Spring

I can't believe I forgot to share this photo of our knitting retreat tees; Kristin bought them for us from Cafe Press, and we think they're adorable.  It's getting to the point where I need a separate bin for all my knitting themed clothing, but that's a good thing, I think.  

 

Speaking of knitting, have you been following the March Madness that Mason-Dixon Knitting has put together?  It's a great way to showcase some patterns, and one of the designers, Nell, of NellKnits, is local.  She's been working with BaaBaa Sheep, my local yarn store.  Unfortunately, her sweater pattern, Crete, didn't make it to the second round, but it definitely made it into my knitting queue. Nell designs patterns that are beautiful yet incredibly wearable, if that makes sense.  Check out her Ravelry page, when you have the time.

 

I went to see two movies last weekend, and I enjoyed both.  The Sense of an Ending, with Jim Broadbent, Charlotte Rampling, and Emily Mortimer, was an adaptation of a Julian Barnes novel, and quite good.  The other movie, was a French film, Things To Come, and was shown on Sunday morning, at a weekly event the Naro does called FirstLook Film Forum.  It's an advance screening of a film, along with coffee, bagels, and a discussion and critique about the film. Even though I hardly ever see a movie at any other theater, I had never attended a FirstLook Forum.  It feels a little odd to me to sit in a movie theater so early on a Sunday morning, but it's also kind of nice.  Apparently there's a core group that attends and I think it'll be a nice way to develop some new aquaintences with similar interests.  This morning I saw a really emotionally intense movie from Iran, The Salesman.  I think it won an Oscar this year, and if I'm correct, it was well deserved.

 

Afterwards, I went for a long walk, so I could enjoy the warm weather and spring flowers.  Speaking of spring flowers, my tulips are just starting to bloom.

 

 These are the tulips from my stepdaughter's wedding and luckily they continue to multiply.  

 

 

 

These are some type of naturalized flower that I see in a lot of neighboring yards, but I don't know what it is.

 

Here is a close up; they are little onion type bulbs, but that's really all I know.  I transplanted a bunch of them last year to my corner flowerbed, but there are still quite a few sprinkled randomly across the yard.  

 

I've also amassed quite a little collection of succulents, and I quite like how they look clustered together.

 

And Gracie continues to rule the roost around here, often from her new favorite perch.  I moved the hutch I had been using in the craft room to the kitchen a few months ago.  My kitchen has very little storage space, having been built in the fifties, and since I had plenty of room for it, I thought it would be a good move.  So far, I like it, and Gracie loves it.

 

Last night she was snuggled up in bed with me like this.

 

Is that not the cutest?

 

I only have two more weeks until spring break; I'm not going anywhere this year.  I have a dental surgery appointment and once I feel better, I hope to do some yard work.  And reading and relaxing.  Other than that, I really don't have plans, which sounds pretty good to me.

Goings On

I sat down to write a post and began scrolling through the photos on my phone, which is what I usually do when I post.  As it turns out, I haven't taken very many pictures since the retreat, which was two weeks ago.  This is very unusual for me and I'm not sure why this is.  I've been working a lot, but that's not new.  I have been reading quite a lot, which doesn't really inspire a lot of photo taking, so maybe that's the reason.  I use the GoodReads app but only to keep track of what I've read and more importantly, of the books I want to read, as I come across reviews, blog posts, or other recommendations.  It's been a game changer for me, as I used to keep lists in spiral notebooks, which I never seemed to have with me when I was at the library or book store.  Now, when I visit the library, pretty much a weekly event for me these days, I just pull up my list and start searching.  Or just as often, I'll sit at home and use the online catalog to place a hold on a book from my list, then pick it up at my local branch when I'm notified.  I'll list a few of my more recent reads:

• On Turpentine Lane, by Elinor Lipman
• Paris for One and Other Stories, by Jojo Moyes
• Pied Piper, by Nevil Shute
• A Town Like Alice, by Nevil Shute
• We Are All Made of Stars, by Rowan Coleman
• The Novel Habits of Happiness, by Alexander McCall Smith
• Stone Coffin, by Kjell Eriksson
• The Cold Cold Ground, by Adrian Mckinty

 

This is a very eclectic list, but these are ones I'd recommend; but it definitely depends on the type of fiction you want to read, doesn't it? Some of these are quite dark and some are complete fluff.  I need both.

 

I took a picture of a shawl I started this week, when I need something to work on that was mindless.  This is a Hitchhiker shawl, using Dragonfly Fibers yarn in the Van Gogh's Sunflowers color way.  Perfect name for those colors.  I went to a coffee shop on Tuesday night to hear some Irish music and knew I'd need something to work on, so I grabbed this off of my yarn room floor.  

 

Lastly, I wanted to share another project I've been working on and that's me!  I went to the doctor in January and after she looked at the results of my blood work, told me I either needed to change my diet or I was running a serious and fairly immediate risk of developing diabetes.  So I cut out as much sugar as I could, drastically reduced the amount of carbs I eat, and increased protein.  Basically, I went on a diabetic food plan in order to prevent diabetes.  As a result, I've lost 31 lbs so far and I'm pretty happy with my progress.  It was super hard at first, but now it's become pretty routine.  A picture popped up on my Facebook page from last year's yarn retreat and I was so pleased at the difference, that I thought I'd share.

 

I still have more to lose but I'm happy with the direction I'm headed.

 

Hope all are well.

 

Knitting Retreat

Oh my goodness, I had such a wonderful time this past weekend at our guild's knitting retreat!  This is what our group wore to the Saturday night knitting bingo game.  Melissa, on the left, made our pajamas again, using the cutest sheep and yarn themed fabric, and Kristin, the blonde next to her, bought us our accessories.  Lori and I just went along with it all.  The headbands were yarn balls, isn't that funny?

Another guild member wore the cutest tee and didn't mind having her photo taken. 

 

 One of the fun things we do is eat delicious seafood while we are there and every year the number of people who go with us increases.  Roz is the owner of Baa Baa Sheep, the yarn store in Norfolk that I love, and Libby and Nell, of NellKnits, both work with her, so they came along, as well as some women from the DC Metro area.  

This photo includes our foursome plus some of my Thursday night knit group members.  Thankfully it is the off season in the Outer Banks or we would not have been able to be seated together so easily.

The restaurant is The Blue Point and this is the view you see while you eat.  If you visit Corolla or Duck in North Carolina, definitely go, the food is as amazing as the view.

The sun was setting across the sound while we waited for our food; the sound is a brackish body of water that is on the inland side of the island.

Although it was cold, a few of us were able to take a long walk on Saturday because the wind wasn't bad.  This is the view looking southward.

And this is the northward view.  I'm grateful I love by the Chesapeake Bay, but the beaches on the Outer Banks are breathtaking and completely different.

I tried to take another walk on Sunday but the wind was so strong I couldn't manage it for longer than ten or fifteen minutes.  Still, you can tell how happy being on the beach makes me by the look on my face.

So although this was a knitting retreat, being at the beach was as important to me as the yarn.  The rest of the time was spent sitting around laughing, talking, and knitting, and I am so glad I was able to go.