Treehouse Cottage

A couple of weeks ago when the heat was so bad we really had to stay inside, I moved all the furniture in our (air-conditioned) bedroom and renamed it Treehouse Cottage. Welcome!

The first edition was kind of stupid, with our tall headboard jutting out into the rest of the room and blocking the view of the window from the door, so I only intended it to last for a few days. Then I made this tweak, turning the bed to let more light through, and now I'm smitten! There are so many different places I can work in here now - two standing desk areas, a seated desk area, and a sofa to curl up on. 

But also, the bed converts into a tree-adjacent lounge and knitting area, complete with shifting sun patches as the leaves outside move in the breeze.

 

And how pretty will this view be, come autumn? 

Part of my motivation for this change was that my friend Caro's just bought her first house, and it's a stunning century home... I mean, so much swoon, and super inspiring to me to take a fresh look at our own place. It's fitting that I get to curl up today in my Cottage Nest (TM) and watch a bunch of her HIGHly recommended YouTube book videos while making some sock progress.

That strawberry mug on her side table was from me. So proud, ha!

I'll be going out later for more epic walking, which I've been doing tons of since the weather cooled down a bit again. Here are some random flower pix I caught on my travels:

 

Yellow and purple really are lovely together, aren't they. We also went further afield to the Toronto Islands this week, where I got a different look at the CN Tower than is possible from my usual vantage points. In case it's too subtle to register from here, it's the tiny vertical to the right of the setting sun that's beaming from the right of one of these heavy branches: 

I know, I know - more tree! I do love them.

Hard to believe our summer weather's getting close to halfway done. This year I intend to enjoy it a lot more than usual and do more of my writing at night. High time that outings got priority scheduling, right?

Hope you're getting in some fun outings and/or getting the most out of wherever you make your home. Thanks for spending this time with me and I'll see you again soon! 

(Not next Saturday though - it's a long weekend, and I might be kicking up my heels - but I'll definitely be here to share something crafty or otherwise fun on August 8.)

Meanwhile... doesn't this sock look perfect for summer? Or very early fall, when it's cool enough to wear them, but nobody's ready to let go of those lazy hours. Not that I have my eye on a pair of bright green walking shoes that would totally go with, or anything... 

 

 

 

 

Inside and out

This past week involved a lot of Inside Time (weather issues) and no knitting (who picked Jurassic Park for movie night? Nobody can knit with sweaty hands!) 

Thankfully the inside of our house is full of nice things to look at. These paintings are by my friend Wrona, and they are teeny tiny compared to her usual huge cloudscape canvases which she paints with her hands while sitting on top of them. There's a video of her at work, at the link!

Anyway: we had a fleeting few hours yesterday that were super nice out, so Pete and I grabbed our chance for a big walk into the ravine, and I took pictures for you.

This is a shared path for cyclist, dog-walkers, runners, walkers, and people who just want to be around a lot of trees. (me, waving both hands.)

There are often some really interesting species of fungi to look at!

From the edge of the path you can see it's quite a drop to the more groomed gardeny part of the park. It might not show in this picture, but I thought you might love it anyway. I do, especially from this safe distance, heh.

By contrast, this is the view looking up:

Forests: they are such classics, all over the world.

When you get to the bottom of the trail the bike path goes on into this meadow. It's different in every season but summer lush greenery is my fave... I'm always surprised by those tall buildings in the distance.

 

In reality, the ravine is bordered by busy roads with traffic you can trick yourself into believing is running water. Isn't it wild that in the heart of a big city, you can just wander into all this green space? I feel so, so lucky to be near enough to walk to it.

 

Water runs through the whole ravine, and the paths twist and cross over it in a bunch of different places. Those last two pictures are the view from either side of a bridge. I can never decide which I like best! Do you have a favourite?

Queen Anne's Lace dots so much of the path in this part of the park. They're super elegant. 

Here's another little section I love. These two trees that look like they're somehow dancing together!

Or maybe just talking.

Today the weather is terrible again so I'll be staying in and revising yet another manuscript. After all this time, I still love writing more than anything, which is saying something, isn't it? 

Hope your day is wonderful, whether you're stuck in or otherwise. Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you next Saturday! 

 

Flower power

Sooo... I was sick all week. Too sick for knitting or sewing or anything crafty, really. Instead of our usual Hugs fare, let's look at some gorgeous flowers!

A super talented friend arranged these wildflowers in dollar-store drinking glasses for centrepieces at a 50th wedding anniversary party and I absolutely loved them. 

Some of these petals are so tiny!

 

While I was sick I moved from sleeping, to listening to podcasts and falling asleep during them, to streaming shows and sleeping on breaks from them, until finally I was well enough to read a book. 

My pick: Rosemary's Baby. Not that I'm a horror girl, but I'd heard it was well written and I cannot argue that point whatsoever. It is FABULOUS. I might have to stop when it gets to the really scary bits but the opening chapters I've consumed so far are just so easy to read and hard to put down. Lucky I slept so much the last few days, amiright?

 

Ira Levin, who wrote it, also wrote The Stepford Wives which I had not known was a book. Definitely a theme there, for me and for him. But his first, A Kiss Before Dying, was such a fantastic film I am pretty sure I'll have to read that too. How did I miss all these greats? Probably because I was on the Classic English Lit track. Anyway: gifts for my future self, as I always think of them. If you read everything at once, what's left for later?

Since this subject is less Hug than Boa Constrictor, let's move on. The good news is, I'm mostly all mended now, and have celebrated by cleaning and dusting and washing my sheets and pyjamas for a fresh start that doesn't involve lying in or near the bed all day. 

And with luck, next week will include something craftable you'll enjoy more than my horror movie musings. Until then (and please note that I am not at all mentioning the tiny caterpillar I found on this desk a couple of days after bringing in these arrangements aiiiieeeeee don't worry we ushered it safely back outside) thanks for coming by and I hope you have a great weekend!

 

 

 

Just like the old days

Finishing up those handknit socks on the porch a couple of weeks ago, I remembered how I used to take all my Hugs photos out there, twisting around to get a good pic on our shabby steps. So that's what this week's Hug is gonna be.

Boy did I love wearing these merino wool socks with a pair of Blundstone boots, just a bit of stripe showing at the top.

Taking pictures on the porch steps was fun too. Seems to me I was doing that every week or two, because I was knitting socks so fast! Inevitably a neighbour would walk past and I'd feel like an idjit, but it was worth it... felt like a whole lifestyle thing. And then I put on shoes to protect the socks from holes.

I've been on a real Birkenstock jag lately, trying to fix an orthotic issue, dagnabbit. But they *do* fix it, and they last a long time, so I can't complain. Especially since I have blue suede shoes now.

I'm also deeply in love with these clunky white ones. The back strap means they don't fall off on a long walk, and the straps are so soft I haven't had any issues on the breaking-in front either. 

In these pix I'm wearing a pair of wide-leg jeans folded up to into crop mode, which is a bold choice for the shoe/sock combo. Probably works better from a distance, with the whole ensemble showing, but around here we work with what we have! And what we have is not Mary Jane shoes, which I used to buy on purpose to show off the stripes. Those were good days.

Still, it could be worse, right? 

Hope you have fun plans for the day, and the week that's coming! We're expecting a big heatwave in Toronto so mine mostly involve doing a lot of cleaning while it's still cool enough to face it, and then drinking lots of ice water on our breezy shady porch. I cannot imagine knitting being involved, but stranger things have happened when I've got time on my hands... you probably live that storyline, yourself.

Thanks again for stopping by and I'll see you next Saturday!

 

Quiet Time

I might gift myself a quiet day today. It's delicious-looking outside... not hot, with a gentle breeze... and nobody wants to do any deep cleaning on a day like that, or work to a deadline, or even fuss over supper, amiright?

Much nicer to sit and do some gentle work on a blanket so it's ready for the cool winds of autumn.  

Surprisingly (to me) I did make progress on this blanket over the course of the week, with two new stripes done!

 

There are ten stripes in each repeat, each made from three repeats of the same pattern I used in single repeats for the last, very very busy-looking, blanket. And I plan to do six repeats in total before I start the border, because I am a glutton for excess hot-weather crochet apparently. 

So far, I have two full repeats plus the two new stripes, which I have decided is pretty good going into July, even though there is much evidence to the contrary. Sometimes it's important to look at the positives, or else manufacture some. 

For example: it only takes me about two hours to do three repeats of the base pattern, which means it's quite plausible I can get through an entire 10-stripe repeat in two weeks, just watching a movie every day, something I definitely deserve to be allowed to do. And really, I only have three more 10-stripe repeats outstanding, which adds up to six weeks, which has me finished before we even hit September.

I barely have to try to make that make sense. All I have to do is ignore all the heatwaves coming in those particular six weeks, ha! And focus on how gorgeous it's going to look with our drapes, when it's done.

Today, though... I think I will focus on all the trailing ends I need to take care of before it's any fun to go on. 

 

And that means taking some quiet time with the blanket on my lap and a darning needle in my hand, out in the shade of the porch, listening to the birds and the insects and any passers-by enjoying the day a little more actively than that.

Hope your day is lovely however you spend it, and thanks so much for spending this bit with me. See you next Saturday! 

 

Unfinished business

Today is the first quiet one after a busy few weeks, and I thought I'd grab the chance to wrestle with some scattered knitting projects, starting with this random basket of mystery items.

Only when I looked more closely, I saw that all they need is to be wet blocked and tucked away for cold weather. YEESH.

So I nosed around some more and quickly found a pair of socks with yet-to-be-grafted toes.

Also these socks, same.

I mean really, what was I thinking?? To get so close and then just stop. 

Not unlike how I finally got the cushions out for the "new" (7+ years ago) porch furniture so we can actually use that summery crafty space again. Mind you we also have actual garden space for summery crafting, thanks to Pete and his ongoing efforts in the garden.

 

But I like the porch, with its solid flooring. No gaps, like the deck, and no dirt as on the flagstones. Or at least, not as much. If you've ever dropped a darning needle outside you'll know what I mean!

 

I usually need to concentrate hard on grafting so I get the needle movement right, but today it felt totally natural. 

 

Maybe I'm getting used to the process, or maybe it's just the peacefulness of sitting outside, where the sun is beyond the shady shelter of our roof and the breeze is soft enough to cool without blowing anything away. Either way, I grafted this toe without any stress at all.

Yesterday we ran into a neighbour on the street and stopped to chat a while, and then we remembered the porch and invited him to come sit with us for a bit. We had the BEST catchup and all noticed how sitting out there chatting, none of us looking at screens but enjoying the long leafy views, was relaxing and just plain nice. This is a discovery most people don't have to make - it's too obvious! - but after neglecting this space for so many years it was a delight to have the reminder.

The second toe grafted as easily as the first, even if it does have a blue stripe its partner does not.

Such a gorgeous day here. I've come inside to type up this hug, and through the open windows I'm hearing birds and insects, and young children playing and laughing. Hope it's as lovely where you are and that you have some restful time coming your way soon. I know I do, because I have some ends to run in...

... and another pair of socks to graft shut.

As always, thank you so much for stopping in and I'll see you next Saturday!

 

 

Cardigan conversion and hot weather readiness

Okay there was NO craftiness here at Hugs this week, where all my time was weighted toward house cleanup and long walks. Plus shopping for summer.

This lightweight floral cardi was an earlier purchase, but it needed some help if I was going to wear it to an event this coming week amid both heat and humidity. My favourite combo! Not. 

It's super cute on and will top my coolest linen floaty pants with some much-needed colour. It's also designed for airy gaps between the crocheted buttons. And there is no. way. I am wearing a T underneath. No extra layers in a hot humid scenario!

So last night, unconvinced it was worth dragging the sewing machine out of its cupboard for an interrupted line of tacking, I curled up under a good light and hand stitched this baby shut between the buttons. 

I did a blanket stitch for the closure seam...

SO RESTFUL. 

...and then for good measure, went over the topstitching using a running stitch with back stitch thrown in. I don't know the name of that one but is also very pleasant to do.

Do either of the runs of stitches show? Yes. 

Do I expect anybody to approach me with a magnifying glass? No.

 

Meanwhile, the hot weather has well and truly arrived here in Toronto. Some people love summer but for me it is the Time of Dread. I am a sweater weather person, ya know? Though I do appreciate the fact that most of our food exists because heat does. 

As I write this our windows are open to let in all the remaining scents of blossoms and greenery released by an overnight rain. I say 'let in' but really I mean 'give in to' because it is gusty out there! But sunny and so much less miserable than yesterday. 

To supplement our a/c this summer we bought a new table fan which is excellent (it's a Lasko Whirlwind, if you too need a compact but powerful fan that will oscillate or not per your whim.)

And to make our long ravine walks less uncomfortable than they've been with my heavier trail shoes, I bought a pair of really airy ones that got me home cool and pain free the first time I tried 'em! (Merrell Maipo 3 Aerosports, if you are looking for similar.) 

Oh! and here's a tip I got from Tom Bihn, after the urethane lining of my beloved and much-used Daylight Backpack started disintegrating into dandruff that coated everything I packed into it, owing to my not realizing I needed to waterproof the outside again periodically: that kind of lining melts off if you use rubbing alcohol on it! No pix of that project because it's a boring black backpack, but whew. So glad to have this thing cleaned up and back in circulation. Now to buy the waterproofer.

 

Yesterday I overhauled our front hall, putting boots into the back of the closet, pairing up the water shoes and putting them in grabbable locations, and weeding out the running shoes whose soles are officially past their best-by date. The results: amazing! but also a little sad because man that is a lot of shoes we go through. Almost feels like justification for more Birkenstocks, which can be resoled indefinitely, and the cork sides resealed. Ahem.  

(I kid. Even I am prepared to admit I have too many Birkenstocks.)

But I don't regret buying the pale pink suede Tulums that match my new cardi-top! 

They look a little frumpy in this pic maybe, but with long floaty pants they are really quite elegant. And so, so comfy. If I can't have sweaters, I can be consoled with the comfy.

Hope you're having a lovely day with a good weekend lined up, and thank you as always for spending some time here with me. See you next Saturday when... let's face it, you're not gonna see blanket progress, that's for sure!!