She Knits By The Seashore

Vogue Pink A-Line Skirt Update

Pedal for Paws is this Saturday, and I'm doing final errands and have lots of little slips of paper with notes on them, in addition to all the reminder notes in my phone. Crazy! But very exciting. As is the fact that my pink skirt is nearly, finally done!

 

I put on a little half slip for the photo, but I'm hoping that a full slip will keep the skirt from sagging in the back.

I've finished all the knitting and tried it on for the first time. I'm really happy with the fit so far. It's a little longer than the pattern (25" vs. 21") so I think I'll fold over the top to make the waistband, rather than do the purl/turning row and add more rows for the inside part of the band. I just need to find some elastic waistband. I hope it will be OK if I hand sew it together; I don't have a sewing machine. Since I knitted the skirt in the round, I think I'm going to knit down the waistband to the skirt rather than stitch it together with a needle. I did this for the hem of a mohair shawl and it looked pretty.Thoughts?

There's plenty of room on top to fold down for a waistband on the inside.

This skirt has a ton of finishing to it even after the waistband is done...embroidered daisies and outlined stripes and a crochet trim, so I can't say that it's done-done yet. But it's close!! Epic indeed.

Will Bike for Water

Chris and I have been riding some rail trails in the past few weeks. The Kingston, RI one is a favorite. This first photo is at the start of the trail, near the railroad station.

 Parts of the trail are wooded

 but a few streets after the end of the trail, you discover the ocean, Narragansett Bay. Swoon.

The public beach is to the left of where we were standing; I was amazed at how many people were there for a September afternoon. The surfers all had on wetsuits though.

By the time we rode back to the station, I think we did about 20-22 miles.

A trip to the area isn't complete unless we have dinner at Aunt Carrie's. It is one of the last weekends they are open for the season.They are totally a "seafood shack," but they do have a vegetable plate for me. The homemade cinnamon raisin bread is unbelievably sweet and moist.

On our way home, we stopped at Watch Hill, another one of my most favorite places. It too will close up in a few weeks (the stores and restaurants are probably not insulated/heated for winter), except for The Ocean House, which looked so incredible in the evening light. One of these days, we are going to have dinner there, so I can stand out on that balcony and look at that view.

Around the corner, we were treated to a dazzling sunset over the water. Sigh.

We're planning to do more riding into the fall, but those colored leaves are no match for the ocean in my world. :)

 

Now where were we?

I hadn't intended so long a blog silence. But the summer kept getting stranger as time went on, and now, it's not summer anymore. :(

Hurricane Irene put a big dent in our last week of summer. We live about a mile as the crow flies from the ocean, and when the forecasters put out the warnings, Chris and I cleared the yard of furniture and garden decorations, stocked up on the bottled water and nonperishables, and waited. I even packed an overnight bag and got the cat carriers ready, thinking that if in the last day the storm increased in power, we'd head inland to my parents' house.

We lost power early that Sunday morning, and the wind and rain lashed against the house for hours. I prayed that our dying tree in the back yard would not come through the kitchen wall. And when it was all over, and the rain stopped and the wind died down, we only lost a limb in the front yard, and a different dying tree from the far back woods that landed in our backyard. Our basement stayed miraculously dry. But we were without power and water for four days, and if you've ever experienced not having water to wash your hands or your dishes or yourself, and having to throw out the entire contents of your refrigerator, and not having a place open for miles in which to get a hot meal or even a cup of coffee, you know how stressful that can be.

  Right after the storm, we took a drive along the ocean -- the sea was so angry! Huge brown waves were almost up to the top of the sea wall.

A tree landed on top of one of the shoreline motels. This was a common sight in towns in the area.

Some of our neighbors lost huge trees, and a few landed on houses around town. The houses on the beach were flooded, but a few towns away, about 20 of them were carried out to sea. Neighbors helped neighbors, reporting on the latest CL&P (CT Light and Power Co.) truck sightings, and offering each other what they could. Our town's emergency dept. did a fantastic job of providing everyone the basics: showers, ice, charging stations. And slowly but surely, the power came back, and most of us are returning to some semblance of normalcy. I'm still thrilled every morning when I turn the faucet on in the shower and water comes out!

*****

Suddenly, I realized that our shelter's bike ride fundraiser, Pedal for Paws, is less than a month away. So now I am working on finding more sponsors and getting the posters and publicity out, and Chris is gathering the permits from the towns. If you are nearby and enjoy riding your bike, I hope you'll join us! You can find information here.

*****

Before Irene hit, Chris had a last bike race of the season at Ninigret, and Kristen came out to meet us and watch the race. We didn't knit, but it was so wonderful to catch up with her. I hope as the cooler weather comes to spend more time knitting with friends!

What are your fall plans, knitting or cycling or otherwise? What do you think of the new patterns out?