Safely Delivered!

We flew above Sandy all the way from Atlanta-beautiful scenery,  awesome to think this storm was so big!

So nice to walk up the hall and see my family!!!!

Tourist Time

 Since we have out of state friends visiting, we decided to take them on a tour today to the beach and to Fort Matanzas.  On the nature walk, we got a bonus of several dolphins playing in the river!

 At the fort, we saw this flock of Ibis with a large family of young birds!

 The Florida sunshine was brilliant but the cold front from the north caused quite a chill-in the low 60's-can you say brrrrrrrrrrr!?!  So glad you have Neal and Helen here from North Syracuse, NY.

 After a great lunch at the South Beach Grill, we took a long walk on the beach.  Sandy is giving a wonderful surf!

 This guy has the right idea about finding a place out of the wind and in the sunshine!
(A Gopher Tortoise)

 The beach was at low tide and just full of shells and flotsam to delight beach combers!

So long to our visitors...........look forward to another visit soon!

Girl Day Celebration

 I had the most amazing day today!  Bill drove me to Cassandra's and then I went to her sonogram appointment.  Her Mom and sisters met us there and we had a whole peanut gallery oohing and aahing over this little one!    She is about 4lbs and 15" long now at 32 weeks..

 All the sisters.........

 And the grandmas!  (see all the girls reflected in the window behind us-funny!)

 We celebrated with a 'build your own ice cream' afterwards!  Those are chocolate rocks as topping on mine!  Hmmmmm, delicious!  And for the record, I slobbed one down the front of me and made a royal mess!  What a wonderful time!

 Some travel knitting-I am almost finished with the second pair of watermelon socks-no beads on this pair as it is for David!

I am so comfortable with the new wheel already-it is a delight to spin on!

Mission Accomplished

Yes, Houston, we have yarn...........40 yards of Navajo plied Peruvian wool.
The new wheel is well,  delightful!

Parts of a Whole

 The kitties get as excited as I do when there is a new package!

 Can you guess what this is?

 This will give you some help!

 I set up the waxing and polishing station in my sewing room this morning and got to work (pleasure).

 Then this afternoon we had a wonderful visit , my brother, sis-in-law and nephew took a ride to see us!  So nice to have them share some of their vacation time with us!

 When they left, I finished the last of the spinning wheel assembly!  Isn't it a beauty?!

I sat right down and began to spin with some left over Peruvian wool roving for the test drive.  

Ahhhhhh, the wheel and I are friends right from the start!  I love the ascetics of this wheel but have longed to have the height of the orifice higher than it is with the Joy wheel.  Yes, this wheel just fits just right.

Woolens

 A package of wool in the mail........

 opens to a delicious sheepish smell of unwashed wool!

 I put it right in to wash-this is only an 8 oz package so it fits on the stove.  It chases Bill out of the house but I like the smell!

 I laid it out to dry in my sewing room under the fan to dry as it was raining outside!

 The first two batts off the carder-such softness! (I am keeping the particulars of the fiber a secret until I have the project well under way-it will make sense later. ) I have a lot on my mind right now, the slow motions of working with the wool is very relaxing to me!

 I finished the mitts I was knitting-all the ends sewn in and ready to wear!  This one is a mystery wool-very soft so I think it was a lamb of a medium wool.

This is from some Merino I was gifted in the Spring.

We Interrupt the Busies....

                             for some leisure time!   

We took a little trip to Cocoa Beach to spend a few days with our good friends.  Their condo is near the launching port for cruises so we had a constant flow of ships-very interesting to watch.  

The ocean worked its unwinding magic on our minds and bodies, too.

 I finished up some knitting on the way down.......I made these taller than usual but I wanted to use up all the yarn; I did.

 These are for Abigail-interesting how the pattern was different for each pair!  The yarn is sport weight and on #3 needles, they were both a quick knit.

And while at Cocoa Beach, I got in some good knitting time, too. This is knit with some hand spun Merino yarn        Can I just say that it was a wonderful few days.

Porch Sale and Stuff

 See the portable garage in the background?  Bill and I are emptying it to move it away from the living area of our yard.  We are going through all the stuff that is in it pretty much since we moved here almost 6 years ago!

 We now have more space than boxes!  Progress is slow and scary-think cock roaches, big ones and rats.....I point to the box and Bill checks it first then I empty it!

 Most of the stuff is just going to the dump.

 But some treasures are uncovered and beautiful!  A Howe treadle sewing machine.

 The rest of the treasures are going up for sale; like these four wooden chests.  We have a busy time in the morning and then the sales pretty much dwindle which is working out okay because we are still getting afternoon rains!  (this is why we are having a porch sale and not a yard sale!)

 I have finished the watermelon socks!  These will bring a whimsical smile this winter!

 I made this pumpkin block on one of my breaks from the sale.  I think I am going to make some more!  This is paper piecing at its simplest!

A new pair of socks are on the needles already-these are for Marsel.

Starting the Week a Day Late

 I had a surprise package in the pile of mail when I got home yesterday!  A friend brought a huge pile of sock yarn to my mom's for ME!  Mom knew I would love to get a preview of the pile and so she mailed me some!  Yippee!  You can never have too much yarn, right?!  Thank you to Sharon for your generosity and for Mom who doesn't like to wait for good things either!

I loaded the embroidered quilt for Millie on the frame again this morning and changed the threads and designs from the disastrous first attempt and it is progressing wonderfully this time!

Now off to do some major cleaning out for a joint yard sale this Thursday and Friday.....

A GrandParent Blessing

 One of the blessings of being within driving distance (albeit on the fringe of driving distance!) we can make a last minute decision to travel to be witnesses to the baptism of our grand daughter!

 If you remember, a few years ago our grandson was baptized in Lake Altoona but it is being drained this year and their church had to make other arrangements!  It was wonderful to be a part of this important milestone.

 Afterwards, we all went out to dinner!

 On Saturday, we ladies had a yarn shop hop and this is what we bought!

 I finished the sweater set on the trip up and was able to gift it while we were there!

Another project we accomplished over the weekend was hand sewing the binding to the quilt Marsel made for Abigail!  Isn't it just perfect!