A few weeks ago I made the decision that I was not going to tie myself into knots trying to design warm-weather knits—at least for a while. This has been a year of upheaval in so many ways that I felt it was a kindness to my designing muse not to push her too far or too hard. She seems to have responded positively to that decision; I've got a lot of ideas for next fall and winter literally spilling out of my head. I just need to get them knitted, written, and edited (the knitting is the easy part, in case you were wondering).

A few weeks ago, Melanie gave me some sample skeins of this to play with:

It's a yarn from Cascade called Pacific. When I picked up the skein I believe I said, "oooohhhh," because it felt so nice. I did hesitate a bit when I looked at the label because the yarn is a blend of 60% acrylic and 40% superwash Merino. I am no big fan of superwash yarns. They are better than they used to be, but I prefer unadulterated wool whenever possible. However, I decided to give the yarn a fair shake and cast on for a nice big swatch.

I love it. I loved knitting with it, I loved the stitch definition, I loved the feel, I loved everything. I couldn't wait for the yarn to come in to the store. It was there yesterday, so I bought some in a wonderful butter yellow. It will become something shortly—I am not sure what, but something.

I finished the Abuelita Yarns scarf last night and need to block it this morning. My MIL's flight gets in around 1:30 this afternoon.

This is also what is affectionately known as "Auction Week" by those of us in the fire department. Our annual (this is the 45th one) fundraising auction takes place on Saturday and Sunday. This is a huge event and requires something like 200+ volunteers to make happen. The husband has been on the fire department for 17 years, and I've helped at the auction for at least 10 of those years (they all blur together after a while). I have worked in food, in PR, and—my current role—as Finance Section Chief. I am the Treasurer of the firefighters' association (the group that sponsors this auction), so it sort of naturally falls to me to handle the money end of the things. It's a job I am good at it. I have a great Deputy Chief, too. Of all the Auction jobs I've had, this is the one I enjoy the most. I like keeping track of the pennies and making sure everything balances.

Tomorrow we will head to the auction grounds and begin setting up. DD#2 is on spring break, so I think she and my MIL will come over and help, too. This is very much a family event. Our kids began helping when they were about 10 years old, as "runners" for the auctioneers. When they got into 7th grade, they graduated to helping in the "brat booth,"—one of the food stands run by the kids from our Mennonite church. My MIL used to come and watch the kids for us when they were little, but when they got to be old enough to come and work, she started coming to work, too.

This auction is definitely a slice of real Montana life. And it raises a boatload of money for the fire department. Our chief estimates that in the 44 years that we've been holding the auction, we've raised over one million dollars for our department. I'm thinking it might even be more.