worth a gamble

As of Friday morning, the forecast for Vermont was all sorts of doom and gloom. Family pow-wow made it clear that we all really wanted to go camping, though, so we packed up and headed out. Sunshine for the ride there, some clouds during the 20 min. it takes us to set up camp, and a pleasant evening! Raindrops started to fall at dusk, so kids headed for the tents to read by headlamp and I continued knitting by the dwindling fire, looking oh so stylish in my fabu rain poncho and headlamp!

We were dry and cozy in our tents as it rained overnight, but there was sunshine in the morning...

and the remainder of the weekend had only a little bit of rain here and there, certainly not enough to put a damper on anything, mostly with glorious blue skies and bright sunshine!

Since it's early in the season, we had the campground practically to ourselves, which was exceptionally peaceful and beautiful. There was much walking, biking, reading, fishing (above - Jesse in red, Scott on the shore) campfire cooking, drinking of local brews (Magic Hat #9 and Long Trail Belgian White -- omg, so good), and a good bit of knitting. I'm pretty close to starting the saddle shoulders on Scott's gansey.

We all agreed that this was a gamble worth taking!

an unexpected treat

I finished yesterday's work for pay, took a walk, then launched into the unpaid work (including the semiannual basement storage space clean-out/tidy-up) while Scott mowed the lawn. We both felt pooped by dusk and proclaimed it a fend-for-yourself-dinner night. Jesse was chopping onions and heating a pan on the stove for whatever was his dinner plan. I grabbed an apple and settled in for some relaxing knitting. Suddenly, poof, the power went out. I knitted on in peace. After a few minutes, as the daylight dimmed further and the electricity still didn't come back on, I went outside so I could see my stitches better, only to find that Scott decided this was the perfect evening to make a campfire dinner.

So I settled in next to the fire, enjoyed the camping-at-home feeling, strapped on my trusty headlamp to continue knitting when it got too dark, and am thiiis close to finishing off the La Novia scarf (which I hope trust will transform with blocking). Kids folded laundry from the line, visited with neighbors on the street, did yo-yo tricks (Jesse) and hand sewing of a garment (Leah). Kodi was happy to have us in the yard with her. And the power came back on just in time for a late dinner inside. Ahhh...thank you, CL&P, for the temporary failure and resultant extra-pleasant evening!

Meanwhile, these library books have my head spinning with all the beautiful patterns they contain. Where to begin?!

Thanks, Karrie, for the One Lovely Blog award. I'm a big poopyhead about passing those things on, but thanks for thinking of me!

does not compute

While I was happily sipping a beer, chatting w/ assorted relatives, cheering for the Pirates, and doing a little of this...

at the baseball game last weekend, one of our friends turned around and said to me, "Don't you ever relax?"

I was gobsmacked. This did not compute. There were no words (and if you know me, you know there are always words).

Luckily, my sister came to my rescue with, "This is how she relaxes."

Yeah, that.

Some people relax in a different way, especially after being up early and bouncing around in the pool for hours. Yes, my knitting is in the hand you can't see. Shoulder/arm motions with Continental style knitting do not wake up an exhausted boy who needs a little nap in between baseball game and concert/fireworks.

Friend then offered that her daughter could sell my scarves or other knitting in her boutique. Now, most certainly it's a high end boutique, but even still, I told her that every zig in this particular scarf takes 1/2 hr to knit, and so does every zag, and there's a total of 60 zigs and zags in there and I earn way more than minimum wage, baby. ;-) The discussion ended with agreement that my handknits should go only to people I love, not for sale.

The knitting bag o' tricks became ultra cool after dark, when a little cousin (second cousin? twice removed? something like that) didn't have quite enough light to continue enjoying his book and I pulled out my headlamp. You just never know when the knitting tools will come in handy and help with relaxation and enjoyment all 'round.