Busy, Busy, Busy

Sorry, that it has been such a long time since there was a blog post.  Tom and I are helping take care of several of our grandkids. This should come to an end soon. We have also traveled to Pennsylvania, New York and Michigan in the last two months. I’ll try to post pictures soon.

We are also having a detached garage built on our property. The contractor is letting (?!) us do some of the work. We finished shingling the roof on Saturday. It only took us 7 days! I’ll try to post some pictures of that too!

Until next time . . . . 

Travel and Progress

Sorry it has been so long since I last blogged. 

Travel

I just returned from a General Federation of Women’s Clubs International Convention in Charlotte, NC.  It was great seeing and catching up with friends from all over the country. 

Five of us went on a side trip to a few wineries of Yadkin Valley about an hour above Charlotte. We tasted great wines at Laurel Gray winery and had a wonderful lunch at Shelton winery. 

Laurel Gray is a small estate winery that only sells their wines at the winery. The workers were so friendly and helpful. We had a great time.  I purchase a bottle of their  Encore  and  a bottle of their Nectar.

Shelton is a large winery covering over 500 acres of which around 300 are covered with vines. The restaurant at the vineyard served a gourmet lunch overlooking the rolling hills. Delightful. 

On the way home, I stopped into Charlotte Yarn, where I met Remi and Sandy. Two welcoming and knowledgable ladies who were happy to help me find some souvenir yarn and other things. I found Knit Cubby Stitch Markers that I had only ever heard of on Etsy and some knitting podcast. They are well made and quite different. 

Remi is holding the stitch markers and the game Last Knitter Standing which is great for clubs and guilds. Thanks, ladies for a great experience.

A Big Thank You goes out to Suezee who nominated this blog for the  Liebster Blog Award.  Guess I had better get cracking with blog posts more frequently.

Progress

My first woven scarf is finished. I used Berroco Comfort with a little linen yarn occasionally mixed in. I may be hooked. Weaving is so much fun! and quick!

My Split T top down summer sweater has made a little progress.  Need to finish the body, bottom edge and sleeves.

Time to get knitting.

Until next time . . . . . 

Blocking Day

Today, I took the time to soak and block all the projects that I have finished lately,  I use baby shampoo to gently soak the items in lukewarm water.  After rinsing in clean water, I squeeze as much water as I can from them and lay the items on my blocking mats. My pads are yoga mats from Target.  They are 24 inches by 24 inches and four come in a package for $20.  I have two sets since it usually takes four to block a sweater and I tend to save up items and block them all on the same day. 

I lay the mats on our pool table in the sun room with fans blowing on them. It usually still will take several days for large items. Baby clothing might be finished in one day depending on the weather.

Today’s blocking includes: My Alpaca Yoke Colorwork Sweater, the Baby Yoke Sweater with chicken buttons, a blue baby hat, my La Vie de Bois socks, my Seedless Slice Sock shop sample for my LYS, a green cowl, the Aberdeen Ave cabled hat and a gauge swatch for my next sweater.  The Preppy Baby Blanket is in the dryer.

My next sweater is going to be the Locke St. Cardigan by Glenna C. from her Urban Collection, Winter-to-Spring 2012.  It looks to be a great pattern made in pieces with three cable patterns. I will be making it in dark green alpaca from Plymouth Yarn. I am using the Baby Alpaca D. K. in colorway 1440.  This should be a very lightweight sweater that will be great to throw on in air conditioning and to move into the fall.  Who knows, in South Carolina, it may be a great sweater for our mild winters also.

My only concern with the sweater are the sleeves. They appear to be snug. I may modify the pattern and add the next size sleeve to the body of the sweater, making adjustments in the arm hole of the body.  I also like a little extra length to my sleeves, so I may also add an inch or so. This may allow me to add another increase in the top of the sleeve, so I may not need to go up a whole size. I will decide while my swatch is drying. 

Before blocking, the swatch measured 21 stitches and 26 rows to the inch on a size US 6 needle. Since this is a little larger than Glenna’s pattern calls for I will make the medium size. I fall between the medium and large anyway, so it should fit. But, we all know that swatches lie. I’ll remeasure once the swatch has dried.

Tom and I have been traveling all over the state lately.  It is tiring but at least I get to spend time with him and a little knitting time in.  We will be walking in a St. Patrick Day parade on Saturday morning in one part of the state and attending a formal dinner at the other end of the state on Saturday evening. Maybe I will get a sleeve finished on the sweater. We’ll see.  I hear the dryer beeping.

Until next time . . . . 

Labor Day Weekend

Home again after a three and one-half day weekend visiting our daughter and her family on the Eastern Coast of Maryland.  We headed out on Friday afternoon to start our Labor Day weekend by driving 7 hours to Suffolk, VA.  We stayed in a nice hotel with a view of the harbor. Well, not our room, we overlooked the parking lot and the Northrop Grumman building. And Tom thought he was getting away from work! ;~)

On Saturday morning we headed out at 5 am to finish our drive across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, up the Delmarva peninsula and arrived in St. Michael’s, Maryland around 10 am.  It was nice seeing a part of the country that we haven't  seen before. 

Because we weren’t driving during peak hours, the traffic was light and enjoyable. We listened to the audiobook, Flags of our Fathers, about the six men in the photo of raising the flag on Iwo Jima. Very good book!

What a great time we had with our family at her in-laws beautiful home on the Miles River. We hadn’t seen our son-in-law in almost 3 years and our daughter and the boys in a year. What a sight for sore eyes! The grandkids have grown so much.  It was wonderful to see that our son-in-law, Michael,  is healing well from his neck surgery. Both he and our daughter are currently job hunting. We hope they both get a job offer in the same city. 

On Saturday, we attended a boat auction at the marina. The advice was “If you buy a boat, make sure it comes with a trailer.”  Even though the prices were low, we didn’t buy a boat. Alas, we are still landlubbers!

Spent the rest of the weekend canoeing, kayaking, biking, walking through St. Michaels,  eating blue crabs (Yummmm!) and visiting. What a relaxing time we had. Roy and Sandi are such great hosts. 

On Monday, after a huge breakfast, we drove the 12 hours home. On the way we stopped at the fishing pier on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. The weather was glorious. By the time we got to Emporia, VA the rain started and we drove in and out of rainstorms all the rest of the way home.

We had a wonderful time visiting but it is always so joyous to sleep in your own bed. AHHH!

Denver

Arrived uneventfully in Denver for a weeklong conference. Traveled through Atlanta to get here. 

We got up at 4 am to give us time to get to the airport. We saw a couple of friends, Max and Natalie, at the airport and spent some time catching up with them.  The flight to Atlanta was short and I dozed a little. In Atlanta, we met up with friends who were on the same flight to the conference. Since I hadn’t slept well the night before, I got a little sleep on the plane. Then took the opportunity to read a little. The plane was rather cramped, so I decided against knitting.  

Katie Mullen's

We arrived around 10:30 am Denver time. We went to lunch at a wonderful Irish Pub .... Katie Mullen's. The pub had a library in it! Great atmosphere. 

Since we have to host a hospitality room on Tuesday, we took a cab to the Safeway and bought supplies.

Colorado State Capitol Building

Dinner was at the Yard House. Over 200 beers to sample. Since only one was gluten free I didn’t have any. The hits were the raspberry and blueberry beers.  I did, however, have the caramel ice cream.  Mmmmmm!

View of Denver from our Window

Park after Dark