Oh wait, that's not a whale, that's the cat. At least, I think it's the cat. I just found a drawing of humpback whales and now I'm not so sure.
Slumber on, whatever you are...life is good.
Showing posts with label whales. Show all posts
Showing posts with label whales. Show all posts
Saturday, February 24, 2007
The whale obsession continues
It's Saturday afternoon, the sky is clear, and the mighty land whale is taking his hourly nap.
Oh wait, that's not a whale, that's the cat. At least, I think it's the cat. I just found a drawing of humpback whales and now I'm not so sure.
Slumber on, whatever you are...life is good.
Oh wait, that's not a whale, that's the cat. At least, I think it's the cat. I just found a drawing of humpback whales and now I'm not so sure.
Slumber on, whatever you are...life is good.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
More whales
We spent Monday afternoon wandering through the New Bedford Whaling Museum. This place is chock-full of things whale- and whaling-related, such as skeletons (blue whale, humpback whale, sperm whale, and parts of a right whale, all unfortunately accident victims, and all immense); objects made of whalebone; artwork created by whalers; tools of the trade; navigation equipment like sextants; models of whaling ships; and portraits, some garments, and furniture and household goods belonging to New Bedford residents from the whaling era.
I much prefer seeing whales alive and in the wild, but those skeletons were really interesting. I had assumed, based on pictures of sperm whales, that the skull of one would be about the size and shape of a van, but it looked more like a pterodactyl head--pointy, with a very narrow lower jaw, and giving no hint (to me, anyway) of the real size of the head.
The whalebone product collection includes several very elaborate yarn swifts. If you want to see photos of these, go to the museum website, click on “Collections Search” and “Search Object Collections”, and then click on “Browse” and type “swift” in the Browse Starting With field.
The artwork included intricate drawings done by sailors on sperm whale teeth and sailors’ valentines, which, from what I remember, involved a lot of small shells arranged in elaborate, symmetrical patterns, sometimes with a message written in yet more shells. Unfortunately I couldn’t find any photos of the valentines on the museum’s website, but there are photos of the tooth drawings--use the search function instead of browse, and type “sperm whale tooth” (no quotations) in the obj name field. Or, better yet, check out the museum if you have a chance.
In other news, here’s the status of my February UFO, with an angry cat presented for scale.
It’s the Moderne Baby Blanket from Mason Dixon Knitting, made using Knitpicks Swish Superwash yarn. I’m now halfway through side two of the border. I had some trouble with the execution of intarsia on the multi-colored blocks, but perhaps that can be interpreted as a personal touch?
And before anyone asks, it’s for someone else’s baby. We haven’t gotten to that point yet.
I much prefer seeing whales alive and in the wild, but those skeletons were really interesting. I had assumed, based on pictures of sperm whales, that the skull of one would be about the size and shape of a van, but it looked more like a pterodactyl head--pointy, with a very narrow lower jaw, and giving no hint (to me, anyway) of the real size of the head.
The whalebone product collection includes several very elaborate yarn swifts. If you want to see photos of these, go to the museum website, click on “Collections Search” and “Search Object Collections”, and then click on “Browse” and type “swift” in the Browse Starting With field.
The artwork included intricate drawings done by sailors on sperm whale teeth and sailors’ valentines, which, from what I remember, involved a lot of small shells arranged in elaborate, symmetrical patterns, sometimes with a message written in yet more shells. Unfortunately I couldn’t find any photos of the valentines on the museum’s website, but there are photos of the tooth drawings--use the search function instead of browse, and type “sperm whale tooth” (no quotations) in the obj name field. Or, better yet, check out the museum if you have a chance.
In other news, here’s the status of my February UFO, with an angry cat presented for scale.
It’s the Moderne Baby Blanket from Mason Dixon Knitting, made using Knitpicks Swish Superwash yarn. I’m now halfway through side two of the border. I had some trouble with the execution of intarsia on the multi-colored blocks, but perhaps that can be interpreted as a personal touch?
And before anyone asks, it’s for someone else’s baby. We haven’t gotten to that point yet.
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Whale-spotting
A bunch of us went whalewatching today. It was really amazing! Sure, it rained most of the time and we were soaked in ways I didn't think possible (my jacket with its alleged Gore-Tex was suspiciously water-absorbent), but it was worth it to see whales in person, and in their natural habitat, for the very first time.
I also managed to have some quality time with my sock-in-progress on the drive up and on the boat to and from the whales' feeding ground. As with my other pairs, the second sock is taking way less time than the first; I've reached the gusset in about 1/3 of the time it took for the first sock (hopefully the sock fairy isn't tempted now to add a mistake in row 5, or eat the rest of my yarn, or something). I did have a slight project delay yesterday during the transition to the smaller needles, when I discovered that the smaller needles had vanished, but fortunately I had another pair in that size.
Here are some pics from today:
Still at the dock in Gloucester, MA.
A whale surfacing and blowing air.
It's a bit hard to see in this photo, but 3 humpback whales (including a mother-calf pair) were hanging out at the surface.
A whale diving.
A nice look at a humpback whale's fluke as she dives. Ocean Alliance, the group that works with this whalewatching tour company, catalogs and names the whales they see. The educators on board said individual humpbacks can be identified by the unique patterns on their flukes. I think this one was named Echo.
At one point there were 6 whales and 2 whalewatching boats in the area (the boat in the distance was just passing through). Unfortunately our camera doesn't have a zoom lens so the whales are hard to see, but I think they're between the three boats.
I also managed to have some quality time with my sock-in-progress on the drive up and on the boat to and from the whales' feeding ground. As with my other pairs, the second sock is taking way less time than the first; I've reached the gusset in about 1/3 of the time it took for the first sock (hopefully the sock fairy isn't tempted now to add a mistake in row 5, or eat the rest of my yarn, or something). I did have a slight project delay yesterday during the transition to the smaller needles, when I discovered that the smaller needles had vanished, but fortunately I had another pair in that size.
Here are some pics from today:
Still at the dock in Gloucester, MA.
A whale surfacing and blowing air.
It's a bit hard to see in this photo, but 3 humpback whales (including a mother-calf pair) were hanging out at the surface.
A whale diving.
A nice look at a humpback whale's fluke as she dives. Ocean Alliance, the group that works with this whalewatching tour company, catalogs and names the whales they see. The educators on board said individual humpbacks can be identified by the unique patterns on their flukes. I think this one was named Echo.
At one point there were 6 whales and 2 whalewatching boats in the area (the boat in the distance was just passing through). Unfortunately our camera doesn't have a zoom lens so the whales are hard to see, but I think they're between the three boats.
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