Re Entry

Today is my first day at home since early August and about the 6th day I've spent here in the city since the end of June.

The summer was a wild, non-stop ride.

We had only two weekends without guests staying with us, and had two full weeks with house guests as well. When there wasn't someone staying with us we spent many late afternoons/dinners hosting local friends. We put about 100 hours on the ski boat (just for reference, the average ski school ski boat runs about 150 hours per summer!) As you know, we got a 4 month old puppy that demanded more than a wee bit of time and energy.

With lots of help from Number One Son, My Beloved and I stained and painted the entire exterior of the cottage, re-carpeted the interior or the boat we use to get back and forth to our car and cleared a large quantity of overgrowth from around the cottage.

(After my brother's passing last spring we did nothing last summer and you just can't let things go at a cottage. The reason for all the company was essentially the same.)

Can you just feel the report on a stunning lack of knitting that must be coming?

My usual early morning knitting time became racing the dog outside to avoid accidents, walking and feeding him after that and being an early morning spotter in the ski boat - again with dog along for the ride and needing to be trained on how to behave in an alternately lurching and speeding open boat.

I didn't have any time during the day with everything that was going on and in the evenings skiing also reigned supreme both before and after dinner as the water calmed down. Then as I sat down after everything was done I would fight to stay awake a few minutes and then it was lights out by 10:00 at the latest.

It got to the point where the kids started to worry. Number One Son offered several times to miss skiing so I would have some knitting time and Darling Daughter and My Beloved gave me more than a few lectures on doing less and just taking time to knit.

But every summer has its features.  I had a grand time knitting during the summers of '08 and '09. This year other things took precedence. Now, back at home during the week, with much of the major work taken care of with the dog, I know things will be different.

I'll post something of what I did manage to do tomorrow and also a knitterly something I was thrilled to receive from verrrrrry far away.

I hope you had a good summer (with more knitting than mine!) I'm looking forward to checking my blog list to see what you were up to!

Thanks for dropping by! Happy September!

Where Has All the Knitting (Time) Gone?

I haven't knit a stitch in at least three weeks! Its years since I've gone so long without knitting. If I had even one spare minute I would be missing it terribly.

I've been busy with cottage maintenance, water sports, houseguests and lakeside socializing. Probably the stuff non knitters go to the cottage to do.  Me? Not so much, but just as elementary school report cards  encourage, I'm trying to get along with all the other children in the schoolyard ;) .

I've been getting my work outs done which is also eating into knitting productivity but I know it'll mean a less curvier me come fall which will mean fewer shaping and fit issues in my sweater projects so I'm choosing to think of it as at least knitting related!

Although also seemingly unrelated-to-knitting, there is one event that has made a huge amount of "room" in my brain while taking up every last scrap of free time in my day. I finally decided to take the plunge and get a family dog.

I've researched and pondered this question to death until finally last week I decided enough was enough and it was time to decide yay or nay once and for all.

First I toured a big box pet store a couple of times just to get a sense of what this might mean - financially.  On Tuesday I visited a breeder whose nursery pages I often visit. On Wednesday, I took Number One Son and went back.

He and Darling Daughter had conferred en route via texting. His choice was the same as hers - although she only had the benefit of having seen photos - On Wednesday, My Beloved, not really a fan of the pet dog concept, but supportive of my wishes on the subject, Number One Son and I drove up and picked

up our new standard poodle who we have decided to call "Hudson" (his creamy colour is very close to the colour of the Classic Canadian Hudson Bay Blankets we have on the beds at the cottage.)

I considered over a dozen dogs ranging from 2 to 14 months old and in a variety of colours. In the end we went for a pup who responded best to us. He is four months old but shaved down to facilitate the next six weeks lakeside in the woods, he looks much older.  His size is also deceiving. He looks a lot like a full grown (largish) miniature poodle. He is very smart and quick - so much so we have to keep reminding ourselves he really is still very, very young.

While he is demanding a lot of time and attention I feel like things will soon be settling into a routine where I will be able to squeeze in a bit of knitting time again.  I hit the library last night and got an armload of knitting books to take to the cottage and of course I've also packed the new Interweave that was waiting here with the mail when I got home.

Hopefully I'll have some knitting related activity to report when next we hit the city!

I hope you are having a great summer!  Thanks for dropping by to share my doggy news!

'Popping In for A "Moment"

Well that wasn't very nice of me to just post an FO and leave town was it?

It was very very nice though to come home to an inbox full of lovely comments! Thank you all so much for your kind words and especially for taking the time to leave them!

I've been away at the cottage for a couple of weeks...this is my view when I'm knitting on the dock, which has not been often for a variety of reasons.

I'm in town for a few hours today and right after dinner we are headed back up with clean laundry, fresh groceries, a new sofa bed for the living room at the cottage (very long overdue!), Darling Daughter (finished work for the week) and a friend for Number One Son (the first time he has deigned to invite someone up - it should be interesting!).

Whatever you've been up to this first couple of weeks of summer, I hope you're enjoying it!

Again, 'sorry for just dropping out of the picture like that!

(FYI for anyone new to this little blog, in summertime my domestic base of operations shifts a couple of hours north of the city to our wee little summer cottage by the lake. The road ends at the opposite end of the lake from where we are so we make the final bit of the journey by boat. Once there we have no television or internet, no private telephone line...really nothing electronic or digital other than the camera.  There really isn't even any cell service.


I do come to the city at random intervals and try to post when I do - I'll have pictures to put up on my next visit!)


Happy Summer Knitting Everybody!