a sweet sendoff

nothing says “fun family breakfast” like mickey mouse waffles.

for our last morning in san diego, xanning and kade whipped up some delicious homemade waffles and buttermilk syrup for everyone (did i mention that we were not the only guests?). just what the doctor ordered to follow up the brisk walk that kim and i went out for earlier.

while they got the food going, i went down the hill to explore kade and kelly’s vegetable garden, a new addition this year. they planted in late march or early april (how jealous was i?) and now it’s starting to produce.

i had no idea there were so many squash of cooking size there or i would have used them in friday night’s dinner. beckie and i are pretty jealous; we always grow squash but it’s a real gamble who will get them first—us or the beetles.

they also have tomatoes on the vine, but they’re not yet ripe. it’s a very healthy patch of plants; i hope they gets tons of food from it.

while i was down there i took a minute to visit kade’s chicken coop and get a picture of the ladies—mr rooster expired a couple of months ago, so it’s all girls now.

then i headed back up to the house where alex was serving up fresh-cooked waffles

mmm.
actually we packed in quite a morning around the house before it was time to go—we had a long walk and had a bit of a knit-in while we reviewed the more hilarious highlights of the week (note to self: don’t leave home without beckie again).

i worked on my hillflowers scarf, and though i didn’t quite get it done, it put me forward enough to make the finish possible at the airport before takeoff. yes.

i grafted it last night after i got home and now it’s complete; since i don’t have early class tomorrow, i think i’ll block it then.

while beckie and i continued knitting, kim played the harp for us, which was lovely—i hadn’t heard her play before, so it was a new treat for me

kade got matilda out for a little photo session—she’s one of the few animals i didn’t have pictures of. aren’t they cute together? kade was an especially gracious host during our visit and i think beckie has a new best friend now . . .

we never did get a photo of franklin on the ruler the way we intended—he grows so much in between visits that i almost don’t believe what i’m seeing (i mean, he’s a tortoise, so we all think he should grow more slowly, but he’s surprising).

finally, we really did have to leave, so we gathered our things and packed ourselves into the car. one last stop at bravo café for a sandwich and then we were on our way to the airport.

thank you everyone for such a nice visit—you all make it way too hard to leave . . .

the flight home was uneventful and we got lots of knitting done. after finishing the scarf, i worked on the nightingale lace stole and beckie started a new sock using her handspun.
we are so good at entertaining ourselves.

it seems like work on the stole goes so slowly, but at the end of the second flight i had added decent amount of length, so i’m happy.

the lace needle i picked up at the yarn shop in san diego helped things go a lot more smoothly (it’s amazing what a difference they make).

david picked us up at midnight and we headed home, dropping beckie off on the way (haha, beckie just called to say she missed kim and me). i settled in to knit on the david sock and watch TV with the man himself

till it was time to get some sleep.

this morning was spinning class bright and early—linda was back from battling a bout of pneumonia so it was a fun session. we made plans for our trip to our regional wool show next weekend at wooster, where we’ll see chris from briar rose fibers, catherine from knitting notions, jamie and matt from wooly knob mill, and many other favorite producers.

i finished up the gray alpaca i’ve been spinning for a few weeks and plied it

i previously thought that i wasn’t doing this fiber justice because i wasn’t spinning it into a very fine yarn. actually, it makes a really nice 2-ply DK which takes nothing away from the quality of the fiber for being heavier. i guess that teaches me something about good fiber.

oh, what a week—we had so much fun and it was wonderful to spend time relaxing with friends. now i’m off to edit those sock photos we did at the beach so i can release the keukenhof sock pattern tomorrow.