In honour of Canada Day, here are some Canada Geese (and goslings). I could have shown you pictures of many drunk people heading to Parliament Hill to celebrate last night, but alas, I didn't pull out my camera in time to catch the guy puking at the bus stop. So instead, I give you geese.

These guys were beside the bike path along the Ottawa River last week, along with hundreds of geese and duck families. They grow up so fast *sniff*

I am now back from my few days in Montreal, where I had a great time visiting my friend Susan (who loves her new dishcloths!). I took the train and enjoyed the scenery while I knit and listened to podcasts.  Such a civilized way to travel. Over the weekend we drove out to Hudson to go to Finnegan's Market (what does it mean that I was drawn to a spinning wheel even though I don't spin and have no intention of spinning? And no, I did not buy it. I don't spin.) We also went to the Biodome, which was my favourite place to take visitors when I lived in Montreal (except now I was the visitor, and Susan had never been there). Along with the usual exhibits, consisting of four ecosystems, there was a great travelling exhibit called Fatal Attraction, about mating rituals of animals.

On Friday the first clue came out for the Mystery Stole 3 project. I had taken my yarn, needles and beads for it to Montreal, so I printed the charts and began it while I was there. Once I get going on a lace project, I get completely hooked and can't put my needles down, so it should be no surprise that I finished Clue 1 fairly quickly:

I stretched it out a bit using my blocking wires, but of course, lace never looks "right" until it's blocked. 

Believe it or not, there are beads on it. They don't show up at all on the photo. And even "in person", they are very subtle. Now, I didn't want anything too flashy, but I worry that it might be even too subtle.

The yarn I'm using is Naturally Dawn in white (colour 7) that I bought last weekend at Wool n' Things. The beads are silver-lined clear Czech glass seed beads (and I managed to get the first section done without scattering the beads all over the place – there may have been one or two (or three) that got away from me, but no great disaster yet).

The yarn 50% wool, 50% silk. It is soft and lovely, and knits up beautifully. The only problem is that it comes in 25g balls, so there will be ends to deal with, which is never fun with laceweight. I usually spit-splice, but since it's not pure wool, I can't do that. Maybe I'll try a Russian Join. Actually, I've already had to join twice, because the first ball had 2 knots in it (I really hate knots in yarn), but I just joined in the new yarn along the edge and I will try to weave in the ends without it showing too badly.