House Guests

It's been a couple of busy weeks here at our house! On Friday last week we had a huge Midsummer's party, and we had over 30 guests here. 

I think 14 of them stayed over night, so we had people sleepeing in every corner! But it was a great success, the weather held up so we could have dinner outside (potatoes with sourcream, pickled herring and grilled meat, with strawberries and ice cream for dessert), and a lot of people swam in our swimming pool as well. Then Thomas' four brothers, two of their girlfriends, and two additional friends stayed one more night, and we played board games and watched movies for the entire Saturday (it was raining). 

Then on Monday afternoon my best friend Christine, her husband Martin and their three little boys came to visit for two nights, and let me tell you: We are not used to the kind of energy needed to keep three boys under the age of 10 entertained for two days! It was a blast to have them here, and I hope we get to have them back next summer too, but we are kind of exhausted right now!

So with all of those people staying here, we had a lot of cleaning and fixing to do around the house before they came, so the entire week before was spent just making sure everything was ready! We've finally got curtains in all the windows, we've unpacked the last moving box, we've bought new guest beds for the guest room and a pull-out sofa for the computer room, we hung the last lamps from the ceiling, and stuff like that! This last 1.5 weeks we have left of our vacation will probably be spent doing as little as possible :)

I did manage to finish some knitting though! First, on the weekend before midsummer, I finished the Ethereal Triangle shawl:

It's made with an entire skein of Madelinetosh Prairie yarn (100 % Merino), and I think I had less than a meter left when it was done! I actually had to redo the bind-off, as I ran out of yarn the first time, so I ended up skipping the last purl row and bound off directly instead. It's not huge, but it's pretty big, and I'm very happy with it! I wore it at the party, but since I held the camera I haven't ended up in any of the photos! But I'm going to wear it to my cousin's wedding in the middle of July, and I'll try to sneak in some actual action shots then.

On midsummer's day I got to sit down and knit while the board games were being played, and FINALLY finished the Silken Scabbard sweater! It's gorgeous!

It's made with 10.5 skeins of Rowan Silk Wool, and it's very comfortable and cozy, while the silk gives it a very glamorous sheen as well. I love it, and I almost wish for autumn so I can get to wear it!

Now that the house is finally empty (and don't get me wrong, it's been great to see all of our friends and have so many guests, we're just a bit tired), I'm going to knit a lot more! I'm currently only working on a pair of socks (Faramir socks, I'm using Opal sock yarn) and one shawl (Urdr shawl, I'm using Drops Lace yarn from Garnstudio), but once I get a little bit further on the shawl I think I'll start a new cardigan. I'm choosing between the Peanut Butter cardigan and the Austin Hoodie. I'll let you know which one I decide on.

Oh, and I also want to make the Bigger on the Inside shawl. I'm currently completely obsessed with Doctor Who, and I want my very own David Tennant! Too bad I can't knit me one of those...

/ Jenny