on to vacation...

It is very clearly time for me to go on holiday. Have a rest. Get away for a bit. Why? Today I've walked two dogs, gotten fresh corn ready for the freezer, done some work stuff, unpacked 3 large packing boxes, dealt with a small meltdown with the spouse, done laundry for the trip, including dodging rain showers to hang it outside...and it's just past lunch time. I'm pretty tired...and I've been on hyperdrive for so long with this move that it's hard to remember what normal feels like. Normal is, well, so far away that I've forgotten it. I've been in Winnipeg just a month. I've been packing, unpacking, travelling and moving things for about 4 months. I'm beat.


A couple of days ago, when I wasn't canning dilly beans or pickled cabbage, I washed a lot of handspun yarn to set twist and fulled some handknit mittens. (the mittens are plain old white wool, not that interesting.) The yarn, however? You may remember, I had some yarn I felt I must spin before I left Kentucky. It was oddly irrational. Well, I found that box, and I just started plying. Several skeins later, all the CVM yarn is plied. There's still one skein of Shetland left to ply, but it's been a nice slow transition into spinning in my new house. Here's some of the yarn--it's roughly fingering to sport weight, a 2 ply. I'm excited about it.

I promised a photo of the yarn I got at the Knit Out (held once a year, at a local park) yarn swap. I hadn't expected to come home with a thing, but this hopped into my arms without me realizing it. It's interesting stuff. On left, 2 skeins of ecoknit organic sage green cotton--stuff I enjoy knitting with and would have bought myself! In the middle, there's a lot of pink. That is a yarn called Lambada, a 50% cotton, 50% Viscose mix. The knitter/crocheter who did this made 80! flowers before getting bored and giving up with the project. I'm thrilled with it, I expect I'll use all her work and incorporate those flowers into whatever I knit or crochet. The "Boogie" box in the back is nearly a full box of white Viscose tape. Ideal for curtains, in my opinon, or a slinky top. (If you know me, I'll likely go for the curtains. Slinky isn't really my style.)

Now, I don't usually buy viscose. It's not all that environmentally friendly, and I'll explain a lot more about that in Knit Green, which will be coming out in just a month! However, free, secondhand yarn of any variety needs to be used. It was calling out to me to be used...re-using and revisioning something discarded is better than, well, discarding it. So, it came home with me. By knitting this, I'm not contributing to the production of viscose, and I'm not financially supporting it. I am, however, supporting the notion of a friendly yarn swap, and this was one of the best I've been too. Just wish I'd been able to get open enough boxes of stash to contribute! Maybe next year.

You may have noticed that I've put links to a variety of bookshops on the right side of the blog. I was encouraged by the powers that be to show that I support all bookshops, everywhere, (of course. I obviously support all books...) rather than showing preference to only one retailer. It would be just fantastic if you were to wander over there to one of those links (any book store is fine, really...no judgement call just now) and order a copy of Knit Green so it can arrive at your house hot off the press. commercial pitch now over...

In the meanwhile, I'm doing my best to plan for my trip, in the midst of acquiring dog licenses, (not) acquiring driver's licenses --a story for another time, and doing all the other myriad details of handling life in a new country. I'm pretty tired. Like Sally the dog demonstrates--we're pretty focused around here, and we've got a lot to point at and do. Sally, our resident pointer mix, does most of the pointing.

I'm going to focus, with the best of intentions, on resting a little more. In that vein, you may not hear from me for a while. (internet access will likely be thin on the ground as well on my trip.) I'll be back here in September, ready to take on lots of new adventures. Until then, imagine I am lollygagging in the sunshine. Resting. Trying to kick back and...relax. I may have forgotten how.

Note: Harry and Sally demonstrate--complete with gray sheep toy--how to take a break. It apparently can be done, even with highstrung bird dogs!

See you in a bit.... Take care.