Sale!

I missed the whole Memorial Day sale-fest (well, at least from the consumer side of things) so I figured it would be ok to splurge on this:

this:


and this:


Ok, well, not so much of a splurge as the first two are on sale for $5.50 on amazon.com. Gasp! What a steal! I threw in the Vintage Socks book to take advantage of the free shipping. (Plus, we don't have that one at Hilltop yet).

Thanks to the KnottyGnome for the hot sale tip!

Eye Candy Friday

Flynno and I started a tradition a while back where we take a silhouette photo of ourselves on all vacations. This one is at the Haleakala Crater. This place is magnificent. It's over 10,000 ft. above sea level and is the one place on Maui where it SNOWS! It was fairly warm - about 50 degrees F. the day we went up. The drive included lots of grazing cows (no fences! - they would walk off the pasture right on to the road), a lavender farm, B & B's and many of these amazing Jacaranda trees.

For a good half hour of the drive we went through clouds. I thought it was going to be cold and rainy at the top - turns out we were just pushing through the cloud line to pure sunshine.
One more shot of Haleakala - note the cloud line below.

And another of the drive.

Next, the road to Hana. This terrain was a little more like I expected on Maui.

and this... The Seven Sacred Pools outside of the town of Hana

We went to a red sand beach:


A black sand beach:


And snorkeled in a crater (not in Hana - in Molokini - hopefully the underwater camera pictures will turn out.) It is a magical place.

My tan is starting to fade and I'm clinging on to the Neutrogena self-tanner bottle. If the weather holds through the weekend we'll put the boat in the water. It's not Maui, however summers in Seattle are pretty darn swell. Happy Friday!

IK Summer 2007 Socks

While I adore the sweater on the Summer 2007 cover, my mind is on SOCKS! I eagerly dove into the article "A Better Sock from the Toe Up". The toe-up sock guide is super helpful and was a great tool in helping me modify the "On Your Toes Socks" to fit the gauge of my yarn. I'm still in progress with the first one - I couldn't wait to finish to show it off!


Pattern: On-Your_Toes Socks (Ann Budd) IK Summer 2007

Yarn: Hazel Knits Artisan Sock, color: Zinnia Bloom

Modifications: My gauge on this yarn is 8 sts, so following the chart, I cast on 12, followed the increasing rules until I was at 60 sts. I'm not sure why I stopped at 60 sts. (actually I do know why - it was a subliminal thing from a conversation I had with a colleague at the yarn store) although it worked out fine. I'll do 64 on the second sock since that is my "regular" number. I also knit to 6.5", however I probably should have knit to 7" for just a little more give. I'm ok with these socks being fraternal twins. It's the process and learning aspect that is most important to me on these socks.

This was my first toe-up. I don't know why I resisted for so long - now that I've done it, this will most likely be my new preferred cast-on for basic socks.

I've been hiding away...

In Maui baby!


Seven glorious days on the beach.

We went there for this:

Our good friends, Chris and Kristen's wedding. Notice the officiant - Flynno! He is a licensed boat captain so he can perform weddings on the water but he had to get a "reverend by mail" certification so he could marry his best buddy. What an honor. It was lovely! There was a big group of us for the wedding - we spend lots of time doing this:

(me catching a whole bikini bottom-ful of sand trying to get my flippers off)

A little of this:


And a lot of this:

Big smiles all around.

The best pictures are on Flynn's camera - poor guy had to get up early for work today - so the big recap is to come soon.

We're already figuring out ways to get back - I'm sure the common sentiment for those who vacation there. Aloha!