sweetgeorgia

Three more rows to go.

I am mere stitches away from finishing the Central Park Hoodie.

So close to being done.

Michelle reminded me that I should show the finished product already… but it’s not yet done.

All the seams are done and I’ve tried it on… I love it already. I’m terrible at finishing projects since I kind of rush through the seaming process. It all ends up a bit messy, but this time I took my time, pin-basted the pieces together and seamed with a strong backstitch or fake grafting. Now I just have to finish picking up the front bands and making buttonholes. Then, I’ll have a thick wool cabled hoodie ready to wear, just in time for the hottest days of July.

Blocking Central Park

All the main bits and pieces are done for the Central Park Hoodie… so I’m just blocking the pieces before I seam the shoulders and pick up for the hood.

Now, I have to decide on buttons or zipper for the closure… I’m leaning towards buttons.

Granite

Liberty’s in London finally broke me down… and I bought a ton of Rowan Bamboo Tape yarn to knit Erika Knight’s design, “Granite” from one of the newest Rowan mags.

I had brought the Central Park Hoodie to work on, but after finishing the sleeves, I was at a bit of a loss… my hands craved plain o’ mindless knitting. Knitting for the bus, knitting for the tube, knitting for the afternoon coffee at the cafe, knitting for the plane. So, here’s a whole lotta stockinette to knit up in fettucine-like bamboo yarn.

What I did on my Gap year

It was exactly one year ago today when I started on my trip to Fiji. I didn’t think that I’d be away from work, friends and family for so long. In fact, the idea started out as just a three-week vacation… which became a hiatus from work wherein I declined all new projects and clients and explored other avenues of creativity, design and content development. Two of my close friends got married while we were in Fiji and, outside of sporadic wedding planning, we did a little bit of surfing and a lot of sunburning.

Traveling ended up being a very small portion of my year. Although I did travel to London several times, I think my travels and explorations were mainly internal. I started a couple new business ventures (because you can never have enough new ideas), looked back at the last ten years and looked forward ten years, discovered new friends and old souls, snowboarded during all my spare days this past season, uprooted and moved my possessions three times, and got divorced from my husband of six years. I tearfully sold my childhood and family home in Kitsilano … the one housing my entire dye and design studios… and am joining the hoards of people looking for a place to live in Vancouver.

My internal travels still take place every day. I question and I doubt. I look at different paths and avenues and simultaneously get inspired and despondent. These travels never end but I am just grateful that I don’t need to walk these paths alone. My family and friends have been an unmeasurable support and I am very very grateful for them.

Yesterday, I received news that I’m back on the practicing registrar for pharmacists… so I’m returning to practice in a field I thought I’d never go back to. I’m learning to see that not everything is black and white… and adjust to seeing all the shades of grey in my life, appreciating all the subtlety. And I’m also starting to knit again. Finally.

The back and front pieces are done. All I need are sleeves now. Why does it always feel like “All I need is ‘fill in the blank’ now”? I don’t know. But at this particular moment, all I need are sleeves now.

Here’s to the end of my gap year and to a most beautiful fresh start.