And Then We Stopped Eating

So now I am not afraid of Christmas any more. I know what to do. Decorate the house and fill it with our friends, to celebrate having a home; try to give it a glow in which people can be happy, imagine a moment's lull in the awful traffics of the world, light a candle against the dark. --Dorothy Hammond Innes from Home is My Garden

It's that strange time of year when you're wading around in the strange soup of post-holiday overindulgence when you don't know what day it is but you're just glad you've got stretchy pants to wear... or maybe that's just me. I'm fairly certain it's Sunday, but I'm also fairly certain I've had way too many goodies over the last week. That's about the peak of my certainty for now.

We arrived back from Winnipeg last night after another day full of flight delays... or rather, flight re-arrangements. I happened to wake up at 4:30am and then got a text message from our airline that our flight was not going to be leaving at 11:00am as planned, but at 2:00pm instead. So I dutifully lay awake and worried about that for a while. Then I got another text saying it would actually be leaving at 3:00pm. So that was the end of sleep for me.

The hubby and I decided to get to the airport for our originally planned time of 9:00am, because if there's anything I've learned about air travel it's to never underestimate the power of an airline to mess with your sanity. Luckily, by the time we arrived, the airline had re-booked us on a flight that would leave at 11:30am and that would route us through Calgary instead of Vancouver and only delay our final arrival by an hour instead of some other yet-to-be-determined time. And thankfully, Winnipeg has one of the most relaxing airports I've ever had the privilege to travel through, so we settled down and drank coffee and read the paper...

And I worked on this thing:

I think it's going to be a vest... at least, that's what I hope it's going to be. It's based on the shawl pattern called Aphasia by Patti Walters, which I've been wanting to make for a long time. I've been working on it off and on between each weekly release for my Rozeta blanket. The yarn is a merino/silk blend that I bought from my friend Tara a few years ago. It has traveled with me both times to Winnipeg over the past few weeks, which is no mean feat when you recognize that I'm also adding beads to the stitches as I go along. I think it looks pretty good so far. I love the shiny, buttery silkiness of it, and I think it will look even better once it's blocked:

I've finished the back, and my plan is to add two skinny panels to the front and then pick up stitches along the inside edge and neck to add a ribbed shawl collar. Seymour is unconvinced, but we'll see how it all pans out:

Meanwhile, in between family stuff and hospital visits, I did manage a couple of social outings while at home. I met up with my friend, Linette, and we had brunch and then dragged the hubby along with us to do some yarn ogling at Wolesley Wool. And of course I brought home a couple of goodies. This yarn cake turned out to be $6.00 cheaper than I expected... which shocked me so much that I squealed "WHAT??" at the till... which pretty much meant I was committed:

I mean, how could I say no to those colours?

And the extra $6.00 meant that I felt absolutely fine with taking this silk-blend home with me, which I had been picking up and putting down during the whole shopping trip:

So we're back on Vancouver Island now, and I've gone to the gym and we've done the grocery shopping and I'm quietly detoxing myself with dandelion tea... you know... all the post-Christmas stuff. Except I might have a bit of cinnamon bun for a snack. It's been sitting in the freezer all week, and I need room for other things... 

I think I'll just step away now and take my excuses with me. Have a good week!