One Down, Three To Go......

On my quest to finish projects for the local county fair, I have completed one of my four goals. My handspun shawlette was actually finished the night after my last blog post. I've just been a little lazy in posting pictures. It was much faster to knit than I had thought it would be and I enjoyed every second of it. I keep finding myself looking at other shawlette patterns on Ravelry and even imagining them in my handspun. Oh my!

I blocked the shawl the day before Easter and was pretty surprised at the difference it made. I pinned it within an inch of it's life and love the way it came out. I tried to make each of the points pop out at the same place on either side of the shawl. It did take some time to get it exactly the way I wanted it, but it really was worth it.

The shawl was completely dry the next morning, with a little cat hair added courtesty of Miss Ginny. After that was removed, I immediately put it on and wore it all day. I wore it pretty loosely around my neck, secured with a shawl pin, since I wasn't sure how sensitive my neck would be to the wool/flax blend. My husband said that I looked like a little French girl :) Since then it's been silently sitting in the corner waiting for exhibit drop-off day.

A Fair Challenge

In the past week I received the Exhibitor's Guide for the 2011 Marin County Fair. I like to enter my finished objects in the fair. It's not for the ribbons or the prizes, I just like to see everything displayed together. Wandering into the textile arts room, you don't know where to look first. Quilts hang from the walls, needlpoint graces the shelves, knitting and crochet drapes over tables and chairs. It's all of the things I love packed into one room. And I love that some of my things can be a part of it.

I looked through the list of categories and picked out a few for the projects I finished this year. But it just doesn't feel like enough. So, this year I've decided to challenge myself. I have four things that I think I can finish before the submission date and I'm going to put most of my time and effort into trying to complete them.

1. The handspun shawlette I talked about last week. I only have six more rows before I bind off. After that it just needs to be blocked. A pretty easy goal in my opinion.

2. Edmund the Easter Bunny. This is knit bunny with fabric ears and feet that I started a couple of weeks ago. I've finished knitting all of the parts and have the body all seemed and stuffed. I just need to finish and attach the ears, the hands, and legs. Oh, and I need to embroider a little face for him.

3. Merino/Bamboo yarn. I've been spinning this blend for the past month. I started with eight ounces and only have two more ounces of singles left to spin. After the singles are done, I'm going to do a two-ply and set the twist. Let's hope it turns out pretty even.

4. Blue Lace Socks with Beads. I finished the first sock a couple of months ago and am on the beginning of the leg on the second sock. This is my longshot and I'm hoping a deadline will help get rid of the second sock syndrome I've had.

Wish me luck!

Knitting with Handspun

I've finally done it! I'm knitting with my handspun :) Ever since I started spinning a few years ago, my finished skeins would be my pets. I would squeeze them, pet them, and put them on display for all to see before they were moved into the shelves along with my other stash. They've seemed too special to pick up and knit just anything so they've been waiting for that perfect special project.

Then I was encouraged to just take the leap and cast-on. What better skein to start with than the one I just finished. This is the 60/40 wool/flax blend from Spunky Eclectic in the "Whiner" colorway. I spun it up as a two-ply and ended up with approximately 250 yards of sport weight goodness from 4 oz. of fiber. I really like the heathered look that came from the way the wool took the dye compared to the flax.

I chose the shawlette pattern "Vermillion" because the linen should give the finished object a nice drape. It is a triangular shawl that starts with plain stockinette and then transitions to a lace edge. The lace pattern should help the yarn go a bit further since I don't have a ton of yardage. The pattern calls for three repeats of the lace pattern before binding off, and I plan to weigh my skein at the end of each repeat to see how far I can really go.

As of tonight I'm halfway through the second repeat. I have to admit that the rows are getting noticeably longer and longer. Even though it seems like I'm close to the end, I have a sneaking suspicion it will take me longer than I think to finish.

At the Con!

I spent the past weekend in San Francisco at WonderCon 2011. And yes, I did bring my knitting! While my husband was perusing tables full of comic books and action figures, I had my GoKnit Pouch attached to my belt looop and a vanilla sock in my hands. I caught many people staring at me and one man told me that he had never seen anyone knitting a sock before at WonderCon. He obviously didn't see me last year :)

I finished the first of my pair of vanilla socks during a panel with Rainn Wilson (Dwight) from The Office. He was promoting his new film Super and answered lots of questions from the audience. It was definitely one of the best panels I've seen there.

My sock is made from Berroco Sox Metallic and I'm following a pattern from Wendy D. Johnson's book "Socks From the Toe Up." It's the Slip Stitch Heel Basic Sock pattern which so far seems like it fits me really well. I haven't worn the socks for an entire day yet, but my stroll around the room went well.

Even at WonderCon I was able to find some knitting. There was one artist booth selling handknit wrist warmers and hats and another booth selling needle felted creatures. The needle felting booth was Woolbuddy and you could purchase either a kit or a completed animal. I must admit that I took a small owl kit home with me. The directions seem pretty easy so I'm hoping this little guy will go together pretty quickly.

Resurrection

I've been away for a really, really, really long time, but I'm back! I haven't been up to anything special, just normal every day life. But, I have definitely been knitting and spinning.

Here's my latest spinning project, and it was a completely different experience for me. It's a wool/flax blend from Spunky Eclectic. I ordered 4 oz. of this beautiful stuff because the blend intrigued me and I loved the look of it. It came in 2 oz. bundles of pencil roving and was on my wheel less than a week after it came in the mail. I actually spun most of it up over two days, which is pretty fast for this slow spinner. This weekend, I plied it up into a simple two-ply and it's now hanging up to dry :)

I'd never heard anything about spinning flax before I dove into this. I probably should have looked through some of my books to get some tips and tricks, but I just started right in. I used the regular flyer on my Lendrum with a 10:1 ratio and found it to be a relatively easy spin. The flax was definitely rougher than the wool, but they drafted well together. Occasionally, I would hit a section where the flax would kind of draft apart from the wool, but it was pretty easily fixed by slowing down my wheel and taking a little more time to draft.

I think the final yarn will have a very nice drape and I can't wait for it to dry so I can measure the yardage. Maybe this will be the first of my handspun to actually be knit up!

It's Been A While

These flowers are part of what I've been up to lately. When the weather started getting warmer, I decided my patio needed some flowers. So, when my Mom asked me to go to the hardware store with her, it was the perfect opportunity to pick up what I needed. Now, in case you don't know me, I have a black-ish thumb. I can never seem to keep plants alive for very long. They don't die immediately, it's more of a slow decline.

I was super excited to pick out the planters I thought would work well on my patio and my Mom help me pick the soil I needed. She also directed me toward the hardy plants which would require less maintenance and therefore be easier to keep alive. I went home, and after hauling all of it upstairs, spent the rest of the afternoon planting all of my little flowers.

I'm proud to report that not only are my plants still alive, they are thriving! They've grown so big and colorful (even bigger than the above picture). They make me happy every time I come home and see them.



I've also been doing some spinning. The fiber I used is Montana Moon from CJ Kopec Creations, a wonderful merino batt. I've only spun about 1oz of the 4oz I purchased, but I love it so far.

I was wandering around my groups on Ravelry and read about a monthly spin-a-long (SAL) contest she was starting. Every month she posts two different colorways. If you want to participate, all you have to do it post how much of what fiber you want. When it's all ready, she lists your fiber on etsy and mails it out after you pay. After you've finished spinning a reasonable amount of fiber, you post a picture in the finished yarn thread for everyone to admire. The best part is after the deadline, we all get to vote on which yarn we like best. The winners even get a prize!

I didn't even come close to winning this first SAL. I was just happy to see one person voted for my yarn :)

Learning to Stitch

A couple months ago, a member of the Marin Golden Threads asked for volunteers to help teach stitching to some Brownies and Girl Scouts. My Mom and I signed up to help the Brownies, ages 6-8, and today was the day. There were six adult volunteers and we all had a lot of fun.

There were around eighteen or nineteen of the little girls there, all chatting and giggling. The older girl scout teaching the class taught them the cross stitch first and then the backstitch. At first, it was just a challenge to make sure every girl was able to thread her needle :)

But, slowly and surely, the girls started picking it up and everyone was making little X's on their practice plastic canvas. Actually, a few of the girls had already taken a sewing class and were flying ahead of the teacher. They even learned how to do a satin stitch and Smyrna cross by the end.














Watching them learn how to stitch made me think of when I was little, my Great-Grandmother teaching me how to crochet chains that would stretch across her living room. I still have the first cross stitch design I ever made in a box in my spare bedroom. It was a small picture of a jar of berry jam with beads sewn on for the berries. I gave it to my Great-Grandmother one year for her birthday (or Christmas?). I like to think that she would be proud of all the things I've learned since then.

Takin' it Back

Every once in a while I see a project that I love, but seems totally over my head. I saw the Rain Forest Afghan pattern a couple of years ago and it stuck in my head. The bright colors drew me in and I'm a sucker for cute little animals.

Then one day, I decided I had to make this. I must have been feeling good that day to think I could tackle a project this large. All of my projects seem to take forever to finish. Don't get me wrong, when I actually finish a project, it feels great, like I can do anything! And that feeling is probably why I got involved in this project in the first place.

I found out that the pattern was out of print so the search began. I looked on eBay for a couple of weeks and I finally got lucky. My pattern and fabric arrived and then reality set it. The pattern calls for as much as eleven skeins of embroidery floss for each color!

I decided the best thing was to jump in so I got started. And this is my progress so far. Look at those piddly little stitches in the corner of the first square! What have I done to myself?

A Spindle Christmas

Since I was such a good girl last year, Santa brought me not one, not two, but three spindles for Christmas! A month before I'd been looking at all the new fiber I'd bought and moaning about how I only had one spindle. I wanted to have multiple spinning WIP's just like I have multiple knitting projects (and numerous stitching projects, and crochet projects, etc.). Sometimes I just have a short attention span.

Then on Christmas day all my spinning dreams came true. One of the spindles I received was a Butterfly Girl Designs millefiori polymer clay high whorl spindle. It's a 0.8 oz beauty that spins like a champ. I love watching the design spin round and round. Since I was leaving town to visit my fiance's parents that evening, I swooped up some hand dyed merino roving from Squoosh and started spinning it the day after Christmas. The roving is called Ice Princess and is the softest wool I've spun so far. Although I've been working on it since then, I've only finished spinning about 0.5 oz, leaving 3.5 oz to go. I'm a very slow spinner.


I was also lucky enough to receive another Butterfly Girl Designs Spindle. The second was a murano foil glass flower spindle that weighs in at 1.3 oz. It's blue with golden flakes and sparkles when the light hits it. The bottom portion of the shaft is carved and very elegant looking. I haven't started spinning anything on this spindle yet. I guess I'm waiting until just the right fiber speaks to me.


And that brings us to the third and final spindle. It's a 1.6 oz. resin spindle called chickadee memory from Dragoncraft. It has the cutest little birds on it and they're snuggling close together. The spindle even came with some mystery fiber to play with. I was planning on using this spindle to ply the merino ice princess singles when I finish them.

All of this spinning is definitely taking time away from the knitting and other projects. Although, I am almost finished knitting Wicked up to the arm holes :)

The New Year

It's that time of year again when people all over make their New Year's resolutions. Lists of things that need to get done, things to learn in the upcoming year, goals on weight loss, and the things we think will make us a better person. My list is pretty short this year, especially since there's a small wedding thrown in there too. Here are some of mine:

1. De-clutter my house, especially the spare bedroom which is just a little bit embarrassing now

2. Regularly back up my computer hard drive

3. Keep up with the blog, at least once per week

4. Learn to knit socks

5. Spin one pound of fiber on my drop spindle

6. Finish at least three UFO's

Now with those in mind, here is my latest project. After finishing my Christmas knitting (the last of which I should be able to show everyone next week), I decided to start a new sweater for myself. This is the beginnings of Wicked in Lana Grossa Soffice, colorway 012. The yarn is a mixture of merino wool, cashmere, and acrylic which is very soft. It should make for a very cozy sweater. Unfortunately, the yarn is discontinued. I just happened to purchase ten balls of it at a warehouse sale last summer.

I'm still resting up after the holidays and preparing to go back to work on Monday. I did get some fiber related Christmas presents from my fiance, three gorgeous spindles to keep my hands busy.

I hope everyone had a great holiday and Happy New Year!!

Up next ....... spindles galore :)

As the Spindle Turns

I finally finished a project! Well actually, I've finished two projects in the past couple of weeks. One was a Christmas present for Mom and the other was the natural BFL fiber I was spinning that I started back in September. Who knew 4oz of roving could take so long? :)

After all of the natural wool, I decided to try some color. I chose a hand-dyed roving that I ordered from Maine Woods Yarn. It's 4oz of 100% corriedale roving in the birch trees colorway. This is the first time I've ever spun dyed roving and I'm loving watching how the colors spin up. All of the natural color is blending in with the greens and browns to make gorgeous color transitions. I really like the look of the singles so far. Now, I just can't wait to see the finished yarn.

I hope everyone out there had a very happy Thanksgiving. After all of the festivities (and a serious car issue that we're still dealing with), I must say that I'm exhausted. Enjoy your turkey leftovers!

Mushrooms and Pumpkins

Last Friday night my boyfriend held a gathering at our house. It was declared "Gamin' Night" and a few of his friends game over to play video games until the wee hours of the morning. There was hockey, football, and even some game with a microphone, guitars and drum pads. The old school Nintendo games were broken out on a smaller television. There was gamin' for all.

The menu consisted of pizza, beer, chips and dip, candy and a mushroom cake. Yes, a mushroom cake. I couldn't resist when my boyfriend asked me to make a cake in the shape of the 1-Up Mushroom from Mario Brothers. It was actually easier to make than I thought and I think he turned out pretty cute :) Of course, he was hacked to pieces by the time I woke up in the morning.

The next day I went to the monthly Marin Golden Threads meeting. We had a speaker from the Royal School of Needlework who was amazing. She brought many of her projects and explained how the program worked. There was also a gentleman with her who was at one time head of the education department in the Royal School of Needlework. He had the most exquisite piece of needlework I have seen in a while. It was a 3D knot garden with flowers and moving gates.

After the meeting, I met in friend in San Rafael at a glass pumpkin festival. It seemed like thousands of glass pumpkins of all shapes, sizes, and colors were on display and for purchase. They were beautifully laid out on the grass and I couldn't resist taking a picture.

Up next, hopefully a finished project!

Very First Handspun Yarn

This is it, my very first handspun yarn! I spent the better part of four hours this afternoon plying my singles into the yarn pictured here.
It seemed to take forever to get through it, just went on and on and my arms started getting tired by the end. But, I am very happy with the results.

I still have to wash the yarn and measure it's WPI (wraps per inch) to determine it's weight. I also want to look into getting a scale so that I can determine it's approximate yardage. I still have 2oz. left of this fiber to spin up and want to eventually use it to knit a scarf.

I bought this roving when I went to the Fiber Festival in Booneville. It's naturally colored Dark Blue Faced Leister from Tactile Fiber Arts and I love the natural gray color. I had heard that Blue Faced Leister was one of the easier fibers to spin and decided to start with it so that I wouldn't get too frustrated.

Since then, I keep looking at all the beautifully hand-dyed roving for sale online and can't wait to spin something up that has lots of colors. Now I know why people tend to collect more than one drop spindle, you can work on more than one spinning project at once :)

Rituals

Every other Sunday I pack up all my dirty laundry, my book, some magazines, and various knitting and/or crochet projects to head over to my parent's house for the day. I start my laundry and while the first load is washing, I see what my family is up to.

My Mom is usually in the kitchen cooking lunch for my brother and sister or getting a head start on the evening meal. My Step-Dad is either watching sports on the TV or playing games on his computer. If you wander down the hallway, you'll find my sister, still in her pajamas, reading a book in her room. If the weather is nice, my brother will be running around in the backyard trying to catch frogs that hide by the hot tub.

While it may seem like I'm an overgrown college kid bringing my laundry home for the weekend so that I don't have to wash it myself, I mostly come over to spend time with my family. I wander in and out of the garage washing, drying, and folding while I catch up with everyone. My mom and I will usually go shopping to get out of the house and spend some time together.

This past weekend, we ventured down to Baubles and Beads in San Rafael. Just this past year, she's really started to get into beading and has a growing bead collection at home. When we got back home, I started playing with her bead stash and had an idea to make a beaded lanyard for my keycard at work. I picked out some beads and away I went. My mom helped me put it all together and here is a picture of the finished product. I think it looks better than the plain ol' cloth ones! It worked great at work today too.

Casting On

Casting on is all I seem to be able to do lately. A co-worker told me that his wife was expecting and I cast-on for a baby blanket. I wanted a simple project to take with me to the knitting night at Llama Llama Knit so I cast-on for a scarf. What I should be doing is finishing my Mom's Christmas present and various other holiday projects I have going on.

The baby blanket I started is called the Round or Pinwheel Baby Blanket. I wanted something fairly simple but also interesting to look at. When I remembered that I had a couple of skeins of TLC Baby in my closet, I decided what the heck! The color is called naptime and is a mix of white and pastel yellow, blue, green and pink. I've really only worked on it a couple of nights, but I think it's looking pretty good. I'm not all that comfortable working with DPN's so I thought this would give me a good opportunity to practice. I want to learn how to make sock so I should get used to it :)

I have to confess that I've had my eye on the other new project I've started for a while. I love making scarves. They're quick, fun and it's great to wear different ones during the winter. When I saw My So Called Scarf, I knew I had to make it. I absolutely love the pattern and the color. I noticed the Manos del Uruguay yarn in the local knitting store and it was destiny. Instead of working the pattern with the wool it called for, I substituted the silk blend in the Wildflowers colorway. There's a long way to go on this one because I've only finished a couple of rows.



As for the knitting I should be working on, I'm almost halfway done with my Mom's Christmas present. For the time being, I'm going to keep that one a secret just in case she starts reading the blog.

Alive and Kicking

Just like this sheep! I took this picture at the California Wool and Fiber Festival two weekends ago in Boonville. I've been interested in learning how to spin and this seemed like a perfect opportunity. I signed up for a beginning spinning on a drop spindle class with Nancy Finn from Chasing Rainbows Dyeworks and loved it. I've kept up the spinning at home since the class and I think I'm getting better. At least what I'm making is looking more like yarn and less like lumps :)

Throughout the festival, I saw many sheep being sheered as well as some very fluffy angora rabbits. I bought some fiber from Tactile Fiber Arts so that I could practice my spinning and looked at all of the other wonderful things. I must admit that the thought of buying a raw fleece and turning it into yarn is a bit daunting at this point. I think I'll stick with my little fluff balls of fiber for now.

I was also out of town this past weekend. My boyfriend and I decided to go camping in Truckee. We packed up all the food and equipment and headed up there Thursday afternoon. It was beautiful, although a little chilly at night (about 3o degrees Fahrenheit). We toasted marshmallows, made s'mores and cooked hot dogs on a stick. I also knit by the biggest campfire I've seen in a long time :) Which reminds me, does anyone know how to get that campfire smell out of yarn?















On the knitting front, I also finished my Silk Shrug. Yeah, happy dance!! It took a while, but I knew I would get there eventually. I've already been eying other sweater patterns I can make next. This was the first time I've really had to seam anything and it took a while before I got the hang of it. I'm much better at mattress stitch than I am at the other types of finishing I tried. I still have to weave in a few ends and block it, but I think it looks pretty good. I can't wait to wear it this winter :) I love the color.

The Beginning .....

Last Friday night I officially started the Secret of the Stole III. The designer of the pattern is DK, the Nautical Knitter. The group is now closed, but if you like what you see, the pattern will be available for purchase once the KAL (knit-a-long) is complete. Every Friday for nine weeks there is a new "hint" released. The first "hint" was 64 rows long but so far I have only finished up to row 40. I guess I'm one of the slower ones since "hint" 2 was released yesterday and some knitters have already finished through row 134!










The first mistake I made was on row 27 and of course the last lifeline I put in was at row 20. So, I ripped out those seven rows. I started again the next night and worked my way back up to the same spot. Of course, I made another mistake on Row 27 and had to rip everything back for the second time. I'm not too worried about being behind. This is my first lace project and I just want my stole to come out looking good. Besides, this means that other people will find any mistakes in the pattern before I get there :)

I'm still plugging away at my Silk Shrug. I know it seems like I've been working on this forever, but I only have about two inches of the fringe left before it's done. I should get lots of knitting/stitching things done over the Labor Day weekend since I'll be at the race track for the Spec Miata Festival. I know my primary duty is pit crew, but I can usually squeeze in a couple of hours here and there!

Secret of the Stole III

I'm probably in way over my head, but I have gone ahead and signed up for the Secret of the Stole III KAL by DK the Nautical Knitter. This project is a mystery so I'm not sure what the final design will look like until the final "clue" is released in about nine weeks. I'm sure I can find someone who will love it if it's not my style.

Here are just a few reasons why I'm crazy:

A) I've never knit lace before
B) I've never used laceweight yarn before
C) This is NOT a small project that will merely get my feet wet
D) I already have too many projects on the needles
E) I have at least two projects that I need to finish before Christmas that I haven't really started yet

Despite all these reasons, I've managed to complete the gauge swatch with only a little bit of trouble. I had to rip back once near the end because I forgot a yarn-over. I had thought I was doing so good and then I realized my count was off by one stitch!

I'm using Malabrigo Lace in pink frost. I don't see this color on their website so I'm not sure if it's still being made or if it's discontinued. I have three skeins of this yarn that I got at the Needlecraft Cottage in San Diego when I was on vacation two months ago. Being a fan of both needlework and knitting/crocheting, I have to say that it's one of the best shops I've ever been in because it has both :)


I took a close up of the swatch so that you can see the two different colors of beads that I've been trying to decide between, the light amethyst with rainbow finish or crystal silver lined. I actually think they both look pretty good with the yarn. The amethyst beads are a nice complementary color that give a subtle effect while the crystal beads give it a little more bling bling. I've opted for the amethyst since I'm not much of a bling bling girl. I think they'll give me all the sparkle I need.

The first "clue" for the mystery came out today and I think I'll cast-on tomorrow. My chances of making mistakes increase exponentially after 11PM. Goodnight everyone!

It's A Bird, It's a Plane, It's .......

Finally the second sleeve of my silk shrug! I have officially completed the body and sleeves. Now all I have left is to sew up the seams and knit the ruffle that goes around the edge. I've never knit anything this big before and I'm really excited to see how it turns out :)

To finish the shrug, I need to use two techniques that I've never done before, sewing up seams and picking up stitches. That's not unusual since I had to look up how to increase and decrease just to complete the sleeves of this sweater. The knittinghelp.com website is great at showing all these different techniques and has really helped me learn and improve my knitting. I'm sure they will be able to help me now.

I must admit that the body of this sweater seemed to go on and on. Sometimes it felt like I would never be finished knitting. From end to end, it's almost taller than I am! I tried to take a picture to show you how long it is, but I couldn't fit all of it into the frame of my camera. Even though it's a little dark, I think this picture does an o.k. job of giving you a sense of it's length.














I love the color and feel of this shrug. It's so soft and since it's alpaca, I'm sure it will be very warm. Even little Ginny loves it! I could hardly keep her away from it long enough to take pictures. The ends of the yarn that haven't been woven in yet are her favorite :)

Life's been pretty crazy around my house since I came home from San Diego. I told you guys that I had some news to share on my next blog post. I'm happy to announce that during our trip to San Diego my boyfriend and I got engaged! We don't have any specifics planned yet, other than that it will take place next year in 2009. He moved into my house a couple of weeks ago and we're making plans to start our life together.

This past weekend was another race weekend at Thunderhill Raceway. My boyfriend decided to race into two different classes this time, so he had two races on Sunday morning. He looked great on the track and had a lot fun. Even though I was pretty far away, I was able to get a picture of him exiting the "Eagle's Nest." In case you're interested in more information about the racing, his team is Rent Money Racing.



I'm going to try and get the shrug sewn up this week so that I can start on the ruffle. I have promised myself that I would finish some projects before I start any new ones!

Missing in Action

This is part of the reason why I haven't been posting very much lately. This picture was taken just down the street from the beach house my boyfriend and I rented in San Diego (Ocean Beach) at the end of June. The vacation was amazing! After driving down late Saturday night, we had the whole week to spend in San Diego. The weather was great the whole time and we even avoided the smoke that was plaguing the Bay Area.

We started the trip by visiting Sea World. It was so close to the house that we could ride our bikes there. They had all kinds of animals and even a few rides that took us by surprise, in particular one ride that guaranteed you would be drenched by the end. Of course, we had to see a Shamu show, which exceeded all of our expectations. All in all, I think we spent more than six hours wandering around and looking at everything. Here are some pictures of what we saw.










The day after Sea World, we ventured down to the beach and enjoyed the soft, warm sand and the sound of the ocean for most of the day. We stopped by a great pizza place in the afternoon and hung out there for a while too. That night we also decided to check out a Padres game. We were able to take the Trolley to the ballpark, which was very nice since we didn't have to deal with traffic or parking.

One day during the trip, we took a long bike ride over to Mission Beach. I was able to visit a great store called the Needlecraft Cottage. I have to admit that it's one of the best shops I've even been to. They seem to have everything there, lots of yarn, cross stitch patterns and supplies, needlepoint projects, and so many other wonderful things. I walked away with three skeins of Malabrigo lace weight in pink frost and a Mill Hill kit called "Seaside Sampler" to commemorate the trip. I haven't figured out what I'm going to make with the yarn yet, but I'm anxious to start the Mill Hill kit because it looks like it will be a quick stitch and lots of fun.

We did see a very strange visitor to the beach while we there. He was wandering around like he owned the place. Even though he was very friendly, his exploration of some beach blankets did scare some beach-goers. His owner would also throw him into the ocean, where he would ride the waves back to shore and climb up onto the sand again. It was so funny! Probably one of the most interesting things I've seen at the beach in while :)


Now that we're on the subject of animals again, my boyfriend and I also visited the Wild Animal Kingdom. It was so interesting to see the wide expanse of land with all these African animals living together, minus the carnivores of course. It kind of made you feel like you were on a real safari. One of the best sights was the the lion exhibit. They had seven lion cubs that were almost one-year old. They seemed to follow their big lion daddy all around the pen, even when he went to sleep on the top of an old car!


I've been back home now for a couple of weeks, but it's taken a while to get into the swing of things again. There are some major changes going on around here, which I will announce in my next post. I promise there will be more knitting/crafting talk in the next one too because even though I haven't been home, I have been getting some knitting done.

Here is one last picture of the snowman I entered into the local county fair. I was surprised and delighted to learn that I'd received first place!