Where the heck have *I* been?!

Time slips away and it has been so very long since my last post!  Where did the summer go?

Well, for one thing, this summer vacation for Lil Emp was shortened and he ended up starting school mid-August!  He had about a week or two off from school, then started day camp for a couple of weeks.  Just when we decided he could attend the third week, we end up off on a 4-week roadtrip from the West to East Coast!  Actually, the road trip was a four-day rush to get to Massachusetts since a good friend of SassyMan's has passed suddenly.  We stayed in and Massachusetts for two weeks meandering between visits with friends and-yes!-a couple of fibery excursions!

Prior to leaving, I had just spun my very first skein of 3-ply yarn-and, of course, made a fiber purchase!

Lorna's Laces roving-my first 3-ply!

  I had dropped in to A Verb for Keeping Warm and fell in love with these two beauties.

WOW-what timing!  We left for Massachusetts so suddenly that I forgot to grab a bottle of wine from my stash to give to Knittinggolfer, since I hoped to see her.  Fortunately, I had made my trek over to A Verb so I did have the freshly purchased roving to bring to her!  It had been well over a year since we had seen each other in camp, and one of the best things about this trip was getting to visit with her-and her wonderful family!

Lil Emp and her foursome enjoyed playing miniature golf together as well as sharing in other fun activities-like indulging in this...

And as much as we enjoyed the day with SassyMan and the kids, including attending Knittinggolfer's DS's ballgame, I have to say that the best thing was getting to sit in the "spinning room" and check out all the lovely fiber and give my buddy a hug in PERSON!  I even scored some of her Massachusetts-grown alpaca she had gotten and had processed!   (Thanks again, my dear bud!)  The place that had processed it added some merino to it and it spins up so nicely!

I love my girl, Knittinggolfer!

The good thing about road trips is that I was forced to seam this baby top-the seaming was difficult to avoid since the projects I had accessible to me in the car were limited.  And afterall, where was I going, anyway?  Couldn't really get away from it!  But at least this baby top for my cousin's 1 yo was done before I returned. 

Baby Jayla is not a baby anymore!  She turned one, so I made her a top

And SassyMan got to see friends of his who he hadn't seen in years.  And *I* got to meet his friend's wife who sells her gorgeous lampwork beads on Etsy!  (Dark Flower Bead Arts).  AND I got to see her work studio and lovely creations!  (OK, so maybe I shopped a bit, too...)

Dark Flower Bead Art's lampwork studio

Gorgeous beads made into pendants

Another friend of his has a property that formerly housed monks and still has a remaining cabin they've kept intact and maintained.  We got to sleep in it one night!

The inside of our 'cabin'

Prior to the trip I had just recieved these items in the mail before I left on the trip...

I did a little sample spin of the roving (Fleece Artist BFL) but it is waiting in line to one day become yarn.  Under the roving are two balls or "Cumbra" I purchased for the Pembroke vest, which is half completed.  Sadly, the concept of travel knitting forcing the focus didn't quite hold true with this yarn.  I brought it with me, cast it on and knit maybe 2 inches and it sat for a good 6 weeks.  You see, by the time I ran out of other items to work on, I had been able to hit Classic Elite's retail store and had replenished my knitting possibilities.

I got very motivated to design and knit some "Avatar" (Last Airbender,  NOT the blue people Avatars) socks for one of SassyMan's friend's daughter.  She and LE hit it off with their mutual love of the Animae series and spent time watching the various episodes together.

So by the end of the trip, I had spun most of the merino from Knittinggolfer, finished the baby top, completed all but the finishing touches on the Avatar socks, and knit a pair of Calendula socks for my friend-totalling three socks in all, since I completely misjudged the size!

Of course, when there is so much time between posts, there is always so much more to post to catch up.  There are a couple more things from my trip to share, but for now I'll fast forward to what I was working on right before I decided to start this entry:  the Blue-Leaf headband.  I was itching to actually complete a project, so I had to do the counter-intuitive thing-start a new project!  I'm on the decreases and it should be completed soon! 

Next post, I'll share how it relates to the Cross-Country trip, too!  I'll also have to share how my "clever" inspiration turned not-so-clever.  Seems to be a theme with me-I get inspired an in an effort to take a short-cut or avoid something I think will be a big PITA, I end up causing myself even more time and work!