Hallo!
How are you? It has been awhile, so I wanted to just write a quick update to essentially say nothing is really happening 😛 This summer has been Hot – so very hot. Heat Warnings for much of July/August. The hottest day, the humidity rose to 40 C – too hot to sit at the beach. Too hot to garden, to think or move. Heat unheard of on PEI.
It feels much better this morning. I actually have goose bumps on my bare skin.
The ocean is so warm! We have spent quite a few evenings just diving into the waves, watching the sun set and driving home on dark country roads, with sand and salt sticking to our skin. Crabs begin to come out by the time we leave, swarms of mosquitoes and deer fly, distant planets and stars. A dual sky – pink on one side and the most calming grey/blue on the other. It’s best early morning or in the early evening, when the sun isn’t burning bright over our heads.
So what have we all been up to? I pulled a muscle in my leg while running and have been rendered useless. There have been lots of visits, day trips, walks, eating and some knitting of course. I just washed and blocked several items to eventually put up in the shop (It’s just so hot out that even putting wool items on for photographs right now would be silly). I also started these little fair isle socks – I simply chose a fairisle design from the book ” Traditional Fairisle Knitting ” by Sheila McGregor. I really wanted a more floral design than the star. Hopefully, I can remember how to do the heel – that might prove difficult so don’t expect to see the finished result for awhile (not that skilled of a knitter!).
For the second time this summer, I came face to face with a Great Horned Owl sitting in a maple tree in our backyard. During the daytime (can you believe? I still don’t know if I can) Each time, I was in the garden looking around – the first time the owl was actually just sitting in a tree watching me and the second (yesterday) I heard a screech coming from the trees and went to investigate. This has been probably the most beautiful and magical encounter of my life. I am so interested in Owl lore and superstitions ❤ I feel like if you see an owl in the wild, you will feel pretty intense about preserving woodlands.
Alas! Not really a lot happening this summer. It has been quiet and slow (slow as in nothing too exciting happening – it has been going by SO fast, rawr). Next weekend, I get to hike with the elves in CB so I am very excited about that.
I’ll make a post for all the knitted things very soon and about Cape Breton if you would be interested 😀 😀
Slán!!!
Julia
Below is a short video that I absolutely love about a 14th century woman getting ready for the day. I think we can assume that those living in straw covered homes with dirt floors and a hearth at the centre were probably not use to such luxuries but that being said – I am sure they had their own unique and equally interesting ways of preparing for the day ahead!
Ways of Wood Folk 
Hi Julia!
I love the pink poppies! I have always loved red ones, but the last year I’ve been getting a taste for soft pink, and these look so adorable. Every time I read one of your posts I sort of lose myself in how I imagine your world must be like. It is very harmonic and highly poetic in my mind 😉
I am always so inspired to see what you are making, both cooking, knitting and drawing, and the garden looks lovely. (If you find a pattern you like particularly well, maybe you would swap one with me? I can try to find one I think you might like, either mittens, socks, cardigans or something else?)
I understand very well that you find the need to run around for pure joy. Just be careful with your leg. And I hope you recover soon!
Camilla ❤
P.s: The video i so much fun! I had no idea women wore makeup at that time. I thought that was seen as inappropriate. Well, I don't know as much about women history as I would like. The one book I have mostly concerns work and family life (childbirth and such). Where do you come across videos like this? 🙂
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Hi Camilla 🙂
Thank you for your comment and I am SO sorry for kind of going AWOL for the past couple of weeks! I hope you enjoyed your end of August!!
Ahhhh… I am happy you think our life is harmonic and poetic 🙂 It’s funny, I often think of you and your family in Norway and think much of the same! We are currently stacking our wood for the winter and this is when I feel like life is the most full – something about manual labour and preparation for winter. Anywhooooo, I must also respond to you via instagram because I think a blogging challenge would be so useful but you must be starting school, yes?
I would love to swap a pattern! I am weird though in that i generally just make up things rather than follow patterns. Not sure if i’m slightly dyslexic or what but I find it really hard to follow patterns. I usually don’t understand them even though knitting is a pretty simple and logical process. I’m a super visual and hands on learner – I am looking for a cable knit sweater to knit though so how about I try to find an existing pattern for this!
Hope your well ❤
Glad you liked the video! I will just search on youtube "medieval life" "medieval documentary" etc. etc. There is a good one called "birth, Marriage, death" ! I have watched like everything on there so am always looking for something new!
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Hi! I’m so sorry to reply so late! There has been so much going on with everyone starting school after the summer holidays and so on.
I have a bit of trouble following patterns as well, but I use them. I just follow them loosely and make up as I knit 🙂 I understand that you don’t follow patterns. You make so beautiful patterns on you own, so you don’t need one 🙂 I’d like to hear how the cable knit sweater is going? I’d like to knit one for Vidar, but I’m not sure he would like to wear it. Haha!
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Your garden is beautiful! Please take us on a more in-depth tour!
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Oh I shall!! It is bare now since we harvested all the garlic, but I will when harvest is really upon us (believe it or not… the tomatoes are still all green!!).
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These pics make me really want to visit PEI.
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Happpy to hear this!! And you should! August is the best time of year for travellers 🙂
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Hi Julia,
It was so wonderful to sit down this morning with a hot cup of coffee ( the kids slept in!! :0) and catch up on your blog and all the wonderful things you’ve been up to this summer, It really has gone by so quickly!
Congratulations on the new roof and your beautiful bathroom! Those are both major projects, but it probably feels so great to cross them off your list, and the sound of the rain on the tin roof is going to be magical!
We have spent most of the summer renovating the outside of this 1950’s home. I can’t tell you how wonderful It has been to see the two toned pink and green stucco GO!!! 🙂 slowly but surely it is coming together.
I’m looking forward to seeing all the beautiful projects you have completed over the summer, and those socks are lovely!
The evening you describe with the dual sky, is the type of evening I grew up calling a ‘cats night.’
If you’re not familiar with it… Old Irish legend says a Witch could turn herself into a cat 8 times and still be able to return to her witchy self, but on the ninth time she would remain a cat forever. From the legend comes the saying ” A cat has nine lives.” and since cats can be found roaming about on late summer evenings and especially the warm nights in August, these have come to be known as Cat nights! =^.^=
I will definitely be trying that bread recipe, it looks delicious! I normally use one from this amazing book called ‘ The New Artisan Bread In Five Minutes A Day.’ ( I highly recommend it) but it’s always nice to master different techniques.
I hope you have a wonderful visit with the elves in CB! That is where my Grandmother is from…North Sydney Co. I am so looking forward to visiting one day! Even though I have never been through all her stories it somehow still feels a bit like home!
Wishing you a quick recovery and many more ‘Cat Nights’ in August!
Warmly,
Sirena.
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Sirena!!
Thank you for this lovely message! I’m sorry for being so late responding, sometimes with my blog – I will post and then get swept up and won’t log onto it for weeks! I’m trying to change this but alas, I am sorry!
Ah… I love that you have a folktale to go with the sky at dusk. I have never heard this folktale and will have to look into it. I love little folk descriptions for the natural world. We just finished listening to Neil Gaiman’s audiobook of Norse Mythology while we were travelling – there are so many stories that as a side comment will say “and this is why the Salmon’s tail narrows” etc. (Because Thor grabbed Loki as a Salmon, ha) something to describe why something in nature is the way it is – normally associated with a magical being of some kind. Love it!
Hope your summer has been going well and your shop is prospering! We have been so quiet over here but it’s almost falll and time to get back to work 😀
We are the same having both our Grandmother’s from CB. It’s so far away from your home, but you should some day make a little ancestral pilgrimage to pay homage to your Grandmother (does this mean your Great Grandmother was also from CB or does the line begin and end with your Grandmother?).
Merry September to you and your family!
P.S. I hope the sky has cleared up and the animals and trees can breathe – we had hazy sunsets last week and the news said it was from the fires out West. My heart falls for the earth thinking of this pain…
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Wonderful to hear you are being kind to yourself as you recover Julia – especially is this heat! It has been an incredibly different summer weather wise in the northeast – that’s for sure! At least you have the ocean 🌊 to soothe you. I have been appreciating the breezes that Canada sends our way over the waters of Lake Ontario. (Thank you! 😉) The video is a reminder that the “days of old” weren’t as simple as one might think. I do love how the use of flowers, herbs, scented waters and oils played a part in their lives. The general population has lost this connection to nature over time, which is why it is important for those of us (with inklings that way) to continue these ways. Thanks for sharing – your stories and the video. Abundant blessings to you, Julia!
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Bonnie! Apologies for such a late response! I must tell you too that I received your beautiful card and gave it to my Mom for her birthday at the end of August. We were both admiring your work and love your cards!
Yes, the weather has been strange. We have been plagued by a very vicious mosquito this year that thrives in hotter places. They are smaller than normal and out ALL day long. It doesn’t help that with the humidity, we are still having plus 30 C (not sure what the American equivalent is but it’s hot!). This morning, it was even warm when I got up at 5!! But anyway, it shouldn’t be too long and our tomatoes have not ripened on the vine… I’m rambling!!!
I’m glad you enjoyed the video – I like sharing these kind of things because I think others will be interested in similar things (despite feeling like a big nerd and misfit in the *real world*).
Happy Labour Day to you!! Hope you enjoy this weekend!
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So glad you like the cards and that you sent the one to your mom!!! That warms my heart. Up until now I have only sold them locally at gallery shops, but I am thinking of maybe adding them to my website, or sell them on Etsy.
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You will have to let me know when you have it running!!!
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I will most likely post on IG, but I will definitely send you an email!
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