Coming Along Nicely

This past weekend was a long one, poetically named “The Civic Holiday Long Weekend”. We Canadians do not celebrate anything in particular during this long weekend, only that it’s summer. Trust Canada to invent an extra long weekend in order to make the most of our measly summer 🙂 It was a busy one for me, a little work, a little cooking for family, a little jam, a little knitting. Everything is coming along nicely.

On Friday, my Einband yarn arrived from Iceland. That was pretty exciting! I didn’t expect it to arrive so early. Perfect timing, because Elizabeth’s new Wheatsheaves Scarf pattern was released on Saturday. It was the reason I ordered the yarn in the first place, so I launched in immediately and cast on. This is a strange (and under-sung) little yarn; it is an Icelandic lace weight, in fact a type of Lopi. It feels very odd the first time you touch it, wiry and stiff and somewhat scratchy. To say it is ‘crisp’ is an understatement. It is, however, lovely to work with and, I’m told, softens up beautifully during blocking. The colors are clear and brilliant. I loved the pattern immediately. I saw it when it was still being developed. It was one of those magical things that Elizabeth pulls from her enchanted tote bag. I’ve made quite good progress on it because it is a very compelling pattern. I’m excited to block it.

Sunday Mumsie came for dinner which is always a treat. We nipped out to Three Dog Winery, which now functions as my neighborhood bar, and Carl did most of the cooking 😉

My jam is a little late this year, partly because the strawberry crop was a little lacking. I thought I’d left it way too late for berry jam, forgetting that we grow some pretty remarkable raspberries and blueberries here in PEC. I managed to procure some red and some black raspberries and some blueberries, blended them together and used “Sarah’s Berry Jam” recipe, thank you, Martha Stewart. I’m always a little leery about pectin-free jam recipes, having had a couple of failures in the past. Third time’s a charm as they say and sure enough, this batch is awesome. It’ll be very welcome in January!