Okay guys, here are a few photos. I'm uploading the rest to Yahoo as I type. Hopefully by the time I'm done posting they will be done, so I can add the link into this post somewhere. To the right you'll see Jim's sister sporting her new sweater—the Sundance Lace Cardigan. I completely forgot to get the buttons and sew them on before we left for Hawaii, so I finished it and gave it to her without buttons. That worked out pretty well. She and I stopped into a small sewing store in the center of Hilo and found some simple coconut buttons that she liked. I also bought four 1" flower shaped buttons for myself. I have no idea what I'll use them for, but I liked them so they've been added to my collection.
	One of the most beautiful places we went to is Waipio Valley. (pronounced like "Y" "P" "O") It's a valley between two mountain like peaks where a river meets the ocean. It was really absolutely beautiful. The only way to get there is to either hike down or to take a 4WD vehicle down this pretty steap paved one lane road dodging the uphill traffic and hikers. It was pretty intense. The way down wasn't as scary as the way up, but we survived. Jim's sister's boyfriend drove us down in his Element, with a kyack strapped to the roof. The ride was totally worth it. Once we got to the bottom there were some Hawaiian's doing a hula dance and beautiful nature as far as you could see. The river was pretty low, so we were able to walk across without getting too wet. Dodging the random rocks in bare feet was somewhat of a challenge, but I eventually gave up the idea of trying to keep my feet from being hurt, and I made it across. We took the kyack and a blow-up raft-like kyack up the river, first going against the current of the river, but being pushed by the wind coming from the ocean. Surprisingly easy. Because the water level was low, the kyack eventually hit sand, and we had to turn around to go back. It was just as well, because part way back it started to get over cast and it seemed like the sky was going to dump on us. At first going with the current was easy until we got closer to the ocean. Because the weather had turned the wind had also picked up, which made paddeling against the wind pretty difficult. Luckily, Jim was paddeling and I got to go along for the ride. I did get pretty wet though.
After Waipio we took a small road up into the clouds where we met another horse (the first ones we met were wild, and living at Waipio). This one looked much healthier and was pretty friendly.
	This is the view from the southern most point of the United States… or close to it. I love that everywhere we went in Hawaii you could walk right up to things and look right over the edge. No guard rails or anything. It really preserved the natural-ness of everything.
People jump off the cliffs at South Point. There are wooden platforms that put you about a foot past the cliff that you can launch from. The water's really deep, but crystal clear. Jim's sister has done it. She said it took some convincing. She said she probably won't do it again. I don't think I could get myself to do it. Especially after she told me that sharks like to visit this area. We don't know these people, but we witnessed one of them jump off. The other one climbed down. I don't know if I would have done that either... knowing the shark thing. Okay, you can see a ton more here. They're not all up yet. But they're in process. Enjoy!

Aloha!

May 29th, 2007

I'm back! I've been living in Hawaii for the past week and a half, and I'm finally back home, trying to get situated back into "normal" day-to-day living. I think the hardest part has been re-adjusting to the time difference. Hawaii's 6 hours ahead of Massachusetts. James and I got home around 6:30 on Saturday night. Because of such a long period of traveling (almost 2 whole days) I was able to get to sleep around 9:30 that night (3:30 pm Hawaii time). But I still ended up sleeping until noon the next day (6 am Hawaii time). Sunday night around 11pm (5 pm HI time) we decided to go visit our friends, who we know are always up late, so we weren't worried about waking them up. We stayed there until about 2 am (8 pm HI time). Neither James or I were tired, but we knew we should leave because they probably were. We finally forced ourselves to sleep an hour later... waking up yesterday around 11 am (5 am HI time). Last night I was actually tired around 9 pm so I was able to fall asleep, but I think my body only considered it nap-time because I woke up at 1:30 this morning ready and rearing to go. I didn't get back to sleep until around 3… so, needless to say, getting up for work this morning was TORTURE! I've been a zombie pretty much all day. Hopefully this week of waking up for work every day will get me back in this timezone.

There will be photos coming, don't worry! I need to go through them and pick out some that I want to show you. I plan on putting most of them up on my yahoo photo page, so I'll link to that once that's done too. I've also got photos of the Sundance sweater finished. I didn't want to tell you all earlier, but the sweater was a gift for Jim's sister for her graduation/Birthday. It was a surprise, so I didn't want to say it was for her, just in case she read my blog... That's it for now, I'll be back later to write more...

Yabba Dabba Do!

May 14th, 2007

Sorry I've been MIA lately… the weather's been so nice that I haven't gotten a whole lot of knitting done. James and I have been riding our bikes quite a bit lately. It's really satisfying. On Saturday we made our way up to some sort of peak overlooking a pond. That's a picture of me meditating at the top. The energy rush from the ride was intense, so I needed to level out. 'Twas quite peaceful.

I'm also trying to get as much done as possible at work before I leave for vacation that I haven't been taking breaks to write to you all. I only have 2 small things left to do before leaving, so I thought I'd take a few minutes to post a few updates. Over the weekend I did finish the body part of the Lacy Sundance Cardigan. I also put the button bands and neck finishing on. I plan on getting some buttons sewn onto it before we leave. That way I'll only have to finish the sleeves and sew them on when I'm on the plane. I won't have to worry about buttons falling onto the floor and rolling into oblivion. Yesterday I brought my cone of Wool Bam Boo into work… the cone which the ISE4 scarf yarn is coming from. I really didn't want to bring the entire cone onto the plane with me. It would have taken up so much room… so, because I'm more than half way finished with the scarf, I weighed what I have done so far, then rolled a ball from the cone with the same weight. Hopefully that will be enough yarn for me to finish the scarf. I'll at least get really far with it. If I run out, I could always wait until I get home to complete it.

Zoom…

May 9th, 2007

Well, I haven't done any knitting since Saturday… so I have no knitting updates for you. The lacy cardigan still looks just like it does in that image below. I guess I feel like I have plenty of time. I'm not worried. I can always finish it on the plane ride if I have to. So, instead of knitting I've been enjoying the great outdoors. Monday night I picked up the spare tire rack for our bikes and a helmet, then yesterday I picked up the bikes! Right when I got home with them Jim was up and ready to go for a ride! K & M were there with their bikes strapped to the back of their car, and we all went for a fantastic ride. The weather was perfect, and we have this great bike trail about a half mile from our apartment that Jim and I never knew about... There's a lake, with a beach and TONS of hiking trails. Not to mention the paved bike path. It really is perfect. The path is pretty flat for a little while, then it starts slowly going uphill… then more uphill… to a peak, where we stopped to rest and look out over the town. It was quite nice. Once we got our strength back we continued, this time going DOWN and down and down. Thankfully there were very few pedestrians so we didn't have to manouver around them too much, allowing us to really pick up some speed. I really forgot how much I like biking. We're taking tonight off, but we plan on going again tomorrow. K & M keep telling me that it'll get easier the more I do it... so I plan on doing it often until I can get up to that peak without being out of breath. That's my goal! Maybe I'll bring some knitting with me and knit at the top. We'll see.

My foot is doing much better. It was pretty bad Monday and Yesterday. A woman I work with noticed my limp and made sure I kept it elevated and iced all day yesterday. I'm sure the bike ride didn't help, but it didn't bother me at all during the ride, then once we got back I continued icing and elevating it until bed. It feels a lot better today. The limp is gone and it's only a minor ache now. I must have pulled a tendon or something… there's no swelling or anything, but the ice seems to really help anyway.

Ow.

May 7th, 2007

This weekend was really interesting for me. I did a bunch of things that I've either never done, or haven't done in a LONG time… The big thing was the Walk for Hunger. A friend and I walked for the first time. It was certainly a long walk, massively breaking a personal record of how far I've walked at one time. Considering that I had not prepared very well for the walk I think going 13½ of the 20 mile route was pretty good. It certainly gives me a goal to break next year… and to plan for! Jeez, I didn't know what to expect. Next time, I'll definitely bring more layers of clothing, more snacks and I'll remember to grab my water bottle from the car. I can't believe I forgot that. It's great that they have water for us at all the checkpoints, but it would have been nice to have it whenever I wanted it. On the other hand, the bathrooms are also only at the checkpoints, so maybe drinking more would not be such a great idea… we'll find out next year I guess. I also plan on doing LOTS of walking before hand. Boy are my legs aching, and I've noticed that there is a feeling in of my foot that I've never felt before. I'm guessing that it's probably a good thing to be awakening new muscles, but ouch. I was pretty amused at how achy I was yesterday when I got home. Vertical just wasn't the direction my body wanted to be in any more. Laying down was bliss! Well, until I stood up again. GA! It hurts every time.

Okay, enough complaining… My friend and I also took advantage of being in the city. We took a trip to the Garment District and got a ton of new clothes for not a whole lot of money. She'd never been there before and was eager to see what it was like. We spent some time rummaging through the "dollar a pound" section and came out with a few good finds. I grabbed 2 sweaters that I could possibly wear, but if not, I'll certainly rip them apart and recycle the yarn. I also found a pretty nice crocheted pullover that may be a little big for me, but it's beautiful, I couldn't resist. I think I got about 14 or 15 pieces of clothes for about $9. We also shopped upstairs, but the prices weren't as much of a bargain. I did get some neet stuff though.

Jim and I also bought bikes this weekend! Yippy! We'll be picking them up tomorrow after work. Which means that I need to find a bike rack for my Jeep sometime today. Which reminds me, I need to call a few places… off I go!

Progress galore!

May 5th, 2007

Here are some pictures of the lacy sweater (finally). Yet again, I'm amazed at how fast this is knitting up. Maybe I'm just easliy amazed, who knows? As of 10 PM last night I had only written up to the armholes in the pattern. I figured it would take me a while to get to that point, and I'd write the pattern sometime before I got there. Well, last night I got to that point and totally wasn't tired enough to put it down. So, I finished writing the pattern and continued to knit… ended up going to bed around 1AM, but I got so much done! I just finished the back and I'm done with the armhole shaping on the fronts. I've decided to work both at the same time again. I like doing that because I really don't have to worry about wether the neck or shoulder shaping will actually be beginning at the same point on both fronts. I just know it will because I work them together.

It's really nice having the whole pattern written. This way I can just buzz right along and not have to worry about numbers not working etc. It's all right there. Whee!

Here's another picture.

I only have an inch or two before I get to the front neck shaping, so I'm quite sure this will be finished today. Then I can start the sleeves!

Oh, this will be finished in PLENTY of time for Hawaii!

Off I go to finish it…

Caution: the liquid in this container may be VERY hot.

May 4th, 2007

So, last night I learned why I shouldn't drink tea in bed: I poured it shortly before going to bed, and almost forgot about it because I left it on the counter to cool to a drinkable temperature. As we were crawling into bed I remembered it and brought it with me. I figured I would just sit in bed and sip it until either it was gone, or I was tired. I didn't take into consideration that it might not want to be consumed, but would rather jump out of the mug and spread itself all over my PJ's, the sheets and Jim. I really don't know how it happened. All of a sudden I was covered in hot tea. My legs and belly got pretty red from the hotness of the tea (I guess it wasn't cooling for very long). While Jim sopped up the wet sheets I changed and grabbed an ice pack from the freezer. I felt pretty dumb.

On to knitting things... The construction of this lacy sweater is slightly different from anything I've done before, so I'm slightly challenged. The body is worked in one piece to the armholes, where the fronts and back will then be divided. An inch before the division I'll be decreasing a few stitches below the underarm to make it seem a little shaped. My reasoning for this is that I don't like sweaters without shaping, but because of the lace pattern I didn't want to have a seam, that would break up the flow of the lace. I was afraid that shaping would also break up the lace, so I'm not doing any substancial amount of that either. BUT, because I don't really like unshaped garments, I convinced myself to decrease 4 sts (2 at each side where the seam would be if there was one) to appease my dislike of unshaped garments. I'm not sure if it will be noticable at all, but I'll know it's there.

I took a picture of my progress a few nights ago, but I keep forgetting to upload the picture to the computer. So, probably by the time I get it uploaded it will no longer be accurate… oh well. I'm about 11" up on the body part so far. I need to get to 131⁄2" then I'll work the decrease row. I'm looking forward to that. Hopefully I'll finish this piece this weekend so I can get started on the sleeves. I may knit them both at the same time. It seems to go faster that way.

Walking for hunger

May 3rd, 2007

I love life's little coincedences. On Tuesday I took a walk to the supermarket to get something to make for dinner. Then last night I took a walk with my step-mom around the neighborhood. I have been thinking lately that walking seems to be a great, easy way to stay in shape. So I've been making a point to do it. It just so happens that the Walk for Hunger is taking place this weekend. It's a 20 mile walk that donates money to Project Bread, which will help feed the hungry in Massachusetts. So, hey, why not? I registered this afternoon. Even though I only have 3 days to collect money to feed the hungry, I have confidence that I'll reach my $100 goal. Take a look to here to see how well we're doing.

My Raw journey

Patterns for Sale

Tweed Beret

Violet, the Slouchy Head Friend

Lush Woven Scarf

Petal Socks

River of Life Socks

Crochet Motif Cardigan

Beatrice Ribbed Tie Coat