Whew!

I really need a vacation from my vacation. This was an exhausting trip. Hauling luggage, fighting crowds, walking miles, fighting crowds, drinking too much, fighting crowds, eating too much and fighting crowds. Everywhere we went was just packed. And that makes it hard for my son to navigate when you can't get to curb cuts or small children are darting out or families are walking slowly across entire hallways. And it feels like we just missed Christmas this year, skipped it all the way. And it was cold. I was just cold the whole time.

Ok, whining over....

BUT there were no airline issues or problems, even going into Detroit 2 days after an attack and the same day as another incident. I've been in/out of Vegas a number of times and this was likely the easiest and fastest I've ever been through security. We got the middle seat empty, landed early, no worries. Of course we started at 4 am, but over by 4pm and 3 time zones. So don't listen to the fear mongers on the Today Show. Airline travel IS still possible. Really.

The new City Center just opened in Vegas, still a lot of empty spaces but also some really pretty flowers: And some odd, but cool, ice sculptures.

I did run into a friend at the Venetian. That's Mr. Dumpty to you. (yes, I made the scarf I'm wearing. It's the one my son said looked like an Abercrombie and Fitch. I think he meant that as a compliment). And we walked through the new Zegna menswear store and petted the wool. Makes me want to go shopping at Michaels for some nice fabric to play with. Really nice stuff. A nice touch on the front pocket of the men's slacks was saddle stitching for the top stitching. Very nice.

I have one day in Detroit before heading back to DC on Tuesday. I'm having dinner with a couple of friends and have them scarves for Christmas. Here they are laid out on the floor blocking (I hope). Actually, the black one may have too much acrylic to block well, but the blue is "Wool-ease" so should do ok. I knitted the blue on on the plane - going and coming. It's "Sky blue". The black was a Debbie Bliss for JoAnn's, my friend said she needed black. And I need to fringe the blue one, still.

Well, my pizza's here, so chow.

Found it!

I DID leave my camera cable at my son's. Yea! I really thought I'd gotten it before I left his apartment, but no, it was still here. So NOW you have photos.

I flew into Detroit this morning. Reagan was an absolute mess. I printed my boarding pass yesterday and then left it on my desk so I had to reprint at the airport. BIG mistake. The lobby was jammed and packed and full of angry, annoyed and impatient people. Most of whom were just unable to comprehend that some of us only needed to print a boarding pass, not check luggage or steal their seat or any other evil act. I was sworn at and had my bag shoved around. I finally found an empty kiosk and in less than 2 minutes had a new pass and was on my way to security. No lines there - all still on the floor above. Down to the gate where the flight before us still hadn't boarded. 2 gate changes and 2 1/2 hours later I was on my way to Detroit. To add to Delta's confusion with the increased holiday travel and weather delays they'd chosen just this week to move the Northwest flights from the other terminal. Timing, as they say, is everything.

Picked up my rental car and drove to where my son lives, he was out with friends so I went to the bank and then got my glasses adjusted (yeah, knew you'd be excited). Then I went back to Skeins on Main. This time to ask for help. I added an extra row to the scarf I'm making for Kevin and when I tried to tink it back it got ugly and uglier. I frogged a few rows and things went down hill from there. I spent some quality airport time trying to repair this to no avail. It just kept getting worser and worser (as my sister used to say). I went in hoping they could put me back on track. And let me say that I have to take back a lot of mean things I said about them. Karen, one of the instructors/employees was there, she taught the last class I got to attend and taught me to cable. She fixed me. She fixed me good. THANK YOU KAREN! She was not only helpful but so very nice about it. I stuck around a bit after the fix and knitted for a few. She found me a new pattern for another scarf, reversible like the one I'm knitting (it is somewhat longer now). The cool thing about this pattern is that it looks the same from the front and back - a good thing in a scarf since both sides show. The wool is almost black, "Obsidian" I believe. I bought it at Fibre Space, it's a Miss Babs "Yowza whatta skein" . For a guy's scarf, this is nice wool, washable, stretchy, pretty. But it's slow going for me, but I have a long flight tomorrow to work on it.

And finally, the long awaited pictures of the fabric I bought in San Francisco:

And snow. SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW. Last week on my patio. Yeah, we had a bit of drifting. It was still there when I left this morning.

And, finally, my son's new car. Pretty, isn't it.

Then I stopped by JoAnn's for a couple of pieces of fabric that I liked last time I was there, but passed on. For 2 of the 3 I bought I got the last on the bolts. And the flannel to re-do my bargello quilt and some really bulky yarn for a quick scarf for a right-after-Christmas gift. Off to dinner in a few minutes and an early ride to the airport in the morning.

Still kicking

It's been a while since I've posted, I've been busy and discouraged. The Vogue dress is terrible. A complete wadder. I saved it to reuse the fabric, maybe for a tee-shirt, but the dress is total crap. Looks like a poor relation of a twenty's flapper dress or the Walton's gone awry. Next I tried a shirt to work with my blue suit, but the back is too tight and I messed up the hem. I may try to take out the sleeves (and they look so nice) and just face them to have a shell. Oh well. If removing the sleeves doesn't help, then it's to the lining bin for this.

In the meantime I took a trip to Vegas, found an apartment, and collect a pathetic $4K from my cousins. Also started my taxes, it doesn't look good. We stayed at the Paris in Vegas, it was nice. Great to be at that end of the strip, very convenient. We've always stayed down MGM/Luxor way before and that's a hike up to shopping, etc. Now its time to get ready to move. On the 15th, and Warren's in Guam until the 13th. I'm going to Little Rock on Wednesday and the AirForce Ball on Saturday. Maybe find some cool stuff at the silent auction. Looking for some silk, maybe or a cool piece of furniture. I'll have a sewing room when we move, looking forward to that, will move the ironing board in there, out of my bedroom, and speed up the sewing without all the running up and down the stairs. Bought furniture a couple of weeks ago. Sure hope it gets delivered on time. It has the potential to really suck if it doesn't. We're going to Ikea next Friday and get some stuff and put it on the truck and just leave it there until Saturday.