A tiny bit of knitting (and another week off)

This week marked huge progress on the home front and even a teeny bit of time for some knitting, including the finale of the mystery Thing I kind of abandoned last December but which has turned out to be a cowl.

I find it very pretty, both outside out and inside out:

and I will probably never knit another because even though this stitch is amazing for turning a variegated yarn like Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend into subtle stripes, I've used it on a few different things and it's gotten kind of old.

You'd think that would also be true for socks but No. 

I've made little bits of progress on all of the ones I have on the go, though I do still have one single entry that hasn't made its heel yet, and I could show you lots of pictures of those if the few I had time to take had worked out.  For example this one, which I took on the ferry to the Toronto Island this morning, would have been awesome if what I was showing off was the mechanism on the random stroller parked nearby:

Thank goodness for knitting, because some time before I took this picture I was in the very front of a group that was cut off from a ferry that filled up before it ran out of customers.  (In case you're wondering how much sock one can knit in such a situation, it's from the very beginning of the gusset to close to the end.)  Having knitting meant I didn't mind standing still in a huge crowd for thirty minutes, unlike the lady next to me who jumped up and down and stamped her feet in frustration even though I am pretty sure she wasn't a whole lot younger than I am.  This, friends, is the difference that knitting makes. Go socks!

The Island was gorgeous today though, leafy and beautiful and full of people happy to be there.  

Also, full of very pretty treetops and architectural bits.

In spite of a few little escapes like this and even some breaks to watch movies (like the silent version of Ben-Hur which was fantastic and Le Mans, which might as well have been silent for all its dialogue and which I also, unexpectedly, loved) I am really tired of the house overhaul and just want it to be done already.  I miss all my old routines, not least of them having at least a little time for blog-writing every day. 

Still, there's no point in coming this far and stopping, so I'm going to finish the job and try to squeeze a new free hat design into the gaps.  After all, fall is coming to my part of the world, and I haven't done any new patterns in ages.

So: I hope you'll bear with me for one more week, and I will see you here next Monday!  Take care of yourself and I hope you get up to a really nice crafty thing while I'm gone.