The promised pictures

Okay, pictures from one camera are loaded on to my computer. Stephen recently "upgraded," and you know the trouble that can cause.

So, picture-heavy post to follow.

Stanley Park. We walked about one day, checking out the seawall and Lost Lagoon and the old zoo (and rode bikes around several more), and here you see Arthur trying to take a picture of a heron at the lagoon. He is retro about his photography and uses film, so he tries to get things right, rather than just firing off a bunch of shots and hoping one turns out. I think the bird flew away before he got a shot.

This is where the poor old polar bears lived in my youth. They were always lumbering around here, sometimes jumping off the concrete walkways into the water, where the plants now grow. I thought the powers that be were going to make something modern and nice out of this grotto, but it is sort of intriguingly post-apocalyptic now.

The fireworks show. We did this two nights. I think some people spent hours holding down a good spot on the beach, but as you can see, there is a lot of beach, stretching off into the distance, and so when we got there about an hour and a half before the show, there was plenty of space.

The trouble with trying to take pictures of fireworks. This doesn't at all show how impressive they were. They were shot off of a barge out in the bay, and the booms thwacked us in the chest when they went off! Huge, sparkly, loud, for about half an hour! 

Here you can see the huge crowd heading home after the show. The driver of that car at the right did not heed the warnings about crowds... The night of the second show there were barricades there and no one tried to cross the flood of people, but the first night, a few cars honked their way across when the lights changed. This is out our living room window, and the one wretched thing about this apartment was the chirping of the crosswalk, all day long!

Stephen wearing his Ravelry T-shirt. Hmm, I see these are not in the Ravelry shop right now; it's a collector's item!

At last, some knitting. This is some grey wool I bought a while ago with some idea about a lacy shawl, but recently a Rav friend was selling some Habu with stainless steel, so I got that and am making a Kusha Kusha scarf. You can also read about the Yarn Harlot making one; I've been keen on this since reading about hers, especially when she mentions the Matrix. 

In the Matrix, all the knitting is a bit raggly. So I threw in some dropped stitches, and will have another couple before the end of the light grey wool. (The last bit of this pattern is knit with just the teeny, fine, threadlike yarn with the steel in it.)

I didn't finish this (although you know I thought I would), nor the socks I took, partly because of this:

I was in a little thrift shop looking at old knitting patterns, and the nice lady said, "oh, do you knit socks?" and I said yes... This finished sock and the cuff of the second had been donated to the shop. I, of course, had visions of Koigu or at least Regia sock yarn, but no, it was Red Heart. But the completed sock was gigantic enough to fit Arthur, so I really had to take it! My tension was tighter than the first knitter's, so my sock is a bit tight on him, but I figure we can soften it up in the wash and he'll have some winter slipper socks. I did get the second sock done and just need to graft the toe.

I also knit two dishcloths! Those will have to wait, though.

And so as the sun sets in the west, we say farewell to British Columbia, for now!