Socks with a side of vacation

I'm knitting away on my socks, however a very nice vacation put a little crimp in my knitting - ie: people/boat/bird/dolphin watching, then toss in shell seeking and beach walking.

We went to Captiva Island in Florida. It was very nice! The DH took some beautiful photos of the sunsets. We found 3 conch shells and managed to get them home, along with 47 other shells, without breaking.

Below was the view from our balcony. It was so nice to have the boats all decorated. It certainly got us more into the Christmas spirit!

Let us not forget my favorite meal and drink of choice....Caribbean jerk shrimp, grilled pineapple and a lovely margarita!

As for my socks, here is where they are at:

I ended up bringing a new project with me on vacation, more on that later. Reason being I needed something mindless, and well socks are not mindless for me yet when I'm working on the increases and heel.

Waist Decreasing

I'm still knitting away....as it shows in this photo I've started the waist decreasing.

You can also see the first modification I've done. Yes, I'm daring enough to modify the pattern on my very first sweater! It was just adding 3 more rows before the decreasing for the waist, but it is still a modification!

I have another 2 rounds of decreasing to go. I hope to get through that this week, leaving the increases for this weekend.

I realized that I will need DPN's to do the sleeves. So, off to Webs I will need to go.

In the meantime, I've developed a food addiction. Thank you Pinterest! It is, as I call it, Cinnamon Pull-A-Part Bread. Again, I modified the recipe....and it is highly addictive!

Don't say I didn't warn you!

Sleeve Caps

Well this weekend didn't turn out the way it was planned. DH came home from work on Friday really sick. So, in staying home all weekend to make sure he was okay - it provided more knitting time.

So, here is what my sweater looks like as of 2 hours ago:

Here is a close up of the sleeve caps:

I did just put in a life line (you can barely see it on the sleeve a row back) and tried it on.

Shocking me...it fits well! I know the knitting on it will be a bit slower this week, dang day job, but I'm thrilled at the progress!

I also took some time to make pizza for lunch today, while it wasn't as good as my nephews, it was edible...considering the real chef in the household was/is still in bed sick. The dough was from my bread book, Peter Reinhardt's Artisan Bread Every Day.

And another row seamed

My afghan is coming together. Although slowly.

It is nice that it keeps me warm as I am working on it now.

I've also been a bit busy in the kitchen. I have a new cookbook for making bread. It is delicious...

then another 2 sandwich loaves in the same day.

If I keep going like this I'm going to need bigger pants! Hopefully Spring will be here shortly and I can get back to walking.

This is also how the homemade vanilla is looking like:

It is so nice to take the lid off and sniff a little! Heavenly vanilla!!

Snack anyone?

It has been HOT around these parts! Looking back at the weather for the past 2 weeks our temps ranged from 98 to 86 and can you say humid?

I did finish the last square I last left you with. I have to say it is so nice to be working on a small project like this during this type of weather.

Pattern: King Charles Brocade Square from Sampler Afghans
Yarn: Knit Picks Simply Cotton Worsted
Colorway: Blaze Heather
Needles: Knit Picks Circulars US 8mm
Ravelery Project Page

I also think I'm going to change the name of this project from GAA to Sampler Afghan. I think it is only fair since I now have more square from the Sampler Afghan book that The Great American Afghan book.

My work schedule looks good for the next week, so I hope to knit up a few more squares.

Hope you are staying cool where ever you may be!

GAA Orange?!

Yes I'm adding orange. The color is actually a burnt orange that goes really well with the navy blue and dark green.

I had some time out on the deck yesterday and managed to get this much done of the next square. I should be able to finish this with another free night at some point this week.

I've really thought about my color choices and I'm definitely sticking with the darker colors. However, that only gave me three colors when I really wanted to have a 4th. So, I just put in an order through Knit Picks for the Basalt Heather.

I think that is it! Now that I've decided on those, I feel much better about the afghan as a whole.
 
I'm also holding off purchasing the yarn for the edging, as I want to concentrate on knitting the squares, place them, knit them together THEN decide about the edge.

The rest of the weekend was spent doing chores...you know all those that I ignored during the week since I was busy knitting squares! 

We also had quite the meal on Saturday night as DH and I decided to have a surf and turf night.

Delicious!

Enough rain already!

It has been raining here all week. I was hoping it would be a better weather day today, since I received my latest yarn stash 'enhancements'!

I'll have to take photos and show you tomorrow.

Until then, here are some hints:

Hand Painted
Cotton/Elite
400 yards

???

Just to keep this a blog with photos, here is what the DH and I have been eating this week. YUM!

Happy 4th of July!

Hope you are all having a great day!

We are dealing with Hazy, Hot and HUMID! So, we decided to chill out and enjoy our air conditioned home. Tonight we stick with tradition and watch the Boston Pops Orchestra.

I've also been doing more reading than knitting lately. The current novel is Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I saw Elizabeth on Oprah with Julia Roberts a couple of weeks ago and thought her story would be interesting. It hasn't let me down yet, as I'm reading my way through Italy.

I'm still working on the photos of my finished projects. I did take some, however the light was drowning out the color of my Sweet Jazz Shawl...must find a solution to that!

Some big news that hit our household is that my DH is starting a full time job! After 2 years of being unemployed he is now considered gainfully employed and we are thrilled!!

Here is our CSA share from this week. Blogger is having a great time turning my photos, again. Funny how the picture to me looks tilted.

It doesn't take away from the taste, since everytime I go into the kitchen I'm sneaking blueberries...I guess there are worse things.

Doesn't this picture look crooked to you? Did you just tilt your head?

Enjoy the rest of your day!

A Stash

I've been a web lurker lately. I've been staying in touch with my favorite blogs over the past few weeks, however, I've been absent from my own.

In my reading the blogs of others, I've almost always found a stash photo. Some of those photos have made my jaw drop with how many skeins or rooms they take over, while others have been, in my opinion, very manageable. It was time for me to take a photo of my entire stash.

So, what exactly is in my stash?

Starting at the top left to right (clockwise) is my Cascade Fixation, Rowan Cotton, SR Kertzer, Crystal Palace Panda Cotton, Handmaiden Sea Three & Sea Silk, Ultimate Cotton, Artful Yarns Fable, Knit One Crochet Two, Sugar 'N Creme, Lorna's Laces Pearl, Schoeller & Stahl Sockina, Mission Falls 1824 Cotton, Rowan Cotton Tweed, Ellyn Cooper Canasta, Tahki Cotton Classic, Sugar Bunny Boulevard, Classic Elite, Stacy Charles Kyoto.

I think my stash falls under the manageable category. It isn't a stash that I have more than I'll ever knit. The best part is it still all fits into one LLBean zippered canvas tote bag. When I use a skein I can buy one. It works for me. Although I have slipped a bit at times, however before anyone noticed the yarn has been knit up.

As I get better with knitting socks and hit my goal of learning the magic loop method I see the using up of the Panda Cotton. Many of the lace skeins are matched up to shawl patterns in my Ravelry que. I even have my skeins to make a bunny, of course!


The only skeins missing are those current WIP's, white Panda Cotton (for dying) and my Tussah Silk.

Not surprising is the lack of wool, angora, cashmere, alpaca etc.  as those would not work well with my allergies.

What I do find interesting are my color selections. You see a heavy influence of my favorite color - blue. Yet, there are some happy colors, bright orange from Tahki, bright colors from Ellyn Cooper and a rose color from Universal Yarns. I even bought bright orange Panda Cotton for socks.

I'm off to make some more bread as this loaf has disappeared already!