LOTS O' KNITTIN'

I am liking this retirement gig. I highly recommend it!

The weeks leading up to my last day at work I was very nervous. I am not sure why now, looking back. I have not gotten to a point where I feel relaxed. I think it is going to take awhile.

The past 10 years of my career have been very high stress. I was always on a system implementation schedule which can be very stressful and full of deadlines. Although I prefer system implemenations to system maintenance, it still takes a toll on ones body and mind.

As a transition, it is good to have my deadlines with Nihon Vogue. I feel like I still have firm deadlines and things I HAVE to get done. I'm grateful to have this right now.

I am finalizing the design on my final project and putting the details on paper/pattern.

Here is a rough sketch of my final project.



The upper part of the garment where the bust dart is placed and the sleeves will be done in stockinette stitch. The bottom section of the garment will be a lace pattern. Here is my swatch of the stitches to be used.



I have never created a garment with bust darts. Since the upper part of my design will be more fitted, I wanted to learn how to do bust darts using Japanese short rows. There a number of measurements that need to be taken which determines the placement of the dart on the pattern. Here is a photo of bust dart placement for my design - it is the triangle drawn on the pattern.



There are a couple of techniques I am using to get the look I want for this garment. The first one is the bust darts, the second is getting the flaring on the sleeves and bottom of the sweater. The flare on the bottom part of the sweater can be a challenge because the pattern is lace. Instead of decreasing stitches, which can destroy the continuity of the lace pattern, I will achieve this by changing needle sizes. For every .25 mm you go up/down, this will change your guage approximately 4%. Using this guide, you can then figure out how many times you will need to change needle sizes to get the result you want.

Since retiring I have also completed two Nihon projects.

The first is the v-neck pullover that I have struggled doing the grafting on. As I got more and more experienced grafting the 2X2 ribbing, I wondered why I couldn't see the stitches and how to graft. That is what experience is all about, isn't it?

Here is my finished garment. I am very pleased with the fit of this project.



I have also finished(with the exception of sewing on the buttons - still trying to decide between 2 buttons) the round neck cardigan. I call this one my Pepto Bismol sweater. The reason - this project seemed to go on and on, and on and on some more. I was getting nauseated with it - I needed some Pepto as a cure for the nausea!

I like the fit, overall, but the sleeves on this are tad bit tight.



I am also finishing up the v-neck cardigan. I just finished knitting the sleeves yesterday and the sleeves are on the blocking board right now. I just have to attach the sleeves and finish knitting and putting on the vertical button band. I will write more on that in another post. Vertical button bands deserve their own full blog post! (what a pain...why would anyone ever do this?)

I have tried uploading some photos of my "contraband knitting" but they won't load. I guess I can only update you on my Nihon Vogue work!

Hey Seattle - isn't this weather awesome? Now this is the heat I like! I know some of you may be wilting, but this girl is in heaven! Not too cold, not too hot. It is JUST right!

Candace is running a Marathon!

A fellow student in the Nihon Vogue course is running a marathon for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. This organization holds a special place in my charitable giving heart.

My niece Nicole has leukemia(which is in remission). (I realize now I should have done a post requesting donations when Nicole's brother, Connor, did the Big Climb earlier this year - oh well, I will do it next year).

Anyway...Candace is training to do a marathon. The proceeds will go to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. This organization has been a wonderful resource for my family.

I did a post on Nicole's birthday last year which will give you more information about my niece's battle with leukemia.

Here is a recent photo of Nicole with her brother Connor(far left) and cousin Cameron (center) at Cam's high school graduation a few weeks ago. You can see that she is doing well.



The drug that Nicole is on, which keeps her in remission, would not be possible without the charitable contributions of people like you and me.

If you have the means and the desire, go to Candace's giving website to donate directly to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society via her efforts!

Thanks so much!

Also a big round of applause to Candace for taking on such a big commitment to help the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society!!!!

5 Years Served of a Life Sentence

A friend of mine, Linda, jokingly talks about marriage as a life sentence(with a big smile)!

This past Sunday Greg and I celebrated 5 years of marriage.

We are late bloomer's regarding marriage. On our wedding day I was almost 37 years old and Greg was 51. Yes, it is both our first marriage. We both say it took each of us so long because we were waiting for the *right* person.

We had our share of relationships that didn't work out. We agree that we had gotten to a point in our lives that we were happy in our lives as they were as single people. If we met someone special, great. If not, we were perfectly happy being single.

We continue this independant-ness in our marriage. Yes, our marriage is very, very important but it isn't all there is in our lives. We share so much but we continue having lives and interests outside our marriage. For us, this is what makes our marriage so strong and beautiful. We have our passions in our marriage and we have passions outside our marriage. His passions outside our marriage are photography and scuba diving, mine are my dogs and anything fiber related!

Here is a wedding photo of us on the waterfront. We were posing for photos when the fire boat comes by. We couldn't have asked for a better photo op.

I tell people I wish that people looking for love could have what we have. We have tremendous respect for each other, we support one another to pursue the things that are important to us, we love each other's families, we laugh every single day(this was in our marriage vows) and we share so many common values.

When I imagined THE PERFECT man for me, I could not have conjured up this man in my dreams.

This photo shows our playful side:



I love this next photo. Greg is my safe place. He is my soft place to fall. He is compassionate, he is loving, he DOES have an emotional bone in his body! I think this photo says it all.



On Sunday I was running around the house in the morning getting ready for my Nihon class and Greg asks if I have time to have coffee with him. I said "kinda". He said he had something for me. I gave him that side-wise look. We had agreed not to exchange gifts this year. He presented me with a gift wrapped box. Inside were a pair of diamond earrings.

I told Greg we should return them because I would rather have the $$ go towards ripping out the carpet and putting new flooring in upstairs in our home. He wouldn't hear of it. (Did I mention he is thoughtful, too?)

A life sentence seems doesn't seem long enough for me.

My Mariner Scarf

As most of Seattle knows, the Seattle Mariners are not doing well this season. It has been hard on the fans. There was so much hope going into this season. Unfortunately the team has not lived up to those hopes.

I still enjoy going to the games. In fact I will be going to tonight's game.

On a somewhat related topic, when I retired I received some very kind and generous retirement celebration gifts(more posts to come on those). One was from Michale. She knew I have been wanting to knit the Chevron scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts(currently 1273 projects in Ravelry). Michale knit this for me because she knew I have been wanting to knit this but knew I would not be getting to knitting it any time soon.

I wore this scarf at the game this past Saturday night when we played the Washington Nationals...and lost. Here is a photo of me wearing my scarf sitting with my mother-in-law Evie.



I'll surely be wearing it tonight. Currently it is cool out and raining. Will summer ever arrive in Seattle?

Getting the Hang of it

I would be wondering "Why Naomi is having such a hard time grafting her invisible cast-on piece to the main piece?".

I have looked at books, I have watched Lucy Neatby's Finesse Your Knitting DVD (thank you Michale for loaning it to me). This video is very good by the way. I would buy it myself but now that I am on a "fixed income" I know where I can borrow it! :)

My problem isn't doing normal grafting. I can do normal grafting. My problem is half of my material is as you would see in videos and books and the other half(which was knit from a provisional, crochet cast-on) is not. Since the stitches from the provisional are a 1/2 stitch off, this makes it challenging(at least for me).

The photo below shows the little piece I am trying to graft on which began with an invisible cast-on. The white yarn is some smooth waste yarn that shows me now the yarn should be sewn to join the pieces together. This is what I would call the piece that is shown in "normal" grafting examples.



The photo below really shows what I mean by the knitting being a 1/2 stitch off. In Lucy's DVD she has you put smooth waste yarn on each piece you will be graphting together. I can not do this with the piece that is 1/2 stitch off - this is the whole reason for the need to graft these pieces together. If it were as easy as just picking up from the waste yarn, this would eliminate the need for this grafting.



I'm getting the hang of this. I have seen some *issues* with my latest piece of grafting and I may have to rip out and start again. I think this is because I tried doing it late at night. The photo below is the piece I did during the day and I am quite pleased with the results. As long as it took me to do this(lots of sewing, then re-sewing - trying to read the stitches correctly) I was thinking I could have re-knit the whole sleeve. I guess that would go against what I am trying to learn here...plus I am NOT going to re-knit the whole front and back just because of this darn situation. Looks pretty good..or as good as I am going to get since this is really making me very behind in other homework. It took me probably 4-5 hours for just one sleeve. Honestly. I think I will get quicker the more I can really memorize what I should be doing.



I must say that having this time is priceless. Spending all this time practicing, doing and re-doing this graft has been an enjoyable learning experience rather than a frustrating, race against time *chore*. Just by being able to take my time with it is just amazing. I'm enjoying this learning process rather than being frustrated by it.

I am also getting the hang of this NOT WORKING gig. It is so nice! I'm tending to stay up later. I was waking up about 5:30 everyday but today I made it till 7am! (I make it sound like I have been doing it awhile - today is day 3 of freedom!)

It almost seems like a dream not having the performance pressures from work. It is so nice to wake up and look at what my day might be. Go downstairs, wake and feed the boys, have my coffee(G is still making my latte's) and just sit for a bit to figure out what I will do with my day. Pure luxury.

The Manta Ray Video, Finally

As most of you know Greg and I took a vacation to Hawaii in late April through early May.

My most memorable experience on the trip was doing the night snorkel to see the famed Manta Ray's on the Big Island. We did the snorkel/dive on Wednesday April 30. I believe 12-13 manta's showed up.

Big Bertha, the biggest Manta in the area, was there. Her wingspan is 14 feet across. I think the average wingspan of the manta's in that area is about 10 feet. One of the newer baby Manta's was also there. Greg termed this one "gnome sized" because he is only about 5 feet across.

Back in 2003 on my honeymoon in Tahiti I had the experience of seeing the Manta's on a day snorkel and I could just make out the outline of their large bodies far below me.

When I learned about this excursion, I knew I had to get to Kona to see this. They have been drawing the manta's to this area(Kona) for the purpose of tourism for quite some time.

I have no information confirming this in any way but I worry that at some point they will stop doing this for the safety of these beings. I know some of them can get bruised by running into people and their equipment. There are stupid people that try to touch them. Manta's have a protective coating on their bodies and our body products, etc. can be harmful to them. I wanted to see them just in case they stop doing this in the future.

We booked the excursion through Kona Honu Divers.

I took this video with a little waterproof Sanyo video camera. You don't have to be a scuba diver to enjoy and be blown away by this excursion.

These animals are very curious and gentle beings. They are truly remarkable.

Enjoy.

A New Beginning

I made it out of work today with minimal tears!

My co-workers were very generous and contributed $310 to the National Marrow Donor Program in lieu of flowers or gifts for my retirement gift.

The team tricked me and came into the conference room as I was doing my exit meeting with my boss and brought a huge box of Trophy cupcakes (my favorite) to celebrate the beginning of a new chapter in my life.

What is my first trip in retirement?

I am running off to Costco right now! :)

For the Sock Knitter

Dani at Sunshine Yarns has created some self striping yarns for all of the Harry Potter Hogwarts School house colors and I had to have Gryffindor House. I love how these turned out!



The story about getting this yarn is this: I have enjoyed Dani's creations and had longed to get some of the Harry Potter inspired house self-striping sock yarn(I'm a huge sucker for self-striping sock yarn!). She emails when she is going to update the shop(Tomorrow June 10, 11am eastern) and I knew she would be listing some Harry Potter inspired skeins. I was all set to go. I had blocked out my work calendar for about 15 minutes so I could take a break just at the precise moment she was going to list.

I was working away and got called into a last minute meeting. I returned to my desk about 1.5 hours after her listing time and I just knew all the Gryffindor House colors would be sold out.

I ran to my desk and guess what? There was one skein left of Gryffindor House. I was stunned. Still one more skein out there? I was meant to make these socks!

They look especially cute in my new clear Converse shoes. Have y'all seen these shoes? Perfect for the nerdy sock knitter like me! You can get them here.




Sock Books

Janel Laidman's sock book is out! I did a pre-order and got mine signed. They are now available for sale here.



I own a lot of sock books. I love some, I'm mediocre on others. This one is FAB-O. Go out and buy it.

I love each and every design in this book. Honestly I want to knit each and every one. (Move over Nihon Vogue!)

The night I received this book in the mail I lay in bed gazing over and over(and over and over and over) the pages of this book. Here is a sampling of the designs included in this book.

Rivendell

Of course you probably know this pattern - the Yarn Harlot made this famous. You can get the pattern in the book or you can purchase just the pattern here.



Biological Clock

Don't you love the DNA strands?



Northern Lights

The colorwork folks are not left out in the cold.



Thistle and Fox Socks - Lisa Lloyd

I purchased this booklet through Foxfire Fiber and Designs some time ago.

The designs in the booklet are timeless. I have a hard time finding designs that my man would wear. I found more than one in this book.

The design that prompted me to purchase this booklet is called Snowstar.

Another lovely pattern is Bluegrass.

I am a bit on a non-Nihon Vogue bent right now.

I'm a little frustrated trying to graft that darn v-neck ribbing(still). I am getting better at it. After sewing across almost a half a wrist ribbing I found this little not-quite-right stitch. Most folks won't even notice it but I know Jean will.

I get discouraged because it isn't *perfect*. Damn perfectionism.



The bad thing about perfectionism(there are lots of bad things) is that when something isn't perfect to me then I just want to set it down and never pick it up again. I don't like that I have this impulse but Nihon is really helping me to pick it back up and finish it. It may not be 100% perfect but just finishing it is a huge thing for me. That is probably why I have a multitude of UFO's in my house. Nihon is really, really helping me get beyond this impulse.

The non-knitting content:

Today driving into work, my sister Deb popped up in my head. She pops up at very significant times in my life. I think it is because she was my champion. She was my endless supporter and she is doing that even now. Even though she is no longer living.

I imagined her calling me tonight(which I know she would have) saying "Aren't you excited for your last day of work?". She would be supporting me telling me how excited she is for me. I get tears writing this. No matter what was going on with her, she always found time to show her interest in my life. I miss that love and demonstrativeness.

I didn't fully appreciate her interest in my life and how much she showed her love for me by just by making a quick phone call to say hi.

For most folks dreaming about retirement they could not imagine the transition from work life to retirement being a challenge. It is more challenging than I would have imagined. The future is full of unknowns(I know...full of endless opportunity as well).

I am also anxious leaving some people behind at work. The environment I am leaving is getting harder and harder to work in each week that passes. I care a lot about my friends there and hate to leave them behind. I will miss them a lot.

Today I received a letter in the mail from the National Marrow Donor Program saying that two of my co-worker's had made contributions in my name. I started crying. This gesture means a lot to me. (I told my work that I didn't want a party or gifts but they could make contributions to the NMDP). They went out of their way to really honor me and the time we have spent together in the workplace.

Ready or not tomorrow I graduate from work life!

Wow. It has been awhile!

I've had a lot to write about, just not a lot of time to do it in.

What will get me out of the quiets on the blog? A Meme.

Ellen meme'd me and I think I can do this quickly(I hope).

The rules: Are posted at the beginning. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blog and leaves a comment, letting them know they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog.Let the person who tagged you know when you've posted your answer. Play nice, children.

1. What was I doing 10 years ago? Let's see. 11 years ago I made a career change and was deep into the first year of transition. I was an accountant/CPA turning to software developer. I was working 12-16 hours a day on a Y2K project. I was a newby developer on a project that had many seasoned veterans and I was working many hours to just keep up. I was motivated to be successful in my new career so I spent many hours at the job.

2. What are 5 things on my to-do list today- not in any particular order? Have breakfast with my friend Jamie, color my hair, get cute wrapping paper for my friend Amy's birthday present, wash the bed linens, get started on a square for Ryan's afghan(see details here. It is the June 6 post.) You all probably know Ryan from Mossy Cottage Knits and Dulaan. She's going through a rough time and folks are contributing squares for an afghan. Go see Janine's post for details. She has done so much for people, it is time we do something for her.

3. Snacks I enjoy: I'm a junk food queen. I love any kind of food. If I eat something sweet, then I need something salty to follow. When I eat something salty then I need something sweet to follow. As you can tell, this can be a dangerous circle that never ends!

4. Places I've lived: I've only lived in two places during my almost 42 years of life. Ellensburg, WA and then Seattle, WA.

5. Things I would do if I were a billionaire: Well. A Billion dollars is a lot of cash. I would give money to my sisters so they could retire. I would give money to my friends so they could retire and we could all play! I would give money to charity and maybe even start my own foundation for starving fiber artists.

6. What are some jobs you've had: My dad owned many rental properties and an apartment building. Early on(starting at age 7) I had to water outdoor plants, weed, paint, etc. As a teenager I worked in a local fast food drive-in as a cashier and I bussed tables at a local restaurant. In college I worked at the UW Huskly Athletic ticket office - in ticket sales. Also while in college I worked at NOAA as a computer hardware installer(changing out mother boards, etc). I have worked as an accountant and software developer.

7. Peeps I want to know more about: Jamie, Melinda(she probably won't do it though!), Michale, Peggy and Rebecca, Joni

Note: I have two more work days. Monday and Tuesday are it. It seems a bit of a letdown of sorts. Not sure why. I think it is because it doesn't feel real yet. Plus I'm fighting a summer cold and it has me feeling a but whimpy. You can bet I'll be posting more regularly very soon!

Another Nihon Vogue Weekend

I love the weekends I attend class for Nihon Vogue year one certification!

I learn so much! It is so cool!

Jean is such a wonderful instructor!

Don't have much time to write but here are some photos giving you a small hint about what we learned.

The next two photos show how Jean is teaching us about tank top fitting. Our crochet project is to crochet a tank top. Many students are crocheting a tank to fit themselves. I am going the smart route. Tank top for a 2 year old!





As part of the design process we must chart out every row, every stitch on the area of the armhole and neckline decreases for this crochet project. A very tedious task for homework. Luckily by doing the 2 year old size, there won't be as much work here for me.



Melinda is the only student done with her crewneck cardigan(I think she is the only one). Jean was telling us how to reinforce the neckline ribbing on a garment like this. This sweater is very heavy which can pull the neckline out of shape. We learned how to not only reinforce this area but how to keep it so it does not get stretched out.



We also learned how to attach a vertical button band onto our v-neck cardigan. There are many calculations that have to be made in order to make this work. Imagine knitting row upon row of a button band that goes from left front ribbing, up the front of the sweater, up and around the neck and back down the right front down to the right front ribbing. That is a lot of rows. It can be very tedious.

As part of the knitting of the vertical button band you need to calculate where the button holes are and hope that when all is said and knit up...that it fits the garment side as well. Of course it sounds like you leave it all to chance but there is a lot to calculate and make sure this all works out correctly.

Once you have done all that figuring and knitting, you have to learn to sew on the vertical button band to the garment. Here is Jean's illustration of how this is done. I'm actually looking forward to seeing how mine works out.



I am so very grateful to be given the opportunity to commit to such an amazing class. I have learned so much. As I discussed with my fellow students we acknowledge that it has been a very challenging year, full of growing pains. As difficult as things have been, I don't believe any of us would trade this experience. We still have to finish off the year but I think there are only two or three students out of the fifteen that are still undecided about committing to year two. The rest of my class has already committed to moving ahead to year 2.

Last night Greg asked me "If you had to decide today whether you were going to take year two, what would you decide?". I told him "I definitely would".

I look forward to trying all the things I learned in the past two days. It is nice to see my fellow students and teacher. I would definitely miss seeing them if I didn't continue with my Nihon education.

The woman that sits behind me was having a hell of a time with the button band calculations and the results over this weekend. She had to re-do it 4 times. I look at her as a seasoned knitter. She knows an awful lot and has years of experience. Not that I want Sarah to struggle but I realize that I am not the only one experiencing those hard earned growing pains.

We will celebrate when we complete year one(One student suggested lots of margaritas). This is definitely something to be proud of.

Still Behind

This coming weekend is a Nihon Vogue Weekend. I am perpetually behind.

The crewneck cardigan is coming out nicely. I am happy with the pattern and yarn but I'm disappointed in the fit of the sleeves. I added more ease with this pattern but It is still too tight. I blocked it to my design measurements. It is still too tight. I am going to try to block the sleeve out more so it is more comfortable to wear.

I think the overall fit of the sweater is going to be a bit tight. Read my prior post. I think I need to take new body measurements to base my designs on!

This is the progress I have made. For the sake of time I decided to do a 1X1 rib. I was going to do something more visually pleasing but I just don't have time. I just have to get this done. Originally I tried doing the ribbing in the same needle size as the pattern/body but it didn't look good. I am not fond of tighter ribbing like what it currently is, but it will have to do for now.



Remember the frogging of the seed stitch on the sides of the body? I took out just that secion to do it in pattern. Here is the sewn side seams. I think it looks pretty darn good. It isn't perfect and I had some issues figuring out where to pick up stitches at the yarn overs.



I still have to sew up one sleeve, attach the sleeves to the body and do the button/neck bands. This I want to finish before class on Saturday.

Here is my progress on the v-neck. As I was knitting the front neck decreases I checked the pattern against the 15 shoulder stitches on the back to make sure the pattern was going to match up. I checked it how many times and re-knit it once already. I was confident the end result as good. I blocked the pieces and went to sew the shoulder seams. No. Pattern is wrong. I have to undo the fronts down to the first yarn marker(see photo) and re knit.





I still have to knit a swatch for my vertical button band for the v-neck cardigan. Still have the sleeves to knit. Based on how my sleeves for the round neck cardigan fit, I am going to re-calculate the increases on the sleeves. Leave the sleeve cap the same width(don't want to have to re-knit the body armholes) and make the wrist width wider. I can leave the sleeve to knit after this upcoming class...

I want the v-neck cardigan in such a state that I can follow the vertical button band lessons in class.

I have abaondoned the grafting of the ribbing to be done on the v-neck pullover for now.

I don't know what it is with me and Nihon. I check my notes, I check my knitting, I check out how patterns are going to line up and I still have issues. I do believe it is my need to get knitting done and I just miss things because I am rushing to get it all done.

I know I will feel differently when I have more time. I know I will enjoy Nihon much more. Let's see, how many more work days? I work 4 days a week. I am requesting to take a vacation day this coming week to work on my homework, I have Memorial Day off...so that makes it Sweet 16!

Crochet? Yes. We have to do a crochet project. My swatches look like crap. I see mistakes but I just don't crochet and don't know how to read the stitches. I have never crocheted a garment. This is going to be interesting!

My swatches are in Knit Picks Gloss - fingering weight in Woodland Sage. The right swatch is done in a larger hook size. I want the most bang for my time! I bought this from a fellow Raveler. I didn't want to spend much on this project. I got 10 skeins for $25. I'm following Melinda's lead - child sized garment only.



I have been thinking about my final project. It is a design your own - which really is what we have been doing all along so it really isn't all that much different than our other projects.

I am going to knit my final project in Blue Sky Alpacas Alpaca Silk - creamy white. It will be an empire waist deep round neck cardigan sweater with a lace pattern on the top, down to the bustline, then stockinette from the bust-line down. The sleeves will have the lace pattern down to near the elbows, then stockinette with a flared sleeve. There will only be a few buttons from the neckline down to the bust and no buttons below.

I have a concept drawing done but nothing ready to show yet.

I know it is a long post but I must comment about Nihon Vogue. It is a rigorous and demanding course. I think the few of us with blogs may highlight our frustrations and our stress for time.

I have taken some time to really ponder whether I will take year 2. Before my vacation I was 95% sure I would continue. Now it is about 60%. I know I will have a better sense once I'm done working. I will have a month and a half from the time I retire and when we have our last class(which is when I have to know if I am taking year 2).

The reason for the decrease in likelihood is not a reflection on Jean or the course. There is just so much OTHER knitting I would like to do, not to mention spinning, too!

I have learned so much this past year. I KNOW I will use all of the techniques I have learned. It has taken my knitting to a whole new level. It has also given me a boost in confidence in my knitting. I know it may not sound like it from my nihon blog entries but I am much more confident in my abilities.

I must also comment that Jean is an incredible teacher. She is so kind and patient with all of us and our stresses, our impatience. She expects the best from herself and she expects that from us as well.

You know how you take classes and you get all jazzed and you may or may not use what you learn? I will walk away from year one with a sense of accomplishment and with many, many new tools in my knitting tool box! Who can say they knit 8 garments in 13 months?

Extra Baggage

Now isn't that a loaded title!

I've had a post in the wings for all of you regarding my trip to see the Manta Ray's. It was such a memorable night. I'm waiting for hubby to get my video up on Utube to share. As soon as he does, I will post that entry. In the meantime...I have a more serious post.

I have been pondering about a weighty subject, literally.

When Greg and I travel we have to be very conscious of how much our check-in luggage weighs in order to prevent having to pay for overweight luggage. We take so much diving and camera equipment. We have to be smart so we pack, weigh, re-pack and re-weigh, re-pack, etc.

I got to thinking...How much does my carry-on bag weigh? I packed of my laptop, various battery chargers, my priceless Nihon Vogue notes and minimum clothes I might need in case my checked in luggage gets lost or is delayed by a couple days(it does happen). My carry on weighed somewhere in the neighborhood of 20-22 pounds.

Well, when we arrived in Kona, we had to carry our carry-on luggage down the stairs to the tarmac. When we got home, I also had to carry this bag from the ground floor of our house up to the master bedroom(3 flights of stairs). It gets heavy and annoying if you can't just roll it around!

I have gained about that much weight since meeting Greg 8 years ago.

I had a light bulb moment.

The weight of my carry-on is what I carry around with me now, everywhere I go. I carry it up and down the stairs everyday at home, I carry it with me to the grocery store, I carry it EVERY-WHERE.

No wonder I feel more tired. No wonder why I feel more winded going up stairs. No wonder why I feel out of shape.

It has woken me up a bit about the reality of my weight gain and how much energy it takes to cart it around.

I have gained it slowly so I have not noticed how my body, bones and muscles have accommodated to deal with this additional load. When I had to lift and carry the bag I definitely noticed how much it made me work.

I don't want to carry that carry-on bag with me everywhere anymore. I wish getting rid of it was as easy as checking it in at the airport and sending it to some other destination!

It is true. I AM spoiled

I didn't post about it earlier. I'm somewhat embarassed.

It is true. I admit it. I am spoiled.

Greg bought me a new Louis Vuitton while we were on Maui. It is his gift to me to celebrate my retirement(as if getting to retire wasn't enough!).

He really liked this new style that just came out - Galliera PM.

Greg is really a thoughtful husband. After I chose which bag I wanted he was nice enough to ask if there was anything else I wanted!

A Happy Wife is a Happy Life. :)



We have our 5 year anniversary coming up in June. I told him that since we both got such a late start in life, marriage-wise, that for every year we are married it really counts as two. I think you earn it too because the longer it takes for a person to get married for the first time, the harder it is to learn to compromise...hence the credit for two years for every year of marriage. Sounds reasonable, no?

That really is just ego justification logic for better anniversary gifts. HA!

Actually this bag is a retirement, anniversary, birthday gift! See I can be reasonable! :)

On a completely different note:

I DID get to see a turtle today! It was absolutely thrilling. She was just swimming around and she let me swim alongside her. Then after following her for awhile, so close I could almost touch her, she came to to surface for air. I could see her open her mouth and get some air, saw a few bubbles in the water as she went back under and followed her for a bit more before the surge took me too close to the rocks. Oh it was so cool!

I am glad Greg got some video of it. I am going back there tomorrow!

I hope this is a good omen for seeing the Manta's tonight! We went into the dive shop this past Saturday to sign up for the Manta trip and the night before the Manta's did not show up. Now that would be very disappointing!

Wish us luck!

The Good, Bad and the Ugly

We went to a shave ice place in Kailua-Kona...close to a really, really good hole-in-the-wall restaurant. This little corner of Kailua-Kona is my favorite!

Now this is authentic Shave Ice. When you look at this photo - this is the size SMALL shave ice.




This brought back memories. When I was a child, my dad bought us a shave ice machine. It was all manual but I can still see it in my mind. You would freeze water in this specific shaped mold that would fit into this machine, turn the hand crank to get the ice shaved and add this sugary syrup to it. I can still see me and Trish fighting over who was going to turn the crank! [Trish, do you remember that?]

Having this "real" shave ice made me very happy!

What didn't make me happy is my NihonV homework. I have been playing with the V-neck cardigan back. I was trying to figure out how to fix my mistake on the provisional cast-on. After futzing with it I just decided to tear the whole thing out.

What happened? I had done a provisional cast-on but rather then stockinette the first 3 rows, I started immediately in pattern. This was my mistake. I won't ever do that again. See? The more you make mistakes the more you learn!

In the last class I learned how to do an invisible cast-on specifically for seed stitch which is what I was planning on doing for the ribbing. I wish I had learned this Before I started my project but I didn't. So yesterday I tore out the back. I was done up to the armhole.

Yes. I tore out the back. I will have to do this with the front also because...I want them to look consistent, especially at the side seams.

I was sad but I just could not figure out how to *fix* my boo boo at the beginning of the back.

Here is the before:



Here is the after with ribbing:


I am still struggling with the V-neck pullover..trying to graft on the "ribbing", invisible cast-on piece (same as my pattern stitch)to the main piece. Since we had not learned the invisible cast-on when I started this project I did the provisional cast-on. With my pattern stitch the 1/2 stitch off between provisional cast-on and ribbing would be very apparent. This is another example of: If I stayed really behind in my homework I would learned the cast-on before I got started and save myself this challenge. I guess it requires me to learn more than other students in my class.

In fact one student has only done stockinette stitch in all her projects. I could have done that to save myself all this headache but I wouldn't have learned nearly as much either.

Here is the pre-grafting materials. The bottom part of the photo - the purple is what I am trying to graft on the main part of the knitting, the white is the material that is my guide to graft with the real yarn - this is the graft row, the pink is just a placeholder which will go away as I graft the bottom("ribbing") to the body.



I am learning a lot about reading stitches and how the stitches are made and what loop goes with this and what loop makes up that. I still can't get the grafting to look right and I really wanted to finish up this project before next class.

With all the time I have taken to try to figure this out, I may just wait until I see Jean and have her help me with it. I just don't have the time to spend on all this fixing right now. I don't like feeling stressed on my vacation!

I am just beginning to get the hang of the grafting but the yarn is very fuzzy, making it hard to easily see the stitches. When I graft it, the front look passable but there are some stitches that are not right on the back side. I am sure Jean could just go *zip, zip, zip* (my attempt at sound in words) and have it all stitched up in no time.

I want to learn how to do this correctly. I don't want her to do it for me.

Now I am off to do some relaxation. I am on the hunt to see some turtles. I've been dying to see turtles! Tonight we are doing a night snorkel(kind of scares me!) to hopefully see the big Manta Rays. Last time Greg was here he saw 10 and they were all swimming around the divers and snorkelers. See the site of the outfit we are going with HERE.

I hear Seattle is cold and rainy. Sorry guys! I will try to bring the sunshine home with me!

Miss Dem Boyz

You all know I am just *slightly* attached to my boys. I have been away from them for 11 days now.

Here are some photos I had on my phone.









My sister Trish is taking good care of them. I call her just about every third day to find out how they are doing. I would call her everyday but I'm sure she would get sick of me calling just to see if they are doing ok.

She did tell me her son Connor had some friends over one night for a pizza dinner and Chase was wrestling with some kid for a piece of pizza. The kid yelled out to Trish "Chase is attacking me". Imagine seeing Chase, a 10 pound Yorkie(yes, he is a giant Yorkie), duking it out with some 80-90 pound kid? Trish said Chase got a good couple bites out of the pizza before she could get it from him. No wonder he likes staying with Auntie Trish!

The only stories I get about Beanie are that he is so easy and he just loves to sit and cuddle on the couch. Maltese were bred for that and he is true to his breed.

One downside of our travels is being away from "the boys". Even Greg admits he is missing them. He mentioned we needed to find a place where we could take them and stay for a few months(we could do this in Bonaire - one of Greg's favorite diving places. He has friends that have a house there and they always bring their dog)!

I never thought I would ever hear him say such a thing because initially he didn't want to meet me because I had two dogs.

Those boys have a way of worming their way into a person's heart. They sure have worked their magic on Greg. Boy am I glad they did!

Our Daily Bread

I had issues getting this posted yesterday. First, blogger was having problems uploading photos. Then when we arrived at our new home away from home, the internet service was not working.

Thank goodness for the iPhone! Since we are "renting" this condo, the don't provide a contact number, just an e-mail. Kind of hard to e-mail if you can't get on the internet, huh? So I just emailed them from my iPhone. Gotta love this phone.

Here is the original post:

This is our last morning at Two Mermaids. I have enjoyed our stay here very much. Being away from the hustle and bustle of the crowds has done wonders for my soul. I had have some much needed rest and I am on the road back to feeling like Naomi again.

Every morning, Juddee brings us a wonderful plate of goodies for breakfast. Here is a sample of what we got in our basket set outside our door.



I also have some random photos of me and my food on the trip.

I had this really yummy french onion soup at a restaurant on Maui called Cafe O' Lei. The soup was delicious and much more than an appetizer size! This could have been my whole meal. The angle at which the photo was taken does not give you true perspective on the size, but it was quite large!



Here I am at the Tommy Bahama Cafe at the Shops at Wailea enjoying a mango martini!



Finally some photos of us at Spago. I'm enjoying the Poke inspired Wolfgang Puck appetizer while Greg sits back and enjoys the awesome view.




We went to the local Farmer's Market this morning after our morning coffee. It is just like the ones at home. We stopped off at this beautiful orchid stand...can't believe how cheap the prices are for cut orchids.





Of course I'm at the Farmer's Market and I go to the booth's with food. Here I am with homemade yummy's in the background.



I'll leave you with a photo of the view from our new place. We want to go out and explore now. I really want to go next door to the beach...this is where Greg saw lots of turtles last time. Have a great day!