I'm Back!

Skip and I left Sarasota on March 30 and drove to Panama City to visit friends we met on the Irish knitting tour last fall. We had a splendid time. Skip and Marv golfed (as they had done in Kilarney in November) and Mary and I drove along Panama City Beach, had a lovely lunch and shopped for fabric before returning, collecting Skip and Marv and joining Jim at the Shrimp Boat in St. Andrew's.

Marv, Mary, Geri, Skip and Jim

The next day we began our drive northward, spending nights near Nashville TN, Fort Wayne IN and my sister's in Petrolia ON. We arrived home at about noon on Friday.

It has taken us all week to get unpacked (more or less) and organized again. We've been reconnecting with friends and getting things in order - phone and TV service reconnected, bills paid, new car's first oil change (it just flipped over 8,000km this morning), old car cleaned out and cleaned up for Skip, etc. etc.

I am on the picot/bindoff row on the Sweet Dreams shawl. I haven't touched it since just before leaving FL and can probably finish it up this evening. It's pretty tedious: *cast on 3 sts, bind off 5, repeat from * (yawn). But it will be splendid when it's done and I get it blocked. My goal is to wear it to the Knitter's Frolic in a couple of weeks.

I finished the second Man in the Brown Suit sock. I love the rich rust colour and know they will be very nice to wear in the autumn.

On the autumnal theme, I started Flying Buttress socks, again using the tubular cast on. It's kinda fiddly but I really like the resulting look.

Here's the first one done. The 1 x 1 cables are easy-peasy. Knit into the second stitch. Then without slipping the sts off the left needle, knit into the first stitch then slip them off the left needle (you'll have the 2 new sts on the right needle). It's a little more fiddly doing the cable the other way so the usual front cable would work. Next time I knit these, I'll mirror the 1 x 1 cables up the side.

Here are the flying buttresses from the front of the sock.

And the inspiration for the design...

from Wikipedia: Brouage, San Luc powder store, Flying buttress, France

I visited a new yarn shop that just opened in downtown Oshawa today, Wool on William at 5 William St. West. There are the beginnings of a nice selection of yarns, from standard commercial brands to high end. I look forward to seeing how the inventory expands. There is a also a nice assortment of resin and wooden buttons.

Donna and I then visited Soper Creek Yarn in Bowmanville. I hadn't been there in ages and was pleased to see that Tina has expanded into the unit to the east. The door was already there and the landlord is the same so it was a relatively easy expansion.

I came away with a skein of denim-ish coloured sock yarn and a skein of Misti Alpaca cotton blend yarn which may become a linen stitch scarf - after finishing up a couple of UFOs, that is.

Deadline for this year's Homecraft entries to the Brooklin Fair is approaching quickly - April 19. I need to organize what I'll enter this year.