finally finished

Success! I finished Elbac last weekend while I was stuck in the parking garage. I may have locked my keys in my car and was waiting for AAA. I only drive to work once every few months, so this was really good timing.



This took me a bit over two years on the calendar to finish, but I had only knit about three inches of it before I put it down for two years. I picked it up again in January of this year, and got quite a bit done on my work trips. I'm very happy with how it turned out after blocking- I stretched it as much as I could and it softened up nicely. It's also the perfect length, as you can see in the above photo.



I learned a ton about "reading" knitting while working on this scarf. I had mostly stuck to simple knit/purl patterns, with one ribbed scarf & hat thrown in over the years. This was my first attempt at cabling, and the two-year break makes it clear that I struggled with it.

But somewhere on that plane to Las Vegas, it clicked and I could tell where I was in the pattern and what came next. I haven't had any luck with my next project (Wisp from Knitty- I've cast on six different times and mess up within the first 10 rows on each), but this was invaluable in teaching me how to actually knit.

Knit on size 7 needles with Rowan RYC Cashsoft DK yarn in a cream colorway- not quite 3 balls.

spring sprang

FINALLY!! I ordered many, many new and exciting seeds from Rare Seeds, and they arrived promptly on Saturday, along with some bonus radish seeds. Now I just need to get my raised beds built so I can try Square Foot Gardening. I read a book over the weekend while on vacation to get me ready for it- it's very straightforward and I can't wait to try!

vacation had to get away

Have I used that headline before? Not sure. I headed down to good ol' Nashville, TN, over the weekend with some girlfriends. It was so refreshing to see green things down there! The trees had already budded and began leafing, the daffodils were out, and the grass was bright green!



This is from the Jack Daniel's Distillery in Lynchburg, TN. It's in a dry county, so no taste testing allowed, sadly. We did get to tour the entire still process, including smelling some fresh "mash" (the grain mixture that is the first step of the fermentation process). Our guide escorted the pregnant member of our tour group out of the way before opening the doors- and for good reason! That stuff is strong! It burned my nose and brought tears to my eyes for a good ten minutes afterwards.



We ate lunch at Miss Mary Bobo's, a Lynchburg institution for Southern home cooking. Let's just say that the quantities of sweet tea consumed on this trip vastly outweighed the booze, and that's sayin' something!

it's nellie time

more of New Nellie!








and one of Bristow, for good measure

cannons in closeup

Cannon details at Castillo de San Marco, St. Augustine, Florida.

meet new puppy

Meet New Puppy! I adopted her yesterday and have not yet decided on a name. She is a super sweet dog- 1 to 2 year old shepherd mix, gets along with my other dog, and loves to be petted. She's just what we (Bristow and I) were looking for!

st. augustine in pictures

Beach at Fort Matanzas


From the top of Castillo de San Marco


Castillo de San Marco


Drawbridge at Castillo de San Marco


Beachcombers, St. Augustine


Beach at St. Aug