Lace Retreat and Vacation Plans

Last weekend I went on a lace retreat and it was such a fun time! I got to spend the entire weekend with a really good friend (here is her etsy shop) and we just giggle and talked. I got to knit on lace and be with a lot of other ladies (some of them were Rockstars from my local knitting group) and it was great fun. We knit lace from a chart and the Knitting Fairy showed us some easy ways to fix lace knitting (without going too far back).

Ronda (she gave me permission to use her real name) and I realized that we are more alike than we thought. We are both afraid of the dark (yes – I know it is silly, but that is the way I am). And our imaginations work in the same ways. We compared stories and it was too funny.

Here is a picture of our projects.

See the dark green one at the top right? that one is mine.

We got this lovely yarn called Sterling by Kraemer and I really like how it knits up. I like it so much that I ordered enough for a couple of shawls. (Yes I said a couple). I have been telling the Big Texan that I need to have two ‘All purpose’ shawls for going to the theater or musicals (or whatever). I need one in white or cream and one in black. Since this yarn knits so easily and is so pretty – I decided it was the right yarn for the projects.

We also used Brook Farm’s Fourplay on our practice swatch and it is some terrific yarn. I am going to order some after I get back from vacation. I got to meet the lady who owns Brooks Farm yarn and I must say she was a gracious and lovely person. I look forward to seeing her again at some other retreats. Now – I am going to shamelessly plug her yarns. Everyone should buy from her. I have to admit that the last three large purchases of yarns that I have made were all Brooks Farm purchases. I have enough of her yarn to make a couple of sweaters. It is so soft and the colors are so pretty.

I will be going on another Knitting Fairy retreat in September and I am looking forward to that as well. I was going to go to the one in December – but decided that I would prefer the one in September. Two of the neatest ladies will be at the one in September and I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see them again. It is one of my Rockstar friends and her mom. I love them both like they were my own family. But I also think that I will LOVE doing a Sock Knitting retreat. I have never come away from a retreat without learning something WONDERFUL and making at least one new friend.

I didn’t realize until earlier this month that I would be gone for several weekends in a row and it is weird to be leaving again so quickly.

I can’t believe we are leaving for our vacation in only three days.

So much to do and so little time.

Ok – here is the scoop. I am writing because I honestly don’t know if I will have time to podcast before we leave. I am going to try to do it tonight – but I know that other things can get in the way and sometimes stuff happens.

For example, I was going to podcast LAST night and we got tickets to the theater (free – box seats) and we did that instead.

Anyway… back to the scoop.

The Big Texan and I are driving up to South Dakota. Yup – driving (even with the price of gas). We are going to see all of our sons in the next two weeks as well (it is really cool when I think about it that way). We are driving from Fort Worth, Texas up to Kansas City and we will see Army Guy and Army Wife. We plan on having the evening together and spending the night with them.

The next day we will drive up to Sundance, Wyoming to spend the night. We will go and see the Devil’s tower (remember from the movie “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”? What? You didn’t see it? Oh you should put it on your Netflix list. Just remember this was in the beginning of special effects, and it should be taken in that context.)

Then we will go and see Mount Rushmore and the Crazy horse monument. These are both sites that Big Texan & I are very interested in. (I have to admit, we are a little boring). Our next leg of the journey will take us to the Badlands of South Dakota. The Big Texan has wanted to visit there ever since seeing the movie “Jurassic Park”. What can I say? We love movies.

Then we will start on our way to Chicago. We are going to drive to Sioux Falls to spend the first night. I don’t know if there is anything to do in Sioux Falls – but we will be tired anyway. We will go from there to Rockford (just outside of Chicago) and spend the night. Why are we stopping just short of Chicago? Because the Fold is there (in Marengo) and that is the only yarn store that I have asked to visit. We will get up in the morning and go to the store and then drive into Chicago.

We plan on having lunch with a very good friend. He is one of the people that introduced the Big Texan and me to each other. We are also going to have dinner with another friend as well as Marine Man & Marine Wife. Both of the friends we are visiting have the same first name – but one is a younger man and the other is an elderly woman – How funny is that?! Anyway, we are going to have meals with friends and family and then spend the night With Marine Man & Marine Wife. They have just moved into a small apartment, so we will be sleeping on the floor. It should be quite an adventure.

After Chicago, we are going to drive south to Nashville and visit more friends. Then we are either going to drive back to Fort Worth or stop in Hot Springs, Arkansas to visit more family. It just depends on how tired we are of driving and how badly we want to get home.

When we get home Navy Nuke, Navy Wife, Sea Tot and Mini-Sea tot will be at our house. They should be all settled in and we should be able to love and snuggle on the kiddos!

I am looking forward to this trip and to having a wonderful time seeing the Midwest. It will be my first driving trip to go out of Texas. Don’t get me wrong – I have driven/ridden pretty far before, but never out of Texas. How? Well – when I lived in Houston, we drove to El Paso to visit my grandparents. That is a 750 mile trip. Seems crazy, doesn’t it?

Now I have to worry about what I am going to pack. Oh not in the clothes area – but in the KNITTING area. I am going to be in the car all that time and the Big Texan has already offered to do most of the driving. (That is the BEST part of the whole thing). So I will be able to knit a LOT.

I have already decided that I need to bring all of my Option and Harmony needles (you can find them on Knitpicks). That way I will have EVERY needle size I could possibly need. Since I am pretty monogamous on projects, I don’t have a lot of my needle tips in projects. I am going to take all the projects that I have on the needles (I think). That would give me three lace projects and a baby blanket project. The lace projects are the Hemlock Ring shawl (which is coming along again and the pattern is getting easier to write), a Stole project (that has pages and pages of charts) and a lace scarf project. I know I can get the lace scarf done in a short time, it is the project that I started the last weekend at the lace retreat. I also think I am on the tail end of the Hemlock ring shawl. But the Stole project may be a bit much. It isn’t an easy pattern to begin with and I don’t think it will travel very well. (Gee – I think I just talked myself out of taking that one).

I want to take a sweater project (Ophelia comes to mind – because I have wanted to make that for quite a while now). I also want to take a couple of skeins of sock yarn and make socks.

Does that seem crazy? I really want to make sure that I have enough to knit on and I won’t get bored. But I also want to make sure that I don’t just tote yarn all around the country. I think I will also put a skein or two of cotton in my bag so that if I need a break I can make a washcloth.

I am going to have about 55 hours of knitting time. I know, I can’t believe I sat here and figured it out too, but I did. WOW – that is a lot of knitting time. And that is just IN THE CAR! If I decide to knit in the evenings - I will have even more time. WOW!!

I am so excited now!

Ok – so what I am thinking about bringing is NOT unreasonable! Not at all!

Tonight I am going to go through my project bags. I will make sure that I have all the patterns and everything that I will need.

Ooooh – this is so exciting!

Episode 19 is up!