Home Sweet(?) Home

 got home on Wednesday evening....joy.  I had such a great time in Key West, I wish I could have stayed much much longer.  I even considered making a little investment, except I'm about $880k short.  Some day....if I marry really rich.  The house is great, and right around the corner from Susan's.

I finally got to Knit Wits on Monday - my trip to the Dry Tortugas was postponed to Tuesday because it was very rainy and windy on Monday.  I dropped a pretty penny on 6 hanks of yarn and 2 patterns.  

What I bought:

 Mango Moon Chakra in purple/turquoise.  Because it has beads and stones/sea glass already sewn in, there's not a whole lot that can be done - mostly scarves and such.  I've decided to use the pattern Dropped! from Arlene's World of Lace.  I've used the pattern before, using Louisa Harding Kimono Angora for a child-sized scarf.

Karabella Gossamer in a pink/purple/silver colorway.  It's a mix of mohair and shimmery fibers, which I'm going to used for the pictured pattern, the Gossamer Triangular shawl.  It looks like it'll be a good piece for late spring/summer/early fall, but I have a feeling that it'll be warmer than it looks.

Louet euroflax - 100% wet spun linen in black and lilac.  The owner of Knit Wits, Maxine, had collaborated on a design for a really cute, lacy shawl/vest.  It's basically a large lacy rectangle, and then you sew the corners together lengthwise.  It doesn't really have a name, but they gave me the pattern when I purchased the yarn - though I purchased the yarn to get the pattern. :)  I'm making up the black one first and will probably keep it.  I'll probably make the purple one for my mom or someone.


Oh, and Tuesday's trip to the Dry Tortugas was wonderful.  I got a lot of sun and got to have a day of exploration on my own.  I stood on the bow of the ship for most of the time.  We really flew!

More vacation knitting

Thankfully, the weather down here in Key West has warmed up considerably since I arrived.  This makes me very happy that I have the light-weight Seraphim to keep my hands busy. I finished the replacement for the fair-isle fingerless mitt that I lost.  It's - unsurprisingly - better than the original.  It's much more consistent in the stitches, the seed stitching is tighter and the pattern pops a lot more.


I've make a couple more blocks on the entrelac baby blanket, but not a whole lot of progress.  That will probably be my big plane project for the trip home on Wednesday.

Today has been a lazy Sunday.  Unfortunately, I caught a cold within a day of arriving in paradise, so I've been sniffling and coughing for the past few days.  I think last night was when I felt the worst, so I slept in super-late this morning, which helped considerably.  I have been able to get some sun, so the vitamin D is kicking in to help fight off these nasty germs.  

I head off to the Dry Tortugas for the day tomorrow and the Seraphim Shawl is coming with me.  Hopefully I'll be out of the yo, knit across, yo knit yo, knit across yo part soon. It's getting a bit tedious.  I have 12 more repeats to go until I'm up to 247 stitches across.  Then the fun lacy part begins!

I **WILL** be visiting Knit Wits at some point on Tuesday or Wednesday. Hopefully I'll find something very interesting to commemorate my trip.

(Pictures are from my outing at the Butterfly Pavilion).

Vacation Knits

Aaaahhhhhhhhhhh, vacation.  I haven't been on a true vacation in TWO YEARS!  It's insane.  I decided to escape the snowy cold of the DC metro area to come to a place where the weatherpeople describe 68 degrees as "chilly" - Key West.  I'm staying with my brother-in-law's mother, Susan, two blocks off of Duvall Street and just north of the Southernmost Point.  The last time I was here, I was about 8 years old and had a really bad ear infection.  Even though I'm fighting a sore throat, I'm not going to let it upset this wonderful vacation! What it looked like when I left:

So, of course, I had to decide what knitting projects to bring with me.  The first was a no-brainer.  I had lost one of my fingerless fair-isle mitts on Monday - less than a week after finishing it.  Thankfully, I think I have just enough yarn left to make a replacement.  I casted on right before I left and I'm almost halfway through.  I'm just hoping the brown lasts.

I also brought my Seraphim Shawl, my World Champ sweater (the ruby red) and the entrelac baby blanket I'm making for a friend (who may or may not be reading this).


There is a great knit store down here called Knit Wits.  It just so happens that Susan is friends with the owner!  I've got at least one trip planned to the store, and I'm sure there will be more as I get paid on Monday. :D

I'm also hoping to make it out to the Dry Tortugas National Park and Fort Jefferson.  It looks like something right out of Pirates of the Caribbean.  It'll be a day trip, and kind of expensive, but it's definitely something I want to do.


Anyway, I'm off to walk around Duvall and the surrounding areas.  Looking forward to not wearing a huge goose-down, goretex coat for the first time in three weeks.

Pictures will come soon, when I get them. 

Sunset Key:

Susan's house:

 

Beautiful Passion Flower:

New Groove - a knitting blog!

At the encouragement of my friends and colleagues, I decided to change the tone of my blog and turn it into a knitting blog/website.  I've been "commissioned" for many knitting projects over the past few months and "business" has really been picking up, even though I don't really charge to knit for people - I just ask that they supply the yarn.  I thought it would be a good way to get my name out there (as if!) and to showcase some of my projects.

One of the most recent commissioned projects I finished are the "pirate hats" for my niece and nephew.  My sister requested them and asked that I add ear flaps and braids.  The white one is for Yates, the red one is for Elizabeth.  I used Berocco Pure Merino Worsted in Black Magic, Snow Bunny and Cardinal. They were pretty quick knits and I finished them during the "Snowpocalypse" of 2010.  It was my first fair-isle project since finishing the "homework" for the fair-isle class.  For that reason, I'm pretty proud of them, even if Yates' hat is a bit big.  He's got a large head, anyway.

Stacey, over at asliceofconcentratedlove mentioned wanting a Spring Beret and some Irish Hiking Armwarmers in red.  I told her to go ahead and buy some worsted weight yarn that she liked the best and I'll make them for her.

On the needles:

• 
  
  Ruby Red in YarnLust's Better than Basic Sock yarn; Colorway: New York Yankees (variegated navy blue, grey and white)
• 
  
  Seraphim shawl in Miss Babs Yummy; Colorway: Sand
• 
  
  Rayne Wrap Cardigan in Cascade Sierra; Color: Kind of a bone-white

Coming soon:

• 
  
  Ysolda Teague's Lace-up Opera Gloves in Plymouth Royal Bamboo: Color: Seafoam Green
• 
  
  Handscmeichler (Hand-charmer) in Wollmeise Merino; Color: blue/purple variegated
• 
  
  Captain Hat in Lion Brand Thick and Quick; Color: Dark blue (stashbuster!)
• 
  
  Entrelac Scarf in Crystal Palace Mini-mochi; Color: Violets Rainbow