The Great Szerminski Adventure

Back in the fall I spent some time brainstorming ideas about how I could knit a blanket with yarn I picked up during our epic roadtrip. I wanted to include data (such as km driven, km hiked) in the blanket somehow. I knit a couple of prototypes and got some great ideas and advice from Lisa Noble ( @nobleknits2 ) It is thanks to her that I tracked homesickness and created our 'getting along index,' which I agree makes it much more personal. The photo here shows the orientation of data in each of the 19 squares that code for a state or province. The state/province abbreviation and number of days we slept there are noted at the bottom. One side of the mitred square gives the number of km driven and the other side has number of km hiked. Homesick index and getting along index are at the top of the square. I used morse code in another colour for the abbreviations and for the distances. The rest are just indicated by a number of stitches in a different colour. The square below

The last couple of nights around the campfire we have been making lists of our favourite things about the trip, as well as some ‘non-favourite’ things. The list is for us more than anything, but if you like lists this post is for you too! Each list is in no particular order, and we all contributed. Summary Stats: 127 nights: 88 of them spent in our tents, 93 in our sleeping bags (some cabins and yurts did not have beds!) 14 states and 5 provinces ~27 000 km driven At least 317 km hiked Favourite Campgrounds Fruita (Capitol Reef National Park, UT) Indian Garden (Grand Canyon National Park, AZ) Lake Pleasant (near Phoenix, AZ) Skidaway Island State Park (GA) Needles Outpost (near the Needles district of Canyonlands National Park) Agawa Bay (Lake Superior Provincial Park, ON) Sleeping Giant Provincial Park (ON) Echo Lake Provincial Park (SK) Favourite Non-camping Accommodations Ferry from Port Hardy to Prince Rupert (BC) Earthship (NM) Chelsea

We have been collecting some fun trip stats to share as we finish up our journey. This shorter post is dedicated to the Canada portion of our journey. Number of nights: 34 Nights in a tent: 23 Nights on a ferry: 3 Provinces: BC, AB, SK, MB, ON We have stayed in 9 Provincial Parks and 3 National Parks. ~7000 km driven No major car problems, though a red squirrel stole something from under the hood. Insulation? Cabin filter? We can’t be sure. Watch out for red squirrels at Sleeping Giant Provincial Park! :)  Animals spotted in Canada: Sand dollar, deer, slug, bear, raccoon, Richardson ground squirrel, dog tick, chipmunk, black fly, mosquito, bald eagle, sea otter, crabs, elk, big horn sheep, rabbits, crayfish, ravens, bison, leech, garter snake, red squirrel We have had the pleasure of seeing friends 3 times! (Yes, we have friends. Sort of.) Tom and Nicole graciously hosted us in Vancouver. We apologize for the bloody nose. We feel responsible. ;) The Kn