CATCHING UP A WHOLE MONTH !

WOW - it is very frightening how fast August has flown by.

Seems like I have been chasing my tail all month trying to catch up with myself.  I have had some taxing projects at work to deal with and also business travel to Auburn AL this month. 

There was a little fun sprinkled in among all the hard work.  One of my favorite things about working in Auburn is visiting the wonderful Yarnhouse Studio in Auburns sister city Opelika.  There are 2 or more great restaurants on the same street as the shop so it is a great stress relief for me to go spend an hour with the owner after work and then have dinner.  I have some great stash purchases to show you from that trip.

Earlier in August we spent our long weekend at St Augustine Beach.  I did a little stitching and I do mean "very" little stitching.  I re-started a wonderful Brenda Keyes design called "A Sailors Wife" and watched these very strange storm clouds move in.  This huge tube shaped cloud was just so strange - I've lived in NE FL my whole life and I don't recall ever seeing anything this strange.

 Here is another shot showing how that long tube fed into the huge thunderhead.  Very scary stuff.  It looked like it was sitting right on top of the condo unit next to ours.

 We found a great new restaurant while at the beach this year.  GAS Full Service is owned by a young couple and I think the man is the chef.  His wife seats guests and waits tables too.  It is a great old former gas station and they have decorated in a 50/60's motif and have great beach music from the same era playing.  Not to mention the food is great.  They don't have a website but do have a facebook page if you're interesting in learning more.

 We like it so much we drove back down there this past weekend and ate there again.

This time of the year - the pull of Fall days to come and wool fumes overcome me.  It doesn't take much prompting for me to start stashing for the fall/winter knitting season.  Heck I think I started in July this year but who's counting. 

Another fun adventure I had this month was going to a new-to-me shop downstate a bit in Bunnell.  The Sew and Quilt Shop has a great little yarn corner.  DF Henrietta lives near there and has been telling me what nice things this shop has and that their yarn selection is varied and growing.  So mid month DF Kris - my mom and I set out early one morning to visit this shop and have lunch with DF Karen and Henri.  We had fun - obviously evidenced by the beautiful Noro yarn pictured below.  My DM who doesn't even knit was overcome by the wool fumes and a great sale price on this lovely Noro yarn.  Can you make me a vest out of this???????  She quiried - So we set about looking thru the new Noro mags and books and found something I think she will like.  What lucious fall colors in this yarn.

My mom won the prize for the big spender of the day but I had to buy one little souvenir of the trip - this is Prism Saki - a beautiful superwash merino sock yarn.  Hand dyed of course by local florida company Prism.  I can't remember the colorway but it is just perfect "mel" colors.  Yellow greens, olive greens, plum and maybe a little rich brown.

From my most recent stashing endeavor at the Yarnhouse Studio - 3 skeins of lovely Boticello Red MMMMalabrigo Sock - I really really like MB sock - I think it is an excellent product for the price and who doesn't love all their yummy colorways.

 Madeline Tosh is one of my favorite yarn companies - they do gorgeous hand dyeing and have a number of yummy yarn bases.  Pashmina is one of my faves with a blend of merino/cashmere.  This is Iris a beautiful shade of purple and will be used for the upcoming Quaker Ridge KAL on Rav.  I'm undecided if I will do the beads but I'm thinking the beaded edge will be a good learning experience and so I might try and find some great beads for this yarn.

An interesting Madeline Tosh yarn I have not tried is Prairie - a single ply merino lace weight yarn.  Also found this yummy stuff at Yarnhouse on my July visit.  As I said - wool fever hit early this year.

another gorgeous MT yarn - Sock - this is black currant  - what a lovely color - no plans for this yet but 2 skeins is almost 8oo yards so enough to do almost any shawl.

well - I've come to the end of my yarn adventures - I wish I could show a huge stitching finish but sadly I have just not been in a stitching mood.  I have also hardly hooked any at all this summer.  Just the clicking of my addi needles is the only sounds coming from my stitching nest these past few months.

I hope everyone in the gulf coast region is well and that Isaac passed you by with no ill effects to your property or family.

Enjoy the labor day holiday and I'll see you in September