Mossy Cottage Knits

Auntie Em! Auntie Em!

[Picture-heavy post, Dear Readers.]

How I know, relationship-wise, that I’m not in Kansas anymore:

Yesterday morning I was here, wrapping up a four-day mini-vacation in this cabin on Vashon Island, including prancing around in the hot tub in just my skivvies (me, the Queen of Prudes! In my skivvies! In a hot tub!)...

...and that night, not 24 hours after the skivvy incident and a mere six hours after leaving the cabin, I was here, at a Seattle Storm game:

Whu-huh?! What happened to the life I'm used to, my comfort zone, where I stayed home and did absolutely nothing?

But, wait, there’s more! Apparently my future also includes rooting for a co-worker at his black-belt test, a bonfire party at a local beach, a koffee klatch, a movie night, dancing, a hike, a dye party, a trip to Oregon Flock and Fiber, the cruise, and a trip to my sister’s. I repeat: Whu-huh?! Nope, de-finitely not in Kansas anymore.

More about the mini-vacation:

Vashon was…green. Lush. Green and lush. Lush and green. And, thanks to the current weather, wonderfully, romantically stormy, windy and moody (not that the romantic part did me any good, but it’s still the best way to describe it). Our hosts at the cabin were Larry, Gordon, Scarlet, and Walker—Homo sapiens, Canis lupus familiaris, Felis catus, and Felis catus, respectively.

Here, the view from the front yard, with Scarlet parading around:

The same view from inside the cozy cabin (note infamous hot tub):

My courage heart, which I brought with me and hung up somewhere very visible to remind me that the dark world is easily one unguarded moment away:

The plan was just to slob around, knit, read and Kindle. We tried, we really tried to just slob around but we accidently also engaged in “retail therapy,” wandered the beaches, flew kites, talked, sightsaw, watched the Democratic Convention, watched “Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog” and Elaine and I played many hands of cutthroat cribbage (think the Jets and the Sharks from West Side Story). Granted, I won a couple of more games than Elaine did but she brought me to my knees with this (cribbage aficionados, count this baby up):

And the food? Good Lord! Elaine the Miracle Worker, with some careful pre-planning, managed to make things like this herbed cheese-and-potato torte with poached eggs using only a sad, two-burner hot-plate.

Leslie, flying a kite. I love this photo:

The one thing I wanted to see on the island was this but we weren’t able to find it, despite our best efforts. So, we settled for the poor man’s version, a red tricycle someone had stuck up in a tree:

(The islanders apparently try to capitalize as much as possible on the only interesting thing on the island, since the next day we found yet another red bicycle stuck up in another tree.)

How I knew I was home after the cabin trip. Guess who in my just-emptied cooler:

Knitting did happen, cross my heart. Both the front and the back plus half a sleeve of the Fishermen’s Sweater are done. Here are some pictures of the back from last week :

The yoke, masquerading as a complicated and fancy stitch, is actually just a two-by-two checkerboard. Fun, easy, gives a lot of bang for the buck, especially in this pattern. Can’t wait to finish this puppy. It’s been a kick!

Posted by Ryan at August 29, 2008 01:59 PM