Drops Swing Jacket FO

You really can't tell but I am quite jazzed over this jacket. It's wearable, it's warm, it was a quick knit and it's chocolate brown. What more can I ask for?

Pattern: Drops jacket with 3/4 length sleeves Source: http://www.garnstudio.com/lang/en/visoppskrift.php?d_nr=103&d_id=1
Yarn: 9.5 balls of Laines du Nord Softlight Needles: 13 Addi Turbos

Recipient: ME!

Started: September 18, 2007 (intermittent knitting)

Finished: September 28, 2007

Please excuse the white-washed pictures. It is damn bright today and the light in the house was way too dark. I am pale but not quite French Revolutionary Marie Antoinette kind of pale. And the "please excuse mah big arse" picture
This is with the collar down and two of the buttons closed. I find it to be too constricting with the third button done when the collar is down.
Evidence that I have way too much hair to deal with. Ozzy "the prince of darkness" obviously wants some of the photo shoot action. It's not an FO until I try it on my Mom. Ain't she cute? I can't help but throw in the gratuitous puppy photo. This is my parent's dog Ozzy. He's a Japanese Chin and Yorkie mix. He looks innocent but he's definitely his namesake and ALL BOY. Have a nice rest of the weekend!

Almost Wordless Wednesday

" My name is Dante. I will eat your soul"

" Are you making fun of my neck there, Cupcake?"

"I know. They missed a spot"



"Dude if you buy that Serta, I am so going to go @$%&**!! on you!"

"I have removable hips too"

"Umm yeah it's not what it seems...."

"One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, FLOOR"


Livestock photos courtesy of NJ Sheep and Wool Festival.

Bulldog and Doxie pictures courtesy of my filthy pets.

Fall is in the air

I love Fall. I really do. I love the colors, the smells, the good eats, and the knitwear. September/October is my favorite time of year. When I was traveling with my job weekly, all too often, I would blink and Fall was over. This year I'm enjoying myself and really testing my startitis everytime a new lovely sweater pattern crosses my screen. Let's just say that Ravelry DOES NOT help me with this knitting ADHD in the least. It's too addicting and it seems my queue gets larger everyday.

Take, for example, my whim cast-on of the Drops Swing Jacket. I saw enough pictures that finally convinced me that I need to do this and just cast on. So I did.
I'm only done the back and 1 front so far but if you add the time I spent on it all together, I'm only about an 8 hour day in. Not bad at all. I'm using Laines du Nord Soft Light. It's a very soft single-ply wool with a touch of nylon for strength. I must say is so darned soft.

So I went to visit Kathy at The Woolly Lamb today and scored some lovely teak buttons. This will eventually be attached once I start on the collar.

Ah my lervely buttons. I *hope* this swing jacket is a fall staple.

The other project on the needles is the Sheep Motif Blanket from Vogue Baby Blankets Two. I'm using Mission Falls 1824 cotton since my expecting friend is allergic to wool. The sheep are intarsia made from Berocco Plush.
My sheep look demented I must admit. I reeaaaaally hate intarsia I've decided. I'll stick with fair isle from now on.

The battle of the sexes- THE VACATION DOUBLE STANDARD

The girls and I would agree that if you were single on this cruise, there was a major sex double-standard.

Case in point, the MEN got this............................................... The LADIES got this..........and plaid no less.

I hope this dude never finds his butt plastered on my blog but we're making a statement here folks. Plaid + speedos= NO NO

And lots of men wearing pink....head to toe in baby pink. That is a difference between Italian men and American men I think. Here most men wouldn't be caught dead in it unless you had lovely coloring or were rockin a serious tan. It was just really bizarre to see men in head to toe baby pink. Not that there is anything wrong with this at all...just bizarre for us American gals to see since color is has such a gender-specific connotation here.

So since our retinas were burned out most of the time near the pool area, the girls had to do a lot more of this.......

We like to call this one..DRINK...DRANK...DRUNK

Naw not really, just playin' with our new friend bartender buddy Ariel at the Dublino.On the knitting front, I am plugging away on the Tilted Duster and Bed Jacket. I got a little bored the other night and cast on for the Drops Swing Jacket with Laines du Nord in Chocolate as seen below.

PS- I am a Ravelry addict. Damn. Yet another fiber-related addiction to contend with.

Cartman lol dogz

Tunisia, Malta and Sicily

So this is the continuation of the gratuitous vacation journal. I promise I am still knitting.

So we begin today's journey with a view from the top. Deck 11 that is. My friend Wendy and I trekked up to the top on Thursday morning. We were so flippin' wound up that day. We were going to Tunisia and we had been looking forward to this part of the trip for months now. I have a deep appreciation for Arabic culture, food, music, and dance. I've mentioned previously that I love belly dance, in all traditional and non-traditional forms. We headed upstairs with a nervous energy because we just didn't know what to expect. We knew about the haggling for prices when shopping and etc. We didn't know how we'd be received.

And then we see this..............OMG it's the coast of North Africa. Pinch me. This was such a dream of mine. Tunisia is a small country with a large, dynamic history situated between Egypt, Libya, and Morocco. The Berber way of life is still evident here. It is in the top 5 countries for olive oil production and the largest exporter of concrete. A very reflective Wendy preparing to plant our feet on African soil.

So my 3 girlfriends, one friend's parents, my parents and myself step off the ship to be greeted to Tunisian belly dancing, music and wonderfully decorated camels. HOLY CRAP. WE ARE IN FREAKING A.F.R.I.C.A!!!!!! Wendy and I were bursting out of our seams. If this port is half of what I can expect than I can go home happy right now with still 5 days to go.
It was everything I hoped for and more. This is the minaret of the great Mosque in the Souk el Bey where Muslim prayers are broadcast 5 times a day. Next stop? A carpet store, of course. I think my mint tea was spiked because when they started rolling out the carpets I was deliriously staring at all the intricate patterning and Berber style. I am such a sucker for textiles.

Betcha can't guess what happens next? Yup. That would be mine below. But the twist on this is my friend Wendy and I bought twin carpets separated by cutting the double fringe right here. We both fell in love with the camel hair, natural-dyed Berber rug and there were two connected. We got a good price and had them separate them by cutting the fringed that connected them together from the loom.

Toasting our purchase. I need a mint tea IV bag folks. Seriously. Tap the vein.

After 4 major purchases in our group we have a very happy carpet store owner and happy customers.

Love all of the turquoise blue against the white concrete buildings. This was a highly decorated door I fell in love with in the Souk.

While standing in the alley way waiting for a friend to complete a purchase, a store vendor was calling my by saying "Allo black". My friend Wendy tapped my shoulder to get my attention. This young man wanted to have my picture taken with him so I would remember him always as he would remember me. Awwwww. Ain't that cute?

We walked some more of the Souk with our awesome guide, Fauti and he took us here next. Behind an ornate wooden door opened to this lovely courtyard. The columns, walls and ceiling are intricately tiled and decorated. Mint tea is poured and some baklava placed on the tables when the Tunisian musicians begin to play. First the traditional Tunisian belly dancers perform and then a traditional belly dance in the oriental style. This is the most typical form we see in the states.

I was completely content at this very moment. All I needed was a little couscous and I was ready to say my vacation was fabulous. Ok I can go home totally happy and not see anything else. I studied her every move and technique.

Looking up at the architecture as the tabla played on.

The many archways in the Souk el Bey.

The minaret of the great mosque.

I will be coming back here. Mark my words.

So we ended the day having shopped our brains out, took in the local culture, and drank wine like it was our last drink. Wendy and I were on a high for the remainder of the evening. As always, every night ended with a Macchiato Valencia in the coffee lounge and then a visit to see our man Ariel in the Dublino.

Next stop: Malta and the megalithic temples.

This place gave me the goosebumps..in a good way. The energy was fabulous here. This is the island of Malta situated between Tunisia and Sicily. Both cultures are very obvious in this blended country with a rich history. The language sounds like a blend of Arabic and Italian and it is so interesting to hear.

This are megalithic temples of limestone. One of the things I found so inter sting was that they bore a striking resemblance to those of Ireland. The guide did not know if there was a relation to those of the Celts but was entirely possible.

The spiral theme and typical Celtic cairn construction popped out to me.

Another interesting fact was that there were headless statues of deities found here. In the neck was a hole. A few rooms over, heads of different deities were found so the people would pop the head of the deity they were worshiping that day or period. Now that's what I call efficiency and space management. *snort*.

Ooooh a megalithic cauldron. Sign me up. I LOVE it.

See...I'm happy. Energy. Good. LOVE.

Then off to the Ghar Dalam which is really neat. This is a cave discovered by an archaeologist where they were able to determine the different periods of development and life on the island. At one time this tiny island was connected to Sicily and Africa. Animals as large as hippopotamus and elephants roamed this area. This is a volcanic island so it was believe that the land separated making Malta an island. Due to the ecosystem and lack of resources, this animals eventually became extinct.

There are many levels noted in here based on fossils found. There was an ice age, a "rain age" as they called it, elephant stage, deer stage. It was very cool to learn about the development of this place.

hmmmm Prickly Pears. YUM.

Back on to the ship to the last port of call before Rome....Palermo, Sicily. So now it's Saturday and having left Malta on Friday evening, we arrived in Palermo early in the morning. Unfortunately we didn't get the true picture of Sicily as we did not take a tour here and realized we probably should have. We missed a lot.
Very cutesey little marina.

Wendy at the door. I wanted to take the door home with me. I have this "thing" for architecture and textiles. Who knew? (said sarcastically).

Lovely mountains.
And then back for the last night in our favorite haunt, the Dublino.
Well it's late so that's what I will leave you with for now.

Next up: what I learned on my European summer vacation and the sex double-standard. Stay-tuned.

Oh yeah, and there will be knitting too. If your on Ravelry now, please stop by and say hi. I'm HolyKnitballs.