Let's start with the fun stuff, like the cruise. Really, I went to knit, no really. Ok, so I went partially to knit. I also went because it sounded like fun.
We left on Monday and got on board early enough to have a late lunch. Have to say that the terminal in Jacksonville isn't exactly the prettiest, but they did a good job of moving us through fairly quickly, at least from what I remember from my previous cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale. The cabin was great, larger then I thought since we opted for an inside one and the "not so expensive cabin" at that. Before we left I found out that a friend I used to work with, and whom I have just gotten back in touch with, was going to be on the same cruise. John & I managed to text our way to meeting up before the ship left the harbour and talked for a bit. That wasn't the only time we saw each other, I also managed to get up one morning and meet him for breakfast. For those who know me, this wasn't exactly the easiest, but I got up early that morning to see the sunrise and then went to breakfast. It was a good morning.
But back to knitting and cruising. We had a small group, only 6, but I think we managed to have fun and everyone got started on the lovely design.
That's us. (Thanks John for taking the pictures for us, and you were right, that wasn't a great background.)
Ok, so we spent Tuesday at sea. Being at sea has to be the best in my book. There's so much to do on the ship, plus it's just relaxing to be sailing along. We had at least 1 lesson for the shawl on Monday, and another on Tuesday. I also took some time Tuesday to get a pedicure at the spa. Not exactly the cheapest pedi I've ever had, but it was very nice and it was a treat, plus I had my toes painted to match my outfit, so they were blue! (No I don't have a picture of my outfit that evening or my toe nails, bad planning on my part I know.) I do have this picture...
Yep, that's me under the hat. That hat and the massive amounts of SPF 70 lotion I packed managed to keep me from getting burned. That's a good thing.
Wednesday we docked in Key West. We decided to take the Conch Train. It was a great way to see a lot of the island. I would really like to see the inside of the Hemingway House, but this time just got another shot of the outside.
We dropped in to see "the other KnitWitz" which is really Knit Wits and saw lots of pretty yarn. Yes, I found something I fell in love with, but of course don't have a picture of yet. I'm planning on making one of those lovely open-weave scarfs. We had a great visit there and then headed to find this...
Yep, that's a piece of frozen Key Lime pie dipped in chocolate. So yummy and so worth the calories.
From there we went to Nassau. I've been to the Bahamas 3 other times and have only spent the night in Nassau and really hadn't seen much of the town. Kathe, my friend John and I stood at the front of the ship as we pulled into Nassau. It was so windy, but we enjoyed the view.
I think you can tell from this picture of me and John that the wind was pretty bad.
Not sure I've still seen all that much of Nassau since we mainly walked down to the Straw Market, shopped in some of the jewelry stores and then took a water taxi over to Paradise Island and walked around there some. We did find a nice little hole in the wall place to have conch fritters. No pictures of them, we ate them too fast. I would love to go back and spend some more time exploring.
The next morning I got up early to see the sunrise.
The next morning I had breakfast with my friend John. It was a great day to hang out and do some more knitting on the project.
Saturday morning we found ourselves back in Jacksonville. I really had a great time. I hope DF Katha decides to do another one next year.
Nor much, but still I planted them, and watered them and now I can eat them. There are more tomatoes getting ripe. The non-grape tomatoes are slowly ripening. It's a race to see if one of the red varieties or the yellow variety will ripen first.
...since something decided it would eat one of the ripe Sweet-1000's. I'm betting it was a squirrel, but it could have been a bird. Whatever it is, it's not welcome and if I catch it there could be trouble!
These are my "O Dublin" socks. Pattern "Dublin Bay Socks" (you'll have to scroll down and find the link for the .pdf on her blog. I used a skein of Politically Incorrect yarn I had in my stash called "It's All About the O". I love how they turned out. The pattern really worked well with the yarn or is it the other way around? Either way, they are really pretty and very comfortable.
I'm using Noro Silk Garden and Noro Yuzen. I finished it the other night and got a picture of it today. It's so hard to show this off. It's a whole lot prettier in person. Plus it's a really quick knit. I might make another couple of these with some other yarn that has a similar color change and give them as gifts.
The pattern is Harris Tweed, and I think it would make a great men's pair of socks, but I'm using it for myself. It's easy to remember the pattern, which is nice for socks that have seen the inside of 2 dr. offices in the last 2 weeks. Using Schoppel-Wolle Zauberball in Cranberries and some new square shaped cable needles. The square needles are supposed to be easier on your hands, and I have noticed that my hands don't get as tired working with them.
I'm using the Fibonacci Moebius pattern (that link is for Ravelry and if you knit and aren't a member, well you should be). I'm using 3 different yarns for this one because I wanted some extra color. I hope the recipient will like it.
That's the lake that has appeared in our driveway now that we've had around 12" of rain. It stopped raining long enough for me to run out and take a few pictures. It was actually further down the driveway earlier in the day, but it was raining and I didn't want to get out in it. It spreads from our neighbor's yard into ours. It had stopped raining, but it's started back again. If it keeps up this will get larger again. We could see some of it from the dining room window.
This is what it looks like now! I had to move the little light to the front right side because it was totally lost in the petunias.
We also planted tomatoes, green peppers, Japanese eggplant and some herbs. I've always planted flowers with my veggies to help keep the bugs away. Nothing new there, my great-grandfather did too.
This is what they look like now. There's 2 types of tomatoes, the ones in the black planter are called "Brandy wine".
This is the other group at planting...
And now.
I think I ended up with 3 or 4 different types of tomatoes, including what my Aunt Grace always called "tommy toes" and a yellow variety. There are little tiny bell peppers on those plants and the eggplant have blooms that should bloom in the next day or two. So far everything looks healthy and are doing really well. Can't wait to have fresh tomatoes and some of that basil with some good mozzarella.
That's us. (Thanks John for taking the pictures for us, and you were right, that wasn't a great background.)
Yep, that's me under the hat. That hat and the massive amounts of SPF 70 lotion I packed managed to keep me from getting burned. That's a good thing.
Yep, that's a piece of frozen Key Lime pie dipped in chocolate. So yummy and so worth the calories.
I think you can tell from this picture of me and John that the wind was pretty bad.
The next morning I had breakfast with my friend John. It was a great day to hang out and do some more knitting on the project.
There's been some knitting
Oh and some goodies received in the mail that apparently I only took a picture of this package from DF Jean:
There were 2 packages with yarn goodness from a raffle that I need to get a picture of for a future post.
