Vacation and a New Project

I recently spent 5 hot, sunny days at Lake Powell, in southeastern Utah.  It was a very relaxing time, with great family time, great food, great views and lots of hot sun.

We played in the kayaks, padeling along the redrock shoreline.

 We rode a tube behind the boat, and waterskied until we thought our arms would fall off.

We goofed around on the houseboat, and wore our swimming suits the entire time.

It was lots of fun!!

I had planned to start a new knitting project while we were there (Carmine, designed by:   Belinda Boaden - THE KNITTER, issue 25).  I had everything I needed, but found the pattern to be a lot more difficult to start, than I had anticipated.  I thought I was an expert knitter, but this pattern is truly testing my skills.  I ended up knitting a few small hats, and teaching Emery and her friend, Sierra, to knit little shoulder bags on knitting looms, for their DSs.

We are back to our real lives now, in beautiful Salt Lake City (picture taken by my niece , Annie Hall), and I have turned my attention back to "Carmine".

It was the waist shaping of this pattern that really caught my eye.  I wanted to learn the techniques employed to make this shaping happen, now realizing that the stitch pattern and sleeve increasing would be the real test of my knitting skills.

Several quiet evenings out on the deck, helped me to get started.  I think I have the stitch pattern in my head now, so it is just a matter of finding quiet knitting time, to really get things moving. 

I am knitting it out of the yarn suggested by Belinda.  It is truly beautiful, a soft blend of merino wool and silk fibers in a sock weight, that are truly a joy to knit with.  I just love this peacock shade, and I am really looking forward to wearing it.

I have a great view from my deck chair too.  August rains have brought some fun to watch clouds across our back yard.

. . . and our garden is thriving.  Lots of tomatoes, eggplant, beets, lettuce, squash, cucumbers, green beans, and strawberries.  However, these flowers happen to be growing on the other side of the fence.

I'll keep you posted on "Carmine", as she progresses.  I'm hoping that she will only get easier from here, and that I will be wearing her soon.  Happy knitting!