And now I'm all nestled, snug in my bed...

...or soon to be since I have a crazy early departure in the morning.

And I have to give a HUGE shoutout to my friend Rachel who is getting out of her bed at 4 am to take me to the airport.  That's love.  I can feel it.

I'm all packed up.  Two backpacks for two weeks...lots and lots and lots of knitting (pics as I progress I promise)...and so much enthusiasm and excitement I don't even know where to begin.

I'm so excited and yet so sleepy...so that's good...because I've got a grueling day tomorrow.

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Because I know you're curious:  The kitties are settled in at the Cozy Cattery.  They have their beds and some toys and other kitty friends to keep them company.  I dropped them off and paid and was shuttled out the door.  I felt a little like a mama dropping her babies off at day care for the first time.  I remember that hustle to the door...the subtle "shove" and no option to look back and make sure they're settling in ok.

I know they'll settle in ok, even Zora who is usually such a snit in public.  I know this because the other cats there were ok and they'll send the appropriate vibes out to my girls to chill, enjoy the view and get to know what it's like being around other kitties.

The Cattery lets the kitties out of their cages for at least an hour each day if they want to come.  I think that's really awesome.  They'll get to run around and see the birds and look at the other kitties if they're curious.  It's going to be great for them, I just know it.

But I sure have missed them tonight.  It's just been me getting all my stuff packed up...and I have to tell you that it's kinda sad packing up my suitcase and not having to drag the cat out one.more.time. :)

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Tomorrow will be airports and knitting and reading all day and at some point on Monday I'll arrive in Tallin, Estonia, and begin my amazing adventure.  I'll post pics, I promise.

I successfully started a project! And thoughts on travel

Yea me!  I started a Pi Shawl (Elizabeth Zimmerman's "Pithy instructions") last night.  I'm using the Madelinetosh Tasty Tosh color of the month--Strawberry Rhubarb Pie--for my Pi Shawl. (snicker!)

Isn't it lovely?

Those are the Marblz double points in size 6.  I've since switched to the interchangeable needle set and will knit away on this at some point during my trip. (I love those needles and not just because they're pretty)  The Pi Shawl is what EZ recommends for trip knitting...it's easy, pretty mindless, and fairly well contained.  So I'm after it.

And you know what else is wonderful?  I started the project and...then put it in a bag so that it'll be ready to work on when I'm on my trip.  Isn't that forsightful of me not to get it almost finished before I leave???

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SO...in one week I'll be flying across the pond to visit three cities in three countries that I've never been to before.  I'm going to be touring with a group of people I've never met and it's going to be an amazing experience.

I'm finding my prepping for travel compared to how I've always prepped for travel to be rather interesting.  I have a one night lay over in Zurich, for instance.  I just realized last night that I don't have a hotel.  So I booked that.

I realized yesterday that I hadn't yet gotten my data plan for international usage...done.

I have some clothes, but not many.  i haven't even thought about what I'm going to pack in any significant wary.

I just realized that looking at the weather would be nice (high/low temps, that sort of thing).

The fact that I'm not on the schedule that was just put out at work sort of "brought home" how quickly this trip is happening.

Before?  I had countdowns, hotels planned, more clothes bought than I could possibly wear, data plans lined out, food purchased, restaurants in the area of the hotels scouted out.  Everything planned.  Now I'm just coasting along and while I'm excited I'm also living my life right now.  It's fabulous.  And I'm super happy...

London Calling!

So, back in December 2012, I got on an airplane and flew to London and stayed a week.  We were going essentially to celebrate Alyssa's graduation from college, but we also celebrated our birthdays, Christmas and mine and David's anniversary while we were there (for the record, my birthday is around Thanksgiving and the girls are right after the new year...and everything else is sandwiched in between).

What an awesome trip that was.  Here's a picture to prove that we went and loved each other and had a good time.

It was cold when we went and dark.  We were there during the Winter Solstice that year and sunset was right about 4pm.  While I've experienced colder, and damper, we didn't spend lots of time doing things outside.

Oh, and I was 90 pounds heavier and David was 140 pounds heavier.  I haven't been on a plane since that trip and David assures me it's going to be a shocker.  I'm SO excited to be shocked...Because you know what?

IN TWO DAYS I'M LEAVING AGAIN FOR LONDON!!!!!

This time we are celebrating 25 years since David and I decided to be a couple "forever and ever" (on July 4, 1989).

And you know what?  I'm so very very tired right now I'm having the hardest time getting myself geared up and excited about this trip.  I've made an itinerary (which I never do) to see if we can work in most of the things we want to do...I've been checking the weather every day (60s and sunny predicted for our first 5 days there!)...

...but mostly I've just been getting through the day I'm in (and to demonstrate just how much I'm just getting through the day I'm in, I haven't even THOUGHT ABOUT the knitting/crochet I'm taking on this trip.  NOT EVEN THOUGHT ABOUT IT!....And I'm having trouble mustering up the usual panic that that would elicit...)

I'm so ready to get on the plane, go on vacation, and leave this job and my other worries and cares behind and simply enjoy being in the company of the man that 25 years ago I was impressed enough with to want to spend the rest of my life with him...

And...this year we're going to be there over the Summer Solstice...sunset around 9:45pm...

What an awesome way to usher in the new life I'm setting up for myself.  I'm staying an extra 5 days than originally intended. David will be working with his students (research project for graduate students in his department) and I will be going to see and do something textile-y type things that I know he isn't much interested in.

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Daddy's Story:  Once when we were talking with my daddy about a vacation we wanted to go on, he said, "I don't know why you want to travel so much.  Aren't you happy with where you live?"  And when I told him I was, he said, "I just don't see any point in leaving home if you like it there."

That he was a homebody and only went on a couple of vacations in my memory of him shows me that he was indeed a very happy man with where he lived.

Color therapy

This weekend I went to see my parents.  It's a 9 hour drive each way.  While it doesn't seem like it should be, riding in a car is exhausting.  Even when the weather is gorgeous and you have your sweetheart driving you all the way.

I was trying to put a positive spin on things by acknowledging that I had 18 hours of knitting time.  I didn't think about my 6am departure as actually taking away from that knitting time...nor really the fact that on our return trip I would lose knitting time at the end of the day.  But it was a good 14 hours of knitting (or knitting related activity) time.

SO, my car knitting...therapy knitting...comfort knitting...whatever you'd like to call it is this blanket from the Berroco Comfort Afghans.  The pattern is called Autumn Haze, and while I'm not using Comfort yarns, I do find the knitting of this blanket to be very comforting indeed. You'll also notice that I'm not using autumn colors, but I've mentioned that before.

This photo shows the blanket 1/3 finished.  That's one full pattern repeat.  I've decided to reassign colors to the "letters" in the pattern to create a more random and overall colorful effect.  I'm now about 1/2 finished (expect to be tonight if I feel like working on it).

The yarns I'm using are a mix of things from my stash--some Malabrigo Worsted (the delicious purple on the end, pink and turquoise solids).  There's a fun alpaca tweed in a lighter turquoise--can't remember the yarn brand or company.  I'm using some Cascade 220 (light purple) and Knit Picks Swish worsted (the variegated purple and pink).  I love the colors in this afghan, I love the knitting of this afghan (even the slip-stitch color work is gorgeous and interesting) and I love the textural interplay between all the different yarns.  The plump Malabrigo next to the springy Knit-Picks and the slick Alpaca.  It's just gorgeous in so many ways.  And total color therapy.  It's very difficult to dwell on sad or depressing things with all that color and lovely yarn in my hands.

On the way out, though, I almost hit a road block though.  I ran out of the ball of turquoise I was using and needed to wind off a hank of yarn...I usually do this with my swift or David, but David was driving, so I had to improvise.  Thankfully I've lost a lot of weight and am more flexible so was able to get the hank of yarn around my legs and wound it off by going under my legs about 100 times.  See I got exercise too.  Need proof?

Lastly, yesterday I took the day off to recuperate.  I knitted on the Purple Blanket and rested and thoroughly enjoyed myself.  At some point I decided that it was time to examine the stash and see what I could get out of it to make Alyssa's afghan. (I'm sure this is the case when having 2 children, but it's more so when having twins...if I commit to making one thing for one, I MUST make something for the other immediately, sometimes simultaneously...)  In the interest of stash reduction, I wanted to make this happen as much as I could from the stash, but in conversation with David we decided that if I HAD to buy some yarn to flesh out a project that it wasn't a bad thing...as long as the net income of yarn was less that the outflow.

SO, I went into the studio, dug through my wool basket, my alpaca basket, my basket with yarns set aside for other projects long-since forgotten...and I even raided the sock yarn baskets.  (I had put a few skeins of worsted in their with the intention of making some thick socks for around the house).  I came up with the yarns below:

I had intended Alyssa's afghan to be much more green, but what happened is the rose colors really came through...and blues and greens...and some gold, oranges and browns.  And they all look perfectly lovely together.

And yes, that's a calico cat in there.  She totally loved all the yarn in the floor and I had to put everything away to keep her from "cleaning" the babies I'd left her.

Hi!

Hi all!  I'm back.  Sorry to have been gone for so long, but vacation was, well, vacation.  I unplugged, relaxed and thoroughly enjoyed not working.  Almost 2 weeks of that.

Then, of course, I returned to work and found things rather intense.  Stuff I thought was due next week, was actually needed that day.  My aunt had gotten very ill and was touch and go for a couple of days.  It was rather stressful, indeed.

And I find it really hard to deal with stress when I'm coming from a relative position of total stress-free.  I don't get "geared up" for it very easily.  I resist being stressed out.  I hate it.  I avoid it.  And yet, sometimes it rears its ugly head and I don't quite know how to handle it.  In this particular situation I just let it roll on past me.  I did what I could, worked hard, and managed to get everything done that I needed to do.  And so it goes.

But, back to vacation, which I know you're dying to know about.  Thursday was a day off to luxuriate and pack.  Friday we left for Lexington.  The drive seemed to take longer, though we didn't deal with any traffic...our stops were longer than anticipated and we got off to a late start.  Saturday we slept in a little and then went to the "Sheep and Fiber Festival."  Now, what I was expecting were sheep...and of course vendors to buy yummy yarns.  The vendors were there, but I did not see one single live sheep at all.  I was sorely disappointed.  The festival lasted for 2 days, but I was done in about 2 hours.  While I am terrifically glad that we went, I will need to tame my desire to attend these things to the "biggies"...at least if I'm going to travel that far.

SO, my desire to meet up with sheep, is, well, still a desire.

After the festival we had time to run out to Shaker Village for the afternoon where we looked at exhibits, walked around and enjoyed the beauty of the countryside.  It was a great day, beautiful weather and just all around relaxing and fun.  We came back into town and in our search for Outback found Chuy's so ate dinner there.  Yum.

On Sunday we slept in again, went to the local bookstore Joseph Beth, and went to our friend, Brent's wedding.  It was a beautiful ceremony, and the picture below is David and I all dolled up for the ceremony.  I think we're looking "real good"...don't you? (as of yesterday I'm down a total of 38.8 pounds and David 56...we feel amazing...simply amazing).  We then drove around and looked at our old houses.  That's always an interesting exercise.  That night we met some other friends from grad school for dinner at Bella Notte.  It's gotten better over the years.  Wonderful food and better company.

On Monday we drove up to Holmes County, OH, where we arrived at our hotel.  Our plan that day was to totally chill, which we did.  On Tuesday, we decided that the rock hard pillows at the hotel were not going to work for another 2 nights, so we drove into Canton and bought some pillows and I went to a yarn shop there because I could.  Then we went to Kidron where we shopped for furniture at Eastwood Furniture.  We bought a living room suit which will be hand crafted and delivered to us sometime in late July or August.  Then we tooled around some more driving around the countryside, and went back to the hotel in the afternoon to relax a little before dinner.  Wednesday was more of the same (without the big purchase).  

On Thursday we got up very early and drove home.  I don't want to talk about the drive because it was awfully stressful with terrible terrible traffic.  We made it home safely and I didn't completely lose my mind, so I guess in the end it was all ok. 

Then for the weekend (and it was a long one, thank goodness) I knitted.  I completed some beautiful socks (pictures later, I promise) and started another pair (almost finished with them).  All-in-all it was fabulous to just SIT and do nothing.  It was a great all-around vacation.

Tomorrow!

Tomorrow David and I leave for our week long trek into the places we used to live and relax.

Actually I've been looking forward to this vacation quite a lot.  I've been in a huge need of some time away from work, some time to relax, refresh and really enjoy being who I am and being with the man I'm with.  It'll be wonderful in all kinds of ways.  I hope the weather holds and we get to enjoy seeing the beauty of the landscape as we drive north...rather than dealing with a lot of rain.  I do hate traveling in the rain.

Oh well, not much to do about it.

One thing that's making me laugh a bit about this trip is that I'm not being my typical self.  I haven't figured out what I'm going to bring for my knitting.  I haven't even thought about it much. I know I'll pack more projects than I can possibly manage to finish, but that's not the point of travel knitting.  The point of travel knitting is to keep me from going bonkers in the car until we get there and to relax me before bedtime.  Either way, I think it's interesting that I've not been obsessing like usual about all the projects I need to take.

I do know that at the end of this vacation I'll have a new pair of cabled socks, (hopefully) some good progress on my first skinny sweater, and be finished with the cursed scarf that I hate knitting but love touching and looking at.  The latter is probably a pipe dream seeing that I typically don't have more than 20 minutes of patience with that project, but I'm hoping that riding along in the sunny car watching the hills roll past will inspire me to knit away and not pay attention to the fact that I hate it...

Hopefully when I return I'll have a lovely report of the sheep and fiber festival.  I'm looking forward to my friend's wedding, and Amish country never disappoints.  I'm slightly concerned about what we'll eat while we're there, but I think we'll figure it out.  All my food memories of Amish Country have involved heavy carb-loaded meals...should be interesting.

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Today's picture is of my most recent pair of socks.  They are made from a sock flat.  A sock flat is a knitted up panel of sock yarn that is then hand painted.  You knit from the flat and create some interesting effects in the knitting.  I do love these socks even though I made the second one noticeably smaller than the first.  I learned that I will need to count my rows next time rather than simply laying next to each other and measuring.  Silly me.  Even so, they fit ok and I love them.  No one has to know, right?

Spontaneity

Once upon a time there was a boy and a girl.  They met in a class and flirted with each other, fell in love and got married.  They would wake up one morning and say "hey, let's go do something fun," and head out to do whatever that fun thing was.

Then they had babies, then they went to grad school and got very busy, then they got jobs and got even busier.

They'd still wake up in the morning and say "hey, let's go do something fun," but kids, work or other responsibilities always got in the way.

Then the babies grew up and went off to college and became self sufficient.  The boy and girl had learned that anything they did had to be planned, so there weren't very many spontaneous moments...they planned their fun.  While it was still fun, there wasn't that spark of excitement to it.  It was all planned and well-thought out and, well, orchestrated.

Yesterday, however, the girls spied a Sheep and Fiber Festival in Lexington, KY, where this couple used to live.  She said to the boy "I'm tempted," and he said, "let's do it," so a frenzy of hotel reservations and cancellations ensued and now that's what they're doing.

San Antonio and visiting parents has been tossed aside in lieu of spontaneity and fun.  And the girl is very excited about it.  Very.

The boy and girl are going to Lexington for 2 days and then driving up to Holmes County, OH, where they used to go when they lived up in those parts.  Relaxation, fun, and crafty-pleasures await.

The boy and girl feel somewhat like they may be getting their spark back.

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Today's picture is of a finished Frankie.  Frankie is the sweetest monster I've made so far.  She has on a light and dark pink striped shirt that lets her adorable green arms and legs show through.  Her ears match the dark pink in her shirt.  Her great big green eyes yearn for a hug and to send encouragement to you.  I think Addie, the little girl she will belong to when she gets to Texas, will be thrilled to have her princess monster.  Today she's sitting on my desk making me smile every now and again.

Retreat

I'm on retreat this weekend.  A much needed retreat.  In fact, I'd stay this way for an entire week if I could but work beckons and it's the wrong time of the semester to call in sick. There's a lot moving and shaking at work and I could find myself in quite different circumstances in the coming months...or I could find myself just exactly where I am.

I'm ok with that.

But back to the retreat.  My plans for this weekend are to knit and weave and relax.  I'm going to watch travel shows and dream about where I will travel and what I'll do there once I lose my weight.  I'm eating healthy this weekend (thank you so much David for cooking me food for when you're gone...steaming or baking veggies is definitely something I can manage on my own).

I was so excited about my retreat that I actually woke up early this morning.  I did this during spring break too.  Cracks me up.

I currently have 8 knitting projects on the needles and would have started a 9th without question except I'm out of size 7 needles (though I do know I have tips in there, so may change my mind if I can find the right size circular cord) and am definitely starting another mystery knitalong.  Those are so fun.  I even watched the premier episode of Game of Thrones this morning to be part of the spirit behind the KAL (not sure it's going to be my kind of show, but I'll watch it with David when he gets home and hide my face during the violent parts).

I designed the next scarf I'll weave with a lovely "splurge" yarn (thanks to David for my Easter "basket").  It's a cashmere sock yarn and goofy me didn't pay attention to the fact that it's only 50g which isn't enough to knit a pair of socks, so I'll have to weave it into a gorgeous scarf with some bamboo and tencel yarn. It'll be scrumptious.  I have another scarf waiting to be woven that I'm calling "4 shades of grey"...for obvious reasons.  Art Box #1 is still on the loom, but I've made very good progress on it today and won't be surprised if I finish it off if not today, then tomorrow morning.

So, my goal is to be creative, relax, watch tv, knit, weave, and not disarm the alarm on my door until the girls come over on Sunday evening!  Heaven.

Today's picture is of Frankie.  It's a little knitted monster I'm making for my mom to give the little girl she babysits.  The head and body are complete.

A Weekend at the Beach

David and I are celebrating our 22nd wedding anniversary this year.  Right smack dab in the middle of Alyssa's graduation and getting ready for our trip to London.  So, this weekend, we decided would be a good one to go to the beach, get some much needed perspective on life, and chill.  So, this afternoon when work shuts down, I'll be on the road to Orange Beach and a wonderfully relaxing weekend.

Which, of course, means that I've had to pack some knitting.  That much down time and no crafting might make me cranky--and that wouldn't do for a "relaxing, perspective-getting" weekend.  So, knitting it is.

And boy, is this always a struggle.  Because I always way overestimate just how much knitting one can do in 2 days.  There's the realistic me, the optimistic me, and the me that just doesn't know...and when it comes to travel and down time, I think all three compete and win out somehow.

Here's what I packed:

1.  The mystery cowl knit-a-long.  It's beautiful, lovely and over half finished.  It's also knit on giant needles, but in stitches that really slow me down (note to self to put on 2013 resolutions to learn to hold yarn in left hand...). I'd really really like to take it to London with me (as it's so looking like I'm going to need it and every other thing that keeps one warm), so should get rocking along on it...hopefully finish this weekend.

2.  Ernie's socks.  I'd like them to be finished by the end of this weekend as well.  It's possible as I have about half the leg knitted.  And somehow once you get to the heel it just flies off the needle.

3.  My new Knitterly Things self-striping "yarn of the month club" yarn.  It's called "holiday boogie" and will be just the thing to knit on while listening to Christmas music.

4.  Elizabeth's cowl that I designed, started on the ride to Texas and put aside.  It's about half finished too.  I would love to get a picture of her in it and her ear-flap hat...

5.  Another skein of sock yarn with a sock started on it.

What I did not pack:

1.  The other skein of yarn for the mystery cowl knit-a-long.  I'm thinking I need to find another pattern, though the one is rather pretty--but it will definitely be a cowl one day.  It just doesn't know which kind yet.

2.  The yarn to start Alyssa's cowl to go with her London hat.

3.  Alyssa's London hat which still needs the ribbon and button sewn on it.  I plan to work on that over her graduation celebration on Friday.  (I'm really hoping to "convince" Mom into sewing that ribbon on...it didn't work over Thanksgiving, but I didn't try too hard...be warned, Mom).

4.  Three skeins of sock yarn that are wound off and waiting (not so patiently) to be stitched into socks...one pair of which will be for David in Berroco Comfort Sock. I'm anxious to work with this yarn because I want to see how acrylic blend socks stand up since he's so sensitive to wool.

5.  The sweater.  It wants vacation until I can spend all my energy and focus working on just it.

6. The 4 skeins of Halloween yarn that I got to make some crazy socks out of--neon pink, green, blue and orange.

7.  The new Blue Moon Fibers sock of the month yarn that I got last week.  It's such a gorgeous cranberry color and I want to do the sock pattern very badly.  But I'm not even looking at it right now.  I'm thinking maybe it wants to go to London, but will have to see...taking patterns that require much concentration on a trip isn't always a good idea.

8.  The hexagon blanket.  It has been staring at me mournfully for the past few weeks.  I wanted to get back to it when it got colder, and it has, sort of, but it's just not time yet.

So, see how the optimist in me packed more projects than I can do, the realist in me rejected more patterns than I'm taking and the me that just doesn't know is worried that I'm going to be either bored with what I'm taking or finish everything and have to (gasp) sit there with nothing to occupy my hands.

Today is silly kitty picture day.  Zora got into the mesh bag on the front cover of my suitcase all by herself.  And then went all kinds of crazy when we "got her" through it.

Failed Attempts

On the drive to and from Texas week before last (hard to believe it's been that long already), I took lots and lots of knitting with me. I cast on a few projects before getting in the car because I wanted to be able to knit away without the stress of trying to keep my double-pointed-needles (DPN) from slipping out of my hands and onto the floorboards of the car.  Socks are great travel knits, especially those with no pattern to knit, because you can just knit away, keeping your hands busy and not worry about whether or not you've lost place in the pattern.  Also, you can keep talking with your fellow travelers and enjoy the company as well as keeping your hands busy.

Until, that is, some of the stitches drop off the end of the DPN and you attempt to grab them all up while bumping along the interstate.  What seemed like a luxuriously smooth ride suddenly goes to what seems like a ride down an incredibly holey patch of road.  Anyway, I knitted away on a couple of projects:

1.  The cowl I'm designing for Elizabeth.  It's got these lovely cable circles all over.  For some reason I got bored with it and pulled out

2.  A pair of socks in red yarn for me.  These are the ones that I lost stitches, grabbed them, had to rip out some of the stitches and attempted to grab them again, only to get completely frustrated and rip out the whole thing because after turning the heel and starting on the foot I realized that the needles I was using were entirely too big for the project so...

3.  I sized down a needle size and pulled out the yarn (same brand, different color) that I was going to use for socks for Ernie and cast those on and knitted on those a little bit.  I did a good bit of mental math for these, which will become important soon enough.

4.  Then I decided that the hat that Elizabeth wanted me to make needed to get done over the weekend, so I cast it on and started working on it.  I did some really cute stripes using the Fibonacci  sequence (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21 (and then back to 1).  It's really cute, don't you think?   She's giving it to her friend for Christmas.

5.  At this point, I needed to get back to my sock project, so knitted away on it.  When we were on our way home, I knitted some, but wasn't highly motivated. I think I was tired.  But I wanted to get these socks finished for Ernie before David goes for his haircut next week, so I worked until the heel flap and put them aside to bring to work for lunch.

6.  During lunch, I pulled out the sock, looked at it and said, "Hmm....these look really big." But I always say that about men's socks, so wasn't giving it much thought, but decided to put my hand through and see just how big I'd made it.  My arm popped right through and I could pull the cuff up to my elbow without stretching it.  The socks were big enough to fit an elephant. (mental math that I did was multiply 10" by 8 stitches/inch to get 80 stitches...problem is my gauge with this yarn and needles is actually 7 stitches/inch which means that the sock was 11.5 inches around before stretching...I don't even think they would fit David.

7.  So I ripped them out and cast on 70 inches, only to realize that that wasn't divisible by 4 (as I got to the end of my ribbing) so rather than cast on again, I simply knitted two together a couple of times and worked away on the cuff.  But it really bothered me that I'd knit those two stitches together and decided to rip it out, start over, and call it an evening.  So, I cast on 64 stitches because at some point this made sense and knit away on the cuff and several inches of the leg.

8. During lunch the next day, I realized that, darnit, the sock was now too small.  So I have now decided that these socks are for me.  I was worried that the teal color was trending too close to green for Ernie's appreciation anyway.  I've put them back in the bag because I must get Ernie's socks finished!

9.  Then I pulled out the lovely Malabrigo Rios in colorway "azul profundo" that I knew I wanted to use for Ernie eventually, pulled out a pattern because I'm clearly not fit to do mental math anymore and started knitting away on the most beautiful socks that a man will ever wear, I'm sure.  I'll have pics of that in a couple of days.

It's been quite an eventful few days of knitting.  I'm glad that I didn't bring my sweater along.  I would have probably ruined it in my inability to pay attention to anything important (like patterns or math!).

This weekend, David and I are going to the beach.  I love working on projects at the beach.  The oxygenated air, the sunlight, the relaxing sounds of the waves, seeing the pelicans.  It all puts me in a trance of relaxation and happiness.  I'll finish those socks for Ernie, probably get some work done on a couple of other pairs of socks...and generally enjoy the down time before crazy-ness ensues next week...more on that another time.

My Travel Knitting

SO...if you remember, I took about 10 projects on the trip with me.  (Sorry, Ernie, that I didn't get your socks knitted.)  I became fascinated with some yarn I have that is already knitted into a "flat" and then hand painted with some funky designs.  It is called "Flat Feet" and is produced by Conjoined Creations.  It was fun seeing how the design on the sock flat turned into something different on the sock.

I did work on another project, a gift for my mom.  But I didn't make much progress on it.

I finished these socks at the Atlanta airport waiting on my flight to New Orleans.  I still haven't blocked them, but really should, because I'm looking forward to wearing them soon!

Switzerland

I'm taking a break from my regularly scheduled crafting blog entries to fill you in on the Swiss Vacation.

It was wonderful.
Heavenly.
Perfect in every way.
Awe-inspiring.
Breath-taking.
Relaxing.
Wonderful (I already said it but it bears repeating).

We had 0 travel issues.  No delayed flights, no train issues, no nothing.  I can't think of a time when I've traveled by air recently that there hasn't been SOMEthing, but nothing on this trip, and that's just wonderful.

Mostly we just sat in awe of this vista (picture taken from my bedroom window on the morning of July 4th).   We had an amazing day that day riding a train over into that mountain and seeing it up close and personal (it was still huge).

The area where we stayed is the Lauterbrunnen Valley in the Berner Oberland.  The largest city is Interlaken, and we stayed up in the town on Murren--a car-free village with spectacular views from every direction.  You can get to Murren only by train or cable car--from either station it's UP hill to our hotel.  We went on a few hikes, got soaked on one (and our camera broke!), and soaked in the wonder that was this charming and wonderful mountainous area.

And really, that's just about all we did, but it was enough.  There was plenty of down time, which I desperately needed.  I left all my worries and cares behind, laughed a lot, played some monopoly in German (that was a hoot), explored around the city of Zurich a little bit, knitted  a pair of socks, and just enjoyed very much being with my husband of 21.5 years.  I will definitely be going back someday!

Travel Prep

I spent the weekend prepping for my trip (which is in just 4 days!  4 days!!!).  This involves a lot of "what if" scenarios...what if

• the plain is delayed
• the trains are on strike
• the weather stinks
• I hurt my ankle
• we get stuck somewhere en route (either or both directions!)

These what if scenarios can get a little crazy, and sometimes I start to worry that I might actually run out of things to do, so I start going overboard.  So far I've packed:  

1. a shawl that I want to knit because the yarn is so beautiful (it's part of my Rockin' Socks Club...you get a skein of hand-dyed yarn and 2 patterns, one sock, one "other"...the "other" is clearly what this yarn is made for) that will be a challenge to knit so something to "think" about when I need it
2. a gift I'm making for mom's birthday--a perfect "mindless knit"
3. a pair of socks (from January's Rockin' Socks Club) that I've let sit for too many months--another thinker project

I have pulled out of the stash the yarn for Ernie's socks, a skein of yarn that spoke to me (it's gorgeous and merino and bamboo so will be unbelievable in a pair of socks), and another BRIGHT pink skein of yarn.  These three socks I intend to use as my "mindless" knitting when mom's project gets finished.

I could honestly sit and knit my entire vacation and still not get everything done.  My knitting bag is STUFFed, and I'm still thinking of "what else" do I need to bring.  I still think it might not be enough...I need to relax, but I fret.  

Silly silly me.  Maybe tomorrow I'll post a pic of all my gorgeous vacations yarns!  And think of all the things I'll be wearing (or someone else will be!) that can honestly be said to be made in Switzerland!

Today's picture is of the bees Aunt Betty sewed together out of the fabric I wove...remember that "giant project" that went on forever and ever and turned into a teenager?  Well, this is graduation day.  We're very proud parents!

36 and 59

...those are the number of days until the 20th Thornton Thimblers' Quilt Bee and my trip to Switzerland!  And I'm very excited.

As you know, I've been working diligently on all my gifts for my game.  I picked up THE GRAND PRIZE gift last night.  And let me say that it doesn't have anything to do with bananas, and isn't yellow.  In fact, I may have to change my "yellow" game to include some pinks and greens...and creams, and a little bit of blue.  I'm so proud of this gift and it kills me that I can't show you a picture, but that would ruin all the surprise and fun of my game, so I'll just tell you that I'm very very proud of it.

In fact, I brought it to work this morning to show everyone and decided on the way here that I'll just leave it here, in my office, until we leave for the bee.  That way I'll get to enjoy it for a few weeks (36 days minus weekends and holidays to be exact) before it goes off to its rightful owner, and my daughters can't see it...it's way to big to hide.  In the meantime, I'll be thinking of each person at the bee and how they'll enjoy being "the last" in my game.

And in celebration of the 59 days until Switzerland, today's picture was taken from our hotel room...as David laid down for a nap he realized that THAT view is not something you see every day.

Trip

Sorry I've been away so long...I did what I promised myself I wouldn't do and that is let work and stress take over a little bit.  I've had a couple of great weekends (parents visit and then visit with our friends in Mobile) and I hope to have a nice relaxing weekend coming up.  Hopefully that'll get me back on track.

In my last post I talked about randomness and how I really like designing and doing things through random numbers.  I also talked about the trip that David and I will be going on in July and how we were using random numbers to choose our trip from among all the ones that we'd like to go on this year. 

Well, the number was chosen.  We drew #3 which was Orange Beach, but earlier in the week we had gone through all our trips and picked the ones that we were no longer interested in going so #3 had been reassigned to #77...which means we are going here!

This picture was taken in 2008 when David and I went to Murren, Switzerland.  We are staying at this hotel again for 5 days and will be staying someplace else for 2 we just haven't decided yet.  Flights have been purchased.  It's very exciting.

Not much in the crafting news.  I'm not working on much in the evenings because in order to get ready to go to the mountains, one needs to be able to walk around for long distances and be in better shape than I am currently, so I'm walking in the evenings (as well as taking the stairs outside my office 3 times a day).  I'll be weaving this weekend, but I have been working on the blue sweater, which is very pretty.  Maybe I'll have a picture of it up soon.

And of course, in the next 86 days until we leave I have to figure out what I'll be doing on the long flight and in downtimes at the hotel.  This will be a major thought process...

Misdirection and Hexagons

After I posted yesterday I attempted the laceweight yarn.  NO luck at all.  It was very stressful trying to work with it so I've decided it will become a lovely woven shawl.

Then I floundered for a bit and finally pulled out the yarn I used for the hat.  While I wasn't interested in doing another scarf after I'd put the other scarf away, a new scarf was a new pattern and might not be as miserable as the first (I really am a slow learner).  I tried one pattern, but the yarn was too bulky.  Tried another, but the yarn was too smooshy and didn't show any stitch definition.  Then I thought I'd just wing it for a bit...another mistake, so I pulled all the stitching out, put the yarn in the basket and settled in with my wonderful book (finished it this morning.  Thoroughly enjoyed "The Surrender of Miss Fairbourne by Madeline Hunter).

This morning I eyed my knitting bag and there were three projects that I hadn't worked on.  The first was the knitting I do in the car and when I want something to do with my hands but want my brain otherwise engaged and the second was the hexagon blanket.  I loved working on that blanket back a few weeks ago.  Almost thought I couldn't put it down, but I did so that I could finish Big Secret #2.  The third was my lovely purple socks which are a challenge that I am not feeling quite up to today...so, the project #2 won!

How I love this blanket.  The whole construction is interesting, the yarn is divine and the pattern is just difficult enough not to be boring while still easy enough that I can stop every now and then and talk to David.  I sit and do an entire "square" in one sitting, then go do something else.  I can't wait to snuggle under this with David this fall...

My picture today shows all the knitting I worked on while at the beach.  That top left hexagon is really the same color as the bottom right one, but shows up as yellow because of all the lovely tropical pastels in the condo.

I'm a little sad to be leaving.  We've had a perfectly relaxing and wonderful vacation, but it's time to go home and face the real world again, visit my parents (YEA!) and finish off spring break relaxing with my furniture and kitties...

Diligence pays off, but man is it tiresome!

I've been working diligently on the Misty Garden scarf.  I've probably knit 2 feet the past two days. I'm hating it again.

That means that it's going to go back in the bag and I'm going to start something else.  I don't want to be knitting something that I hate while enjoying an absolutely perfect spring break.  (the part of me that's desperately holding onto the fantasy that I live here and have no responsibilities for the rest of my life is slowing backing up and facing reality.  I hate that too).

Anyway, it's very pretty and quite fun to work on in the afternoon because of all the beautiful sunshine coming in the condo, but I'm bored and this picture will suffice to show that I did work on it a lot.   I'm going to start a cowl of some beautiful alpaca and silk lace weight yarn, knitted double so as not to be too terribly slow at moving along...or at least that's what I think it wants to be.  We'll see.  It may want to be this other lovely shawl I saw today...will have to toy around with that idea for a few minutes.

Despite my best efforts...

...I forgot to pack a key ingredient to success with my main knitting project:  the pattern.  I know exactly where it is.  I never even picked it up in the packing frenzy before we left.

I had a moment of panic, then remembered that I overpacked all my knitting projects.  I then had a moment of "not wanting to do any of them" which I quickly shushed.

THEN I got on the computer looking for other free patterns, thinking that that would be all I needed to get myself going using that lovely yarn.  After a while I decided that the beautiful yarn deserves to be what I originally intended for it...

At which point I pulled out all my bags of yarn, looked longingly at the bag full of wound off hanks and put it back in the knitting bag.  I picked out the lovely multicolor merino by Malabrigo and made this hat.

Not a bad use of my Saturday if I may say so.  I can't wait to get it home, wash it and sew the "snail" on the side so that it lays all flat.  I'm already planning the scarf/cowl I'm going to make with the vast amount of leftover yarn I have.  I'm thinking weaving a scarf makes most sense as it goes about 100x faster and I won't hate it before it's finished...