Galveston and Knitting

When we went to Galveston last month, I took some photo's of things we saw and places we have visited so I decided to share some of them here.

 

As we drove out of our hotel parking lot, this was the first thing we saw! These beautifully painted homes. We saw a lot of homes painted in these and other pretty colors. What a joy and inspiration of colors!

 

 

We have been going to Galveston since 1991, but this is the first time we visited the Moody Mansion. It is an amazing home and was a great experience getting to see the inside. We didn't get to tour all 28,000 square feet of it, but we did get to see 2 of the 4 floors. This structure not only made it through Hurricane Ike, but made it through the horrific hurricane in 1900. Yes, it sustained some damage, but it was all repairable.

 

This picture, below, is of the bathtub in the master bathroom. The silver colored container was the gas hot water heater, so they had hot water to take their baths, or showers!! I had never seen a hot water heater like this before, have you?

 

One of our favorite things to do in Galveston is to walk along The Strand. Little shops and boutiques, as well as some eateries, line the street. We love to go browsing and to also buy some homemade fudge in the confectionary.

 

Our hotel room view was spectacular! It was windy when I took this picture and had actually been raining. So, the surf was a bit rougher than it normally is. The amusement park in the back ground, is built on a pier over the water..... It is actually the site where a hotel used to be built. The hotel was on a pier, out over the water and in that same location. During Hurricane Ike, it and the pier were damaged so much, that they had to be torn down.

My KNITTING!! I have finished my Kwoosh! I love it. The yarn looks beautiful and was a joy to work with.

 

I love how the automatic striping design worked in this project.

 

One thing that I realized when I finished, was that there wasn't one knot in the skein of yarn. It is very hard these days, to find a yarn that doesn't have a knot somewhere in the skein! Many thanks to Schachenmayr the producer of Regia -The Sock Wool, for producing a wonderful yarn.

Happenings and Knitting

Hello February and hello 2017!
We have had an eventful end to 2016 and I am still catching up! Maybe that is how life will be for a while, playing catch up.  But, I am catching up and that is a good thing, I  think.....

First off, last summer we decided to down size our home and move closer to work. So, we listed our house in the woods and it sold quickly. Then, we went on a hunt for a new home.  Wow! Talk about an emotional roller coaster..... There is a housing shortage in north Texas, so it was difficult to actually get a house.  We found plenty of houses, and we put in many offers on different homes, but there were usually at least 5 offers on the same house. The sellers don't take the first offer in this current market, but look at the offers and then decide which one they like the most. Great for the seller, but not so easy on the buyer. Our realtor actually told us to get prepared to make offers on more than one house at a time! We didn't actually have to do that, because we finally "won" this house. :)

We actually lost this house twice, before our offer was accepted! We love our new home and Jeff's commute is so short, that he calls to tell me he is on his way home and as I say ok and we hang up, he is here!

 

While going through the move out of the woods, we went into a hotel. It was our home for several weeks, before we could get into our new home, and I did have a chance to knit!! These socks are finished, but here is the picture of them in progress. I love these new socks! I knit them from the toe up and used the magic loop technique, instead of double point needles.

 

 My birthday was in January, and this year Jeff decided to take me to Galveston for my gift!!!! I love Galveston and I love the beach. It was a great trip and a wonderful gift. We left late on a Tuesday evening. We drove down I45 all the way onto Galveston Island.  Before we arrived in Galveston we had to drive through Houston.  When we made it to Houston, it was dark and this was our view of the city as we arrived and drove through. Isn't it gorgeous, lit up against the cloudy sky with the moon poking through?

 

A friend of mine was able to take a trip to Austria this fall and when she returned, she brought a gift to me!!! What do you buy a knitter and crocheter? Yarn! I love this yarn. I did start a pair of socks, but after talking to my friend Debbie, she suggested a Kwoosh which is a free pattern on Ravelry. You can click on the word Kwoosh and see the pattern. It is a scarf, and I am less likely to wear out the precious yarn wearing it as a scarf, as opposed to socks.