away in wool and sunshine

I've been away from the computer lately, enjoying a visit with my father. The happy confluence of sunshine, warm fall weather, and time to be outside took precedence over all else! We had friends over to our sukkah for wine tasting and dinners and desserts. We had fancy cheeses and 2 kinds of fish and homemade potato/leek soup. We've had make your own pizza night and fudge brown pie and apple pie and...lots of ice cream on top. We also ate out at lots of restaurants with my dad. It's been a great few days together.

While my dad was here, we took a boat ride on the river. We happened to pass the Manitoba Legislature Building, and you can see from this shot that it was a) a beautiful day and b)we've had more than our share of rain this season. (Look at the steps...underwater.) You might remember this view from 2008, when I took the boat tour for the first time and spotted a spinner right here...where the water is now. Here's a link to another sunny day in drier times! When our boat ride went under one of Winnipeg's bridges, we saw the knitting installation that crossed the bridge 2.5 times! It was a weekend full of arts and activity here.

Also, because it was Culture Days, there were events all over the city. We stopped to watch First Nations' drumming and hoop dancers. We saw big hoop dancers...and little ones.

My father left on Monday morning and began his long drive home. He complained while he was here that he hadn't gotten to see any moose. I mentioned that wasn't surprising--they don't just hang out on city street corners waiting for tourists to spot them. Imagine my surprise when he just happened upon not one but several moose on his drive east through rural Ontario. He even got a photo!

My recent photos are of more domesticated things...In my basement, I've got, oh, about 10 fleeces or so. I spent today packing up 7 of them to be sent off for processing. In order to do this, you have to stuff the wool tightly into bags. It's a bit like putting your sleeping bag in a stuff sack if you're more familiar with camping terms. Imagine doing that for a couple of hours or so. Right. It's been sort of a long day in the basement.

The good news is that I've got them almost ready for their trip to the post office. We're taking a drive on Friday to mail off some things south of the border in the U.S. This isn't worthwhile, say, for one small package, but if you've got multiple things to ship and need a little drive out of town, it seems like a nice day out. I'm excited because the Sock Knit Along starts on Friday, October 1st. I seem to have organized several hours of knitting in the car to coincide with the start of the KAL, and I can't wait!

In the meanwhile, it's off to prepare Cotswold and Cotswold cross wool, Jacob/Icelandic cross, Icelandic, and Romney wool for mailing. Hope you're having a warm, sunny fall day!