A day of lounging around town

I must take a moment this morning before I get to all the cleaning and other stuff that needs to be done before tonight's game to shout out about the wonderful day I had yesterday. Honey's parents are in a very l-o-n-g process of building a house in the beautiful mountains of VA. Ground was broke early two summers ago (2006) and the crew had high hopes of having the family moved in by Christmas '07. Being that the 'crew' consisted of Honey's parents, Honey's sister and brother-in-law, and the two of us, things trucked along nicely in the beginning. I know nothing about woodworking equiptment let alone building a house. But I was willing, able, and learning a lot!

(photos taken Octoer '06)

Somewhere around this time Honey's sister and brother-in-law dropped out of the crew claiming they were sick or had to take care of the 2-year old. When the weather turned cold I dropped out for the winter months because my I get awful headaches being out in the cold for lenghts of time. Things seem to pick up again breifly over the summer of '07 even though the sister's family never retruned to the crew. And now Christmas has come and gone and this is where the house stands now:

Looks pretty good huh? But take a peak inside...

It's no where near the moving in stage!!! They've been working on pipes, wiring, and duct work for months now. Moral is low and progress feels almost non-existant. To make matters worse, there are leaks in the roof that they can't figure out where they're coming from. So far the foundation and the roof are the only two parts of the house that were contracted out to do. The insulation and the dry wall will be contracted out too, but the leaks must be found and fixed before that can happen. 6 months after the leaks have reared their ugly heads, and no solution yet. This is a longer haul that any of us signed on for!

Usually with it being a winter month and all, I wouldn't have gone down with Honey this weekend unless there is something special going on. And boy was I in for a treat this weekend! See, my blogging buddy Chan lives close enough to that neck of the woods to call for a knitters gathering. (After you read my version of the day you may want to head on over to hear Chan's delightful rendition of the events.) We made plans to meet in person for lunch and a tour of the LYS. We met for lunch at a delicious place where we sat and chatted for hours. I haven't had a long chatty lunch with a friend in ages. We talked about so many things and it truely felt like talking to an old friend. We were instantly comforted by each other's presence. (Well, at least I was, being that I had just left the construction site and was down hearted over the progress and the promise of dinner later that night.)

And boy was I plesantly surprised and delighted when Chan presented me with a gift bag. She made me this beautiful shaw as my PIF gift!!! (She's got more close up photos of the pattern on her blog.) It's perfect!! I adore the colorway... it's made from Tofutsies... I've been wanting a handknit shaw... I have yet to master lace (other than the Branching Out scarf)... and it was handknit by a termendous knitter, person, and friend! Who could ask for more?!?!? To boot, the bag also included some yummy tea (which I'm enjoying this morning) and some chocolates which we induldged in after lunch. You are amazing Chan!

We then proceeded on to meander through some local farm land in search of wooly wonders. The shop we intended to visit wasn't open as the woman on Chan's phone promised but we did meet a very nice woman at the farm just past there that I would love to go back and visit her yarn shop. (I hear another road trip calling.)

We then delighted ourselves with the brick layed outdoor mall area of Charolettesville and popped into an eye candy of a yarn store. I must have touched each skein of yarn 4 or 5 times while we were in there! I picked up a skein of Jitterbug (love that Jitterbug) to go better with another skein I reciently aquired and have plans for a Cheveron scarf. The man at the shop also tried (very hard) to sell me some amazing two stranded yarn that was screaming my name. Just ask Chan. She took one glance at it and claimed that nothing could describe me better. But the metalic and the fuzziness parts of it just made it difficult to imagine working with. Don't get me wrong, I was truely in love with the colorway, but I just couldn't give in to the disappointment of not liking knitting with it. (I'm currently having this problem with recycled silk so I'm in a hesitant mood.)

The 3rd LYS was closed by the time we got there so window shopping (drooling) was about all we got out of that one so we headed back to the parking lot where we chatted for an hour or so.

I really couldn't have planned an more perfect lounging outing or have spent it with a more lovely person.