Sunday, August 13, 2006

There's no place like home....


We're home, we're home, we're home! And many loads of laundry later and bags mostly unpacked, I am back to my computer and blogging! I wound up having the s l o w e s t of dialup connections on vacation, so I got online just a few times to check email, but didn't have the patience for much else (I am so spoiled with my high speed connection at home!). But we had a great vacation--a very long one for us, and very laid back, restful, and casual. And yes, I managed to get to a yarn store: look at all this pretty yarn (I have to admit I have no plans for the Kid Merino, I just couldn't resist the color!) The beautiful Himalayas wool (from the Queensland Collection), which I had never seen before, is for a felted tote for my mom, who is quite a bag lady, for Christmas. The Sirdar Spree will be a hat, probably for next summer at this rate, and the Dune, probably a scarf--it was buy one get one free, what could I say?


And yes, I did some knitting, too: these are my socks in progress I brought with me, which are destined for my middle sister's petite feet. It was great to finish them, they were knit at such a small gauge! I had one real learning experience with these--I somehow (don't ask me how) knit a pearl row during the gusset decreases. And I somehow didn't notice it until I was a few rows along (yes, I am a bit concentration challenged at times). I thought I would have to for back whole rounds, but thanks to my handy dandy Knitting Answer Book, I was able to drop each stitch back as I came to it, and pull it back through in pattern with a crochet hook. Admittedly, this might have taken as much time as it would have to frog and reknit, but I didn't risk losing any stitches, and I learned a new trick that I've been needing to know! The other socks, which I didn't quite finish, but am now to the toe on, are Trek's Wonky Lace Socks. This is a great pattern, easy enough for a normal person to follow no doubt, but for the concentration-challenged like myself, writing out each pattern row line by line on an index card helped tremendously. The only trouble I've had with these socks is the "stickiness" of the Cascade Fixation on these Bryspun needles I'm using. I've had a lot of trouble with the K2togs, etc., too, because I can't get the points through. But they're what I started with, so I'll persevere. My new discipline with socks during vacation was to count rows even when I didn't have too, instead of trying to rely on eye-balling or even measuring. So on this pair, the cuffs are 56 rows to the heel, and the feet are 65 rows from the start of the gusset to the start of the toe decreases, etc. I am hopeful that this will get me socks the same size!My only other knitting was a drop stitch scarf, which I made with some "Lang Lotus" (which I think is discontinued) that I had from somewhere. It's a wool, nylon blend, but has a very unique texture--almost papery. It's apparently a very hip fall color, or so I was told by someone who saw me knitting it at the hair salon--so I'm all set.
Now,here are a few of the obligatory vacation shots:
A view of the ocean at sunrise from our balcony (the early bird gets more knitting time!)

A walk through the nature preserve, (hand in hand, aren't they cute!)

And swimming at low tide (no waves, so happy mom, but not-so-happy kids on boogie boards, wanting to catch a wave!).

I would spend all my time at the ocean if I could. Even if the beach is crowded, you can look out in to the ocean and see so far and see no one....