Caribbean Knitting
sunrise in the North Atlantic
I'm back from the Caribbean. We took a cruise to the Bahamas, St. Thomas and St. Maarten. It was my favorite vacation ever. I am well-rested, well-fed and even a little bit tan.
And of course I fit in some knitting.
A few cruise highlights:
- Drinking in Nassau at 10:30 am in an outdoor bar with the Atlantic washing under the deck.
- Formal night -- it's so much fun to get dressed up!
- Surviving a crazy open air taxi tour in St. Thomas.
- Drinking Ti Punch from Boo Boo Jam on Orient Beach.
- Boning up on my geography. I now know where Mauritius can be found, and that Burma is also known as Myanmar.
- Knitting -- on the balcony, on the deck while the sun rises, on a lounge chair while the sun sets.
I didn't expect to get much knitting done -- I thought it would be too humid. But the weather was perfect, and other than a 2 hour rain storm that opened up during our walk back to the ship, the sun was shining the entire 7 days we were away.
I finished the back of Norah Gaughan's Shell Tank before realizing I left the cable pattern at home. No pics -- it's just a big black blob right now.
I also started Aranmor by Alice Starmore. I'm using Mission Falls Wool in a natural color. I've never used MF wool and am impressed with how soft it feels. An aran weight sweater grows quickly.
This will be a long-term project and I've given myself until October 2007 to finish it -- before Rhinebeck would be great.
While I was away a lot of the warm weather patterns were released -- IK Spring 2007, and Rowan 41. I have several that I really like and I'm not sure what to start first. I usually say I don't like to knit for the warm weather, but after the cruise I feel a new-found interest in knitting warm weather garments (which is a good thing since I have a lot more summer weight yarn in my stash than I realized).
sunset in St. Maarten
Comments
Oooh, la, la. And here I was just thinking that it's been a while since we've heard from SCK.
Off to Martinique myself at the end of March. Cannot. Wait.
Posted by: colleen | February 12, 2007 10:10 PM
Your vacation sounds awesome! I'm jealous :)
Posted by: Kristy | February 12, 2007 11:11 PM
Love the St. Maarten pic! That vacation sounds awesome. So tell me - were you able to go off on your own or did you feel compelled to do group activities? I think a cruise sounds really nice but I worry that I'd just want to hole up and knit and ignore everything but my husband and the view. :)
Cables lookin' good too....
Posted by: Ann | February 12, 2007 11:37 PM
Welcome back! Beautiful pics!
I used MF wool for the first time for my Red Scarf -- ick!! Too squeaky! I'm kinda surprised you like it but the sweater is gorgeous!
Posted by: Debi | February 13, 2007 01:17 AM
Welcome home. I am so jealous of your vacation! It sounds wonderful.
Posted by: Dawn | February 13, 2007 07:34 AM
Oooh, the Caribbean. I miss it sometimes. Glad you had a great time. Welcome back!
Posted by: isel | February 13, 2007 08:37 AM
sounds like a lovely vacation, sorry you have to come back to such impending bad weather! the aran looks great, i really like the cabling pattern
Posted by: kim | February 13, 2007 09:34 AM
Oh, it sounds like a wonderful warm getaway!! The Shell Tank will be a great warm weather item...
Posted by: Chris | February 13, 2007 10:34 AM
sounds like a fun vacation! god, i could really use some downtime and sun right about now.
i've always wanted to knit with MF wool. i really enjoyed the cotton, but it's not for every project with its nubbiness.
Posted by: gleek | February 13, 2007 10:57 AM
Glad to hear you had fun. You chose a pretty cable pattern for your Aran.
Posted by: Pioggia | February 13, 2007 01:58 PM
lovely vacation. did everyone play nice?
Posted by: Kathleen | February 13, 2007 07:11 PM
This is the perfect time for vacation- just when the winter really starts to weigh on you...
Lovely picures...
Posted by: frecklegirl jess | February 13, 2007 07:21 PM
Welcome home! What a perfect vacation. Try to keep that relaxed glow about you as long as you can. :)
Posted by: Karma | February 14, 2007 01:44 AM
By chance did you wash your swatch? I ask this because I knit a sweater in Missions falls only to find out that it streched out terribly when washed. I should have a) knit it on smaller needles and b) had a clothes dryer to shrink in back into shape. Hopefully you were smarter than I was, live and learn!
Your vacation looks wonderful--I've got a raging icestorm at the moment.
Patty
Posted by: Patty Bolgiano | February 14, 2007 06:15 AM
hey! we were in st. maarten at the same time! i was there for the week as opposed to a cruise port (although many years ago i was there for a day via a cruise). i wonder if we were at Orient the same day? Now THAT would have been a blog story, eh, running into each other?
Posted by: brenda in toronto | February 15, 2007 12:02 PM
Welcome back! Gorgeous pics!
Posted by: diana | February 18, 2007 08:50 PM