Giving Thanks

Hello friends of the Frogged blog!

Well, here we are. Thanksgiving 2011 is come and gone after 600 km, 2 turkey dinners, 1 hank of hand spun, 1/2 a batch of rutabaga sacrificed, 30-something new friends and a bit too much hard cider later. If you are not Canadian then let me fill you in. This past weekend is when us Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving. If you are Canadian, leave me a comment about your thanksgiving weekend. Hopefully you were all able to spend it doing something wonderful and eating something glorious.

My weekend began with an evening spent making stuffing and mashed rutabaga with one of my best girlfriends. In everyone's life there are people who you may not speak to for weeks but once you get together, it's like time had stopped in between. She is one of those people.

Saturday morning began bright and early with a road trip tradition - Tim Hortons!


The roads were fabulously empty and lined with the gorgeous colours of autumn in Ontario.



It was about this point when it dawned on us. The rutabaga and stuffing were still in the fridge. At home. Excellent.

So, around we turned. One and a quarter hours back home to get everything we'd left behind.

We got back home, packed the missing items into the car and were back on our way. Having stopped quickly at the pet store on our way back out, we were just leaving the parking lot when we heard the dreaded crash. The corningware had slipped. The Mister stopped the car while I got out to rearrange everything. Upon opening the car door, the jolted corningware came crashing to the tarmac splitting it directly in four. Bad day. Fortunately the rutabaga was in two containers so only one was ruined.

Back on the road we found ourselves faced with midday traffic. So, we had to take a detour.



But we got there in the end. At 1:30 (after 5 hours on the road, when it should have been 2-1/4 hours) we arrived.



Once we got settled in, I finally finished my first crack at spinning. I still LOVE it!!! Tonka, I learned, is desperate to eat the roving so I had to spin quickly. My Nan had never spun yarn before so I asked her to help me set the twist.

The yarn itself is very, very slubby and goes from about a fingering weight to a chunky but most of it is about a worsted weight. I kind of like it, despite the beginner's mistakes.


As we wound it onto the chair back I relaxed some of the over-twisted yarn before tying it into a hank. (If anyone has any suggestions for the best way to spin without over-twisting, let me know.)


You can see here what the yarn looked like before it was set.



Next it went into hot soapy water followed by super cold water, and back again about five times. Half way through I replaced the soapy water with clear water to rinse because I forgot my "Eucalan" at home.


Last it was hung to dry over the sink and by no small miracle it did not need to be weighted. It had somehow turned into the lovely balanced yarn I knew it could be.



The rest of the time I spent crocheting by the lake.
Look how far I got on the bobble blanket! I'm working like a woman possessed to get it done because I'm dying to start my ripple blanket.







Crocheting by the lake was lovely and was only interrupted by turkey dinner in which I was forced to save some of the fated rutabaga. It was around this point that the hard cider began flowing. I sound like a lush, but I should point out that for me, two glasses constitutes "too much".


On Monday morning Mr. Frogged fished while I took in the Indian summer weather and the peacefulness and, naturally, crocheted.


Last stop, turkey (and ham) dinner #2 and back south and then, gloriously, home. No matter what - I always miss my house.

Now I'm all settled in for a weekend of crafts, artwork, apple-picking and more! Hope your weekend's great too. Until next time, happy crafting!

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