Saturday, May 31, 2008

All the Good Stuff

Look at what I won from Knittymuggins????



I entered her 200 posts contest and I won! And I NEVER win anything from blog contests so this was very very cool! :) She sent me one skein of Farmhouse Yarn Silk Blend in Turkey Red, lots of Dove chocolates and two Soak! :) Thank you so much!

So I wanted to amend the meme I did few days ago. If I have a billion dollars, the FIRST THING I would so is to hire myself a chauffeur!!!! How could I forget!? That will give me more time to knit while going to places!!!! :)

And here are a couple of things I forgot to mentioned from our trip -



We stopped at Grandma Nancy's on the way to the 1000 Islands, and also on the way home, since she is literally on the way. And on our way home, I got some grandma's famous molasses cookies and she also gave us a little birdhouse wind chime to take home. What is so very special about this is grandma painted it herself!



Isn't it beautiful? I can't paint for anything and it's so awesome to have a piece of art hanging outside our house.

Another thing I forgot to post about is a good find I got from the antique store where I got my yarn winder.



I don't know exactly what it's called, but it holds the cone steady and let it spin while I knit from it! The yarn came with the gadget feels like cotton to me, but I don't really know for sure. I know that it will be perfect when I knit with my zephyr cones.

And I suppose I should really post some knitting progress:



The Woodland shawl is coming along, although not as fast as I would have liked. I am itching for this one to be done so I can start something else, with fat needles and fat yarn that can be finished in a few days! We'll see when that can happen!

With that said, I should really get some knitting in before the day ends. I got quite a few things done in the garden and also I went to the farmer's market, but that means no knitting has been done!!!! Not good! Me Go, NOW!

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Memorial Weekend

Memorial weekend last year was a big weekend for David and I. Our truck broke down in the Finger Lakes region and we made it up to 1000 Islands in time to go to all the appointments for looking at locations for our wedding!

This year, we went to up to check out some hotels and properties for potential vacation home/land. So instead of camping, we stayed at The Wooden Boat Inn in Clayton. It is a cute little place that has five rooms with a garage and patio with a fireplace. The Inn Owner Diane and the housekeeper Sue were both super nice and friendly. We arrived around 11:30pm on Friday night. I got the key from where Diane told me is going to be and walked into the room we have. Each room has a handmade quilt bedspread with matching pillows. Our room also had a rocking chair with a crocheted blanket. The room isn't super big, but it was very comfortable and clean, with a touch of "home" feel, which was very nice.

The garage has a microwave and a fridge for guest use. We went shopping the next day for some burger for grilling. Yes, they also had a grill for us to use! Plates, cups, utensils were all provided as well! It was ALMOST camping except we are staying in a room. On the second night, we actually got some firewood and started a fire at the fire place and sat outside and enjoy the sky and quietness.

Needless to say, we really liked this place. We are actually going to stay there when we go up before our wedding! I highly recommend this place to anyone who travels up to the 1000 Islands and need a place to stay.

Besides checking out Wooden Boat Inn, we also went to see a Captain Simon's B&B down the street. The place is gorgeous and the owner Bonnie is a sweetheart. She gave me a quick tour of the house and was eager to have my friends and family to stay there.

We went back to the Hart House to refresh our memory of what the place look like, and also how we can hang some of the lanterns we bought for the outside. Jo, the inn keeper was out working in the yard when we arrived so she showed us around again and gave us some ideas on what we could do with the house and yard. I was getting excited just talking to Jo about all the plans I want to have!

While we were on the Wellesley Island, we stopped at Park Antiques in the Thousand Island Park, a private community on the Island. I love going in there because they ahve real antique stuff, not junk as you think of most of the antique stores. I bought a pearl ring there, but silly me forgot to take a picture before I send it to the jeweler for resizing. But I did take a picture of this:


Yes, that's a GIANT spinning wheel! A very old style one. I wish I have the room to buy it. It was a very good price and even for decoration for a craft area would have been very very cool. But it's okay, I did buy this:


A primitive yarn winder! I know, it's a little backwards to buy a yarn winder first, when I don't have a spinning wheel, but this way I can be sure to get the spinning wheel!! See my logic? ;)

On Sunday, David and I drove to Cape Vincent to see the Tibbetts Point Lighthouse since we've never been and it was only 20 mins away!


It was a little cold but gorgeous there. We looked through the telescope and saw another lighthouse on the lake:



I know, not the best picture, but I tried.

After leaving Cape Vincent, we headed to Theresa for the Home Again Farm. It is an alpaca farm, which isn't too far from where we were.





Of course, I couldn't leave without some yarn!!!


So soft! And pretty! I'm thinking of making the Heartland Lace Shawl with it but I'm not sure if I have enough yardage. I'll have to be creative about this.

So overall, it was a productive and relaxing weekend. We love it up there and it would be awesome if we can just spend the whole summer there!!! So if you are looking for a cool place to go, I highly recommend you to travel up to the 1000 Islands!

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

You Want to Know What?

I should really blog about my trip, but instead I'm going to do the meme. Why? Because of this:



The rules: Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

1) What was I doing ten years ago?
Let's see... 10 years ago I was 18 so I was still in high school. I was a Senior at Mater Dei High School located in Southern California. I was part of the Chamber Singers and was in a lot of singing competition. I also performed in Carnegie Hall around that time as well.

2) Five (non-work) things on my to-do list for today:
- Play Guitar Hero III
- Blog the meme
- Buy rice
- Knit
- Take pictures of my new stuff from the trip
3) Snacks I enjoy:
- Does ice cream count as snacks?
- fudge
- pretzel
- popcorn
- cotton candy
- nuts :)

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
Well this could be interesting. If I was a billionaire, these would be the things I would do in the order:
- Pay off all my debt, including all my mortgages
- Buy an island with house on it in the 1000 Islands region
- Buy a penthouse in Chicago or Boston
- Pay off my parents' debt
- Travel to places
- Open a yarn store for fun

5) Places I have lived:
I guess I live quite a few places... I will list it in the order since I was born I guess:
- Taipei, Taiwan
- Tau Yuan, Taiwan
- Garden Grove, California
- Troy, New York
- Orono, Maine
- Allentown, Pennsylvania
- New Haven, Connecticut
- East Haven, Connecticut

6) Jobs I have had:
Well, I didn't have a lot of jobs. Growing up, my responsibility was to study hard and get good grades, so I didn't have any part time job until I was in college. I was teaching assistant for 2 different classes, a work study who did invoices and credit cards for the engineering department, an undergrad research student, a engineering co-op doing design work, quality engineer for RDE and quality engineer for manufacturing.

7) Peeps I want to know more about:
Archiknist
Sunflowerfairy
The Real Baby Beth
Sneaksleep
Firemanshunny

Ok. I'm off playing!!!! Maybe tomorrow I will blog about my new additions to the house - yes, yarn!

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Happy Birthdays!!

This week is birthday week for Sunflowerfairy and Archiknist. We had cakes for both of them. One of the cakes is an ice cream cake from Ashley's and one is vanilla cake with chocolate icing from Julia's. YUM. And as one of the birthday giveaways, Sunflowerfairy had a little drawing at SnB for her "Shut p and Knit" mug and I won! :)



And I started another shawl to keep p with 2klace as I am pretty behind on this whole knit lace 51% of the time thing.



This is beginning of the Woodland Shawl. I actually had quite a few repeats done earlier, but after consult with Archiknist, we both decided that the 89 stitches the pattern called for is too small for a shawl, it was more like a scarf. So I frogged it tonight and re-cast on for extra 4 repeats for total of 137 stitches. we'll see how this one goes. I'm using Schaefer Andrea again for this project as I have quite a few left overs and I really enjoy with the yarn. Plus the color is just gorgeous!

So David and I are going up to 1000 Islands this weekend to take care some wedding stuff, plus to see a house for potential vacation home. What are you doing for memorial long weekend???

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Kiri

Without further ado, as promised -



Pattern - Kiri by Polly Outhwaite
Yarn Used - 663.5 yards of Schaefer Andrea in Julia Child
Needles - Harmony size 4
Gauge - N/A
Knit - April 08, 08 to May 11, 2008
Modification - None.

This pattern was very easy to knit. It starts from the top center and works its way out and down. It is a fairly quick knit compare to some other shawls or stole I made before. It can get kind of boring towards the end though with lots of stitches.

The yarn is divine! It is easy to work with and absolutely gorgeous! It's good that I have three more skeins and I can't wait to work with them.




Isn't it pretty? Now, onto the next project!

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Summer Bag

Well, you all probably think I was completely hooked on Wii and forgot to posts, right? Wrong. I've been sick since Sunday with bronchitis and have been resting. For few days I couldn't even knit! All I wanted to do was sleep! But I knitted on Tuesday on and see what I got!?



Pattern - Laurel Summer Bag by Bobbie Belokur
Yarn Used - 1 skein of Schaefer Laurel in Lillian Gilbreth
Needles - Harmony size 4 and Addi size 3
Gauge - 5 3/4 sts per inch in Garter St on size 3
Knit - May 11, 08 to May 17, 2008
Modification - None.

This pattern was super easy and super fast! I'm making this for Schaefer as one of the model knits. It is also my instant gratification after Kiri. Yes, Kiri is done, but I haven't block it yet, so I haven't show it's prettiness on the blog yet. Maybe tomorrow.

In the mean time, back to Wii!!!

Friday, May 09, 2008

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

MDS&W & Sock Pentathlon Sock #2

In case you are wondering, that's "Maryland Sheep and Wool". I wasn't able to go last year, but this year, I was SOOOOO there.

I took a half day on Friday and took the train down to Baltimore. I've never taken Amtrak before and I have to say I had quite a pleasant experience. And I met a couple of nice people too! Once I got there, I took a taxi and went to MamaE's Party! Sadly, I didn't take ANY picture! I was too excited to meet E and SweetSheep!!! But I did get a photo with them the next day!



Sneaksleep came and meet me up at the party, and after the party, I went back with her to her house for a nap cap and got up for the big day.



And see who we saw!!! :)



Zarzuela!!! She had move to Jersey a couple of years back and I haven't seen her since then! It was so great to see her there!

There were lots of sheep, llamas, alpacas, angora bunnies, and of course, there were food, yarn, and people spinning.





And while I was eating lunch, I noticed quite a bit of buttercup:



After the first day, Sneaksleep and I went to the Ravelry party - it was fun, and a lot less people than I expected. We stayed for a little while before we went and met up with the rest of the New Haven gang for some fondue at Melting Pot.



That was the first time I've been to a Melting Pot and it was so much fun! Although a little on the pricey side, but it was totally worth it, especially the chocolate fondue!





Yum. (that was the s'mores fondue, you should try it if you go!)

Sunday was a lot less intense, even the traffic was a lot less. Sneaksleep and I say goodbye after an hour in the fairground, and I left with Sami, Karen, Brenda and Beth around noon. While I was in the car, I was busy working on the Sock Pentathlon Sock #2 - Berlin Muster. I finished first sock while in the car on the way home, but the sewing needles were in the trunk with my overnight bag, so I couldn't finish the grafting, so what is a girl to do?



Use the buttons I got from the festival and parties! (and you call me crazy, collecting pins and all!) And since I couldn't knit while I'm at work, slowly, I finally finished the pair this morning, although, not without a hitch - again, that stupid little sewing needle. So the engineer in me took over, and fond something to use:



Twisty-tie!!! Yes, you read that right! And a few minutes after, I have these:



Pattern - Berlin Muster by Kristin Benecken
Yarn Used - 0.56 skein of Valley Yarn Franklin
Needles - Harmony size 1
Gauge - 8 sts per inch
Knit - May 01, 08 to May 07, 2008
Modification - I reduced the purl stitch so it's only 56 stitches, although I probably could still go down a bit since the lace is quite stretchy.

The pattern was fairly easy, although everyone had a hard time to get it started due to various reasons. The yarn was wonderful. I love it so much I want to get more of it! I have plenty of it left to do another pair of socks! You can read my full review here.

Well, now both of that are blogged and in the bag, it is time for me to rest my eyes. Good Night.

Thursday, May 01, 2008

Anticipation

Look what came in the mail!!!!



This is MY original cube from Schrodinger. I totally forgot that today is the Sock Pentathlon pattern 2 release and I was suppose to be sitting around all day and knit that pattern until it is done! But with Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival being this weekend, I don't think that is going to happen! So I needed something that I can knit and walk with. After lots of searching Monday night, I decided on this cube. I absolutely love it! I can't wait to give it a test "walk"!

The other thing that came in the mail today is the summer issue of the Interweave Knits. I already saw the preview and I can't wait to be able to knit some of the pattern in it! So if you don't have a subscription, go out and get one when it's released in the stores!

So I've been reading on the Ravelry group of MDS&W and learning what to bring and wear, and I can't wait to go! I'll be taking Amtrak down to Baltimore, take a taxi to see MamaE's at her open studio, meet up with Sneaksleep, go to her house, chat/sleep, get up and go to the festival! I also plan on going to the Ravelry Party at Columbia if I'm not completely pooped out after day 1 of the festival. I still need to figure out where I want to go though - I want to try out some spinning wheel during this festival, and save up the $$ this year to get one next year. Oh I can't wait!!!

I better go get ready for that sock pattern. The next time I post, hopefully I will have some socks to show!!! And lots of pictures and loot I'm sure! :)