Yopping Update #16 - Plugging away

Good Morning Yoppers and Yopper followers!

This week I have been plugging away on Houlland.  The rows are getting quicker and the repeated sections make the lace chart easy to memorize.

I am on the 2nd repeat of the lace section - down from 315 stitches to about 230 at the moment so the rows are going a bit faster.  Luckily all wrong side rows are knit only except the five stitches in the middle so that always gives some respite from paying too close attention while I am knitting and watching Netflix.

This week has been semi productive in other areas, and also unproductive.

Monday and Tuesday I was away teaching and when I got home I was so sooooo  tired that it was early to bed.

Wednesday was my birthday - so there was quite a lot of celebrating starting with brunch out and ending with dinner and a movie.  We saw A Star Is Born and it was wonderful  I highly recommend it.  I loved loved the Streisand/Kristofferson version so I had a bit of trepidation about this remake - but Oh My God it was so good.

On Thursday morning we decided to go get our flu shots and then I had my Croatian lesson.  Thursday night I went to a play with a friend and it was an early to bed night for me.

On Friday I was feeling the effects of the flu shot and just felt off all day - so very little knitting was had. I did get my hand-outs and supplies list off in the mail for a course I am teaching in mid-November.  The deadline is next Monday so I was happy to get this off my to-do list.

Saturday morning I was feeling better and headed to my CoDA meeting.  I was quite weepy when I got there but as usual had a bit of an epiphany as the meeting progressed.

I wore my "I'm gonna go down fighting" t-shirt to the meeting.  I even wore it backwards so the slogan was on the front, not the back.

Some participants shared about negative self talk, and I realized that my t-shirt was negative.  It should read:

I'm gonna get up fighting!  I came home in a better state of mind.

We were on a cleaning binge yesterday - getting ready to have someone live in our house while we are away in December and January.  We got a lot done and it felt good to clear out the cobwebs (literally and figuratively).

Last night we had a lovely dinner with my brother and his significant other.  Yummy food and lively conversation - we spent three and a half hours at the restaurant!

So, all this to say the knitting took a bit of a back seat this week - most evenings I managed about 6 rows.

Tomorrow I am off to teach 120 km from home.  I am listening to a fantastic book called "Pirate Cinema" while I drive.  It makes the time go by and I don't have to listen to the news! (Which is too anxiety producing these days.)

Wish us luck that the woman we are meeting tonight will want to house sit and cat sit for us while we are away.  It would remove so much worry to know the house is taken care of through the winter months.

Also, yesterday I voted in our municipal election. Here is my attempt at a selfie.  I am wearing my 'On the Spice Market' shawl as I am heading out to an Indian restaurant for supper so it seemed appropriate.

 Most people I voted for were elected so I am pretty happy about that.  Now we will see if their promises were more than just campaign strategy.

To follow other yoppers check out there progress here.

I am off to rake leaves while the sun shines and they are crunchy and easy to manage.  I hear the rains are coming back on Tuesday!