Ship's Log: Somewhere south of Cabo

Greetings from the high seas! Literally; apparently the winds are very high here and hitting us broadside. Which means I had my first 'Oh, crap!' moment of the cruise this afternoon when we listed so far to starboard I could no longer see the horizon out the fifth deck window (to be fair, I was sitting in a center portion of the deck. Still.) The chop is still pretty heavy, although not as bad as it was a bit ago. Now we're just rolling like an old sailing ship. Before, the heave and pucker of the water gave the impression something very large was fighting to gain the surface twenty feet off. For the first time, I understand the peculiar literary allusion to 'boiling seas.' Thank God I'm on Benedryl for my inner ear, or I'd be regretting my lunch and no mistake.

Here is Cabo, off in the distance. The last soft bit of sea we've had today. It was beautiful, though. Warm, soft winds, the occasional whale coming by for their photo op. Never when I'm there, of course.

This is a last, longing look at the rear Lido and pool deck before I went below to a dull, dull diamond and gemstone informational seminar. So pretty!

This gent is stationed outside my cabin door. The ship is decorated in some pretty garish deco, and I can get a headache from spending too much time in the atrium (the pink used is really tricksy with my eyes) but overall, it's an incredibly beautiful place. I've been to two shows, a comedy show, and I can even eat pretty well (for a person with a severe food allergy.) The dining staff has really gone above and beyond, and I'm saving up a bit on my cruise extras so I can double up their tips. It's such an unusual experience for me to be able to walk into a restaurant and just eat something, and to be able to do so for several days running...it's almost like life used to be.

I haven't gotten much knitting done on my scarf--I'm going to say that I'll be losing the Ravelympics this year--but I did do some work on deck today. I'm having a quiet night in my cabin after dinner (nothing on stage I want to see tonight), so I'll probably just kick back, watch Discovery Channel and knit. Maybe get some tea sent up to the cabin, knit in style.

Provided the seas accommodate!

Cleaning up before the knitting storm

Babushka Doggie says it's cold. Brrr.

We're in the middle of a hellacious snow storm (like most of the States), and I'm getting bored of it. Thank heavens I leave for my (seven day, six night) Mexican Riviera cruise this Saturday. It better stop snowing before my flight--I will not tolerate any delays. Luckily, I'm heading south and west on the way out, so I might get rained on, but shouldn't get snowed on. Knock on wood.

(Yes, that's a snuggie on Dog. He likes to swaddle up when he comes in out of the falling snow.)

Anyway, this weekend started Ravelympics, or the Knitting Olympics, depending on whether or not you're participating on Ravelry or with the Yarn Harlot. Either way, an ambitious project for someone like me, who can barely knit one project to completion per year.

I had to clear some projects off the needles before I could get my Ravelympics project up and running.

Mom's Pepto-Pink (soon to be) Felted Bucket Hat. I finished up the main knitting and now just have to find time to supervise the felting. God forbid I overfelt the thing; I never want to knit this again. Oh, I say that, but I have another skein of the yarn; I'm sure it will become something or other.

I made myself a shrug, I'll call it the Half-Arsed Shrug. It's basically a long sleeve tube with a knitted on collar. I accidentally cut off one row of knitting around the neck (it had a collar I disliked, I wanted to take it off and redo it, but cut the wrong yarn), so I have a rolled-up-and-over-stitched-like-nobody's-business side under the new collar. I think I'll put a button on the bottom there and no one will ever have to see the undignified mess I've made of the insides.

It's warm, it's soft and I don't really care it's not perfect--I think it's perfectly fine, myself. Although if I ever want another shrug....I'll probably do the same pattern, just not bollocks it up like that. And do it in something other than alpaca--this thing sheds worse than Dog. Which is saying something.

Anyway, here's a first shot of the Ravelympics scarf:
Malabrigo laceweight, colorway Lime Blue, using the waterfall stitch pattern with a simple garter border. It's not pooling in a horrific fashion and the stitch pattern is fairly simple and easy to remember. This will make wonderful mindless knitting for my travel this weekend. Let's all just hope the TSA don't make me take the needles out--I can only imagine Clover bamboo is more expensive in L. A.

And the back is nice, too:


Unexpected, but quite welcome!

I'm sure I'll blog on the high seas--I'm buying wifi time on the ship--so you'll get to hear all about my knitting on deck and on my private balcony (Oooh, swanky.) I may even post some pictures for you, to remind you that is it, indeed, warm somewhere in the world.

I don't usually support Oprah's causes

But.

The No Phone Zone Pledge.

I've signed up, have you?