FO: Ashley's Argosy

These are my friends Karen and Ashley. Ashley (to the right) is heading off to Thailand to teach for two whole years this Friday. She is going to be missed - she's bright, hilarious, beautiful, organized and she has one amazing laugh. On top of this, she is a great friend and many moons ago, I decided that I wanted to knit her something to take with her to Thailand.

Now you just can't knit any old thing and send it on to Thailand, since I understand that it is somewhat of a tropical country and woolen garments/accessories/items do not exactly make great Thailand fashion (all you people who spout about the breathability and "wicking-ness" of wool can just shush right now, even you guys wouldn't knit something out of wool for someone in Thailand). So I dove into the stash and resurfaced with some Paton's Grace (color: tangelo - sounds like ice cream!) and some 4 mm needles (the wrong needle size in the end, ...pecsh!) and the perfect pattern: the Argosy scarf. It took quite a while to knit but it was worth it because it blocked like a dream and now Ashley is going to float off to Thailand with gorgeous cotton-y scarf like beautifulness wrapped around her neck.

So you'd think that, after all of my enthusiasm for this project, I would have the presence of mind to take a picture of Ashley while she was wearing the scarf, but I was too busy giving her a hug and wishing her well. So instead, I'm stuck with this crappy picture of the Argosy in its completion.... and if someone knows how to photograph the color orange, please let me know!


Safe travels, Ashley! Keep in touch! xoxo

Homeward Bound

Off to spend a week in my favorite place in the world - Newfoundland (see pic). My cousin Natalie is getting married on Saturday so it will be a week full of serious Newfoundland-type partying.

Making good progress on the Argosy scarf (thank god) and will finish in the next week. I will bring it with me on my trip and will hopefully finish, but not while I'm partying, okay? I will also bring a baby sweater that I am working on. Hoping to make lots of progress on that because I will rely on my super-knitting grandmother to help me figure out seaming the sweater together.

Enjoy your week. Looking forward to posting photos when I return!

Lazy Canada Day........

Happy Canada Day!

Living in the nation's capital usually means that Canada Day is a full on marathon of celebrations. This year, however, DH and I didn't have the heart or the desire to get in on the celebrations... leaving it to the hundreds of thousands of other people who would be willing to celebrate on our behalf.

Today was the perfect day for Canada Day - sunny and hot, but not too hot (no humidity), and NO rain. A breeze to keep you cool so that you didn't need the A/C, and, of course, plenty of lazing around. So we lazed around all day, and then we lazed around a little more and then we capped it off with this most yummy dinner - barbecued ribs, jasmine rice, bacon wrapped asparagus and steamed corn. And not one iota of it cooked by me!!! If you had a husband who could cook like this, you wouldn't cook either.... And so I don't. I consider it my contribution to humanity by not cooking and contribute other ways - like by doing the dishes!

Despite the excessive lazing around, however, I managed to have a ridiculously productive day. I had 4 important telephone conversations before 11:30 a.m, I did four loads of laundry, I knit a baby bib, I read, I went to my vacationing parents' house and cleaned out their fridge, I walked the dog twice, I had a nap, I did a little shopping to prepare for my trip to New York City on Thursday, I updated my projects on Ravelry and now I'm updating my blog. And yet I still feel relaxed! Go figure!

So, I'm taking inspiration from the A.D.D. knitter and am making plans to finish up some projects that should have been finished ages ago but have not had the privelege of finished glory. This will be especially difficult for me because I am in a constant state of start-itis; and start-itis is completely responsible for my never-ending "procrastin-ism" (my definition of procrastination).

So, in pictures only, here's what needs to be done. See if you can figure out which ones are: the argosy scarf, the horseshoe pattern scarf, the mitred square baby blanket and the triangle goldielocks shawl.

Am going to NYC on Thursday for 4 days and my plan is to finish ONE of these projects by the end of my trip. I look forward to posting a finished pic next week. Cheers and Happy Canada Day!