Long weekend-day one....

I worked this morning, not typical of a long weekend, but we missed two saturdays in April, due to the Maui trip and our Saturday Patients were piling up, so there we were this morning - very busy. This usually leads to our noon-thirty tee time at the golf club, but it was windy and cold and drizzly with rain, so home we came. Bad for my golf game, but good for my kitchen floor and bathrooms as they were woefully overdue for a cleaning. The household chores are strained when golf season picks up. After the cleaning I got down to the photos of Maui, and worked a marathon four hours, and completed the whole book! I like to do the album as soon as I can after a trip. The details fade with time and I can document more easily while it is fresh. I should take a picture of the mess I make while doing the albums... Paper and trimmings and stickers and photos spread ALL over my dining room table. I often lose the scissors under the mess. Still, I love it and the results, so hubby learns to ignore the mess and trust that EVENTUALLY I will clear it up.

More photos to share: This flower was on our Lanai (patio).

The bird of paradise was growing by a pool. It took my breath away, so perfect and natural. The flowers in Maui were always catching my eye (and my Canon power shot!)

Final Stretch of Noro Matsuri Pullover.

When the front is done and you stitch up and finish the collar and start the sleeves from the shoulder down, well, it really starts to look and feel like a sweater, not just some knitted fabric. I am liking the look now that the pieces are together, and it feels so nice, all cottony and soft. This is my next free pattern to be posted within the week, so stay tuned....

Here are some of the finger puppets for the month of May. I package them as you can see in small bags of two. This month is one child puppet and one puppy. When I get tired of those, I may try some other pets....

More Maui........ snorkeling, and watching surfers (avoiding crashing into the black lava rocks!)

Sock Ponderings

I have knit many socks and used many yarns. It seemed a good idea to consolidate my sock theories on one page (since I am still plugging away at the noro sweater, and the photos of progress would be more than boring at this point). First, my favourite sock yarn: I love them all, but like the feel in hand of Austermann STEP. It is 75% wool, and 25% nylon with Aloe Vera and Jojoba oils added (the oils remain after many washings) and I like the chunky, uneven striping without being too busy, and that the second will look EXACTLY like the first (not always a given). The first photo are my (well worn) Step socks. The second shows a pair made of left over Step yarn (the yardage is enough for one pair of ladies socks, and half a second pair) and left over brown and the toes are leftover hand dyed. Nice mix. The last photo is of my fave bright hand dyed, Red, orange and yellow, dyed into Patons Kroy, the one I use the most for hand dying.

The patterns for socks are many, but the socks were knit with my most common pattern, my own Favourite. I find it fits snuggly, due to the mild rib throughout, and works for any yarn, except the details, fairisle self striping yarns.

I always have a pair of socks on the go, no matter what else I am knitting, and most of my friends and family are in line for 'just one more pair'.

On a last note: One more gratuitous Maui photo... the vacation is over but the jet lag remains.... golf in Maui, mmmmmmmmmm

Maui Wow-y

Been away for a bit... Rick and I were in Maui, golfing and snorkeling and soaking up the constant 85F days!
This is the view from the course, overlooking the ocean and the edge of Haleakala Volcano.
The top edge of the volcano, is 10,000 feet high, and the windy (35 switch-backs) road seems to go on forever and drives through the clouds. Very cool. We played golf every day except the mountain drive day, and explored the many beaches and parks and watched surfers in the afternoon. What a fabulous place.





Here is a photo of the knitting I took (and mostly did at the airports and on the plane) not too much knitting time, as we were outside most of the day, and in the bar for happy hour at sunset. (Moose McGillicuddy's - $3 Mai-tai's!) More about the new sweater later... I am still jet lagged from the red eye home, via Kona, Chicago and Buffalo. I looked for yarn shops, but only found a quilt shop that had a bit of novelty yarn.... I must admit, I did not look too hard, and did not shop very much, I prefer to be outside and use my camera for souvenirs....





thus... a hike over lava rocks that gets pounded by the ocean, the trail goes on for miles....







And a valley carved into the west Volcano, with incredibly steep walls and wind whipping down the river. The heights were dizzying.




And the flowers growing on our Lanai. (patio). I would recommend the Maui Kamaole condo, central location, and full facilities (I like to eat breakfast and lunch in, and we BBQ'd steaks a couple of times.)

Aloha!