Twisp of Fate

Well, let’s see – when last we met, I was off to my annual knitting retreat.  This was very fun, as expected, although getting there turned out to be a bit of an experience.  In fact, I almost titled this post “Katie & Diana’s Excellent Adventure.”  We drove over the North Cross Highway (Hwy 20 through the North Cascades National Park), which had recently received some new snow but was well plowed and an easy drive.  The mountains, with their fall color and new snow, were stunning.  We drove down Whidbey Island, intending to catch the 3:00 ferry across to Port Townsend – we even had a reservation!  Five minutes after we got in line, they announced the ferry had broken down and would be out of service until the next day.  Aargh!  We had to drive to the south end of Whidbey, cross to the mainland at Mukilteo, drive down to Edmonds (hello, Seattle-area traffic…) and cross back over the Sound to Kingston.  It was about 6 pm and dark by the time we passed through Port Gamble on our way to the Hood Canal Bridge.  What’s that flashing sign??  The bridge was open to let a barge through and there was another half hour wait. By this time we were laughing hysterically and I called Rick to fill him in… he said they were probably letting through the boat that had the part to fix the Keystone ferry.

On our way home we stopped in at The Artful Ewe in Port Gamble, where Heidi Parra has her beautiful hand-dyed yarns and spinning fibers (she carries no commercial lines, it is all her own stuff and it is fabulous).  Heidi has just opened a weaving studio two doors down from the yarn shop.  It has two Bergman looms and some others as well, and is decorated beautifully with items from her art and textile collections.

Heidi was pretty excited about this 16-harness AVL loom that she had recently purchased (used) and had just gotten hooked up to the computer:

The woman is amazing.  She turns out the most beautiful dyed fibers and in such quantity.  Somehow she has more hours in her day then I can ever seem to find in mine!

Back in the valley, I wove 4 more shawls (pictures to come) and generally picked up the threads of normal life for a few days.  Then we were off to Redlands, CA for the weekend, to visit our good friends who are down there working in San Bernardino until the day they can return to Bainbridge Island.  They just bought a home in Redlands, a 1920’s era Spanish Revival, which is lovely, with gracious and generously sized rooms:

Redlands is quite a pretty town, with many wide palm-tree lined boulevards, and older neighborhoods chock full of huge Victorian and Craftsman style homes.  Here are just a couple I saw while out on a walk:

Coming from the valley where winter is on the way, it was quite nice to experience temperatures in the 70’s again, sitting outside barefoot in the sun.  Thank you, dear friends!