the never ending ball of yarn

I finally got around to a long-neglected WIP - the Montego Bay scarf I started eons ago. (I needed portable knitting, and my sock mojo has not returned). It's a lovely wool-silk laceweight blend, bought at either the Knitter's Frolic or the Kitchener Knitter's Fair, 2 or 3 years ago, and a forgotten booth (Maybe Grand River Yarns?) I started the scarf pattern that came with it, but didn't like the way the colourway as forming rigid criss-cross patterns, so I ripped it and started the Montego Bay - a great, easily remembered pattern, a perfect foil for a chart heavy, row counting sweater.

I planned on knitting this until the ball of wool ran out, since a half-ball of laceweight is useless. The problem is, this ball of wool Will. Not. End. It does not grow smaller, even though the scarf grows. (when I picked this up again, the ball was about half gone (it seemed) and I had about 12 inches of scarf). The ball is still half gone, and I now have about 4 feet of scarf. I knit and knit, and the ball stays the same.

Why doesn't this happen with sweaters where I'm never sure if I have enough yarn?

and the flooring job at the cottage? Awesome. The crew of guys arrived at 8am Saturday, and after having breakfast, got right to work. They got all the subflooring in (a HUGE job, and about 80% of the laminate down before we made them quit to get in some fishing and relaxing time before dinner. Sunday, they did a little more, and cleaned up the place incredibly well. I love these guys, and we're going to have them back (and hopefully their families) for a NON-work weekend to thank them.

Just awesome!

didja miss me?

It's not like I went anywhere (okay, I spent the weekend at the cottage, but I have been around since then). I took a couple of days off, leading into to tomorrow's Canada Day Holiday, but, like most working Mom's, when I take two days off, i spend then running around, doing more things than one person should really be doing in two days. My husband doesn't get it. He gets home and wonders "just what did you do all day?" I restrained myself from smacking him upside the head, because he just doesn't get it. He doesn't understand how much work is entailed in keeping a house and family functioning. He thinks going to the cottage is throwing some clothes in a bag and off we go. No thought to how the food and other stuff get there. Oh well. I knew this when I married him, and 17 years+ later I'm still around, so it's not a battle worth fighting.

Anyhoo, other than gathering everything we need for this weekend's big work weekend (we are kicking out all extraneous family members (i.e. parents), from the cottage, and are inviting 6 guys up to lay the subfloor and new flooring for the basement up there. They plan on completing it by Sunday morning, while still getting in lots of fishing and poker. Me? I'm making meals, ensuring everyone is fed and beered, and keeping two 10 year olds amused during the times they are not helping. I am so looking forward to this flooring, it's not funny - it will double the usable space at the cottage, making it easier to be around some members of the extended family. And after that's done, we take on the bathroom renos here at home.

But... that's not the main reason for this post - modelled shots of the silver grey merino cardigan are!

How I plan to wear it most of the time: The buttons: and of course, the shoes I bought on sale that match it perfectly! I love these shoes, but they are not "standing around for cocktails" shoes, they are "sitting down for dinner" shoes. (note my normal footwear in the corner there...)

If I'm not online tomorrow -

HAPPY CANADA DAY ALL!

I should clean myself up more often...

(Don't read into that title more than I mean - I shower daily and have pretty high hygiene standards.) What I mean is my attire. Our office is casual. Not just Friday casual, 5 day a week casual. Jeans and a t-shirt are pretty normal attire around here. This time of year I live in capri pants and casual tops, but yesterday, I decided to mix it up a bit. Skirt, top, little eyelet jacket, and these: mmm, big girl shoes...today I'm back to denim capris and a silk sleeveless top. But what really made dressing up worthwhile were the compliments! I could not believe how many people commented on what I was wearing - men, women, co-workers, management. Guess I have to look for more skirts in the closet...

I love it when a plan comes together...

This really pleases me. Not just the sweater, though I am quite pleased with it, but the whole thing. The idea of using this yarn for a cardigan (I had originally thought of a shawl or something with it), the way the seed stitch (my most hated stitch) was SOOOOO worth it, for the texture accents, and generally, the way I just started knitting with a vague idea in mind, and it worked.

(Wow. sorry for the fuzziness. I blame my brain, not the camera). I finished it in the car on the way to the cottage Friday night, and blocked it out on Sunday night when we got home. I didn't do a full block - I just sprayed the edges with water and kind of patted them out to lie flat.

Once I get buttons, I will get a modelled shot (possibly on me, probably on the dress form). But I'm looking forward to the fall, and wearing this with a black skirt, white blouse and great silvery grey shoes I bought a while ago. (I knew I would find a need for them...)

After finishing this, I did a little work on the chunky brown and blue cardigan, and picked up a long-neglected Montego Bay scarf in a wool-silk laceweight, but most of the weekend was taken up with getting the dock extension in, getting the ski-boat in, tending the gardens, and meeting the new neighbours (they're really nice). I've got an interesting couple of weeks ahead - some owed time off coming in fits and starts (a couple of afternoons off here, a day or two off there), so there will be time spent with my kid as he gets out of school, (we're planning on a few batches of strawberry jam), and time at the cottage (more gardens to plant, and lazing about to do).

But this was a pretty good start to my week.

so close...

I'm on the final 10 rows of the seed stitch border of the silver grey merino cardigan. The nice thing about the top down construction is, once I finish these rows, I'm DONE! (Except for blocking. and buttons.) No seams, and because I wet spliced the yarn ends, no fiddly ends to sew in.
this one shows the colour a bit better. And yes, the CHICKS RULE sticker is one of ours - sadly discontinued...
Now, I should wrap this up this week, if all goes well, which means I have to find some cottage knitting for the weekend. There's the brown and blue cardigan, but it's chunky wool + summer = not very comfortable. It will still come for evening knitting, since there are only the two fronts to complete. But I need beach knitting! Maybe a sock, maybe some lace, maybe this, I haven't yet decided. (I'd make the Berrocco Bell with some excellent hemp or linen I have lying around - and tons of fabric to co-ordinate).

Then again, I'm not sure how much time I'll have to knit this weekend. We are undertaking the summer of renovation - both at home and the cottage. The cottage is getting a new basement subfloor and flooring - we had a bit of a flood this winter, and sadly, the orange shag carpeting had to be ripped up and replaced. Surprisingly, we had a tough time finding replacement orange shag carpeting, especially any with that lovely "been around for ever and been wet a few times" aroma. So subflooring and laminate it is. Being my husband's family cottage, there are other people involved, so that's always fun. We are going ahead with the plans, and hoping the siblings pitch in. Some won't, some might, but whatever. Hubby and I are hoping to buy the place from the parents, so it's an investment in our future. And yes, we have a lawyer and accountant sort of involved, and the parents and siblings are aware. Unfortunately, it will probably still be messy, but I'm doing the Scarlett O'Hara thing and thinking about that tomorrow.
We are also doing some reno at home. At first it was just going to be the main floor powder room (we lucked into a great new-to-us sink and toilet), and I have been scoping out tile and wall finishes. But my husband came up with the "since we're doing one, why not update all three bathrooms?" line. And since we were well into our third bottle of wine with guests, I agreed. All I'm asking for is one functioning toilet, sink and shower at all times.

We'll see.

Lucky's at it again...

LuckyCanuck has come through for me again! I had nothing for today, and the week was looking a little light as far as content, but I find this in my inbox this morning! Thanks Lucky, I owe you one!

Her comments:

"Crafted myself a pink double-strand necklace out of more of those glass faceted beads I get on Queen. I added two chunky glass frosted heart pendants on the shorter strand, and then a bigger foil glass heart on the bottom. I threw on some crystals on some head pins and jump rings and attached. This probably cost me maybe $20 in materials??

I love these glass beads. Incredibly sparkly and so many colours, you can't choose. Might try something in red next time, maybe another in navy blue."

why I was late for work...

(click to embiggen - there's a whole whack of geese across the street!)

... and this was just a sampling of the number of geese that were wandering around the road. I would have taken more pictures, but there were quite a few cars lined up behind me, so I thought I'd get going once I was able.