Simply Lovely Vacation! (and socks!)

After a week long vacation at the beach, I’m still trying to get my stuff together and organized and unpack. We had such a great, relaxing time. The weather was great, lots of sun and warm, and there was so much to do! We stayed in North Bethany about a block from the beach. The house was beautiful with a huge screened in porch that I took advantage of almost every morning to do some knitting before everyone got up. (Trek even joined me when he got up in time – we loved the rocker/glider seat!)


Downtown Bethany was only about 3 miles down the main road, so it was an easy ride. We walked the boardwalk a few times and explored the many shops downtown. I loved the totem pole at the “entrance” to the downtown area!

The beach was beautiful. Since we were renting a house in a community, it was a private beach and was incredibly empty every day.
It was really nice to have plenty of space around us and not feel like we had to be out there at 8am just to get a spot. The Simply Lovely sock #2 and I spent a few moments together on the sand (though not many – the kids kept us moving!)
We did manage a round of mini-golf in Fenwick – right down the road. Viking Golf was a compact course, but packed full of twists and turns.

I’m a pretty competitive mini golfer, and the hubby and I were tied going into the final hole. It was pretty much only a few stroke difference between us the entire game (I’d lead, then he’d lead back and forth) and we each managed multiple hole in ones when it counted. We both teed off from the final hole with this result:

Amazing. I don’t think we have ever ended up in a tie before! I’ll get him the next time.

Ocean City, Maryland was also only a short drive away past Fenwick. We took the kids down one day and they had a lot of fun on the boardwalk and all the rides. It seemed like much more of a high activity place than Bethany. Tons of high rise hotels and a mini golf course every block!

Gas was a bunch cheaper too!

The hubby and I spent lots of time up in Rehoboth Beach. It was only a 10 minute drive up the road, and had lots of shops and a nice boardwalk. After much coercing, he managed to take me on a few of his Geocaching expeditions. For those who don’t know what geocaching is here is a great explanation. Basically, it’s a treasure hunt with a GPS. The treasures aren’t anything big, but it’s the fun in finding it! Assawoman Bay Wildlife Area was one of our first hunts, but the road was closed the first time due to flooding repairs. We tried to walk it, but we literally ran for our lives out of the park and towards the car after being attacked by deer flies! Unless we had a suit of armor we figured we should avoid the ones in parks, so we then concentrated on some in-town ones in Rehoboth. Got to do lots of sight seeing and learned our way around pretty quick.

We did end up heading back to the park a few days later and drove in to find the cache. The flies were all over the car! I think we each got a few bites, but nothing major. It is a lot of fun, and you get to see all kinds of places you would never go normally. Some were pretty and scenic – Delaware has some great shoreline and inlets!

I did stop in at Knitty Gritty in Rehoboth, but wasn’t really impressed. A lot of the shelves were empty and they didn’t have much stock. Not one skein of sock yarn was to be found! A complete 180 from Knitty Gritty was Sea Needles right in Bethany about 3 miles from the house. Half the store was knitting and half was needlepoint/cross stitch. A great store! Huge selection, stocked from floor to ceiling and a helpful staff. I forgot my camera, but not my wallet!

Austermann Step yarn color #03 - Clover. I haven’t seen it in person yet, so I figured I’d pick up a ball and try out the Aloe and Jojoba claim. It feels like pretty normal sock yarn in the ball.

We hated to leave, but extended the vacation a little longer by taking the
Cape May-Lewes Ferry home.

I doubt it saved us any time, but it was nice to relax for an hour or so and end up in New Jersey! The sock enjoyed it.

As did the truck (it’s first ferry ride!)

On the ride home I finished up the second Simply Lovely Lace Sock. These were a quick knit and easy to memorize!

Pattern: Simply Lovely Lace Socks from Spring 2006 IK
Yarn: Louet Gems Opal
Needles: 3.25mm 32” Addi
(I just noticed how extremely long my feet look in these from this angle!)

The pattern is (in my opinion) much prettier all stretched out.

They fit pretty well, but are a bit snug to get on. Once on, they are fine, so I’m happy with them!

Even on vacation, I managed to remember the purple Project Spectrum theme!


I got my KnitPicks needles the day we left - thoughts on those tomorrow!

Back to work and life today. I have probably a bazillion bloglines to get to, along with email and unpacking! At least the summer heat is supposed to continue!