KNITTING WITHOUT DOG HAIR IS NOT AN OPTION

The day finally got here. I am leaving for a week at the beach in Siesta Keys, Florida. I am sitting here with my first cup of coffee for the day, getting ready to load the car and head south. I am so excited. I haven't been at the beach in forever. I am more a mountain girl, but I appreciate a nice beach, the sunshine and the salty water. Plus, I can really use a week of doing nothing but laying around, knitting a lot of things and collect shells. I got lots of sunscreen in my bag, a big straw hat, and aloe, in case I get a little sunburn. So, no worries that I am going to turn into a baked tomato. ;-)

So, before I go, here are my latest finished projects... This is a knitting blog after all, right?

Project: Angee Socks
Pattern: Angee by Cookie A.
Size: 8
Needle: US 1 / 2.25 mm (32" circular for magic loop)
Yarn: Premier Yarns Serenity Sock
How much? 2 skeins = 460.0 yards (420.6m)
Colorway: Varigated reds/greys

Notes: Love Cookie A.'s sock patterns. This is a really easy one.

Project: Appalachian Shawl I
Pattern: my own
Needle: US 10½ / 6.5 mm (Circular Knitpicks Harmony)
Yarn: Miss Babs Solo
How much? 1 skeins = 500.0 yards (457.2m)
Colorway: Light Purple

Notes:
I made up the pattern during my spinning and knitting class at John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC, during the first week of June. The top border (long straight edge) is knitted - called the Holey Border - and the rest of the border is crocheted because I wasn’t sure if I had enough to knit the Holey Border all around.

I love this very easy shawl pattern. If you want to be more fancy, you can add a lace pattern or just knit in garter stitch or stockinette stitch.

Name: Appalachian Shawl II
Pattern: my own
Needle: US 15 / 10.0 mm (Circular Knitpicks Harmony)
Yarn for the shawl: Schaefer Yarn Company Little Danya
How much? 1 skeins = 240.0 yards (219.5m)
Colorway: Indira Ghandi

Yarn for the border: Rowan Kidsilk Haze
How much? 2 skeins = 458.0 yards (418.8m)
Colorway: Green

Notes:
I also started this version of the shawl at the class at JCC. This time in stockinette stitch and for the border I bought Kid Silk Haze and double stranded it. This shawl has the Holey border all around. I am debating if I should block this mohair shawl. Any thoughts, you lace knitters out there?

Name: Devon Socks
Pattern: Devon by Cookie A.
Size: 8
Needle: US 1 / 2.25 mm (32" circular for magic loop)
Yarn: Miss Babs Yummy Superwash Sock & Baby Yarn - 2 ply
How much? 1 skeins = 400.0 yards (365.8m)
Colorway: BFF (black/purple/pink)

Notes:
First, I thought I'll knit with wooden dpns again. But... After one needle snapped when I tried the sock on, I changed back to circulars for magic looping. I knitted the ribbing with size 2 needles and made the cuff shorter (3 repeats instead of 4) because I thought I might run out of yarn. Of course that occured to me after I turned the heel on the first sock and I had to rip back quite a bit. ;-) I have some yarn left but I don't think I would have had enough for the 4th repeat on each sock. Jane is knitting the same socks with the same yarn for our trip to the Sock Summit. Sure sounds like we're still in high school and have matching stuff for a trip. Love it - that's a nice feeling. Especially when you are just turning 42. ;-)

So, that's it for the moment...

I had a hard time picking projects for the trip. But I finally settled on a baby blanket, a pair of socks, some cotton for making dish rags (perfect for sitting at a sandy beach...), an easy lacey scarf and knitting supplies for someone who might want to learn how to knit.

Oh, and stay tuned for something that I am designing. It's still a secret but you'll find out soon. ;-)

With this - have a great weekend! I'll miss my Friday night knitting buddies tonight and next Friday. See y'all soon!

Oh my, I forgot how hot, humid and salty tasting Florida is in July. I truly feel the vacation kicking in. I am not thinking about anything but to apply sunscreen often enough. ;-) So far no major sunburn. The spray-on sunscreen, the big hat and aloe spray in the evening makes it very easy. See?

There was a beach volley ball tournament this weekend... Lots of eye candy... ;-)))

Lots of beautiful vegetation and interesting animals.

The sand is absolutely white and feels like you walk on powdered sugar. No wonder the Siesta Key beach is no.2 on the world's top ten list of beaches. The water is almost too warm for my taste. It refreshes you for about one minute and then it is bath tub temperature.

Tonight ended with a drum session, belly dancers and a sunset.

I have to confess I have not knitted much. Somehow there is other stuff do. Woops, didn't think I would ever say that... But guess who I will go visit tomorrow...

And I haven't felt that great in a while - life is good down here... And thanks for all the birthday wishes! No biggie turning 42 with such a wonderful bunch of friends. ;-)

...SO LITTLE TIME...

I woke up really early this morning, couldn't go back to sleep at 4:45am and figured this would be a great time to catch you up on my vacation.

But first, something interesting... In the past I have read my horoscope every once in a while, just to see if it matches at all with what happened at the time and mostly it didn't, you know how it is. This morning when I logged onto Yahoo, instead of taking me to my email account, it somehow took me to "My Yahoo" and the first thing that popped into my eyes was my horoscope of the day:

"Turn 'I wish' into 'I will' and 'I can't' into 'I can.' Don't you think it's about time you started taking yourself seriously? So stop telling yourself that your plans, hopes and desires are silly. Don't dismiss what your soul is trying to tell you. Listen to your secret wishes and see where they lead you. The stars are telling you that now is the time. Who knows? You might be about to start one heck of an incredible journey."

I thought that was pretty interesting because I have a serious "I wish" right now. We'll see how it works out. I'll let you know.

So, what happened since I last blogged?

Hmmm... I went to visit Barbara Walker on Monday. It was great. She so does not care that she is so famous. I drove over to pick her up and visit a friend of hers, Linda, and both ladies took me to lunch to a great seafood place in Venice (yeah, we jumped on a private jet and ate some shrimp in Italy, not...). Before we left Barbara's house, she showed me the remainder of her barbie doll collection and some of her fabulous afghans and other knitting projects. I also looked through a couple of binders with old Vogue clippings (when she had patterns published there) and pictures when she and her family modeled her knitted garments. That was really cool. Irwin would have probably spent all his time in the other room and admired her jigsaw puzzle collection. Barbara also showed me her mineral collection (Steve, you would have loved looking at all those gems) and the tarot cards she designed.

After lunch we went back to Barbara's friend's house for a little bit of knitting. A very nice visit. I feel special to have spent some time with famous BGW (even tho' she not knitting anymore) before the Sock Summit frenzy starts.

Oh, and I told Barbara about the Sock Summit 2009 Dye for Glory contest on Ravelry and that she was mentioned in the rules:

"You can call your colourway anything that suits you, but you may not use the words “Official," "Sock Summit”, "Ravelry," or the full name of a teacher or organizer without their permission (That means that calling a yarn “Barbara Walkers best favourite yarn” is right out, unless by some miracle, Barbara Walker says that is her best favourite, and gives you her express permission to write that on the label. We would advise you against hunting Barbara in the wild to get that endorsement. She’s a tough cookie.)"

Barbara thought that was interesting and asked me why they think that she is a tough cookie to find. ;-) So, no pictures. But I am sure there will be photo opportunities at the Sock Summit.

But I took a gazillion pictures at Seaworld on Tuesday. That was also an awesome day. We watched a great pirate show.

A pirate pantomime.

Sea lions as sailors.

A pirate otter who stole the treasure map.

And a big old walrus.

But the really breathtaking show was the one with the killer whales. Very, very cool. I took a bunch of videos which I still have to upload. But here are some pictures in the meantime.

You can look at all the Seaworld pix here.

Time to get dressed and get ready for my morning walk at the beach. This week I have walked every day for an hour before breakfast. Love it. It feels good to be out and exercise.