Summer travels

I know there is a common perception (i.e. in the mind of, say, various of my family members) that I basically spend my days sitting around knitting and surfing on the computer.  Well, I do some of that, but lately, the days have been so jam-packed and busy that before I knew it, I realized it had been quite a while since my last blog post.

One reason the month of August seemed like a whirlwind for me was traveling. In between shore trips with my family, I flew out to Chicago to teach at Stitches Midwest. Whenever I go on teaching trips, I am lugging so much stuff I don't take my good camera. So you'll have to put up with photos from my cell phone, like this one of the view from my hotel room:

One of the things that freaked me out at first about the room was this:

It's a screen that is somehow built into the mirror of the bathroom. It shows whatever is on the TV, or if you don't have the TV on, it shows the events that are going on at the hotel. (In fact, if you look really hard, you can see that it is advertising a talk by Nicky Epstein.)  Very Big Brother but also kind of cool....unless it comes on while you are using the toilet, in which case, better tip the chambermaid well.

I had a wonderful time: good students, lots of fun knitting friends to catch up with (waves to Shannon Okey), and Brooke Nico (lace designer extraordinaire and co-owner of the Kirkwood Knittery, in St. Louis) was my most charming roommate.

Brooke participated in a designer challenge on the first day of Stitches involving knitted skirts, and you can see her wonderful design next to her, along with some of the others.

As usual with a Stitches event, there is a preview of the vendor's marketplace the night before the marketplace is open to the public  Here is what the line looked like Friday morning:

When I got to the show floor, I wasted no time meeting and greeting some of my favorite people. I promised that I would stop by Lost City Knits to meet the lovely Denise:

This is us at the Lost City booth.  (Wow, I already look tired and this was taken Friday!)

Of course I visited my pals at WEBS, and got to check out the two newest yarns from WEBS.  This is Buckman, a gorgeous chainette wool-silk blend:

I was also tempted by the new sportweight wool, too.....nom nom nom. All too soon, the weekend flew by and I was back at O'Hare:

I love this underground walkway with all sorts of cosmic lighting effects....or maybe it was fatigue and yarn fumes that made the walls look wavy?

Now all the summer travel is done and we are getting ready for the kids to go back to school and for the big fall knitting season. Late summer is a cruel joke for people in the industry because there is so much to get ready for, and at the same time as vacations are planned, weather is nice, and the kids are underfoot. We've already been shopping for school supplies:



while Elvis just started the dreaded Band Camp....

Hmmm. This post sounds a bit more disjointed than usual, so I'll sign off. I do have some more book reviews in the pipeline, and very soon we'll begin the Sock Yarn Studio-a-palooza, with a blog tour, giveaways and all sorts of merriment. Enjoy the last few days of summer, and I'll be back in rare form soon.

Back......

Our week in Cape May is, alas, over. We had a terrific time, including some amazingly good weather (also some amazingly hot weather). Right now, I'm getting ready for a trunk show in my hometown:  I'll have all sorts of handdyed yarns and fibers this coming Saturday, August 4, from 12 to 4 pm, at the lovely Gosh Yarn It, in Kingston, PA. I'll also have my single preview copy of my new book, so if you promise that your hands are clean, you can get a sneak peek! I've been busily dyeing (I was very low on inventory and had to get back on track) and you can see all sorts of goodies, like these:

and a whole bunch of others I haven't photographed yet!

In the meantime, here are some photos I took while wandering around Cape May with my camera. It may not surprise you to hear that Victorian Cape May is considered a national historic landmark given its fine collection of Victorian architecture....

I love seeing all the details that go into making the houses so special, like a pane of glass or gingerbread trim:

Enjoy these hazy days of summer!  And hey, do me a favor?  Will you click on this link,to help me possibly win some buckeroos at Stitches Midwest?  (Still some spots in some of my classes open......)

Summer Vacation

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.

It was family vacation.

It's an experience that has taken on a mythology all its own in our culture: sun-kissed children frolicking in the waves (or the snow, or at the themepark), loading up the station wagon (or minivan or SUV), togetherness, memories that will last a lifetime.

As with childbirth -- an experience which likewise has taken on its own mythology -- we find ourselves, when the ordeal is done, looking at photos of our adorable children and smiling wistfully.  Forgetting all the bloody, painful trauma, the hurled recriminations, the vows (made in the thick of things) to never, ever do it again.

We rented the same lovely little house we've rented for the past few years. It's close to the beach and full of charm, and even bunny-friendly.

Seduced by the idea of sun, shore and seafood, I was looking forward to the trip. I'd forgotten that familiarity breeds contempt, and after four weeks at home since school let out for the summer, my family would be both excessively familiar and excessively contemptuous with me.

Of course we had fun, but there were times when all that family togetherness seemed like too much.  (I mean, how many times in a week can two tweeners and a teen roll their eyes? Apparently in excess of five hundred.  Each.)

So next time I shall endeavor to remember the importance of going out on my own for at least one or two expeditions during the week; getting in more solo walks, whether around the neighborhood or on the beach; bringing my headphones to better tune out the exasperated chorus of "Mo-om!"

Most importantly, I shall remember that just an instant ago, they looked like this

and this

and because of all this family togetherness (or perhaps "despite all this family togetherness") family vacations are indeed some of the most special times of our lives.

Home again

We are back home, buried in piles of laundry and messiness, but it does feel good to sleep in my own bed again. The kids caught some kind of sore throat thing toward the end of the week, and I think even they were ready to be home once more.

I've got a zillion things to catch up on, but one thing I did actually make some progress on was a sweater that's been accepted for KnitScene. I'm very excited about it, because this is a design I've been playing around with for a while and I think it's going to be a fun, fairly quick knit -- and one that newbie knitters will enjoy because it produces a professional-looking result yet is easy to knit.

I've got lots and lots of dyeing to do, too, and I've got some roving soaking so I can do a spinner's update later this week.

So for now, I will leave you with the last batch of vacation photos:

Goat (for Mindy) from the Cape May Zoo.


Some kind of cavy (relative of the guinea pig), maybe a mara?


Cleome from the zoo.


Little Miss poses.


The Slowskys.




Alpaca cushing.



N. waits for lunch.



The now-traditional kite-flying.




Father -n- son.



Ravelry on the beach.

School's out for summer

Since my kids are out of school, but haven't started day camp yet, I've spent the week moderating debates of critical importance to world peace, such as: If you have to poop in the middle of your turn on Wii, does your mother have a moral obligation to give you five extra minutes on the kitchen timer to make up for the run to the john?