Sunday, August 20, 2006

Sand, Sun, and Lace



Maurice turned 42 this weekend, and he wanted to hit the beaches of Orange County to celebrate. We made our way via train, bus, and another train to the St. Regis Resort on Monarch Beach, which is in/near Dana Point. VERY nice. Nice weather, nice beach, nice place, nice pool, etc...




This is the view from our room. Not a bad way to spend a weekend.

I tried to knit during the train trip. I honestly did. I was being ambitious and thought I could start my lace project. I copied the pattern, put it in a nice little page protector, took stitch markers to make it all neat and keep track of my place, and it was all supposed to be great. Except, lace is HARD! The knitting was not hard, just a bunch of yarn overs and k2togs, etc. Keeping track of where I was was hard. Not ending up with more or less stitches that I was supposed to was hard.

Then the pattern did this weird zig zag thing with the pattern repeat, and after consulting Maurice and Alex, who were no help whatsoever but were basically my only option, I sort of figured it out on my own. Did I mention there was a knit 7 together in this thing? Yes, I really said seven. I stressed, but I got that part. Then at the end of the row of 115 stitches with 8 k7tog clusters, I ended up to too many stitches left over. SO I HAD TO TAKE IT OUT! (Just that row) At that point, I decided I would have better luck in the privacy of my own home.

So I listened to some knitting podcasts I had downloaded on my ipod. I listened to lime and violet and CastOn. Talk about totally different, yet both got me through the Grapevine on a bus. Thank God listening to knitting is almost as satisfying as doing it. Better, I believe, than screwing it up, too. Here is my knitting enjoying the sea breeze on the balcony of my room.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey Cindy,
Strangely, it makes me feel better to hear that you sometimes have to take things off the needles - I feel like I've started and restarted more projects than I will ever finish!
K7 together????? I want to see that in person! Glad you had a great trip and looking forward to Thursday. Lisa

Anonymous said...

O.K. I am with Lisa-it somehow makes me feel a tiny bit better about my Beginner-Status that you can actually start a project and be challenged by it. What little bit is on the needles looks pretty!
Here's a proposal for you--How about giving thought to some pretty, but quick to finish knitting project I can do with whatever FABULOUS yarn I purchase on our Field Trip??? I need inspiration from you-The Knitting Teacher Of Mine. Thanks, Tracy

Cindy said...

Tracy - did your kids change schools? Or are you hiding in the car? I haven't seen you all week!

I tried emailing you and it came back. Apparently, you only accept email from people in your address book. Am I not worthy?

Anyway, are we meeting at Ancient Pathways at 10 on Thurs? How about mittens? They aren't hard, take only a little yarn, and introduce you to knitting in the round without having to commit to a sock.
Plus, you have something to show for your work that is very practical.

Anonymous said...

I am thinking you must have typed my email address in incorrectly, because I get emails from people without ever emailing them 1st or adding them to my address book. Mittens sound slightly scarey, but I am sure I am just being wimpy. Please bring along the pattern and supply list--I am Up for the challange!!!! I have been at school, I have seen your car and Emily---but not you! I've seen Lisa both days too!!! I think it's you who has been hiding??? Hey, didi your mom find something wonderful for me at the scrapbook convention? I am looking forward to hearing all about her weekend. See you tomorrow-10am or earlier if you want to meet in the bakery next door to eat something naughty (or is that knotty)Hee-Hee ahead of time??