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.

Mystic & Noank CT with a side of knitting

One of my favorite places to go for the day or a long weekend is Mystic, CT, in fact we just came back yesterday!

I could just sit for hours and watch the boats. It is so relaxing.

In fact I can say I actually knit while sitting looking at the sailboats. I started this scarf last week with some yarn I purchased in Washington state a couple of years back, and managed to nearly finish it while just enjoying my ocean view.

I plan on using a kitchener stitch and making it into a cowl. I will post all the details when I finish it.

My Christmas knitting is officially done, as I only wanted to do a couple of projects. My fall schedule at work is going to be crazy so I needed to keep it light.

Up next, I'm thinking socks...as I'm waiting for an order from The Loopy Ewe. :-)

Knitting...not so much with all this traveling...

We decided to take a few mini vacations this year, over one big summer vacation and had always wanted to check out Salem, MA. Of course, the more popular time is October...but we wanted less crowds.

It was another beautiful weather day.

We highly recommend the trolley ride as it brings you all around and shows you some things off the beaten path.

Still knitting away on gift items....

Boston or Bust

The DH and I celebrated our 21st anniversary this year. We decided to take a long weekend and head into Boston to celebrate.

It was a great weather weekend, high 70's and just a mild wind.

We took some time to check out the USS Constitution:

We chose to stay where we could walk to everything, the North End, Rowe's Wharf and Quincy Market. This was our superb view from our hotel balcony...

Anniversary treats!

Of course I love being on the water, so off we went....

As for the knitting front I'm working on a couple of projects I can't disclose yet, as the recipients read this.

Have any of you started the Christmas knitting?

Mini Vacation

Finally a vacation. We turned a concert into a very long weekend in Western MA.

This would be the one and only Gordon Lightfoot! We ended up in the 8th row....the seats were great!

We took a couple of day trips around the area....Bridge of Flowers in Shelburne Falls:

Favorite view from Mt. Sugarloaf:

The one thing I didn't do was any knitting. I know...shocking!

A baby, vacation and finished object

Not necessarily in that order.

Since I last posted, we went on vacation, a half done project was finished, but more importantly my sister gave birth to a beautiful little girl.

So, I officially introduce you to Lil' Miss!

As many of you know, my husband and I do not have any children of our own. After being a science experiment for more years than I care to recall, my husband and I realized we would forever just be a 'couple' not a 'family'.

So, for me, the arrival of Lil' Miss is the closest I will ever be to a next generation, blood relative. I shall forever be known as Aunt D. A position I'm taking quite seriously....

As you can see we already have quite the bond going there. That is the photo I have on my desk, and computer desktops, it always brings a smile to my face and a small chuckle - every time. In fact in that photo she looks exactly like my sister did as a newborn.

And as always, they grow up so fast. This is just 4 days later:

As she has totally stolen her parent's heart, she has mine as well. I look forward to watching her grow up, taking care of her, teaching her things and being there for whatever she may need. I hope at some point I can also say, the next generation knitter!

I'll share my vacation and FO's later and end with a note to Lil Miss.

Your Aunt D is so very glad you are here, arriving safely and being so perfect and beautiful in every way. I am so grateful that you brought other things to our attention at such an early point. I thank you for the joy and love you have brought into our hearts when you arrived! Now please just let your mommy get a couple more hours of sleep in a day...xo

Goodness that was a long break

So, where did we leave off? Oh yes, the Alaska trip. I did start a scarf on the trip. This was going to be a simple one row repeat, as to not miss any sights.

It was a couple days into our trip that I actually CO. Little did I know that I would have a darn of a time having the first stitch of each row be a YO.

Needless to say I had quite the practice with this - as it took me 7 times of CO and knitting a couple of rows before I would find an error and not have the correct amount of stitches. Frog.

Now in my defense, I did CO when we were in a lounge on the ship listening to a guitar player who could impersonate Gordon Lightfoot fabulously!

So, as you can see I started fresh, yet again, the next day. The lighting was much better and I had the correct stitch counts. Finally!

The following day we spent cruising through Glacier Bay, by this time I was on a roll.

Oh yes, nothing like a glass of Riesling and knitting with that kind of view. That is something I'll remember forever!

When I arrived home, I had my scarf looking like this:

A long way to go to finish this.

...and as you can see, finish it I did. As I was then, out that door to Stitches East 2011 minutes after this photo was taken.

Pattern: Lacy Brioche Scarf by Kirsten Hipsky
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Silk Thread II
Colorway: Lenore
Yardage:  I still have about half of the skein left, however, I really need to weight it for accuracy.
Needles: Signature Circulars 6mm, 24"


Details on my trip to Stitches next time.

The other side of the country...

I've spent some time traveling during my absence in blog land. We spent some time in Alaska and in/around Seattle, WA.

If visiting Alaska isn't on your bucket list, it really should be!

I am still in total awe of the sights I have seen in Alaska. It is just a stunning area! I have a hard time putting the beauty in words, and well, the photos doesn't even capture the tip of it. When we arrived home there were just under 1800 photos in the camera.

Enjoy these few:

Ten on Tuesday

I liked Carole's topic this week. They are in no particular order.

10 Dream Vacations:

1. Alaska. We have tentative plans to go in 2011.
2. Hawaii. I just can't wait to go here...although it is a few years off.
3. Tuscany.
4. San Francisco followed by a trip to wine country.
5. Quebec.
6. Australia.
7. England. I've been before, however I really want to go back with DH.
8. France. Again, I've been before but come on Paris with the love of your life?!
9. Finland. I'd love to visit my roots.
10.Turks & Cacos

I think I could have added another 10, but I'll stop! I hope to be able to look back at this time in the distant future and be able to check the majority of these off.

Vacation trip to a farm

This just wasn't any farm, it was Romney Ridge Farm. For those of you that are Loopy Groupies you should be quite familiar with this farm!

We hadn't planned on stopping in as I wasn't aware we would be passing right by the farm on the way to our destination. In fact, it wasn't until the day trip to Brunswick, ME that I found the sign and yelled "THAT'S ROMNEY RIDGE!"...to a thoroughly confused DH!

We left Brunswick and went back by Romney Ridge and stopped in. I'm so glad we did!

Kelly was just a joy to spend time with. I think we were there for over an hour just talking with her and being introduced to her farm family.

We found Romeo in the hay shed. We took a picture of the cousins to the Afl@c duck (I'm convinced!). We heard a throaty Judy make her presence known to all of us. Kelly even had 2 week old chickens that were so adorable....however, by far, my personal favorite was Uma & Tom the two angora goats....then again it might be the babydoll sheep.

My DH stated, before we were out of Kelly's driveway that "...that was the best part of the vacation so far!"...HOLY MOLY!

If you are ever in the area for Romney Ridge Farm (Route 1 in Maine) you MUST stop in a say hello to Kelly and the rest of her family. Maybe buy a skein or two from well loved sheep!

Directions are here then look for this sign: Until next time...

Vacation Tale - good shop, not so good shop

We are back! That vacation was well needed! The weather was perfect, in the 70's every day and only one day with high humidity. This was our view from the living room every night:You can actually walk down a path by the trees on the left (see above) and it brings you to this:A huge rock that allows you to sit, reflect, knit, chill, lose track of time, feel the ocean, hear the waves, watch the lobster traps being pulled up, you name it...until it was time to go eat and SHOP!

I had scoped out two yarn shops that were easy day trips from where we were staying. One was Purl Diva. Ellen has a great store! I found some wonderful cotton/silk yarn from Misti International. The feel of these are destined to become something warm, I'm thinking hat and mittens?! Time will tell. I couldn't put it down as I walked throughout her store. Of which was funny, since I was wearing a navy polo shirt, which I realized when I got to my car that I was wearing fuzz from them all over the front of my shirt!

Her employee "C" was so friendly! We were talking about her running the past 10K in the area and about the nice weather that had finally arrived in the area. I was bummed I didn't actually get to meet Ellen. I'm sure there will be a next time.

Ellen had turned the kitchen area of the older home into a great book nook! Even the DH found a comfy place to sit while I went through the store a few times. This is the kind of store, if I had one, I would want it to be modeled after....room after room of yarns, friendly employee, selection and selection for wool and non-wool lovers alike.

All in all, I would give it a 5 skein rating! I recommend you stopping in and saying hello if you are in the Brunswick, ME area.

We also stopped in at another yarn store, that shall remain nameless. One word: SNOTTY! We walked it and immediately felt like we had not dressed up enough. I felt I should have worn high heels and a dress - definitely NOT vacation attire (khaki capris & a polo short!). This is not what a yarn store should feel like.

We will NOT be going back to this store. I'll stick with Purl Diva, thank you!

I have a few more things to share, however the laundry needs to be taken care of.

Until next time...