Back In The Old Homestead Again

We're safely back from our trip and getting sorted. This jetlag business is a bit of a nuisance - you can't sleep at night and then in the morning, when everything else is bright and cheery, you want to sink back into slumber. It doesn't help either that October has exploded here into heavy rain and high winds - nothing like the clear bright light of British Columbia. Worst of all, my knitting mojo seems to have gone walkabout. Lene, I know now just what you were talking about the other day, only in my case it's not only a strange lack of interest, it's a lack of ability. I've lost the knack! Even the Glitz socks, faithful companions throughout our trip, just wouldn't work for me. Trying to relax before bed last night by doing a few rows was a disaster. Missed stitches, incorrect pattern repeats, reversing instead of going forward, you name it, I did it. I mean it isn't as if I don't know those socks intimately by this time! At one point, reaching for the spare needle, I instead pulled out one entire needleful of stitches - all in the darkest possible colour of course - then had to rush upstairs to the one lamp with the natural daylight bulb (no you can't source Ott-Lites here, dream on) to pick the little beasties up.

Put the socks aside until such time as I should have recovered my knitting senses and tried to start on a little neck scarf like that shown by Peg in her recent posting (see how confused my jetlagged mind is, I can't even find the energy to look for the proper Html coding to put proper links - sorry Peg and Lene.) But that slipped off the needles, got tangled, wouldn't cooperate - and then I found I'd dropped three separate stitches into the bargain, so that went into the Waiting For Clarity basket too. Heck, I hope my mojo comes bouncing back soon. Do you think I might have to take up making little churches in matchsticks instead?

On our way back from town this evening I found a large red balloon bouncing in the gutter and grasped it to take home for Muffy. Muffy loves a balloon above all else. Sophie (who has been showing gloomy detachment since our return) is scared of such evil inventions, Tasha regards them with superior amusement, but Muffy - ah she goes into paroxysms of excitement.



She bounced around the room, heading it like a professional, until I couldn't stand the tension of waiting for the inevitable explosion any longer and put it away for another day.

You can just see my trip stash or some of it, piled on the table next to the balloon. Happily the large floating red object occupied my little canine yarn fiend's mind more than the Fiddlesticks, the Handmaiden or even the niddy noddy. I really must remember to move that yarn tomorrow... if I wake up before Muffy does.

A full posting tomorrow evening, I promise. Most of the work will be out of the way by then, for the moment at least. And I want to tell you about the lovely surprise package from Marianne which was waiting for me on my return. Such treasures!