Where have you been?

When your vacation to Orlando starts with 12" of rain over three days some people might throw in the towel, pack up and head back home.  This is Andy on our first day there.  He ran out and got two umbrellas and rain ponchos for close to million  US dollars at one of the Universal gift shops.  The poncho's didn't work super well so that night we headed off to Bass Pro and picked up some real waterproof jackets and pants. 

The sun came out the next afternoon, but we stayed dry that morning and during Halloween Horror Nights which was totally awesome.  If you have never been and enjoy being scared out of your mind this is the place to go!  One of the haunted houses was of a winter graveyard complete with a snow machine that sprinkled snow down on us as we went through it.  No pictures of anything there sadly, but lot's of great memories.

JAWS!

Im really glad we don't fish for anything this big!

My most favorite part of our trip was feeding the baby roo's at Busch Gardens Tampa.  I spent an hour in with them and Andy went back to the front to get more food.  Notice the large puddles in the background.  Did I mention that it rained so hard that the waterparks were closed?  Why close waterparks in the rain?  Don't you get wet there anyway?  Ok onto something more fun!

Andy and I got to meet this lovely Owl and her trainer who let us pat her.  She's been in captivity since she was an owlet because of an injured wing. She seemed quite happy and was interested in everything going on.

A dolphin at Sea World.  We went there on one of the wet day's figuring that dolphins, whales and sharks are already wet.

Happy Hour in Jurassic Park.  It starts at 3:00 and we were there almost every day.  Our favorite bar tender who is originally from Wales was there.  We met him last year and it was nice to see him again.

CityWalk which is at the entrance to Universal and Islands of Adventure

We had some fantastic food there at The Latin Quarter.  We tried several restaurants: Bubba Gump, Emril's, and a few in the parks but liked The Latin Quarter the best and went back three times.  That says a lot since we are both particular about food!

Montpelier!

Hay, what did you do this weekend?

Andy and I went to the Montpelier Fall Fiber Festival in Montpelier Station, VA.  It's a lovely drive through rolling hills and countryside that we enjoy.  The leaves are just starting to turn here so there was a bit of color here and there.

Montpelier is by far our favorite festival.  It's really low key and everyone is laid back and happy.  You can find fibers and yarns that are hard to come by and lot's of unique ones as well. 

I entered my Holden Shawl in the Handspun Hand Knits Wearable division and it received second place.  This was really exciting and quite an honor.  One of the ladies working at the fiber arts display said that there were twice as many entries as there had been in past years. 

This is Judith modeling her hand dyed shawl.  Can you guess what she used for dye?  I never would have figured it out.  She went to a workshop where she learned how to dye with mushrooms.  Every color in this stunning shawl came from a mushroom.  I have to tell you that this was a hot topic in the car on the way home!

What would a fiber festival be without sheep?  This little gal is one of Heidi Passino's Shetland Sheep.  If we had land for animals we would have several sheep from Heidi.

This is a needle felted wall hanging that was entered in the fiber art's competition.  I love how the artist incorporated locks on the body of the sheep.

A wrap with hand spun angora yarn and emu feathers

The picture of this rug hooking doesn't do it justice, it was just fantastic in person!

This is a 6' tall hand felted wall hanging.  It was outside of one of the vendors tents.

Andy spotted this lovely arrangement in the fiber arts tent.  We have a little wheel like this and I think it would be great to use for a floral arrangement.

 

What Dreams May Come

I had a really horrific health scare late in the summer that required a biopsy.  There were sleepless nights for my husband and I before and after and quite frankly a lot of worry. 

A couple of nights before the biopsy I had a vivid dream where Anne Hanson told me that if I joined her Fall in Full Colors club my breast would be fine. 

Now, Im not into reading into your dreams or fortune telling or anything like that.  But I figured, what the hell.  It's yarn and patterns by one of my favorite designers, how could I go wrong?

Well, Im not saying that the Fall in Full Colors club has magical healing powers, but my biopsy turned out just fine. 

The last time Andy and I were out on the boat the leaves were just starting to turn a beautiful yellowish green.  With the backdrop of the Blue Ridge Mountains the colors were spectacular!  I was thinking that it would be great to find yarn in these colors:

Since I work for Kristi I knew the September shipment would be Shalimar Breathless.  But I had no idea of the color.  There was such a happy dance when this arrived:

Fantastic, yes?

The pattern to go with it is for Hazeline a stunning shawl.  I can't wait to get started on it and will be winding the yarn today.  I have one cuff left to finish on the Vodka Gimlet that Im doing in Honey Worsted Black Truffle and then will get to cast on for the Hazeline.  Im proud of myself for showing restraint and not casting on until the Gimlet is finished. 

Love Notes

Andy surprised me last night while we were watching The Big Bang Theory.  It's the sweet thoughtful things that he does out of the blue that really mean so much. 

Next month is our sixth wedding anniversary.  As each year blends smoothly into the next I realise that I can't imagine having a better friend to spend them with. 

The Knitting Fish

You may be saying to yourself - Hey, I thought this was a knitting blog what up with this gigantic fish?  Andy and I went fishing yesterday morning and he caught this 8lb large mouth bass and two others that were around 3 lbs.  It's the largest bass Ive seen in person and it was quite exciting to see Andy bring him in the boat!

You may remember back in July that my in-laws had adopted two boxer cross puppies.  We stopped by to visit on the way home from fishing.  I thought you might enjoy seeing how much Bo had grown since July.  He's now 6 months old, almost as tall as me (Im 5' 8"), and we think around 70 lbs.  He's just the sweetest guy and loves to give kisses.

Last Friday I arranged for our knit group to take a field trip to Wyrd Sisters in Roanoke. Cate, the owner, is so much fun and truly a wonderful person.  Her shop has some great yarns and fibers including Unplanned Peacock which is a local company.  I came home with a skein of Diva Sock which is a merino/cashmere/nylon blend and a braid of merino roving - yum!

This is Cate in a stunning vest that she knitted:

From left to right: Lynn, Missy, Rose and Cate.  We all had a fantastic time.  Thank you Cate!

Alpaca Fun!

We had a fun Labor Day Weekend.  It started with a trip to Roanoke where we feasted at Abeulo's.  On our way home we spotted a sign for Otter Peaks Alpaca's and decided to check it out. 

We met John & Cindy Ferrante and their super friendly Alpaca's:

The alpaca's were all very lovable and seemed to like posing for pictures:

If you are in the area be sure to stop by to visit with John & Cindy and see their alpaca's.  They have a nice shop too with lot's of yarn and items made from alpaca fiber.

They also have two Great Pyrenees dog's that protect the herd of alpacas. 

Since we live in a subdivision farm animals are out of the question (for now heh).  Ive been training Roper to be a protector.  Here he is guarding my handspun yarn:

Leaving

Anne Hanson is one of my favorite pattern designers.  Her patterns patterns produce amazing results. 

This is Leaving and it's first sweater that I have knitted where I am completely happy with the fit. 

Knitting a something as large as a sweater and not knowing how it's going to look on your body is a little daunting.  If you look at the finished projects page for Leaving on Ravelry it looks wonderful on everyone.  It's light enough to wear in early fall with a shell under it and later on in winter would also look great with a blouse. 

The yarn is hand dyed BFL by Wits End Serenade.  It was a gift from Andy at the Montpellier Fall Fiber Festival last October. There is a skein and a half left over.  Enough for a shawl or perhaps a vest.  The nice thing about yarn is that it doesn't have an expiration date.

Seams?  What seams?  They don't really stand out, do they?  That is thanks to Ann McCauley, another fabulous designer, author and mentor.  She was here in Virginia a couple of weeks ago and was kind enough to teach a seaming class at our knit group.  While Ive done some seaming in the past I was never satisfied with the results.  After Ann's class my seaming has improved one hundred percent.  If you ever have an opportunity to take one of her classes, I highly recommend it.