Catch Up Post #3 - Vegas, Baby!

I had so much fun on this trip, it's hard to believe it was just one weekend.

I'll start by saying that I'd only met one of these ladies (the new proud owner of a purple entrelac scarf) in person before this trip.  We all met on an online message board for moms about 10 years ago and have stayed friends for that long.  So this trip was an anniversary and first-time meetup all in one!  I think 17 of our group ended up going, and after having known these ladies online for so long it felt more like getting together with college friends than meeting "strangers" for the first time.

First, some proof that I was there - we watched the Bellagio fountain from a walkway that looks out at the strip - Paris is across the street.  I was really happy that I got this shot.  By the way, none of these pictures are chronological.  I took this picture the last night we were there.

Okay! This is me and my friend Micki in a cabana by the pool.  Everyone else except the friend that took the picture was in the pool.  You can see the entrelac scarf in progress and the knitting bag on my lap.  Later this day Micki and I went to a yarn shop we found off the strip.

Here's the dress I made for this trip.  It's a "convertible" dress, which means the top is too long straps that you can wrap in different configurations.  I made twisted straps and criss-crossed it in a Grecian fashion.  The skirt is just a circle skirt.  There is a top "modesty" piece under the straps as well.  The girls were so impressed that I made this myself.  It was fun to wear to dinner, but I did change into something more comfortable when we hit the strip later that night - shoes, too.  These are adorable, but there's no way I would have been able to walk the amount I did that night!  We went out every night - I think we all lost at least 5 pounds on this trip, just from all the walking we did at night.  It was way too hot during the day - we were there in mid-July!

Here's the yarn I got in Vegas.  I didn't remember to take a picture of it until I was writing this post, lol.  Yes, I could probably get Noro at my LYS, but this is Vegas Noro.  Now I need an amazing pattern for this yarn.  I may still make the fingerless gloves with it, this is the kind of yarn the pattern actually calls for.  And guess what, it's aqua and brown, my favorite colorway.

The last night was the night some of us really did some sight-seeing, and that's when I took the most pictures.  This is from the canal inside the Venetian.  So beautiful.  On the last night, Micki and I went with another friend and just saw the things we wanted to see.  We got to the Venetian too late to get into Madame Tussaud's but we enjoyed looking around at all the high-end shops, listening to the gondoliers, and just hanging out.  The best part of this trip was that we didn't overschedule ourselves.  We had 2 dinner reservations, and the entire rest of the weekend was open.  So great for moms who are always the ones making sure everyone sticks to the schedule while on vacation!

We stayed at the Tropicana, which has been renovated pretty recently.  I took this from the pool area, looking up at the tower where I was staying.  The entire hotel smells like coconut. It's amazing and relaxing.  And one of the days we were there someone from the spa went around giving free foot rubs to people sitting by the pool.

 And I just loved the name of this shoe store, lol.  It's inside Paris.  I hope you enjoyed!  Next post - current WIP!

Catch Up Post #2 - Summery Knitting

So, yes, I'm weird and I knit with worsted weight yarn in the summer.  Actually, in the picture that's sock weight, but it has wool in it.  And you can see beyond the chair my feet are resting on, the backyard swimming pool.  I think on this day I was pretending I was still in Vegas with my girlfriends (that will be the next post).  I spent a number of days in this spot after that vacation, focusing on the yarn and pretending things were normal when they were anything but.

Glad we have that out of the way, now on to pictures!

I think I've told you before, I have an obsession with entrelac.  Here comes the Grape Simply Soft again - I was determined to master entrelac so that I didn't have to keep referring to Planet Purl videos (awesome video tutorials, by the way).  So I ended up making a scarf.  I took this picture to post on Facebook and ask if anyone wanted a purple scarf - my friend (and fellow Vegas tripper) from Seattle had just gotten University of Washington season tickets and very quickly claimed this for herself.  I finished it for her poolside in Vegas (no shipping!) and she was thrilled with it.  I need to get her to send me a picture of her wearing it to a game, because once again I forgot to take a picture of the finish!

So in the picture at the top of this post you saw the sock yarn - and here's what the sock yarn became: fingerless gloves.  No.  Entrelac fingerless gloves (told you I was obsessed).  The complete pair is featured in my profile picture, too. :)  I'd originally planned to make these with souvenir yarn from Vegas, but I decided to practice on the cheap yarn first.  These are very cozy (and they were a lot of work!) so for now they're the only ones I have.  I originally made them because I remember my hands got very cold when I was working in my "office space" last winter.  But I'm not spending as much time downstairs - that's the beauty of having a laptop, you can kind of work anywhere.  Today I'm sitting in my stitching chair, with the fireplace DVD going on the TV and the sun streaming in the window.  I'm not cold.  But these are great to wear to the school bus stop on cold days because I can be on my phone unhindered.

You all know legwarmers are a huge trend, right?  My 9 year old likes to give her friends handmade gifts for their birthdays, and usually they're gifts made with her hands.  But this year she decided she wanted to give her fashionista friend legwarmers that I made.  We went through the Ravelry pattern database, and she picked these.  She picked the colors, too.  They're pretty simple cable-knit (my first cable project) with i-cord laces to keep them up.  Btw, that's one thing I remember hating about legwarmers in the 80s, they always slid down my calves, and it was really uncomfortable.  Both girls thought these legwarmers are super-cute, and they've requested them as Christmas gifts.  So the Christmas legwarmers are now in progress.

I did also finish my knitting bag before my trip to Vegas, but of course, I didn't take a good picture of it.  You'll see it in my Vegas vacay post, though!