The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of creative energy for me. Despite a few stresses at work, I am learning to take solace in “my” time and focus on doing the things that I really enjoy. Last week I had the chance to take a 5 day weekend from work for the President’s Day weekend to just relax and focus on myself.  It was nice to just sit back and do nothing and everything all at the same time.

In that time I had the chance to see my friend Avril’s Alicat Fall 2011 Runway show. Avril is handbag designer who also design all the clothing for her runway shows to highlight her bags. I’ve been helping her develop her website in anticipation of this show so it was great see all the hard work she’s been putting in forth for the show (take a look)

I also had a chance to be an extra in short film for Randy Wilkins. I had the opportunity to work with Randy before on his Osvaldo’s film project, so I was more than happy to be a part of the creative process. It wasn’t until the morning of that I remember that I have no aspirations to be an actor and had no idea how I was supposed to “act” as an extra. Nevertheless, I channeled my acting skills from all the childhood plays I was in (I was the child that could memorize everything & my mother says I was a dramatic child). In reality, all I had to do was stand there but in my head I was acting

During that weekend I was also able to make myself some jeans, leggings, and finish the cabled sweater (as seen in the previous post) and a Presidents’ Day apple pie. With all those things finished I was ready to dive into the next set of projects.

This past Friday, I stopped by Purl to pick up some yarn for baby blankets. It was my first time visiting their new space and it was interesting. The space is nice and definitely more spacious. Maybe it’s just me but they definitely give off that “we are the cool kids” vibe now and I don’t ever remember anyone asking me if I needed help even though I had questions. The old space may have been small but I felt like the women that worked their realized you were actually in the store. Nonetheless I bought some Cascade 220 Sport Superwash for baby blankets because I didn’t know of another place in the city to get it. The red will be for a solid lacy baby blanket for a girl and the other colors will be used for a striped boy’s blanket.

I also spent some time working on a pattern dress jumper for myself. If it turns out well I’m considering grading the pattern and making a couple of pieces for sale.

And to end off my weekend I’m making some soup for dinner (and lunch this week). During the winter I really enjoy making soups. It’s a great comfort food and the leftovers are great for lunch. This week’s soup is a chicken potato leek soup. It’s cooking as I type.

I’m off now to enjoy some soup and knit a bit before heading to bed. Happy work week everyone. And if you don’t have to work…..lucky you. I’m jealous.