Toes in the Sand and a Game Plan

Thank you so much for all the lovely comments you have posted on my last few posts.  I am happy to say I am feeling much better and my cold is lingering, but I can function again.  It was such a treat to sit down at the computer and read such lovely comments they made me feel so much better.

I am very excited because in six days I will be heading to Maryland for the Sheep & Wool Festival.  I am going with my two sister and three friends.  Our knitting club is taking a field trip and I am thrilled for a girls weekend of sheep, knitting, spinning and all other wonderful things.  At the show I am excited to see live sheering competitions.  I am also excited about getting to see and touch all the different natural fibers. I hope to gain more education on my knitting and spinning.  I'll be on the hunt for shawl pins, cute buttons and other nick knacks.  Oh and of course yarn and roving.

I have been controlling myself from buying yarn for the past few months and have been forcing myself to use up my stash of yarn so I will have lots of room for new yarn from the show.  My stash is so low it all fits in one box I can't believe it.  I sell most of what I knit.  I don't really make any money by selling my hand knits.  I basically sell them for the cost of the yarn.  I then take the money and buy more yarn (no profit), but it keeps my knitting habit from hurting my wallet.

I can basically knit anything. I haven't found a pattern I can't knit and I actually write most of my own patterns.  So sometimes trying to decide what to make next can be so hard.  I have been searching Ravelry endlessly for the past few months to find patterns and ideas of what to knit next.  If you aren't familiar with Ravelry it is like Facebook for Knitters, or Ebay for Knitters (crocheters ect).  It is a community based site where everyone shares their patterns and projects. On the site you can buy yarn, patterns, join groups, shop, make friends and follow blogs.  But I have seemed to get lost and still can't decide what to make.

I've been talking to a friend recently and a lot of our conversations have turned to the topics of the beach, surfing and our kids.  Her life is filled with all of them.  I love the beach and it is where I feel like I belong.  Something as simple as seeing my son making circles in the sand with his toes gives me more delight than words can say.  So thanks to a new friend I have focus and I know what direction my knitting is going in.  I'm going to stick to my roots and knit beach inspired garments for the next few months.  Light cover-ups with hoods for those days when you stay at the beach til 6pm. Light-weight shawls for the patio bar.  A few knit tops and a little sundress.  Maryland here I come!!!

The above picture was from last summer