knitabit

I'm ba-aaack!

Vacation was FABULOUS. Here's proof:

We stayed here. We flew on this airline to Florida and rode this boat to Grand Bahama Island. We went on this kayak/snorkeling trip. End of boring vacation tell-all.

Oh, and what about the knitting?, you might ask. I brought along the stuff to work on swatches for the Master Knitting certification thingy, and also yarn and needles for socks and/or gloves. I worked on the swatches on the plane both ways, and maybe just once or twice in the evening. The sock yarn never came out of the bag.

I had more swatch frustration; I just couldn't get my purl tension right. So on the plane on the way home, a four-hour trip, I decided dammit! I'm just going to figure this out once and for all. So I just started knitting a 20-stitch wide strip of stockinette trying everything I could think of to resolve the tension problem.

And I discovered the most amazing thing. All the books say that if you're having trouble with a 'stripey' effect in your knitting, you need to tighten up your purl stitches. Well, I got to studying my knitting and looked to me like it was the KNIT rows that were too loose. Sure enough, I tightened up my knit rows and backed off the tension on the purl rows and TA-DA!! Beautiful stockinette. I feel like this was a major revelation and a major hurdle to overcome. I will now pick up the pace on my swatching and only knit BEAUTIFUL and PERFECT swatches from here on out.

I find that there are many instances in my life of an 'opposite' effect. The one that comes most quickly to mind is that with all four of my kids I had post-partum euphoria as opposed to post-partum depression. Isn't that weird?

One more vacation tidbit: the laundry facilities at the condo complex we stayed at were FREE, and I brought along pre-measured ziploc bags of detergent - enough to wash all our clothes twice. And that's exactly what we did - once midway through the trip, and again before we left; we brought home suitcases full of clean clothes! So when we got home last night, we just unpacked our suitcases, ate dinner, and relaxed and read the piles of newspapers and mail. And of course I was able to knit. I finished the My Little Companion bag, which I will felt later this afternoon.

The end-of-vacation reality check: I've been home less than 24 hours and already my lips are chapped and my hair is full of static electricity. I bought a high-power lip balm at the grocery store this morning. I need to find a new mousse or gel or something for my stupid hair.

Comments

Welcome back! Great photo. We've only ever flown from FA to Bahamas; never heard of the Cat. What a great way to go.

And congrats, too, on figuring out your "opposite" thing. Very kewl.

Posted by: Patricia Tryon at January 21, 2004 02:11 PM

So glad your trip was wonderful. Inspite of the lips and hair complications, isn't it great to be home?

Posted by: Lisa at January 21, 2004 08:11 PM