What I did this summer...

Well, here's what I did not do... blog.

What did I do?

Held a Contest... This is one of the two prizes I sent out for great ideas on what to do with sock yarn... other than socks.

Lost a good furry friend of 20 years... I miss you Billy.

Went away... this is the sunshine coast... don't you love it?


Made a sweater...

Made some socks...

Fixed a furry friend, Ginger had major surgery to remove 8 bladder stones...

Fixed my house... landscaping, painting, baseboards and new living room furniture!

Now you know.

Decisions...

Decisions... So, I may have already mentioned that I signed up for the Make One Fall Fiber retreat. Oh once or twice... I'm gonna keep mentioning it too. I can't get over the line up of instructors. Talk about spoiled for choice. You get to pick your instructor for the all day Friday class. Initially, I had picked the Yarn Harlot because... well why wouldn't I? No matter what she's teaching, it's bound to be great! Then... Stephanie Japel was added to the line up. Stephanie Japel!! I LOVE her book and love her patterns I want to be her official stalker! Okay... so now what? I was compelled to change my selection. I am taking her class on top down sweaters. I love them, they are my absolute favorite thing to make. I still hope to take a shorter class with the other Stephanie but all the instructors are awesome so what ever I get I'm sure it will be fantastic! Only 7 months to go...

Oh and here is my latest Stephanie Japel inspired project. A wrap sweater in Skacel Urban Silk. Coming along nicely.


And here is a picture of Ginger, she's having a relaxing snooze in her bed right now, there is a sunbeam hitting it perfectly and she LOVES that!

Home again, home again jiggity jig…

And as a matter of fact, I did love Blade Runner.

So I went away and now I'm back. Sort of a last minute trip in that I planned it back in April but then the Car got stolen in July and I couldn't go unless I had a car and the insurance didn't come through until the Friday before I left (but it did come through) and I picked the new car up on the Saturday before I left so I wasn't actually sure I was still going until basically 1 day before my holiday started. I went to see my family on the coast. In my brand new car. We drove. Ginger came too. We rode the ferry. We went to the beach a lot. We had camp fires. The boy caught a fish.

He built a beach house with a new friend.

Look! Ginger on the beach note the knitting in the background.

Knitting happened. I made fair progress on my mini sweater.

I went to the Gibson's Landing Fiber Festival (honestly, it wasn't planned it just worked out that way). I loved the exhibitions and looking at some of the woven goods. I got some yarny goodness a one-of-a-kind skein of HandMaiden Two Four Silk, from the Knitopia Wools booth (enough for a small clapotis) and 2 skeins of hand dyed sock yarn in Autumn Harvest from Indigo Moon. There was lots there to see and I hope I get to go again.

I'm glad I went and happy we are home.