Yesterday Joe and I tossed Elliot (and a great many of our worldly goods) into the car and drove north.  Meg and Alex followed in their car with the dog and lots of their worldly goods, and we drove for four hours- with Ellie looking out the window and saying “rock, tree, water, tree, tree, tree, rock, water…” which are essentially all you can see if you look out the window in Ontario, allowing for the occasional large mammal.  (No bears or moose were spotted yesterday, though not for lack of effort on the part of the diligent child.)

We’ve rented a cottage on the water for the next ten days, and while we’re not gathering the way we have in the past for this time of year -some of the family can be with us and I’m trying to celebrate what I’ve got, rather than what I wish could happen. We’ve got the five of us now for four days, and then we add some more people to the mix and I can’t wait. (There are going to be some hugs for the first time in a long time.) I did loads and loads of meal prepping and planning so that I could spend a lot of time relaxing and knitting and spending time with some of the people I’ve missed so much. Joe and I still have to work while we’re here (If you’re a Patron, there’s a video coming today!) and later today (there is a foosball table here that I think is going to buy us all a lot of time) I’ll start on the Karmic Balancing Gifts.

I have also brought with me more yarn than is reasonable, even for me.  I have a whole sweater to start, two pairs of socks that are midway, and some extra sock yarn after that, and essentially to run out I would need to finish a project a day – which….

I’m actually on track to do, at least today. Joe drove the whole way here yesterday so I got almost a whole sleeve knit in the car, and now there’s just thirty two rounds to go on this sweater. I can’t believe I’m going to finish – I’ve been working on it so long it feels like a permanent fixture.*

*I motivated myself by not bringing a sweater for this trip at all. Nothing quite like being chilly to help you get a move on.