In 2015, Sylvia Olsen and her partner, Tex, embarked on a cross-Canada journey from the Salish Sea to the Atlantic Ocean to conduct workshops, exchange experiences with other knitters and, Olsen hoped, discover a fresh appreciation for Canada.I’ve always wanted to do colorwork (knitting with more than one color at a time) and decided that Coast Salish knitting patterns (picture #2) were a good way to learn.
So Vlad and I took off early on Friday morning (picture 3 of our itinerary) to our first stop Custom Woolen Mills by Carlstairs AB. There, I purchased natural yarns that will allow me to make colorwork toques. I also purchased wool socks and wool pillows for our bed. I slept on my pillow last night and can tell you that I enjoyed it very much, firm without being hard, not hot and very comfortable. I will be purchasing a wool duvet for winter later this year. The nice thing about a wool duvet is that the wool does not move around so you needn’t shake up the duvet to redistribute feathers!
Our next stop was for lunch at Pasu Farms (pics 4 to 7). Pasu Farms has a shop which specializes in sheep products, sheepskins, lotions, wool, etc. The view from the veranda of this working sheep farm is breathtaking. The owner, Patrick Croquet de Rosemond was born on Mauritius and was delighted to speak French to Vlad and me and talk about his noble background. The intriguing seed that you see in pic 4 is called a Coco de Mer is is over 150 years old. It was handed down to him by a great uncle. . The intriguing, goddess shape of this one makes it highly collectible. According to our host, Coco de mer are the world’s largest seed.
From Pasu Farms we made our way to the outskirts of Cremona where we stopped for the night at an Air Bnb called: Krekwakwou. It is owned by Dutch people who have acres and acres of land with horses and dogs. Pics 8 to 11 were taken there. Vlad and I had a perfect two-person hot tub on our front porch and we made friends with the most adorable dog who stood up beside me without prompting on our deck!
Our before last stop in the area was less than 1 km away at the Fallen Timber Meadery where we had a tasting and purchased their Meadjito and Honey Buck ’session’ meads. I highly recommend these as light, refreshing and delicious summer drinks not too high in alcohol. Before heading home, we returned to Cremona for the most delicious pork ribs at the Cowboy Trail Smokehouse BBQ.
On our way home we stopped in Rocky Mountain House to fill up with gas and later in Alder Flats at the Grey Owl Meadery. Vlad and I have been coming to this Meadery over the last year as they make the most delicious mead in many flavours. It is 1.5 hours from our house and you can enjoy a free tasting and a charcuterie board (not free!) for lunch on their patio. I highly recommend their Pear and Cardamom Mead.
Vlad and I had a wonderful time and we feel truly blessed to be able to discover our province in this way.
