Catching up is hard to do

Once again it's been way too long since I blogged and there is so much to catch you up on.  I've been cheating on the blog by posting pics on Facebook instead.  Hope I'll be forgiven.

Here are some highlights:
- Visited NB in August; played in the Restigouche river during the best days of the summer
- Moved into our new house Labour Day weekend
- Had a pool party in Sept
- I went to Graz, Austria in October
- Stacy, Dorothy and Tina visited for my birthday Oct 20th
- Alana and Adam visited and we went to the Hoover Dam and Valley of Fire, among other places
- Line visited in Nov and we went to a Morrocan restaurant with Belly dancers plus went to Red Rock
- I went back to Moncton for work the first week of December
- Troy and I spent Christmas in Las Vegas, after a weekend in Sedona, AZ
- We threw a New Year's eve party for our new friends in LV
- Troy and I went to the top of the Stratosphere last weekend
- Starting going back to the knitting group and also got the wheels out over the holidays

OK, now you are all caught up but no fun pics or details to go along with it.  Here are a few highlights but it's really hard to catch up properly.

Old and New

I've finally finished the socks for Hughie and just in time to get them in the mail for his birthday.

They are knit with Heidi's hand dyed sock yarn which makes terrific socks.  Just enough detail to keep me interested but consistent enough to just look 'blue' to Hughie or other men who like their socks on the plain side.

Now on to something new as I feel a new project is in order for my new place and new surroundings.  I'm thinking of the Planche vest for my summer project in a bright color, like orange or pink.  I like it like this one, a little slouchy http://www.ravelry.com/projects/mel-is-swell/planche-vest What do you think? I'm thinking Knit Picks order!

Handspinning in the desert

Apparently us spinners are EVERYWHERE! 

I've met a handspinning group that spins every second Wednesday at the Wooly Wonders yarn shop here in Las Vegas.  I went and spun with them last Wed night and they are a very nice group of spinners and fibre enthusiasts.  There is even a sheep farm in the area that they sometimes go on road trips to, sounds like my kind of road trip.

I started spinning the silk & BFL blend in oranges and blues that Line bought me for my birthday at the Maritime Spinners Retreat last October.  At the time we didn't know I would be moving to the desert but as soon as I found out that fibre has made me think of the desert.  The sky is always blue here, truly always.  And with so many beiges around, orange seems to be my new favorite color. 

Pictures of this spinning yet to come but here is a shot of the fibre I bought off Jackie at the Fibre Arts retreat in April.  It wasn't for sale originally but Line and I fell in love with it and asked her what it would take for her to part with it.  We split it and went home with it.  It was the first thing I spun when I got here.  It was spun on Bugsy and then plied on Rosey.  Not sure of the fibre but it's definately wool (Jackie if you are reading this and remember please enlighten us).

Californacation

Well it's been too long, but between facebook and my husband's blog hopefully you haven't forgotten me.

Where to start... since last time we've been keeping pretty busy with normal life stuff plus enjoying the terrific weather here and making the most of the pool too. 

We have had an offer accepted on a house and are in escrow waiting for their bank to approve the short sale.  The house is awesome, not in the exact location I wanted, but close to everything including work.  And a reasonable cab ride to the strip too!

Here are a couple pics of the place but to really see it you'll have to come visit us.  I'm hoping we are moved in by October.

Now that the house shopping has settled down we took the opportunity of the Memorial Day long weekend to head to the California coast.  We stayed in Torrence at a really cheap Days Inn that I wouldn't recommend but it served our purposes.  The first day we drove down the Pacific Coast Hwy to Newport beach stopping at Sunset Beach and Huntington Beach along the way.  Beautiful!!

Newport Beach at Sunset

Sunset Beach

The next day we hit the road with Zuma in tow and headed North on the PCH all the way up past Malibu and then proceeded to make our way.  We spent the majority of our afternoon at Venice Beach which was a crazy experience.  Then ended a long day at Redondo Beach for supper at Joe's Crab Shack, which was an excellent meal.

North of Malibu

Lots of hot surfers!

Bought a new hat at Venice Beach

Venice beach is the largest I've ever seen!

Roller skaters and so much more to see

It was a fabulous trip and spurred on lots of ideas for our next trip out there.  We'd like to camp on the beach up towards Malibu.  The campsites are directly on the beach so would be a great camping trip for the summer months to get out of the heat of Vegas.  It was actually really cold to us in CA, the temperature was in the 60's and we are now used to the 90's.  Very refreshing and was kind of nice to need to wear a sweater again.

That's all for today but I'll try to write more often small quick posts (I've heard that before right?!).  Heading to the pool on this beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon.  Ciau amigos.