Wednesday, January 30, 2013

WIPW: Another Fabulous Wednesday

After a trial period, I must admit, multiple projects at once does not work for me. The only thing that gets done is what lives in my bag, and anything not in there does not get worked on.

So, I am clearing the needles. Sweater, done. Sock 1, completed. Evenstar, ready for the light of day.

Well, I am coy, and I will wait for Friday to talk about the sweater. I will just put one photo up.


 This is my leftover yarn. Yes, after seaming and weaving in the ends.


 I am looking forward to picking this back up this week. I have just been so stressed after work that I have not wanted to spin recently. I have a theory that spinning exponetially increases the dust and fluff found in a house. I have found some monster dust bunnies since starting spinning. Fiber is sticky stuff.

Here is my main squeeze this week. I cast on Monday for sock #2. I got to the pattern on Tuesday. Being trapped on a plane greatly helps sock progress. Hopefully sitting in class will work the same way.


Oh yeah, because I did finish the first sock of the mutant monkeys.


Yeah, one of my rooms has several monkey stickers on the walls. Not my idea, it came with the house. Considering I thought this yarn was self striping, the crazy variegated is still charming, but surprising. I decided to break into the 2nd ball from the start, because, there is no way that I could get them to match, and I know I would have a jog in the pooling if I had to put in a new ball part way through. I guess it will be added to the never ending pile of odd small balls of fingering weight sock yarn. I need to find sock patterns that use them up. At this point I have scraps from what, 32 pairs? That's a lot of scraps.

On top of my foot is how far I was Monday night. I made pretty decent progress. I bet I will have this pair finished soon.

On deck, getting carried around is Evenstar. Hopefully I remember where I left off. I have some highlighter tape on the row I left off on. And I can read my knitting fairly well. If it turns out I can't bead in class I'll start a pair of socks. Not sure what pattern, or what yarn.

I know my next sweater will be Elphaba, and my next shawl will be Summer Blooms Shawl. My queue has plenty of socks. It is just a matter of picking one. But, I will only be doing them one at a time. I knit to finish, and it takes way way way longer to finish if there is a ton of stuff happening at once. I need the hit of completion more than the thrill of the new.


Go check out the other WIPW folks here.

Don't forget to leave a comment here, I am closing the contest at 5PM today. Only a few people actually followed the prompt. No worries if you comment doesn't show up. I don't have computer access in the morning, it will show up this afternoon.

That's all for now, take care guys.

Molly : )

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

An Epic Adventure

Oftentimes with the Dear Sweet Lovable One, any adventure is equal parts fun and disaster. This time I think the fun far outweighed the disaster.

We spent 15 days in Hawaii, and there were a couple of tense moments, like when I found out I should have rented a car before landing, or driving on a demanding road in darkness, or ants . . .

There were so many awesome things we got to do.

Helicopter tour of the Big Island


Cinder cones and lave flows in the saddle between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa


Looking down into the liquid glowing crater of Kilauea.


Lava flowing into the sea from a lava tube.


A super tall waterfall in one of the northern valleys.


The northern coast with waterfalls all over the place.

A picture of us with our intrepid pilot Marco.

Zipline






Hiking

 Read the sign . . .




































Snorkeling









There s no way to look classy in scuba gear.


Interesting rock formation.


Waves crashing at the Place of Refuge.


Bright yellow fish in the water.


 A cave where locals would trade with sailors.


 A cinder cone that apparently looked like Madam Pele

Dolphins!

Sightseeing


 Driving out of the Kona Airport


 Oh My God! The let us off the airplane!

 Kailua-Kona


 We ended up at the back of a Sunday morning cruise.


 I love roads with trees on both sides like this.


 Desert Hawaii, with cacti.



 Pinkies out, for classiness.


 The roasting room of the coffee plantation. This is a medium roast. Some green beans are in the orange bucket.

Some of  the Mauna Kea Observatories. The odd shaped one was the one we toured.






 Our intrepid tour guide of the Subaru Telescope.


Any citizen of Japan can tour the telescope. Some famous anime artists drew on the Robot. He is very strong, he does a good job moving the infrared lenses, it only takes him 2 hours. *shakes head* The Japanese personify and take their robots very seriously.


 Yeah, this telescope is huge.










 Sunset from where we were staying in Kona.

 Luau!


 

Kailua pig, being lifted out of the pit.



 Moonrise on the road to Hana.











Hookipa lookout, a favorite spot for surfers.





Biking to the top of the Volcano on Maui

 Starting at sunrise at the beach in Paia.

 Our first turn, at the rodeo.


Obviously I am having a much harder time, haha!

 

My sad face.



A very demoralizing sign. 22 miles out of 35 total. I made it to 4000ft, the DSLO made it to 8000, the total was 12,000.


The view at 8000 ft.


Me, after biking down to the car, eating breakfast, and driving up to the visitor center. Much happier!


The Crater.

The DSLO standing at a high point.


Note: Feet above clouds on horizon.

 Fun with mirrors.

 USGS marker


Ridiculous helmet hair, after biking the whole way down.

Hanging out at the beach.

Black sand at Wai'pio Valley






 A look into the valley. Afternoon sun really gets in the way.


Hamoa Beach


The view from where we were staying.


The view across the street.

Koki Beech

























So, there you have it.

Take care guys,

Molly : )