Texoma

We came back in Sunday from a weekend at Texoma in the motor home. We had a wonderful time and really enjoyed the preserve we stayed in! They had so much stuff going on there that Savy would have loved! We are planning on taking her back there as soon as we can!

The campsites were nice and the amenities were wonderful! They had two lodges...one for families and one for adults only. Both had pools. There was a miniature golf course, playground, paddleboats, basket ball court, horseshoe pits.....all for free! They also had a trading post to purchase things from, a little cafe if you wanted a break from cooking and canoes/kayaks that you can rent. They had tons of activities going on too. Easter crafts for kids, egg hunts for all age groups (including a night one for adults), a dance Saturday night and more. No question that we will be going back there.

Since we didn't have little people with us we just layed low and rested most of the weekend. Sat outside under the awning pretty much all day Friday and a lot of Saturday (yes, I was knitting !) and spent a lot of time walking the dogs around letting them explore. They loved it too!

We are already planning our next outing! We are both so happy that we got that rv!! It is just so much fun and so relaxing to get away in it. We came home and put it in the shop because the transmission was doing funny things on the way home and we don't want to get out on the road again until it's checked out. One of the hazards of buying an old rig, I guess, but we've been pretty lucky with it considering that it is 20 years old!! We didn't want to invest a huge sum of money in a newer one until we found out whether we were going to like rving or not. Now we want to upgrade...lol! We will probably hang in with this one for another year or so so we can save up for a bigger down payment on a newer one...the darn things are expensive, but for us, worth it. We didn't realize what a rut we had gotten into just sitting at home watching the blasted tv all the time.....now we are making fun memories instead!

I did get one of the Eagle's Flight socks out of Opal Feelings done and started the second one. I like the way it was knitting up in the Jaywalker pattern but couldn't get the darn thing over my heel so frogged it and went with these.

Also started a basic 2x2 rib sock out of the Vinca I bought so much of. I'm SO glad I got this stuff! Admittedly, I was worried about the quality of the yarn since it was so cheap....less than $6.00 per pair.....but I'm ecstatic about buying it now. This stuff is so soft and knits up great!

I did get a little done on the Mogul scarf out of the Elsebeth Lavold baby alpaca. Love the yarn but the pattern is boring, boring to do. Going to be one of those projects I have to make myself finish....but I will. Just have to keep reminding myself it's for my Honey and he is so, so worth it!

Still trying to talk myself out of doing the Lady E at this point. I did break down and get the book yesterday. There are several scarves in there that I will probably end up doing so that was easy to justify.......it's just the Silk Garden that holds me back! It is so yummy but pretty expensive for me right now. With gas prices so insane, wanting to be on the road in the rv, spring yard projects waiting to be done, etc. and so much yarn already in the stash.....well....since we haven't won the lottery, choices have to be made! I have seen several people in Ravelry doing it out of Paton's Soy Wool Stripes and they are pretty.....and about half the cost of the Silk Garden. Maybe I'll do that....who knows?

Knitting Weekend

Pretty much the whole weekend was centered around knitting...don't you just love it when that happens...lol! About the only thing I enjoy more, or at least as much is having a weekend full of grandkids being around.

I worked all day Saturday at Gourmet . Yes, it is like the veritable "kid in a candy store" type of job for me! It was a packed house all day long with knitters coming in the see the SWTC trunk show and participate in the Sock Boot Camp and taking Linda's all day sock class. If you haven't taken one of her many classes at the store, you need to....she is an awesome knitting teacher! I'm still having visions of her mystery lace scarf she taught a couple of weeks ago and wishing I had taken the class....it is gorgeous!

Sunday we had Guild . It was a great meeting! The new board has lots of exciting new ideas. I did the program this month teaching the English Diamond Quilt Stitch. Pretty much everyone who tried it got it and it was a fun stitch to learn with lots of design possibilities. After the program we had our swap meet. All in all, a fun afternoon.

I did get in all that sock yarn I bought online the other day. So far I am pleased with what I got! I haven't cast any of it on yet, so the true test remains to be seen as far as knitability and wearability goes, but for less than 6 bucks per pair, I'm very happy with what I got! It is JL yarns Vinca. Very soft and squishy! I got 10 different colorways(and I like them all)....20 skeins total. It is a 75% superwash wool, 25% nylon blend which is usually my favorite for socks since I like being able to toss them in the washer and dryer! Getting that much at once made me have the fleeting thought about how many pairs of potential socks I have in the stash......well.....let's just not go there...lol. Let it suffice to say that if I knit a pair a month for the next several years....and no, I'm not going to say how many years :-).......I will still have some sock yarn! And that does not take into consideration the upcoming Sock Club I joined.....Woolgirl......which starts shipping next month!

Decided to post just one of the colorways here. I should have taken a pic of it all piled in a heap but I took individual pics instead so I could add them to my stash in Ravelry.

In digging through the sock yarn stash the other day I realized that I did not have anything with black and white in it!!! A lot of my wardrobe is black and white so I decided I must have some socks for those outfits! I picked up some Fiesta Ballet in the Coyote colorway at Gourmet.

I think I have enough sock yarn for a while...lol.

We are heading out in a couple of days for our first motorhome excursion of the season. I'm really looking forward to it. I just love going out in that thing. It's so relaxing to just be away from everything that "should" be done around here when I'd rather just knit...lol! We hadn't really thought about going anywhere this early in the season, but Savy & Dax are going to be gone over the Easter weekend.....Savy is already down in Texas with her other Grandparents for spring break and the rest of the family are going down Friday. This will be the first year since she was born that we haven't colored and hidden easter eggs with/for her, so we made a last minute decision to just take off and have a change of scenery. We aren't going far....just to Lake Texhoma and it looks like the weather is going to cooperate.....at least until Sunday so I envision a lot of sitting outside under the awning with knitting bag in tow, walking the "boys" around on leash exploring and basically relaxing.

Quiet Week

This should be a relatively quiet week. The key word is should...seems like these days that is never a given around here! Oh, I do have plenty of things I need to get done....like finish doing our taxes, pay some bills, do menu planning, grocery shopping, do some house cleaning...always plenty to do! I have to get my presentation done for Guild and do some charity knitting too. I've said it before, but I don't know how I ever found the time to work...lol....I seem to be busier since I've retired than I ever was before!

I have managed to get a little knitting done this past week. Not as much as I would have liked, but then I never get as much knitting done as I want to.....even when I knit almost non-stop!

I cast on a quickie knit while in the waiting room during Amanda's surgery and finished it up the next night. It's just a simple garter stitch scarf out of Feza Alp. CO 200 stitches and mindlessly knit until I had just enough left to do some fringe.

I have also made headway on the Log Cabin Wrap. Not technically finished....I still have 4 more squares to do, but almost done! Once I got adjusted to knitting with cobwebs I have loved, loved doing this! Maybe we will have another chilly day or two so I can actually wear it once this year!
Sorry, I can't decide which pic I like the best so I couldn't resist posting both since I love this thing so much!

The only other thing I have going right now is the Eagle's Flight sock out of the Opal Feelings. I had started the Jaywalkers out of it but got a full 8 inch cuff done and, thankfully, decided to try them on in progress! There is NO give or stretch to the pattern and I could not get even close to getting them over my heel! So, to the frog-pond they went and I cast on these instead.

Speaking on this topic. I am going to have to start a low-fiber diet!!!(Notice I said low....not NO-fiber)...lol. I simply must! I have been a wild woman this year buying yarn, yarn and more yarn! I should be getting a huge shipment today of sock yarn that I read about on the sockknitter's yahoo group. Hard for me to pass up a deal and this sounded like a deal to me. I forget the specifics, but will post about it again when it comes, but basically 20 skeins of sock yarn (10 pair) for only $55. The posts I read about the yarn were all positive, but I haven't used it before.....so I guess it's a bit of a leap of faith.... we will see. Then I caved and joined another SOM club.....and then I decided to go to the Retreat sponsored by The Gourmet Yarn Co.!!!! I refuse to tally up the total spent on yarn and knitting since the first of the year....I don't even want to know...lol....I just know that I need to stop for a while! With the price of gas right now and the projected price of gas in the upcoming months we won't be able to take the motorhome out and go anywhere if I don't control myself...at least a little! DH has decided to take a hiatus on spending for the salt water tank as well. We have both been bad this year so that makes me feel somewhat better about my addiction since he has one too. We will see how we do...lol!

All OK

Am back home from staying at Amanda's. The surgery went well and she is doing ok. Dr. said the procedure was "textbook" with no complications and the abnormal cells looked like they are nothing to worry about. They are sending them out for biopsy just to make sure, but he sounded confident that the report will come back fine.

She's still having some pain but is up and moving around on her own without any problems. Thanks so much to everyone for your concern!!! I figured it would be easier to let you all know how things went here instead of trying to email everyone individually!!

Tuesday, March 4

Off to pack up some knitting projects.....oh, and I guess I should throw some jammies and clothes in too! Amanda is having surgery today and I'm staying over there to help out while she recovers. They are calling it "minor surgery", but any surgery is more than minor in my opinion. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers!

Short thought.....I just love having a tracker on the blog and being able to see who reads it on a regular basis......it can sure be interesting :-)>

Great Week

Another whirl-wind week just flew by! It's funny how much faster time goes by the older you get! I honestly can remember, when I was a child, that Sunday afternoons seemed to last FOREVER! We always went to church, came home and had lunch, then went back to church for the evening service. Those few hours between church services just seemed to never end! Now it seems like the whole week goes by faster than those few hours used to! We won't even talk about how fast a year goes by now...lol!

The week started last Sunday with the Clapotis-Tea at The Gourmet Yarn Company. That was such a blast! True to form, I forgot to take a camera but there are some great pics here
and here . I had not even thought about doing a "clappy" until the plans for the tea came about, but I could not miss something with that much potential for knitterly fun, could I? No...so I promptly cast one on and wore it (with needles dangling) around my neck to the tea! I did finish it that night when I got home.

I did it from the Cherry Tree Hill I had left when I had to frog the MS3. Pretty non-descript in this colorway, but at least I do have a Clapotis now!

Monday I kept Mr. Dax. He was running a little temp and had gunky nose and eyes. This nasty cold/flu/crud bug just keeps coming back. So many people have gotten it!! I just keep knocking wood that it doesn't find its way to my house!

I worked at Gourmet Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I loved working, as usual, but I hate it that Nancy has that "crud"....the reason I was there! Squished in some grocery shopping and picking up meds to take to Daddy, got a little done around the house in the evenings.....and Friday....I sat on my booty and knitted!

Got Savy's Polkadot done....YEA! She loves it....that always feels good!

We had her and Clayton for a sleep-over Friday night. It was so much fun watching the two of them together! They haven't been around one another all that much and it was cute to see how much of a little "mommie" Savy was to him! She really watched over him and worked so hard to entertain him....so cute!

Saturday morning David and Amanda brought Dax over to join in the fun! It was such a glorious day outside and they all had a blast making good use of the playhouse and sandbox. Just sitting back and watching them play is the best entertainment ever!

The day ended with the Knit-In at Gourmet. I swear, MG knows how to throw a party! Every month the crowd just gets bigger and bigger! If you get there late it is getting hard to find a spot! I actually took the camera with me this time.....then forgot to take pics...what is up with me and the camera thing lately? Anyway, it was a blast, as usual! I worked on the Modern Log Cabin Wrap while there.

I'm really enjoying this project! It is one of those projects that I had no desire, what-so-ever, to do.....until I saw it in progress, in person, so to speak. I'm a little over half done at this point. The photo of it in the pattern did not speak to me....but seeing the actual project......well....it did.....sort of like the Lady Eleanor that everyone is doing now.....that I am trying to convince myself I do not need to do...lol!

Strangely enough the wrap and one pair of socks is all I have going right now but I'm quite sure that will change soon enough. I only have about 2 dozen things in mind I want to do!