Holiday Wishes

Under the tree the gifts enthrall,

But the nicest present of them all

Is filling our thoughts with those who care,

Wanting our Christmas joy to share.

To you, whom we're often thinking of,

We send our holiday joy and love.

Love,

Vicki and (the Gardener)

Shades of Blue (the leaf and vine shoulder wrap)

The leaf and vine shoulder wrap is completed and I LOVE it! This was probably my most challenging project yet. Actually the knitting was a dream - I was so amazed to watch this pattern transform. The nightmare was in the rewriting of the graph. ( I nearly stayed up all night making that graph work! ) I am so pleased to be able to share these pictures with you now. I am not a very good model so I brought along my adorable Maddy. She is a ham for the camera and she is modeling the new little blue jacket that her Aunt Vicki just bought for her.

If anyone is daring enough to want to try this wrap - I am available for consult. I have already made all the mistakes - will be a breeze when I make the next one. (I already have the yarn!)

Christmas Comes to the Sacred Yarn Room

Happy Holidays


to all my dear friends



and family---


My warmest wishes

for wonderful blessings

to you and yours

in the coming New Year---

Thanks for being a part of my blogging adventures--

Girl Trip (knitting, shopping, knitting, eating, knitting,shopping---)

My friend Marsha and I just returned from a trip to the beach. The actual purpose (or so we told everybody) of the trip, was my annual fall cleaning of the condo. I really did clean - there is not a dust bunny hiding anywhere in that condo. I washed down the walls, and the baseboards and every nook and cranny. But - that's not all that kept us busy last week. Girls just gotta have fun you know!

We loaded up my car with all our Vera Bradley stuff - (if you don't LOVE Vera Bradley - you just totally won't get it---!)

After a LONG drive in mostly pouring rain, we were finally at the beach. Sunny weather prevailed and the surf was unbelievable, thanks in part to the season's last hurricane! We watched the surfers all week long and at times the ocean seemed to be full of little frogman people bobbing up and down in the waves!

Here is a rundown of our activities for the week, in addition to my maniac cleaning---

Lots of relaxing by the pool. Fall is a wonderful time to be at our beach. The season is slow with tourists and we had the whole place to ourselves. As you can see - the knitting project is coming right along!

Lots of shopping and planning for future knitting projects---

Marsha is great at multi tasking - talking on the phone and shopping at the same time!

Historic Cocoa Village was already decked out for the Christmas season!

We took long walks on the week and were fascinated by the UBO - (unidentified beach object) that had washed up on the shore just north of the condo.

Marsha took the big plunge!


We ate a lot! (It really is all about the food!) There is something so wonderful about a dinner on the water. This is the view from Bonefish Willy's - a great seafood restaurant.

No trip to the beach is complete without a meal at my favorite restaurant - Cafe Margaux in Cocoa Village. The seafood melange was delightful!

Our visit to the Hot Now! was sinful BUT so worth it!

We visited with some old friends ---

Sweet little Haley belongs to our condo manager. She and her Mommy Karen are very dear friends.

Beautiful Anne belongs to the owner of the Glad Rags clothing store. She is always happy to greet the guests and loves all the attention that she gets!

An early morning sunrise viewed from the corner of the balcony - one of the blessings of rising early at the beach. Look at that surf!



Lots of knitting---

My scarf matches the blue of the ocean don't you think!

We chased the evening sun and moved our knitting to the walkway in front of the condo. We tried to catch every last ray because we knew that once we were back at home, the skies would be mostly gray and cold!

All too soon the week was over and we packed it all up and headed for home. (The car might have been a tad bit more crowded with our purchases on the trip home!)

Along the drive home - we played with the Knit Map app on our IPhone. Our first stop was at the NorthWoods Yarn Shop in Campobello, South Carolina.

This was the most absolutely delightful yarn shop ever. The charming little house was totally full of yarn - every room of the house was a yarn display. (I cannot believe that I did not take pictures of the yarn rooms - I think I was just totally overwhelmed with the sheer delight of it all!)

We arrived just after opening time of the store and when we went inside we were surprised to see an entire roomful of wonderful ladies there for the morning knit along! These were the nicest ladies ever - talking to them reminded me of the Friday Night Knitting Club book - only on Tuesday morning instead! Everyone was sitting and chatting and knitting.

All the ladies were wearing some beautiful something that they had knitted for them selves - a scarf, or a sweater, or a shawl. I enjoyed talking to everyone as they all shared with me the projects that they were currently knitting. There are some talented ladies there and their projects were amazing! They even invited me to share with them my current scarf project. (Made me feel so welcome - like I was among friends!)

Outside the house is the coziest little outdoor sitting area with a fireplace - would you not just love to be sitting there on a beautiful fall day - just knitting all day long. This little stop along our trip home was a jewel among yarn shops. We will definitely go back. Thanks Teri and ladies for being so nice to us and making us feel so welcome!

Our next stop along the drive home was at the Bovidae Farm. (OK - so we had a GPS in the car and two IPhone GPS systems and STILL we got lost trying to find this place!) We finally called the store and Jim (the owner) stayed on the phone - guiding and directing us until we finally got there! It is really not that hard to find - we just could not seem to get it right - or rather the GPS (all three of them!) could not get it right!

Jim and Rose live in a beautiful log cabin on top of a mountain - (the view is amazing!) They raise sheep and make their own yarns from the wool. As we were driving up the mountain we could see the sheep all along the hillside. This was going to be an adventure!

The basement of their home contains a beautiful display of their yarns in every color imaginable. Just beautiful! How could you pick just one! (I had to touch them all!)

Jim and Rose were so nice to talk to us and tell us all about their farm and the making of their yarns. We had so much fun just talking to them - they are just the nicest people ever.

They invited us upstairs in their home and out onto the porch where we had the most amazing view over the hillside and valley.

Rose showed us how to make a felted merino wool and silk scarf using a kit that they sell at their store. Now that looked like some serious fun - so we will both be making those!

Jim walked with us out to see the sheep. He even called to them so that they came close enough for this great picture. Rose invited us to come back for another visit in the spring after the baby lambs are born. Yea, I'm doing that for sure! I really think that in my soul I was meant to be a farmer and raise sheep and goats and maybe alpacas. Except for one thing - I hate to get dirty!

Well - so much for geting home before dark! We came dragging in about eight in the evening after an early start that morning about 6 am! We had taken all day to finish up our last day of driving - but we had a wonderful time making our little yarn crawl!

Girl trips are just the very best!