Well, I finally made it home and I’m glad to be back.  A cruise is a lovely thing but there’s nothing like your own bed :)

I apologize for the lack of pictures.  I don’t have any because I didn’t have my camera - not that it would have mattered - I didn’t have any knitting either or, for that matter, clothes!

Let’s start at the beginning :)

On Saturday the 4th, dad picked me (and my luggage) up and we headed to Logan airport in Boston.  Dad, typically, over planned in terms of time so we were earlier than we needed to be.  No harm done - better too early than too late, eh?  So we spent quire a bit of time waiting at Air France.  About an hour before boarding, I was paged to the desk.  The girl there told me one of my bags had “broken” (that was the word she used).  I was finally able to gather that the bag had gotten caught in or on something and they baggage handlers had to destroy it in order to free it.  So they transferred the contents (all yarn and knitting tools) to a new bag which was now on its way with the rest of our luggage.

I didn’t have a warm, comfortable feeling about this but there didn’t seem to be anything I could do about it so I took a deep breath and tried not to worry.  Off we went to Paris where we changed to another Air France flight to Lisbon.  There we changed to a TAP flight to Funchal where we would catch the ship.

Sadly, our luggage - none of it - had reached Funchal.  We waited at the airport for subsequent flights to arrive to see if the bags might come in, but eventually we either had to go or miss the ship.  Once aboard, Guest Relations took over the search and departure time was actually delayed for a half-hour to wait for the arrival of one more plane from Portugal.  Unfortunately, our bags weren’t on it and the ship couldn’t wait any longer so off we went.

I cannot say enough about the effort Regent Seven Seas put into tracking and locating our luggage and making sure that we were comfortable.  We were not the only ones on that flight who lost luggage - in fact there were several of us in the same boat (...as it were) including one of their entertainers.  Guest Relations kept in touch and let us know every step of the way what was happening and what was being done.

Two of the bags (of a total of three between dad and myself) finally arrived in Funchal the following Tuesday.  The third didn’t turn up until Thursday.  Under other circumstances, the bags would have been sent on ahead to our next port of call where we could pick them up.  However, this was a trans-Atlantic crossing with no ports of call.  The ship wouldn’t stop until we were ready to disembark in Ft. Lauderdale.  So arrangements were made for the luggage to be delivered to our homes, once we’d gotten back.

Of course it hasn’t arrived yet :)

I owe a debt of gratitude to two very kind women aboard the ship, one who lent me clothes and the other who lent me a knitting project (went a long ways towards keeping me sane!) which she had brought along to do for Dulaan!

I have, here at home, the scarf I was working on before I left and the autumn seeds sweater which I decided not to bring with me either.  So I do have projects I can work on but I’ll tell you, not having needles puts a real bite on the startitis.

I owe some of you letters; please be patient.  I haven’t forgotten, I’ve just been busy and when I haven’t been busy, I’ve been trying to catch up on my sleep.

Hopefully by Friday I’ll have more cheerful news.  In the meantime, I am still very glad to be home and I hope you all have been well and happy!

Chatters is on tomorrow night :)

Addendum -2:32 PM

I went out to lunch with dad today and the luggage was all waiting at his house when we got back.  Everything seems to be fine and I have my needles back!  Just thought you’d like to know :)

Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
I’ll be at chat tonight,
And so will… Aarlene and Robbyn!

Okay, so that was lame, so sue me .

I’ll be opening chat tonight at the usual time and, as has become traditional when Robbyn’s away, Aarelene will be co-hostess and will provide knitting colour commentary for all to enjoy… Or something like that, anyway. Also, assuming everything goes right (words no wise person ever utters), Robbyn should be joining in for a while live via satellite from somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic ocean.

See y’all tonight!

I’ve finally gotten well underway with what was the Licorice Whip but is now, well, something else :)  After the gauge debacle (and if you decide to try “Licorice Whip” be careful of the needle size and the gauge given - there’s something seriously weird about them) and the messed up stitch count, I simply retired the first effort and went to do some research.

I wound up at The Knitting Fool where there is a calculator for a top-down raglan sweater!  Since I already knew my gauge and needle size (both of which were comfortable and neither of which I wanted to change!), I simply plugged in the information requested and got back a pattern :)  After adapting it a bit because I liked the collar style on the L.W., I began again :)

My stitch counts are accurate and, perhaps more importantly, consistent and I’m tickled with how things are working out so far :)  For the collar I knit three rounds, purled one round, did a row of eyelets, purled one and knit 2 more rounds before beginning the body and sleeve increases.  I will probably use this on the cuffs as well, as I like the way it looks - but I won’t be using it for the bottom of the sweater.  In fact I’m not sure yet what I am going to do when I get there but, as that’s a while off yet, I’m not worrying about it either :)

I decided to use M1L and M1R increases because of all the things I tried, they seemed to be the least intrusive.

M1L - Lift running strand between needles with left needle from front to back.  Knit into the back of this loop.

M1R - Lift running strand between needles with left needle from back to front.  Knit into the front of this loop.

There are two plain knit stitches between the increases and I noticed them getting just a bit “loopy” (I assume) because of the tension of the increases.  Knitting these two stitches through the back loop seemed to solve that problem.  I reasonably pleased with how the increase lines look now :)

And I also decided that I would add a seed stitch panel to the back of the sweater as well as to the front and sleeves.  I like the way this is looking so far and am amused to know that the sweater will have no discernable front or back and so can be worn whichever way you happen to pick it up in the morning!  Now that’s an obliging garment :)

As you can see, if you’re familiar with “Licorice Whip”, little remains of the original pattern.  I won’t be including the waist shaping, I have changed the stitch counts as well as the stitch pattern and added a pattern panel to the back.  Therefore, I feel perfectly justified in calling this the Autumn Seeds Pullover.

I am leaving on a trip with dad tomorrow; we’re flying to Funchal in the Madeiras Islands off Portugal (via Paris and Lisbon) and sailing back to Ft. Lauderdale.  I am really looking forward to this trip and feel very lucky to have the opportunity.  So this will be my last post until I get back.  Barring anything untoward, I should be posting again on 11/15.

For those who are interested, Myria and Aarlene will be hosting Knitting Chatters next week so it will be scheduled as usual and, if it’s possible, I may even try to join in for a few minutes from the ship :)

I haven’t decided whether to take Autumn Seeds with me or not.  I have several smaller projects I wanted to work on but the sweater is coming along so nicely, I hate the idea of leaving it at home.  Oh well :)  All will be decided later as I get things packed.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and a lovely mid-November week.  I will miss you all, as I always do, and will be delighted to see you all again on the 15th.  Take care, stay warm and enjoy life!

C’mon in - the chatting’s fine!  Heheh…
The usual time, the usual place - bring your handwork and be welcome :)
It’s the most legal fun you can have on a Thursday evening !

Directions on the sidebar beneath the Knitting Chatters button

...sounds like the title of a mystery novel, doesn’t it?  Heheh…

Ahh, the joys of doing laundry :)  It has to be done you know, unless you can afford to replace your clothing every week or so, and it always feels like such a chore.  Our apartment building doesn’t have laundry facilities so I usually go to an enormous establishment (it’s so big, it almost feels mall-like) down by the river, where I corner several washers, several more dryers and go to work.  Yes, I brought my knitting :)

Funny, the clothes always seem lighter in weight when I’m packing the car to go home :)

This bag was temporarily abandoned while we had lunch, but Goldie appreciated the residual warmth from the dryer.

Now that the washing’s done, an even more onerous task presents itself - ironing!  Run away, run away!!

Lest you get the impression that yesterday was a bad day, there were indeed compensations :)  Around 4:00, Myria came upstairs from having gone to check the mail asking if I was expecting a package…

This thoughtful parcel came from dear Nathalie.  And it was, as she wrote on the box, a complete…

The timing was nice too because I was, at that moment (cue the Twilight Zone music…), boiling water for tea so I used the Twinings English Breakfast she sent along while Myria immediately appropriated the can holders.  (Nat and I have been talking tea and teapots lately and there may be a joint project in the offing about which there will be more later on!)  You may remember me whining about that this summer, looking everywhere for the things and not being able to find them?  Nat found some - nice ones too - and sent them along :)

But look at this!

Isn’t it gorgeous?  This is Cleckheaton Flowerdale, a mohair/wool/nylon blend - about a DK weight I’m figuring from the information on the ball band.  There are about 480 meters/528 yards here and I’m going to let it languish a bit while I think of what to do with it.  I keep thinking it would make a sinful and sensationally warm pair of socks, but it seems such a shame to bury that beautiful color under the legs of my jeans and in my shoes where no one but me will ever see it…

Thanks for everything Nat - it was a wonderful surprise and much appreciated!

That knitting I brought to the laundry with me?

I embarked upon a scarf to accompany the hat shown in Monday’s post and, as I was so taken with the Yarn Harlot’s One-row scarf, I wanted to make one that I could keep :)  So that’s what I’m doing!

I’m also planning on restarting the sweater - and this is becoming less and less Licorice Whip and more and more Robbyn’s Invention in C# major - today.  More about that and how I finally got things worked out on Friday :)

I hope you all had a pleasant Halloween - welcome to November!