Would Blow the Wool Off a Sheep, Ellen!

That's how windy it was today when we were out! Beautiful day but Ellen didn't 'stand' a chance. We did take her with us just in case we found a nice sheltered spot, so she did get a day out, but had to do the modelling at home.

Ellen is modelling a cotton/acrylic machine knit dress with a crocheted belt and crocheted edgings. It's knit from Berlini Smile (50% cotton/50% acrylic). There's glass beads on the ends of the belt. The dress comes with a cover up that is machine knit (crocheted edgings) with Knit Picks Shimmer (70% baby Alpaca/30% silk). This is a lace weight yarn that knits up quickly and easily. When crocheting the tail of the cover up I intentionally added stitches to make it flare a little. It feels like a web.

Today we went to CBS for a quick run, then went Downtown St. John's. It was 5C but with the wind being high, it felt a lot colder. When I took the last picture in this post beside the Visitor Centre on Signal Hill Road, I had trouble holding the camera steady. Lots of people out and about though - even doing the Signal Hill Trail!

Field in Conception Bay South. Couldn't explore too much - kinda marshy.

Leaves are coming out early this year.

Beautiful sky.

Even St. John's Harbour was a little rough today.

Seagulls relaxing in an empty parking lot. The Xs in the photo is the chain link fence.

Sun on rope always catches my eye.

I like the name of this vessel.

Our National Flag flying proudly on the Ville de Quebec frigate in the Harbour.
(Click on Ville de Quebec above to see Wiki info on the frigate.)

Fort Amherst from Signal Hill

Brave soul finishing the Trail walk. See the white tops on the waves?

Cabot Tower. See the unicyclist on the pathway?

View of St. John's Harbour from the Visitor Centre.

Let's Shrug Off the Cold, Ellen!

Shrugging off the cold was no sweat for Ellen today! I finished the shrug for Angela's birthday. Sorry Ange! You'll see it here before you receive it. I'll put a surprise in the box to make up for this. :-) The pattern is from the book Knitting In No Time by Melody Griffiths. I love the way it turned out, but you can't see the crossed stitches very well because I used Patons Devine instead of the yarn the pattern called for. It's warm though, I'll tell you that! Just having it on my lap while finishing it made me warm. So, even though it was -6C today, Ellen was all toasty by the side of the pond.

We went all over the place today. First I thought we could go down on the apron at St. John's Harbour, but when we arrived I thought it was too industrial for Ellen (besides being super cold and windy!). So I just took a few shots around the dock. There was a guy driving a loader and dumping snow in the Harbour and it seems that it's a great place for sea birds to hang out. I don't know what the attraction is, but as you can see, there's a zillion of them. Behind the loader, you can see a big pile of something - that's where they store the road salt.

Last week we went up around Battery Road, but only got a few pictures. The roads are narrow up there and there was a lot of snow around. We kind of felt in the way with the residents coming and going, so we went on again. In the next post, I'll show you some summer pictures of the Signal Hill Trail and Battery Road that I took while walking the Trail.

Today, after visiting the Waterfront, John suggested that we drive outside the City Limits to see if we could find a nice pond or snow-covered trees where we could find shelter to do the photo shoot with Ellen. It was a great idea. Lots of frozen ponds and snow covered trees. We even met Sparkie the dog who was out with his owner who was cross-country skiing on the trail beside the pond. Sparkie ran right up to me and stopped. Then he ran ahead and looked back. I knelt down with the camera and whistled at him. He came running as fast as he could, then came to a full stop within a foot of Ellen and me. Happy fella and not a bit camera shy!

Upper and Lower Battery Road in the distance.

Pier 17 - taken from Battery Road.  The dots are sea birds!

The Narrows - taken from Battery Road

View of St. John's Harbour - taken from Battery Road

See the pile of road salt behind the loader? Some winters they use all of it.

More sea birds

A lot of the houses had icicles hanging from the roof-tops.

Sparkie

Sparkie again!

We drove by Portugal Cove on the way home.

I Think It's a Secret, Ellen!

I finally finished the wrap/scarf that was supposed to be finished before Christmas! It's hand knit using a Vogue Knitting pattern with Knit Picks sugarbunny (80% merino wool, 20% angora). I finished it on the snow day last week, blocked it and it was ready to go for Sunday. Ellen was delighted that it was completed so we could do a photo shoot.

Every few months I take a run down to the South Side of St. John's Harbour. It's a different place every season so after a fresh snowfall I had to go for a look. I think it's such a cool place. All the fishing boats are docked, their crab pots are ready to go, but yet, there's a busy city right across the Harbour. There's something nice about looking across at the Waterfront. If you go up the South Side Road a little further, there's Fort Amherst. We'll have to go there sometime soon. That's another interesting place!

There are small bolted doors built into the cliffs along the side of the South Side Road. Some say ammunition used to be stored in there during the war and some people think the fairies used to live there. Perhaps they still live there because they can't get out. :-) I think what's inside those doors is a secret. A little mystery is good thing.

Then there's all the ice hanging from the cliffs. That, in itself, is a sight to behold! Makes the place even cooler (pardon the pun!) 

See the Basilica? Love all the coloured houses!

See The Room? (museum and archives)

The large white building is The Battery Hotel.

First sign of crab pots this year.

Portion of Battery Road

Water is pouring off the cliff behind the ice.

This is about 60-70 feet high.

An old train car. Trains no longer run in Newfoundland.