Bethesda's Sock

 Shown in The Plucky Knitters Plucky Feet in the Chlorophyll colorway.

On one of our trips to Yorktown last year, Andy and I stayed at the Hornsby House Inn.  It's a lovely Bed & Breakfast within walking distance of the Pub and beach.  Our first night there we met John Warley and a few of his classmates who were in Yorktown for a class reunion.  John is one of those people who when you meet them you know you want to get to know them better.  He has a great sense of humor and within moments of meeting him began to banter with us.  I was knitting on the porch of the Inn when we met and John almost immediately asked me to knit him a pair of socks.  I kind of blew him off on the socks.  Anyone who knits knows that socks take a while and this was someone I had only just met.  Socks are usually reserved for family members and close friends, right?

When we were leaving for home, John gave me his email address.  I sent him a few pictures that I took of his friends at the reunion and thought that would be it.  John and I had gotten to know each other a little bit better through email and Facebook when the public shaming started he so nicely asked for a pair of socks again.  He promised that he would wear them and take good care of them so I finally gave up putting him off as he is quite relentless agreed to make him a pair.  I had just finished reading John's first book, Bethesda's Child when the design for John's socks came to mind.  I worked up the chart and cast on. 

True to his word, John has worn the socks and it looks like they are being well taken care of.  Here they are in front of an fire enjoying an evening libation.

 

And later on when John was taking a break in South Carolina.  It's not everyday that you see wool socks with palmetto's! 

 

John just released his new book: A Southern Girl. If you have a chance, be sure to check it out!  I can't wait to get started on it.

Bethesda's Sock is available on Ravelry and Etsy.  Use coupon code: Warley for 25% off of Bethesda's Sock on Ravelry until 5/19. 

From the pattern: 

Bethesda’s Socks were inspired by John Warley’s book: Bethesda’s Child: a compelling story that takes place in Washington DC and centers around the prevention of genetic engineering, a presidential campaign, and a tangled love interest. The simple to knit cables twisting down the sides of each sock represent the complex structure of DNA and the twists and turns that take place in Bethesda’s Child.

These fun socks begin with cuff down construction and the pattern includes both written and charted instructions. The cables are simple enough to knit on your summer road trip, while adding enough zip to the pattern so you won’t get bored along the way. No one wants to hear “Are we there yet?” when you are just leaving the driveway!

Instructions are given for using four double pointed needles, but can easily be converted for using the magic loop method, two circular needles, or your preferred sock knitting method.

A Weekend of Peace and Tranquility

Andy and I have been so busy this summer that time had flown by.  It seems that every moment has been filled with projects around the house.  We have gotten so much done and it's a great feeling.  Between our jobs, working around the house and helping a friend move we really hadn't taken any time just for us.  We decided to take a long weekend and head to Yorktown.  After doing a little bit of searching around I found The Hornsby House Inn.

Photo from The Hornsby House Inn website

We arrived at The Hornsby House early Saturday afternoon and were given a warm welcome by David who is one of the owners.  He gave us a tour of the house which included a bit of family history and history of the area.  We stayed in the Magnolia Room which was like a bit of stepping back in time.  Decorated with a reproduction iron bed, antique sewing machine and beautiful glassware that had been in the house for several generations we felt right at home.

Photo from The Hornsby House Inn website

Our first night there we decided to partake in the wine and cheese that is served at 5:00.  I'm so glad we did!  We wound up meeting a lovely group of people who were having their class reunion from 1963.  We had a great time getting to know them.  You can read a little bit more about their reunion on John Warleys blog.  He has written a few books and after enjoying his stories in person,  I've added Bethesda's Child to my reading list.

Breakfast was fantastic both days.  Everything was made there and we had so many things to choose from!  There was fresh fruit, coffee, orange juice, cheesy grits casserole, eggs, and on Monday we had Eggs Benedict which is one of my most favorite things in the world!

Of course we made it to the Yorktown Pub at least once each day.  They have fantastic fried scallops and ice cold beer on tap.  It rained most of Sunday afternoon and we wound up staying at the Pub and enjoying the view of the York River.

We did manage to take a walk on the beach in between rain showers.  I spotted this unusual looking seaweed and thought it would be an interesting picture.  I love the reddish orange color against the paler grainy looking sand.

We had a quick photo shoot for the Oktoberfest Cowl and Walk The Line Socks.  I'll have pictures ready to post next time as this is getting a bit long.  I do have a quick progress picture of the patio which is very near completion!  We have started filling in and leveling the interior and are hoping to have it done by Labor Day.

So Many Happy Things!

The cat can come out of the bag!  A while ago, I mentioned that I had a couple of secret projects that I was working on.  Well, I can finally talk about one of them.  Earlier this year Kristi, owner and dyer extraordinaire of Shalimar Yarns  asked if I would be interested in designing a bonus sock pattern for the Indulge Me! Club in Breathless.  Of course I immediately said yes and got to work on it.  Beth test knitted the pattern and we have just been waiting for the last club shipment to go out.  The shipping notices went out earlier this week and the club packages should be arriving any time.  I'm so excited to reveal Yorktown.

Shown here in Shalimar Yarns Breathless in Grievous Angel which is a limited edition colorway exclusive to the club for one year.  Yorktown is a really fun pattern to knit with an easy to remember lace pattern.  Ive added a few interesting elements here and there, like a purl ridge under the cuff and at the beginning of the heel.

You may be wondering about why I named the pattern Yorktown.  Kristi, Paul, Andy and I have taken many long weekends trips to Yorktown, VA where we have enjoyed  dinner at the Pub, walking along the serene beach and finishing our day with a refreshing scoop of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.  Not to mention that it's very close to Busch Gardens where we have had lots of great times.

Notice that I am no where to be found in this picture!  They all went on the Mach Tower which goes up 246' and then drops down at an amazing rate of speed.  There was NO WAY that I was going on that.  I'm terrified of heights and I think I would have wound up passing out at some point.

Yorktown is available in my Ravelry Pattern Shop.  Use coupon code YT13 for $1.00 off from today until August 10th.  

Work continues on the patio project in the back yard.  It's coming along quite nicely and I think will be done very soon.  The back wall is nearly complete and is the highest point that we are building up.  We should be almost at the point where we can start adding fill and leveling the patio area up.  After that we will put down landscape fabric and then add decorative stone.  I can't wait!  It's going to be so nice to be able to have a place to sit in the shade during the summer and have a small fire in our fire pit this fall and winter.

The black pipes are for drainage from our driveway.  They used to come out near the Blackeyed Susans and we needed to extend them out through the patio to prevent the water from washing it out.  The ends of them will be trimmed back and they won't stick out like that once we are finished.

Ive recently met (online) Chrissy who is Stitched-Together on Ravelry.  Not only is she a designer, but she also has a lovely blog and a very fun podcast. Ive been enjoying listening to it while Ive been painting the den.  She has a cheerful voice and gives a wonderful description of yarns, fibers and patterns.  If you have a chance, be sure to have a listen.

This is the den in progress.  Ive painted the ceiling, walls, trim and am currently working on painting the closet doors white.  The den is in our basement and it always felt a little bit dark in that room. Andy and I thought it would be nice to change to a bright color and liven things up.  The room also doubles as a guest room so we wanted something cheerful and welcoming.  I'm hoping to have things finished up sometime this week.  

Saturday Andy and I were heading out to dinner at Perkys and passed an Estate Sale on the way.  I asked him if he would mind going and that I would only be a an hour or so minute.  So we popped in to take a peek around and boy am I glad that we did!  I've been wanting an older style typewriter and they are crazy prices at the vintage shops in town and are usually not in working order.  We found this one for $9.

A couple of the keys are a bit sticky so I'm going to work on cleaning it and search for replacement ribbon for it.  There is nothing like clacking away on a typewriter!  The case is even in great shape with just a little paint on the outside that I think will come off with cleaning.

We also found this dresser for $5.

It has good lines and is super cute.  Andy is going to fix the crack in the top drawer and then I will paint it a fun color.  I'm thinking coral with possibly each drawer front a different color.  Or maybe cover the drawer fronts with fabric. The possibilities are endless!

A metal picnic basket and cute trash can for my craft room.  $9 for both!

Ive been saving the best for last.  Admittedly I do have a love of dress forms.  I know there are a few already in the house, but none of them are a real dress form.  This one adjust to your measurements and it's probably from the 1960's.  It was a steal at $50.  It even has the original sticker on it and it's made by Singer.

The Indiway Yarns Ferry Beach and Wandering Wildflower KAL begins on August 9th.  There is still a few days before casting on so be sure to come join in the fun!

Ferry Beach

Wandering Wildflower

More on the Kitchen and a bit of a break

August has been such a busy month and has flown by.  We have been working on the kitchen nearly every day.  There have been times when Ive wanted to give up from shear exhaustion.  Andy manages to keep going, I have no idea where he gets his energy and drive from.  He's really an amazing guy! 

 

It rained on Saturday so instead of being able to work on the upper cabinet doors we took a trip to Home Depot to purchase our new backsplash.  Little did I know that when we got home Andy was going to install it.  It looks like an old tin ceiling and came in sheets that are applied with adhesive.  It took just a few hours to put up and we love it!  It completely changed the look of our kitchen and will be much easier to care for than tile.

 

Shown here with my Shalimar Yarn's KAL project, Anarchary in the UK Handwarmers.  The yarn is Homage in Cranberry, Bluecrop and Tawny and is a dream to knit with!

 

 

The next time you see this kitchen there will be doors!

 

Andy and I did manage to take a three day weekend and head to Yorktown, VA.  We were both so exhausted from our home improvement projects that we really appreciated a quiet getaway.

 

We spent some time on the beach

Met a Pirate

Supported our forefathers

Saw cannon fire!

 

And quite honestly spent a lot of time at the Yorktown Pub