I'm Sailing Away

I have been working 20 hour days this week and there was nothing but madness last week. At around 3 AM one night, I decided I needed to go away and made a list of potential destinations. Atlantis is a favorite of mine and they don't seem to charge a penalty for single occupants. Club Med can be reasonable if you take advantage of the last minute deals but there's no guarantee that a destination I'm interested in is available and there is a penalty (they call it a "single supplement"). And I also considered that traveling alone to these places truly means being alone.

I had found a knitting cruise through a couple of links to http://www.greatballsofyarn.com/. Voila! A seven day cruise from Ft. Lauderdale to the Carribean (San Juan, PR; St. Kitts and St. Martin) aboard the Celebrity Solstice with a group of knitters and classes led by Barry Klein from Trendsetters Yarn and Chris Bylsma. I've taken classes with both and learned so much so this was a no brainer, even though I haven't seen a bit of information on the classes. Based on my "back of the envelope calculations", the cruise was cost $1000 more than my next option when I totaled in taxis to and from airport, cat care and, ahem, liquor.

Around 4 am one day this week I decided that didn't matter--great destinations, great people and I will be out of cell and email range for 7 days (I can get cell service in Puerto Rico but I'm not telling anyone that).

Despite being exhausted when I got home last night, I did the very important inventory of appropriate footwear and found a nice pair of black pumps for evening wear that I did not know I had. I really don't remember when or where I bought them; it apparently wasn't for a particular occasion because they've never been worn.

I got a roundtrip flight on JetBlue through Expedia and selected my seats today. I splurged on the extra $$ for the seat with more legroom--I am a decadent girl!

I also signed up for two excursions--both beach days in St. Kitts and St. Martin. Not sure what I'll do in Puerto Rico--I've already toured the city and the old fort--I guess it will depend on the weather. Next, need to look into the specialty dining options and beverage packages next.

I have to assess my current knitting projects--I've been working on two Noro sweaters for myself but I have three sleeveless shells from last summer that need fronts (I run out of steam after I complete a back) and two sleeveless shells that need to be finished. One is made from Tessa's Silk Merino and the armholes are way too deep, so the top needs to be frogged to the armhole. The other is a tank made from Rowan Cotton. It's the first garment where I used short rows so it should fit nicely.

I'm waiting for some Mission Falls wool to come in to my LYS (The Skein Attraction, Teaneck, NJ and highly recommended) because it is supposed to be the basis of my Ravelympic sweater. The Ravelympics kick off toward the end of the cruise week so I'll have to have some of the project with me. I can also bring a WIP that I can register to be my "event". Prior to that, I thought I might work on socks for my niece and nephew, who insisted I knit socks for them despite that fact that I told them I don't knit socks. I've made one sock in my knitting career and that worked out well because I fractured my foot in cold weather and needed a nice cozy sock to protect my foot in the orthopedic (and oh so comfy) sandal-esque shoe I had to wear.

Need to go to The Skein Attraction to pick up 8" needles for gauntlets and the sleeves of a top down sweater. Soooo close to done.

I vow to finish the Mission Falls striped sweater this weekend.