In between knitting and frogging the beret, I've been working on a ripple stitch scarf, using my hand spun made from Redfish Dyeworks roving. I like the scarf, it shows the color changes in the yarn.
Moving from sticks to string, I've started 2 plying the singles made from the wool/seacell blend from Creatively Dyed Yarns. It seems to 'puff' up as its plied. I've been plying on the Pocket Wheel, it's got such great big bobbins. But, I'm not as smooth treadling in the backwards direction. Maybe I just need more practice. For variety, I'm also spinning a bit of natural brown wool of unknown lineage, probably Cormo/Tahrgee something. I'm practicing spinning a bit thinner than I'm used to doing. I really like spinning from batts.
From string to random stuff. Every (almost) Tuesday morning since Christmas I've gone out on a whale watching boat as a volunteer for the Birch Aquarium at Scripps. I absolutely love doing this. I love being out on the water, looking for whales, and talking with the guests. Every day is a bit different, and we never know what we'll find. We're looking for Gray Whales, and we usually find them; but sometimes we find other things too. Last Tuesday we found Fin whales; at least 2 adults and perhaps a calf. Fin whales are the second largest animal to ever inhabit the planet, after Blue whales. Its really special to have a chance to see an animal like that. I didn't get any pictures; for an animal as large at they are, surprisingly little shows at the surface, and for a very short time. I'll take my video camera next week, and maybe I'll get lucky.
We see other interesting, large things. These are mostly above water and so much easier to get pictures of.
I do have some very wobbly video of 3 Gray whales being very, ahem, social together, but it really needs some editing. I will post it up once I've clean it up a bit. There are only a few more weeks of whale watching season left, we usually run until the end of March. I'll miss my time on the ocean.
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