Knitting my way through Cuba

One of the most important decisions I make before travelling is what knitting project to take?  It has to be portable and intricate enough to sustain my interest, ideally for the whole time I am away.  I settled on a double knit scarf, and chose two yarns from my stash:  a white handspun silk/Samoyed dog yarn given to me 10 years ago and a hand-dyed similar weight wool that I'd tried to use in another project.  I cast on 60 stitches (30 with each one, using a tubular cast-on) and decided that I would randomly knit dots rather than trying to follow a particular pattern.  I was very happy with this choice--on hot days I could let the scarf dangle off to the side instead of pooling in my lap.  Double-knitting means alternately knitting and purling with each yarn so as to create a double sided fabric, and so it's slow--just what I needed for a holiday project.

At Playa Mangalito near Baracoa, enjoying a "loco coconut", coconut water and rum drink.

East of Trinidad, we stopped for coffee and a paddle at the beach at Villa Yaguanabo.

On the mirador--the upper terrace--of our Casa Particular, Hostal Colonial, in Cienfuegos, at sunset.

At Playa Rancho Luna, near Cienfuegos, enjoying a Cafe Cubano (sugar only, no milk) served on the beach.

On the upper terrace of our casa, Hostal Enrique, in Playa Larga, enjoying a glass of wine.

On the water taxi to Cayo Levisa near Vinales, west of Havana.

At Cayo Levisa--a windy day!

After a swim.
On the back patio of our casa in Varadero.  Finished!  Six weeks of good knitting.

At Casa Marta Margarita in Varadero.

We found the Canada-Sweden gold medal hockey final in a sports bar at the Habana Libre Hotel--7 AM Sunday Feb 23.  We were joined by 2 other Canadians and 1 Swede.

One funny note from this knitting project--the scarf attracted a lot of interest from dogs!  It would be the Samoyed yarn.  One little dachshund at Hostal Paraiso in Sancti Spiritus spent a long time sniffing around my ankles... 

On the Road and Off the Beaten Track in Cuba

We were in Cuba for 6 weeks earlier this year, and I was unable to post to my blog so this is catch-up time!  We rented a car for the first 5 weeks, driving almost 4000 km, and had many an adventure on Cuban roads--from picking up hitchhikers to navigating without benefit of road signs.  On January 15, we flew into Cayo Coco which is roughly at the mid-point of the north coast, staying the first three days in Moron.  We then drove south-east to Baracoa, and then north-west to Vinales in Pinar del Rio province.  Our final 9 days were spent car-less in Havana and Varadero.  We left Cuba from Varadero (near Matanzas) on February 26.  This map from the Lonely Planet website will help orient you:

 

It's fitting that I use this particular map because we depended on the Lonely Planet guide book to find our accommodations and for background information on the major centres.  In fact we were part of a large Lonely Planet family--we met so many other travelers using the same book in a variety of languages.

This was our car, a Chinese-made "Geely" which reminded us of a Toyota Yaris sedan but lighter.  In this image, it's parked inside the gate of our Casa Particular, Maite House, in Moron.

The major roads in Cuba are in good shape for the most part.  Amazingly they lack directional signs in certain areas--it wasn't unusual to come to an unmarked intersection particularly in rural areas and smaller towns and not know which way to turn.  As time went on, I became much more comfortable asking for directions in my rudimentary Spanish.  In a few cases, we were lucky enough to have hitchhikers in the back seat who directed us to turn left or right...Izquierda!  Derecha!"  Confusingly, "derecho" means straight ahead...

One of the worst roads was along the south coast to Santiago de Cuba.  On our Michelin map, this was marked as a main road.  We knew it had been damaged by hurricanes but were not prepared for exactly how awful it was (in spite of having asked locals before heading out):

South road

The original road bed is to the right--the detour is on the left.

A blocked tunnel--the detour went right, along the high tide.  The beach rock was very smooth with deep ruts from truck traffic.  This was like driving on snow and ice.  I kept my eyes peeled for oncoming traffic and Lloyd focused on the road immediately ahead.  Fortunately there was no other traffic!

A broken bridge. 

I later read in the Lonely Planet that this road should not be attempted unless in a 4WD!  Yes!  Lloyd said this was as much technical driving as he'd want to do.   From then on, I made sure to read all the pertinent sections of the guidebook before deciding on a route.

Other road scenes...

Jose Marti Street in Moron--the main thoroughfare.

In the city of Bayamo

In the city of Camaguey

On the road to Trinidad

A Truck-bus--common in rural areas.

Public transportation is dismal in many parts of Cuba.  Hitchhiking is often the only way to get around.  We knew before heading out along the south road that there was no public transport, and so we decided that we would pick up people along the way.  At one point we had 6 people in the back seat--3 adults and 3 kids--as a result of stopping for what we thought would be just one woman and toddler (the others came out of the bushes!)

Tourists travel in more luxurious coaches, either in the scheduled "Viazul" bus service for tourists only or in tour groups, large and small...

Tourist coach navigating the narrow streets of Santiago de Cuba

Tourist coach on La Farola, the road to Baracoa.  This was a beautiful cement road, built in the early 60s, 55 km in length, snaking up and over the mountains.  

We had a ride in an ox cart at the end of a day of hiking in Parque Nacional Alejandro de Humboldt near Baracoa:

and two rides in old American cars in Havana:

This car was not a legal taxi so technically we shouldn't have been allowed in it--we only realized this when the driver reached into his glove box and pulled out a taxi sign to put in the window as we passed a police check point.  Whew!  We weren't stopped.

This '53 Chevy used to belong to his father, and was a legal taxi.

A "River of God" Liturgical Stole

I was busy in November creating a stole as a surprise for a Lutheran minister in Australia.  His wife Kirsten contacted me in the summer, and we started a lovely conversation by e-mail.  In one of her earliest messages she wrote:

 I've collected a few small pieces of material which I could post to you with a little note about their significance but I'm happy to leave it to you about how much of what and where to place things. Just as it happens the pieces are all mainly blue so a blue stole looks like it will be the first one :-) I like that idea because I believe that the blue symbolises "hope". In terms of a theme, I love the stole on your blog. My husband and I have a deep affinity with the "river of God" which flows from the cross to heal and bless and refresh the nations. So I'd love the river to be incorporated and the cross. It may seem odd but the symbol of the Ulysses butterfly is also important to us and we have one in stained glass in our church. It would be lovely to see one in the stole!!

Kirsten  sent me the materials on the far left. The rest of the ties are from my inventory. 

In my stash I found a tie with kangaroos--perfect!

The initial designs.

Stitching spirals--Working out some technical issues.

The stole starts to take shape on the design wall.

Continuing progress.

In the foreground is a stand that I hang cut strips of ties, ready for piecing.

The piecing is completed, and the stole is cut out.  At this point I was contemplating how and where to attach the yarn that Kirsten sent.  I eventually couched it on by hand along select lines.

Detail view, lower fronts.

The next task was to make the piping.  I decided to incorporate some ribbon that Kirsten had sent along.

You can see how I stitched and flipped short segments of ribbon while attaching the piping (which I had made out of striped ties.)

Excess ribbon cut off to be used a little further along.

The next decision to be made was about the Ulysses butterfly.  I knew that this was best done as an applique, but thought I'd try it out as a paper cutout first.  Yes, this is going to work.

I had a lot of fun creating this free form butterfly.  Thanks to Google images, there is lots of inspiration on the web.  Here I was considering a placement lower down.

And decided on placing it a little higher.

Next it was time to decide about the Celtic cross on the centre back--plain and simple, or...

...with a little bit of red behind, or...

...a lot of red??

I was happy that Kirsten chose to have a little red, and so I then attached it with some lines of stitching mimicing Celtic knot work.  (My husband is the model in this photo.)

The finished stole!  Lloyd put on long pants especially to model!

I chose a William Morris cotton print for the lining, and attached a custom label.  The "thistle" was in the box of materials that Kirsten sent.

Detail lower fronts.

Butterfly detail.  The wings are free floating---I just stitched around its body.

Whenever I finish a stole, I can't bring myself to part with it right away.  I like to keep it hanging in my studio for a few days to say good-bye. It's a very intense process to create something meaningful for the minister and for me.  It's important to be in constant communication with the commissioner, to make sure I'm on the right track, but also I need to keep control of the process and excercise my artistic licence too.  When a stole is finally completed, there's a bit of sadness but excitement about how the stole will be received in its new home.  I finally entrusted it to the post office and within a week it had arrived in Australia.  Here is what Kirsten wrote:

Dear Janet

I've just arrived home from work and your package was waiting. It's difficult to describe what it was like opening the box and seeing the colours greet me like an old friend who I've just met for the first time. I had a sense of something before me of remarkable wonder and depth and significance. There are little fore-tastes of heaven sprinkled throughout this life and unfolding the stole was one of them! For better or worse I couldn't wait to give it to Noel! He will just be getting a card for Christmas now ;-) I thought you'd be touched to know that once he unfolded it and realised what it was and recognised some of the pieces, he cried. He asked me to pass on his warmest greetings to you and your husband and to say he hopes we can meet you one day. I wrote down what Noel said so I wouldn't forget..."It's the most beautiful thing in the whole world that I've ever seen or had. I can't believe someone would make something so special...wearing this stole when I preach will be like wearing a garment of love and wonderful memories".

This beautiful message made me weepy too.  Thank you Kirsten and Noel!

A Fabulous Four Days of Knitting with Lucy Neatby

This past week I spent 4 days in the company of the very adventurous and inventive knitter, Lucy Neatby.  This series of workshops was part of her broader "tour of British Columbia" that I've been involved in planning for the last 3 years (since her previous visit).  It almost didn't happen--at the last minute, there was an emergency at home in Nova Scotia, but fortunately for all of us the crisis was averted.  (See Lucy's blogpost for details.)

The setting was the wonderful Okanagan Centre Hall in Lake Country, about halfway between Vernon and Kelowna, on the shore of Okanagan Lake.

This is a former Anglican church, now beautifully restored as the community hall.

The weather was perfect, from driving south from Vernon just after sunrise, to taking a walk along the lake at noon.
Inside about 20 knitters learned new tricks and techniques from a master.

At the end of the colour class, the yarns in my bag had been in a party--all tangled up!  

I was bitten by the double knitting bug.  I had dabbled in this before, but it hadn't "taken".  Now it has, and I've started a simple scarf using leftover sock yarns to develop some skill.  Both sides of the fabric are "right" but mirror images.  I'm experimenting with a chequerboard pattern to get used to manipulating two yarns, one in each hand, knitting the "near" stitch with one and purling the "far" stitch with the other. So far, so good!

My selection of yarns--odd balls of "printed" sock yarns on the left, and odd balls of more homogenous and darker yarns on the right.

Side one

Side two

On the last day, I wore the cardigan I'd knit from Lucy's pattern Venus Rising using the Kauni yarn specified in the pattern (haven't knit someone else's pattern in the specified yarn ever!), even the same colourway, mainly because I had a couple balls leftover from knitting a sweater for Lloyd.  Here are Lucy and I in the same but different sweater...

Happy stitches...