My Canadian Adventure

Well we've been on a bit of a post hiatus but it's been for a good cause: I was out in Canada for almost a glorious month of work-free shenanigans! And boy, did I keep busy!

First of all, I left my whole set of knitting needles on the coach on the way to the airport, which was BRUTAL whilst on the plane and wanting to make headway on my Creature Comforts cardi that I'd specifically chosen for the trip. Now don't get me wrong, I had two other projects on the go, but they were both too big for my carry-on, so I had to make do with sulking and loud angry music instead. My main project was a lush wedding present afghan in Lion Brand Homespun (a favourite to feel, but definitely NOT a favourite to knit as it's quite knobbly and hard to read) which I worked on constantly to finish by the end of our trip. I decided to upsize a baby blanket pattern published by The Purl Bee (Purl Soho's pattern-publishing arm) and it turned out really well...but I didn't take a single photo! Shame on me. It wasn't complicated but it looked awesome when it was done :)

My other project on the go is the MKAL from Joji Locatelli, the Starting Point shawl that Instagram was losing its collective mind over before it came out, haha. I caved and got yarn for it, all ready to tackle it over my holiday...and all my time was taken up with the blanket! So I'm still working on it.

For those of you keeping score, I had needles already in both of my pre-existing projects before I lost my other needles. And the Creature Comforts cardi starts off with pocket linings, so I had my 5mm needles in those still, but didn't have any 4.5mm, which you need for the ribbing. Alas. I bought some whilst in Michaels, and bought some new 4.0mm at Stash in Calgary for my Starting Point; although I already had one pair of 4.0mm circulars, some of you know that Starting Point has TWO pieces exactly the same, so I was using one pair already, and then had to use straight needles for the other piece...which was driving me batty.

Anyway, the trip was amazeballs, no two ways about it. Each part of it was awesome in its own way: we stayed at the farm with my in-laws (always excellent), then with my parents (of course I love being home with them), and then I went off to Bernice's and we took off to Calgary for a weekend of fantastic hair-metal mayhem and some family time with the Western branch of my family. My brother has lived in Calgary nearly twenty years but I'm afraid I can count the number of visits on almost one hand :S I love going every time I do though, and this time was definitely no exception - we hung out and had some beers, I got to play with my niece and nephew (well...I mostly just watched them play, which is more fun for them, haha), and then Bernice and I kidnapped my sister-in-law and made her take us up to Inglewood to Stash, a glorious yarn heaven near central Calgary. I restrained myself fairly well - I only bought four skeins of Logan, an Ancient Arts limited edition colourway, and another skein of an accent colour for a cardigan I have in mind, as well as some buttons and the aforementioned 4.00mm needles - but I did get a chance to pet the Lykke Driftwood needles I've been seeing, and I couldn't resist sending a picture of them to my husband. Hey, gift ideas, amirite?
But easily our favourite part of the trip (certainly more than climbing Tunnel Mountain) was the Def Leppard/Poison/Tesla show, which, from a front row vantage, was ear- and mind-blowingly amazing! I can't overstate it: the show was epic, and we came away with a pick from each band AND Bernice snagged a drumstick from Poison in the best catch I've ever seen in my life.

We had to head back to real life after that, and between some serious house renos at Bernice's and a wild wedding weekend in the country (I had to pull over for rain so hard it was completely white, and narrowly missed a tornado, and that was just the ride out!), the rest of the trip passed in a flash and we were back on the plane home all too soon, with overweight luggage and so many amazing memories. I love Canada deeply, and it was such a good feeling to be back in Manitoba, which will always be the home of my heart.

And as an awesome conclusion, I emailed again about my missing needles and they'd been turned in at the bus depot, so I picked them up, and now I ALSO have a gorgeous set of the Lykke Driftwood needles to back me up in case I'm so sleep-deprived I leave my needles behind anywhere else.