Born on the Bayeux-Part 1

Last weekend, Hunter had yet ANOTHER holiday (Corpus Christi, I believe), so we took a little trip to France. We rented a car in Brussels and drove to some cities along the north coast, including Boulogne-sur-mer, Calais, Dunkirk, Le Havre, Caen, Bayeux, Rouen, Laon, and Amiens. The main thing we wanted to see was the Bayeux tapestry, and then we saw that Omaha Beach was really close to that so we figured we'd go there, too. Then we realized we were there on June 6, so I guess that worked out.

So anyway, our first stop was Dunkirk, which was an important site in World War II. Because of the war history and it's proximity just across the channel, most of the towns we went to seemed to be pretty big destinations for English tourists. However, I used mostly French and people didn't usually just switch to English.

Pirate-looking ship parked in the harbor

War Memorial

I really liked the way this window was darker on the inside

Church from the outside

We next went to Calais, which is where you can get ferries to Dover.

The Hotel de Ville

Rodin Statue

Sadie and I

We walked around Calais for a while, including down to the beach. I even ended up getting a little sunburnt!

Our last stop for the day was in Boulogne-sur-Mer. We stayed at a great bed and breakfast. Since we were the only people there that night, the owner gave us the biggest room, where Sadie had her own bedroom. This was pretty close to her normal sleep situation, so she went to bed close to her regular time and Hunter and I could hang out for a bit.

An old church

And some shots of Sadie goofing around:

So that was the first day! I'm going to continue this later. It's really hard for me to find time to write posts, but I think if I break it up maybe it will be a little easier.

Another Sweater for Sadie

I just finished another knitting project. I got some yarn from the redditgifts yarn swap, and the giver suggested I use it to make something for Sadie. There were four skeins in four different colors, so I looked up a pattern that would use about that amount that had different colors in it. I found the Rydberg pattern from Ravelry that I thought would work well.

It didn't take me very long at all to finish this. I don't know the exact date I started, but it was probably near the beginning of May, and I really only knit for an hour or two a night while watching TV. Anyway, I'm sure you wanna see the pics!

She really did NOT want her picture taken!

Since Sadie wasn't being a totally cooperative model, here's a better shot. It hasn't been blocked yet, which I'm hoping I can block out some of that puckering around the edge.

I got a great pack of vintage buttons off Etsy, including cherries, bows, and butterflies but I thought the yellow on these was a great match:

Close-up of the bottom edge, with i-cord bind-off

So I did make a few changes to the pattern. As written, it takes only three colors, but I had four, and probably not enough to do it the three-color way. So once I started the part with the pattern, I changed the main color from blue to white, and then when I got to the bottom I went back to blue. I also added an i-cord bind off to the-- button edge? placket? I don't really know what it's called, but you can see where that red border is in the picture. I had planned to only add it to the outer part that could be seen when the sweater is buttoned, but that sort of cinched it up a bit so I had to do it to the other side as well to make them the same length.

I have two more projects going right now that I am excited about. One of them is a gift, so I won't be posting anything until it is received; the other is to donate through a group on Ravelry called Bundles of Joy. The group donates knit items to a maternity ward on a reservation in South Dakota and I am making a blanket to send there. Hopefully it won't be too long until I can post some more finished objects!