Well

Sometimes you get what you deserve. The Canadian election results were pretty much like I expected: another Conservative minority but with a few more seats than last time. The Liberals lost several seats and the NDP gained some. The Bloc Quebecois stayed the same. What was disappointing was the lowest voter turnout ever at 59% of the eligible population. Here in my riding it was higher at 61% but that’s still pretty pathetic. There are countries in this world where people put their lives on the line to have their democratic vote and here almost half throw their precious opportunity away. Are they totally happy with things as they are? Everything the federal government does is just peachy with them? Or are they just too lazy to check out the parties and the candidates and what they stand for and, gasp, pick one.

Anyway the federal election is easy-peasy in comparison to the upcoming civic election. You only have to pick one person out of a short list. In the civic election you have to pick a mayor, 10 councilors, 7 park commissioners, 9 school trustees, yes or no to the capital plan and a partridge in a pear tree. OK, not the last one. And the list of choices is huge! Big fun. Not. Alright – enough of the polly-ticks already. This ain’t that kind o’ blog.

Back to your regularly scheduled crafty stuff. I managed to get a shot of the beginnings of my Laminaria Shawl:

It's already bigger than that. And I swear the colour of this yarn changes constantly from green to gold and back again. In different light and every time I try to photograph it, I get a different result. Even to the eye, it shifts. Very fun if somewhat frustrating to pin down. The knitted fabric looks quite dense for lace but that’s because this is the beginning star stitch section which is quite textured and not so much lacy. If you look at the garter stitch edge you’ll see how loose it really is even on 3mm needles. This part is very easy to keep track of but it still takes a lot of needle-maneuvering to work. That’s what I love about Estonian lace – it’s quite out of the ordinary. And this shawl has a lovely combination of lace stitches which is probably why so many have opted to knit it. There are hundreds of gorgeous finished Laminarias on Ravelry! As usual, I’m kinda late for the party.

So of course I can’t put the needles down now that I’ve started. I knew I should have resisted until I got a few other things finished first. Nah, I’m not going to feel bad about something I’m enjoying. That would be stupid. It’s not even bad for me, like eating potato chips or something. However, I do have other things to do today. I want to go weed some more garden now that it’s nice (but cool) out. It’s supposed to rain tomorrow. And I need to pick the next bunch of coreopsis. And save some of their seeds for next year. And go to the farmer’s market which is almost done for the year. Only one more of them to go and I need to get some winter squashes, potatoes, apples, carrots and whatever else will store well to carry us into winter. Things I can’t or don’t grow myself. Guess I’d better get to it, eh?