Self Indulgence

A few weeks ago, my good friend April and I embarked on a “Girls Only” road trip. Ok, so roundtrip, I was only away for six hours…. It actually felt like an eternity to be away from the wee ones for that long. I guess I don’t get out much!

Our destination was the picturesque town of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia to pick up a ten-foot antique store counter. This beauty will serve as the focal point in Nurtured's new retail location which will be opening its doors this spring. Luckily for me, April was happy to mix business with pleasure! We enjoyed a leisurely drive down and took the time to stop for a yummy relaxing lunch as well as a browse through the local wool shop, Have A Yarn in Mahone Bay (of course!!)

Despite my yearning and drooling, I managed to resist temptation (at least this time around). One of my new year’s resolutions was to use up at least a bit of my yarn stash before adding to the ever-growing pile. April, on the other hand, picked up a beautiful multi-colored skein of hand-dyed Fleece Artist wool along with a hat and fingerless glove pattern by Perl Grey. She claimed she was “buying the lifestyle” depicted in the accompanying photo of a beautiful girl looking cozy and relaxed on a cobble Nova Scotia beach. I started thinking I could use a slice of that “lifestyle” myself. As Chi-Chi likes to preach to Muffy, “Sharing is caring!”. I guess April cares because she lent her pattern to me.

I’ve been so busy the last few months making Christmas gifts and items for the kiddies, that I’ve not done any “self indulgence" crafting. So, over the past couple of weeks, I’ve focused on me!! I'm long overdue for my own set of warm woolies to keep me toasty in the winter weather. Here’s a photo of Muffy modeling my new “lifestyle hat” as I like to refer to it. I stuck to my guns about limiting my yarn acquisitions and actually used recycled yarn for this project. I sourced the yarn by unraveling a scarf that was gathering dust in my closet. The gorgeous grass green color by the Fleece Artist reminds me of spring….wishful thinking. I also got around to knitting an adorable pair of “Easy Cotswold Mittens”. I picked up this pattern at Gaspereau Valley Fibres last summer. Their homegrown Cotswold yarn is very likely my favorite yarn of all time. Brenda hand-dyes the most amazing colors and I’m happy to finally have my own set of these cozy mittens.

Of course, I could not resist knitting up a couple of too cute felted mittens for the kids while I was in the mitten mood. It’s just my maternal nature I suppose!