Back to Reality

Yes, I was in Seattle. I haven't been to the Emerald City since 1977, so it was all new to me. Most of the weekend was spent eating -- that's the way we Jews celebrate -- in honor of this lovely young lady:

Adah is the daughter of one of my cousins, and she is just a lovely young woman. She is clearly very, very bright -- but also sweet and modest. I got to spend time with my favorite cousins, as well as to see my brothers. Even my parents flew out, which is a big deal as my father is 83 and quite frail.

I absolutely fell in love with the city. What a beautiful place. Every restaurant we went to -- Wild Ginger, Top Pot Donuts, Serious Pie -- was amazing. Although, I was disappointed that the "pie" in Serious Pie referred to pizza. Still, it was good pizza.

The Bat Mitzvah was held in Alki Beach, which is a beautiful neighborhood. I wanted to send for my belongings and move in. I often feel this way when I travel: I want to experience living in these different places. Am I the only one?

It's a fairly long trip to Seattle, so I brought along the Blueberry Waffle socks I've been working on and managed to finish the first one:

It turns out that Adah would like blue hand-knit socks for her Bat Mitzvah, so I know what will be going on these needles as soon as this pair is finished.

Anyway, I am hoping to visit Seattle for a longer stay this summer. I knew I wouldn't have time to see friends on this last visit (thinking of you, Judy), but I hope to meet up this summer. I'll keep you posted as the plans emerge.

More Gift Knitting

The problem with family gatherings is that you can't knit holiday gifts while you're hanging out. For example, I had to keep these hidden away since my brother was around:

I don't think I've had a photo of these for a while. These Blueberry Waffle Socks are supposed to be done in time for my brother's mid-December birthday. I think I can do it.

Over the holiday weekend, I gave the Green Bay Packer socks to my other brother, and he was thrilled.  Even though he lives in Washington, D.C., he has remained loyal to the Green and Gold. The stockinette socks were boring to knit, but it was all worth to see how much he liked them.

It's odd to think that tomorrow morning the alarm will go off at 5:30 and I'll head back into reality. Oh well, at least it was a great weekend!

Bike, Eat, Knit, Read, Repeat

Despite starting with an epic storm, our week in Door County has turned out to be lovely, with biking, eating, reading, and crafting.

I finally finished the first Blueberry Waffle sock. These man-sized socks are taking forever. But, they will make a good gift. If I can finish the pair, that is.

I am very pleased with the books I chose for vacation reading:

Sweater Quest is about author Adrienne Martini's attempt to knit Alice Starmore's famous Tudor Rose sweater. I say "attempt" because I am only on Chapter 3 so I don't know if she succeeds. The first few chapters are fast and funny -- and interesting. It turnes out that Starmore is quick to file copyright lawsuits and there is lots of interesting stuff around that. The book was published in 2010, so I did a quick Google to see what is up with all the legal wrangling. All I can tell you is that Starmore has Google scared. Its entry on her barely mentions knitting. Hmm.  Would love to know the rest of that story.

A while back, I blogged about how much I loved The Circle by Dave Eggers. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is The Circle on steroids. WTF (can that be a coincidence? I think not) is about a technology company and a government spy that go off the rails in their use of digital information. The story is told through the viewpoints of four characters, some innocent victims and others part of the machinations. The writing glows, the plot is tangled, and the characters are engaging. A very good vacation read. (Disclaimer: I'm only about 1/3 of the way through the book.)

All that said, we are finding time for vacation activities, like daily bike rides on the beautiful back roads.

Visiting art galleries like Fine Line Designs, which has great garden art, like this mosaic fish. The art here is truly fine art. If I were rich, I'd shop here. Just wandering through it is pretty inspiring.

And you can't come to Door County without going to a fish boil. This is an old Scandinavian custom, which basically consists of boiling potatoes, onions, and fish in a big pot. At the last minute, the boil master pours a bit of kerosene on the top of the pot and lights it. For some reason, that finishes it off.

I love fish boils, both the tradition and the actual food. Considering that you have the option to drench your plate with melted butter, as I do, it's no wonder that the meal is so delicious. And, it's always finished off with this:

Door County is famous for its cherry crop, so cherry pie is a staple at fish boils.

For the record, this year with did the fish boil at The Old Post Office, and it was great. In the past I've been to the White Gull Inn in Fish Creek and The Viking Inn in Ellison Bay. All are excellent.

Have I convinced anyone to vacation in Door County yet?

We have one more full day here, and then it's time to head home.

I'm linking up with Ginny for Yarn Along.

It's All About the Socks

I hope I'm not boring anyone with socks. I have this crazy idea of trying to knit socks for all the men in my family. The problem is that I find men's socks, well, dull. The men in my family are pretty conservative when it comes to clothing, so I'm trying to accommodate:

These are lovely socks. The blues and grays are lovely. And I can't say enough about the pattern: Blueberry Waffle Socks. I'm sure I'll use it again -- hopefully on more exciting colors. Still,  I'd rather be knitting bright colors or lace socks!

As for reading, it's kind of embarrassing. I'm reading the book that everyone seems to be raving about: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr but I'm not in love with it, at least not as of page 165. It tells the fictional story of a blind girl and a Nazi intelligence officer who end up in the same small town in France during World War II. I'm hoping that I'll fall in love any page now.

However, I haven't been reading or knitting as much as I'd like because I've been working. And, no, teachers don't get paid to work in the summer. It's just that the workload has grown so much that I feel like I'll be better off for getting a head start. Besides, working at home with classical music on isn't that bad!

I'm joining Nicole for Keep Calm Craft On. and Ginny for Yarn Along.