Well, here is my second post of the day.
I had 267 e-mails to look through(deleting265) and now I am ready to vent.
Savannah is a beautiful historic city-take a tour it is worth it. The Historic downtown area and Riverfront are fabulous and full of shopping, restaurants and a very walkable area. When those of us in the north think of Savannah and food I think many of our thoughts go to Paula Deen-the food network phenom with cookbooks, magazines and of course, her famous restaurant, Lady and Sons located in the historic section of Savannah by the City Market. Since we had heard so much about Paula we thought it would be fun to go to her restaurant for dinner. We called her restaurant where a recording informed us that to sign up for prioity seating(NOT Reservations-those are only for groups of 10 or more) we would need to come in person to the restaurant at 3:30 PM and leave our names. Being the best Grandma ever, I walked to PD"S arriving about 3:20 PM. The line was over a block long. I assumed the hoard was there for a late lunch-how naive of me- no, they were all there to put in their names for prioirty seating. I should have kept walking and shopped at the city market-I should have kept walking and gone back to the hotel. I did not. I got in line.
One hour and a half later we had seats for the 9:00 seating. We were told to be there at no later than 8:45 or risk losing our precious place.
We arrived at 8:30. We were greeted by a thundering hoard of people-all with 9:oo priority seating. We were escorted into the restaurant at 9:30 PM. We should have kept walking.
The inside of the restaurant on the main floor is small with small tables and a spot to buy everything Paula's marketing group has thought of that someone might want to spend a fortune on. We were escorted to the 3 rd floor- they said the "banquet area"-I say a warehouse! It was dingy, for the most part undecorated,loud as it has warehouse ceilings and full of long , old wooden tables with wooden chairs. It reminded me of my elementary school which was old (really old) in the 50's and 60's. The lighting was the old school type lighting. There were no tablecloths, no ambiance at all. It was so crowded that squeezing between tables was an effort.
There was a buffet(the specialty of the restaurant) or a small menu. On the menu the Chicken Pot Pie (Paula's trademark) was $24.oo. It could easily feed 4 but ... The buffet was okay-stocked with her fried chicken, catfish, assorted southern veggies and dishes, potatoes and her Mac and Cheese. It had a small uninspriring salad bar. It was crowded-but they kept it well stocked. In other words-a giant disappointment and a tourist trap rip off. It was so loud you couldn't hear the person next to you speak-thus making everyone yell and adding to the chaos.
There are many wonderful small Mom and Pop restaurants in the area with wonderful southern ambiance and homemade seafood. Go to them. PD's made Yoders in Shipshewana look like a four star Hollywood restaurant. We ate at several of the small Mom and Pop's-wonderful.
If you still have even an inkling of desire to go-walk in the restaurant area on the main floor-go to the booth where the mixes and cookbooks,etc. are located, spend your money for a overpriced item and keep walking til the smell of fresh seafood fills your nostrils -then go in to a small Mom and Pop's and dine on some of Savannah's best. You won't find it at Paula Deen's.
My work is done here-don't say I didn't warn you. There is also no yarn.

Home from the deep south last night! The weather there was in the 50's and 60's but not too much sun. Had a great time and thousands of games of UNO were played! Abslutely no knitting was accomplished-- and since there are no yarn stores to speak of in the area no new yarn was purchased. I am starting to twitch.
Caitlin was the hit of the jewelry show-every vendor gave her something free, from earrings to candy. She was also a hit with the ferry Captains that took us from our island hotel to the historic riverfront of Savannah. On her last night and her last trip back to the hotel the Captain even gave her a big TOOT on the ferry horn! She was so thrilled!!
Time to try and catch up on my thrummed socks before Rae gets back-I missed class two.

Sarah Peasley has made it official-my blog is listed on her blog .
Leaving for Savannah,Ga and Lady's Island, S.C. in the early morn. A business convention mixed with a visit with our daughter and her family. Little knitting will be accomplished but many games of Sorry! and card games and stories will be the order of the week. Plus some shopping in Savannah and downtown Beaufort,S.C. Great area-love it there!! This will probably be my last trip down to that area because the Marines are moving to Quantico,Virginia. At least they are moving in the right direction! North!
The steek cutting and armholes went well on the shawl collar vest-now on to the collar and it will be finished! My thrummed socks need more thrums before I can go on-as I said I wish they could be bought in plastic bags like pompoms. Boring to make! And they stick to everything and I seem to lose them-often. They are probably stuck to my big butt and I can't see them.
Going to Guild tonght-even if the packing isn't done. 2M and aYoyo will not be able to pack without me-I am needed.

Hello Knitters,
Hope your January is going well-the weather has been such a departure from the norm-I keep waiting for the BOOM to be lowered on us!
I have been keeping busy working at Community Education and Aquatic Center for the schools. It is so fun to sub there-great group of people. Although, it does cut heavily into my knitting time!
I have my father's shawl collar vest(Meg's pattern from her Handknitting book) ready to cut the steeks!! Do you think they intentionally had the word steek rhyme with EKK??!! I have also been working on several mobeiuses(sp?) using Cat's method-although I did find a different method to cast on which I have yet to try. I used cashmere for the small version and am now doing a couple larger versions which I hope will be shawl like-it is hard to tell till you remove them from the needles.
I am taking a Thrummed sock class from Rae at Rae's Yarn Boutique. They look like they will be really warm!! I am using an Artyarn from her and some of her cashmere roving for the thrumms-are you getting the idea I like cashmere?? Rae herself will be meeting Cat as she is going to Cat's island(off Seattle) for a workshop on doing a knitting book. Rae is already publishing a few of her own patterns and is in the new SWTC book of Hats.
I met Susie Grogran from Grayling (she dyes sock yarn and sells it on her blog(perchance to dream) at Threadbare on Sunday! What a nice lady with beautiful yarn. Some of her handdyed is for sale there and more to come. She also gives you a beautiful marker with each purchase.
I also bought some of Rae's new yarn-Sublime(75%fine merino-20%silk-5%cashmere) to whip up a small pair of ballerina booties and a ballerina wrap sweater for a friend whose daughter is having a baby soon. Patterns in The Little Sublime Hand Knit Book. This yarn is so soft!
Tonight Dan and I are going to Jeff Daniels at the Charlotte Performing Arts Center. I love him.As you know , he lives in Chelsea where he grew up so that he can keep his kids from the Hollywood excesses.
Next week it is off to Savannah, Ga. and Lady's Island ,S.C. for a convention and as a bonus to see my daughter,son-in-law and Granddaughter!! They will soon be moving to Quantico,Virginia as Ken will be a Drill Instructor for the Officer's Boot Camp which is located there. There is no joy over this(well,from me yes-it means closer to Michigan) as Ken had volunteered to head to Iraq but was stationed at Quantico instead. He is very disappointed(sense of duty big time) but with Bush(can you all now boo very loud please-He is an idiot!!) sending even more of our precious sons and daughters over there ,who knows, maybe Ken will get to go after all. I just hope they don't take Amanda! Then Dan and I would get Caitlin for a year at least-great for us, but horrible for ken, Amanda and Caitlin. I know they are Marines and we knew this could come when she joined-still I hate our country being involved in this senseless war that is looking more like VietNam every day.
Remember, Knitting first-housework never.
Pat