Long time, no blog...

I am so sorry you guys. Seriously, all this illness and traveling has worn me down. And now, all of the antihistamines I am on really make me tired all of the time. I wake up at 7 am, have two hours of energy and then feel like crashing everday. I will try to do a short catch up on some things today, but I think it is going to take awhile for me to catch y'all up.






I had a lovely time on a knitting getaway down at Isle of Palm, SC. Really, our only trips away from the beach were to go eat and to go to the lovely Knit yarn store in Charleston. The owner, Gay, and her staff are lovely people. Seriously. Gay takes time to sit down and talk to her customers, knit with you, help you, whatever. And so does her staff. One of the women in the shop actually made coffee and gave me some when she heard me whining about a headache and my needing to find a coffee shop while everyone shopped.







(Y'all, I honestly thought it was a caffeine headache. That is, a lack of caffeine headache. I am famous for getting these because my cardiovascular system is 98% liquid caffeine. And you other consulting engineers out there know what I am talking about needing to drink copious amounts of caffeinated liquids. But it turns out the headache was really due to the pressure dropping since Tropical Storm Barry was deciding to visit us. Which is now a new type of headache I am becoming famous for, as do many other people in the Greenville area. There is something about this geography that gives one hurricane headaches. But we didn't know that Barry was coming to see us at the time, because honestly, WHO watches the TV when you are at the beach. If you do, your beach priveleges should be revoked!)







My mom and I have an ongoing joke about taking pictures of our toes in different oceans around the world. You can't go to the beach without at LEAST sticking your toes in the water and sand. :)









Anyway, Knit has a great selection of books (so many books!), needles, and yarns! I *finally* picked up some Schaeffer Anne Sock Yarn that seemed worthy enough to be purchased. (When I saw it at Stitches East, it was not as impressive as some of the others I needed to allocate my limited funds to.) I also picked up some addi turbo needles (I can't find sizes 4 and 5 circs in this town to save my life so I must travel to find needles.), and a Lantern Moon Molly bag in red silk. But I can't show a pic of the Molly bag...the piping started fraying on the first day I used it. So it is in a box so it can be returned for a new one.


We had such a fun time at her store. Sitting with local knitters and talking about all things knitting. You can't beat that, ever....And a word of advice: if you ever go on a knitting retreat, make sure someone packs a ball winder and swift (as I did).


The night I got back from the beach, I tried on some aikido uniforms that I had ordered. About 4 hours later, I broke out in a serious case of hives...I won't go into why I had to order polyester/cotton blend uniforms as opposed to the usual 100% cotton ones...but lets just say I suspect the blend and chemicals used on it as the culprit. I am also going to spare everyone the gory details about the progression of my hives. I went to my dermatologist the next day, and they swear it was all the seafood that I ate. But after speaking to a family member who worked in allergy medicine, and other friends, we are more sure it was the uniforms. But I am going to plan a trip to an allergist sometime soon, because my allergies may be getting ridiculous. I think I AM turning into my mother. I am getting more sensitive to things, and that is no fun kids.


So, the irony is like a freakin' hammer. I had to cancel going to my aikido camp because I broke out in hives from trying on aikido uniforms that I had ordered for camp. Not only that, my hands hurt so much that I could not knit for 3 days. And even after that my hands would itch whenever I used them. Ugh. I guess I needed the rest anyway.


I think the final thing today is that I have signed up for Stitches East classes a few weeks ago. I am going to be taking alot of design classes, as that is where my area of interest is in right now. I need to push myself to learn more, as I always have ideas but need to get off my butt in putting them to paper more. Anyone else going to Stitches East this year?