Busy Busy

I don't like looking back. I'm always constantly looking forward. I'm not the one to sort of sit and cry over spilt milk. I'm too busy looking for the next cow. --Gordon Ramsay

It's been a busy couple of weeks around here. Sometimes, when I don't get a day to myself over the weekend, I can feel a little overloaded and I just can't manage to sit down and write a post. I was glad to have a couple of days away in Victoria this weekend to just hang out and recharge.

It's spring bloom time in Victoria these days. I think they must get some of the earliest blooms in the country. It's always a joy to go down and look at the cherry and apple blossoms on the trees:

I feel like I haven't been in Victoria for a while, so it was nice to see some of the familiar sights again:

We stayed in a slightly different area than where we normally do, and even though it was only a block further south, we may as well have been in an entirely different country. It's amazing how turning in a slightly different direction can totally change what you see. We decided to take in the quite a lot of Dallas Road, which is right along the coast:

Some of the views felt distinctly Californian:

While others felt really west coast Canadian to me. I can't really explain why. Maybe it had to do with the chilly wind:

But it made for a good day to fly kites:

And there are always some folks who don't feel the cold at all:

We came back this morning so that I could get home in time to get ready for a baby shower I was attending. I was looking forward to giving this little baby blanket I sewed a little while ago. Is this cute or what?

And I really felt that the blanket ought to go along with a little toy, so while I was in Victoria, I got busy with my crochet hook and some cotton yarn:

And here he is: a lion with a jerry curl! I think he's so cute! I have secretly named him Bertie, but I'm sure he'll have a name that will suit him perfectly once the baby is old enough to give him one:

Is it weird that I love the back of him more than the front? LOOK at that mane! 

And because I simply can't sit still, I brought along a paper back to decorate in the evenings in the hotel room. There's something very relaxing about doodling on a paper bag. I'm very glad I came upon this idea, because I'm finding it a good way to ease my mind during moments of anxiety:

Meanwhile, I haven't forgotten about my knitting. I'm very happy to share my latest knitting experiment:

This is an experiment that I came up with when I happened to lay out a few balls of yarn on the coffee table while I was searching for something, and when I turned back to look at them, I thought they looked nice together.

I admit that it started out with some inspiration from a Specsavers commercial I kept seeing online:

But in the end, I just played around with the colours until I got something that I liked. I had plenty of false starts, ripped-out stitches, redoing of sections, and long moments of doubt, but I'm pretty happy with the result. It will be a nice warm sweater with not a lot of bulk, which is perfect for these spring-like days when you're not sure exactly what you should be wearing:

So it's been a busy couple of weeks, and I'm not sure if that's going to chance much over the next couple of weeks, but I already have lots of other projects that I really want to work on. I feel both glad and overwhelmed by them: glad, because it feels good to feel inspired, but overwhelmed because I have SUCH a lot I want to try and I'm not sure how I'm going to get it done. But I suppose there aren't really any deadlines on any of them...

Except for the Easter eggs I want to paint...

And the shoes I said I'd embroider for my coworker's wedding...

And the flowers I need to plant for some ecoprinting I want to try...

And the online class I have to watch in order to learn said ecoprinting...

Ah well. I guess in this case, busy is good. It'll be ok as long as I remember to schedule in some naps. Good thing I've got this guy as a role model:

Have a good week!