'Doesn't Feel Right Just Now

I've been writing posts over the past weeks about knitting, about adventures with Hudson, dipping my toe back into sewing clothes for myself. Yesterday I wrote about our trip to France last week. This morning I planned to add photos and post it.

But every time I'm set to hit "Publish" it seems another terrible event occurs somewhere in the world making me feel small and selfish to go on about stitching with linen or running around with my my crazy-fluffy white poodle.

There is so much sadness and pain about, some of which we've been close to just a very few days ago.

Last week we were in France. Our trip started in Nantes where we were part of an international group. There I had, as my dinner companions one night, some Texans from Dallas and the conversations eventually turned to gun control and semi automatic weapons and of course just hours later, the horrible shootings occurred there.

At lunch one day a representative from Instanbul spoke to the assembly, encouraging people to visit her city with assurances of security.

Waiting for a train to Paris I spoke with a man from San Diego who expressed concern about his Republican Party back home.

In Paris we enjoyed beautiful summer days and evenings, watched Euro Cup games in open air cafes and visited museums crammed with tourists from across the globe. All friendly and peaceable.

But there were armed police patrolling the streets and guarding facilities, full body scans and bag checks necessary to gain access to department stores.

Refugee families, with small children, sat on the streets begging, young refugee men trying to make any money they could selling cold bottled water and beer to tourists.

On our flight home a young teenaged boy sitting with his dad in the seats across the aisle from us had a violent seizure. He received immediate care from generous doctors and paramedics on the flight but I'm haunted by the image of his parents, sister and grandparents enduring the hours and hours remaining in the flight and I keep hoping he's now okay.

Meanwhile,  Number One Son is currently travelling home today after two years in Europe. He'll take two trains and three flights to get here and he's already been delayed at the Paris Airport where he'll likely now spend the night. I'll figuratively holding my breath until he arrives but it isn't lost on me, unlike so many others, we are among the luckiest of parents this morning.

Sigh.

So Did She Make It?

Did Darling Daughter's little baby gift get done in time for the Shower on Sunday? No.

But lets face it, moments where reality has to kick in are sometimes just part of knitting.

She was okay with that she said...

                  ...after all, she'd seen me, many times, miss targets...

      ...she noted I seem to frequently disconnect knitting goals from reality...

                         ...she'd just seen me try to race Number One Son's pullover across the finish line -                              I missed that goal by 3 weeks didn't I?

Funny, in my memory those struggles had almost faded completely away as I've happily undertaken/finished new and lingering projects the last couple of weeks.

Lets face it, moments where reality is quite absent are sometimes just part of kitting! Right?

(And thank goodness for that!!!)

Onward!

Changing it Up

I just read Brenda's post about how she's changing her use of /approach to her blogging.

I feel like I am changing up my approach to just about everything these days too. Over the summer, our food, where I buy it, what I pick up and then what I prepare and serve underwent major renovation after we were in Boston over the 4th of July weekend and I visited a Farmer's Market in Copely Square. Right then and there I resolved to make a point of seeking out such markets back here at home.

So that's what we did. In fact I swore off even entering Grocery Stores for the duration of the summer.

Of course farm stands, open air markets and old-time butcher shops have always been around and we do use them but this was different. I was determined to avoid any and all air conditioned big chain grocery stores. Period.

It was harder than I thought. It took more stops to get the job done when we went to town but it was so much more pleasant and relaxed.

Like buying peas in the shell rather than in the big frozen bag...

Fresh bread is hard to come by when you have to take a boat to your car before driving to town but when I make it at the cottage, that issue completely disappears and I barely have to leave my knitting to do it.

No Bread Maker - that's my covered bowl for rising dough set in the warm air atop a bookcase.

In fact I also made burger and sandwich buns as well as crackers, croutons and yogurt - all things I'd usually pick up at the grocery store. Rising bread and culturing yogurt are easy in the warm confines of the AC-free cottage and most of the effort is done by the yeast and the live yogurt cultures leaving me free to hang out as I please.

Home made yogurt, local blueberries and organic chia seeds - not blueberry yogurt

I did frequent an impossibly well stocked health food shop in town and a vintage family grocery store that sits on the edge of a nearby lake.

Without being able to access our usual brands of prepared food I had to purchase things I wouldn't otherwise have considered which in turn lead to preparing things in new ways...

Summer linguine with fresh orange juice reduction, Nova Scotia scallops, yellow peppers and citrus marinated avacado instead of the usual Marinara Spaghetti and Cesear Salad.

Breakfast! Bacon Foccacia, Fresh Banana Bread and Grapes with Coffee on the Dock as a change from toast/cereal etc. served in the cottage.

At "Cocktail Hour", the taco chips/salsa, cheese and crackers on this day, gave way to organic hummus, local heirloom tomatoes, home baked sour dough toasts and fresh Guacamole.

Grilled Shrimp over Heirloom lettuce/sunflower sprout toss with oranges and jasmine rice - 'loving the hot atop the cool greens instead of beside cooked ones.

Fresh Corn Soup (using boiled cobs to thicken the broth) with Field ripened tomato sandwiches on Grill-toasted homemade peasant bread.

Of course we did "do" the bbq steak/burger thing as well, but rarely and we didn't miss it a bit. Every day I just looked at what I had and dove into making something to use it. It was fun, novel and delicious!

It got me thinking about changing how I shop for more than just food and as you can imagine, it wasn't long before the question of yarn came to mind.

Maybe I'll save that for tomorrow! Thanks for dropping by today!

Mustn't/Must Mantra

I have a lot of diverse projects on the go.

I started drafting this post with a list of those things and honestly my heart started to race with anxiety at the enormity of it so obviously I mustn't focus on barriers, or on the dim prospects of finishing anything...

I mustn't. I mustn't. I mustn't.

No I need to just take one little piece at a time and move some part of any of it forward every day and then give myself credit for doing so.

I must. I must. I must.

'Must start by recognizing successful completions ('Mustn't think how each of these was on its way to being a blog post in real time - mustn't, mustn't, mustn't)...

I organized/hosted/cleaned up after a spring-time get together for my group of friends known as "The Coffee Ladies"...

(I was originally aiming to make this an "Autumn" then "Christmas" then "Winter" get together - obviously missed those targets but I got it done before the end of the school year. Go Me!)

A couple of family dinners were also "produced" including a celebration for My Beloved's Birthday with a cake that demanded the full brunt of my baking experience and resulted in quite possibly the most amazing fire-bearing cake ever "sung" into our dining room.

This thing was a magical combination of eggs, sugar, chocolate, butter and air served beneath a wash of kir-laced, warm, fresh cherry sauce and topped with softly whipped cream. There've been fancier looking, iced cakes around here but nothing more magically delicious and delectable. Beating and baking to just the right moment were uber tricky with this one (As ever its a Martha recipe if you want to try it for yourself !)

I've also been making the effort/taking the time to dig out/integrate things I love from storage and put them to use rather than just racing to cross finish lines with what's handy. Like these awesome ceramic berry baskets my sister gave me a few years ago...

The gorgeous table cloth that reminds me of a wonderful trip My Beloved and I took to Paris...

Assembling colour blocked stacks of well worn vintage and current cook books...

"Styling" these (and other) open kitchen shelves with colour rather than the all-white look I've used the past couple of summers...

I also put myself and attending outfits together for two successful business dinners in two nights last weekend.  The first "black tie" whereof I had less than 24 hours notice and the second that demanded creative purchasing and wrapping of a gift of wine for a young engaged couple (aka the boss's son and his fiance).

We adopted a "Candle Light and Wine" theme using an oversized vase as a "champagne bucket - style holder for the wine and tucked in a big round cande with jars of decorative gravel to put beneath it.

Added wood burned tags we made

And  a card using one of my photographs

All presented in a seasonally-appropriate beachy basket at the pool-side party near the lake.

This was super fun to do, especially since My Beloved worked on it with me and possibly also because we had some Sauvignon Blanc in frosty wine glasses as we "worked". No doubt it helped to fully release our creative energy resulting in something I was happy to see on the gift table.

We got a replacement for the outdoor porch carpet after a hot lawn mower burned a series of holes into the previous one. Lack of a new rug had been delaying the porch up set up for the summer, moving the indoor plants outside to their summer homes bla, bla, bla...its done now though!

I also need to acknowledge that last week's Peony parade  did not remain an idea in my head but actually happened and has been filling the house with the most heavenly scent for nigh on two weeks. Despite peony-knocking rains every couple of days I also continue to successfully manage the "show" both inside and out for the first time ever.

Intellectual "progress" on my attempt to build a Gallery Wall as part of my Living Room upgrades. In other words through much trial and error I am starting to get an idea of what it will take to do this successfully. This is soooooo much more difficult than I had imagined.

(Just realizing how far I've come on this as I compare this photo of the assembly from a couple of weeks ago to what's spread out on the floor this morning!)

So there are successes and progress. I must use it to spur me on to find, somewhere in this knitter's brain, affection for this knit...

I must. I must. I must. There is no reason I shouldn't. It is on gauge, on plan and has already seen many, many hours of effort.

I've also wet blocked the first sleeve as well as the body which is finished to the underarms. So I'm certain of the ultimate size and shape. The thing is, I have a feeling the sleeve could use more ease. It does fit and it is knit to gauge and my original plan so I'm hesitant to rip it out for the sake of a minimal possible improvement.

Resenting that its not done already is only further delaying its completion, turning it into a barrier to planning and getting excited about the summer knitting ahead rather than the gratifying and enjoyable project it should be right now.

Unable to make up my mind as to what to do and distracted by a billionty other things (see above) I've been dealing with the question by not dealing with the question.

I must move on this! I must I must I must!

 'Have to say writing this mantra down is adding clarity and energy and releasing the blocking anxiety already.Thanks so much for dropping by - 'feels like this little "chat" has been a big help!

And so spring really begins...

Washing windows and screens...

My Beloved's a cleaning machine. Everything for 20 feet around gets soaked but boy it all sparkles when he's done!

There's stuff ready to harvest in the garden too!

 After a long winter snipping chives for Sunday's dinner made me feel positively agrarian!

Until I started thinking about Saturday, when we made our spring time trip to My Beloved's home town smack dab in the middle of some of the most beautiful farm country in Ontario.

Up there its expected that whether you're an actual farm family or not you'll grow/freeze/preserve sufficient to prepare/serve your family 3 squares a day. You will probably  "own" if not "keep" a steer and maybe even a hog. You'll raise chickens for meat and still others for eggs. You'll also "put away" jam, relish, pickles, seasonal fruits, berries and vegetables.

The Garden isn't a hobby of Mom's (as mine is).
Its a collective effort the whole family makes towards actually feeding themselves.

Hmmm...
And here I am feeling "fancy" snipping chives...

Nonetheless I can continue to buy direct from local Ontario farmers as often as I can while

trying to work in my own little plot as well!

I've already started! 'Even "posting" a "Guard Turtle" to protect the emerging spinach plants. He ought to keep that rabbit away right?

"Positively Agrarian". Ha!

Men!

I'm a big fan of men. (I particularly "like" the one I live with who told me the other day he enjoys coming home and seeing fresh flowers in the front hall as he walks into the house. 

Men are a bit like hen's teeth in the knitting world but their contribution "by weight" ;) is vast. So today, a little nod to the men who enrich my knitting life...

Asplund (Sweden)

This guy's knitting is high art. He doesn't pick up a needle without creating something remarkable. I've tried to adopt his approach of playing around with a pattern until each element is just as you want it to be. 

In his most recent pullover he followed a pattern for a stockinette sweater but finished it with the inside out. Such a manipulation would never occur to me. 

Brooklyn Tweed (Jared Flood) (USA)

If you stop by here with any regularity you know I'm having a "thing" with BT patterns. Interesting to knit, always on trend and they're graded so as to give me a reliable fit. Knitting Gold! As of yet I haven't tried his yarns but as we finally have a source for them here in Canada I'm hoping that will change soon.

Patrick Madden (Toronto)

An integral part of the downtown Toronto knitting community and driving force in the Toronto Knitter's Guild, the course on finishing I took with him a few years ago bumped the quality of my finished product up a whole bunch of notches. It also gave me newfound respect for the virtues of the knitted fabric that comes off my needles, the importance of treating it accordingly and the opportunities that lie within doing so.

Beyond that I still swoon thinking of a chunky, marled, zipped jacket he knit himself and wore in the DKC fashion show. It made me want to stop knitting for myself and just focus on pieces for My Beloved. (If you click on the link for this sweater and scroll down you'll see a shot of him in that very fashion show.)

(BTW he'll have a booth at this year's Yarn Frolic as he's recently started an on-line yarn business - Signature Yarns.)

Steven Self (USA)

When I found Steven's Ravelry page I was thrilled to see a blog went with it because I wanted to know more about his projects. The things he knits himself look stylish and interesting to knit yet they look like reasonable men's wear without seeming tedious to knit up.

I've found he sees potential in patterns I've previously dismissed, interpreting and wearing them in a way that makes them fully compelling to me.

As a bonus he's always got an entertaining comment to leave when I post to my blog. Blogger gold that is!

Stephen West (Netherlands)

If there is one knitter I'm aware of that makes knitting look crazy fun its him! Right? This guy literally sets the bar on knitting outside the box while (usually) making very wearable pieces at the same time.

Benjamin Hole (England)

 A "new guy" to my "knitting world".  This interview with him gives a little peek into the process of starting a new line of wool yarn. I love how he "talks" about being surprised by the appreciation his product is receiving from the "yarnophile" community around the world.

His instagram feed makes me seriously think of signing up myself just to follow his bucolic pics of sheep and life on his farm.

In closing,  a little nod to another knitter's "Beloved". Last June the GTA knitting designer Lorraine Condotta spoke at the DKC and her husband was there as her tech support. He was utterly engaged with and involved in facilitating her presentation - the centrepiece of which was a power point presentation that brought the whole thing to life for everyone in the room.

Bottom line, when I think about it, my knitting life sure benefits from the men (few in number though they may be) within it. Thanks guys!

Have a great weekend everybody!

Ahhhhhhh Stockinette!

Yup. Rounds and rounds and rounds of it, without having to look or think and out of it a wonderful, drapey-soft felty-flat fabric flowing shapelessly out of a broken rib band just exactly as I hoped it would.

As it grows I get to ruminate on what this fabric might be suggesting about neckline and shoulder style.

The last 4 sweaters I've worked have have been in finer yarn than this. 3 of them had 10+ inches of positive ease. All required shaping, tracking charts or both.

This little thing though, in light aran weight on 6 mm needles will have only a wee bit of positive ease (<1") on 142 stitches.

The thing grows appreciably between commercial breaks and sitting down for a single cup of tea or coffee easily yields an inch of added length by the time I take my last, still hot, sip!

Its also lovely working on something that isn't wooly wool but still carries a hint of warmth about it as our cool spring weather persists.

It feels like there's time to finish and wear it before any full-on heat arrives - 'talk about motivation!

Yup. Rounds and rounds and rounds of satisfying, soul-soothing, productivity out of stolen moments and down time.

Do you ever feel sad for people who don't knit?

 I do!

My recent trip down the (knitting) Rabbit Hole or what I was doing while I wasn't blogging last week.

Early last week, memories of the Eaton Centre Pingouin Store came flooding back, fuelled by the comments of local knitters who also frequented the place in the 80's.

It got me wondering how many of the knitters I know today were in that shop all those years ago when I was in there too... Maybe I once chatted with Lorraine...bumped into Sandra... noted how cute Lisa was tagging along with her mom Cheri to the yarn store as they chose some fabulous turquoise yarn with faux-silk slubs?

Its entirely possible my then brunette self saw Trish choosing yarn and wished back then as I do now for a statuesque figure on which to show off my hand knits!

That all got me thinking of my earliest days knitting when I struggled to sort out or even recognize dropped stitches. When I'd just change direction mid row or forgot to purl on wrong side rows. That was then the reality of my knitting but in my mind I was greedily optimistic in a rich, vicarious knitting "life" where I effortlessly (and without errors or even looking at my needles) cranked out one fantastic, perfectly fitting piece after another...those Pingouin images brought it all back like it was yesterday.

All that remembering prompted a re dedication of what should have been blogging time to instead digging up photos of the FO's I did manage to knit back then. Then, in an effort to reconnect physically with those Acrylic-filled evenings and weekends, I began madly dismantling my Bottle Green Pullover from those first days with my needles. (The two pairs that I owned at the time!)

By mid week that exercise had spun off into a frenzy of filing, purging patterns and remnants, sorting needles, receipts and taking pictures/cross referencing knitting notebooks, paper files and Ravelry pages. Hence a walk down memory lane joins up with today prompting thoughts of another Rabbit Hole adventure entering pre-blogging-knits onto my Ravelry project page.

(The infant hat exercise also underway last week had me wishing I could easily reference the details related to some of those long ago gifted baby pieces.)

Of course digging stuff up and filing is a far cry from entering 20+ projects onto Ravelry but I am seriously considering taking that plunge, especially since I've no big knitting targets at the moment. I haven't an idea for a sweater or a long-neglected one needing completion.

I'm down to the final crown decreases for the hat I cast on Sunday night and the only "place" there's a sweater's worth of yarn in this house is in previously knit sweaters.

Fond memories, intriguing possibilities and a wide open knitting horizon! (My Knitting) Nature abhors a vacuum. This can't last for long and you can be sure I'll keep you posted!

Chillin'

I've been working away on Hawser and only Hawser and loving the continuity of the process with no distractions and no particular pressure either.

I'll finish the body over the weekend and then just have stockinette sleeves in the round to be able to pick up and work any time. Lovely!

I've developed a bit of a Christmas gift knitting list - small things that will work up quickly and be fun and gratifying but I need to hit Romni and Eweknit before I can start any of them.

I can't squeeze a trip to either of those spots in before next week so for now its just ruby red Hawser to enjoy through the long dark evenings. There's something that feels so right about cold weather, darkness and knitting when they're all together.

The weather for walks with Hudson has ranged between brisk and bitter but layered cowls and scarves have blocked the wind 'round my neck while the wool layer under my coat keeps the chill at bay. Back at home it feels fantastic to have exercised out in that cold fresh air.

My mitten collection grew a lot over the last year but I find myself imagining more effective designs to keep the achey cold from my fingers.

There's a new baby expected among my in-laws early in the new year so I'm scheming for that as well.

With projects "current", "soon-to-be" and "what might I feel like doing after that?" my proverbial "knitting basket" is a very comfortable place to "be" these days!

I'm just "over" being frantic about the Holidays. Nor am I interested in setting arbitrary deadlines for myself or exhaustively working lists. I've no little souls for whom I must demonstrate the magic of the season nor aging/failing elders watching to see I'll carry the proverbial "torch" forward. Been there, done that, will likely get there again and anyway by this point I can do that in my sleep.

Right now, Beloved and kids are most interested in "happy" and "calm" in a comfortable festive context, some seasonal treats and a willingness to let the kids go about their own celebrations of the season as they choose (at the last moment of course but such is the "beauty" of their digital lives.)

Meanwhile my Beloved and I have a PVR full of fantastic (mostly BBC programs - the beauty of our digital lives!) to enjoy with a big creamy poodle at our feet in front of the fire.

Now I must confess, this "picture" is not what you would see if you were actually to take a peek into my days and evenings of late or of events on the immediate horizon but its where I'm focused. The rest is peripheral. At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Onward!

Papa

Long before he was my "Papa" or even my Dad's "Father", before he was even married, he was a young lieutenant in the Sixth Battalion of Canadian Engineers. He had a horse named Lady Bird for transport and his job was to sort out the building and demolition of bridges as well as the design of all manner of war-related structures. He was fresh out of University. He was 22.

He shipped out to England, spent time in Belgium and Germany but like many Canadian service men served most of his time in France. There he was gassed in the trenches but was lucky to lose only his sense of taste and smell. On another occasion he was rescued after an explosion collapsed the trench he was walking through, burying him alive.

Throughout it all he kept a diary, the contents of which are largely deceptively light in tone and content noting the weather and friends he'd encountered as he went about his activities only rarely mentioning details of the horrors of the Western Front. On that 11th day in November, the day the war ended he wrote...

11-11-18 Monday

Cool and drizzling. The good old war is no more. Hostilities ceased at 11:00 a.m. We don't seem able to realize it. Everyone standing fast and consolidating on line at 11:00 o'clock....worked the old gramophone to a fare-you-well to-night. To bed at 10:00 p.m. Feeling better today.

By the time of the Armistice he was approaching his 25th birthday. He was lucky. He came home.

When I look through the pages of those Diaries and read the names of the many men he knew I wonder how many came home as he did. I recognize they must have all suffered greatly and that likely many still lie, as The Poem says, in Flander's fields.

I'm going down to the Remembrance Day Ceremony at Old City Hall this morning. It will be crowded and sad and I'd honestly rather not go but its really a rather puny sacrifice in comparison. I'll have this pinned inside my pocket...

But as the events of recent weeks have shown, "The front" is not so well defined today. I'll have Papa's pin in my pocket and a poppy on my coat and in my mind, the families of Nathan Cirillo and Patrice Vincent. They made the ultimate sacrifice for us right here at home.

And Hence a Knit Blog!

Your kind words on my crazy coloured leggings have been so gratifying! You understand them! However unlikely you might be to knit a pair for your yourself or even wear a pair if they were given to you, you see them as a successful knit.

Whereas they mystify non knitters as witnessed by recent real life comments like...

"Don't they make you feel itchy?"...

"When/How will you wear them?"...

 "Where did you get the idea to make those?"

 And of course, that perennial non-knitter's favourite...

 "Wouldn't it be easier to just buy tights?

So your enthusiastic but more importantly understanding responses have been more than fun to receive!

By contrast "Devlan", (FO shots today, hoping to twist Darling Daughter's jet lagged arm to take modeled shots tonight), will likely be a knit that's universally "understood" among the non-knitting public I encounter.

Devlan is the kind of sweater that will prompt non knitters who know of my interest in knitting to smugly ask "did you knit that?".

Their recognition borne of their observations that it is a sweater in what they universally think of as "wool coloured". Its also probably not like anything they might have seen for sale anywhere - often another important "clue"!.

In my experience the likes of sweaters such as "Tinder" do not enjoy such wide recognition, but then nor do they toil under the glare of critical examination. They appear commercial, hence, understood, accepted, "normal".

There are times when blogging feels draining rather than energizing. Times too when events in the life of this knitter have made it just plain impossible - sometimes for weeks and months on end.

For me though, its always worth it in the end to get back to blogging, not because the comments are complimentary but rather because they come from people who "get it". Its become an important part of my knitting experience. From England to Australia, distant parts of the U.S and
Canadian knitters literally around the corner, the city, the province and the country I can't thank you all enough for your kind contributions to the Sel and Poivre comment box!

As ever, thank you so, so much for dropping by!

Thoughts of "The Harvest" Running Through My Mind

As I'm picking out the cuffs and collar of "Shearer" harvesting yarn enough to finish my "Devlan-made-of-remnants" two thoughts keep running through my head...

"Am I really doing this? 

Partially dismantling this knit, over which I slaved and that I finished less than a year ago?"

And...

Isn't knitting just the best that it allows for adjusting and improving one garment while making it possible to complete another!

I'm also quite pleased with the results on the first cuff. I played with it a bit, decreasing to a single purl stitch between the K2's of the cables while leaving pairs of purls to separate them. I think the result is more elegant than the boxier original 2x2 ribbing.

Good thing too because I need something positive to focus on as I still don't know if I'm gaining enough yardage for Devlan and trying to knit with my fingers crossed messes up my gauge! ;)

Have a great weekend. Thanks for dropping by!

Harvest Time

'Not the harvest of squash or apples or thinking of Thanksgiving or turkey. I'm talking yarn.

Harvesting yarn I like from sweaters I'm done wearing.

Like this basic top down pattern of my own devising from four years ago.

The yarn is Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed (Aran that looks and knits like worsted!) I adore the colour and the tweed bits keep it from feeling like the "electric blue" I wore in the 80's.

 

Last winter, feeling less than happy with the sweater, I updated and sorted its wavy front edges by adding a contrasting crocheted detail in grey and changing the buttons to match.

'Also addressed the gaping neckline by adding a little pleat to the back neck edge. Nonetheless I'm over the asymmetrical front and I'm especially done with the sleeves (originally my favourite part!)

Now I really want this yarn to instead be either Bray by Jared Flood or Trillium by Michelle Wang.

The second "harvest" might be 1200 meters of Bulky Alpaca won at a DKC meeting currently knit up as this...

 It's one of my knitting triumphs in many ways...lots of fiddling with drape and size, gauge and pattern mods to accommodate the weight and stretch of the heavy Alpaca worked in a Debbie Bliss pattern designed for wool.

I wore this sweater almost every day last winter. Its warmth is not to be underestimated. Once again, though, the sleeves are bugging me while the spectacular yarn continues to draw me in.  I've no specific plan for this stuff beyond a big, luxurious wrap - maybe using the darker grey as a stripe along one end. Maybe even maintaining the broken rib stitch of the current sweater.

Of course I'll do a pattern search as well - the idea to harvest this one is still in its infancy.

I'll contemplate these ideas a bit over the long weekend as I work on the sleeves for Devlan and Hudson's Double Knit Dog Mat and take in the autumn ambiance of the woods outside the cottage windows.

Its just My Beloved and I (and a "bit" of a Poodle!) for Thanksgiving weekend this year. Darling Daughter took to the skies last evening and I've received word she's safely arrived at her London destination. (My camera is with her. I feel like I'm missing a limb!)

I've sent her with a Proxy form for Number One Son to sign so his vote can still be counted in the upcoming mayoral election. He'll sign it today and she'll drop it in the mail to me in London this afternoon as she only arrives home on election day. In case her flight is delayed I had her complete and leave behind a Proxy form too.*

As for turkey this weekend, I picked up a turkey breast which I'll de-bone and pound into a paillard and roll it with stuffing rouladen-style. I'm done most of my closing-related chores at the cottage so other than cooking I have a fair amount of knitting time to look forward to while I day dream about ripping apart things I've already finished!?

Have a great weekend,. Thanks for dropping by!


*There is never a reason not to cast a ballot in the kind of democratic elections we are blessed to have and as far as I'm concerned there has never been a more important election in this city or one with more at stake. I want our kids to know voting matters and that its not just that its worthwhile, rather, like jury duty, its a responsibility of being an adult. I don't meddle in their lives or with their grown decisions but I believe it is a parent's responsibility to convey and model the importance of civic engagement, hence the Proxy frenzy!

Wandering Mind

As with my experience of this Shepherd and Shearer yarn last autumn, I'm finding this wool demanding attention. It draws my mind away from the knitting with its lingering aroma of lanolin, the stickiness of the fibers, the deep creaminess of the natural colour almost lit from within and the bits of hay and grass reminding my fingers of the place from which all this was borne...

   Its not unlike cooking with perfectly ripe, field grown tomatoes sourced from a local farm stand...

Spaghetti Sauce Prep 2014

Or the wonders of mixing flour, water, butter and leavening...

Buttermilk "Kiss" Biscuits

Rising biscuits, wintertime dinners from summertime harvests, natural stuff transformed so simply into practical and beautiful  things.

So too this wool reminds me, the sheep grazed and grew their fleece, the Shearer relieved them of their "burden". Cleaned and spun, I washed it to yield sweaters to keep us warm for years to come.

When I'm done with this lovely stuff, I'll miss its "nagging". This morning, as I'll roll the final skein into a ball I'll be a bit sad to see it "go" but by doing so, a wonderful new knit will get done and soon be ready to wear!

Good thing too - because everywhere I look are reminders that fall is well underway...

Winter can't be far behind and its going to be a lot more comfortable with this knit in my wardrobe!

Thanks for dropping by today!

"Travelling"

Brenda had an autumn road trip yesterday to Camilla Valley Farms with a bunch of other knitters. Lucky Girl!

Cheryl seems to take one awesome trip with her husband after another these days giving great detailed accounts. The slot canyons of her most recent trip are just magical!

Lyn has undertaken another of her amazing adventures - this time to Europe - yarn shops, museums, the loveliest little towns, architecture. She could plan a trip for me anytime! I love the places she visits and the things she sees along the way. I also admire her determination to make what seems like a huge undertaking leaving Australia to go so, so far afield!

Its putting me in a mood for a "trip" too so I'm "visiting" yarn shops in London, Edinburgh and Dublin...on line!

Darling Daughter is off on vacation next week, visiting those three great cities (and her brother!) so I'm scheming about sending her on an errand or two for her "Mum"/"Maithair"/"Mither" depending on her location!

I also had a wee outing of my own yesterday to Romni Wools. My order of Briggs and Little "Super" was in and I need it to finish Hudson's Double Knitted Dog Mat.

The Briggs and Little was at the front of the store in a display celebrating Canadian Wool Week but I didn't stop there, also travelling to the Wall of Worsted, the Sock Section and what I think of as the 'British Bit" (Debbie Bliss and Rowan).

Heading "slightly" further afield than I did, My Beloved flew to our "left coast" yesterday morning. A car picked him up to take him to the airport just as Hudson and I were arriving home from our morning walk. Hudson naturally wanted to visit with the driver who was standing beside the car so I chatted with him for a couple of minutes before driver, car and Beloved were off.

On my way home to the north end from Romni, hours and hours later, winding my way through this city of millions of people and hundreds of thousands of vehicles, past traffic snarls and trying to avoid construction sites, schools letting out and the like I was sitting at a mid town red light, and who did I see in the car right beside me? That same driver!

He had no doubt spent the day driving - as had I, to some degree - what are the chances of us ending up side by side like that?

Ah the wonders of "Travel". I'm having a good dose of it via bloggers and daughters and drivers without even having to pack a bag!

Meanwhile I'm pretty quickly also "travelling" from hem edge to dividing for front and back on Devlan - with this yarn its a lovely trip indeed!

Thanks for dropping by!

And now September

Everyone says it was a weird summer, and we certainly found it to be just that. In our case especially so due to the absence of Number One Son from the cottage.

Rather than think of the things that the summer wasn't though, I focused on what it could be given the novel circumstances.

For example, as many Knitters have commented, the cooler weather was good for knitting and I found it to be just that. Instead of working on things in an orderly fashion that might lead to something - anything, getting finished, I enjoyed a randomized "what do I feel like working on" approach.

I also indulged in more than a bit of "what do I feel like eating".  So along with the summer bedding and volumes of towels to launder, last night I also "brought home" a bunch of weight to lose. (This was clearly illustrated over the weekend as Darling Daughter helped me with FO shots of Tinder. I won't post the more telling images she captured but I'll print off a copy for posting on the fridge this morning.

And so September - that "getting back into a routine" time drummed into us in the opening decades of our lives. As my son takes a break from it, his mother will embrace it, as I haven't been able to do since the year he was born and Darling Daughter started school because this year I can put the effort into my own "routine".

'Time to shrink that WIP list and while I'm at it, my waistline! 'Keep my hands on the needles instead of the goodies and I should accomplish both tasks.

Onward!

Mid Life Colour

The May lecturer at the DKC was local Twisted Traditions designer Lorraine Condotta aka blogger The Sherriff of Knittingham.

Lorraine talked about her experience discovering and then designing Fair Isle that had the audience in rapt attention. (Rapt attention changing to gasps when she casually walked over to the dress form adorned with one of her creations and cut unreinforced collar and sleeve steeks to demonstrate her confidence in the stickiness of Shetland Wool!)

In talking about colour she referenced the notion of having a "mid life colour" - one that she previously hadn't considered that suddenly grabbed her attention, demanding use. In Lorraine's case it was yellow.

I've been thinking about that ever since, wondering what mine might be and I think my mid life colour seems to be an absence of colour per se. Natural, undyed, white through vaying shades of grey seem to be my current thing after decades of bold colour choices in everything from home decor to my clothing.

Its certainly coming out in my knitting...

Over the winter the painting I did around the house was all from the "whites" section of the colour deck...

After a decade of driving a cherry red car, the best part of which was the cherry-red dash that matched the exterior, I pushed for the replacement vehicle to be "Pearl White".

The question is when, four years ago this week, I went out in search of a Brown Poodle and instead came home with this...

...was that an early manifestation of my mid life colour change or the trigger that prompted it? Something to ponder as I head off to Ikea to get a pair of basic white curtain panels and a white picture frame for the cottage...hmmmmm

Not that anyone stopping by here might be old enough for such a question but just in the event someone is... do you have a mid life colour?