Friday, April 20, 2012

And, We're Off!

The great vacation of 2012 started with the parents' house FINALLY being finished.  This meant that they moved out of my house right before the FPU and I left.

On the way to the airport, we stopped to see Grandma in Chambersburg and then had dinner with Mortal before the MPU dropped us off at Dulles.  The drop off went fine, except he hit the FPU with the hatch door. 

There were no lines for checking in nor were there lines for security.  We made it safely to our gate and were some of the first ones there.  One of the advantages of traveling with another person is that one person can stretch their legs while the other watches the bags.  On one of my leg stretching strolls, I strolled down to the B&J stand and got both of us some.  It was very good.

We finally got to board the flight.  It wasn't full, which was nice.  We were in the center section of 4 seats and there was an empty seat between us and the person on the other aisle.  The only problem was that they served a hot meal almost immediately.  The flight left around 11pm.  Really don't need a meal then. 

We were both able to get some sleep before we got to Heathrow.  There was no circling of the airport this time!  We met 2 of the other members of our group while we were in the line for customs.  They had been on the same flight. 

After clearing customs, we left the big bags at Left Luggage and took the tube down to the Victoria & Alexander Museum.  They had an exhibt of Cecil Beeton's photographs of the Queen, but it was extra money, so we skipped that.  We did look at various statues (it's supposed to be a dragon at her feet),

furniture items,

and miscellaneous metal objects (this is a collection of biscuit tins). 

We couldn't see everything because we were getting tired, so we caught the tube back to Heathrow so we could get the bus to our hotel.  We managed to get on the correct bus and made is safely to our hotel. 

We were ready to have dinner when we got there, but the restaurant wasn't open yet as most people tend to eat later.  We rested a little and then headed downstairs to the restaurant.  It was an Italian restaurant and I had some very good fettuccini with flaked salmon and a cream sauce.  I decided to pass on the dessert.  On the way back to the room we passed a vending machine which had prawn cocktail crisps.  Do those sound appetizing?

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Promises To Keep

I've been in the Nora's Yarn Club from Holiday Yarns.  For the most recent installment, we were asked what color we would like.  I asked if I could have a yarn that reminds Nora of snowy woods.

This yarn came on a Wednesday when it snowed and there was snow on all the trees.  It couldn't have picked a better day to come. 



The first thing that came to mind when I saw the yarn was the line from a Robert Frost poem. 

"For I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep."

I decided that I wanted to do a shawlette from the lower border in, using shortrows to shape it so it would wrap well.  What I ended up doing was a simple rope cable combined with a wee bit of lace. 

I was worried that I would run out of yarn, so I ended up making the shawl a lot longer and narrower than I had originally intended. 



Pattern is now available on Ravelry as a free download.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Vacation Time!

I was finally getting around to blogging about the great Vacation of 2012, and then something happened to the computer.

So, be patient all.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Finally!

Oslo Walk is done!

Since the FPU complained so much about modeling, I used a different model.  I think this one didn't enjoy it either.





Saturday, December 31, 2011

The Shawl with No Name

Is named Musings.

It is the November 2011 Mythology Lace Club pattern from Holiday Yarns.

Prototype shawlette knitted in the Aphrodite colorway, which is more green than the finished shawlette suggests.  Actual Muses colorway is blue.  A picture of the full shawl in the Muses colorway can be seen in the KAL thread (ravelry).




This is the 11th shawl I completed this year. 

Mother says I need a manniquin. 

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Number 10

Number 10 is a test knit of the Faceted Shawl pattern.  I started it right before my birthday and bound off on Christmas day. 

The unblocked shawl is being modeled by little cousin E.  The colors are better in this pic.



The blocked shawl shows off the pattern, but the colors are a little off.


Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Sometimes

I may be crazy.

Way back in January, I decided that I would do 11 shawls in 2011.  I actually got off to a pretty good start.  I managed to get three done in January, 1 of them a big shawl. 

It's now the last week of the year.  I have only finished 9.  Number 10 needs blocked.  Number 11 -- about 1/3 of the way around the border.  The border.  I am not liking the border. 

Mortal keeps bugging me about the Pole socks. 

MUST FINISH BORDER.

MUST BLOCK.