I'm Back . . .

I've just returned from a fabulous cruise.  We flew to New York, and sailed up the east coast to Portland, Maine; Bar Harbor, Maine; St. John, New Brunswick; Halifax, Nova Scotia; and back to Boston, MA.

We sailed on the Explorer of the Seas.  A floating city, with every amenity.  I even managed to site two whales one afternoon, when I was on the treadmill.  It pays to exercise in front of a window.

The fall colors were beautiful, but the only thing orange that I took a picture of . . . was me.  Here we are, in front of the oldest working lighthouse in the country (Portland, Maine).  This is truly a place where I would love to live.  Old, victorian style homes with great views of the harbor and many lighthouses.

This lighthouse is in Peggy's Cove, Halifax, Nova Scotia.  I was surrounded by these huge, granite bolders, all set in a quaint little fishing village.

I did find some time to knit.  Here I am on the tender boat, on the way to St. John.  I had to take a project that was small enough to ride in my purse, along with all of the needed yarn.  I decided to try and finish the sleeves of a sweater I started back in the Spring.  Not the most flattering picture.

It was a bit cold and windy.  Steve decided to take along his favorite sweater.  It was knit  years ago, but he continues to drag it out, whenever he is cold.  Oh, and he is standing in the public garden in Halifax.  This is wear many of the dead were burried after the sinking of the Titanic.

"One if by land . . two if by sea".  This is the Old North Church, in Boston, wear laterns were hung in the bellfree to warn of the direction the British would be coming during the Revolutionary War.  We also saw the original home of Paul Revere.

On our way home, we spent a day in New York City.  It was a real treat for me, as I had never been there before.  I've never seen more taxis, people, or fabulous fabric stores.  We ran like crazy, but managed to see everything we hoped to.

We took a harbor cruise, where I was able to see the original Brooklyn Bridge.

But this was my ultimate goal.  Seeing the Statue of Liberty.  The night we sailed out of the New York Habor, it was too foggy to see her at all, and I was afraid I might return home having come so close and never actually being able to take a picture.  But . . . mission accomplished.  Here she is.

This was a trip of a lifetime, that I'll never forget.  Truly the best birthday ever, which I celebrated on the ship.  Thanks to everyone who sent me birthday wishes!

Now that I'm back to reality, the crush of Christmas has fallen upon me.  I will be knitting up a storm in the next few weeks, and hope to have some things to share with all of you knitters out there, soon.  Happy knitting!

Summer's End

I can't believe that another Summer has past, and so quickly too.  Lots of Spring/Summer rain made the season seem so short.

The garden has grown great this year.  Lots of tomatoes, eggplant, green beans, beets, cucumbers, spagetti squash, radishes, pumpkins, lettuce, raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, and of course, lots of zuchinni. 

I hope the first freeze holds off until all of these tomatoes ripen.

This is my strawberry patch.  I've learned alot about raising these this year.  A little mixture of dish soap and water, sprayed on the green berries and leaves, keep the worms from eating the strawberries before they are ripe enough to pick.  We have gotten a lot of strawberries, but they have been really small.

My strawberry pots filled out nicely, but not many berries came from them. 

Like always . . . the zuchinni plants went crazy.  We were disappointed to find that two of our cucumber plants were mismarked at the nursery, leaving us with 4 zuchinni plants, and only one cucumber plant.  I have been trying every zuchinni recipe known to man.  The best one yet, has been for zuchinni brownies.  They are super moist.  However, I'll always think zuchinni cakes (made like crab cakes) are my favorite.

My flowers have been beautiful this years too. These are the pots we have on the front porch.  These are my favorite color geraniums (strawberry fizz).

I've been babbling on about this knitting project for months now.  My "Carmine" is finally finished!  You can read all of the detail on this project at: Lori's Ravelry Projects. 

I'm always a little afraid to try my finished knitting projects on.  I guess I'm always just a little scared they won't fit, and I will have spent all of that time and money for nothing.  Thus, I let "Bula" (my body double) pose for these pictures.

Since Bula is exactly my same size, without a head and arms, I am sure this sweater is going to fit me perfectly.

I learned so much from knitting this pattern, designed by Belinda Boaden.  Along with some new stitch designs, I learned a new method for increasing a raglan sleeve, how to knit perfect waist and arm shaping, and a fabulous neck binding.  We are going on a New England Cruise in a few weeks, and this sweater will get it's maiden voyage (no pun intended) then.

The yarn suggested on the pattern was "Scrumptious" from Fyberspates.  It truly is scrumptious, and a true joy to knit with.  The yarn cost was little "spendy", but the DK weight blend of merino wool and silk were well worth it.  I had 2 1/2 balls of yarn leftover, which could easily be knit into a hat, scarf or socks to match.

I'm knitting away on a new design.  It is a bulky, cabled cardigan, with a hood.  The samples are being knit for my daughter-in-law's Mother and Sister.  They will be warm, mother/daughter sweaters, to be given as Christmas gifts.  However, I hope to have the pattern written and test knit for release at knit-zilla-ravelry-downloads, before Thanksgiving. I'll have some sneak peaks in my next post, along with lots of cruise photos.  Happy knitting . . .