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I notice that I've been getting many more hits on my blog from non-US locations. Here is a big shout out to my Canadian blog visitors--many whom my dear knitting friend Willowmist refers here. Hi to readers from Europe--I've noticed many from Ireland, England, and even Turkey! How cool! Also to anyone else who has stumbled upon my webspace, say hello, leave a comment, let me know who you are! I like email, really! :-)
Our trip to Florida was fantastic. The weather was perfect-sunny every day, mid-80s temperatures, and clear skies. The green/safe flag was out everyday but the last one, so lots of swimming and sunbathing occured. Chris was able to use the body-board he bought on our NJ beach trip that had been rained out. 
The view from our hotel balcony was the beach and we slept with the door open so that we could hear the sound of the waves at night. I knit just a little on a sock, because yarn and sand did not mix well for me.
Instead I read an entire book on the beach, finishing up on the plane ride home. Tan and relaxed, we returned home to colder, rainy and foggy weather--yuck! We decided that someday it would be nice to be "snowbirds" in Sarasota--those who live in the north for six months and spend the other six months of the year in Florida. I found some beautiful properties, but since I don't have three million dollars, it will be a while before that snowbird dream comes true!!
The sunset over the gulf was stunning. We had dinner on the beach one night and were able to watch it set while a flock of pelicans were diving and fishing for their dinner. 
So now I am home and have a couple more days off before I head back to that stress filled world of work. Today I spent the day being domestic, baking pumpkin bread, chocolate peanut butter lovers cookies and sugar cookies. I also got to visit the dentist to replace some old fillings--I just love having my head drilled--not! Thankfully it was more annoying than painful and my new fillings are white and not visible.
I realized that Christmas will be here way too soon and I have started stressing about it. I really hate the panic I create for myself trying to find the perfect gift for everyone. I also hate having to create wish lists for myself for the relatives (and husband) who mean well. I usually host Christmas every year, but I am thinking of taking this year off and trying to be less stressed about it. I love Thanksgiving and want to host that holiday for the family--it is my favorite meal to eat and make, I actually like the leftovers, and there is no gift giving, which means no shopping!
I have begun some Christmas knitting, but nothing that can be shared just yet. I want to make some Christmas stockings, but I am thinking of sewing them instead of knitting--I just need to find the right fabric. I want blue velvet ones, but I haven't really spent the time looking for velvet.
My secret pal 9 sent me a pretty postcard, all the way from England! She also tagged me to do a meme on feminism. I will save that for my next post, when I have more time to compose something meaningful. Thanks SP9!
Tomorrow night we are off to Florida for five days! A much needed trip. I have all the area knitting shops in Sarasota plotted out on a map...not that I need any more yarn!
I returned home this evening after two days of learning. It was a great seminar and I have lots of ideas I want to put into action at work. While I was in Amish Country I spent a lot of time shopping, exploring, and knitting when I wasn't in the seminar. I had my first Whoopie Pie,
which is completely not on my healthy eating plan, but it just looked so yummy. My college roommate used to bring them to school, as her grandmother was Pennsylvania Dutch and made them for her. (She never shared those!) I bought some mini whoopie pies for the knotty knitters and a few others for my co-supervisors (since drinking to deal with stress is frowned upon, chocolate will help!)
I forgot how beautiful Lancaster is--there are still many working farms and fields of green that are not developed. I did notice a great deal of development, though--some good I suppose, but I hope that it doesn't ruin the landscape the way Bucks County has been ruined by the loss of so many farms, replaced with ugly cookie-cutter McMansions. They have a Target now, and every American fast food joint imaginable. Sunday night I got lost on a country road and followed a horse and buggy for a while. I then found Hershey Farms--which is some sort of combination motel/restaurant/bakery/store. I also found this guy there.
He reminded me of the statue of Amos that was at the Denver, PA restaurant Zinn's Diner (the diner has switched owners now--I don't know if ole Amos is still there or this is him with a new paint job.) There are lots of jokes about the names of some of the towns in Lancaster County: Bird-in-Hand, Paradise, Intercourse, Blue Ball. A popular souvenir tee and pot holder had the words: I (heart) Intercourse, with a tiny little PA underneath. I still giggle at the saying. 
Today I saw this sign in the Target parking lot, of all places--
I did knit A LOT on my jaywalker sock--I finished the gusset decreases. 
This sock continues to take forever to knit. I worked on it throughout the two day seminar and made little progress. I don't get it.
I'll put some other trip photos in an album on the side. Happy Tuesday!
I was able to take today off from work and spend the day with my friend Christine. We visited a Lavender Farm in Bucks County, PA (A Project Spectrum purple themed adventure!!) We missed the prime harvesting time, which is apparently June, but there were still flowers drying out on the plants and the area smelled refreshing--not to strong, just the correct amount of lavender scent. The shop is the main drawl of the farm, as they sell a large variety of products using their home-grown buds. We saw a distillery in the back of the shop, too. I bought some culinary lavender, a cookbook, and a bag of lavender to make sachets. I had a hard time finding the place, but it was well worth it. It is situated across from Peace Valley Park, which is beautiful! I had never been there despite living in the general area. On a less humid day I may go back to check the park out--they even have a lake with boats. It reminded me of the Poconos, without the mountains. 
I have been working on my second jaywalker sock this week, taking a break from the cardigan I was knitting. I think I started the first jaywalker in February. This pair of socks is taking forever! I am not loving the pattern anymore, but the yarn (Tess' sock yarn) is one of my favorites and makes knitting it more pleasurable. I seriously have the attention span of a severely ADD child right now, especially with knitting.
I did get a chance to check out a knitting shop in Doylestown this afternoon, although it was not all that exciting. They did carry a lot of Colinette and Noro, but not a lot of quantity. I could see one having a problem if they needed several skiens in the same dye lot for a sweater. Oh well, it's not like I was in the market for more yarn! I did order new sock needles this week from Patternworks--I decided that I wanted to try Brittany birches. I like that they are shorter dpns--5 inches--and they are sturdier than bamboo. The bamboo size ones I tried using annoyed me because they bent too much so that each needle was curved. Right now I use either two addi circulars, or a set of metal dpns. For the Jaywalker sock I need to break up the pattern repeats on dpns, so homefully the new needles will make finishing the sock go easier.
This past week I took care of my parents' three cats while they were away on vacation. By the end of the week Smokey, Gracie and Mollie were my best friends, since I had the opposable thumb that could open the cat food cans. I think they enjoyed having their humans gone for the week. 
Have a fun weekend!
In a word, Boston was Fabulous! In just three and a half days I feel like a saw the entire city and then some. (Of course this isn't true, but we did walk all over the place!)
We arrived on Thursday afternoon, a bit later than expected due to some weather issues and too much air traffic leading to a brief shut-down of Logan airport. The flight was roller coaster bumpy because of the storms, but fast. Thankfully we chose to take a taxi from the airport to the hotel in Cambridge instead of renting a car. I had no idea about the "Big Dig", since the last time I was in Boston was before they had begun to relocate the highways underground. We stayed at the Cambridge Marriott next to MIT, at the Kendall Square T station. After getting settled, we walked to the local Legal Sea Foods restaurant for dinner. We had some good New England Clam Chowder, some grilled shrimp and scallops, and Maryland style crab cakes. Afterwards, we went for a walk along the waterfront on Memorial Drive to watch some rowers practice and see the sun try to set over a cloudy Boston skyline. 
On Friday Chris headed to the Back Bay area for his communications workshop while I figured out how to use the T and headed to Harvard Square to meet Julie. It was a bit rainy, humid and gray out, but that didn't spoil the day. She gave me a great tour of the city, as well as some of her favorite yarn shops. We headed to Burdick's for some hot chocolate and a snack and to pick up a few treats. I really liked the little cafe attached to this incredible chocolate shop. I wish there was one near me--what a nice place to relax and knit. Afterwards we checked out Beadworks, where I added to my bead collection--I bought the makings for some earrings and some more stitch markers--and then to a nice yarn shop-Woolcott and Co. We saw a cool scarf on display--see Julie's post here to see a photo.
We hopped on the T and rode over to the Boston Common area. Julie took me to this amazing shop, Windsor Button. I restrained myself from buying any yarn due to lack of luggage space and the fact that I am headed to Stitches East in a week, but I can see why this is such a popular store. They had just about every type of yarn here (except opal sock yarn or Lorna's laces) as well as sewing supplies and a wall of buttons. Julie found some beautiful red sock yarn. We then headed through Boston Garden 
to Newbury Street where we checked out a number of fun shops. I bought some basil infused olive oil and some mint infused olive oil at O & Co. We found Teuscher chocolates where I indulged in some champagne truffles. Wow--they are out of this world. I don't think I will share them after all! We checked out the Diptyque shop, a candle shop from France. They had beautiful scented candles and colognes. I really enjoyed roaming around Newbury Street--there were so many fun shops. We then headed to the Summer Shack for a late lunch. After that we explored the mall at the Prudential Center, which reminded me of King of Prussia Mall, only much larger. We then headed over to the Boston Library and finally the T stop, where our day of shopping ended. I had a great time and it was fun to finally meet the creative Julie! She showed me all the fun parts of Boston and Cambridge. Hopefully I will be able to return the favor if she has the opportunity to head down to my area.
After all that walking and shopping, I was tired. I found my way back to the hotel and rested for a bit. Chris came back shortly after I did. We caught a quick dinner at a restaurant in the hotel and then headed for a swim and some time in the hot tub at the hotel.
Saturday found us headed for the T after a nice breakfast at the hotel. (Our room included breakfast each day--I thought it would have been a continental breakfast, but instead it was a buffet. Fresh fruit, tea breads, waffles, omlettes, french toast, bacon, scrambled eggs, potatoes, cerals, yogurt--anything you could imagine!) Chris and I found our way to the beginning of the Freedom Trail, which started in Boston Common. It was raining again, but not too much. We caught up with a tour guide who was dressed in colonial clothing and gave us an amazing tour, giving us a great history lesson of the Revolutionary times in Boston. I enjoyed exploring the Granary Burying Ground, where the Franklin family is buried--all but Ben, John Hancock's grave, and Paul Revere. 
We went as far as the Old North Church, which was made famous by the Longfellow poem about Paul Revere's midnight ride.
We then went to Limoncello, a restaurant in the North end of Boston, the Italian section. One of Chris' coworkers had recommended it. Lunch was delicious, and we had a great seat in the front window of the place, with the windows opened up to the street, overlooking beautiful flowers in the window boxes. We then walked back to Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market and found the "fake" Cheers pub. When I asked about the location of Cheers at Faneuil Hall, the park ranger at the info desk said, "you mean the FAKE Cheers?" Chris really wanted to check the place out, but the area was mobbed with families and shoppers, as there was a kids event in progress at the time. We found the bar, but didn't go in. Chris hates crowds more than I do, so we headed back on the Freedom Trail and eventually went back to the hotel. Later that night we walked to Kendall Square and found an Irish pub, Tommy Doyle's, for dinner. We got a great table outdoors and enjoyed the beautiful summery night.
Sunday we had to check out of out hotel. Our flight wasn't until 8:30 that night, so we stored our luggage with the Bellman and hopped on the T for Harvard Square. I showed Chris all the places I had visited on Friday, as well as walking through Harvard's campus. I liked the saying on the one entrance arch we passed: "Enter to grow into wisdom." The campus was beautiful and the day was sunny, finally! 
We both were tired of shopping, we weren't hungry yet, so we headed to the smallest movie theater I have seen in ages and saw "About my Folks," which was okay, but not as funny as expected. After that we had an early dinner at the Border Cafe (very good!) Then we headed back to the hotel, collected out luggage and headed to the airport. By 11:30 that night we were home with a pile of newspapers at our door. It was a wonderful trip to a great city. I really enjoyed exploring the history of Boston and Cambridge and admire the efficiency of their transportation system. I look forward to returning someday! Chris says we can't move there, though, because they get too much snow! (like we don't!)
Beyond the trip I have been working on some scarves. I finished two. One was inspired by a scarf I saw in the latest Eddie Bauer catalog: 
This was a mixture of different yarns, including some noro, some katia mohair, and some handspun, knit on a size 17 circular.
This is the start of the Purl scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. It is two colors of mohair and one strand of handspun wool. I have finished it, but haven't photographed it yet. I added some mohair fringe on the ends. It is about 50 inches long and very warm. I like the way the colors blended together.
I still have to finish that one sock, but I haven't worked on it since Friday. Tomorrow is knitting night, so I will continue to work on it there.
Tomorrow morning, Chris and I are headed to the airport to fly to Boston. Chris has a workshop on Friday, so we decided to make it a mini vacation and spend the weekend there. We are staying in Cambridge, near MIT. I'm looking forward to meeting Julie there on Friday for some fun shopping and touring. I have a sock project packed for the trip and my ipod is charging so it will be fully juiced for the plane ride. I was last in Boston in 1989, when a college friend and I took a quick, spur of the moment trip there. We had a blast. I am looking forward to being a tourist!
I read on sUsAn's blog a while back about Postcrossing, a service for people who like to exchange postcards with others all over the world. I sent my first one out last week to Canada and I just got a notice that it arrived today. I have to buy some local postcards when I'm at the Philly airport so that I have some more to send out.
I have been working on some scarves lately. I finished one and am halfway done another. I needed a quick project for now. After I finish my current sock, I want to get back to knitting the blue crayon sweater for Nicholas.
No pictures today--my camera is packed. Have a good weekend!
