Lots To Tell

There has been so much to write about that I've been feeling a little overwhelmed about blogging. And the longer I waited to blog, the more I had to blog about! So, I figured I better get on it or I would be even more overwhelmed.

I am back from my second jaunt to the beach.


This was my own little beach sanctuary. No stress allowed under the red umbrella! Only reading, knitting and eating unhealthy, but extremely yummy beach food. (The white bag behind the chair is the remnants of the cheese steak sub that I have to have every time I go to Bethany. SO good!)

I didn't get to spend nearly enough time under the red umbrella. But what little time I got was heaven.

On Sunday, I woke up to the unhappy site of rain falling. So in an effort to get out of the house, I decided to drive to Ocean City, MD. I hadn't been there in years. Now, I mean no disrespect to anyone, but I am not a fan of O.C. It's got a boardwalk with lots of teeshirt shops, arcades, and rides. Very loud, very busy. And I always feel sticky there. The boardwalk is sticky, it's humid and sticky, there are sticky foods everywhere, I don't want to touch sticky things, sticky, sticky, sticky... That being said, when it looks like a rainy afternoon at the beach, I can handle going to O.C. just to look at everything. And there is plenty to see...


Yes, that is Noah's Ark - made out of sand. I don't know if it's true, but I hear that this guy does one of these huge elaborate religious themed sand sculptures every night. Demolishes the one he made the previous night, and starts all over again. They are quite impressive. I don't think I've been to O.C. in close to 10 years - and I remember him from 10 years ago. He's still doing it....

This crazy thing is The Zipper. I couldn't believe this ride was still there. About 15 years ago, my eldest brother BEGGED me to go on this with him. I said "No freaking way." Well, he wouldn't let up. Endless begging and pleading. So finally I caved and agreed to go on it. See those little cage things - they spin. See that big yellow center piece? That spins too. Oh, and the cage things also go around that yellow thing as everything is spinning. Way too much spinning. My brother has been dead for 11 years. I loved him with all my heart and miss him terribly. But to this very day - I still have not forgiven him for the day he made me get on this ride! This picture is just for him.

While in O.C. I decided to go looking for yarn. I had already hit the yarn stores in DE, so I figured I may as well find some at the MD beach too. I found one sad "yarn" store on the boardwalk. It was primarily a needlepoint store. Their yarn supply consisted of fun fur, Lionbrand Homespun and some Lopi. That was it. Needless to say, I didn't purchase anything.

Here are some knitting related things that I did manage to accomplish at the beach.


Mr. Stegs got a face!


I put a few more rows onto the Swallowtail shawl. (Which was hastily pinned out just for picture taking purposes.) The colors are not photographing well. It's a little more vibrant, with more obvious purples in real life. If I manage to get this finished in time, I may enter this in the State Fair.

I also started a new project that is a gift and so I can't take pictures of it yet. But, I will!


I took a few Project Spectrum pictures for August - the neutral month.



Speaking of Project Spectrum, I had a nice surprise when I got home. I won a contest over at The CraftyModster. She sent me such an amazing package!

If you click on the picture, it will take you to Flicker where I have labeled what everything is.
The highlight of this awesome gift is the Project Spectrum August CD. She made a CD with all these different songs that have neutral colors in the title. I LOVE IT! Thank you thank you thank you Crafty Modster!

I am also completely remiss in thanking my July PS postcard swap pal for the wonderful and unexpected package she sent me. Sadly, I don't have pictures, but the very generous Sherri sent me lots of fun purple stuff - purple yarn, a purple soap dish, a purple toothbrush case (which has magically turned into a purple DPN case!) a purple staple puller, and a beautiful purple postcard. So many thanks to Sherri!

The mailman also brought me another fun package today.


I have jumped on the Knit Picks Options bandwagon. They are sharp, they are smooth, they are flexible and I'm happy with my purchase. I got 40" cables and US4 tips. I also got some US size 0 DPNS. I transferred the Swallowtail shawl onto them this evening and am quite happy with the nice pointy tips.

Oh... Big News!

I won two ribbons at the county fair. The chicken got second place and the elephant got third place. I actually remembered to take a picture of the elephant before I took it to the fair!


Also, many congratulations to Jolene who won THREE ribbons including a blue first place ribbon for her beautiful shawl.

Speaking of Jolene....

Please, please, please take a moment to go visit Amie's blog. Also take a look at Samantha's page. I know we knit bloggers are a caring loving bunch. If you can help, please do. Also, if you are in the Columbia area, please consider dropping by Samantha's lemonade stand this Saturday.

There's more to tell, but it's time for bed.