So without further ado, let the blab of pics begin!
I took the train from DC to Penn at zero-dark thirty in the morning. I rode in the quiet car and learned the joy of training in near silence. It was around this time that I realized that the MIL2B's sock was going to turn out fit for a Sasquatch (sans cankles). So I worked on the Dolman and got quite a bit done.
Ann met me at Penn and our timing was fantastic, we waited about 10 minutes before getting a LI train out to her place.
We were dashed off from the train station by the fabulous Onslow. He is just as dashing in person! Wow! I have the biggest crush and may try driving again solely for the purpose of getting one of my own.
When we got to Ann's place I was floored. She is SO modest about her place on the blog, but I gotta tell you folks: it is LOVELY! She set me up in my room, and right away I felt safe and sound (after all, I had my own door guard).
Bridget and Nick keep watch
After snacks and much gabbing, we headed out to hot yoga. Whew! They ain't kidding about the hot, I was completely soaked within 15 minutes. And I still had over an hour to go. I held up pretty well, and had a great time. I had done an upper body workout the night before, and I think the yoga helped me avoid serious achiness.
After showering and dinner with the great Swine family (the Boar and Daughter's 1 & 2 are wonderful dining companions), Ann and I decided to catch a movie. And what better after hot yoga, but a cold-ass movie! We saw March of the Penguins, which was great, but damn if those birds aren't totally nuts.
Saturday was beach day. I had never been to the beach on the Atlantic Coast. (I don't think walking on the sand at 4 o'clock in the morning in Atlantic City counts.) First we had to stop by the inimitable Granny's for the elusive size 1 addiTs.
Granny's in Islip
As was previously mentioned, the 1s were out of stock. So I did what any self-respecting knitter would do and bought more yarn. Since I already had 2s, I just put the MIL2B's socks on holders and jumped on the Trekking XXL bandwagon. This stuff is gorgeous! (So much so, in fact, that I had to buy two skeins. I know, I have a problem.) After the beach fun, I had this:
Trekking XXL in Color 68 (I think, gotta check the band)
But, before I get to my craziness at Granny's, click here for a shot of Ann and something she can't get enough of...
Right. So the deli. I prefer to knit my socks in a certain way that helps me prevent SSS. I posted about it here. Based on my own rule, I would buy two skeins and call that good. Except the trekking comes in BIG skeins. And it is not super cheap. And I wanted two different colors. So I had to wind off half of a skein.
When I do this at home, I use my super cheap kitchen scale, and periodically weight the skein until I get to half (in this case 50 gms) and then snip! But I was far from home, and without my trusty scale, and Granny, oddly enough didn't have one floating around the shop.
I started to wind, all brave-like and got a good size cake on the winder. It looked sort of half-ish. Then Granny asked why I was winding backwards. Backwards? I had never heard of such a thing. I cut where the skein seemed to be half gone (my little OCD voice whimpered a little, "How do you know it's half??"), I put the tail of the remainder on the winder and started to wind in the other direction. The other direction produced a much looser cake. This means it was much bigger, and just before the end of the skein, I panicked and cut again. (OCD: "They don't look even close to the same size, how can you POSSIBLY be sure they are? What if the tight one is bigger and you do the first sock on that, and then on the second you run out of yarn?? Eeek!") Then I wound the pitiful little leftover into it's own cake. Crap. Three cakes.
I couldn't help but be a bit plaintive about not knowing how to split them up to get half and half. I tried to not mention it, really I did. I can't remember if it was Kathleen or Granny or Ann who mentioned that the deli across the street had a scale. We laughed about how funny it would be, weighing yarn on a meat scale and I was perhaps a bit too enthusiastic about it. Heh. Luckily Granny and Kathleen needed lunch, so we were going to the deli anyway. So, you know... I took the opportunity and just checked. Both of the larger cakes were almost exactly the same weight. Ann was briefly worried that I was going to need to re-wind the smaller one into two, but c'mon, I'm not crazy. That will be tucked away for heel or toe repairs.
After all that it was beach time!
From the Robert Moses Causeway
From the boardwalk
The beach was great. I think the last time I jumped in the ocean it was only the ocean-lite, and it wasn't nearly as fun as this. Can you believe I wasn't planning on getting in the water? What happened to me that I became so paralyzed by what I imagine other people might think of me? Thank god I was able to shake that feeling long enough to borrow a suit and jump in. We floated on waves, and I was briefly convinced that I had been stung by a jellyfish (that's what happened the last time I was at the beach). Luckily for us both, I was fine.
After too much sun and good times, it was time to head back and get to work on Kathleen's cake. I bid farewell to the ocean and took a parting shot of the lighthouse. Next time I am in the area, I am going to climb it, but this time, I was too tuckered out.
The Fire Island Lighthouse.
Tomorrow: Cakes, Ann's secret stash, the painful result of too much sun, spinning and more!
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