Can’t Stop Starting

Help!  I can’t stop starting new knitting projects.

All of these have been started in the past week and a half.  Warning:  the pictures I took for this post are terrible.  Just letting you know.

The Ecuador, which you’ve seen already, but I made a little more progress:

I know this gives you no better idea of the construction.  I think it will be more clear when I turn the corner.  I’ll pin it out so you can see it better then.

The Windward scarf:

And I realize that this picture is also terrible.  If you tilt your computer screen just so, you may be able to get an idea of the colors.  Click on the link up there to see the pattern pics and the interesting construction, which this picture does give you a good idea of.  This is the yarn that I was winding, getting ready for my vacation.  I love the colors.

Aaron’s Aran sweater, which I’m knitting for a doodlebug and to teach a class:

So incredibly adorable for a toddler, don’t you think?  I’m making this with Malabrigo worsted.  NOT a kid-friendly yarn I know, since it has to be hand-washed, but I love this yarn. It is so soft and will be nice and warm for a doodlebug.  And it will come with the following washing instructions: “Give back to Aunt Liz and she will wash it.” 

The Glitz at the Ritz beaded shawl:

I finally got the beads and so far (fingers crossed) all is going well.

Started and finished my next travelling socks:

Ok, so this is all great.  I’m loving everything I started.  And there is more I want to start.  BUT, I really need to start finishing projects that were started a long time ago.  Like my Bloody Mary Cardigan.  Remember that?  As a refresher, here are the pieces:

Hmmmm.  There is a sleeve missing in this picture.  I think I did both.  But I don’t remember.  And therein lies the problem with these unfinished things! To make things worse, and more urgent, it is now September, which in my mind means it is Fall (even though I know it’s not officially), and that means I’ll want that long sleeve cardigan soon because soon (not really) it is going to be freezing.  I need more hours in the day.

P.S.  I’m going to be moving my blog to an actual, official real life website of my own soon.  Just letting you know.  More to come.

Cape Cod Vacation: Part II

Lots more fun was to be had during our vacation to Cape Cod!  If you missed the first part, go here.

Of course there was more eating…

Mmmmm…..Arnold’s in Eastham.  Great fishwich’s, crabcake sandwiches and onion rings.  (We went here twice….)

We also took a bike ride on the Cape Cod Rail Trail:

Another day was a drive up to the very tip of Cape Cod, Race Point.  Gorgeous views:  

We also went to the Wellfleet Drive-In!  So fun.  A double feature for only $9 each.  Of course, me being my usual hyper-about-getting-to the-movies-and-getting-a-good-seat-but-in-this-case-parking-spot self, I insisted we get there before the 7:00 box-office opening time (movie started at 7:50).  We got there at ten minutes to 7:00 and they were already letting people in.  So, of course I panicked more, thinking everyone else but us knew this and now there would be no good spots.  However, we spoke to the nice parking attendant who told us where the best place to park was, and we got a great spot!  The weather was nice, we brought sandwiches for dinner, and knitting of course, for while we waited:

And the movies were funny:  We’re The Millers and The Heat.

So, that’s my Ecuador sweater that I mentioned starting in my last post.   Except you can’t really see it because it was getting dark and it’s curling up.  So here is a pinned out, further along version:

This picture makes the colors look more stark and contrasting than I think it looks in real life.  And I know, it looks weird.  It is a very interesting construction.  The rectangle is the “back”, which actually is the upper back.   The part sticking out of the top is actually the left front.  Stay tuned.

The next day, there was a flea market at the drive-in, which we of course attended and of course did not leave empty-handed:

1950’s step stool: $10    books: $8      socks: $5      paintbrushes: $1

And every day we went here:

Every.  Day.  For my favorite Dirt Bombs (a plain donut tasting muffin, dipped in butter, then cinnamon/sugar ---- o.m.g.) and a danish for Paul.  Yes, the last post had a place for breakfast that we went to (twice) which would imply that some days we had two breakfasts, since we went to this bakery every day.  Not really.  Sometimes these were for breakfast dessert (or you may call it a midmorning snack) and sometimes they were for dinner dessert.   Everything at this bakery is yummy.  Everything.

You are probably saying, “You went to Cape Cod. Did you even go to the beach????”  We did.  On the morning we left.  We rode our bikes and sat with no one else there:

Watched the waves:

Looked for rocks and shells for our shelf at home:

(You may now be saying, “Hey, that looks like Liz’s blocking towel." And you would be right.)

…and took the obligatory you-stand-in-front-of-the-pretty-water-and-clouds picture:

It was a great vacation…

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Cape Cod Vacation: Part I

Our last vacation of the summer, we were off to Cape Cod for four days.  We crammed in a lot of activities  - which is why this is in two parts - and took a lot of naps.  Who knew we’d have time for naps?

Ok, but first, before we left, we had the usual hour-long how-the-heck-do-we-get-these-bikes-on-the-bike-rack session.  Ugh.  So frustrating.  We use the bike rack once or twice a year and we can NEVER remember how we did it.  Which bike went on first?  In which direction?  What position does the bike rack go in? Why is this pedal hitting the car?  It didn’t hit before.  How many bungee cords did we use? Where is the key to the bike lock?  Well, after this year’s hour-long session, Paul got smart and took a picture!  Then when we came home?

Easy peasy.

On the ride to the Cape there was, of course, knitting.  I worked on my basic socks (with my newly awesome knitting needle obsessions: Knitter’s Pride Karbonz) and got to the heel on both:

Next up for these is the new-to-me Sweet Tomato Heel, a short row heel designed by Cat Bordhi.  That was it for exciting stuff on the drive.

We had a gorgeous view from 2 sides of our room.

And from the deck outside of our room:

Where we sat and read and knit and had beverages:

We walked a lot.  And what do you know? One of the walks ended at A Stitch in Thyme Yarn Shop!  I’ve been there before and already had it in my mind that I wanted to go there to get some fingering weight yarn to start a new project (shocker), Ecuador, which is a swingy, drapey, sorta lacey, short sleeve cardi-type thing (click on that link to see the pattern picture).  So, I found this:

You’ll see my progress on it in the next post.  Ha!  How’s that for a hook to get you to read the next post?

Another one of our walks was to Rock Harbor and we walked out on “the flats” at low tide.  First, here is a picture at high tide:

And at low tide:

And we walked waaaaaaaaaay out there.  Here is the view looking back from where we went:

And this one is even further out – so far that we got to where the ocean actually started again:

On the way out we saw:

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Thos things in the lower right corner are things that grow oysters.  They can only be checked on/harvested at low tide!  At high tide they are under many feet of water.

Oh, and there was breakfast:

The yummiest corned beef hash eggs benedict:

I kept it healthy with the fruit instead of hash browns.  (Ha!)  I’ve been on a benedict kick lately.  I also had eggs benedict on a cheesey bacon biscuit.  O.M.G.

Enough pretty pictures for today?  The rest of the trip will be in the next post.  You know you want to see how my Ecuador is coming…. (it’s actually not that far along, but don’t you want to see how that yarn is knitting up?)