birds of a feather...

I could not help myself - I had to post this picture because how often do you get six blue jays in your garden with three of them vying for a spot on a tiny birdbath. These three look like they are having a good gossip session over tea.

Life feels odd right now. I am back at work after my week off. I get into these introspective moods after coming back from holidays and I try to think of the quickest ways to retirement that I can imagine. I love my time off - especially if I am at home working on my garden, or knitting, or going for a run along the river. Time is such luxury! Moments to do the things I love to do and keep myself busy with activities that give me pleasure are so fleeting. The Babe tells me that after a month of the same, I would be bored...but, not having had that experience, it is hard to imagine that this would be the case.

I have a good job - good in the sense that it pays me well, I have a degree of freedom, and it can be interesting. But my career does not define me - my love of art, writing for fun (not for work), knitting, running, climbing and my photography comprise who I am. I can't imagine I would ever get bored of these pursuits.

lazy summer days....

It has been so nice being on holidays. I have done everything I wanted to do but, regrettably, in a few days I go back to work. Sigh. I have been busy knitting fun socks...pretty colors...easy peasy, just plain satin stitch and instant gratification. I love my colorful garden clogs and - of course - one must have socks to match each color!

I have also done a little bit of shopping - on Etsy of course. The little print pictured above was made for me by Jennifer from littlebird. You can view her prints here. I love this print because Jennifer incorporated a little white kitty like my Tencents and included her name in the title and she stylized the girl in the picture to have some of my elements. This little print will grace the wall of my newly finished sewing/knitting room.

The weather has been cooperating and nothing has been hailed on...so far. Most of my plants have recovered. The only thing I am battling right now is - cats. Now...I love cats, I have a cat, but I dislike cats pooing in my garden. I had a beautiful head of a day lily, almost ready to bloom, broken off by a bad pooing cat!! I went to the garden center and was told that one of the best solutions is to over-plant the bed as cats like to have space to dig. If a bed is over-planted, they typically will not dig. Also, I planted some English Lavender, which cats apparently do not like.

If anyone has any other non-hurtful suggestions for keeping cats out of my garden, I would like to hear them.

bliss

pattern: retro ribbed socks by Evelyn Clark
book: Favorite Socks, 25 Timeless Designs from Interweave
yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts, Socks that Rock, Raven clan, Korppi

I started these socks a while back and finally finished them. These are too big for me so they will go on my stack of give-away socks. That stack is quickly growing as you can see from the picture above. I am a bit bored of dark colors right now - it's summer and I think I am in the mood to knit fun, brightly colored socks a la yarnstorm.

I have a wonderful week coming up. I am on holidays for the whole week. The Calgary Stampede starts on Friday, July 4 and I want to avoid the downtown like the plague. There honestly is nothing worse than the Calgary Stampede. It is a time when otherwise absolutely normal people dress like cowboys, drink excessively and do things they would normally never think of doing. However, this event is sacrocant in this city so those of us who abstain from watching little cows get roped by the neck and dragged by a horse typically try to either leave town or stay away from the hundreds of Stampede events that one is forced to go to as part of 'networking'. I plan to stay home, work on my garden, do some knitting, go climbing and just relax. Pure bliss.

Okay, so, the lesson in life is - NEVER KNIT ANYTHING IN A HURRY! And when something feels off during the knitting process, there is a distinct possibility that this item will :

a) be frogged
b) never be worn
c) be put away half finished in a place where my brain will forget about it!

Remember my little bit of yellow knitting from a couple of posts ago - well, it was Ms. Marigold. The way this vest is knit is very strange and it leaves a lot of ends that require weaving in, which just did not work well with my silk/baby alpaca blend yarn. Then I tried the piece on and I looked like I was wearing a sausage casing - it was really small even though my gauge was right on! And, the fact that I broke out in big red splotches wherever the yarn touched my bare skin probably did nothing to endear me to the piece. Anyways I am taking option c).

The fact is that I came back from Montreal and my garden was decimated by hail during my absence, so I had that to deal with that - cutting plants back, getting new plants for my pots. Then I had my final exam to study for, and my brain really was not on knitting. I think I got all excited about this yarn and it was yellow, perfect project spectrum material, and I wanted to make SOMETHING out of it. I quickly picked a pattern and really did not think about whether I like it or not...and...I never wear vests - so, what was I thinking?

Anyways, a new week is starting, new projects can be seriously considered and life goes on. The good news is that I finished my finance course and I got an A and now I have a glorious three weeks before I start a new course. Life is good. I did a lot of work in the garden, so above are some images of progress.