As anyone who has ever had small children knows, vacation is not really a vacation when you take it with the kids. Ours never sleep well when away from their beds and routines and get cranky in the car, etc. So, my husband and I decided to each take a mini-vacation alone this year, then we will end the week with a long weekend as a family. Is that weird? My sister thinks it's weird, but I think it is healthy, at least for us.
My husband took last weekend and went out of town to visit some friends. Since they are friends I am not too excited to spend time with, it worked out great.
Then I took Monday night off and stayed in downtown Portland. I am very fortunate to have a friend who works for the Heathman Hotel, so he was able to get a super, incredible rate on a room. What a treat! The room was very nice, with a very comfortable bed. It's right in the middle of downtown, so I was able to spend lots of time walking around and engaging in some retail therapy. I estimate that I spent about 4 of my 24 hours downtown walking - a great thing to do if you're ever in Portland. Of course, I forgot my camera so no pictures.
After I checked out of my hotel I hung around various coffee shops and yarn stores in the greater Portland area. How luxurious to spend an afternoon going where I wanted and spending as much time as I wanted, with no agenda and no responsibilities!
Then I picked up my friend Katrina and we went out for a fantastic dinner. All in all, a really great mini-vacation! I feel rested and refreshed, like I've been away for a week. Funny how everything gets more concentrated and intense when you have kids. At least this time it worked in my favor!
I know, lots of words, no pictures. How's this:
This is V. in her new sweater, finished by me while on my mini-vacation. The Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton yarn is SOOOO nice to work with. It is so soft. I loved this project. Between the stripes, which kept it from getting too boring, the great yarn and the small size, this one was a winner for me.
In that picture above it looks pretty big, but she just had her hands pulled in. I knit the largest size and I think it fits pretty well. She should be able to wear it all Winter, if we can manage to not shrink it in the dryer. One note to anyone who might knit this, I followed the pattern exactly, had correct gauge, etc. but felt like I was going to run out of the rust colored yarn if I tried to make the hood striped too. Also, the front, is a little short. I would probably add an inch or two to the length of the entire body if I were to knit this again.
This morning A. said "V looks like a gnome with her hood up". I have to say, I agree! So cute.
Just for fun, here is a bonus picture. This is the outfit A. picked out for herself for school today. That girls loves color!
The dress is one grandma made. The sweater I finished earlier this year for her, before I started this blog. I made it using Ann Budd's The Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns and Inspire from Wisdom Yarns. Inspire is a self patterning yarn, similar to many sock yarns, but in worsted weight. Lots of fun! I highly recommend the book too, by the way. With this book, you would never need to buy another sweater pattern, if you didn't want to.
This blogging in the middle of the day is really fun. So much easier than at the end of the day, after a full day of work and evening with the kids. This post has gone on way too long though. Tomorrow I will share some of the marvelous things I found while shopping yesterday.
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