"Properly practiced, knitting soothes the troubled spirit, and it doesn't hurt the untroubled spirit either." ~ Elizabeth Zimmerman

12/31/11

Stacked Lace Fingerless Mitts

My last finished project of 2011.



Purple Stacked Eyelet Fingerless Mitts

Pattern: Stacked Eyelet Mitts by me
Size: Womans

Yarn: Jojoland Melody Superwash
Content: 100% Superwash Wool

Needles: Addi Turbo Circular size 5.

Cast on: December 15, 2011
Completed: December 30, 2011

Comments: I designed these to match the Stacked Eyelet Cowl. I made up the pattern myself. I will probably write this up later, after I get the current sock pattern done (which is being test knit).



Close up of stitch pattern.



These were supposed to be done before Christmas, but I didn't make it. I guess they'll be late getting to their future owner.



Now, what to work on next.........

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Did I mention I had a good Christmas? Well, I did. Christmas Eve we went to BIL Dan's house for the annual dinner with the family. It was extra fun this year. I think because I was feeling fairly good. I was still coughing a bit and my nose was dribbling a little. My energy was coming back, though, and it felt great. Dinner was delicious. SIL Sue prepared an awesome Prime Rib roast. There was potatoes, and salads, and veggies, and jello piled high. So many different dishes I couldn't try them all before I got full. Then there was dessert. Groan.... I definitely ate too much.

The next morning we got up and opened our stockings and presents. I am now the proud owner of the complete Star Trek Voyager series on DVD. I'm looking forward to watching it because I missed seeing at least half of the episodes when it was airing on tv. It was being shown at an inconvenient time for me, and we didn't have DVR back then.

Woo hoo! I own it all now. (Well, except the animated series but I'm not interested in that.) I am in Star Trek heaven.

I also got chocolates, a $25 gift card to Amazon (does my family know me, or what?), a clock with a Moose on the face, a tiny little Spock Christmas ornament complete with tiny little tricorder in his hands, and more chocolate.

We went to our friends house for Christmas dinner, and stayed up late playing cards. It was a very enjoyable evening.

It snowed just enough that weekend to give us a white Christmas. Then, on Monday the Pineapple Express hit town. The winds blew in from the south warm, rain fell in torrents, and the snow is all gone. On Thursday the weather was so warm I took Cable on a nice long walk. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, and it was 50F degrees.We went 2 miles.

On Friday it was a little wetter because it slushed the night before. Yes, slushed. It was like walking on spilled Slurpys from 7-11. I took Cable on a stroll in the woods for about a mile. Now I ache from head to toe. Ugh. But she sure enjoyed it. The slush melted away and things dried up later that day.

Rumor has it temps are going to be dropping this next week.

Cable is amazing. She is so smart and well behaved. And so quiet! We haven't heard a single bark from her. When the chicken mailman delivered a package on Thursday morning she didn't even react to it. She saw the truck through the window and just sort of shrugged and went back to chewing her bone. Tommy usually went ape nuts with the barking and the jumping and running outside to greet him. The mailman was very afraid of Tommy. I never saw a mailman so afraid of a little dog in my life. All the other delivery guys that come by would just get out of their trucks and walk to the door, ignoring Tommy and his barking completely. Not this mailman. He'd sit in his truck, honking his horn, and yelling that the dog wouldn't let him out. Give me a break. He could have sent Tommy flying across the yard with one kick.

Meanwhile, we have not told the mailman that Tommy is gone yet. A few weeks ago he came by and had pepper spray in his hand. Tommy never harmed that man. He just stood at a distance and barked at the guy. To bring pepper spray! It made me angry. So I decided he can just go on being afraid for awhile. I don't know what he's gonna do when he gets a look at Cable. She's a lot bigger than Tommy.

I noticed the formatting of my blog is weird today. I don't know why. It's nothing I did. I haven't touched the code of my template at all. I'm assuming Blogger has a bug messing things up and it will work itself out eventually.

Live long and prosper. \\//

12/28/11

Cable Knit Park

I've got fantastic news that I'd rather write about than how nice my Christmas was (and it was very nice).


I have a new fur kid!



I drove up to Panhandle Animal Shelter in Sandpoint yesterday to see this girl. She is 1.5 years old, part German Shepherd and part Husky, and weighs about 60 lbs. She is so sweet and gentle. Her name was Cuddles, but we've changed it to Cable. Cable Knit Park.




She tends to be pretty timid around strangers, but other than that she was everything I'd been looking for in a dog. Potty trained, good with cats and other dogs, quiet (not a barker), smart, healthy, young, right mix of breeds.

I noticed how friendly she was with the shelter volunteers so I knew that timidness could easily be overcome.She is warming up to me fairly quickly. By 10pm last night she was kissing and hugging me.

Her previous owner turned her into the shelter because he "didn't have time for her any more". I'm not sure what that means, but his loss is our gain.

At the shelter, they took her into the cat area so I could see how she is with cats. This dog loves cats. She's had cats for friends before. I don't think she'll ever make friends with my 2 because they don't like dogs, but she won't be trying to kill them or chase them around which is the most important thing to me. She seems to understand they have sharp parts too. When she walked up to Chenille to sniff her, and Chenille growled at her, she backed right off (with a quiet little whimper).

Last night I had her sleep on a blanket on the floor next to the bed. I hooked her leash to the bed post so she couldn't be wandering around. It took about half an hour for her to settle down. She wanted up on the bed but I didn't let her do that. Eventually she laid down and went to sleep.

About 3 am she woke me up by pushing her nose against my arm. She wanted to go outside. I took her out and she did her business right away. In fact, every time I've taken her out she's done her business. We haven't had an accident in the house yet. Anyway, after that she settled back down on the blanket and went back to sleep. She was quiet until I woke up at 7am this morning.

It hasn't all been roses though. This afternoon I went into Coeur d'Alene for my monthly blood test. While I was away Ruth took her out for business and a walk. We had a temporary leash/collar thingy that the shelter gave us until I could get a decent collar for her (I already own a whole slew of good leashes that were Morgan and Tommy's). She managed to jerk it out of Ruth's hand and took off into the woods. Ruth tried to catch her, but couldn't keep up. In the meantime, I returned home to find no Ruth and no dog in the house or in the yard. I was kind of worried because it was getting very dark out. Eventually Ruth came in the door, crying, to tell me Cable was lost.

I had a small panic attack. Lots of woods, dark, and a black dog that hasn't bonded to us or would know her way back home. I feared I would never see her again. Ruth told me where she'd last seen her, out on the road running west. I got the car and we went looking. Thankfully, it only took 15 minutes and we found her about 3/4 of a mile up the road trotting along. She was in the middle of the road coming toward us and her eyes reflected in the headlights or I'd have never seen her. I stopped the car in the middle so it would block traffic, turned on the emergency lights, and got out to catch my wayward girl. Fortunately for me, she now trusts me enough that she came to me when I called her name. Her new name! I really wasn't expecting that, so I was very relieved. I grabbed her by the scruff and held on tight. Then I picked her up and carried her to the car. She was very wet and muddy, and no leash/collar thingy anywhere near. After getting her in the car, I headed back to the house. Ruth burst into wails of tears in the car. Tears of relief I'm sure. She was pretty devastated by the whole thing. Poor kid.

I'm just glad we found her. It could have been disastrous. Cable is now sporting a brand new Martingale collar that I'd bought on my way home from Coeur d'Alene, and a nice sturdy leash, so that won't happen again.

Tomorrow I am going to schedule an appointment with my vet for a check up and her rabies shot. She hasn't had one yet. The shelter gave me a coupon for a free vet check so I'm gonna use it.

So, that's what's been going on the last couple days. I am SO pleased with this dog. She's amazing. I can't imagine why anyone would dump her in a shelter. Besides pottying on command, she can also sit, lay down, and shake. I'm looking forward to teaching her new tricks.


Live long and prosper. \\//

12/24/11

The Week Before Christmas

I have had an interesting week. I've been sick most of it. As soon as I'd get rid of one bug and start feeling good again, I'd catch another bug. I see pictures in my mind of us walking off the plane upon returning from Hawaii and a whole crowd of nasty germs yelling "Hurray!!!" and leaping on us. I say us because all 3 of us have been sick since we got home.

Wednesday was the worst one. It was a stomach virus of some sort. I did quite a bit of throwing up and I ached all over so bad. I spent the day in bed.

Being sick made it extra hard to get ready for Christmas. I was behind as it was. This made it worse! But somehow, I managed to catch up. Partly with help, partly with chucking the things that were lowest on the priority list.

So, what did I manage to do? Well, first of all, last weekend, on Saturday, we drove all the way into north Spokane to the Spokane Humane Society to check out a dog. Yes, we are looking for a new fur kid. I can't stand being dogless any more. I really miss that wagging tail and bouncing body of joy greeting me when I get home from somewhere. And I have no one to eat the left over crust of my pizza, or share my lunch with, or take walks with on the Parkaosa.

I'm looking for a German Shepherd mix, less than 2 years old, female, puppy okay. There was one in Spokane that sounded perfect. However, someone adopted her and left literally seconds before we walked in the door, so I guess it wasn't meant to be.

Later that evening, at home, we had a visitor and I managed to get photos of her, though not very good ones. It was getting dark. A moose! She munched in the back yard for close on to half an hour.



It was odd, because it was so quiet out, except for the sound of her munching. There was, every so often, the sound of twigs and branches cracking somewhere in the brush to her right. I couldn't see anything, but I knew it was there.

As she started to leave, a little one came bounding out to follow her.



Awww, so cute! I wish it had come out sooner, but it was more interested in minding it's mother.

Monday I took care of Ruth. She was very sick, doing the throw up thing (she was the first of us to succumb to that particularly vile virus.). I was feeling so so. Not much energy, but I spent some time wrapping the gifts and getting it all under the Christmas tree and doing some much needed house work.

Tuesday was Rathdrum Knitalong day. I was feeling very tired, but not sick. (Daughter Ruth was human again, but not up to much.) I went anyway cuz I hadn't seen the gals in 3 weeks. I'm glad I did because I had a very nice time. After the meeting I went shopping for the Christmas food items I needed.

Wednesday, as I said above, I didn't do anything but moan and spend a great deal of time in the bathroom. Ugh! Since Ruth was feeling better, I sent her out with a list and my debit card. She finished my Christmas shopping for me and did a fantastic job of it. I will always be forever thankful to her for that.

Thursday I awoke feeling half human again. So we started cooking. I decided this year I was going to bake Panettone for the family. Panettone is an Italian Christmas bread with dried fruit in it. Kind of like a fruit cake, but much lighter, fluffier, and eatable. I'd never tried making it before, but I am very good at baking bread (when I do it) so I leapt in with full confidence.

I found a simple recipe on the internet. I also found out it requires a special pan. A coffee can will work, but I don't have any. So I did a bit of googling and found instructions for making your own paper panettone pans with brown paper, scissors, and a few staples. The idea is a good one. It works pretty well. Here are some of the pans I made:



The instructions say to use large paper grocery bags as your paper source, but I used parchment baking paper instead. Didn't have to grease the pans that way. Here are five of the nine Panettone's Ruth and I made over Thursday and Friday.



They turned out so beautiful. I started out planning to make seven. Burnt one of the first ones on the bottom, so we ate it. I needed to make sure it was gonna taste good anyway. Don't want to give a gift that tastes awful. Believe me, it's good. It's VERY good! If the good ones taste even half as good as the burnt one did, they are fantastic.

Well, then I had to make another one for myself that wasn't burnt. So we made nine.

If you make this, and you decide to do the do-it-yourself paper pans, do not use a black cookie sheet underneath when you bake them. It causes the bottoms to burn. I have one black cookie sheet and 2 shiny aluminum ones. Using aluminum worked much better.

We made four Panettone's on Thursday, and five on Friday. I had no energy, and was coughing, but the nose stopped running-Yay!

Around about Tuesday I got the low down on the family Christmas Eve party plans. Mostly, who is gonna be there. My sister-in-law is gonna be in town and at the party. I had not made plans for a gift for her. I didn't think she'd want a Panettone all for herself (I could be wrong about that though) but I know she likes my beading so I decided to make her a necklace. I spent a good part of Thursday-between bread risings and long into the night, and most of Friday morning, working on it until it was finished. As it turns out, I love it! I hope she does too.



It's fairly simple. I made an Octahedral Cluster beaded bead for the focal point. I used some 6mm Hematite beads for the core, and glass seed beads for the lace overlay.



I strung some matching glass, Hematite, and Silver beads on either side for a total of 5 inches, and finished off the rest with spiral rope stitch.



I did something a little different with the rope. I did an alternating pattern of one matte black and one silver metallic for the core beads. The outside beads are shiny black. It's made for a very interesting look. I used a sterling silver Lobster Claw clasp.
.


I decided to go with black and silver cuz it goes with a lot of things my sister-in-law wears. I ended up with a necklace with a total length of 20 inches.



Now, last, but not least. I did manage to knit a couple rows this week. I think, considering how sick I felt and how busy I was, I did darned good at getting that much done. I finished the first of the fingerless mitts I'm making to go with the lace cowl and started the second one.



Now, obviously, I didn't get this done to send out in time for Christmas, so it will be a Happy New Years present for the recipient instead. I know she'll understand.

By the way, all the other Christmas gifts I knit did get in the mail on time and have arrived at their destinations.

Today I will be wrapping the Panettone's and getting them all ready to go. Tonight is the family Christmas Eve party. I am looking forward to it, though I really wish I had more energy and the cough would give up already. I take comfort in knowing that everyone else there will be coughing too.

Hey! It's snowing! Looks like we're gonna have a white Christmas after all.

Live long and prosper. \\//

12/18/11

What I Did on My Vacation

I am sharing a few of the hundreds of pictures we took while on our trip to Maui.

The motley crew.



First thing we did upon arriving at our destination is, well, first we went to Costco and Walmart. (I'm still wondering why we went to Walmart.) to buy food and drink. Then we checked into our condo, located right on the water in the town of Kihei. Immediately after that we had to go down to the beach and put our feet in the water.

This is a view from the beach of the lawn and pool area in front of the building where our condo was located.



One of the activities we did was go on a luau. It was held at sunset. I got a nice shot of that sunset.



I didn't take any other pictures of the luau. Too busy eating, drinking, and watching the hula dancers I guess. It was very good food and very good hula dancing.

The day after the luau, we took a drive around the eastern part of the island. We started from the upper part of highway 37 and drove around the whole loop that went south, east, north, and back. The first part was on the drier side of the island. As we went further south it got drier and drier. I even saw cactus in some areas.

This is how the beach looks on most of the southwest end of the island. Very rocky. It was also very windy. Almost blew me off my feet. The beach was mostly rocky. Where there was sand it was black or gray.



This is what the area furthest south looks like. Nothing growing but scrub grass and a few low bushes.



We drove east along the coast and gradually got into the wetter half of the island. Wow! What a difference just a few miles made. We saw waterfalls and miles of thick vegetation.

We stopped  in the Hana area and hiked into the Seven Sacred Pools of Oheo. It was pretty crowded with tourists, but very pretty.



The difference in climate between this side of the island and the western side is very striking, as you can see.  Along the highway we drove through forests of these African Tulip Trees. They are quite tall, and the flowers all bloom in the tops. I read that these are not native to Hawaii. They are a landscape tree that 'got away'. This particular picture is taken above them, looking down into a deep gully.



We stopped at one little roadside park along the drive where we found this leaf lying on the ground from a banana tree.


What I really love are all the 'houseplants' that grow wild there. I used to have one of these Monstera Deliciosa Philodendron growing in a pot in my house. It never got this big, that's for sure! It's a good 50 feet tall and the leaves are HUGE.


The next day we went on a sailing cruise to the island of Lanai to go snorkeling and be fed wonderful Hawaiian food (except for the Poi. Ick! Poi! Like eating slimy cardboard sludge. It desperately needed something for flavor-like garlic. Lots and lots of garlic!).

The snorkeling was AWESOME. The tour guide showed us how to properly put on our gear. Finally! I can put swim fins on without making a complete fool of myself. They also made us wear these floating belts (they use them in water skiing on the mainland.) which was wonderful. I could float on the water without worrying about sinking. I took my own personal snorkel and mask with me. I have one that is prescription, like my glasses, so I can actually see the fish when I'm wearing it. For the first time, with the belt and everything on correctly, I was able to snorkel continuously for over an hour. The fish were amazing! Every color you could imagine! Here are just a few pictures of what we saw.

I should mention that the night before we left on our trip, my daughter and I gave Sweet Hubby his Christmas present early. We got him a waterproof digital camera. He's always wanted one for just these kind of occasions. These pictures were taken on his new camera.

This is some coral growing on the reef with a sea urchin. This urchin was quite large. About 8 inches in diameter.



This is a huge school of  Convict Tangs with a Yellow Tang joining in who were nibbling on the coral. I don't know if they were eating the coral itself, or just the algae growing on the coral. The water was pretty deep, so it was hard to get a really good picture of them. There were well over 100 of them. It was fascinating to watch them.



This is a Moorish Idol fish nibbling on the coral. It's so pretty!



Another Yellow Tang and a yellow Trumpet Fish. Yellow Tangs are my absolute favorite saltwater tropical fish. They are so cute. I followed a small school of them for several minutes watching them eat and play.



On Wednesday, the guys went deep water fishing. They caught a few small fish, but nothing large. (We ate them for breakfast the next morning.) While the guys were gone we girls slept in, then went out to lunch at a very very nice restaurant in one of the big resorts. The food was excellent. After the guys got back we just relaxed, played on the beach, went swimming in the pool, and whatnot. I spent some time knitting out on the lawn with that gorgeous view in front of the condo.

On Thursday Doug went on a 60 mile bike ride around the west end loop of Maui. He rented a bike. I drove him to a Park and Ride a few miles from the condo where he started, and I agreed to pick him up there in a few hours. Then Ruth and I went looking for yarn shops. There were 2 listed on the internet. One of them was actually in the phone book too. Both were located in Lahaina, which was about a 40 minute drive from where I left Doug.

Unfortunately, both yarn shops were gone, long out of business. We're talking 2 years. It was very disappointing. We did a little bit of shopping in downtown Lahaina where I bought myself this beautiful hand made knitting bag made by a local artisan.


I also found a bead store just a few miles from the condo in Kihei. It was a wonderful little shop. The owner was very sweet. She makes lamp work beads, so I bought some, along with some very small pearls, some tiny faceted donut shaped beads, and she gave me the shell pendant.


When it came time to meet Doug, he didn't show. The ride took longer than he thought it would. So he called and asked me to drive toward him on the route he'd taken because he was tired. So, we headed out his way in our bright red rental Jeep. Ah, what a disaster. They don't mark the highways very well in Maui. I was following the highway through a town when it just ended in a residential area. I figured I must have missed a turn somewhere, so I turned around and headed back looking. I turned on what I thought was the right road and happily drove on, and on, into a deep valley where the road ended at a park. I was totally lost! In the meantime, because it was taking so long for me to find him, Doug had managed to ride all the way into Kihei, to the bike shop where he got the bike. He was trying to call me, but that deep valley was totally out of cell service.

Meanwhile. I turned around and headed back to the little town. Eventually I found the highway and was going the right direction-not knowing that I was not going to find Doug cuz he was already back at the condo (Sue drove down and got him from the bike shop.) Finally, we got back into cell service about half an hour down the east side of the island. Doug finally was able to get a hold of me. I was not happy about finding out I'd completely missed him. I turned around and drove back to the condo. All in all, I drove 2 hours for nuthin'. But Ruth and I did have a very scenic adventure.

On our last full day, we took a drive up Haleakala mountain in Haleakala National Park. It was a beautiful drive, until we got about halfway up the mountain. Then it got foggy. By the time we got to the top it was so foggy we couldn't even see the caldera or the view from the mountain. We did see these though.

This is something you'll NEVER see in Idaho. A Poinsettia tree, 5 feet tall, growing in someones yard. They were all over the place. Some of them were as much as 8 to 10 feet tall! And so beautiful covered in their bright red blooms. Yes, this is the same plant we buy every Christmas season in little pots and chuck into the trash when the holidays are over. I'd heard they grow big in their natural habitat. But you know how it is, you don't believe until you see.



These are called Silver Sword.



They only grow on Mount Haleakala. Nowhere else in the world. Very intriguing plants. I felt the leaves and they were a lot softer than I was expecting.

On our way back down the mountain we had to stop and wait for these Nene, Hawaiian geese, who were strolling across the road.



This is the end of my vacation pictures that I'm sharing on the blog. Between me and Sweet Hubby, we took almost 800 of them, so it was hard to choose which ones to share. These are my favorites of the highlights of our trip. I hope you have enjoyed them.

Live long and prosper. \\//






12/14/11

Hawaii Knit FO's

I have two FO's to share today. First, we have the simple lace cowl/neck warmer.



Purple Stacked Eyelet Cowl

Pattern: Stacked Eyelet Cowl by Ami Madison
Size: One size fits most

Yarn: Jojoland Melody Superwash
Content: 100% Superwash Wool

Needles: Addi Turbo Circular size 5.

Cast on: November 24, 2011
Bound off: December 8, 2011 in Kihei, Maui, Hawaii

Comments: It only uses one 50g ball of yarn. I used fingering weight, though the pattern calls for sport weight.

I did make one change in the pattern. I added 6 rows of garter stitch at the beginning and end so the edges don't curl.




A super easy pattern that would be great for a beginning lace knitter. 



~~~~~~~~~~

Next, we have the fingerless mitts that I made for my Dad for Christmas.



Fingerless Mitts for Dad With Deer

Pattern:  Jeff's Mitts by Lorraine Ehrlinger
Size: Mens

Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash
Content: 100% Superwash Wool

Needles: Addi Turbo Circular size 5.

Cast on: November 28, 2011
Bound off: December 12, 2011

Comments: I really like this pattern. It's well written. It has a nice thumb gusset.




The cuff is done in 2x2 rib.



The mitts are kind of plain, so I decided to duplicate stitch deer on the back of each mitt. The chart can be found on KnitPerfect.com



Not the best embroidery job I've done, but I think Dad will be happy with it.


~~~~~~~~~~

Didn't go to Rathdrum Knitalong yesterday or Yarnies today because I'm still sick. I think the worst is over. I definitely feel much better now than I did this morning. Now it's just an annoying cough.

Yarnies has been permanently cancelled at CDA Yarn and Fiber. In other words, we won't be meeting there any more, at the owners request. We'll figure out a new meeting place and resume our weekly get-togethers after the holidays are over.

I was pretty angry when I was given the news today. Her reason was that she can't get any work done because we want to visit with her while we're there. I've never heard of a yarn shop owner who felt 'bothered' by a knitting group that meets at her shop and spends money before. It is rather insulting. I will abide by her wishes. It's her shop. I am very disappointed, though.

Well, I've got laundry to take care of, so until next time

Live long and prosper. \\//

12/12/11

Ugh

Hi! I'm back. We arrived at our home yesterday afternoon. I then promptly got sick. Headache, sore throat, chest congestion, cough, a bit of a fever. I think it's incredibly cruel for a virus to jump on me that quickly. Anyway, I am going to try and kick this virus.

My trip was wonderful. I'll go into more detail and share a few pictures in a later post. I did get to see all the things I mentioned in my previous post, and more. Maui is so beautiful. It had absolutely perfect weather while I was there. Not only that but my sinuses cleared up, the asthma stopped bothering me, and I felt absolutely great. I really didn't want to come home. In fact, my daughter actually had to give me a shove to make that first step onto the plane. I told the flight attendant I was boarding against my will and  I just wanted her to know that. I would have stayed if I could.

We took the red eye home Saturday. We arrived in Seattle around 6 a.m. We picked up our car and drove home from Seattle. We were pretty exhausted by the time we got home. I'd been up for 2 days. I slept a little bit on the plane, but not enough to call it rest. That may be what gave the virus the opportunity.

Had an interesting home coming. It turns out we accidentally locked Lindy, the grandkitty, in my bedroom. She's not supposed to go in there. Obviously she snuck in while we were getting the luggage loaded in the car and whatnot. She spent the whole week locked in there. Fortunately for her, someone left my bathroom door open and left the toilet lid up. We hardly ever do that. She got water from the toilet, but was pretty hungry when we let her out. And upset. Wow, did she chew us out.



Lindy tore up the carpet in front of the bedroom door trying to get out. It's a mess. But she did not ruin anything else. She peed in the bathroom sink, and used the throw rug for a litter box. It smelled bad, but was really easy to clean up. I'm just glad she's okay. She spent several hours meowing loudly at us letting us know in no uncertain terms we were in the dog house. By morning she'd forgiven, though. I am wondering, though, why my nephew, who was supposed to be taking care of the cats while we were gone, didn't let her out. I will have to ask him.

I got some knitting done on the trip. I knitted on the plane on the way to Maui. In fact, I was able to bring my knitting in my carry-on bag both directions. I knitted a little bit just about every day. There were wonderful places to sit and knit around the condo we stayed at. There was a really pretty roof garden with a fantastic view, and there was the lawn overlooking the beach. And, of course, there was the beach too. I also knit on the balcony of our condo a bit each morning while drinking my coffee. I got the lace neck cowl done. Just needs to be blocked. I've also finished the knitting of the fingerless mitts I'm making my dad for Christmas. I just have to do some embroidery on them now, which shouldn't take more than a couple days. I'm going to duplicate stitch deer on the back of each mitt.

Well, it's late and I'm tired. I'm going to bed now. I'll post more later.

Live long and prosper. \\//

12/2/11

Have Knitting, Will Travel


I am on vacation. I won't be back for just over a week.



Hopefully, while I'm away I will get to see something like this:


and this:


and this:



Oh yes, the doctor said I can swim now. In fact, he said I could do whatever I want now. Yay! I definitely intend to go looking for fish like those ones above. I'll let you know if I do when I get back.

Live long and prosper. \\//