After St. John’s, we drove to Gander to spend the night.  In the morning I woke up and looked at a pamphlet my friend Lana had picked up for me.  She knew it would interest me because it was all about knitting in Newfoundland.

I called the number provided to find out where and when I could go visit and see Newfoundland knitters.  Maureen answered and together, we planned the day.  First Bear and I would go take the ferry in Farewell, to go to Change Islands.  Then we would meet with her and she would have called the island knitters so they could come and knit with me for a few hours in the afternoon.  After that, we would go to Maureen’s house for tea.  It all sounded like a good idea.  We mentioned our plans to the other in the group and David and Lana decided to tag along.

While waiting for the ferry in Farewell, Chicken got caught in the lobster trap!

Oh nooooooo!

Being a knitter is an official job in NL

Knitters wanted! How cool is that?

Finally, the ferry arrived and we prepared to drive onboard

Ferry to Change Islands and Fogo Island

Change Islands has a lot more than knitters going for it, it is a gorgeous place!

View of the town on Change Islands

Change Islands consists of two islands separated by a tickle (narrow strait in Newfoundland English).  The Islands are located in Notre-Dame Bay on the North East coast of Newfoundland..  The south island contains marshes and bogs and is where most of the residents live,   the north island is barren and contains most of the public buildings.

I met with Maureen (no good pics) and she introduced me to the knitters

From left to right, Edith, Margaret and Sadie

We spent a few hours talking, sharing knitting tips and laughing while having tea.  They mostly knit for the american market.  They knit reproduction of items dating from the civil war for re-enactments.  They also knit socks, hats and mittens which are sold throughout NL, even in grocery stores.  Most of their yarn is from Briggs & Little in New Brunswick although they had a small quantity of yarn from PEI.  All of it is pure wool.  They were curious about what kind of fibers we used in Florida to knit.  Needless to say, I had a wonderful time.

Bear walked around and took pictures, David and Lana went to visit the only museum in the island.  They were raving about the museum, saying it was one of the best, if not the best one they had ever visited.  The owner of the museum even played accordion for them.

After knitter’s time, we went in search of the NL pony herd that lives on the island.  We’d hear that they just added three new babies to the herd.  Unfortunately, we were not able to find them, but we did find this one near a barn.

We had supper at the Burgundy Squid Cafe.  They serve sandwiches and fish cakes.  We had soup and fish cakes.  Everything was home made including the bread (yummm delicious!).

Does not look like much, but the food was delicious

All that food was served by the owner/cook who spoke with the typical accent of the island.  Priceless!  When I needed ice for my water, she went in her freezer and broke off a piece of ice from an ice block a friend had brought her.  He’d broken it from an iceberg that was floating off shore!  I ended up with an iceberg in my glass!

25, 000 year old ice in my glass of water! Chicken is in awe!

After supper, we went to Maureen’s house and sat on her porch while having tea and admiring the view of the tickle.

Tickle view from Maureen's house

Maureen is an university teacher in Ottawa and her husband Bill is an engineer.  They spend their summers in NL in this house, from June to late August and they live for the rest of the year in Ontario.  From their house, each night, they have a spectacular view of the sunset over the ocean, since it faces west.  What a life!

Maureen hopped in the car with us to go see the iceberg floating off shore.  Although it was quite far, we were very excited because that was the first iceberg we saw and it was huge! The size of a small island!

Our first iceberg

It was time to say goodbye and make our way back to the ferry.  We took Maureen back to town where her friends were waiting for her at the pub to have a beer 🙂

On the way back, we spotted a big beaver dam

You should have seen the size of this dam!

As always, I am amazed at the variety of wild flowers growing by the side of the roads.  Here they make you feel like you are in a Monet painting.

I love wild flowers!

Back at the ferry port, Bear and David had a good time talking.

The odd couple 😉

The water was so clear, I was able to photograph tiny star fish walking on rocks.

Can you see them?

Alas! the day was over and it was time to get off the ferry and drive back to the campground.

Going home...