Project Inspiration...

We've been home only three days,
and we're sure missing these sweet faces!

Today, I want to share one of my past projects with you.

I've done the photos as a mosaic to take up less space here,
but you can click on the photo collage to go to my Flickr album for larger images.

Handsome, Kes and I had taken a car trip spanning about 5,000 miles.

We started from home, and headed to the Natchez Trace Parkway (a place we'd been wanting to visit), as we made our way toward our kids and a summer vacation in Wisconsin. After a nice long visit, we took a ferry boat ride across Lake Michigan and then drove to Hiannis, MA for a ferry boat ride to Nantucket, MA to spend some quality time with Handsome's brother. After a week in Nantucket, we got back on the boat to "go back to America", and then drove the East Coast back into Florida and home. It was a great trip, to be sure.

This project involved a pictorial record of our trip for our grandson, who was then five years old. My goal was to create a visual record of where we went and the route we traveled as a teaching tool for him. I've captioned the individual images in the Flickr album so you can see how I created the cards.

Apparently, this project was quite a hit with Grandson, because not only did a five-year old boy not destroy this gift, he still has it in original condition over three years later! Nothing like a child to inspire a creative project. (Wait, don't they always inspire creativity? Yup, I thought so!)

Williamsburg Cardi Completed...

This is the sweater I worked on while Handsome played beautiful music in Williamsburg. It was on our trip that I realized I hadn't purchased the trim yarn along with the original yarn. Usually, I'll purchase all my supplies at once to be sure that I have everything (just in case I don't get to the project before the yarn is sold out). I was just a little nervous that they wouldn't have what I needed, as I had purchased the yarn last spring.

I ran up to my favorite yarn shop (The Spinning Wheel) in Sarasota yesterday and was greeted by (owner) Klara's sweet smile. We hadn't seen each other for a while, so a too-short but nice visit was in order, too. One of the things I love about specialty shops - other than the fact that I used to own one - is that they always recognize your face, love to know what you're working on, and when you ask if they have such-and-such for your project, someone jumps up to get exactly what you were looking for. She still had my trim yarn in stock - but only one skein in black. Whew! That's all I'd need.

I paid for my purchase, hugs were exchanged all around, and then I hurried back home to crochet the edging on my cardigan. An hour later I was finished! Handsome was kind enough to snap a photo for me so I could show you what it looks like now.

I've tucked up the sleeves in the picture. I think they're too long (they fall below my wrist line), so I will have to adjust their length. It will involve cutting the cuffs off (that's right, I said "cutting"). I'll cut the sleeves shorter than my desired finished length, and then I'll be grafting on new cuffs that fall where they're more comfortable for me. For now, "tuckage" was in order.

I'm really happy with the results, and I think I'll just refer to it from now on as the Williamsburg Cardi. What do you think?