Hi everyone! It’s a good day. I wasn’t able to do more than eat well this past week. And walk up the hill to the cabin a couple times. But I am still a few pounds down from the high I hit in the last couple months. I intend to do weights and physical therapy today, and have high hopes for next week.

How was your week?

No pictures of Cable-Eight. I’m tired from the trip. Not the trip itself, but the cleaning and packing to come home part. My camera batteries are dead. And I didn’t get the right shirt to wear under it ’til last night. SO, I’m sorry, but I got no photo. It is Cable-Eight day, however. Is anyone working on theirs? Is knit-along day dead? Do I need to start another one?

If so, what would you all like to knit? I still want to make the “I Do” shrug from Knitty. And I still want to make the Bowling Bag Purse from the second S&B book. (Wow, January! Has it been that long? I haven’t been particularly productive this year, have I? Why are you all still here? I’m boring!)

No, seriously. As I was poking around the site, trying to link the last time we went to A&W for Saturday’s post, I ended up in April and noticed pictures of Cable-Eight and the VCC. Now, admittedly, I have finished a few things since then, but not a lot. So, I’m currently blogging about projects I’ve had going since March and April. How patient you all are!

Well, a bigger starfish…

Then again, I’d say it has to be a starfish for everyone…

We had a wonderful time at the beach yesterday. It was eerily quiet. The water was like glass. It was cloudy, but warm, and we were there for nearly three hours. As you can see, there was an abundance of starfish. I wish I could post all 120 pictures I took. They were everywhere. As were many other animals.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think we’re looking at some sea urchin.

(on the dock, not the big starfish in the backgound), and a blue heron.

On our dock. While we were on it. There were actually two, but this is the one I got before they flew away.

It was on the dock for quite awhile, but at the time, the girls were actively investigating a hermit crab clinging to the mussels on the side of the dock, while their hands were full of starfish.

Anxiously watching them lean out over the water with their hands full was taking most of my attention, then the birds flew away.

After awhile, we made use of our buckets,

then did the responsible thing (although not without protests and lamenting), and released the starfish back into the canal.

Next, we found and tormented little rock crabs.

Like I said, there’s oodles more to show, but as it is, my allotted amount of bandwidth is in danger. I’d better stop. I don’t have any pictures of Cable-Eight yet. And next you hear from me, I’ll be home. But what a wonderful vacation it’s been!

Both sleeves to the VCC are finished, and look like crap, I might add. Re-knitting with wrinkled, frogged yarn is the pits.

Once I get home and block them, they should look much better.

Cable-Eight is finished! Yes, you read that right. It’s DONE, baby! You’ll hopefully get to see her on Friday. I will undoubtedly spend the rest of the week trying to get a decent picture of myself in it.

So, I’m back to Veronica’s Kimono. I haven’t quite run out of yarn yet, so I figure I’ll keep working on it until I do. Then it’ll have to wait until I can get back to my LYS to get more. Fortunately, they still have the yarn, and they’re holding a skein for me. I’ll have you know that the pattern is wrong. I bought the right amount of yarn for the size up from the one I’m knitting, and I still ran out. Not my fault, I tell you.

Finally, I thought I’d show you Abner’s accommodations on the trip.

Poor guy. He’s been a peach about it. We bring his kennel up and put it on the large, covered front porch, then cover it with a wool blanket. He seems to prefer being covered. Because of some serious allergies in the extended family, he isn’t allowed inside, but his kennel sits on the other side of the sliding glass door, so he gets to watch us all week. Like I said earlier, he’s a dear about it. He is so quiet, doesn’t whine or bark at all, and when we let him out, he bounds around happily and chases/chews on the sticks that we throw for him. He doesn’t run off. Quite frankly, despite being kenneled a lot, I think he enjoys being here, too. What a sweetheart.

As it turns out, I haven’t had the nerve to take him to the beach. I’ve discovered that I’m probably the only person alive that respects leash laws, and because of an incident when he was a puppy (when he was on a leash and the other psycho dog that attacked him wasn’t), he is extremely anti-social with other dogs. I just can’t handle the constant stress of worrying about some loose dog showing up and approaching us, because now, I have to worry about what Abner will do. Grrr. Seriously, it’s to the point where every single time I take him out in public, there’s an off leash dog that wants to come over. What is wrong with people?

Ok, ok, I don’t want to end on that note, so I’ll just say again that, “I’M DONE WITH CABLE-EIGHT!!!”

The water was rough last night. We are up the hill from it, but as I stood on the front porch, overlooking the water, I could hear it beating on the shore. I love how the moonlight shines on the water before it gets dark. The colors are beautiful and sparkling.

I was able to do a lot of spinning yesterday. I’ve been wanting to try something different with my roving. I spun a thick single with my pink, and then plied it with a thin single that alternates between light and dark green. I don’t know what I was expecting, but this wasn’t it.

It isn’t bad, it’s just a bit strange. Now I wonder how it would look the other way around. I figure, I have a bunch of roving, I might as well play around and get familliar with what I can do, so when I have some fiber I’m really in love with, I’ll have a more educated approach to using it well.

Olivia is doing pretty well. Her foot seems much better. She has been finding ways to entertain herself…

Like bouncing on her bum. She wasn’t so inventive at the beach, where there are LOTS of things to do that don’t involve getting wet. She spent the whole time quite upset. We didn’t go down to the water until after dinner, so it was a bit cold. I was the only one really getting wet, as I was anxious to dive off the dock again. It feels SO good after a hot, sweaty day. But like I said, the water was rough. There was a bit of wind, and the swells were so large that they’d literally lift my body up and then drop me beneath the next swell, so keeping my head above water was a bit of a challenge at times. It’s protected water, so I wasn’t in any danger, but it made for choppy swimming. My point is that I was the only one really in the water, so I don’t know what her fuss was all about.

She did manage to get extra treats out of me when we were done. An opportunist to the last.

I’ve re-ripped the 8 rows of VCC, and have knit many more. I haven’t counted, but it’s moving along.

We went swimming on Saturday night, and after my first dive off the dock, but before I could make it back to shore,

Olivia sliced her foot to smitherines on oyster shells. Who knew a foot could bleed like that? We worried about whether or not she would need stitches. It’s a greusome, multi-faced, gory looking wound including, but not limited to one really long, deep looking slice. Poor kid. Fortunately, some of the locals were having a picnic at the beach, and went to get Sally, a volunteer parametic that lives in the neighborhood. She said it wouldn’t need stitches, but spent about 20 minutes explaining the importance of getting it COMPLETELY clean, and bandaging it with butterfly bandages. Well, no store that we could find around here sells butterfly bandages (what’s up with that?), so we’re doing the best we can with regulars sitting vertically across the wound. What this means for Liv is that she can no longer do the two funnest kid activities at the cabin, which are jumping on the trampoline, and swimming in the canal. I think I’m going to have to buy more popsicles.

It did end up getting really, REALLY hot here. I haven’t had much energy to do anything but sit under the fan. It’s too hot to eat. Don’t get me wrong, I’m enjoying it immensely, but I haven’t been overly productive. I frogged the sleeve cap on one sleeve of the VCC. I have knit 8 rows, and have obviously forgot what tension I was knitting, because I’m going to have to rip out those 8 rows and reknit them looser. Luckily, it’s also too hot to care.

Good morning! How was your week? I’m trying to remember how mine was. I know I did full body weights and PT on Tuesday. I’m trying to remember why I didn’t do more, and I can’t. Other than getting ready for the trip on Wednesday and Thursday morning. Yesterday we walked down to the beach and back up the big hill, which could be called a mountain. I don’t know how long it takes, but it certainly gets the heart rate up. I’m eating well. And it looks like I’ve lost a couple pounds, though there’s no scale here to give an official weight.

I’ve been drinking lot more water, and am still thirsty a lot. Today, I think Nate wants to revisit A&W Rootbeer for floats and onion rings like we did back in April. So that’s going to be a calorie-fest.

And working on Veronica’s Kimono sleeve.

It’s beautiful here. The morning cloud and fog cover is burning off. I’m a bit annoyed I didn’t bring any hot chocolate or herbal tea as I figured it would be too hot, and there was probably some up here anyway. Well, it ISN’T hot, and there ISN’T any up here, and I’ve wanted it TWICE so far. But it isn’t worth the drive into town (if you can call it a town), because I’m sure as soon as I put forth the effort, it will suddenly become hot, and will remain that way for the rest of the week.

And since I’m already complaining, (how ungrateful I am. I’m on vacation after all), I will tell you that there must be another skein of yarn at home somewhere for Veronica’s sweater, because it is now obvious that I don’t have enough with me to finish the sleeves. Dangit! And I KNOW I bought enough. I don’t remember seeing another skein haning around, but there HAS to be, because I bought enough for the size larger than I’m actually knitting. Of course, now that I say that, fear is setting in. Maybe I don’t have another skein. Crap. And I get to spend the next seven days worrying about it.

Finally, in what will hopefully be my last complaint, I forgot my ball winder. Now, I know I can always do it the old fashioned way, but I now own TWO ball winders, and I would like to USE them! I brought two new projects with me, in the optimistic view that I might just finish all my WIP’s and will still want to knit something. All 14 skeins of yarn are still in the hank. Plus, I have my spinning wheel here. And all of THAT yarn will be in the hank. And if the rest of my WIP’s are missing vital parts like Veronica’s Kimono is, (grumble, snort, stomp, gripe), I’ll be wanting those new projects.

Never fear. I have all of my beading stuff with me, and I have loads of stitch markers I was supposed to mail out by yesterday, that aren’t even made yet. (Sorry. I promise I’ll do it soon)! And another sweet woman who wants stitch markers that has been SO patient with me. (Janet, I’ll do yours at the same time, I swear).

Then there’s the 4 pounds of roving that came up with me and my wheel. You’d think I was staying for two months! But I really did want to tidy up and finish those WIP’s!

Talk to me. I’m quite isolated up here, and would love the emails/comments!

My hands hurt.

Yesterday was a productive day. I made bread for the trip. Completely washed my car, inside and out. (It’s a big car, and a lot of work. Plus, I was washing and vacuuming sand and salt spray from the ocean). I made granola. AND….. I finished the body of Veronica’s Kimono!

Not the most exciting picture, I know. Plus, for some stupid reason, I photographed the inside of the sweater, so you’re seeing all of my woven ends. This one’s better.

Still a boring picture, but the sweater itself is SO CUTE!!!! It looks like it will fit her perfectly. Scary perfectly, and all I’m going to say is that it’s a good thing she doesn’t grow very fast.

We’re off to the cabin later today. I will probably be gone an entire week. Ahhhh, the beauty of it all. And Nate is bringing a computer up, so I will most likely be posting tomorrow, but late. Provided it all hooks up ok. With computers, that’s always a question. See ya!