Honeys, I'm Hooooooome!

Hi gang! I had SUCH a wonderful time in California hanging out with Brenda! We stayed at a gorgeous hotel, ate delicious meals, drank delightful spirits, drove up into the mountains, shopped, walked the beach, took in all the sites, enjoyed The Oscars, laughed, and laughed, and laughed, and laughed.....all without being arrested! Yay, US! Thank you so much, Bren, for being a superb hostess, and most spectacular friend! This was a much needed change of pace and TREAT for both of us!

We visited every available yarn shop in Ventura County, including Santa Barbara! In complete and total honesty, I love my little Yarn Haven more than any of them. I would describe a few of the shops more as yarn "boutiques" as they had these fancy shmancy shops, but their yarn selection was very limited and/or the yarn was so "exclusive" that it was completely unaffordable. Overall, this was a good thing in limiting my purchases. Here are a few of the ones I ended up welcoming to the stash. There are a few more that have yet to be photographed. The ones I'm showin' you now were taken on the railing of the balcony off our suite.

...a couple of lovely skeins of worsted superwash from Lorna's Laces purchased at
Anacapa Fine Yarns in Ventura. MMMmmmmmm.

Next up: more Lorna's Laces in a sport weight purchased at
The Loop and Leaf in Santa Barbara. Brenda picked out this one.

Here's a closey of it (pretend I wasn't so tacky as to get the price in the pic).

This one is called Jellyfish, and is from Dashing Dachs. How can
one be at a beach resort and NOT buy a yarn called jellyfish!?!

Close up:

Now, I must ask y'all to hang in there with me while I show you a few million other shots from my trip. There are ooooooodles of them, but I will attempt to post only a portion. If you'd like to see everything, they can be found HERE at my flickr account. I give you fair warning that I became completely obsessed with the little grove of palm trees at the end of our hallway - so feel free to skip all two thousand shots of those.

Here's our hotel:


Here's the back...we were right on the beach!


This is the view from the end of our hall. Every morning (as we walked down to the MOST scrumptious breakfast buffet), this is the scene that greeted us:


Me, texting pictures from the beach:


Our walk to the beach:


These (Bird of Paradise) were everywhere around the hotel:


The grounds were AMAZING!


Resting after yarn shopping...poor Bren:


The view from one of the higher elevations in Ventura:


...and lastly...for Ellie and Patti who LOVE to make fun of my fat little toes...


Speaking of Ellie...special thanks to you and hubster for staying with the girls while I was gone. I couldn't have enjoyed myself without knowing you had things under control!!!

Thanks for looking, everybody! As much as I enjoyed myself, I have missed many of you bunches! Keep warm and see you soon!

A few weeks ago, Kate sent me one of these charming gifts, and then Becky graced me with one yesterday. In the spirit of progressive blogging (and cuz I'm s'posed to), I will list my 5 to pass it to (yea, yea...it should be 10, but, as a wise knitter once said, sue me).

• Kiss My Frog
• Knitasha von Stashenskeins
• Knitty Banter
• Skeins and Beans
• T-Town Knitiot

Okay, now that business is out of the way, onto the knitting. I'm workin' hard to get all my socks done before I head off to CA. Somehow...no idea...I ended up going backwards on one of my socks after turning the heel. Duh. Gotta rip that little booger out and try again. Anyway, here's what's going on:

See that lovely yarn on the far left. That's Sarah Lou's sock club yarn for March! I really like it.

I had a wonderful time at the knitting retreat. See?!?! Apparently lots of folks enjoyed it! So glad.


Okay, lovlies, I need to get a move on cuz today is cleaning day. Joy of joys. Thanks for stopping by. Later, dahhhhhlings! (Couldn't resist, Kate.)

I have found MY president!

I am a proud new member of the Fibertarian Party!!!

What can Dolores do for you? Please read below and than ask what can't she do!?

This was a statement to the press:

"Now, my campaign promises. Unlike the other candidates, I readily admit that I'm in this for the bling. Free travel by private jet, a huge expense account, my own office, and a posse of humpy bodyguards in suits and dark glasses? Betcherass. So just tell me what you want, and I'll want that, too.Let's get the ball of yarn rolling with a few suggestions collected by my press secretary, Harry.

• Elizabeth Zimmermann's birthday will be declared a national holiday.
  
• All fiber-related purchases will be fully tax-deductible.
  
• Knitting will become a mandatory subject in American public schools.
  
• Government subsidies for the establishment of independent yarn shops in high-need areas.

*You don't even have to live in America or be American. After a stay in the White House, I'm thinking world domination might be a freakin' hoot.

All credit goes to this man! He's brilliant!

ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzz...

Currently recovering from knitting retreat
...will update soon.

Nuttin' but SOCKS!

So we're preparing for up to ten inches of white, lumpy, frozen rain over the next 24 hours, and I'm really wishing I'd made myself some toasty, warm mittens! However, it was not to be, and I will end up in store bought gloves, hat, and scarf as I venture out into the frozen tundra tomorrow. hee hee.../drama!

Without further ado, I present to you....some socka, socka, socka! Glen received a pair of warm house/sleeping socks to keep the toesies warm all night long. If only I could knit a muzzle for the snoring (did I really just share that thought with the world?). I used some stashed KnitPicks, Wool of the Andes, in Cape Cod. No, his feet are not normally in "first position." He did the "special" pose for the camera.


Next up, also out of the stash, one whole sock for Bren...yes, she has two feet, but I was held up by the fact that two of the same colorways with two of the SAME dye lot numbers ended up being very different colors. However, one call to KnitPicks, and shazam! They were on it! They sent me two other balls, free of charge, to try to match to the original finished sock. Luckily, one of the balls is pretty close, and should work out fine. I really like the KnitPicks, Felici, Pebble. Hmmm...looks like it's currently a goner and out of stock!

The great composers have not yet given me their thoughts on the sock, but I have assured them that since they lack legs (haven't told them about the arms yet), they will not be required to wear any sock(s) I may present for their inspection. Isn't that Brahms a hottie?

Also on the needles, some really neat yarn that I've never used before, but was given as a gift. Please say hello to Lisa Souza's Hardtwist, Mars Quake! It's a DK weight, and is coming together swimmingly on size four needles!

Lastly, but most definitely not least-ly, are these stunning, self-striping, socks from Adriafil, Knitcol, #49 (Insert imagination here, and pretend that you see the adorable, fun socks that will come from two balls of this lovely yarn purchased at Yarn Haven.)

Thank you for stopping by, and please send yarn should I be trapped in the white, lumpy death that is headed our way. According to this guy, we're in for a doosey. Yea...I'll believe it when I see it, too! Bridgette is not concerned.

I can't believe we ate the whole thing!

Yes, friends. My oinky little family, myself included, ate the ENTIRE chicken pot pie. We're talking nine inch pie plate here! We are all ashamed...very, very ashamed. In any case, the girls created a wonderful dinner and dessert to celebrate this very special US holiday!

Only problem was that I forgot to take a picture of the pie in pan, and had to grab Bizzy's before she finished her pie to take a picture! I'm not looking to win any awards with THESE pics!

Here's dessert...CHERRY pie!

I was so thrilled that I remembered to take and post pictures, until I saw Her Queenship's pies! Grrrr....the jealousy spews from my eye sockets!!! Roadtrip anyone?

So after checking out Kate's blog (thrilled that she had acknowledged Pie Day) I went to Ms. Becky's blog. She TOO had a pie in the oven...a Paula Dean pie to boot!!! Woot! WHAT a day! Do I DARE go check anybody else on my little ole' blog roll? Hmmm..not so far, but there are two hours left until midnight! In any case, National Pie Day was a resounding success here, as well as in the Pushing Daisies group @ Ravelry!

For National Pie Day 2009, I think we should each consider knitting up this little gem!


Thanks for stopping by!

Public Service Announcement

National Pie Day is upon us once again. This Wednesday, January 23, has been deemed National Pie Day by The American Pie Council (Thank GOODNESS somebody had the forethought to put together an official council on pies!). TAPC suggests celebrating this monumental day by performing "Random Acts of Pieness." Said acts can be found on the National Pie Day website.

While I am still debating which pie(s) I will be serving for dessert on Wednesday, I am quite certain that chicken pot pie will be the main course for dinner. Perhaps for dessert we'll have an apple pie or a peanut butter pie...I'm undecided at this juncture.

In any case, I wanted to give each of you fair warning in order that you might plan your menus ahead of time to honor this most cherished day. For those of you who would prefer to "pick-up" a pie, my personal favorites are the pies from Bob Evans, or, in the freezer section of your local grocery store, Edward's pies (The turtle pie is quite decadent, but do not gaze upon the nutritional values.).

WARNING...Please do NOT confuse National Pie Day with National Pi Day held to celebrate the mathematical constant π (pi). The latter is held, most appropriately, on 3/14.

Even if you are not here in the United States (**cough** Kate **cough**) I would encourage you to partake of this most scrumptious of United States holidays!

Challenge: Post a pic of your pie on your blog, and earn 15 bonus points!!! Happy pie eating!!!