If ever a whiz there was

The past week has just whizzed by, despite the fact that time seemed to stand still at times (usually when both kids were whining in our ears). My girlfriend Nadine (Hi Nads!) who just recently moved back to Canada from Japan (she's a lurker) actually asked me what I was knitting the other day, which tells me that it's high time I blogged already.

I can't possibly recap all the events of the past seven days, so I'll just give you the highlights. First, an important announcement: Phil and I bought a new house!

OK, just kidding. That's the front of Manoir Papineau, a Historic Site of Canada right next to the Château Montebello, where Phil took the kids and I for a quick visit on Tuesday. It's a really beautiful property. Unfortunately weren't able to visit the inside, because you have to make reservations, and this was a spur of the moment thing. Still, it was lovely.

In the midst of all that beauty, Émilie stayed true to form and managed to spot the most yucky grubby thing she could get her hands on (in this case, it was the discarded skin of a cicada - yum). And Maxime?He hadn't slept since that morning, not even on the hour plus car ride down there, so he was absolutely zonked by the time we visited the manor house (at around 5:15 in the afternoon).

Wednesday we went to nearby Omega Park and fed the animals.
It was lots of fun, but boy, they aren't kidding when they tell you to keep the windows rolled up halfway! These animals are NOT shy about scoring some fresh produce!

Maxime slept most of the way through the visit (he did manage a few squeals of surprise when the first band of elk moseyed on over to the car), but Émilie had a blast.

Just to show you that Maxime didn't sleep through the entire mini-vacation (believe me, he didn't), here's a picture of him basking in the glow of a Monosodium glutamate high (courtesy of the greasy hot dogs and fries we ate on the way home Wednesday afternoon).But pray, what of knitting?

Weeellll, you'll recall that last weekend Phil left me alone with the cherubs to go to the Grands Airs de Varennes kite festival (oooh! that reminds me! Check out pictures of his Jordan 200 kite here! Seriously, it's worth the detour). I scored some yarn money out of that deal (guilt money!!!), and since I was heading to Ariadne anywaaay.... I bought this lovely Classic Elite Silky Alpaca Lace (Ravelry link). I may have mentioned that I'm going through severe lace withdrawal...So of course, I cast on for the Celtic Tote (Ravelry link) :) (hey, it's MY knitting, it doesn't have to make sense to anyone but me).I know, I know, it's not the moss green that Kate-the-Enabler gave me for my birthday. Honestly, I really only wanted to exchange one skein for a contrast colour. But when I spotted that Fuchsia, the game was up. I'm a sucker for the vibrant pink. I was briefly concerned about the colour not being, you know, Celtic-y? But a quick consult with Kate (who's pretty much an expert of all things Celtic, at least in my limited circle of friends) assured me that them there Celts were a pretty flamboyant bunch, and that, had they been able to produce a shade that brilliant, you bet your britches that they would have used it.Good enough for me! I'm absolutely loving it. Especially the cabling without a cable needle (makes me feel like a Knitter with a capital "K"). I can't wait to see it with the contrasting embroidery.

OK, that's it, I'm beat, and I wanna get some knitting time in before I collapse.

Happy Knitting Everyone!