Truthfully, it was more airplane knitting than Florida knitting. And when you’re using size 0 needles it doesn’t look like much, but the socks and an audio book on my iPhone were enough to while away some time on a completely full airplane populated mostly by families with young children. The kids were mostly (and thankfully) quite well-behaved and some even managed to nap while clutching various Disney plush toys. Too bad their exhausted looking parents couldn’t do the same.
The knitting is a pair of slip stitch heel basic socks from Wendy D. Johnson’s book Socks From the Toe Up with a few minor alterations. I have somewhat narrow feet and, despite switching to size 0 needles, the socks I’ve made so far tend to be just a hair looser than I’d like. So I thought I’d experiment with these and reduce the total number of stitches from 66 to 58 stitches. Hopefully, I’ve reworked all the stitch counts everywhere in the correct proportions, especially the gusset, heel and heel flap. I’m not a fan of wrap and turns and was tempted to go with the Fish Lips Kiss Heel. Short rows are useful things, though, and there’s a part of me that would really like to master the beasts.
The yarn is Regia Design Line in the Garden Effects color way. It’s 75% super wash wool and 25% polyamide. I purchased the yarn online and thought I was buying self-striping yarn. The site showed the yarn but no swatch. It’s definitely not self-striping in the way I was thinking it ought to be, but it’s still very pretty and I like the feel of the yarn.
The trip to Florida was a too-short getaway to visit friends in New Smyrna Beach, which is about an hour and a half drive from the Orlando airport. The visitors bureau there claims that they are “consistently voted one of the ‘Best Beaches.’” I can believe it. It was beautiful. The site also says that New Smyrna Beach is the second oldest city in Florida. Who knew? One thing that surprised me though was the number of surfers. I had no idea that the area is also a popular spot for surfing.
The surfers were farther out than the kit lens on my Canon could capture, but you get some sense of what the waves were like that day.
The natives were not at all interested in the surfers.
I didn’t spend much time among the shops on the recently renovated Flagler Avenue and Canal Street areas. But I did spend a few delightful hours on the water. My friends Pat and Jeannine are the captain and crew of the Schooner Ondine. Ondine is a Thomas Colvin gazelle design. Nope, I don’t know exactly what that means but I enjoyed the heck out of it. Pat and Jeannine charter both day and night cruises on Ondine and are absolutely worth a lookup if you’re planning to be down that way. I’m already looking forward to going back.
Parting shot: Sunrise on the beach.
