How is it Labour Day Again

And here we are, back to another Labour Day Weekend! I always see this as a bigger reset than New Year's... fallout from all those school days I guess. Quick look at the fading days of summer here in beautiful sunny Toronto:

I love the autumn so much, and I'm not even a pumpkin spice girl. It's partly the sweater weather, partly the textured blue-greys of stormy skies, a lot the fact that I can get out and walk without slipping on ice or coming home sweaty. 

The last few years, with my head down writing, I've barely made time for outdoor activities, and last September thanks to a round of Covid that lingered with crushing fatigue, I missed the whole thing. This round, I am trying to maximize the ol' opportunities. 

After I clear up our pantry, ahem, and deal with a substantial laundry backload (again: head down writing!) I probably take Labour Day too literally, but the Overhaul Fest is how I spend it every time, sigh.

So today, since your options are pictures of jars moving to the front of cans by expiry date, or the walk I took last weekend with an out-of-town friend who drove in for the purpose, you're getting the walk. This time it features one of Toronto's gorgeous forest trails.

This lush path is right in the city, one of several that foster wetlands and interesting plant and insect species as they track the ravine system. You can go a *long* way doing that by bike or on foot, and we passed plenty of runners and dog-walking families too. 

Between the trails and forested areas there are huge swathes of picnic-friendly clearings, of which I do not currently have pictures to share. On weekends you'll often see extended family groups setting up for the day with a wagon full of coolers and equipment, the kids doing pickup sports while the grownups grill the day's meals and chat and unwind. 

The Sunnybrook Park component of the ravine system (where I took these pix) also features a huge flat area up a hill for sports grounds. It's got a shady path around the perimeter dotted with public-use outdoor fitness equipment like parallel bars, and setups for soccer and cricket. Families often set up for the day there too.

I kinda well up when I see how engaged our neighbours are and how much our city makes available for us all... I'm so grateful to live in a welcoming place where it's possible to access green space within range of public transit, if not your own two feet.

My fave spots are the shady leafy ones like this, where you can hear running water and trace the trunks and branches of the ravine's trees. Soon enough this path will be littered with colourful leaves and I totally intend to wade through them. 

Speaking of wading, how cute is this little sandbar at the side of the creek? You can climb down here easily and stand right at the water. Dogs must totally love this spot, which is I suspect the explanation for many a soggy canine I've seen in here.

Happy sigh. I can't wait to get back out there, maybe tomorrow when the weather cools down again. Today it is very hot, making it the perfect time to do some basement dwelling and tidy up to be ready for a new season. 

My personal goals for the next three months:

Getting at least two hours of outside time during daylight

Casting on a new non-sock knitting project

Or alternatively casting on mohair boot socks cause it's been too long

Setting up a spot for weaving and possibly even actual weaving

Reminding myself how to spin fiber - I might have to relearn entirely!

Finishing the revision on the next novel while I send out the current one

Starting a new writing project

Baking some yummy things

Eating some apple pie

 

That last one is such a craving right now for some reason. I feel like I might have to do an apple pie tasting tour of every place in the city that offers them.

Maybe this is too much to do in three months, but I'd rather aim high than not. Do you ever make plans for the fall?

No need to answer, we are a quiet bunch here at Hugs! But I so appreciate your coming by every week to spend a little time with me. Hope your Labour Day Weekend is lovely. See you next Saturday!

Sweater Weather Again

I've been trying to get outside more now that our heatwaves have passed, and this week I saw something that made me feel sweater weather is almost upon us:

Yes, I know, it's a cemetery, and it's more suggestive of Halloween being upon us... which we already knew because the stores are full of Halloween decor already. So maybe there was a little bit of October feels giving me the idea of cosying up in wool. Especially when the next picture I *had* to take was this one:

That's a lil spooky, if you ask me.

Even so, I think the end of August is a good time to think about knitting a sweater, especially if you've been knitting nothing but socks and hats for ten years, ahem. You, or I, might actually have time to finish by November if you, or I, start now.

This cemetery is a great place to walk, with or without a sweater, because it's huge and has long, winding roads and also some little cedar-chip paths. And it's lovely there with its impeccable landscaping and the occasional flowering plant.

 

But also because it doubles as an arboretum, and is super leafy and shady as a result. I liked the rigid clipping plan for this tree:

But maybe it's easier to see in this closeup:

Halfway home I saw this knockout, which shares some features with a 1970s fake Christmas tree in that all its foliage traces the rigid branch that juts out from the trunk:

I had to know what it was. 

It's a Ginkgo Biloba! I had no idea. In fact I had no idea Ginkgo Biloba was a tree at all. I've only read about it as a supplement. Yeesh. 

I tried to get a shot of the seeds...

... but I think all I got was more summery blue sky.

I mean it's still only August. We'll have warm weather another five weeks at least. And I'm trying to use up my yarn stash, which doesn't stretch to sweater quantities in any one, or even any compatible, colourway/s. So maybe a vest? I do like a good vest, and I might have time to hunt for a pattern soon because my writing project is wrapping up nicely.

Soon is maybe a good plan whether I'm done writing or not, because I saw this during my morning stroll today.

 

Yipes! 

Hope you're ready for the change in season, and if you have good vest pattern suggestions I am all ears. Thanks for dropping by this week and I'll see you next Saturday!

Knit Trip Fail

I was very excited to get out for two road trips this week - day trips, really, but covering a decent distance - and prepped knitting for them and everything. Here is the sock I worked on, during trip one:

It's all chompy! My favourite cute stage for a sock. And maybe you will be able to relate to this, but I was really loving working on it, too. 

Since I broke two fingers on my left hand a few years back, I've never felt the same about knitting. It's not smooth and effortless like it was, somehow. I am less confident and engaged in it. Not so as I sat in the car and needled the stitches, flying along, missing even that we were crossing the Skyway Bridge over Burlington Bay (which was just as well, as it's always kind of freaked me out.)

However! the experience was doomed. We stopped at a gas station bathroom and the soap in there smelled so very awful, I didn't want to risk touching my yarn again lest there be odor transfer. So I waited and, among other things, took pictures of the High Falls in Rochester:

Because on a day trip, you totally want to spend four hours driving to Rochester so you can turn around and come home again. To be fair I am glad I saw these gorgeous falls, right smack in the middle of downtown...

... and also that we were able to restock our dwindling supply of Kleenex facial tissues, which are no longer sold in Canada owing to shipping costs. 

Coming back we drove the south shore of Lake Ontario and that was lovely too. As was the view of the whirlpool downriver from Niagara Falls. 

I even liked the wild plants growing alongside the cliff path enough to take these pictures.

Plus clouds! It was a gorgeous day for clouds. And for rain, which drenched us before drying up again.

When we finally crossed back home to Canada and I didn't have to check my map every ten minutes, I washed my hands one more time to be sure the smell was finally gone, and pulled out my knitting for more excitement. Whereupon I discovered this:

A DROPPED STITCH.

So much for the return of all my carefree knitting flair.

I know I have to rip back and reknit, but I am telling myself I'll be able to pick it up with a crochet hook and carry on. I have to wait for that voice to quiet down. These socks are for Jan, for Christmas, and they have to be perfect. 

Later in the week we drove to Buffalo and I brought the other sock, but I was still tired from the previous trip and didn't have the heart to knit much. So instead I will show you pictures fro Delaware Park, which is incredibly lovely and well worth the drive.

That's Hoyt Lake, and here is the Rose Garden.

 

This time the skies were clear and temperatures were soooo hoooooot... no wonder I didn't pick up my needles as the day progressed.

That brief glimmer of joy in knitting did make me think about what I might cast on next, though, when I finally finish Jan's socks. Maybe a pair of mohair socks, which are faster and so lovely to work with? It might be that I need the change in fiber to claw back some enthusiasm. Or maybe I should make a sweater? Or even a vest. Just some random thing I might never intend to wear, even, launched for the love of knitting it. 

After all, autumn is only a month or two away now, and there's nothing nicer than a new knit when the temperatures drop. Not even the view of stunning falls, or a leafy well-groomed park.

Hope you're having a lovely weekend and again, thank you for joining me. I'm going to wander off now and think more about how to handle that dropped stitch. See you next Saturday!

Corn Fest

Now that the weather's finally broken from 'soup' to 'normal summer bliss', and we are finally looking at mini vacations to enjoy it, I've been eyeing ears of corn at the grocery store. And today, my friends, we broke our four-year corn fast. Bliss!

This time I tried a brilliant cooking solution from Rose Reisman, who posted the technique on her Instagram account. Basically, instead of boiling the cobs for 20 minutes and filling your house with heat, you steam them for 2 minutes and retain your good humour. Also the natural sugar and flavour, if you care about stuff like that.

After you've shucked and rinsed the corn and lined it up all ready to go into the pot, you have to wait for the all-important inch of water to boil. I used the waiting time to check whether I'm ready to turn the heel flap on the sock I want to take on the day trip I'm mapping out:

and to wash the corn holders (we were one short!)

and to check on the dog.

Okay, some might say the dog is a stick reindeer a neighbour left out on the curb for garbage pickup, but we say it's family. Every so often we put sunglasses and a hat or joke tiara on it and stick it somewhere to surprise somebody as they come in the door - on top of the entry table staring them down is a good one, or pressed up against a window staring down some peckish soul who's just trying to have a snack.  

Finally, the first cobs were ready to come out of the water. 

The difference in colour is amazing, isn't it? Especially after a four-year drought resulting from neglect and the absence of a barbeque, our previous corn-approved cooking surface. A sight for sore eyes, one might say.

Guess who got the fork in place of the missing corn holder? But honestly, with this steaming thing, you don't burn your hands on the ends anyway, so it didn't matter.

My review: Rose Reisman is a hero. The corn was so good, and the kitchen stayed pretty cool, and everybody was happy. And now I can go back to trip planning. Not like I can do much else while I recover from all that gorging, ahem.

Hope you've been having a great Saturday and thanks as always for dropping by to spend a little time with me - I always appreciate it so much. Come back next week when I will hopefully have trip pix and knitting progress. I mean these socks are supposed to be a Christmas present and I don't know how I'll pull it off if I keep going at this rate, so I gotta pick up the pace somehow!

Looking forward

We're into the last couple of days of another July heatwave (that's dragging on through the August long weekend no less) and I am so ready to move on!

This is the Monty Don gardening book I spent all last winter pining for, and all spring excited about when it was finally released in Canada, and still have not sat down with. Too busy writing, which I know is a refrain you hear quite often here at Hugs. Well, the current manuscript is in its final stages now - it's had its first pass with vetting, and I've noted all the revisions I need to make on the paper copy, and by the time you're reading this I will be holed up in my tiny office again, transposing them onto the screen copy. 

Which means I noticed some yarn yesterday, when I opened the high cupboard where I keep meal trays and knitting supplies (since those go together so naturally.) And I got thinking about my dreams for August - getting to the farm to block out the walled garden I've always dreamed of having some day, and October - knitting something that isn't socks.

And wouldn't it be wonderful if I could find a good place to plant some fruit trees near the walled garden? Or even not near it.

The yarn is from the Boreal colourway from Twisted Fiber Art, which I still miss so much... they did not survive the pandemic. My stash did though.

Look at that handspun... I don't even remember making it, it's been so long, and I'm not sure I remember how to use my spinning wheel either. But I'm pretty sure I can pick it up once I am the version of me who has garlic planted in the dream garden.

I have two cakes of sport weight yarn, two cakes of handspun yarn in what weight is anybody's guess (by which I mean everybody's, because it varies a lot along the length) and a contrast solid in deep purple.

I suppose the logical thing to do with all this is: weave a scarf, knit matching mittens. Or do a very large shawl, though I never actually wear those, so it always feels like a wasted effort.

Wouldn't it be nice if I could think of another project? Can you recommend anything?

Meanwhile, my revisions are waiting for me. And the vintage Agatha Christies are still pouring in through the mailbox.

So, life is good. And it's going to be even better in August, and October. Hope your immediate-future plans are unfolding dreamily and that you have a wonderful weekend. Thanks for coming by to spend this time with me!