Shrooms, Strawberries, Lakes, Knitting

Long weekends.

If it had been been any longer, I would have started worrying about all the stuff that would pile up in my inbox and on my desk when I came back. Luckily, a long weekend is just the right length when you're not technically on vacation and you're still expected to turn up as a useful human being upon return. Three days, trois jours, ç'est suffit, pour le moment.

Saturday was nice enough. I went out to explore a market with a friend, found a new place with "hippie food" for lunch (read: gluten-free, vegan stuff), and then came home for a nap on the couch. It was a hot day. I found out that, if you rest your bowl of frozen strawberries and mangoes on your tummy, it cools you off nicely while you eat it.

On Sunday, we went to Gordon Bay on Lake Cowichan for a swim. I've been there a couple of times, but this was the first time we were actually going to brave the water. It was nice and warm, a nice change from the sea water we usually swim near our house. The photos are from around the corner from the actual beach, were there were plenty of families all swimming and splashing and paddling about. Still, for a long weekend, there was plenty of space for us to swim, and then to relax afterwards with a couple of sandwiches for lunch.

At home, my mini mushroom farm decided to take off, just as I'd given up on it. It was growing mould instead of mushrooms (that is really not the same, science fans), so I'd taken it outside, scraped off the blue fuzzy stuff, and then left it on the deck where it was promptly forgotten until the hubby noticed little nubs of mushrooms growing on it on Friday night. It doubled in size, seemingly every hour, until I decided to pick them on Sunday, when it looked like this. They're leaning slightly to the left, because they're sitting next to the patio door. I didn't think mushrooms liked the light so much:

They looked even cooler underneath. I never thought I'd be the sort of person to peer under mushroom caps. It seems so rude, somehow.

I'd forgotten how freaky fungi can be. I keep glancing at the box to see if they've popped back up again, like alien Children of the Corn/Shroom beings. So far, they have not returned... yet...

I'm afraid I've hit second side/sleeve/sock syndrome, where I'm enthralled by finishing the first side, but the thought of knitting the second one makes me sigh and grimace a bit. I think it's partly because I'm worried about getting too bored with it, and partly because I'm worried the second one won't match. That's what happens when you wing it and don't write down what you did. I can't even remember how I started the first one.

Knitting a yarn with long colour repeats also comes with its own dilemmas. I had to join a new ball halfway through, and wrestled with the idea of interrupting the gradation. Luckily, I had a ball that started at the right spot... but then about two thirds of the way through, there was a knot... a KNOT... and the colours skipped tragically from stormy grey to stark white. After a bit of muttering, I decided to wind the yarn to where the yarn matched again. It seems have worked out pretty ok. This is the wrong side of the fabric, where you can see some of the ends before I weaved them in. Not a bad match.

I decided I'd block it before I started the next side, but when I squeezed the water out and lifted it up, blocking it harshly into a neat rectangle seemed wrong... soI left it loosely spread on out on my blocking boards on the deck. It seemed to be showing me what it was going to look like in the end: light and airy and comfortable. I felt like it needed to stay like that for now. I'm hoping I won't regret it when I actually get to seam it together.

I'm also hoping that the linen stitch bands will be noticeable when it's done. As it is, you have to be standing pretty darn close to see them. I was looking at it this evening as it hung on my drying rack, and I really like the look of them. Maybe some things are better kept subtle and close to you, rather than being broadcast in a ten foot radius:

So, tomorrow: back to work. Lunches are made, smoothies are blended, gym bag is packed. Only four days until my next weekend. I seem to have reached a point this summer where my crazy busy season is just... accepted. I haven't stressed too much about it, because I've reasoned that things will either get finished or they won't, and it's not for lack of trying. Que sera, sera, as they say.

That's two languages for one post. I think I'd better stop here before the pig-Latin kicks in. Night all.