Counting Down... and Casting On

...for my upcoming vacation. I'm SO excited!

The Daughter and I are going to Europe, starting with 5 days based in Rome.

We lived in Italy for 3 years while The Husband and I were in the Navy. I enjoyed being there, but didn't get nearly enough traveling and sightseeing in, what with having to work and all. The Daughter was born in Naples, and she hasn't been back since we left when she was about 10 months old.

While in Rome, we have day trips to Florence (Uffizi and Accademia), Naples & Pompeii, and Rome tours scheduled for the Coliseum, St.Peter's Scavi, and a couple of others to be determined. Then we go to the port of Civitavecchia and board Norwegian Epic for a week.

Our ports of call include Livorno, where we will take an excursion to CinqueTerre:


Then to Cannes,France including a day trip to Monaco/Monte Carlo. From there we proceed to Marseilles, then Barcelona, an at-sea-day, and on to Naples. Having already seen Pompeii, we will probably "hang out" in Naples, and take the hydrofoil to Capri, or boat to Ischia, depending on the weather.


Onboard we are scheduled to see Blue Man Group (LOVE those guys).

So--- what to knit on my trip??

Well-- the ever-creative Olga has done it again. She went and designed this:

(Isn't she cute?  She always looks so terrific....)  The shawl is called Aranami, and as soon as I saw it, I KNEW I had to knit it. So I ordered yarn online-- but not sure I can wait, so I just might have to get myself to one of my LYSs. Lord knows, I have a house full of yarn, but this really needs the gradations to get the full effect, and be subtle enough.  None of my sock or sportweight yarns will fit the bill.

Olga promises that it's an easy knit-- and the pattern is available through her blog- linked above-- and on her site at Ravelry.  I think it's the perfect project for vacation-- sportweight yarn, little needles, and not too much thinking. (Of course, that's Olga speaking.  I hope that's true for the rest of us.... I can mess up almost anything!)

So on top of refining packing lists, shopping for little things I know we'll need-- (Ibuprofen, bandaids, sunscreen, batteries,etc,etc....) I will need to keep myself from spending every waking moment wanting to work on Aranami before the trip. 

I'd better pull out one of the half-dozen unfinished socks.