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Phew

Retirement in my mind has always been the stereotypical relaxing days of sleeping in, lounging around in your pjs til noon or later, and just plain chillaxing filling days with things one enjoys doing.  The shoulders move away from the ears with less tension in life, the pace of life may be a bit slower and, well, you get the picture.  I'm really, really ready to get to this state because the pre-retirement wrapping things up phase isn't anything remotely close to relaxing.

Perhaps I've put a bit much on my plate.  There's a new person to train at work, a house sitter to get up to speed with the responsibility of keeping Mike, the cat, happy, files both physically and electronically to move, a car to pack up with extras from our home, all the financial and personal paperwork to complete and that's just the past week.  At times it can be both physically and psychologically draining, but at this point this labour is so short-term.  I have 4 days of work left with one statutory holiday, Canada Day on Tuesday.  Friday, July 4 is my last day of work.  For those who may wonder, yes this is my personal Day of Independence from holding a full-time job.

Things are pretty well in control today so I decided to start a new project that I found perfectly lovely from Knit and Crochet Now 5th Season, Mock Plaid Scarf (click on name to get free pattern).  It is very simple to knit and looks beautiful, as far as I'm concerned.  Here's the sample scarf




The miracle of this scarf is using two balls of variegated yarn and the special trick is to start each ball at a different spot in the sequence of the variegation.  Since I needed a break from the Fisherman's Pullover and wanted something rather mindless, this looked like a great option for the week.  I am using some recycled yarn purchased by the pound at a local discount store.  I purchased it because the colour combinations include all my favorite colours.   Here's my version so far



The simple slip stitch causes the lovely vertical colour line.  This yarn is light enough in weight that I think I'll be able to wear it even during the summer.  It will be the last working knitted item I will make.  Bring on the new chapter of life, I'm ready for it!
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