How could I resist??

As I finished my first pair of socks, my grandson immediately noticed the small quantity of leftover yarn. He wanted to know what I was going to do with it. My mistake was to pause to think what I would possibly do with such a little bit of yarn.  “You could make me a hat,” he said.  ?????? He actually wanted me to make him a hat, a homemade-my-grandmother-made-if-for-me-hat? In Spring? In Atlanta?   A few hours later he was back, looking around and wanted to know if I had made it yet.  Sure, all beginning knitters are speedy!   I explained that it would take me a bit to make the hat, so maybe it would be finished the next time he visited.  In the meantime, we had some renovations and family visited for the weekend. On Saturday I took my sister-in-law to the local yarn shop.  She had brought a needlepoint project with her to work on in the car, but was running out of yarn. That gave us the perfect excuse to run to the knitting and needlepoint shop here in town.  While they fixed her up with what she needed, I ran to the knitting section to find some extra yarn for the hat. I knew there wouldn’t be enough with just the sock leftovers. Today the sorry little hat was finished. (The wide green stripe in the center was the extra yarn-doesn’t it match well? I was so pleased, especially since I didn’t think to bring the sock bits with me, it was a total guess)  Grandson put the hat on and hasn’t taken it off yet. Have I mentioned that it is warm enough that we had the air conditioning on yesterday? its been in the 80s for the past few days, and he is wearing a wool hat!  I’m very pleased that he is so pleased, but look at that face, could you have said no???

 

Spring Break

began even before we returned from our camping trip. We had the grandchildren for the duration. Again the weather was mostly nasty, so we didn’t get to do the things I would have liked to do with them. One day it finally stopped raining, was sunny and even reached into the 70’s. We headed out to some local parks to do some walking, then to a playground to burn off some steam. Here are some of the spring blooms we encountered along the way.

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And here we have the socks,

Finally finished. These are the ones that I made so much progress on while we were camping...in the rain. A while back I ordered a kit that included yarn, two Addi turbo circular needles and two videos on how to knit socks on circular needles. One video was how to knit one at a time and using a gusset heel. The second was two at a time with a dropped row heal. I did the two at a time. I'm thrilled to have finished a pair of socks and to be actually able to wear them. I do have a few issues that I need to get straightened out before I make another pair. There were one or two places in the instructions that were not clear to me. If you are a knitter and looked at the socks, you could probably guess which part of the instructions I mean.{no, I will not show pictures of those parts) I will talk to some more experienced knitters and get this straightened away. Can't wait to start another pair with yarn that I have picked out.

By the way, the twins are fraternal, very fraternal....yes, I know (in theory) about starting at the same place in the yarn. But I didn't know the yarn was self striping. The yarn was center pull, I started each at the beginning and they both started with a blue and white effect, so I thought it was all good. Turns out that one was the reverse order of the other. Well, darn! Anyway, they are done and I am mostly happy with them, and I will wear them.

Skidaway Island camping trip

We recently spent a week with some camping friends at Skidaway Island State Park, here is our trip:

Going to Skidaway we encountered some of the worse rain I have ever driven in- and we drove for about six hours! We arrived during a lull in the storm, and were able to set up in the dry. We did all the outside setting up, left the inside for later, and drove over to say hello to the rest of the group. Tow of our friends had picked out one of the handicapped sites for us, I think that it must have been the best site in the park, and of course, it was close to the bathrooms. The only down side is that it was so far from the rest of the group, too far for DH to walk. It was a large, large site, a lot of brush before any neighbors, quiet and without mud. The rest of the group was closer to the swamp, had noisy frogs and a lot of mud with all the rain. It certainly was perfect for us.
Anyway, we drove over to visit the group. Jack, a yellow lab, thought DH had brought him the neatest new toy, it was hysterical. He saw the tennis balls on the walker and just wouldn’t leave them alone. He kept digging and pawing at them, determined to get a ball to play with. Oddly, none of the other 13canines were interested. We only had a short visit before the rain started again and everyone headed for their campers. Not much later, the TORNADO siren sounded, and we headed for the restrooms

.DH made his first visit to a ladies room, where we sat on the seat in the shower and waited for the all clear. We were in a different restroom than the rest of the group; we had fewer people-and much fewer dogs. I don't think all of the other campers realized what the siren was about. Spring time sirens in GA-if the weather is bad, you know what it means-tornadoes in the area, take cover. I slept in my clothes that night.
Sunday was one of God's more beautiful days, as was Monday. Sunday a pair of friendsgrilled burgers and franks for us. They picked up salads and such and we all chipped in to cover the costs, the athletes among us got in some practice for Washers, trying to determine who will represent us at the Olympics in London. (Washers is a game similar to horseshoes, the group joke is that we will send a team to the 2012 Olympics we even have uniforms planned)
Monday we ordered pizza and we also had a round of washers. This time the festivities were at our site, complete with laughter around the campfire.
Tuesday was overcast, but DH and I attempted one of the trails. The ground was hard packed, but rocky. It was not easy with the walker, so we didn’t get very far, but we tried!

The weather stayed dry long enough that one friend, DH and I went into Savannah a bit early so that we could walk the riverfront before meeting everyone at Paula Deen's restaurant. The friend did the walking, DH and I mostly sat on the benches watching people and boats and listening to the street musicians. We found that the cobblestones and old, cracked sidewalks were not walker friendly at all. To push the wheelchair would have been impossible. I’m glad we left it in the car.
Wednesday it rained, and rained. We all did our own thing. A small group of us drove out to Tybee Island to have dinner at a place one gal remembered from past visits to the area. If you ever go to Tybee, visit the Crab Shack. Don't be put off by the kitsch and tacky (surely the tackiest place ever seen by human eyes!) the food was great. Yummmmmm.

Thursday it rained some more, with warnings of the possibility of more tornado activity at night. That evening we all went to a restaurant a few miles from the campground. Oh, WOW! Wonderful food with humongous windows overlooking the waterway. Some great lightening moments, too. Back to the campground to spend MORE time in our camper.--you know how the sound of rain on a tin roof evokes images of lazy summer days and quiet moments???

Not so much!

This rain pelted us mightily for days, sort of an amplified Chinese Water torture, when it finally stopped, the silence was almost painful. I slept in my clothes again that night. I stayed up until about 1 pm, waiting out the storm, prepared to drag DH from bed into the shelter if need be. Our nice, ‘high’ campsite became lakefront property- if it had rained much longer it would have been an island! Here’s a shot of our lake it is between our camper and the road.

I must say, the bad weather had an upside; I made progress knitting my socks! Only have the toes to go. Will have to remember in the future that knitting is so much more portable than my quilting. I have toyed with the idea of bringing some along, but this is so much more compact and 'do-able'.

Friday was very nice. DH and I went back to Tybee Island to visit Fort Pulaski and the Tybee Island Lighthouse

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We tried stopping back at the Crab Shack for lunch, but the parking lot was full up. One of our friends cooked a pork roast for dinner and everyone brought a side. She also made a key lime pie for dessert and provided a beverage she is quite a cook and entertains frequently.

Evaluation- People, dogs and food were great; rain, mud, bugs were awful ( I look like I have the measles, I'm so bitten up) You can tell the weather was bad when the best part of a camping trip report was the restaurant reviews!