We’ve done it! Our 4,000 miles from one coast to the other is quite a trek but it also provides a breather – a different environment, a different approach, a different daily effort. The beach is as beautiful as always even if those mosquitoes are crazy bad (as are the deer flies) and I am allergic enough to both that I am considering drugs. It is not an option to retreat.

Our trip across the country was full of family and familiar places. The mountains in the west were stunning but wreathed in smoke as fires blazed in various spots. The plains were full of lush corn and soybeans – I felt right at home as we drove through on our way to our family’s farm. After a lovely interlude at home, it was a mad dash east to arrive in New Brunswick in time for a birthday celebration. As with our previous trips, I knit all the way across the continent. This year I completed a shawl and almost finished a sweater for my grandson. I am saving the final reveal on the shawl until I get back home to my blocking wires. I had just finished a neat shawl before I left home and it really bloomed with the blocking.

One of the things I brought with me on this journey was a set of towels I designed. I used a technique for designing an overshot pattern called a name draft. I based the draft on our little area in New Brunswick. To create a name draft, you associate each letter with blocks of the overshot pattern – sort of like a substitution code. Unless you have a ton of shafts, each block will be associated with several letters but how you assign those letters is totally up to you. This draft is based on Upper Cape, NB. I played with the threading to make things symmetrical and pleasing to the eye. (After all, I am not a spy trying to smuggle a coded message out; I am a weaver trying to create a nice dish cloth with a little extra meaning.) In any case, a dish towel is a great gift and we owe our neighbors lots of gratitude for getting our church through the winter this year.

This summer is a first for us – we are staying in the church the full time! Earlier this spring, Erik installed the hot water heater and a wash basin to go with our shower, tub, and toilet so the bathroom is complete! Next is the kitchen and a new floor for the loft. Behold, my master carpenter put the cabinets up in a twinkling! Okay, a few details need to be ironed out: glass for the cabinets, a countertop, and some appliances, but whoa! what a difference, don’t you think?

This year we are determined to spend a lot more time just relaxing and enjoying our vacation. We have gone for a long beach walk most days. (Toby thinks the beach is the best thing ever.) My yoga mat is unfurled in the loft, my spinning wheel is up and spinning, and my rigid heddle loom is looking at me expectantly. All in all, we are enjoying the fruits of last year’s labors. Staying here and having toasty fires at night and hot showers in the morning makes all the time we spent in the last two years seem worth it. And lest we forget how far we have come, here are a couple of pictures from the first year (with the current kitchen for comparison)!

All is not smooth sailing yet, of course. We are washing our dishes outside for the moment. And we are still sitting on wooden, straight-back chairs most evenings. But every improvement gets us closer to the cozy cottage vision. Stay tuned!