Back to Reality

I'm back from vacation - falling unceremoniously back into the real world.   I spent a week camping with my girls and my parents at Arrowhead Provincial Park, which is near the charming town of Huntsville, ON.  The park is beautiful, with private sites, hiking and biking trails, and very clean washrooms (big points for that one!)  We had a week filled with bugs, cold weather and rain, but these all made the bits of warm sun in between feel that much more surreal.

There was hiking!

There was swimming! (At least by some of us)

There was good food cooked over the fire!

Corn on the cob,  "Special Potatoes",
and mushrooms sauteing in butter.  Oh Yum.

S'mores - Oh Delish!!

And...there was knitting!

Plain Vanilla 2.2

Cafe Curtains 

I even finished the Cafe Curtains ankle socks for Mom, but there was a bit of drama when I was trying to weave in the ends...

Oh, darn!

...and the local shops there didn't have any darning needles in stock!  Sorry for the lousy cellphone picture, but it was all I had access to at that moment.  So, the socks are almost complete, but not quite.

I also worked on my First Ever Toe Up Socks (which are kind of an oxymoron at this point, considering I've finished three other pairs since starting them).  When I pulled them out of my project bag, the foot of the second sock looked huge, and I had absolutely no idea where I was with it any more as far as the pattern or construction goes.  I also didn't like the fact that they would not match due to the planned heel pattern I was going to use for this one, so I took the plunge and frogged it back to the toe.  Yup, A-L-L the way back.  No biggie, I'm learning that I'm starting to be more of a process knitter.  It was actually quite liberating!  No pictures yet, but soon.

We visited Knitting Three Together (www.knittingthreetogether.com) which is a lovely little knitting shop in Hunstville.  I had visited there this past April when I had a conference at Deerhurst Resort down the road.  At that point, I had purchased some Sirdar Click yarn in a pretty hot pink colourway, which I promptly started knitting into a quick summer cardigan.  The plan was to make it to the high hip length, with 3/4 length sleeves. My progress came to a screeching halt when I realized I wouldn't have enough yard to complete it to my liking.  So, much debating and waffling ensued about how to finish it, and it hibernated.  When we returned to the shop, they still had some more of the yarn in stock!!!  Oh yay.  Super excited.  I picked up four more balls which should be more than enough to finish my cardi.  I also bought a skein of sock yarn with metallic bits in it.  The colours range from yellow to light green with some soft pink in between.  It had already been wound into a cake without a label, but it feels soft and squishy, and I just couldn't leave without purchasing some souvenir sock yarn.

I had a lovely email waiting for me when I came home.  Now that the Canada Post strike is over, SeeJayneKnit emailed me to say that my recent purchases from her are on their way!  Despite the fact that she was not responsible for the strike, she has sent me a lovely note telling me that she's sent them on their way by Expedited Post!  I've been hanging out by our mailbox every afternoon, eagerly awaiting the new yarn.  Not sure why, it isn't as though I'm without ANY at home!

And so back to the reality of daily life.  I am very much looking forward to this weekend.  I'm hoping to spend a bit of time cleaning, tidying and organizing, as well as some time in the garden, but I'm really looking forward to pulling out my sewing machine and whipping up some new summer clothing.  Linen and rayon knits are calling my name.  I'm hoping to base my casual clothes on the Loes Hinse pattern line.  I'll try to map out a bit of an achievable plan today.  The real trick will be finding the specific fabrics in my storage area, which may be kind of like a needle in a haystack I think.  You think I have a lot of yarn...you should see my fabric stash!

So far, so good, though - no new yarn purchases in July!