My Favorite Month

Yes indeed, it is my favorite month of the year - September (in case you didn't know). It kind of crept up on me as August dwindled away as the merger workload has hit an all new peak. Last weekend, Labour Day Weekend, I afforded myself some good ol' weekend goodness.

I kicked it off with Stitch n' Bitch at UY on Friday night - something I was not able to attend for 3 weeks - starting the good fall knitting/shopping process with a big bang. Then off to the PNE, eating gluttonously with the bf. Beside the horseshoeing, were two lovely ladies knitting - advertising the Beyond Fibre fest coming up in Langley first weekend of November. Very excited.

Sunday I dedicated myself to a knitting retreat, involving only myself. It was lovely. I finished the my first Foliage toque, originally knit for my sister. However, upon further thought, I realized yet again that blue is acually MY favorite colour, and I would knit her up a nice pink one. My knitting retreat involved a field trip to Three Bags Full as it was the closest to pick up some pink worsted, and ended up getting some more for other Foilage toques for the girls maybe. After 8 hours of knitting, I was getting squirrely, campy, whatever you want to call it,and ended up leaving the knitting alone. Thank God I don't own a cat and the stereotype just might have come true.

Monday, day off (yay) started with a sore throat but a lovely breaky at Jethero's, but still the tell-tale sign I was getting sick. Sure enough, this week I have lost my voice and had several 1/2 days at home. I HATE being sick. Because not only can you not do chores or things you don't want to do, I did NOT feel remotely like knitting, and could only read. So annoying.

So I finished off Ross McLarty's novel The Memory of Running, a slow starter but vividly written novel about a man on self discovery after losing his parents, by running away or too things on a bike. Very funny at times too. I would recommend it.

I did make it to S+B on Friday though - a little coughing, but I'm glad everyone put up with me. Urban Yarns has some fantastic new yarn by Punta Yarns called Merisoft Hand Painted Aran - beautiful. Lots of choice, but I decided on this as my first - colourway is HP63:

 I completed my sister's pink Foliage last night in the wee hours of the morning. The two are done in Malbrigo's Worsted Merino, so soft and warm. It holds the leave's shape great, I think. I used a size 7 needle for the whole toque for both (rather than the suggest 2 sizes). The blue colourway is 150 Azul Profundo (great name), and I did the pattern as written. I found it a little long, so for the pink ( 148 Holly Hock) I decided to leave out the last two rounds of the leaf pattern and go right into 6 rounds of ribbing to finish off. She's happy, I'm happy.

I absolutely needed to start something on with the Merisoft last night (this morning). I knew I wanted to do a hat, so after debating for a while, I picked Hurricane. Although the yarn is busy, the aran weight allows the purl stitches to stand out well. A quick knit, and the yarn did well on the bamboo 7 circulars.

I really like this one. Shelagh Rogers with CBC Radio's The Next Chapter is back, so I had fun finishing this off while adding to my reading list.

I can't wait to use this pattern again in a less busy yarn.

I have managed to get a accomplished a lot this week. I am also working on the CanLit novel Cool Water by Dianne Warren - about numerous characters in a very small town in Saskatchewan - it has turned out to be a pleasant surprise, and is pulling me back to it.

Gotta love "recovering".