You stay classy, San Diego

this has been a real busy week! Wes and I drove down to San Diego on Saturday and stayed until Tuesday. I did find an extra ball of the red ribbon yarn in the bottom of my knitting bag, so I was able to make some more progress on the drive home, but not much else has been done on the x-back tank in the past week.
On Thursday I stopped by AFY on my way home from work and picked up ten balls of tiny tiny yarn and size 2 and 3 needles (I must be crazy). I cast on double the suggested stitches for my swatch to give me more practice on the lace pattern. Out of five pattern repeats, I have only done it right twice (the third and fourth times ... don't know what I was thinking about on the fifth one, I thought I had it down!). So I need to practice on the swatch a little more before I cast on for the actual sweater. I haven't even figured out my gauge yet because I haven't done the lace pattern right to figure out accurate stitch count. I think I will need to do some math for this though because the sizes given on the pattern are four inches apart and my ideal size would be right in between two sizes (two inch difference). I worked on the lace pattern swatch a little bit while in SD, but it was so hot and humid there, I didn't really want to touch yarn. The weather is not much cooler right now in Ventura, so haven't been too anxious to pick up the needles since we got back.
Anyway, San Diego was so fun that I didn't really think about knitting for four days. Saturday night we went out to the Gaslamp District and for dinner and drinks Warren suggested Yardhouse. I had (Mac+Cheese)² and Wes had the biggest turkey pot-pie I ever saw. We also sampled some delicious beer ... my favorite was the Anderson Valley Boont Amber Ale. Sunday we went to see the Padres get beat up on by the Braves - we had great seats right behind home plate in section 300 at Petco Park and the first row in the shade for most of the game! After the game we took a long walk all along the harbor ... good thing there was a trolley station at the end of our walk! We had to save our energy for Sea World on Monday!
Sea World was awesome ... neither of us had been there since we were kids! There are a couple of changes, including some new rides. It isn't just a zoo for sea animals anymore. We thought the Wild Arctic "helicopter ride" was a cool way to introduce the arctic animals (I love the Beluga Whales!), but thought that Journey to Atlantis was stupid ... especially because it broke down while we were at the top of a drop! The Shamu show was a little cheesy, but still cool to see all the tricks and how those huge 3000-pound whales interact with their trainers. And while we chose not to get drenched on Shipwreck Rapids, we did enjoy watching everyone else go under the waterfall after dinner. Tuesday we just got up and drove home ... made a quick stop at the Carlsbad Outlets for a Crate & Barrel fix and then home at last!!