of yarn you are using as well. Probably best to go with what the pattern says, just in case.

I have been forming a relationship with my front loading washer in order to figure out the best way to felt. It's going well. We are bonding. I discovered yesterday that the hot water does not enter into the washer until at least 20 minutes into the cycle. So I leave my stuff in there for 30-35 minutes to start. Then I stop it, drain the machine, check the work and repeat for another 30 minutes if it needs it. My washer won't let me stop mid-way in the cycle...the door stays locked until I drain the washer, then I need to reset the whole thing and start the cycle over again from the beginning. Kind of a pain...but it's working.

Four Days Worth

I went away for the weekend to Kaikoura (say 'kye-coor-ah'), a beach community about a hour-and-a-half drive north of Christchurch. My friend Jude invited me to stay up in her bach (vacation home).

A view more or less straight out from Jude's bach.


Kaikoura is awesome. It is most famous for it's seafood and in particular, crayfish, which is like a lobster without the big claws. Tastes pretty much the same I would gather (I haven't actually had crayfish here yet, but look forward to it). In winter, Kaikoura is a pretty sleepy little place, but it explodes with tourists in summer who love fishing, whale watching and water sports.

Jude and I went on a great hike of the Kaikoura peninsula headlands. Once at the top, the view is great.


Here's another view. Notice all the little spots amongst the rocks there -- those are seals.


We scrambled down a rather steep trail that down the cliffs to take a closer look.


The next day, we drove down the highway to check out a short walk to a waterfall that a local had recommended. It was about a 5-minute walk from the highway, following a gentle stream through dense forest dripping with rain.

The waterfall was very pretty, but what we discovered in the pool under the waterfall was most unexpected and incredible.


The pool was filled with baby seals, swimming, rolling and playing with each other. Some were lounging about on the rocks around the pool.

This is the best photo I got of them. It was dark, I had no tripod and had to make do with slippery rocks to steady the camera and the little sealies were constantly moving (as baby seals do).

How the seal pups got up here I have no idea! My best guess is that the mothers climb upstream and give birth by the waterfall. It's a bit of a mystery but the most delightful surprise!


On to Some Art Stuff

I've needed to create a resume to possibly pick up some part time work this summer. Ideally I'd like to be working doing something creative. This is the first 'crafty' resume I've done so I wanted to do something special.

The resume text will be printed in black and while on vellum paper which is slightly transparent. I wanted a beautiful color background to put underneath the vellum that would show through slightly.

I looked around for inspiration and it's amazing what you can find in the room you're standing in. I had been admiring the twigs that came with my anniversary roses that I still have sitting in a vase. The roses are long gone (but they still look kind of cool -- all dried up and almost black in color), but the twigs that came with arrangement actually sprouted roots and have put forth some leaves.

So this is my inspiration...


I was thinking of some kind of pattern, that also looked really organic and natural, so I did some sketches and came up with an idea.


Then, studying how the branches curved and twisted, I sort of free-handed it out in pencil, full size on a piece of marker paper (special paper that does not bleed and allows you to blend the Copic marker colors).


Then I went over the pencil lines in fine black ink pens that don't bleed when colored in with the Copic markers. I really like these...they are called Pigma Micron. They come in different widths.


After the black ink was fully dry, I erased the pencil lines. Pencil will muddy the marker colors if you don't get rid of it.


Now the fun part. Coloring. I pulled out some markers that I thought would work and tested them on a scrap paper.

Then, I started coloring, starting with the lightest colors and layering on the darkers ones to give the branches and leaves a sense of form and shape. I used the colorless blender to blend the different colors together smoothly. With alcohol markers, even when the marker is dry on the paper, the ink can be 'reactivated' by using another marker or the colorless blender. It's amazing what a little color can do -- it's like magic -- making a flat, uninteresting drawing come to life.

I learned a little trick from Marianne at the "I Like Markers" blog. If you don't have a dark color that coordinates with your lighter colors, you can use a medium gray layered over the lighter color to give you a darker or 'shadow' color. I used this technique here on the leaves and it worked beautifully.

I would have taken a couple of photos of the coloring part, but honestly I got so immersed in it, I forgot. I think it turned out really nice and will make a lovely background for the resume.


You know sometimes when I do stuff like this...I can hardly believe I did it. It's a little bit like waking up from a trance. It almost seems like it comes from somewhere else. I reckon it does.

A Fine Afternoon on the Rupaki Track

Today was a stunner with a capital S. The rain clouds cleared and the sun came out. The snow-covered hills beckoned.

This is the view from the estuary looking up a the Port Hills in Christchurch. I daresay there is more snow up there than last time.

I dug through the garage, finding all my cold weather gear and put a bunch of it on. It felt like the same sort of outfit I'd wear when, say, walking down to Hut Point in Antarctica. It was THAT chilly today.

Just to see what it looked like over the hills, I drove through the tunnel and got this photo of Lyttelton Harbour.


Here's the start of the Rupaki track. A bit muddy, but not as bad as I expected. As usual for NZ trails, someone has done a great job of digging a trench on the side of the trail for melt water to flow down.

Water runoff on the side of the trail.

White sheep, black sheep... huh?? Honestly, I have never seen a bi-colored lamb like this. What happened there? Was it a secret rendezvous with a bovine somewhere? A sort of Romeo and Juliet story from different sides of the pasture?


Just another pretty picture...

This photo so funny because it's so obvious I'm holding the camera at arm's length. But when no one is around to assist, you do what you have to do.

Here I'm wearing a treasured hat by one of my all time favorite knitters, Mette (say 'met-uh') Cephers. She worked as a dispatcher in the Firehouse at McMurdo Station my first winter in 1999 and knitted these gorgeous Scandinavian hats and matching mittens all day long. Eventually she stopped coming to the ice, but her hats have shown up in the tiny McMurdo Store from time to time.

A gorgeous view of the summit of the hike. At the top of this hill, you can see Lyttelton Harbour. The horizontal line (where the trees are) is a road, and the trail is the line going up on the right side.

And oh, I finished another hat. I love this yarn -- it is called Malabrigo and it an exceptionally soft merino wool yarn from Uraguay -- but even though it's green, I can't say this colorway is my favorite of all time. I think someone will love it though, so I'll bring it down to the Ice with me in a couple weeks and see if I can find it a home on someone's noggin'.


I like the cabled band on this hat, but if I were to do it again, I'd increase the width of the band a little...and maybe start the decreases a bit sooner and make the top a bit more pointy instead of round (all a matter of preference). One thing is for sure, my knitting has gotten so much better. I struggled at the beginning with my stitches looking 'lumpy' but these stitches are smooth and even and lovely. Also getting much faster. This hat took me only 3 evenings.