Virginia Beach Photos!

I'm back from vacation! Though the flight back was a little tiring, I had a great time. I didn't knit much, but I read a lot and took some great photos, so here they are!

Of course, there's got to be sunrises on the beach... :)

And beach creatures:

 

But, I didn't spend much time on the beach... it was pretty windy. And cold. Here's photo evidence of me being sandblasted:

I got some great photos at the Virginia Aquarium:

Oh, and I've gotta share the food that my family and I got at Citrus, which was featured on Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives!

Citrus pancakes:

Obviously, I didn't get the delicious, glutenous pancakes... but I wasn't stuck on the backburner! I had a chicken salad plate, and it was AMAZING :)

To end it off, here's a pic of JT cuddling with our neighbor cat, Kurtis (I took it when I got home so I guess technically it's still a vacation pic?):

Stitch Along Wednesday - Week 14

I worked from home today because I'm getting a cold and want to rest up before my VACATION in Virginia Beach next week. I'm lucky that today was slow, and I got to sleep in, work on stuff that I normally don't have the bandwidth to do when I'm in the office (with people coming through and interrupting me) and catch up on reports. (Ok, I don't like to catch up on reports, but you really have to do it... so it's nice to do it in pajama pants with my cat on my lap)

Anyway, it also meant I had daylight to photograph my WIPs in! So here I am, participating in Gracey's Stitch Along Wednesday :)

My Hue Shift Afghan is coming along square by square. I work on it in the car on the way to and from work, when Dan drives. 

Dan's Matchstick Socks are flying off my needles! I'm so happy with how this pattern is. I think I'll be making these again :)

I'm having trouble picking my next project after I finish Dan's socks. I have one that I really want to do (it's a design, so I wouldn't blog about it) but I'm wondering how to make it fit in my 16in2016 Challenge criteria...

Well, those are my knits. Join up your blog here!

Birdie Sanders Knit Intarsia Pattern

Ok, ok, I'm feeling the Bern :) I really like all the art that's come up around the campaign, especially the bird-inspired stuff! The folks at the SandersforPresident subreddit are really cool. 

Anyway, I saw this post and got inspired to make some intarsia. So, I did!

Anyway - you can find a spreadsheet of the pattern here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lNc5_0h3hjaPdnRxM5JfI19_GLgUpFuJA0FOLnml48s/edit?usp=sharing

I like saving it as an excel doc, since it's easy for you to tweak the cells to match you gauge. The design is 64 stitches over 40 rows.  But I can always export it as a PDF if people want. Just leave a comment.

Also, if you'd like it in a different gauge, just let me know and I'll whip one up for you :)

If you make something, please let me know! :)

Do you ever just wish you could go back in time...

... and smack your past self upside the head?

Also, I had to untangle it.

I've had this mystery yarn in my stash for a long, long time. I could have sworn that I bought it at my first Rhinebeck, but it's not in the post where I took pictures of my haul. Then I remembered I used it for a project in summer 2010. But I never posted where I bought it! I'm so annoyed. I could've sworn this was good stuff - I remember winding it from the hank. But since I can't PROVE to myself  that it is, I can't get a twofer for this project!

Late night progress photo on our kitchen island.

It's going really fast, so I can't complain! I'm making Matchstick Socks, by a lady that I've followed for a long time, Sara at knottygnome. When this pattern came out in 2010, I remember thinking "I wish I had the money to spend on this..."  Well, now I do! :)

The pattern looks so nice with the painted part of the yarn. It's just ok for the stripey part that's solid, but that's kind of what I expected. It's going great, and I love it. Like I knew I would!

My past self... I could like a little more.

In other news, it's spring! The lilac at my back door has baby leaves! And last night, we had a thunderstorm! It was so nice to sit on the porch and watch it roll in. 

16in2016

1. Knit something for charity.
2. Knit something just for yourself.
3. Knit something you can finish in a weekend. Then spend the weekend working on it!
4. Knit something that's been in your queue forever. (Can be a Ravelry queue or just something you've been wanting to try.)
5. Knit something and then yarn bomb somewhere! (Be sure to get permission. I'm going to do something on my own property.)
6. Knit something that uses a technique you've never done before.
7. Knit something silly. (There are so many possibilities!)
8. Knit something to give to someone as a thank-you. Everyone has someone that they can thank for something!
9. Knit something useful.
10. Knit something that uses a vintage pattern. 
11. Knit something that uses game knitting. 
12. Knit something from a pattern you tried before but gave up on. I have a lot of these!
13. Knit something from a pattern that you tried before and loved. I have some of these...
14. Knit something that uses indie yarn.
15. Knit something with someone else (through a knit along, mystery knit, etc.)
16. Knit something from a pattern that you buy. Spend money on a book, magazine, or independent pattern!

Something Useful

For those of you that we're up all night yesterday wondering what I was making,  here you go! Classic dishcloths.

I've had the Sugar and Cream in my stash for ages, after I got it in a swap package. It's the perfect yarn for dishcloths. I can't even imagine making dishcloths out of anything else. Just like I couldn't imagine making anything else with this stuff. It's cheap, yeah... but it hurts my hand to knit with it. Thankfully, the skeins are small and I can use one up on two hours or so (or two dishcloths or so!)

Anyway, no good dishcloth photos. We were on Rt 88 in Upstate NY, which is not a very good highway. Plus, the fact the sun was setting didn't help much.

P.S. - Happy Easter!

Oh My Goodness I Finished Something!

My socks are done!

We're heading home to visit family for Easter, so that means knitting and listening to audiobooks. And I finished my Marlene socks and they fit! I changed the second sock a bit,  since the first was a little loose. But you can hardly see the difference.

I just love this pattern.  Love the way the ribbing turns into swirls when you pull them onto your leg.

And now I'm starting a new project, something quick to make up for the 3 months I spent on this one. :) I'll probably be done with them before we get to Binghamton! Guess what it is...

16 in 2016: something just for myself. 

http://aly-oops.blogspot.com/2016/01/16-things-to-knit-in-2016.html?m=1

My weekend in photos

Remember when I used to take photos ALL THE TIME? Now I carry a camera around with me 24/7, and I seem to be taking less photos. I think it might be a lack of wonder and awe. Which is a huge shame, I think. I'm constantly surrounded by amazing things, but I don't stop to take a photo. I don't take that second to separate myself from the event and commemorate it with a photo. In a way, it's more zen... but it also is a little sad. I don't have a scrapbook worth of photos at the end of the year.

Anyway, Dan and I went to Maine for the day, and hiked out to a really nice lookout point with his family. It was great. After that, we had dinner and napped and then went home. I did some knitting - but this post isn't going to be about that :P

The view from the lookout point

This basset hound, Hinga, lives at the start of the trail and if you want to go to the cliff you have to stop and say hello to her.

Family huddled on the dock to say goodbye to us as we took the ferry back to reality.

JT the cat was happy to have us back. He sat down on Dan's legs and then fell over and went to sleep.

Anyway, hope everyone else had as good of a weekend as I did! :)