Gromit Knits!

Gromit the Sailor Man

A week on a bay, at a resort with a fleet of sailboats finally enticed Gromit to try sailing.

While he was busy learning the ropes, the four of us went and explored Monhegan Island which is about an 1.5 hours ferry ride north east of Boothbay Harbor.  We found a village that serves as a summer artists' colony.

An old lighthouse.

And lots of rocks.

It's all very romantic.  I'd love to live on a rocky shoreline with great vistas.  As long as I had good internet access, and reliable package delivery. 

Through all the meals, boat rides and evening Trivial Pursuit games I knit.  I knit on the drive there, and the drive home.  Tuja is all knit.  I suspect I'll get it assembled over the weekend.  Also entering the WIP pile was a second Clapotis.  I made one last winter for my friend June, so this one's for me.  This version is out of Lorna's Laces Lion & Lamb, the yarn used in the original version.  It feels great and looks pretty good too.

You want proof? I'll have to torture you, I don't have any photos yet.  I'm going to take some tonight, now that I've dug myself out of the post-vacation chores.

And no vacation would be complete without one (or several) visits to the lovely local yarn store, Willow's End.  Where I was shocked to run into another knitter from the Main Line area, who also shops at Frou Frou.  Small world moments always make me happy.

Of course, I left most of my brain at home, so I didn't even recall as we drove through that Bath, ME is the home of Halcyon Yarns.  How many years have I been seeing their ads in knitting magazines?  No wonder the town sounded familiar.  There's always next year; we made our reservation to go back for the third year as we checked out.

Three years in a row?  Absolutely.  And even with that many repeat visits we're newbies.  There are people who have been coming that same week for 10, 15, 20 and even 40 years.  It's part of Linekin Bay's charm.  Really, if you are looking for a lovely get away in a rustic setting, this is the ticket.  You just can't have our cabin.

Open Road

Clothes? Check.  Sunscreen and bug repellent?  Check.  Camera?  Check.  Books?  Check?  Knitting? Check.

Ok then, it's the open road for us.  Eleven hours of open road.   I expect just like last year we'll be pulling up to our cabin here in the wee hours. 

By then I know we'll be wondering why we ever considered going on vacation.  Only tomorrow morning, when we awake to a crystal clear sky, sailboats in the harbor and the smell of breakfast cooking in the air, will we remember why we ever thought this a good idea. 

I'll be holding tight to that vision to make it through today.  A day filled with squabbling kids, outrageous traffic, McDonald's meals and no prayer of getting anyone to consider detouring to one of the myriad of interesting yarn shops between here and Boothbay Harbor.

Luckily, there is a nice yarn shop in Boothbay Harbor. 

Just in case I finish all of the five projects I'm bringing with me.  (Well, it could happen.)

Back in a week!

About that Bridge...

See, I stayed up long enough to find the photo from this morning!  I didn't even try to do something better.  Because, doesn't this make me a real blogger now?

   

If you squint, and get the angle just right, I think you can see the sweater. 

See, the sleeves came out the right length.  Actually, the whole thing fits.  Can't think how that happened -- to get gauge I needed to go down to 2.5 mm needles.  Whydid Rowan quote the ballband gauge, in a pattern that has yos in every right side row?  Don't they remember that putting holes in the fabric makes it bigger?  Oh well, I haven't figured out the meaning of life, or why cell phones have so many functions, either.  Some questions are meant to go unanswered. 

And this one is here, just because I'm actually smiling.

What's next?  Knitting on vacation.  How many projects should one knitter take for a week of lounging around in Maine? 

Thought I was Chicken?

Me, I'm no chicken, I'm ready to face intimidation with the best of them.  So, yeah, there was no picture of me in Charm when I posted earlier this week.  Wanna make something of it?

I don't lack guts, I'm almost getting used to seeing pictures of myself. What I'm short of are time and organizational skills.  Where does this leave me?  Pictureless.

Consequently, I resorted to a time honored and much loved knit blogger technique -- the self-portrait in a mirror.  This morning, while I was getting ready for work. Then I sent it to myself at work for some creative lunch time blogging.

Right.  I sent stuff, but not that picture. Before 8 am I shouldn't be allowed near a computer, it never works out the way I want it to.

I did send myself a close up of the beading on Charm:

I also sent a pic of my current larger work in progress -- Tuja, from Dale #116.  Check out Annie's finished version and come back.

   

And a shot of some of the kitty toys I made the other night.  I still have to felt and sew them, but Sam was having a good time with these in their current condition!

The cute pic of me wearing my cool new sweater?  Tonight, I promise.  I won't fall asleep tonight until I post a picture.

If you believe that, I have a bridge you might be interested in...

Four Years

What happens over the course of four years?

A president serves a term of office.

A student enters and graduates from high school or college.

An infant learns to walk, talk, and in some cases how to read.

A novel can be written and published.

What can I do in four years, five months, and eight days?

Why knit a sweater, of course.

Here is the one I did, Charm from Rowan #29.  Knit using Rowan 4-ply cotton in color #104, Bonny (long since discontinued, thank heavens I had enough). 

Lounging outside, a la Polly.

Waiting patiently for a spot of breakfast in the kitchen.

Preparing to eat some cereal. 

Just kidding about the number of days, I haven't a clue about when in March '01 I started this baby.  All I know is I'm glad it's finally done.

P.S. Yes, those are beads around the edges.  If I had it to do over again I would use smaller ones.

Fat Man and Little Girl

Number of kitties adopted: two.  We couldn't take just one.  Both of these guys had been at the SPCA for four months, and were on the desperately need homes list.  I can't for the life of me figure out why they had been passed over, they are both mellow and gentle and...we love them.

First up is Sam, aka Mr. Sam, Samuel, Sammy, etc.  He looks majestic, but he's a gentle sweetie.  He was so shy until Sunday that we wondered if he would spend the rest of his life under the guest room bed.

And here's our lively, social and talkative friend, Fiona (though she may yet be renamed).  She doesn't usually look this seductive, I think she saw too many modeling shoots in her former life.

And no causal link should be placed on the kitties for the nuclear explosion of projects you see here.  No, this is only the result of my severe case of the well documented knitterly disorder known as KADD (Knitting ADD).

The purple blob at the top is the almost finished Charm.  All that remains is to seam one sleeve, finish the collar and tidy the ends.  My hope is to have this done in the next day or so.

To the right, the greeny-yellow (more green in real life) is the beginning of the second front of the AV ruffle cardigan.  It goes quickly, I just need to get refocused on working on this one.

The aqua piece is the just started back of Martha.  I signed up for a knit along on this one ages ago, so it's about time I at least started.  Plus, Shelley has been working on hers and keeps encouraging me to start as well.  I bit.

Finally, the fuschia piece is Tuja (from Dale #116), which is barreling along and will probably be finished next.  I'm currently a couple of inches short of the division for the armholes, where I will switch to knitting back and forth. 

And, I'm planning on casting on for the Corset Pullover any second now.  Well, after work.

P.S. Liz says hi! (note added at her request as I type).

P.P.S. Minou, sorry about the evil kitties, but I didn't think your family and friends would have been happy if I had come to kidnap you and no other doggie could have met my expectations.

Drugs Are the Key

Let's see what that title does to my google hits, okay?

Sorry if I got your hopes up. I am talking about legal pharmaceuticals, the kind that are essential to life in modern America.  The kind that make my lifestyle possible.

I owe my livelihood to the pharma industry.

And I am a user.  Big time.  Sorry to disappoint, I don't consume anything even faintly tittilating.

What is it I am so in need of that I'm blogging about it?  Allergy meds.  The kind that get the big buck TV ads.  I'm a big proponent of better living through allergy medication.  Have been since I was six.  If it can make me sneeze, it will.  An allergist once told me that if I wasn't allergic to a type of fur bearing animal, just wait a few minutes, I would be. 

In my youth it was chlor-trimeton, or some other soporific anti-histamine, that got me through a world filled with all types of invisible airborne dangers.  No wonder I was in a haze for most of my childhood and adolescence.

Then came the miracle drugs of the 80s and 90s that didn't make me sleepy.  They didn't stop me from sneezing, but I do remember my 20s and 30s.

Now continued R&D, and high levels of drug company profitability have paid off.  The stuff is getting ever better.  Zrytec and Flonase are on my list of daily requirements.  Seriously, they have transformed my life. 

Because of these miracle drugs Paco and Midnight have been able to visit for long periods when necessary.

And here's the real point: because Paco and Midnight have stayed with us I've remembered how much I enjoy having a furry companion in the house.  I miss them when they leave.  I want a pet!

We talked about a dog, but have decided that it just doesn't make sense given our hectic and long days.

I even made a play to have Midnight stay with us permanently.  But that was nixed by Em, who feels he belongs at her Dad's.

So what next?

A trip to the local SPCA.  I started the adoption process yesterday and we're all meeting there this afternoon to bring home our newest family member.  I'm lobbying for an adult cat.  The kids are, of course, more interested in a kitten.  But I'd rather give a home to someone who is less likely to be adopted.  It's my little bit towards saving the underdog, or undercat in this case.

Stay tuned.

Any bets on how many felines take up residence this evening?

Treasures, Knitted and National

Vacation, yep, I was on vacation for a whole week.  We were mostly based at home, so my intention was to blog about my doings during the week, but that was foolishly optimistic.  We hosted friends from Germany and were busy sightseeing, eating, and enjoying life as much as possible in the heat and humidity.  Payback for when Emily and I visited them in Germany the summer of 2003 in extreme heat, but thankfully we had air conditioning, most of the time!

Without intending to, we managed to hit most of the tourism highlights that they knew from National Treasure, the Nicholas Cage film from last year.  We didn't make it to DC, but we did get here:

and here:

We also got up to NYC and, because we took a Circle Line Tour, we were right next to the Intrepid Museum.  The next day we made it to Ground Zero, and passed by Trinity Church, site of the film's climax, en route to South Street Seaport.  Didn't make it to Seaport Yarns, but now I know where it is. Sorry, forgot the camera!

We also made it to a local music festival, the shopping mall, held dinner parties for as many as 13 (ok, our two families accounted for 9 of these folks, but hey, it's a feat to feed 9 people for a week), hosted both Midnight and Paco for the week, and roped the adult male member of the visiting party into assisting Martin with demolishing a wall in our basement.

Knitting, did I knit amidst this whirlwind of activity?

A bit.  I finished the second sleeve of Charm, but only after our friends departed for the next leg of their vacation in the wilds of IL.  I've set in one sleeve and it's not going perfectly, but that's what aggressive blocking is for.

I also worked on a great mindless project* on Sunday afternoon while at Marsh Creek State Park.  We brought lawn chairs, and while Mart and the girls boated, I read (Harry Potter #5, still working up to #6) and knit.  Here's what I saw while lounging under a tree:

But, more important than my actual knitting, I received knitting treasures in the mail from my Secret Pal!  What you see here are a compilation of several packages that I've gotten over the last few weeks, and been too distracted to blog about, but not to appreciate!

First up, there's a pattern for a mitered felted backpack which looks like great fun to knit, and some handspun wool and silk which is unbelievably gorgeous and will make something wonderful, very soon.  I greatly admire people who can spin as well as knit.

Next up we have the partial contents of another amazing package.  What's not here are the consumables for people and pets that were already being put to good use.  Yummy. Marge**, both Paco and Midnight expressed their deepest thanks for their treats and toys!

What you do see is the really cool little felted bag that my SP made from Colinette Point 5 in Jay, some WI Maple Syrup, a lovely bar of soap, a book mark and a great candle.  What more could a stressed out hostess want?

And, best of all, it arrived the day before my birthday!  Yep, last Friday I celebrated my 29th birthday for the 14th time.  Sorry for the long catch up post!

*Tuja from Dale of Norway, I'm doing it in Debbie Bliss Cotton Angora in Fuschia, pics to follow.

**Marge Simpson, what a great pseudonym for a SP!