Not much knitting around here ...

Because --

My husband and I have been working on siding. This involves chop saws, jig saws, hammers, nails, scaffolding and ladders. By the end of the day, I'm so exhausted that I can barely eat dinner, let alone sit down and knit. So the knitting projects have come to a pretty decisive slow down.

I have finished a hat and pair of mittens to be gifted at Christmas. Pictures? Well ... husband took the camera with him to fishing camp. (The daughter is snorting at the thought of calling this a camping experience. When one takes a 4-liter bag of milk with him, it canNOT be called camping!) Husband does not fish ... in fact, I believe he didn't even take the fishing pole with him. So basically it's a l-o-n-g weekend away with friends. He deserves it. No one should be obliged to live with me full-time, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Not that I'm tough to get along with, mind.

In husband's absence, daughter and I went into town to my soon-t0-be wool store and set to work on the demolition phase. Ripped up the yucky carpet, took off the piece-of-crap molding holding the carpet down, cleaned the plate glass window and started work on destroying the left-behind counter. All in all, quite an enjoyable experience. Turns out the daughter is actually pretty good with a small pry-bar. One of her favorite experiences, in fact. Hmm.

Oh ... you wonder about the soon-to-be wool store comment. When my favorite local yarn store decided to go out of business, I debated a long time about opening a store myself. I've visited the stores near by. Not that they are bad, but none of them felt like home to me. OK to visit, but not somewhere that I could sit and knit and laugh myself silly.

I dutifully put my university education to work and drew up a business plan, complete with projected budget and marketing plan. Still unable to decide whether to press forward, I finally put it in God's hands. If this was something He would support, he would help me find a store location that would be both affordable and feasible as a yarn store.

Well ... not a week later, I found a location that fit the criteria.

Today I went back to my favorite shop and spent an enjoyable day sorting through the wool and chatting with my friend. We discussed wools that sell, wools that don't. Designers that are wonderful, and designers that aren't.

And I selected wool. Lots of wool for my soon-to-be-shop. Lots and lots and lots of wool.

I am SO EXCITED!!!

So what DO you do when it's too hot to knit?

I don't know about anyone else, but when it's too hot to knit I ...finish small projects that have been hanging around for far too long. Small items -- ones that don't take too much lap room. You know -- like this:

This is a baby set for my sister's new baby. Once we know if it's a girl or boy, the proper ribbons will be threaded through the eyelets and -- viola! Instant gift!


Accompanying the baby gift will be the sweater above -- just right for a big sister. I posted a picture of it sans buttons. But with buttons -- it's wonderful.

In other projects, I finished off a baby set for the Durham Crisis Pregnancy Centre.

Last but not least -- I finally finished up the surprise for my daughter-in-law. The cami was made in a lovely cotton from Sirdar. Just right for those hot summer days, don't you think?
So what do YOU do when it's too hot to knit?