This week I managed to finish the Cupido Cowl I was working on last week. Unfortunately, I was hoping to have enough yarn left over for a matching toque, but I don’t think that will be the case. Perhaps a matching headband instead?
I’m also mere minutes away from finishing my Finial hat pattern that I started back in December. All that’s left is weaving in the ends, which I tend to put off until the very last minute.
Other than that, being on a permanent vacation is exhausting. I felt less tired when I was working full time. There is so much visiting to do! Hopefully I’ll be able to relax once I am at the Te Hapu farm in New Zealand (only 10 days away!) in between my cottage cleaning and sheep herding duties.
Yesterday, I took advantage of the snowy Abitibian weather and did some cross-country skiing outside of Rouyn-Noranda near Évain. I have to say, Abitibi sometimes gets a bad rap from the rest of Quebec for their cold winters, black flies and strange expressions, but they have a great outdoor trail network. The cross-country ski club of Évain maintains over 33 km of groomed trails and 7 small huts for shelter along the trails! We spent a good three hours on the trails (with almost half of that time cozying up to the fireplaces whenever we came across a hut on our path). It was a gorgeous day.
Afterwards, we stopped in at the well known convenience store Chez Gibbs. They stock over 400 types of beer! For those of you who are unfamiliar with Quebec’s liquor laws, Quebec is the only province in Canada (to my knowledge) that you can find wine and beer in a convenience store (or grocery store, for that matter).
I even managed to find a beer called ‘La tante tricotante’ (translation: ‘The Knitting Aunt’). Of course, I had to buy it. It’s brewed by the Microbrewery of Lac St. Jean.
At 8 % alcohol however, it didn’t do too much to improve my knitting.
Pascal has once again caught the knitting bug as we stopped in at the Rouyn-Noranda yarn shop today to pick up some yarn. This time he’ll be knitting a toque all by himself (I promise). He even surprised me by splurging on baby alpaca wool! But hey, once you’ve knit with baby alpaca, there’s no turning back.
I can feel a cold coming on, so probably a good sign I need to get some sleep. Happy Wednesday everyone!