Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Crafty Andy has a Cricket


CricketLoomCraftyAndy (3)
Originally uploaded by Crafty Andy
I will have to say that if you asked me 20 years ago what would I be doing today, weaving would have not been my answer. My main inspiration as far as wanting to weave has been Judith MacKenzie.  This lady has such and endearing way to talking about fiber that you actually learn a lot even without looking at what she is doing.  She is a great asset to the fiber community.  I am do to take a class on  the new store of  A Verb For Keeping Warm, at their new location in Oakland.

6328 San Pablo Avenue x Alcatraz Avenue

Oakland, CA 94608

510.595.VERB(8372)

Their new store is amazing and it is full of great yarns.  Close to public transportation and a lot easier for those of us that want to take it.  Anyway this may be my las post of the Year, number 800, wow 8oo journal posts in my blog life, lots of stuff happening in my life and very exciting.  Below there is a video of  Crafty Andy showing you the loom he got for the Holidays, not a holiday present, but during the holiday season nonetheless. Thanks for stopping by!

Thursday, December 23, 2010

A Counter Culture Hat


CounterCultureHat (1)
Originally uploaded by Crafty Andy
There are times when the Status Quo is too much to bear. To live by the rules of others and to live by the patterns others design. It is fun to do something completely wild and unexpected. A beautiful cabled hat becomes your signature hat as you make it your own. Using Ozark Mountain Handspun fun yarn, I gave it a counter culture look. It is the Holidays and I feel like celebrating life in a different way. This is just for the fun of being alive, may you have a Happy Holiday or A Happy New year or may you celebrate in your own unique way the fun that life can be. So Say We All! Merry Christmas Everyone!

Wednesday, December 08, 2010

Butchart Gardens

ButchartGardensBC
Behold here are the Butchart Gardens at 800 Benvenuto Ave., Central Saanich, British Columbia, Canada.  We did not know if we were going to make it, because they were experiencing snow in Mainland Vancouver and it was very difficult for Vancouverites to remember how to deal with snow.  This place has a mild winter rarely visited by snow.  This day which was Thanksgiving was a tough day, the hotel was having problems with the boiler, and I was not in a good mood.  Everything worked out in the end, reminding me that sometimes we need to take a break from being upset and just flow with life.
ButchartGardensBC
This place was a Winter Wonderland along with a Christmas Wonderland.
ButchartGardensBC
I was very thankful we were having Thanksgiving together and enjoying the snow, which we usually don't ever see in Northern California , San Francisco Bay.
ButchartGardensBC
The twelve days of Christmas were represented throughout the gardens and we caught most of them. There was so much snow, but it was not that cold, given the fact that we dressed in layers and had a great ensemble of scarves and hats made by Crafty Andy.
ButchartGardensBC
A Carousel without any kids was not fun, but the kid in me wanted to take a ride, we had no time for that this day.
ButchartGardensBC
This was our day before visiting the downtown Victoria, which will be another posting. We visited everything we wanted and even saw the Empress Hotel.
ButchartGardensBC
This is Crafty Andy, thanks for stopping by!

Friday, December 03, 2010

Granville Island Market

When we first arrived we knew we wanted to come down to this market and get something to eat. It was snowing and very cold. We have taken the habit of making sure we can have breakfast on our own and getting to the market was part of this day's activities. 


It was a very long walk and we made it to the center down there. As bridges go it was windy and cold, we were very happy to go all the way till the end of the road and walk.
GranvilleBridge (1)
Granville Island is a peninsula and shopping district in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is located in False Creek directly across from Downtown Vancouver's peninsula, under the south end of the Granville Street Bridge.
Granville (1)

The peninsula was once an industrial manufacturing area, but today it is now a major tourist destination and working neighbourhood. In 2004, Project for Public Spaces named Granville Island "One of the World's Great Places. 
From this bridge you could see the other bridge where our hotel resided, that Bridge is the Brurrard Street bridge.
GranvilleBridgeView (1)
This market has everything that you can think off, fresh produce and locally made stuff. You can find Apples, maple syrup, croissants,soap,chocolates, yarn, books et cetera. Here we were in front of an Ice Cream shop, but we were not that crazy about Ice Cream this day. This Picture is actually from the Sunday before we left. We went to purchase something for breakfast and the n some more souvenirs.
Granville (3)
Here we went to the Silk Weaving Studio, where this young lady was weaving. I asked her if it was ok to take her picture and she agreed. She was very kind and allowed us to see her store.
SilkWeavingStudio (2)

This is some of the Silk yarn, there was also lots of roving and all the things that silk comes in. Beautiful weaved scarves and the smell of silk was intoxicating. I did not get any silk here, but enjoyed looking and touching it.
SilkWeavingStudio (1)
This that you see is the Ferry on Hornby Street which takes you across to the market in less than two minutes as you can see by the video at the end. Is not cheap, but it is worth the trip. If you purchase a round ticket you safe about 1 Canadian dollar with the purchase of the round trip or return.
GranvilleAquiaBus (2)
The video was fun to make and it is in the hopes that you get to enjoy the little trip with us. Thanks for stopping by!

Thursday, December 02, 2010

Vancouver Souveniers


VancouverSouveniers (1)
Originally uploaded by Crafty Andy
We will start from the end to the beginning lol! These were the souveniers from Vancouver and Victoria that we brought with us. There were also some T-Shirts and some yarns  which I will show in below this  post . Canada was a great country to visit. In Vancouver people are not in a hurry, they have a very easy going way of life. They are very different from Americans, not better nor worst, but they do think different.

At any rate I love the chocolates we found and the Maple and Birch Syrups. Canadian beef is fantastic and their organic burgers are everywhere for a reasonable price. Organic produce is very common in Canada which was something I liked. They have started to recycle, but not as much as we do in San Francisco. San Francisco is hoping to have 100 % recyclable and 0% trash by the year 2020. I think it is possible and I will do my best to make it possible. Our behaviors have to change, we go to the grocery store with our own bags and the same when we go to the Pharmacy.
VancouverSouveniers (3)
This yarn is from Sweet Georgia yarns, it is called "Tough Sock Love" and I purchase it at another store. More on the store with pictures later on.  This is eye candy for now.
SweetGeorgiaSock

This yarn and more  were purchased at "Three Bags Full"



4458 Main Street
Vancouver, BC V5V 3R3, Canada
(604) 874-9665

Bus: NB Main St FS E 28 Av



I will leave you for tonight knowing that I have already classified my pictures by folder and that means within a few days we shall have pictures of the trip by venue along with some short videos. Thanks for stopping by.

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