Yop Update #30 - We have our suitcases!

 

First announcement - My husband finally got his suitcase (missing for two weeks) so hurray for that.  

Second announcement - After 25 hours of travel I safely returned home last Tuesday night and miracle of miracles my suitcase arrived with me!

The rest of the week has been recovering from jetlag.  I think I am almost turned around and starting to feel somewhat rested. 

Because I was so worried about lost luggage my carry-on was almost all knitted things - 27 gnomes, my Spice Market shawl and my Birdsong sweater.  I was wearing my favourite handknit socks and of course my Dragon gansey.  Suffice to say I was never cold on any on the three flights!  

I took a picture of all the things I had knit while away:

9 gnomes, Birdsong, 24 blanket squares,9 1/2 socks
And a partridge in a pear tree!

I arrived home to a number of parcels that had been delivered in my absence.  It was like Christmas!  A wool order from KnitPicks (including a yarn spindle), some long dpns from Etsy, two mini skeins and a yarn gauge I won during the Year of Gnomes, some fleece lined leggings, a new top and a blanket I had ordered (to keep me warm after my swims), and a present from my sister of a large flannel shirt to also wear after swimming and that is big enough I can put it over my head and change under it so I don't flash the whole beach after my swims!

Yarn cake holder - it spins!

There was mountains of mail to go through, and of course unpacking and three loads of laundry.  Chores I was happy to do because it meant I was home!

My dear husband met me at the airport with a Rainbow Roll from my favourite sushi restaurant since Air Canada doesn't feed you on the five hour flight, and I hadn't had sushi for almost four month!  Shocking I know!!

In between sleeping and waking cycles I managed to block both my Birdsong and the 24 gansey blanket squares:

On the knitting front I have been working on finishing another sock - Caffe Mocha - I am down to the toe,

 picking up my son's gansey (I have done the shoulder straps and I am now on the first sleeve), 

and I started the Passerine toque to go with my Birdsong sweater. 

Tomorrow I am going for my CoVid booster and flu shot.  I have a To-Do list literally a mile long of things to do and people to contact now I am home, but I can't seem to do more that one thing on it per day. 

(Okay it isn't a mile long - but there are 29 line items and it takes a whole page of my bullet journal.) 

I haven't got back to the ocean yet, but I did get out for a nice forest walk a couple of days ago.  It has been cold and rainy here but I found a window without rain to go check out my local duck pond and re-acquaint myself with the beautiful trees in the woodland trail.  (Note to self - wear a toque and gloves next time - it is not like you don't have a LOT of them).

Speaking of a lot of knitted things - I think I have to stop knitting socks!  Either that or join some Sock Knitters Anonymous group.  (I mean a real SKA 12 step group because the SKA group on Ravelry just encourages you to knit more socks!) I have a drawer full of hand knit socks and it is overflowing with at least fifty pairs.  Many of them I have never worn as I tend to have a few favourites and I just keep recycling through them.  I am thinking maybe I should get a table at a spring craft market and sell some of them but it is like asking me to sell my children - I am so attached to them all! Stay tuned - calmer heads may prevail. 

So that is all for this week.  I am two days late with this post already, and I am blaming jetlag.  I think my etheric body is somewhere over central Canada at this moment.  I am hoping for it to catch up with me very very soon. 

I've been living under my new sloth blanket as I sloth-out on the couch!

Oooo.  I forgot I have a pair of socks I can show you because they aren't part of my test knits. These were such a fun knit, and great for using up leftover sock yarn.  I do love mosaic knitting!

Leftover1

Dear Readers, I hope you are fairing well through this winter.  And take heart, my daffodils are peeking up out of the soil.  Spring is coming!

Yop Update #29 - When in doubt cast on another sock

 

Well, first the big news.  My hubby's suitcase finally showed up (only two weeks late).  So that is a huge relief.  Other travel news is I have an appointment tomorrow morning at 8am to sort out my visa issues.  Cutting it close to the wire as I leave 24 hours later.  Hopefully the appointment goes off without a hitch (or two, or three). 

I am mostly packed and I have made a list of everything I am trusting to the airlines.  I had my last swim yesterday so that all my swimming stuff is dry for packing.  It was a glorious swim. Water temp was 12C.  Air the same.  The sun was shining and there was a wind blowing so there were some waves to swim over. 

I finished a test knit, and started another.  The testknit I am working on is very fiddly with lots of right twist and left twist cables and I have already broken two needles trying to cable without cable needles.  Argggg.  So to compensate for my frustration I cast on a lovely sock designed by my friend Lia.  It is called Caffe Mocha and I am enjoying it immensely. 

just what I needed

Other than knitting socks and swimming I have gone for a couple of long walks.  There is a labyrinth built into a field about a mile from where I am and yesterday I walked it.  Very meditative

path lined with lavendar plants

I have taken quite a few pictures in these last few days to remember the nature I was immersed in for the past three months

my private swimming area

the seagulls often on this boat watching me swim 

And even got a shot of one of the many feral cats that come to our deck hoping for a treat.

I was making chicken soup and no she didn't get any...

I won a pattern from Imagined Landscapes for the Year of Gnomes event.  It is a toque pattern called Go Big or Go Gnome.  I couldn't resist. One can never have enough gnome patterns. Am I right?

So I fly on Tuesday.  Honestly I am not looking forward to the 21 hour journey home especially with worries about missing suitcases.  

Next week I will fill you in on my adventure.  

But now it is time to have a birthday dinner with my daughter.  Thirty-Four today....where does the time go?