Café Eclectic

Jumping Ship

2008-07-22T21:53:00.002-05:00

I'm done here. Going over to the new place:

http://cafe-eclectic.net

Come check out the new digg.

Chance

2008-07-13T21:26:00.002-05:00

I've been MIA for awhile. But today, I don't have time to fill you in on what I've been up to. Instead, I want you to send some good thoughts to Chance.

Chance is our tenants' dog. He is 9 months old and just got hit by a car tonight. He got out of the fence and ran onto the street. The lady who hit him was very upset, and good thing she wasn't driving fast. We took him to our vet since theirs isn't 24 hours. Doc thinks he is doing well so far, using all his four legs, and not coughing up blood. He is in shock and doc is treating him that tonight and going to take XRay and blood work for tomorrow.

The poor thing is so scared I felt really bad leaving him behind by himself.

So please, say a little prayer for him tonight.

List? What List? Obessessed? Me?

2008-06-20T17:39:00.003-05:00

Yeah... I like to make lists and I wish I have lists for EVERYTHING, but it doesn't always happen. But I saw this contest on CostumeChick's blog from here so I decided to join the fun.

Here's how this works-

Head to your blog and post your summer knitting goals list (you must have at least 1 goal!)
Be sure to link to this contest in your post
Stop back and leave the link to your goals list with Mr. Linky (by midnight, June 20th!) to be 'officially entered'
Spend the summer, attempting to stay at least a little bit on track, tackling one goal at a time
Have fun with it

So here it goes...

Finish 2 more shawls to keep up with 2klace.
Knit at least 1 pair of socks for Summer of Socks 2008.
Knit and felt my card basket for the wedding.
Finish the 2 cardigans for Schaefer.

I think that's what I want to accomplish for this summer, assuming summer ends around 09/20/08, which is my wedding day. Yeah... I better get going to do that list now.

Strawberries Overflow!

2008-06-17T19:49:00.004-05:00

So what do you do when you have too many strawberries on your hand?

Strawberry cupcakes!

I went to Big Y last week and saw that they have buy 1 get 2 free on strawberries - how could I say no? But now I have way too much strawberries! Granted I already finished the ones I picked from Lyman's, but still, I have 3 quart of strawberries sitting in the fridge staring at me!

I followed the recipe from Vanilla Garlic to a T and the strawberry sauce and strawberry frosting recipe makes a lot more than I needed, so I put them in the fridge for another batch later this week.

Besides working on the cupcakes, I also worked on the invitation a bit.

I know, not much to see, but it's getting there. I also worked on the wording a bit and coming up with some dilemma on how I want to lay it out, but I'll wait till David comes home this weekend and ask his opinion.

I'm gonna go eat cupcakes now.

A Weekend Of Fun

2008-06-15T13:22:00.019-05:00

What did you do this weekend?

Saturday morning, our new lawn guy came, and he did an AMAZING job cleaning up the yard.

Even the dogs didn't know what to do with it!

I went to my weekly farmer's market with Archiknist and we came back to the house waiting for a few others to show so we can go try on my wedding gown. Now, I was too excited to see my gown and didn't take ANY pictures!!!!! But no fear, my readers, I'm going back on Thursday to do my first fitting so I will make sure I take a picture then.

While I was there, I was tying out different veils. The one I liked was $195!!!! WTF??? So I looked online and found this - yup, only $63!! I'm pretty sure I'll be getting that. At first I didn't want to have a veil, but I saw a very similar one on a magazine and just loved it.

We came back to my house for some BBQ and crafting. It was too bad that the weather wasn't so great so we couldn't be out to enjoy my new swing:

We are going to use it for our "altar" area. We will take out the awning part, and the swing, and I'll decorate it with some fabric and ask my florist to get some hanging plants for the four corners. I really like the look of this when I first saw it during my research, so I'll do something similar, minus the crazy flower on the top.

Today I went with Beth and Ola to Lyman's Orchard for some strawberry picking. It was a lot of fun looking for those ripen red, juicy berries.

Afterwards we went to the Apple Barrel to see what's in season and what they got. There are lots of canning stuff for sale (mmm... jam...) and pies. But I came home with these:

YUM. Can't wait for mid-July for the other berries to be ready.

On other news, I worked on my invitations, and here is what I got:

Yeah, the outer pockets are finally done! I can finally move on into the inside of the invitations. Speaking of that, I got these in the mail:

I'm going to use these vintage postcards as the response card. I think it would make a cool scrapbook when it is all over. I just hope everyone will actually return the response card!

Oh, and it's 97 days till the big day! :)

As far as gardening, I've been kinda on hold since I couldn't move all the blocks needed to do the raise garden and David is away for work, all the seedlings have been just staying in their starter container and waiting. Hopefully it's not too late. So without further ado, here are some pictures of the herbs:

See how awesome those herbs look? And I use some for dinner tonight:

I had some Greek pasta salad at Ola's house not too long ago, so I decided to try my hands in it with some of my herbs.

jennsquared's Greek Pasta Salad

1 box of pasta of any kind
1 small can of chopped olives
1 and half cup of corn (I grilled some corn last night so I used that)
1 shallots, finely chopped
1 scallion, finely sliced
some parsley, finely chopped
some thyme, finely chopped
1 tsp dry basil (use fresh ones if you have any)
some garlic pepper seasoning
salt
olive oil
basil pesto grapeseed oil (just use more olive oil)
apple cider vinegar (use whatever light vinegar you have on hand)
crumbled feta cheese

1. Boil a pot of water and cook the pasta until al dente
2. While the pasta is cooking, chopped up all the herbs
3. When pasta is ready, drain well and let it cool a little bit before mixing everything together
4. Serve slightly warm

Hope you all enjoy it as much as I do. And feel free to leave a comment on your variation!

Where Did The Socks Go?

2008-06-10T17:48:00.015-05:00

And you say whaaaaaat?

Well... Let me back track a bit. Last Thursday, work sent me to NYC for East Pack Expo. With such a short notice, I decided to cast on a pair of easy socks to knit while I am walking around in the expo. I started them while i was on the train, and once I got out of Grand Central (no photo there... DOH!) I started walking towards to Freefoods for breakfast. While walking, I show my pair of socks around town:

Time Square was a little dark due to the clouds. Oh well. While I was at Freefoods, I had a hard time choosing what I want to eat since there were so many different awesome organic foods there, but I settle for these:

My melon smoothie and mango. The smoothie is made with honeydew, goats milk yogurt, honey and mint, and the mango was infused with agave syrup and mint. I also got an organic bagel with organic cream cheese - SO YUMMY.

Sadly, I would say that's about the highlight of my expo trip, since the trade show isn't THAT exciting. I did have one person come up to me while knitting and asked me if my needles were "medical devices". HUH? Yeah...

Saturday I went to Dream Come True Farm with Archiknist. I swear I thought we were going to melt while we were there - it was SO. HOT. And it still is! While we were there, we saw two Nigerian goats. They were so tiny and cute!

That's a mama goat!!! Isn't she cute and tiny? :) She actually provides the milk that makes the soaps the farm sells! So awesome. There are also llamas, alpacas and sheep on site. I was so good and didn't buy anything!!!

Speaking of anything, a box showed up in my house few days ago:

A drop spindle and lots of rovings! When I went to MDS&W last month, I went to the ravelry party, but due to time constraint, I didn't stay for the raffle and gave my ticket to Anarchy, who I met during the party. Apparently my ticket won, and instead of keeping the drop spindle, she messaged me in ravelry and sent me the spindle, and threw in some roving for me to try too! Knitters are SO generous! I haven't had a chance to try it yet, but I'm thinking of doing that this weekend.

Another thing I received this past week was this:

It's the Amish Friendship Bread from Knitsheady. Today is day 9, and tomorrow, I need to split it and bake it and give four of the starters to four friends. It's a good thing I'm going to SnB tomorrow :) I saw this on the internet a lot, and apparently it's quite a popular thing to do - although it is my first one ever.

So no knitting to show this post due to these:

I've been busy making my wedding invitations. I decided that I really like the one I saw online but didn't want to pay the hefty price, so I bought whole sheet paper and am making them myself! I want to mail them up at the 1000 Islands so I got less than a month to finish them. I better hurry! It's a good thing I'm almost done with the cover :).

Well, I'm off cutting more paper. Maybe next time, there will be some knitting to show, or maybe even garden stuff! :)

I Don't Have A Black Thumb!

2008-06-04T19:21:00.021-05:00

And to prove it to you, here are some evidents:

I planted these few weeks and and Mick got his face in it and I thought I had lost hope. But plants are funny things and Mick apparently didn't eat all the seeds! I know for sure there are chives and cilantros in it, and I think the third kind is oregano, but I can't be sure. Once all the herbs are tall enough, I'll replant them and thin them out a bit.

I bought some peppermint and thyme awhile back (when it was still very cold) and had them in the original container on top of my microwave in the kitchen by the window. They did really well and when I planted the seeds above, I transferred them into a planter we had from the original owner. They are doing really well, as you can see.

I bought this pot of parsley from the farmer's market back in May and it actually have more leaves than before! I'm pretty excited at the fact that I haven't killed it yet. I seems to do very poorly when it comes to cilantro, parsley or basil.

I was feeling adventurous on Saturday and seeded some broccoli and cantalope. Today is Wednesday, look at how tall they are!!! I bought the growing system from Lowe's and I love it! I can't wait for them to be big enough to transfer them into my garden (hopefully this Sunday!)

I bought this container sunflower last Saturday from the farmer's market. It's so nice to have something bright and happy inside! If he has more this week, I would love to get my hands on another pot for my office!

So I think I have proved to the world that I'm not a black thumb anymore. I find myself really like gardening when it doesn't involve digging the ground and encounter bugs and such. So I think I'm going to do a raise garden to transfer all the veggies and herbs in. David, of course, would be one the building it. In return, I will try to seed some watermelon and cucumber for him :). So now onto things that just shows up in my garden year after year:

Look at the GIANT hosta!!!! I have three of these giant ones on the right side of the house, 2 of a different variety but still huge on the left side of the house, and I have a bunch in the back of the garage. I think when they bloom, I'm going to cut the ones from the back of the garage and arrange them and enjoy them indoor. But can anyone tell me why they are so big? My neighbors' hosta are like quarter of that size!!! Not like I'm complaining or anything... Just curious.

I have no idea what these are - they show up in the crack of the asphalt by the garage, and there only. One on the right, one in the middle, and one on the left. I didn't plant them, and they can very well could be weeds, but they are pretty so I didn't pull them out.

These pansies are in a container and just keeps on coming back each year! They are the small kind. I actually found the planter near the garage by the trash cans when I moved in and the whole thing looked dead. When the spring came, lots of weed were on it, so I pull the weed out, and some of the greens started to show up. Next thing I knew, part of the container had some pansies in it. Lucky for us, I was too lazy to empty the dirt to reuse, so now we have a container full of pansies. One thing though - I thought pansies are annuals? David's theory is that they must drop seeds every year and it just keeps on coming back because of that, which will support the fact that it was only a quarter of the container full the first year, and this year it was completely full. I'll post a picture of the full container the next time I post about the garden.

This showed up this year. It wasn't around last year. If it was, it didn't flower. I am not so sure of what this is. By looking at some pictures online, I'm guessing it's a type of peonies. Anyone had any ideas? You can tell I don't garden by this, right? The plant gave me so far 2 full flowers, two on the way (one bud is still very green.) It smells beautiful and I want to cut it and bring them in the house! I wish I have a whole shrub full of the flowers!

The tiny bug (I think bee, not sure) showed up just in time for the photo shoot! No idea what this is either, but it was cute and pretty. I have no idea what this one is either:

They are right next to each other in the back yard where no one goes. They were pretty so I had to snap some pictures.

And finally, my fruit tree:

I think I have two or three of these in the back yard and I think they are pears. Last year the yard was a mess and I didn't get to see what they were until it was too late. I'm gonna try to keep tabs at them this year. Maybe, just maybe I get to eat some fruit out of my tree this year.

So that's it folks! I am very excited about the whole gardening thing - for how long? I'm not sure, but if I have some success at the veggies I'm sure I would keep it up next year, and maybe started it earlier! So for those folks who knows what flowers and plants I have in the garden, would you be nice and leave me a comment and let me know? Also, what books/websites do you recommend on reading up? All advise welcome!

All the Good Stuff

2008-05-31T12:33:00.007-05:00

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!

Memorial Weekend

2008-05-29T07:32:00.003-05:00

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!

You Want to Know What?

2008-05-27T20:06:00.004-05:00

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!

Happy Birthdays!!

2008-05-21T21:04:00.011-05:00

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???

Kiri

2008-05-18T13:43:00.007-05:00

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!

Summer Bag

2008-05-17T18:13:00.004-05:00

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!!!

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii....

2008-05-09T18:27:00.002-05:00

Need I say more?

MDS&W & Sock Pentathlon Sock #2

2008-05-07T18:16:00.034-05:00

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.

Anticipation

2008-05-01T16:16:00.007-05:00

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! :)

The Harlot

2008-04-27T20:40:00.008-05:00

Was at Northampton! I drove up with Archiknist and Costumchick up to Webs to see Stephanie Pearl-McPhee to give a talk. She was hilarious and did not disappoint.

This was my attempt of taking a picture of the Harlot from far away in the dark in the Calvin Theater.

After the talk, we went back to WEBS to do a little shopping. After a very long line, I finally got to talk to Stephanie, and had her signed couple of the books.

I had my sock picture taken, and you will have to go over to her blog to see the picture when she posts it later.

And after another very long line, I left WEBS with these:

I had "At Knit's End", I just brought it along with me for the signing. I bought couple of the "Thins I Learned from Knitting". One for me, and one is a gift. Of course, with 25% off all sock yarn, I couldn't stop myself and bought a skein of Franklin, and a skein of Playful Weekend, which will be part of another scarf I made, but only needed some ribbon threading to be completed!!! One less ZZZ project on my Ravelry notebook!!! Speaking of Ravelry, guess who I saw at WEBS?????

Jess, the co-creater of the Ravelry!!! She also gave me my new "Where are my stitches at?" pin :). I will be seeing her next weekend when I go to Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, so I can complete my collection.

Overall, it was a great trip and we had fun, despite the massive amount of people.

So on a complete different note, I want to show off a little something I made for Anphoe awhile ago:

I saw something similar on a jewelry magazine few weeks ago and wanted to give it a try, and Anphoe had said she needed a pin so her Sunshine top won't keep falling off her shoulder. Few days after, viola! I had fun making it, and I hope she likes it.

Well, I'm exhausted after much excitement from today. Off to rest and read some Harlot-ism before I fall asleep!!! And if you have a chance to see Steph, I suggest you to go to the talk, even if you don't read her blog, or are a follower of the Yarn Harlot, because she will make you laugh, until tears come out of your eyes!

Mystery? Suspence?

2008-04-20T20:11:00.004-05:00

But they weren't either of those! Mary and Carol Higgins Clark, the dynamic mother/daughter team, who were at the Pine Orchard Club in Branford speaking for their new books: Where Are You Now? and Zapped!, sponsored by RJ Julia.

I'm so excited I got to meet them. You see, A Cry In The Night by Mary is the first English book I've ever completed reading and understood, so Mary holds a special part of my heart. And I have to say, despite the fact they both write mystery and suspense novel, they are actually both very funny in person! I had a really good time listening to them talk. I hope they come back when they tour for their next book!

And on the way home, I captured this image:

Isn't that a great picture?

I'm off reading the new book.

Some Progress

2008-04-19T19:01:00.005-05:00

So I suppose I should update the knitting first -

Let me present you... The Kiri blob! I figure I should keep going on the lace thing so I can keep up with 2klace! It's getting longer and longer to complete each row, but I suppose that's the trade back with an easy start right?

Next up, some knitting books!

I pre-ordered Shear Spirit awhile ago and it finally came on the day of the release. Gale and Joan did an awesome job with this book and I can't wait to see Gale to congratulate her! And in order to get the free shipping, I ordered the 101 Designer One-Skein Wonders. I already flipped through this one before, but I really liked it so I couldn't live without it. The third book is Knitting from the British Islands by Alice Starmore and Anne Matheson. I swapped this book with three pair of sock yarn from Ravelry. It's an older book so it has some very interesting garment (if you can even call it that).

So now I'm done updating the knitting related topics, on to FOOD! :) I saw this recipe on Barefoot Contessa so I decided to try it:

I got the fresh noodles from the farmer's market. I also got a pint of chocolate milk, a parsley plant, and some bread. All I can say is YUM.

I started reading a new blog - Vanilla Garlic. I know, it's not knitting related. But who can say no to food? I found him in my search of cupcakes, and this one captured me. The only thing I needed was an orange to make it!!!! Tada!

I haven't try it yet, but I should go now to try it... I'll let you know in the next post!

Surveys?

2008-04-15T18:24:00.002-05:00

I took a few... Very interesting.

YOUR REPORT CARD:
Category	Grade
Love	A+
Friends and Family	A+
Body	B
Mind	A+
Finance / Career	A+
Your Life's Average Grade: A+
'What is your Life Grade?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Needham, MA

2008-04-14T19:35:00.008-05:00

Oh boy was I busy this weekend!!! It all started off from a phone call from Andrea, the SWE New England Region Treasurer, at 10:30 Friday morning. The vendor where we got the conference bags from made a mistake and shipped the products to her house, instead of Olin School of Engineering in Needham, MA. And not all the bags fit in the car! Jenn to the rescue! I drove up to meet Andrea at her work around 11:30, pick up a few boxes, and drove down to Jen's house to wait for her to come home and carpool to go up to Olin. While I was waiting, I was busy writing all the Thank You cards for the speakers and eat sushi -

YUM. Although I didn't get a lot of cards done, I had a wonderful lunch.

After I picked up Jen, we drove up to Olin, checked into our hotel, and I went to the school to help set up things, and drop off the boxes, leaving Jen in the hotel doing what she needs to do for the next day. If my prof was there from RPI, he would be very proud of our little assembly line with Just In Time feed!

After finishing the prep for the conference, Jen and I went to Somerville and met up with Mer, Adam, and Adam's roommate AJ for dinner.

Aren't we cute!? :)

We went to this sandwich place - the place was completely packed, just people who wants a great sandwich, which is what we all got! I also tried out a local dark beer which was just excellent. We bid the gang goodbye with some ice cream and headed out back to Needham.

Saturday morning came all too fast. Jen and I got up at 6 to make sure we got time to get some things done prior to the conference start - such as those darn Thank You cards.

Oh, I should mention at this point that Jen and I had another roommate, April. April traveled to our region from Illinois to help out with Collegiate Leadership Coaching Committee (CLCC) since the lady who usually comes is currently out of country for work. And April is a KNITTER!!!! :) (everyone wave hi to April!) She is very sweet and nice. Too bad we didn't have a lot of time to hang out with each other.

So April helped me with some of the Thank You cards (I told you she was nice!) and I got them finished on time! (I still can't believe it!) We had our CLCC meeting in our room (two other girls had showed up at this point) and we all went to the conference right after.

The conference itself was a lot of fun. The morning and dinner keynote speakers were both excellent and untraditional, which made it even better. I got to go to a few sessions, but not all. Why? You asked. Because I was speaking in two sessions! ME! SPEAKING! Yeah I know, I can't believe it either. One of them is "Work/Life Balance Panel" (What balance?) and one of them is the CLCC module.

I certainly am no Stephanie Pearl-Mcphee, however, this is almost like a dream come true. Once upon a time, I was the one sitting down, listening to all the speakers of their wisdoms and advice, thinking to myself, wouldn't it be so cool if I can be the one sharing those wisdoms and advice? My day had come, and it was VERY COOL. And to prove it to you that I really was speaking, Trish had taken a picture of me in the panel:

See! I wasn't lying. And yes, I was wearing Rusted Root underneath my jacket. :)

The conference ended around 9pm (including dinner) and I headed back to the hotel exhausted. I knitted a little, and chatted with April until we both fell asleep.

Sunday was the business meeting till 1pm, and I drove home with Jen, which concluded the 2008 Region Conference. I got home exhausted still, and passed out as soon as I was able.

I did knit a little, but not enough to show any progress. But I do have to say Kiri is pretty easy. Hopefully soon, I can show some progress. So how was your weekend?

Rusted Root and Some More

2008-04-09T20:30:00.008-05:00

First, I want to say "THANK YOU" to all who commented on my MoonDance. I really enjoy knitting it. And the more I look at it, the prettier it gets! And if you are on Ravelry, and you like my MoonDance, would you please "heart" it?

The reason I was asking is because recently, I got this message in my Ravelry message box:

Request to use your photo: DSC01862
We’d like to feature your photo on the page for Pink Frosting by Elissa Sugishita

So if you are on Ravelry, and you search for Pink Frosting, MY Pink Frosting is the picture you are looking at!!!!!!! And currently there is no other picture listed for MoonDance besides the designer's original picture! So if you like it, "heart" it!!!

Now, without further ado:

Pattern - Rusted Root by Sarah and Rachel from Zephyr Style
Yarn Called For - 3 skeins of Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in Sedona Red
Yarn Used - 4.5 balls of Kona Bay Cotton n Red
Needles - KnitPicks Harmony size 6 for body and size 4 for edging
Gauge - 5 sts per inch
Knit - March 31, 2008 to April 7, 2008
Modifications - I added increases towards the bottom of the tee to shape it even further.

This is a super fast knit, although the lace part is a little confusing because there is no chart, and it's not a even chart even when I made one. Though that should not discourage you to try to knit this tee. Another thing I would do different is to use a different cast on (I saw on Ravelry a lot of people did tubular cast on) so I don't have to pick up the edges later to finish it, although it really isn't hard. I wish there was more puff on the sleeves as you can tell it really isn't obvious.

Obviously I have to start something, and I decided to do another lace:

That's Kiri in Schaefer Andrea. So far, the yarn is to dye for! And the construction of the Kiri is really interesting. I'm thinking of doing a tutorial in case of people not understanding what the instruction meant.

So I joined 2klace in Ravelry awhile ago. It means that 50% of my work for 2008 has to be lace. And so far, Here is the list:

Irish Hiking Scarf
Honeycomb Socks
Cocoa Swap Piggy
Red Sox Socks
Square #1
Jacobean Socks
Undulating Waves Scarf Swatches (lace)
Wedding MoonDance (lace)
Rusted Root (lace)
Kiri - WIP (lace)
SotS WIP (lace)
Aspen Top Down Sweater

There are total of 12 items so far, and only 5 are lace and two are WIP!!!!! So I better go catch up! And you there, you should go heart my MoonDance ;)

Some Memes

2008-04-07T21:17:00.003-05:00

Six Words Memoir

I was tagged by MomWifeKnitter for this meme:

Write your own six word memoir. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you’d like. Link to the person that tagged you in your post and to this original post if possible so we can track it as it travels across the blogosphere. Tag five more blogs with links.

When in doubt, go for it.
or
Look forward, not backwards, no regrets.

I think I would say I go by those in general. Although I'm not much of a risk taker, but I would definitely say I try to be more adventurous. And ever since I met David, I become more fluid, not so rigid. I can adapt more on the "go with the flow" philosophy and try not to plan too in advance - to a degree.

In The Kitchen

Acambras had this on her blog and I thought I gave it a try. I do have to say I like baking a lot more than cooking though.

What three kitchen items do you use the most often?
Hmmm... My KitchenAid Stand Mixer, Henkel Santoku Knife and my food processor.

What kitchen gadget do you wish you had?
A bread machine or a slow cooker.

What kitchen gadget do you never use/wish you hadn't spent the money for?
Actually I don't think I have one that I don't use!

What is your favorite cookbook? (Link if you can!)
My Moosewood cookbooks! I'm not a vegetarian, but my friend from college turn me onto them. When I went to Ithica, I went to the restaurant and the food is fantastic!

Who is your cooking inspiration?
My dad. He makes something out of NOTHING all the time growing up. I have quite a few favorites that he made up but I don't know how to make. I wait till he comes and visit and ask him to make it for me.

What are three recipes that you use all the time?
1. My future Step MIL's Minnesota Wild Rice Soup - ever since she made it on Thanksgiving dinner of 2006, I couldn't stop making it. It is so good and so fast.
2. Grown Up Mac and Cheese. I actually get that one out of foodnetwork.com. I think I actually post a picture before.
3. My grandma's Vegetarian dumplings... mmmm soooo good! Maybe I'll do a feature of recipes on my blog sometimes.

Can you share a cooking secret?
Go with your heart! You know what flavors your like, so play with the flavors. Don't be afraid to experiment! You will only get better! And use spices! Even if it's dry. When in doubt, add a pinch of nutmeg or paprika - it always worked for me!

What is your greatest cleaning secret?
See, I don't like cleaning. So the deal in the house is if I cook, someone else cleans. Although I know usually I end up doing the cleaning. I would say to try to put the dishes in water immediately and throw them in the dishwasher!

What is your favorite thing to clean?
I have agree with Acambras here... "Favorite" should not be in this sentence. See above.

What is your least favorite thing to clean?
A pan with crusted bottom.

What is your most embarrassing housekeeping moment?
Archiknist came over on Saturday so I took some time to clean the living room. I would say my living room is roughly about 150 sf, and it took me 2.5 hours to get it cleaned to a presentable stage. Yes, I'm a piler.

So for those of you who want to play - go for it.

Knitting

Rusted Root is officially off the needles. It took me exactly 7 days to make it. Picture to come later! On to the next project!!!!

Oh The Prettys

2008-04-05T16:52:00.010-05:00

Or the Pretties? English is never my strong point, but then again, this is not about English. Let me present you with MoonDance:

Pattern - Moon Dance by Melanie Gibbons, aka Pink Lemon Twist
Yarn Called For - 1000 yards of lace weight yarn, JaggerSpun Zephyr used, Ebony
Yarn Used - 866.25 yards (2.75 oz) of JaggerSpun Zephyr in Vanilla
Beads - 95 Swarovski crystasl in Crystal Moonlight and Crystal AB, bicone, size 3
Needles - KnitPicks Harmony size 4
Gauge - N/A
Knit - January 9, 2008 to March 30, 2008
Blocked - March 30, 2008
Modifications - I added size 3 bicone crystals in crystal moonlight and AB effect, alternating between the pattern repeats.

Like I said from the last post, Melanie is a genius on this pattern. It is super easy and absolutely a fast knit for lace. I would said this could be a good first lace project for someone who is new to knitting lace. Here are some more shots of the pretty:

I started another pretty after Moon Dance:

This is Rusted Root from Zephyr Style. I am using Kona Bay Cotton in red. This is a fast knit and the yarn is super soft! I wish I have more of the Kona Bay Cotton. It seems to me this yarn is either being discontinued or just very hard to find because not many people carries it.

So Archiknist came visiting today. I haven't seen her for a few weeks. Partly because I don't usually go to the Wednesday SnB anymore due to schedule conflicts. We sat around knitting (big surprise?) and made dumplings. Yum. A good and relaxing fun was had by both.

So was your Saturday relaxing and fun? I sure hope so.

Until next time...

MoonDance Magic

2008-03-30T21:22:00.007-05:00

So that Pink Lemon at Pink Lemon Twist - she is a genius when it comes to designing her stoles. Look at how this border is constructed:

Beginning

Finished

Yes, it's knitted perpendicular to the stole! Isn't that cool? And I unravel successfully on my first provisional cast on:

Beginning

Finished

And now it's resting:

Maybe I will be able to take a picture of in the sun tomorrow afternoon, after it dries. Until then, I leave you our (David's and my) favorite song lyrics:

Moondance by Van Morrison

Well it's a marvelous night for a moondance
With the stars up above in your eyes
A fantabulous night to make romance
'Neath the cover of October skies
And all the leaves on the trees are falling
To the sound of the breezes that blow
And I'm trying to please to the calling
Of your heart-strings that play soft and low
You know the night's magic
Seems to whisper and hush
And all the soft moonlight
Seems to shine in your blush...

Can I just have one a' more moondance with you, my love?
Can I just make some more romance with a' you, my love?

Well I wanna make love to you tonight
I can't wait till the morning has come
And I know now the time is just right
And straight into my arms you will run
And when you come my heart will be waiting
To make sure that you're never alone
There and then all my dreams will come true dear
There and then I will make you my own
And every time I touch you, you just tremble inside
And I know how much you want me that, you can't hide...

Can I just have one a' more moondance with you, my love?
Can I just make some more romance with a' you, my love?

Well it's a marvelous night for a moondance
With the stars up above in your eyes
A fantabulous night to make romance
'Neath the cover of October skies
And all the leaves on the trees are falling
To the sound of the breezes that blow
And I'm trying to please to the calling
Of your heart-strings that play soft and low
You know the night's magic
Seems to whisper and hush
And all the soft moonlight
Seems to shine in your blush...

One more moondance with you
In the moonlight
On a magic night
la, la, la, la, there's a moonlight
On a magic night
Can't I just have one more dance
With you my love?

Pasta with Broccoli and Sausage

2008-03-29T20:23:00.004-05:00

I had a stroke of inspiration when I took out the sausage this morning and here is the result. And now I am shamelessly putting it on my blog for you to try. If you do, please leave a comment and let me know how it turned out!

Pasta with Broccoli and Sausage

6 slices of bacon - roughly chopped (I used maple bacon) [optional]
2 tbsp olive oil
4 links of Italian sausage - casings removed (I used sweet sausage, but feel free to use the spicy stuff!)
1/2 tsp of chopped garlic
3 crowns of broccoli
1 lb of pasta (I used Trader Joe's Brown Rice Pasta in Ziti form, but feel free to use anything you have)
1/2 tsp of dried thyme or 1/2 tbsp of fresh thyme
Enough salt for the pasta water
Grated Pecorino Romano or Parmigiano-Reggiano to top the pasta

Cook the pasta in a pot of salted boiling water according to the directions.

In a saute pan (I used a French style saute pan - the kind that has a little bit of the sides) on medium low heat, add the bacon and cook it until the fat has render a bit (about 5 mins). If omitting the bacon, use olive oil instead. In the mean time, remove the casing from the sausage and stir it in the pan with the bacon. Add in the garlic. Continue to saute the mixture and add in the thyme.

When the pasta is almost done (about 7 mins in), put the broccoli in the water with the pasta to cook. Cook until the pasta is done. Use 1 cup of pasta water and put it in the sausage mixture, turn the heat up high to get it boiling. Drain the pasta and broccoli and add it into the sausage mixture. If your pan is not big enough, then after draining the pasta and broccoli, put the sausage mixture into the pasta pot instead.

Top the pasta with grated cheese and black pepper if you choose. Enjoy!

Note: This is a very quick dish, everything happens simultaneously. Feel free to improvise with different things, such as add in saute onions, peppers, etc. If you like garlic, put more in, if not, don't put it in at all! No thyme? No problem, add some oregano instead! Experiment and have fun!

Tomorrow, we will get back to the regular knitting programing.

It's Here! It's Here!

2008-03-26T18:16:00.009-05:00

LOOK!!!!

My paper is here! For the wedding invitations! Here is a close up -

This paper is actually part of my wedding guest book and I was so excited that I found the paper so I can relate the two!

I bought this set awhile back and I couldn't believe I didn't blog about them!!! Oh, and I bought them at the Littleput Books before they were even featured in any of the shows!!!! If you need anything custom made, go ahead and email Ryan, she is brilliant!

And here is the Stardream Bronze cover stock that I plan on using to make the invitation covers. Now I just got to buy couple more things to make it all pretty!!!

Of course, the paper is not the only thing that is here. Spring is here also!

I have no idea what these flowers are for, but they are all over the yard!! So pretty.

And my magnolia tree is having buds! Can't wait!!!

psst... I am very very close on finishing chart B of Moondance!!!

Dumplings, Anyone? And More!

2008-03-24T19:32:00.011-05:00

This past Saturday, CostumeChick, WifeMomKnitter and I went to Anphoe's for some knitting and chatting, and also for some dumplings!

Anphoe made the pork filling and I made the tofu one. They were YUMMY! After that, we knitted and played some Wii. Well, let me just put this out there first - I'm not big about playing video games, because 1) I'm not very good, 2) I'm not a good sport about losing. But this Wii thing... It's addicting! And so much fun! You can see pictures and video on Anphoe's blog.

So besides playing video games and eat, I did make some progress on the MoonDance:

Chart B is almost done!!! Which means this stole is almost done! :) You can't see the edging in the pictures, but I can assure you they are all there.

On the other news, I bought a scratch ticket and the result:

I won $25.00!!!!!!! The biggest one I've ever got!!! I think before that, the most money I won was ten bucks! Well, I'm one step towards winning big, right? ;) A lady I worked with won $200,000 on a scratch ticket not too long ago. Yeah, you read that right. Then shortly after, she won over $8,000 at Mohegan Sun... Only if I have her luck! But I think my risk taking level is too small to win that level. I guess that's why I'm an engineer.

So I bought couple of Alice Starmore books from amazon not too long ago and they finally arrived, along with Beyond Wool with a trade from Ravelry.

Only if I can find a copy of Aran Knitting, there are so many patterns I want to knit but I just can't afford the book! Too rare. ::sigh::

Speaking of books, I have a duplicate copy of this one:

I posted this on Destash book forum on Ravelry, but I figure I will offer this to my friends as well - I''m willing to part with it for $8.00 + actual shipping (if required).

Well, I'm off to go over the new books and complaint about no progress made on MoonDance to the dogs.

Pay It Forward, Part 2

2008-03-20T21:07:00.004-05:00

Awhile ago, I have offered up the Pay It Forward when I left a comment on Octopus Knits's blog. No one signed up on my blog, so I had forgotten about it. Today, Octopus Knits showed up at SnB with this:

And it contains these:

Snowflake wash cloth in organic cotton and snickerdoodles!!! The cookies are delicious (I already ate 3!!!) and the cloth is soooooo soft!

Thanks so much Octopus Knits! And it is nice FINALLY meeting you! :)

As for those of you who are still interested participating, just click above and leave me a comment!

The New Stuff

2008-03-19T18:57:00.008-05:00

Well, pictures are much better than words:

I got At Knits End from paperbackswap.com and I traded two skeins of gloss for Casts Off from kknitter (Ravelry link). And I made the bracelet by taking a class on Monday night at Manifest Beads (class link here). I really enjoyed it! I can even start making my own charms to make stitch markers! Do you think anyone out there will buy them?

So I went to TLC Eye Center this afternoon for a consultation for LASIK - well, my corneas are too thin so I'm not a candidate. I'm actually really bomb out about that because I really don't want to wear glasses for my wedding pictures! And I know some of you out there are probably thinking - why don't you wear contacts? They are inexpensive and completely accessible. Well, you see, I've wore glasses since I can remember and my prescriptions are so high that there is no soft lenses out there for me. Each of my gas permanent lenses cost me about at least $150 and there is only one month warranty. If it broke after the warranty period, even just one day, I have to cough up another $150 to have it replaced, and they take at least two weeks to make them since they are custom made to fit my eyes. And by the end of the day, my eyes are bloodshot!! My other option is implants! Eye lens implants! Sounds WAY TOO SCARY to me. I guess I'll stick with my glasses for now. ::sigh::

Anyways... I've been knitting away the MoonDance - 9 repeats down on the man body and 7 more to go. Gotta keep going!

Oh, and mariknits is having a contest! Go check it out and make sure you let her know that I sent you there!!!

R?

2008-03-16T09:02:00.002-05:00

Here is what you do. Use the 1st letter of your middle name to answer each of the following questions. They have to be real places, names,things…nothing made up! Try to use different answers if the person you took this from had the same 1st initial.
You CAN’T use your name for the boy/girl name question.

1. Middle name letter: R
2. Famous artist/band/musician: R. Kelly
3. 4-letter word: Road
4. U.S state: Rhode Island
5. Boy name: Roger
6. Girl name: Rachael
7. Animal: Rhino (the formal name is too hard to type up!)
8. Something in the kitchen: Rolling Pin
9. Reason for being late? Rolling Around in Cash
10. Body Part? Ribs
11. Drink? Root Beer, Red Death, Red Bull...
12. Something you shout: Rat!
13. Something you eat? Rice
14. A movie you've seen? Riding In Cars With Boys

I tag Archknist, Sunflowerfairy, and MomWifeKnitter. Tag 3 more when you are done! :)

What Have I Been Up To?

2008-03-11T16:43:00.003-05:00

Schaefer Swatches!

That's what I have been up to! I am almost done! Schaefer Susan is a very generous skein and it is really feeling like I have this yarn and project FOREVER. But Alas! The end is in sight! (No pictures because it is just the same as the other... Nothing more to see - Oh right, maybe when I am finally done with it and I'll take the picture of the pile.)

On the wedding invitation front - I found the perfect paper! But they are OUT OF STOCK! DOH! I have to call the store tomorrow to find out when they can get them in. My third floor is empty so it would be a perfect place to do my wedding invitations!

On the store news - I'm working on the business plan whenever I can. And I'm getting my taxes done so I can get some down payment!!! It's just feeling like it's taking forever!!! Blah. But I want to do it right, so I'll take my time with it.

Well, on that note, I should go and work on that swatches project. Until next time, go check out the new Knitty. My friend Michelle has a pattern published in this issue!!!

Sock Knitters Pentathlon #1

2008-03-04T18:52:00.004-05:00

So I must be insane when AuntLizzy (Ravelry ID) messaged me and invited me to join the Sock Knitters Pentathlon (The Ravelry one is here) to celebrate the Olympics. At first I wasn't sure, but then I decided to join since I have two months to make a pair of socks.

But then, things changed. One of the knitters asked if the moderator would consider changing the pattern release time each time so it will be more fair to each continent. You see, the first pattern was released at midnight March 1st, so PST is still at 9pm and Europe just woke up, and Asia is in the middle of the day. If the moderator always release it at midnight EST, eastern US America will always have that disadvantage of not able to cast on right at the time of the pattern release.

I thought it was a legitimate question, but apparently not to some others. Some of the comments from these people are "Are you really that competitive? This is a celebration of the Olympics, not some crazy competition!" or "I'm just happy to participate and learn. There is no need to be so competitive!". And when one of the ladies from Sweden finished the pair of sock in 9 hours, the message became "Why would you stay up all night knitting it? Knitting should be fun and relaxing!"

So this is what I have to say - WTF???? Here is the definition of the Olympics:

Olympics Games: : the modern revival of the ancient games held once every 4 years in a selected country.

Need I say more? Olympics itself have many contests within it! Olympics IS competition and the whole point of a pentathlon was to compete on knitting socks! So I decided that I WILL stay up all night and finish those damn socks, just to prove my point!

Pattern - Jacobean by Julie Persinger
Yarn Used - Almost 2 balls of Regia Stretch Color in semisolid blue
Needles - Option size 0
Gauge - 8 sts per inch
Knit - March 01, 08 to March 02, 2008

Yes, you read that right. I stayed up Saturday from midnight all the way through, went to bed on Saturday at 11pm and got up at 9am and finished Sunday night.

I knitted these toe up with my usual magic cast on. I did modify the pattern to fit my itty bitty feet. Instead of cast on 26 stitches, I only did 22, and increased until I have total of 58 stitches. But I forgot how stretchy the yarn was and if I were to do it again, I would decrease even more to 54 stitches only. The pattern itself was pretty easy to modify - I just decease the side panel charts to 4 knit stitches instead of 5 specified. Since I didn't have to do a lot of increase or decrease, I left the center panel alone, but I can see how easily the diamond pattern can be modified as well. I originally did the decrease bind off but it wasn't as flexible as I needed since I'm more of a tight knitter, so I redid the bind off using EZ's sewn bind off, the first one came out perfect, but the second one was still kind of tight. Oh well.

This pattern would certainly be rated as beginner pattern in my book - all you need to know is knit and purl. So for all your sock virgins out there - try this pattern!

Until the next socks pattern release (May 1st). I'm out.

psst... I'm ranked #28 so far... But due to some people who can't follow instructions, there are some "In Progress" photos in the "Finished" folder. So I should really be 27, but I have a feeling that I will be stuck in 28. No, I'm not competitive at all. :P

33

2008-02-27T21:41:00.005-05:00

Today is David's birthday. He got a card from his friend and the card said,

"It's your birthday, and I think it's great that we're friends who can grow old together."

Inside of the card said, "You First!"

I thought that was a fun and cute card.

I didn't get him a card. But I did give him a gift first thing this morning, the secret project -

Pattern - My own, Red Sox Socks
Yarn Used - Almost 2 balls of Cascade Fixation in red and .5 ball in white
Needles - Option size 2
Gauge - 6.5 sts per inch
Knit - January 31, 08 to February 19, 2008

I knitted this toe up using my usual magic cast on, increased to the amount of stitches needed and switched to red until the heel, which I put the front on another needle to hold the stitches and joined with the white to do the short row heel. After the heel, I picked up the red and knitted the leg and did the 2x2 rib with red and white with red as knit and white as purl. I also knitted both socks at the same time so I can make sure they are the same size.

Since this was a surprise, I had to figure out another way to measure his feet - Socks here I come. I took one of his dress socks and used it as a template for the socks. I was very afraid that they are not going to fit at the cuff because of the carrying yarn in the back, but it was perfect. The socks will go perfect with the 4 tickets at Fenway playing the Yankees.

Happy 33 Babe! And happy three years.

Let It Snow... Again!

2008-02-22T20:05:00.008-05:00

I think this is the third or forth snow storm this year in CT.

Doesn't that look like an old movie or something? But it's just the window screen. The way the snow was crusted onto the car make me think of chicken pot pies... Maybe I was hungry.

We went out to dinner at Jalapeño Heaven in Branford. We found this restaurant a couple of years ago when we first adopted Mick. That faithful night, Mick happened to have a very good meal - my Coach purse and David's Spyder jacket, all in one night (that's about $600 worth of goods!) In order for us to not drive him back to TN where we adopted him from, we had to go out and drive around, and just calm down. Well, we found the restaurant and had a great meal and when we got home, all the sins were ALMOST forgotten. So this is what we had tonight:

My brother's Chimichanga

My order of Tamale and Enchilada

David's enchiladas

Don't they look yummy? I also had a glass of sangria with dinner. YUM.

So I finally finished the stitch practicing square - I have the stitches memorized and it is such a great stitch that I think I'm going to make a scarf out of it!

Yeah I know... Need better light. Oh well. Until then, back to making the Schaefer scarf swatch!

Updated New Ceations

2008-02-19T21:48:00.005-05:00

Well... Just pictures anyways. I finally remember taking pictures before the sun goes down and here are the pictures for the new stitch markers - true representation of what they look like.

The last set was from before, but the picture didn't turn out that great back a few posts either so I decided to retake the picture. Due to the lighter colors, it was hard to show the difference. Oh well.

No other news to report... Time to rest my nose.

New Creations

2008-02-18T19:55:00.006-05:00

So I played with the new beads that I acquired the other day -

I really don't know how to photograph these to make it show better. How do people take such great pictures on things so shiny? I tried it with no flash, but it just doesn't look good. Any suggestion would be welcomed.

There is a President's Sale on Artbeads.com so I ordered a bunch of beads to play more. I can't wait for them to get here!

And here is a very dark picture of a stitch pattern I've been practicing -

I really like this stitch pattern. It is the Diagonal Knot Stitch from my "365 Knitting Stitches A Year Perpetual Calendar" that I receive from Itchy 2 years ago for Christmas. This pattern gives quite a depth, and the back is pretty as well.

See! It's pretty :) I'm thinking of using this stitch pattern to make a scarf... Hmmm... Maybe it will be my Smidge along.

Well, I'm gonna go snuggle with my monkey blanket and drink some cocoa and watch some TV, and maybe even knit some... Oh, yeah, and let my nose and the tissues have a party... ::sigh::

Saturday Adventure

2008-02-17T09:39:00.006-05:00

It was COOOOOLD. But I got up, cleaned out my car (too much stuff and dog fur), and off me go to pick up Archiknist for our Saturday Adventure.

We started off by having lunch at Cafe Atlantique. The cafe is very much like a little French bistro that makes excellent crepes and salads. I had a goat cheese crepe with white hot chocolate and Archiknist had a salad of the day with hot chocolate. Yum! If you ever go around there, it would definitely worth your palate and stomach to try it.

We stopped in Litlith's Loom to check out the place. I've seen it for awhile now but never stopped in. Rob and his partner had opened the store to cater to the weaving community. They have quite a few classes in weaving, crochet, knitting, and more. The classes are towards the pricey side though. Rob is very friendly and told us his vision for the place. They carry a lot of local art work for sale - there was this beautiful wood weaved star ornaments on a Christmas tree and it was just beautiful. We didn't purchase anything and went on to a used bookstore and a jewelry store down the street. We were hoping the used bookstore will carry some craft books, but they didn't. The closest thing they have is Art. Hmmm... Maybe all the craft people knows not to give up their precious books. The jewelry store has a lot of "green" stuff - inner tube remake into purses and wallets, etc. Very interesting and actually stylish! But we were good and we didn't buy anything there either.

Finally, we arrived to one of our two destinations - Manifest Beads. The store has been there for almost three years and I visited it quite a few times but I haven't been in for awhile. I signed up the Charming Chunky Bracelet class so I can learn how to make the charms with wires. I also purchased a packet of leaf charms while we were there. We then went to Joann's and I bought some crystals (40% off + 10% off all purchase coupon!!! How can you beat that!!! Thanks for the tip, Sunflowerfairy!)

What am I going to do with all these? Stitch Markers of course! :)

After I got home, David and I made some sweet potato risotto and a loaf of gluten free bread. I follow this risotto recipe but substitute the butternut squash with sweet potatoes, and the bread came from Gluten-Free Pantry. Now, I bought two cases of this mix from Amazon awhile ago, but so far I have opened two of the mixes that didn't come with the yeast packet that were suppose to be included. I emailed Gluten Free Pantry before and all they did was send me an email and told me that the yeast is just dry yeast and that I can just go out and buy the yeast pack. No apologies or anything. OK LADY - The whole point of emailing you is so YOU can send me the packets to replace it. It says that it includes it! So where are my yeast packets? That customer service is really gonna get you to places.

Anyways, back to the food. The risotto was so good that I only manage to snap this picture:

The whole pan was FULL! Up to the top (about 3 inches tall) and that's all that's left. Yum. And here is the bread:

The loaf pan I used is smaller than it called for, hence the giant top. But was this bread good! Moist, a little dense and it's just plain delicious. As of this morning, we only have half a loaf left.

That pretty much concluded my Saturday because soon after the food, I passed out from exhaustion - The sinus infection bug has kicked my butt. I literally slept for 11 and 1/2 hours!!! That's a lot of sleeping time!

Now time to go make some stitch markers!!! :)

Happy Valentine's Day

2008-02-14T22:28:00.004-05:00

To you, and you, and you, and you :)

Isn't the flower gorgeous? One of my co-worker is leaving the company at the end of this month, so for Valentine's Day, he gave every female co-worker a single yellow rose for the friendship he made while working at Schick.

I want to give this yellow rose to all of you, my readers, for the friendship we made in this virtual world.

Spiderwick Chronicles and More

2008-02-13T21:58:00.010-05:00

Have you seen this trailer yet? The Spiderwick Chronicles is a no-miss movie. My yoga instructor had some of the free screening post cards and gave them out during class yesterday. A free movie that David and I wanted to see since I've seen the preview? Why not?! We actually used this as our opportunity to celebrate our Valentine's Week. Yes, we celebrate it the whole week, and it was David's idea. :)

The movie was great and the acting was excellent as well. The twin brothers were played by the same actor but he would have you fooled to think there really are two people acting there.

If you like The Chronicles of Narnia, then you would like this movie as well. I've never read the books, so I couldn't compare and tell you any differences, but both David and I really enjoyed this movie.

Speaking of Chronicles of Narnia, the second one is coming out later this year. Can't wait.

So in other news, I think the package fairy must know that I like getting packages, so she has one sent to me today - From my best friend Itchy. Itchy lives in Hawaii and we haven't seen each other for over a year now. Hopefully she is moving back to the mainland soon so we can see each other more often.

She sent me a box of tea native of Hawaii, a handmade beeswax candle coconut scent in a coconut shell, a pair of mother of pearl earrings, a Vera Bradley eyeglasses case, and a handmade note of course! :) My Itchy is very crafty! Thanks girlie!

So I think I jinxed us from the previous post about snow - we got one last night, but when I got out this morning, all we got was slush!!!

It poured the whole day so now we have absolutely no snow on the ground. If I didn't take a picture, you probably wouldn't believe me either. And this weather only prompted a nice cup of hot cocoa -

It's the Candy Cane Hot Cocoa mix from InsanKnitty along with her homemade marshmallows in my new mug and spoon/stir from one of my auditors. YUM. I think I won the best drink of the day contest at work if there was one - on content AND mug! Even my boss was impressed.

And lastly, check out Anphoe's new outfit!

I took the pictures while at work. Isn't she adorable? It makes me want to make it for myself! :)

Thank You My Cocoa Swap Pal!

2008-02-11T19:12:00.000-05:00

I came home and found a big box in front of the door, and inside it contained these:

All the presents were nicely wrapped and presented

It's my Hot Cocoa swap package!!!!

Can you tell she really took care of me? So here is the list of what InsanKnitty put together for me:

Homemade cocoa mix
Photo travel mug - instead of pictures, she put in a piece of hand knitted stockinette swatch.
Mousepad calendar with doggies on them
2 Marshmallow men - my "Beat the Winter Blahs" buddies
2 sets of stitch markers and 1 set of keychains made by InsanKnitty
Honey Sticks!
Werther's Original hard candies
Homemade Marshmallows - So yummy, already dived in~
Cocoa mixes - 2 from Hershey's Cocoa Reserve (Mayan and Aztec), 4 Candycane Cocoa with real peppermint candycane from Sephen's, which is the kind David's mom got me for Christmas and I finished and wanted for me but couldn't find!!! And a pack of Chocolate Royale by For Giving Souls.
1 package of sticky notes in mug shape
1 package of recipe cards with her homemade cocoa mix recipe on it
1 tube of chocolate cover sunflower seeds
A felted mug - that will be my pen holder at work for sure!
2 skeins of yarn - of course yarn!!! Blue one is from NH Knitting Mama and the Orange one is from Glass Hedge Studios.
2 package of Chew Cheez Rolls - she even remembers my puppies!

Here is the close-up of the stitch markers and keychains - although apparently my photo taking skill isn't really quite to par...

So I want to just give a shout out to InsanKnitty - Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!! I love EVERYTHING! Even David was impressed with the thought you put into putting this package! And here are Mick and Vanilla saying their thank you's -

Winter Wonderland

2008-02-10T21:10:00.000-05:00

Winter down in CT has been very mild. Whenever you see the weather man forecasting northeast having big snow storm - substitute that with rain then it would be about correct every single time. To this date, we have no snow on the ground, which suites me just fine (less shoveling and plowing bills!). But up in Vermont, that's another story.

The view of Killington on Saturday morning

I think while I was there, there must be at least of a foot of snow fallen and even though it looks kinda scary (the snows were coming sideways!) but when it stopped, the time seemed to stopped and everything was on hold so everyone can stop and take a deep breath and taking in the beautiful scenery.

While David was skiing on Saturday, I knitted on for the Moondance for awhile but didn't make much progress as I discovered a mistake way down and couldn't live with it so I had to tink back quite a few rows. But on Sunday, I slept in and prepared to visited the LYSs in the area - to see the layout, and maybe pick the brain of the owners for having a yarn shop.

The first shop I went to was the White River Yarns.

The shop has been open just about year and an half and I am surprised that I didn't know it existed - especially I usually stayed in the Super 8 right down the street whenever we come up this way!

When I first walk in the store, all I can say was "Wow. This place feels inviting." The lighting was great and the store just has a very nice flow to it.

As you can see when you first walk in, you are greeted with comfy space to sit and knit, and the smile of Lois - well, you couldn't see Lois, but she is right in the center/back of the store facing the door. The space is not gigantic so you feel overwhelmed, but Lois carried a lot of different yarn, the key - half shelves! It was such a smart way to display double amount of yarn when you don't have a lot of space!

I expressed my intent immediately after I walked in and Lois welcomed the idea and jumped in immediately and give me pointers after pointers, tips after tips. Time flies when you are having fun - I arrived at 10:30am. Four hours later, David had called and said the race was over due to lightening and to stay at White River Yarns and they are coming back. By 4pm, he finally arrived, and I was still there, chatting away with Lois, and Jamie, who joined us about 3pm. And did I mention that I was going to visit the yarn shopS around town? Well, I only made it to White River, and it was soooo worth it. I can honestly say that I made a couple of friends while visiting and learning (a lot), and knitters are just the best people around the world!

Of course, I couldn't leave without purchasing some yarn:

The brown one is from MT Laurel Llama Ranch located in Grafton, NH. The yarn is fingering weight of 90% Llama, 10% Merino. A hefty 413 yards in 4 oz. The yarn is super soft and the price is right for the local grown and spun yarn.

The second skein is Wool/Bamboo Sock weight from Ellen's 1/2 Pint Farm. The work is just absolutely beautiful. She's got beautiful colorways which you can see the descriptions on her website. She's having some technical issues so you might not be able to see the pictures. I actually have never seen her work before and I am in just awe of the colorways. Of course, I couldn't go home without it. She sells them on her website currently and you can call to order or do online shopping. I'm thinking this one will do up a beautiful scarf instead of socks... hmmm... Time to go on Ravelry and do some pattern search!

So this weekend was just a time well spent weekend in VT. The beautiful view, the fresh air, and most importantly, the knowledge shared and friendship made during this trip. I highly recommend you visiting White River Yarns when you travel to, thru or nearby White River Junction, Vermont. It is well worth of your time.

Random Thoughts

2008-02-05T22:22:00.000-05:00

WHAT HAPPENED? ::sigh:: There is always next year for the Patriots!

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So I've been busy making stitch markers!!! Here are the two sets I made:

The color is hard to photograph. The beads on the left are provided by Archiknist and the crystals were mine. I am planning to give one set to my cocoa swap pal and one set to Archiknist for being so generous to let me borrow her whole set of jewelry making kit - she just doesn't know it yet (until she reads my post).

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So I've made some progress on The Yarn Wall. First, I got my domain names!!! No website yet, but at least it is search-able and it's out in the WWW. My friend Adam had given me a lot of pointers on the website stuff and I can't wait to get to work on it - but not until I have my business plan completed. Also, I've been reading "Start Your Own Business" from the Entrepreneur Magazines. Mine is actually an older version (3rd edition) as I had bought it under Adam's recommendation exactly 2 years ago when he was just about to quit Schick and work on his online business. (Make sure you check out all three links that I've put in here - they are all different!) I did the quiz at the beginning of the book and boy, am I now more ready than ever! I've read this book half way through and never finished it for some reason, and now I am re-reading it and are learning some of the things I didn't remember reading about. So if you ever consider starting your own business, be sure to pick this one up - definitely worth your money.

I also talked to the first Sales Rep for the yarn shop. I'm sure she won't be the last. She is fun and bubbly and I can't wait to meet her in person!

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On the knitting front - I've been working on a secret project - it is almost done and I won't be able to post anything about it until it is gifted. Lets just say it's 50% completed and it should be done soon. I haven't really worked on anything else though...

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Remember the Linky Love post? (scroll down couple of the posts) Well, it turned out that The Yarn Garden was listed twice so some people were linking them to one place, and some to the others. So you might want to go and check your links in Ravelry - if you clicked on the store and it only shows like 4 or 5 patrons? That's the wrong link and go back and just delete "in Meriden, Connecticut" and click on the little infinity symbol next to the text box, and it should show up "The Yarn Garden - Meriden, CT".

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On January 31st, my blog turned TWO! Happy Belated Birthday to Café Eclectic. And thank you all for reading.

GOOOOOOOO PATRIOTS!!!!!

2008-02-03T20:37:00.000-05:00

And that's homemade pizza in the background! Sauce, dough and everything! YUM!

The Yarn Garden had their annual Super Bowl sale - all yarn 42% off. I picked up Archiknist and met up with CostumeChick and Anphoe for breakfast at Panera. We chatted for awhile and off we went to the sale. I have to say there were a lot of awesome yarn I want to buy, but I restrained myself and I actually didn't buy ANYTHING! I'm so proud of myself! :)

Well, back to football! GOOOOOOOO PATRIOTS!!!!

Psst - go check out Esoteric Knitter's contest! Make sure you mention that I directed you there!!!

Cocoa Swap Topic of the Week #4

2008-01-30T20:19:00.000-05:00

What is your most memorable vacation? Where did you go? What made it memorable?

Well, I think every trip we went up to 1000 Islands for vacation is memorable, but the one in 2006 was the one David and I got engaged, so I guess that's the most memorable. And of course when I went to Germany to meet up with David, that was a very memorable 2 day weekend I've ever taken for sure.

I also finished the swatch for the scarf, but no pictures yet. The pattern isn't too bad, but I think I'll have to pay attention to it for a little while before I get a hang of it.

Completely random thought - I LOVE MYTHBUSTERS! Yes, I know, I am dorky.

Linky Love

2008-01-29T19:43:00.000-05:00

So I just discovered this - In Ravelry, if you had entered stores info for yarn purchase before and it wasn't linking due to database wasn't completely established yet? Go try it again! Both Yarn Barn and Yarn Garden came up for me on linking, all I ended up doing is to go into edit mode, and click on the linky symbol and it will think for a moment and come up the list you can choose from - this will help with the database for the LYS page, so go fix it if you haven't done it already! From what I understood, eventually the LYS page will be fully equipped with reviews and everything! So go help Casey and Jess out and complete the linky love.

That will be what I'm doing between writing my business plan.

Cocoa Swap Topic of the Week #3 & Piggy

2008-01-27T20:47:00.000-05:00

What is the most 'random' memory you have from your childhood?

Hmmm... It's actually a dream. My first dream I ever remembered. I think I was still in grade school. The dream was that I was a ninja along with few other ones, we were stuck in this maze and trying to find something or save something, but it was dark and I can barely see. The whole dream basically was me running around looking for this "thing" with the other ninjas.

I don't know why I still remember it, but I just do.

I finished the piggy today. So excited!

Pattern - Curly the Pig by Rebecca Hatcher
Yarn Used - 1.5 skeins of Beaumont Yarn (special yarn made for me from my friend)
Needles - Option size 2
Gauge - N/A
Knit - January 19, 08 to January 27, 2008
Modifications - None.

It was a super quick knit. I think it would have been faster if I realized earlier that I can convert the pattern to knit it in the round. I really like this pattern and I'm sure I'll be making it again, for myself.

After finishing the piggy, I started stringing the beads onto Susan so I can start the Undulating Waves Scarf.

Instead of using the thread and needle method, I used one of the dental floss threader and string the beads that way. It was super easy. Soon I had this:

Isn't the yarn just pretty? I thought so. I better go swatching.

What Have I Been Up To?

2008-01-26T18:11:00.000-05:00

So I have dramatically slow down on blogging lately. I couldn't really justified blogging when I should be doing research. But tonight, I'm taking a little time off so I can update everyone on what I'm up to and the progress of some knitting.

Last weekend, Knelley, Acambras, Costumchick, JennM and I went over to Anphoe's house for some unofficial SnB get together. We had SO MUCH FUN! We all got there around 6pm and didn't leave till 2am!!! We all brought food as well and everything was delicious!

Even long after the get together, I would still think about all the conversation we had and laugh to myself.

On the knitting front, I started knitting Lola Curly the Pig for my Cocoa Swap swapee as her "Bust the Winter Blahs Buddy". I hope she'll like it. I used the yarn my friend who's family owns a yarn mill's yarn. She gave me the yarn when I was thinking of making my own wedding gown. Of course, I didn't end up doing it so now I have 30 balls of the yarn sitting around. It turned out to be a great yarn for this project!

Actually, I've made some more progress since this picture was taken - I have finished the body while at Suzy's last night and I made the four feet today during training.

And while we are on Schaefer, I got my Schaefer Yarn payment for the two projects I made for them:

4 skeins of Andrea - 2 in Julia Child and 2 in Margo Jones, and 1 skein of Lola in green.

Aren't the color gorgeous? I will be using them for shawls, but I haven't decided on patterns yet.

Along with the payment, I got the next model knitting project as well. And I have to say I am super excited for this project ever since I got the pattern from Laura.

It's the Undulating Waves Scarf by Laura Nelkin. It has beads in it and the whole thing is just beautiful. I can't wait to start this project.

And just to finish up this post, I have some random pictures to show you:

This is Andes Peppermint Crunch chocolate. This picture is for missburrows, all you Choconots and Frenemies out there! (it's okay if you don't know what these means... But if you do, mmm.. Chocolate!) I can't get enough of these chocolate patties :)

This picture is for Archiknist. My Peru llama/alpaca hangs out with me at work. He stands on top of my monitor and is one of the things that makes me smiles when I am stressed at work.

Stay tuned for my hot cocoa week #2 questions and some yarn from NYC!

Catching Up

2008-01-22T19:29:00.000-05:00

I've been busy. Busy with research. Research for what? You asked. Well, it's not definite yet, but David and I are looking into opening a yarn shop. YES, a Yarn Shop! We already have a name for it, but we are still in the planning stage. We've been going around to see some retail spaces and I've contacted several people for whole sale info and consignment info. I will be meeting with my friend this Thursday to go over some other details regarding in yarn. So far everything is looking promising and I am super happy about it. The shop will open on week nights and weekends, so I won't be quitting Schick any time soon - gotta make sure I survive first! Plus I always wanted to open the yarn shop during those hours anyways - because I don't know any shops that opens on Sundays and late on every week night.

I will keep you all updated as the plan develops.

On the knitting front, I have done 3 repeats of the chart B on MoonDance and I also started the pig for my hot cocoa pal. It will be her "Beat the Winter Blahs Buddy!" I don't have any pictures as my camera is dead and I can't find the charger. Of course, I got Archiknist right at my disposal for questions so it is going smooth sailing. Speaking of Archiknist, click over to send her some love - She broke her arm and her chin while running (tripping is such a tricky thing!) so she will only have limited knitting time.

And one last thing, Cass is running her post #444 contest so click over and enter! Don't forget to tell her I send you over!

Cocoa Swap Week #2 Topic

2008-01-18T20:58:00.000-05:00

Now that we're in the thick of 'Winter'... has your knitting changed to match the season? Are you moving on from dishcloths, and tank tops to afghans, hats and mittens? Has your yarn changed from silk or cotton to wool, superwash or heavier cottons?

Actually, my knitting has nothing to do with the weather. I knit whatever I want whenever I want. Although I tend to plan my projects so that during the winter time, I'm making something for the spring, and spring for summer, summer for fall, fall for winter - I'm not a fast knitter, so I need the whole season to prepare for the next :).

On other news, I have been busy working on the wedding stuff, including Moondance, but not much progress had been made so I won't be posting any pictures today.

I do, however, have to get busy making my swap pal a "buddy". Off me go to look for a pattern.

I Was Tagged

2008-01-15T20:26:00.000-05:00

By InsanKnitty For another meme. Actually, I've done this one before, so I'll try to come up with something I've haven't already had:

These are the rules:
List seven habits/quirks/facts about yourself.
Tag seven people to do the same.
Do not tag the person who tagged you or say that you tag “whoever wants to do it”.

1. I was invited and performed in Carnegie Hall in summer of 1998. It is probably my biggest accomplishment to date.

2. I fantasize being a famous ballroom dancer/figure skater/Broadway performer constantly. I wish I had continued with my voice lessons after high school.

3. I also wish I had study textile engineering/electrical engineering/architecture instead of mechanical engineering. But if I study the other subjects, I probably would have never met David, which wouldn't be good.

5. I absolutely hate corporate america. I think of it as a giant pyramid scam. I dream of some day owning my own business doing what I love to do.

6. I love to knit. (who doesn't? ;) ) I taught myself how to knit fall of 2004. But once I picked it up, it was natural to me. I also taught myself to crochet while making Pink Frosting. And I was one of those knitters that reads charts without being taught by anyone. Did I mention it was natural to me?

7. Combine #5 and #6, I've been looking at retail spaces for a yarn shop. It probably won't be a cafe yarn shop (too many licenses to obtain on the food side), but I would own it, and it will be mine :)

I tag Anphoe, Knelley, JennM, Costumchick, Archiknist, missburrows, and michou.

Oh, I joined another KAL - Mystic Light by Anna, the designer for Mystic Waters. Join up, all!

I Was Thinking...

2008-01-14T20:49:00.000-05:00

Have you ever use that phrase before? Every time I used that phrase to begin a conversation, David goes, "uh-oh, what are you thinking now?"

This time, I thought of what I want to do with the invitation. I've been thinking long and hard, but couldn't really finalize it, something was missing or not quite right, but I couldn't put my finger on it. But this evening, I got an email from one of the wedding sites and I browsed through the invitations pictures, and it hit me - not like a ton of bricks because it didn't hurt. I now know exactly what I'll have. I better get busy ordering the stuff.

Dinner and Moondance

2008-01-13T20:17:00.000-05:00

You know, like dinner and movie??? No?? Oh well...

First up, the dinner:

The appetizer

We had a little appetizer while we cook dinner. Dinner consist of the Grown Up Mac & Cheese, Romano Chicken, Blanched Broccoli with Garlic Butter and Garlic Bread. The Grown Up Mac and Cheese uses Fettuccini, but I had Penne on hand so there is no reason to go and buy more pasta. Also, instead of creme fraiche, I used 8 oz of neufchatel cheese because I can't find any creme fraiche in Stop and Shop - yes, I know, I can't believe it either! I mean I used creme fraiche up in Troy and PriceChopper there had it back then!!! The Chicken Recipe called for Parmesan Cheese, but I already had grated Romano at home, so I used that instead. The whole dinner was just SO GOOD. YUM. And we had fun making it too.

Now the stole:

I'm loving the pattern! Once I got passed the cast on, the whole thing came together very quickly. I can't wait to see how soon I can finish this!

Moondance Progress

2008-01-12T22:05:00.000-05:00

I finally had some time to make some progress on Moondance. And I'm loving it so far! It's actually a pretty easy pattern to memorize once I started. I finished Chart A today and am ready to tackle the next chart - it only needs 16 repeats!!!!

On other wedding news - I went to The White Dress By The Shore for a hair appointment, a mini trial with a hair consultant and try out hair pieces from the trunk show of Winters and Rain. And this is the do I came out of:

My money mirror shot

My do side way

The beautiful comb the stylist used on my hair

It's something close to what I want, but not completely. I like the curls, but there were too much. I do like the simplicity of the one bigger comb with little flowers in the hair though. So I'm definitely leaving this one on the books of possible hairdo.

Now I only need to work on the wedding invitations...

Provisional Cast On

2008-01-09T22:39:00.000-05:00

... Kicked my butt!

I've never done it before and I heard about it all the time - what magic it would do with the toe for a sock or just want to have live stitches to knit the other half of the stole, etc.

Well, Moondance required a provisional cast on, so I decided to give it a try tonight. But it just wasn't working! It turns out that I was using the wrong yarn to start - I had this lace weight yarn Archiknist gave me to try so I was using that for the crochet chain. Instead, Archiknist suggested to use a thick yarn and Judy gave me some for use. An hour later after I started, I have this:

It's not much (only the cast on row and the first row) but I am feeling quite tired after squinting and finding the loops for cast on for an whole hour. I'm thinking I might have to break my own rules and cast on another project for mindless knitting... Just a thought.

Oh, and I think I want to learn Tatting. (Among spinning and dying and all the other fiber-y things I want to do).

Irish Hiking Scarf

2008-01-08T23:34:00.000-05:00

Pattern - Irish Hiking Scarf by hello yarn
Yarn Used - 2 skeins of Misti Alpaca Chunky in #3317 and 2 skeins of Indiecita (Plymouth) Baby Alpaca Grande Paint in 638
Needles - Denise size 9
Gauge - N/A
Knit - September, 2006 to January 08, 2008
Modifications - None.

I used chunky weight instead of worsted weight suggested because I really wanted something big and fluffy. As many of you already know, it took so long to make this simple scarf because I ran out of the Misti Alpaca! But it wasn't long enough! So I decided instead of getting something close enough, I'll make it completely different. A year and some months later, this is finally off my needles, AND just in time for the winter!

Lucky for me, I joined the "Stash Knit Down 2008" in Ravelry. And the two skeins of Plymouth count towards my January Challenge! When I have some time, I'll work on a progress meter on the side bar to keep track the progress.

On the other note, the crystals I ordered for my wedding stole had arrived:

See why I like to order from Artbeads.com? They come in this beautifully packaged tissue and they only took 3 days! Free shipping! Not bad, huh?

I ordered Crystal Moonlight and Crystal AB. Both are pretty. I can't decide what to use. I think I will alternate them since they are the same, but with different effects. I like the ranbow effect of AB, but it might be too much for the entire stole - plus I still yet need to figure out the placement of the crystals.

I think I'm gonna go sleep on it...

Hot Cocoa Scavenger Hunt & Contest

2008-01-07T18:31:00.000-05:00

So I got a partner now :) So exciting! I can't wait to get started. And to start this cool swap, here is a scavenger hunt and getting to know the participants:

1. Who's favorite animal is an Otter? Anne K.
2. Name someone who prefers whipped cream with their hot cocoa. Devin H.
3. Find 3 people who live outside of the United States. Maria M. in Japan, Alex E. in Germany, Geraldine P. in Ireland
4. Name a fan of Harry Potter. Angela A-H. A Ravenclaw!
5. Name someone who crochets. Nicole D.
6. Name someone who DOES NOT have a healthy supply of notions. Emma G.
7. Name someone who has NOT put up their questionnaire yet (just put a date with your answer in case they put it up after seeing their name listed somewhere ;-) ). Ana Sofia F. Date: 01/07/08
8. Who likes to have Kahlua, Baileys, or Peppermint Schnapps in their cocoa? Paula B-E with Peppermint for Butterscotch Schnapps, or Godiva Liqueur.
9. Name someone who knits fingerless gloves as a 'quick knit'. Sarah J. designed it herself too!
10.Name someone who's looking forward to gardening this spring. Amanda R.
11.Who's favorite way to drink cocoa is with a gorgeous Frenchman, while overlooking the eiffel tower from a French Cafe? (I'm right there with you... well at the table next to yours!) Kris L. Man that sounds awesome!
12.Name someone who's favorite animal is NOT a dog or house cat. Amanda D.
13. Name someone who's favorite treat is NOT chocolate. Nelda G. mmm Popcorn...
14. Who plays Candyland? Criquette, but she is burned out from playing too much.
15. Name someone who DOESN'T get the winter blahs. Katherine S. She only gets any day of the year blah sometimes

Now, do I win something to be the first one completing this? I mean I link it and everything!!!! :)

And, go check out Coconut Cupcakes's contest on Favorite Things! Let her know you went there because of me, please?

Dinner and Knitting

2008-01-06T22:54:00.000-05:00

David left today for a week long trip of skiing with UMass Lowell Ski Team. This marks the beginning of the ski season for this family.

Because of his absent, my brother and I decided to try the Black Pepper Steak Sauce from this sauce book my parents bought us awhile ago. In Taiwan, when you have steaks, they are always served in hot plates (like the ones the fajitas came with) and has sauce on it. Black Pepper sauce is always my favorite. When I first moved to the US, I hated eating steaks here because it is always so blah! Who eats steaks with NO flavors? Slowly, I adjusted and figured out for myself what to do and how to marinade the steaks so they do have flavors. But I always missed the black pepper sauce. Well, I don't have to miss it anymore because I can make it myself now!

Look at that! And it taste even better! I LOVE IT! And the best thing - it is super easy to make!

One of my 2008 resolutions was to finish Irish Hiking Scarf that I started back in September of 2006. I wound the yarn for it this morning and am already done with one skein. Only one more left to go and I'll be done! Can't wait to check that off the list!

As you can see, the color is different from when I first started making it. Actually, that was the reason I stop making it - I ran out of yarn! I thought two hanks were enough - they were huge! But I forgot to figure the fact that they are also bulky yarn, meaning they take up a lot of space! By the time I realized I don't have enough, I didn't think I was going to find the same dye lot for the yarn, so instead of making it "close enough", I mad them completely different color! I wasn't sure at first on my choice, but now it's bigger, I really like it.

Hopefully, I'll have a FO to show by tomorrow night! :)

Honeycomb - Completed

2008-01-05T23:27:00.000-05:00

Pattern - Honeycomb Socks by Chris Carroll for Schaefer Yarn
Yarn Used - 0.5 skeins of Schaefer Anne in Purple and Green
Needles - Option size 1
Gauge - 9 sts per inch
Knit - December 24, 2007 to January 05, 2008
Modifications - Lots. But I'm writing the directions and sending them Schaefer Yarn so they can update the pattern to the way I did it.

Overall this pattern isn't too hard. Once you figure out the special stitch, it's a piece of cake, plus it's easy to memorize where you are once you get a hang of it. The special stitch is always done on the purl stitch.

I was rather frustrated at first when I started because I had to rip back so many times. But once I realized that it wasn't me, I paid a lot more attention to the pattern and making notes on what I would do differently. Laura from Schaefer was happy with what I did and had asked me to write out the modification I did so she can implement to the pattern. I'm glad my hard work is being recognized.

By doing this pattern, I learned that a knitted in the round gauge and a flat gauge can be very different. I'll be doing all my gauges differently now for knit in the round projects. I also learned the Kitchener Stitch. Click to go to the Knitty tutorial. I really like the pictorial Knitty provided. I had heard horror stories about Kitchener stitch, but it was so easy! It's not easy to memorize but it's not very complicated. So glad I had the opportunity to try it.

And no, I didn't line up the colors intentionally. It just happened. I probably couldn't even plan it to make it happen!

On a completely different topic, you probably noticed my side bar looked a little different. I reorganized the order and I added a Work in Progress bar, courtesy of Ravelry!!! If you have Ravelry and you would like the status bar, just click here and ask for it. Speaking of Ravelry, I figured out how to add tab and reorganize my forum page. It's pretty nifty. Oh, and I also added my Finished Object Gallery - it's a slideshow from one of the widget. I had an album in Picasa Web called FO and just linked it and it works! missburrows had suggested me to use treasurelicious, which I had considered, but when I saw the slideshow widget, it was just easier.

Tomorrow, I'll probably get back and work on the much deserved Irish Hiking Scarf... It's only been on the shelf for only a year...

Oh, and did I tell you that my puppies are pushy and likes the bed more than I do?

Cocoa Swap Questionnaire

2008-01-04T22:22:00.000-05:00

So if you know me in person, you know I got screwed by my pal at the Football KAL swap (No, I did MY swap partner right! and she is a new friend on my list!) and I made two overseas friends by joining the Christmas Swap. Now I'm in for another - the Hot Cocoa Swap!!! Here is the questionnaire -

Cocoa
1. What is your favorite way to drink cocoa? Prepared with milk? Water? from home made recipe or store bought?, In a tea cup, or big mug? I drink my cocoa first thing in the morning. Everyone who knows me remotely, well, anyone who has to interact with me in the early morning, know that I have to have my hot cocoa before they may talk to me. Because it is at work, I usually make the store bought packets with water. If I'm at home, I make it with milk if milk is available, if not, just hot water. I don't actually like the "melt the chocolate" type hot chocolate - too bitter to enjoy. And I drink it from my collection of travel mugs - everywhere I go, or anywhere David visits, we get a mug for each other and now we have many and still growing!
2. Marshmallows or whipped cream? Marshmallows! Whipped cream makes me sick.

Yarn/Knitting/Crochet
1. What is your favorite type of yarn? In what colors? hmmm... this is a hard one. Anything soft, really. Currently my favorites are merino, baby alpaca, camal, silk and qiviut - even though I've never used that one before, but I always wanted to try... too expensive. I love all sorts of color, but currently my favorites are the autumn hues.
2. Do you knit or crochet (or both)? Mostly knit. Crochet as necessary.
3. What are your favorite type of needles, would you like to try something new? Circulars! I tried straights - hated it. I like DPN alright, and I loooove circulars. And I love my Harmony set.
4. Do you have a healthy supply of notions? I think so.
5. What one thing do you keep thinking you need to buy for your knitting habit (outside of yarn)? Cute stitch markers that fits. I made some before but they were only to size 4 needles. I only have the plain boring kind.
6. What is your favorite 'quick knit/crochet' pattern (quick gratification) Hmmm... I would say Fetching, Baby Cable Rib Headband/Neckwarmer and Knitted Christmas Ornaments.

Miscellaneous
1. What is your favorite thing to do in the Winter? Sit by the fire and knit.
2. What is your favorite animal? Dogs! I have three! Bruno, Mick and Vanilla!
3. Do you get the 'winter blahs'? A little.
4. What is your favorite way to beat the blahs? I go to my local SnB, sit around and knit with them. They always make me laugh.
5. What is the thing you are most looking forward to this spring? To be able to just wear the sweater without a coat to show off my creations! Also it will be closer to my wedding and I just can't wait!
6. What are your favorite treats? Milk chocolate, Honey sticks, Werther Originals
7. What is your favorite board game? Apples to Apples, Taboo, Pictionary
8. Do you have any children (furry or human)? See favorite animal.
9. Do you have any allergies or special considerations you partner should know about? Nope, unless you consider sending me shrimp, crabs or lobster. Otherwise, you are ok.

"Merry, Happy Birthday, Year."

2008-01-01T17:43:00.000-05:00

"I think I covered it all!" Said David as he slowly walk down the hallway at midnight to go to bed - as he put it - "Way passed my bed time!"

The dinner was fantastic last night and we didn't wait too long, which was good. I had the Victoria Crown Fillet with the horseradish crust and baked sweet potato was my side. I also tired their Sangria and it was delicious! :) We went home and watched some HGTV until 11:30 and then watched the Dick Clark's Rocking 2008 show. I was glad to see him back, not to say that I'm a personal fan or anything, but just to see him healthy enough to host another year of the ball drop show in NYC is a very nice start of the new year.

On the way home from dinner last night, we stopped by to see the Fantasy of Lights. It was their last night of showing. Here are some of the displays:

The welcome tunnel

The lighthouse

The carousel

The deer crossing us overhead

Little village

Giant wreath

This morning I woke up and made pancakes, and worked some more on the Honeycomb. Here is the progress:

And since I was taking pictures, I took one with the new organization in the cubby hole:

So inspired by my fellow knitter friends, here is a summary of what I've done in the knitting world in 2007:

Falling Leaves - my Summer of Socks 2007 KAL, first sock KAL, first pair of socks using magic cast on toe up technique, first pair of toe up socks and first 2 socks in 2 circulars needles. For those folks who don't know what that means, it just means I made two socks at the same times using two needles.

Swan Lake (MS3) - my first lace project, ever! my first stole, first beaded knitwear, first mystery knit along.

Cabled Pullover - my first sweater that required seaming. All pieces have cables all the way through and I learned how to cable without the cable needles. Best trick ever!

Petrol and Petrol Modfied - Vests for my dad. These didn't really take that long, but they sure did feel like they took forever because of the forever stockinette stitches. They did however earned me Harmony :).

Hemlock Ring Blanket - It is a gorgeous blanket, despite the fact I had a lot of problem with the yarn, but I got my money back, so no complaints. My mom absolutely loved it. She took it home the day after it was completed.

Petal Dishcloth - my first dishcloth ever. It is a cute and super fast pattern. Made it with wool and my Christmas Swap partner is using it as a doily for her candle that I got her.

Diamond Spires Shawl - Second shawl, but using a DK weight yarn. This was a model knit for Schaefer Yarn. Loooove the yarn. First model knit for Schaefer Yarn.

Baby Cable Rib Neckwarmer/Headband - I knitted this in under TWO hours! Fastest knit ever! I made this for my new German friend who I got to know through the Christmas Swap. She had sent me a beautiful package for Christmas and I in term returned the favor.

Christmas Ornaments - I made a grand total of 18 of them!!! And I got Anphoe, JennM and Knelley all hooked on making them!

Vine - It was a super fast knit and my second pair of mitts. They were a very fast knit and was for my future SIL.

Knitted Tees - I knitted three of those for Farmhouse Yarns. It was the first model knitting I've done and first top down knitted shirt I've made. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of them, nor blog about them for some reason. Oh well. Carol said she'll get them back before June so maybe I'll get some pictures then and I can put it on my Ravelry.

Phew~ there you have it. My knitted items for 2007. My other knitting accomplishments in 2007 includes:

I joined Ravelry.
I started going to Thursday SnB, which I wish I've done earlier. The ladies I sit and knit with are amazing. I'm grateful for having them as my friends. My Wednesday buddies, don't worry, you are still my friends - without you guys, I would have just rot in my own apartment! ;) (According to the Yale's Daily, I started going to SnB because I had no friends...)
I got a Yarn Wall!
I joined my first ever swap, got burned, but my second swap was wonderful. Through the swap, I have now three new friends - Irene, Andrea and Robin.
I had multiple projects on WIP at the same time!!!!
I started a KAL (Knit Along). Although I haven't yet started the project yet...
I organized my knitting pattern into sleeves and put them all in a binder.
I received a swift as birthday present so I never had to ask David to help again... hmmm... I think I just figure out why he got me a swift...

I'm sure I forgot some but that's all I can think of now. Besides the above, I also started following some food blogs, mainly on gluten free recipes and am very inspired by it. I also made a wedding webpage and planned most of the wedding, pick out the bridesmaid dress, sent out the save the date, and started a registry.

For 2008, here are some of the things I would like to accomplish:

Finish all the wedding knitting on time.
Reduce 20% of my stash by making more projects.
Finish Irish Hiking Scarf.
Finish Secret of the Stole I.
Finish Aspen Top Down Sweater.
Continue to model knit with Schaefer - although I really need to manage it so I don't overwhelm myself.
Start Autumn Rose Pullover - Fair Isle here I come!
Felt something. May it be clogs or bags.
Learn to spin if we move and have more room.
Learn to dye if we move and have more room.

Well I think that's a lot to do already! I better get cracking!!! Besides the knitting goals, here are some of my other goals for 2008:

Be nice. Not to say I'm not nice, but sometimes I'm not, especially when I am losing my patience, which leads to no. 2
Be patient.
Complete all wedding details by mid-August. We'll see how this one goes...
Experiment with gluten free cakes - maybe I can make the wedding cupcakes?? Or at least have the recipes to do it? We tired Baby Cakes at NYC, they were good, but we weren't completely thrilled with them.
Spend more time on my business. I know I can do it, but it's the motivation part of it... Knitting? Work? hmmm which one to pick?

I'm sure I have more, but this is what I got so far. If i remember more, I'll sure to add them into the list.

Have a Happy, Healthy, Safe and Superb New Year.

Happy Birthday

2007-12-31T16:42:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday to me,
Happy Birthday to me,
Happy Birthday to meeeee,
Happy Birthday to me!

I got quite a few nice messages from my SnB girls wishing me a happy birthday. Those messages put smiles on my face. Thanks girls!

Despite the fact that I really wanted to go to WEBs, I didn't. I didn't buy any yarn or visit any yarn stores, because I really have a lot of yarn that I haven't use yet! I did however went to Target and got an organizer for one of the cubby holes so now it is more orderly, instead of keep losing things in the pile. The drawers are mainly for loose needles, knitting notions and accessories, and swatches.

David is taking me out to Outback to dinner :) mmm Steak and Baked Sweet Potatoes...

Honeycomb Update

2007-12-30T22:56:00.000-05:00

So I sat on my butt all day to work on Honeycomb, and here is the first sock in it's full glory:

Ta-da!

Here is the view off my foot:

Now I'm going to bed, because in 50 minutes, it will be a special day. But before I leave, just let me show you how outrageous Mick is sometimes:

That is me sitting OVER him on the coach because he refused to leave my seat! No, I'm NOT sitting on top of him, those are just my legs and my monkey blanket over him. Soon he go too hot and moved down, with a big sigh.

Here is a picture of my pretty girl being pushy:

Even when she is pushy, she is so darn cute, especially with those cute little bows! (can you tell I can't get over how cute those bows are on her?)

Pretty Dogs and New Additions

2007-12-29T20:18:00.000-05:00

We took the dogs to be groomed today. Look!

Aren't they pretty? They are soooooo soft! Mick is Elvis and Vanilla just plain darn cute with the two little bows!!!

And look what came in the mail!

I called KnitPicks right before Christmas about one of the cord not able to thread onto the needles, and the replacement came yesterday. There was hardly any wait on the phone and they didn't ask for the cord back at all!

And this came too!

But I can't reveal what's inside yet because it contains something for Anphoe!

Speaking of mail, I got an email from michou - she received the little package I put together for her. It was more of a Happy New Year present than Christmas, but it got there none the less. Her older son liked the Winnie the Pooh board book set I sent along with the package. Apparently he now thinks all women that has long black hair "Jenn!" So cute :) I must figure out a way meet them when we go on our honeymoon in 2009.

When we dropped off the dogs for grooming today, we went to Barnes and Noble and gotten these:

And I got these when we were in Michigan:

I want to experiment with cupcakes and hopefully come up with some gluten free processed-sugar free versions of them and maybe, just maybe, in time for the wedding and use those as wedding cakes. And see the doggie needles? They are so cute that David thought I should have them, even if I don't use them.

I made a little progress on the sock. But with the game on, I should probably make some great progress.

Go Patriots!

ps. One last thing - we worked on our wedding registry today on Amazon. Setting up a registry is a much harder task than I had anticipated!!!

My Version of Christmas 2007

2007-12-28T14:42:00.000-05:00

So much had happened during these past few days it's hard to figure out where to start! So I guess I'll start where I left off.

Lots of presents for Colin were wrapped by mom. As we put up the Christmas tree, we realized the main branch of the tree was missing!!! Now where do you get a Christmas tree on Christmas Eve???? But we made due and found this at Lowes:

And look what's hanging on the tree!

We had Christmas dinner on Christmas eve since David and I were leaving at noon on Christmas Day. Colin really wanted to open the presents but somehow we convinced him to open it on Christmas morning.

Needless to say, he woke up super early on Christmas Day. Terry made Waffles on his new George Foreman Grill. It was very very good and easy to clean! Unlike the older ones, this one has removable plates that you can put them in the dishwashers and actually wash them!

After the breakfast, Colin was finally able to open his presents:

And he opened the big one last:

David and I bought him the Smart Cycle and a game to go with it. He loves it and he asked to play with it three times that day!

We left after all the presents were opened. On the way home, after much discussion (maybe 2 seconds), we decided to take the detour up to Niagara Falls. And here are some of the pictures I snapped while I was there:

The upper rapids

The other side of American Falls

The Horseshoe Falls

We trying to get the picture with the fall

David trying to throw one of the ice sticks that fell off from the railing

All the ice!

A squirrel posing for the picture

We left the park and decided to go to the Casino next to the park and play some Keno. As you can recall, the last time we played it, we won $150!!! But what do you know, they DIDN'T have Keno!! So we walked around and sat down at the Wheel of Fortune penny slots. We had no clue what we were doing, but all of the sudden the bonus round came up during one of the hits and we spin and it stopped at 10000 on the wheel! We looked at each other, and the screen was lit up blinking at us - we had just won $100!!!! But the waitress lady won't let me take a picture, so we took the ticket out and ran outside to get a shot of it before we cashed it:

We had $3.85 left from the $10 we put in. We left happy and $93.85 up, totally paid for the hotel room the night before and then some.

The rest of the drive home was very uneventful, which was a good thing. While driving through, we went pass a town name Deposit, NY. I commented: What the hell is in Deposit? Why would you name a town that anyways? Plus I was bored because it was dark so I couldn't knit, and there was no radio station for the past 15 minutes...

We got home, sort through the mail and got a piece of mail from the Good Sam Club. Guess where it came from?

Deposit, NY.

'nuff said.

On the knitting front, I finished Vine and gave them to my future SIL Page. Here is the detail:

Pattern - Vine by Iris G. on MagKnits
Yarn Called For - 1 ball elann.com Peruvian Baby Silk in #5420 seashell pink
Yarn Used - 0.5 skeins of Jaeger Alpaca in Brown
Needles - Option size 1
Gauge - 7 sts per inch
Knit - December 22, 2007 to December 23, 2007
Modifications - Reverse row 46 and 47 so there are two knitted row between like the rest of the pattern.

Page likes the gloves. One bad thing about the dark color, the pattern hardly shows. If I were to make it again, which I most likely will, I'll make it in lighter colors to show up the vine pattern.

I am currently making the Honeycomb Socks for Schaefer Yarn. I heard back from Laura and had made some adjustment. Then the engineer in me figured out something else and I had gotten approval from Laura to make the change. I'll be submitting the changes to Laura at the end so she can modify the pattern.

Well, I should probably go knit that now...

Happy New Year to all!

Detour

2007-12-25T22:05:00.000-05:00

We left Muskegon today around noon. Yes, we left on Christmas Day, but that's just something we would do. While we were driving, we calculated that we wouldn't make it home tonight and decided that instead of getting stuck in the middle of nowhere Pennsylvania, we will drive back up to Niagara Falls and find a hotel near by. The trouble is - most of the hotels don't take pets! We finally found a Days Inn and the lady in the front desk was very nice, according to her, we didn't have a dog. :P More pictures and stories to come when we get home.

Merry Christmas to all and enjoy the time with your friends and family.

We Made It!

2007-12-23T11:51:00.000-05:00

We left at 7:45am and arrived Michigan at... you ready?

3:30AM

Yes, you read that right! And here is why...

We started off from CT and got to Utica to see David's grandma around 11:30ish. From there, we were greeted with assorted cookies made by grandma Nancy. There were butter cookies, ginger cut outs, ginger snaps, peanut butter chocolate fudge, chocolate chips cookies, and much much more!

By then, I already finished three more ornaments, one for Mom, which is gold and hanging in the van already, one is for Terry, Page and Colin, and one for a friend.

Inspired by Costumechick, my next project was Vine. I bought a Jaeger Alpaca when I went to Farmhouse Yarn the last time and they had it for ONE DOLLAR! It is an older ball with old label, but it's 100% alpaca none the less. And while we are driving to Michigan, I made some progress... A lot of progress actually:

I should be able to finish this today between wrapping presents, putting up the tree and cooking.

If you are observant, you can see that I'm wearing my new wedding bands - no we didn't get married yet, but it didn't come with a box or anything, and knowing me, I'll probably lose it, so the safest thing to do is to wear it until we get home.

We picked up the rings after seeing grandma. So far, I'm really happy with the way it turns out. :) We continued with Rt. 90 and hit Buffalo, and we detour up to Niagara Falls - why not? We were practically there! Plus I've never been!!!

It is absolutely breath taking!

The dogs think so too:

We left Mick and Vanilla home since they are too active for Colin right now.

Well, off me go to get things going...

Cookie Swap #2 and Honeycomb

2007-12-21T21:45:00.000-05:00

Last night, I went to the Thursday SnB and did the second cookie swap. Of course, my camera had to die right then so I didn't snap any pictures, but click over to Anphoe's to see some pictures.

On knitting front, I finished two more ornaments and gave them out, one to Anphoe, and one to David's admin at work. I have also receive from Schaefer Yarn a ball of Anne and the Honeycomb Socks pattern for model knitting. However, I have an issue:

As you can clearly see, it is not 9 stitches/inch, nor 12 rows/inch, which is what the pattern called for. What size needles was I using for this swatch you ask? Size 0. Yup. I already sent an email to Schaefer to see what they would like me to do - I really don't want to buy new needles, but to do these socks, and if the stated gauge is correct, I don't see how I can avoid it. Plus, I don't think there is any circulars that small!!! I'll have to use DPNs!!!!!!!!

One thing I do have to say though - the yarn is very lovely to work with and the color is gorgeous! Lets take another look at the swatch, shall we?

Beautiful!

On swap news, I joined the Mmmm... Hot Cocoa Swap. Everyone who knows me at work knows not to bother me before I have my cup of cocoa - I drink it like it's coffee. It is only appropriate for me to join in this swap, especially when the swap is closing on MY BIRTHDAY! :)

David and I are leaving tomorrow morning to go to Michigan. We'll be there for a few days, but I'll be blogging because lucky me, they have wireless :) Until then, I leave you with this (I stole it from The Mad Knitter):

A Great Day

2007-12-19T17:59:00.000-05:00

Let me give you a run down of my day and you may agree with me on my title for today.

I worked grand total of 2 and half hours today.
I went to a nice lunch at Carmen Anthony's, had a nice Fillet Mignon and Creme Brulee, courtesy of Schick.
I went to the post office and sent out the package for my new friend in Germany. Too bad it isn't going to be delivered by Christmas, but it's the best I can do.
I got the beads I ordered for my Wedding Stole, but I think they are too big.

I stamped up all the Save the Date so they are ready to be mailed.

I got to watch David's nephew learning how to ride a bike on a DVD that arrived today in the mail along with a Christmas card.
I got some Christmas presents from my coworkers.

I got a swift as birthday present from David. No, it's not my birthday YET (12/31).

I went to my Wednesday SnB and we had a nice cookie swap.

Marla from Casting On came to SnB and brought the audio book of The Golden Compass and The Subtle Knife.

So yeah, I had a good day :) And I leave you one more photo so Bruno won't hijack my computer again...

Cookies...

2007-12-18T21:20:00.000-05:00

... ARE DONE for the cookie swap!!!

And Mel made Rice Krispy! With chocolate chips on top!

YUM!

Finishing Touches

2007-12-17T22:08:00.000-05:00

I put mother of pearl buttons on it. Aren't they gorgeous?

And we got our Save the Date in the mail today. We'll be mailing those out in the next few days :)

Ice Storm and Knitting

2007-12-16T21:50:00.001-05:00

Can I be ANYMORE lazy today?

The answer is NO.

I mean, I am still in my PJ!!!

But, I passed my Continue Ed test for my insurance license, I FINALLY blocked Diamond Spires Shawl, and I whipped up Baby Cable Rib Neckwarmer/Headband in under 2 hours! Take a look:

Pattern - Diamond Spires Shawl by Anne Davenport
Yarn Used - 2.5 skeins of Judith in Jane Addams
Needles - Denise size 6
Gauge - N/A
Knit - November 17, 2007 to November 29, 2007
Blocked - December 16, 2007
Modifications - None

This was pretty easy to memorize once I created a chart for the diamond pattern. I find reading charts are much easier for me than the written pattern.

Pattern - Baby Cable Rib Neckwarmer/Headband by Kerry Moorhouse
Yarn Used - 1 skeins of GGH Aspen in #19
Needles - Harmony size 9
Hook - Boyd size I
Gauge - N/A
Knit - December 16, 2007
Modifications - I used crochet cast off instead of a regular cast off

I will be getting some buttons tomorrow during lunch so this is ready to be shipped.

And I started Aspen Top Down Sweater from Knitting Classic Style by Veronik Avery. I am using the yarn called for, and I think this is the first time I used the yarn the patterns calls for for a sweater! I only have the first three rows done, but it is quite interesting as everything is done twisted!

Oh, and I should mention that I made a killer beef stew today - definitely a perfect meal for the weather we have here tonight. And my secret ingredient - Apple Cider. It is something I made up but it is so good! Maybe I'll put up the recipe if anyone out there is interested.

And lastly, Patriots won :) Totally a perfect day today. Now without changing, I'll be rolling back to bed. Night.

Thank You Andrea :)

2007-12-12T22:26:00.001-05:00

Most of you don't know who Andrea is, in fact, all of you who reads my blog don't know who she is. Andrea is my Secret Santa from Christmas Around the World Knitters Swap. She had put together a beautiful and very thoughtful package together for me. I was too excited and couldn't wait until Christmas to open it!

The package included 2 balls of Rowan Kidsilk Haze, 2 patterns - Sahara from Stitch Diva Studios and Ariann from Chic Knits, 3 bags of puppy treats, 2 bags of gummy bears from HARIBO - one regular and one in Christmas edition, a mystery novel by Elizabeth Peters, 2 heart buttons, 2 CDs full of German Christmas music - at least I think they are Christmas music :P, and a bag of wedding bells :)

Of course, one of the requirement for the swap is to include something knitted by the Santa, and here is what she knitted for me:

Isn't it gorgeous? I absolutely LOVE IT! Although it is a little cold to wear it now, but you can bet that it will be one of my staple wardrobes!

Andrea, thank you for being my Secret Santa. I enjoy getting to know you via email and I hope someday I can meet you in person so I can give you a big hug! So for now, I'll give you a cyber hug -

::HUG::

We are NOT Doing This For Our First Dance!

2007-12-11T22:07:00.000-05:00

This is too funny...

1000 Islands in Winter

2007-12-09T21:19:00.000-05:00

David and I went up to 1000 Islands this weekend to drop off my ring to get the wedding bands welded together. When we got the rings, there were couple things we didn't like so we decided to meet with the jeweler at Syracuse to get it fixed right. But before we left the beautiful 1000 Islands, we went around town and took some pictures:

Bruno eating snow

Two more ornaments completed while driving up

Bolt Castle on Heart Island

Bruno's paws

Wellesley Island

My rings before we gave them all to the jeweler to be fixed!

The Hart House - where the reception will be

After leaving 1000 Islands, we went to Utica to see David's family. Everyone came up for dinner and learned and celebrated Hanukkah - with lots of good food and stories! No, I'm not Jewish, nor is David, but Sheryl is and we all had a good time learning what Hanukkah is all about and the significance of lighting the Menorah.

We came home today, stopped and visited David's best friend and his family, while watching Patriots game and eat take out. It was an exhausting traveling weekend, but I had a lot of fun.

Did you have a good weekend?

Snickerdoodles

2007-12-07T06:30:00.000-05:00

What were YOU doing at 5:30am??

Christmas Ornament #5 & #6

2007-12-06T22:00:00.000-05:00

Yeah yeah... More ornaments... What can I say? I'm making it for at least 15 people!!!

Pattern - Knitted Christmas Ornament Covers by Judy Sumner
Yarn Called For - Small amounts of yarn, either sport or worsted/bulky weight
Yarn Used - Small amounts of Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk DK in #26011 (Ornament #5) and Target Acrylic in Gold (Ornament #6)
Needles - Harmony size 8 for both
Gauge - N/A
Knit - December 06, 2007 (During SnB)
Modifications - None

I'm getting up super early to make some Snickerdoodles for the potluck tomorrow so I'm going night night now. Maybe I'll have MORE Christmas ornaments tomorrow... :)

Christmas Ornament #3 & #4

2007-12-05T23:01:00.001-05:00

I know, I know, you are getting tired of seeing these... but they are so easy!

Left one is #3 and Right is #4

Pattern - Knitted Christmas Ornament Covers by Judy Sumner
Yarn Called For - Small amounts of yarn, either sport or worsted/bulky weight
Yarn Used - Small amounts of Columbia-Minerva in #2303 (Ornament #3) and Bernat 100% Super French Angora in #9743 (Ornament #4)
Needles - Harmony size 8 (Ornament #3) and Harmony size 10 (Ornament #4)
Gauge - N/A
Knit - December 05, 2007 (During SnB)
Modifications - None

I love this pattern now. It is super easy and I don't have any problem to memorize it! I love the pink fuzziness (angora!) and wish I have more of this yarn to make a sweater! I decided to keep the angora for myself :P even though we are not having a tree this year.

Now that I got those done... Time to go night night!

Christmas Ornament #2

2007-12-03T22:42:00.000-05:00

FINISHED!

Pattern - Knitted Christmas Ornament Covers by Judy Sumner
Yarn Called For - Small amonts of yarn, either sport or worsted/bulky weight
Yarn Used - Small amounts of Reynold's Soft Sea Wool in #0650
Needles - Harmony size 9
Gauge - N/A
Knit - December 03, 2007 (in one hour)
Modifications - None

I follow the pattern exactly stated, unlike what I did yesterday. I like both versions fine, but I do think it might be easier to use the thinner yarn. Also, I cast on 36 sts using a sport/DK weight yarn instead of the 48 sts suggested and I think I like it better - it shows off more lace. It all depends how lace-y you like your ornaments! I am very happy with this pattern today!!

LET'S GO PATRIOTS!!!!

Let It Snow...

2007-12-02T23:07:00.000-05:00

When I went to SnB today, I walked out to encounter this:

Snow!!!

A pretty snowflake on my jacket!

And when I came home later on, I figured out the ornament I've been trying to make. The pattern I was following is here, however, it wouldn't really cooperate with me, so I frogged it twice and made up my own instructions. For those who doesn't have Ravelry access yet, here is the instructions again:

Pattern - Knitted Christmas Ornament Covers by Judy Sumner
Yarn Called For - Small amonts of yarn, either sport or worsted/bulky weight
Yarn Used - Small amounts of Manos del Uruguay in #100
Needles - Harmony size 7
Gauge - N/A
Knit - December 02, 2007 (in couple of hours)
Modifications:

Cast on 12 sts using your favorite knitting in the round method - I used magic loop.
Join the ends and knit the first round.
Rnd 2: *yo, k1* - resulting 24 sts.
Rnd 3: Knit
Rnd 4: *yo, k1* - resulting 48 sts.
Rnd 5: Knit
Rnd 6: *yo, k2tog*
Repeat Rnd 5 and 6 until work measures 2 inches from the center and ends on a knit round.
K2tog all the way around - resulting 24 sts.
Knit
*yo, k2tog*
Knit
Repeat item 9 to 12 again resulting 12 sts.
Insert the ornament (mine is 3 1/4" diameter)
Use tubular bind off.

Weave in the ends on both sides and pull tight to close the bottom hole or you can leave it loose as a decorations. Viola!

Note: Although this pattern is a modified version of another pattern, please respect the copy right of the designer's creativities and do not use this pattern for commercial use.

The Golden Compass

2007-12-01T23:55:00.000-05:00

This movie is coming out next Friday, but the movie theater near me had a Sneak Preview today so David and I had a little date night and saw it. IT IS SOOO GOOD! When it comes out, you all have to watch it!

I first heard about the name from Sneaksleep, who told me about the trilogy and that the stories are very good and I should read them. I haven't bought the books yet but I'll do that pretty soon.

Don't be disappointed with the ending of the movie - remember, it is a trilogy!!!

Now go get the tickets and let me know what you think after you watch it!

Dinner and Knitting

2007-11-30T19:09:00.001-05:00

What else can make a girl smile and be happy on a Friday night?

I defrosted a pork tenderloin this morning and came home to realize that it is not pre-marinaded! I franticly searched Food Network website and found THIS recipe.

Okay, if you know me, you know I don't like carrots, but I got it for the picture :)

For the pork tenderloin, instead of using fresh lemon, I had some lemon pepper seasoning on hand, so I mixed it with some kosher salt and rubbed it away - took total of 15 seconds! However, the cooking time is not as fast as the recipe said (more like half an hour, not 6 to 8 minutes). For the applesauce, I used apple cider instead of fresh lemon juice, also with local honey too!

We heated up some frozen veggies and made white rice to go with the whole thing, but the recipe is super easy to make and it was actually very quick! Well, I do have David to thank for helping me peel the apples while I prepare the pork. Everything was super delicious that David and I both have two healthy helpings!

So on the way home, I picked up a copy of the Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts - so many pretty patterns that I want to make! Last year, I made mitten ornaments for everyone, and this year, I already found a perfect pattern. You see, we don't really buy Christmas gifts, maybe just for our nephew, but not everyone else, which suits me just fine, because Christmas is about the family and the time spent together, the retail world had made it about shopping, but not in this household!

Also, I am almost all set for the package that I'm preparing for my Christmas Swapee. I hope she'll like it. And I do have one more surprise, but I can't say who is for and what it is yet. Probably not until after Christmas - or at least until the person receive the gift package.

By the way, we DVRed the Shrek Christmas Special on abc so we'll be watching that now.

Diamond Spires Shawl

2007-11-29T22:50:00.000-05:00

... is FINALLY finished.

However, it is unblocked. I'll probably do it this weekend then send it off to Schaefer's on Monday.

But right now, this is what I want to do:

Mick sleeping in MY SPOT!!! Can you tell he thinks he is a person?

So Night Night!!! Oh, and GOOOO PACKERS!!!

Wait, wait! One last picture:

Aren't they adorable?!

Happy Thanksgiving, Belated

2007-11-25T16:17:00.001-05:00

To all my friends and family!

This year we had a quiet Thanksgiving. David's mom came and that was it. We actually have hot pot for late lunch (yummmm) and cooked a whole Thanksgiving meal later at night. We were only going to have the hot pot in lueu of the turkey meal, but work gave us each a turkey, so we donated one to the CT Food Bank, and cooked one. Here is our menu:

Honey Brined Smoke Turkey
Real Mashed Potato
Sweet Potato from this recipe- we only put half of a banana in and it turned out VERY banana-y, I would modify this recipe if I was to make it again.
Cranberry Sauce - half of the recipe, minus the sugar, instead, I used Brown Rice Syrup
Pumpkin Pie - I couldn't find sorghum flour, so I used tapioca flour instead, and I used honey I bought from the farmer's market instead of regular sugar for the filling.

Everything turned out so great. We had so much food and leftovers that our fridge almost couldn't hold all the food we have (we have a big fridge!) Of course, the day was accompanied by football games on TV and some knitting.

The next day, we had potato pancake from this recipe for breakfast, using the leftover mashed potatoes. I had it with Chinese hot sauce... sooo good! After breakfast, David and I went to Clinton Outlets to find him a pair of shoes and some candles for my Christmas Swapee:

We went to Yankee Candles first and we ended up finding some very fall-ish tealight candle holders for our wedding next year. We took all 14 of them on the shelf as they were only $2 instead of $4.99 when we first saw them at Yankee Candle Village when we went to the Big E in September. Along with the candle holders, we got two of the tart burners for our table as well. I also picked up a jar candle for my Christmas Pal - Christmas Cookie Scent. Can you see all the cookies with sprinkles in the jar?

After we picked up David's new shoes, we left the crazy outlet. There really isn't anything that we need and it was just too crazy. We vegetated on the couch for the rest of the day, which in my opinion, is awesome.

Saturday, David went to work. Yes, you read that right, work! I went to Primerica training for the morning. In the afternoon, we watched a few movies on TV - Cop and 1/2 and The American President. They were both very funny and easy to follow, highly recommended for a nice relaxing afternoon movie. Don't get me wrong, they are not some spectacular movies that won many Oscars, but they are just easy, fun movies to watch.

We decided that today, Sunday, need to be different. Instead of sitting on our comfy couch, we googled and found the Punk Rock Flea Market up at Hartford and also the Christmas Theatre Banquet. We decided to go to the flea market today, and purchase tickets for the show closer to Christmas.

On the knitting front, I've been trucking along with Diamond Spires. I need to get it completed by November and I'm pretty close to completing, with only 4 repeats left to go. I'm hoping I can get it done tonight, but I realized awhile ago that I am a slow knitter, so we'll see...

Off me go to have some Turkey Shepherds Pie and more knitting. GO PATRIOTS!

Seattle Time Editor's Response

2007-11-20T22:48:00.001-05:00

I, like the Digestive Diva, also got an email back from the editor of Seattle Time, not the journalist herself, but the editor:

Thank you for sharing your concerns about the recent "Survival Guide for Holiday Hosting" story. We realize now that we should not have included "gluten-free" as an example in the "Diva" category, as a gluten-free diet often is a medically diagnosed need, not a choice. On our website, we have changed that sentence to say: “The Diva has driven us crazy with high-maintenance demands like special diets and fresh towels every day.”

In past articles, we have taken great care to address the importance of gluten-free diets, and have even printed recipes for those needing alternatives. That said, your note is a good reminder that we need to stay mindful of this issue.

Thanks again.
Colleen McBrinn
The Seattle Times
Weekend Living Editor
206/515-5655

It is the exact same letter, copied and pasted, from Digestive Diva. I am not completely happy as it still states "special diets" and sometimes special diets can still mean medical needs, but at least they recognized me and addressed the concerns. That will have to do for now.

NOT Your Daily Knitting Digest

2007-11-19T22:40:00.001-05:00

Today, I want to talk about allergies.

I think most of my friends have allergies, either air born or food. Now aday, food allergies are so common that people don't actually think twice about it when someone say they are allergic to certain thing. Apparently, according to Seattle journalist, people who has special diets are "the Diva". Click here to read the article.

The article has really good intentions, but it came out all wrong. The generalization had made it an bad article, especially at the paragraph about Divas. I mean, we can all relate to that ONE person who is never satisfy about anything you do, who is always criticizing, who is always demanding, who is always ... The list goes on. However, people who has "Crazy Special Diets" doesn't always want to be the ones that has the special diets!

I first read about it from Adventure of a Digested Diva, a lady who has Celiac Disease. David is allergic to gluten so about half an year ago, I subscribed to some "gluten free" food blogs to learn about the foods and recipes.

I sent an email to our dear Seattle journalist. I doubt I'll hear from this lady ever, but at least, I gave her a piece of my mind. If you would like to give her a piece of your mind, her contact info is listed on the bottom of the article.

Good Night.

12 Repeats Done...

2007-11-18T21:49:00.000-05:00

... 12 more to go. This shawl is going pretty slow for some reason. It could be the center decrease is not always followed by yarn overs and I keep doing the yarn overs so I keep having to fix it...

I think I need to either start something or pick up something to make in between so I don't get bored with this pattern. It really is a nice and easy pattern and when I'm in a groove, I can really go fast, but unfortunately I haven't able to do that. Maybe I'll finish my Irish Hiking Scarf that I started awhile ago but ran outta yarn. I purchased yarn awhile ago so I can finish the scarf, but I haven't picked it up yet. This would be a good chance for me to finish :) I'm gonna go wind the yarn now.

Stranger Than Fiction

2007-11-16T23:21:00.000-05:00

If one day you woke up and were following your routine, all of the sudden, a voice showed up, describing what you are current doing, narrating your life, what would you do?

Meet Harold Crick, the hero in Stranger Than Fiction. Harold is the IRS agent, who has a routine and leads a boring, lonely life. But on this particular Wednesday, he woke up and started hearing an author narrating his life, and it changed his life.

When David picked out the movie, I wasn't too interested, but I thought to myself that I can use the time to knit, so I agreed. But after sitting here watching it, I have to say the story is brilliant and I have never seen a movie like it, or even a book.

If you had doubt about this movie, not so sure about it, I suggest you to see it. It might not be to your liking at the end, but I can assure you, it isn't a movie you will forget. There is just nothing like it out there.

Petal Dishcloth and Some More...

2007-11-14T21:49:00.000-05:00

Pattern - Petal Dishcloth by Hazel Schrock
Yarn Used - 0.5 Ball Reynolds Soft Sea Wool in #0650
Needles - Harmony size 7
Gauge - N/A
Knit - November 12, 2007 to November 13, 2007
Modifications - None

This is probably the quickest knit I've EVER DONE! It is so easy and so fast! I did it during my all day meeting break and I knitted this for my Christmas Pal. It is going to be a doily for her candles instead of a dishcloth.

Some progress report on the Diamond Spires Shawl - I got an email back from Laura from Schaefer Yarn with a picture of the model they have. I was not making any mistakes, it was just because my shawl was unstretched and unblocked so it looks like it has mistakes in it. PHEW! I thought I had to frog!!!

So while at the all day meeting today, I made some progress:

4 repeats down, 20 more to go.

On Hold

2007-11-11T22:19:00.000-05:00

So Diamond Spires is officially on hold. I think it is just the way the pattern is written so that the bottom half of the yarn overs are nice and neat, and the upper half have stitches in between each odd row. It is driving me nuts, so I emailed Laura from Schaefer to see if she can send me a close up picture of the shawl knitted in Martha. She replied that she won't be able to do it until Tuesday, so in the mean time, I started something for my Christmas Swap pal.

Of course, just as I was about to take a picture to show the world, I realized I mis-read the pattern and now I have to frog it... granted it is a really quick knit, but still. All of this I blame Ben.

Who is Ben? you ask. Well, Ben is a very good friend of mine from college. I haven't seen him since my best friend got married (Labor Day of 2005!!!). He's been in California, pursuing his PhD, and I've been working here on the east coast. He IMed me today while I was making the gift. Needless to say, I was very excited to "talk" to him and it was so great to hear from him. So my frogging, it is all worth it. :)

To be fair to Ben, I was also watching Family Guy - where at the end, Stewie was just having a simulations to kill Lois. David had figured it out and we've been anticipating it. But it was still pretty good to see how Stewie's vision was and how they were going to do the whole episode.

Oh! How can I forget! Mel and Mer came Saturday and we went to Harold's and tried on dresses. We actually decided on one and came back after an hour and half! I couldn't believe we actually found a dress that everyone liked! And the price isn't too bad either! For the rest of the time, we sat around, chatted about RPI, had Thai food for dinner and did some research for save the date and invitations. I gotta get going on those invitations, especially if I want to make my own!! They left today and I wish the weekend is longer! I love having my friends over!

Well, that's all folks! Have a good night!

Where My Stitches At?

2007-11-09T22:29:00.000-05:00

As promised:

It is right here. 2 repeats done, 22 more to go...

And:

Okay, that's just Mick wanting to be patted. No stitches involved there.

Harmony

2007-11-08T21:57:00.000-05:00

Look!

It came in the mail tonight. These were my motivation/payment to finish the two vests for my dad. The needles were really not as bright as it seems, it is more of a darker color and very rich. I really like them. Now only if they came a couple of days ago before I cast on Diamond Spires Shawl... Oh well. I'll be testing them out on Mystic Water Stole or maybe my Moondance Stole, which ever I decided to be my next project.

My Ravelry shirt came too - well, it went to Anphoe, but I accidentally left it at work. I'll post about it tomorrow when I remember to bring it home. And I'll also post about the progress made on Diamond Spires as well. Until then.

Diamond Spires Shawl - The Beginning

2007-11-07T21:53:00.000-05:00

So I swatched and casted on the Diamond Spires Shawl for Schaefer Yarn. I am doing model knitting for them.

I made this swatch with size 7 needles, but I couldn't figure out the gauge, so I cast on with size 6 needles. The size 7 was too lacey in my opinion. The yarn is soooooooooooo soft to work with, it's like buttah! Absolutely love it! I can't wait to knit some more with it! Although the color isn't my favorite, but I am sure they will have something in my palette. So far, I only knitted the border so there is nothing really to show, but the pattern knits up fast so I should have something soon!

Hemlock Ring Blanket

2007-11-05T20:33:00.000-05:00

In its full blocked glory.

I've decided - I don't like blocking... It takes way too long!

Hemlock Ring, and More

2007-11-04T22:41:00.000-05:00

First up, Hemlock Ring Blanket, in its unblocked glory:

Pattern - Hemlock Ring Blanket by Jared Flood
Yarn Called For - 600 yards of heavy worsted weight yarn, Cascade Ecological Wool used, Latte (8063)
Yarn Used - 1/2 skein of Farmhouse Yarn Sweater Skein in Wine Rose
Needles - Denise size 10
Gauge - N/A
Knit - October 10, 2007 to November 04, 2007
Modifications - None

Despite the yarn breaking and giving me a hard time, This is a very quick knit, although it can get kinda boring at the end. I ended it where Jared ended his and since it isn't blocked, I don't have the exact measurement. But I do love the color. I have some leftover yarn, I might make one for myself in the future. If I get a chance to block it before my mom goes home, I'll post another picture.

So any of you out there watch the Patriots game? What a game! Glad that they had a good come back! Speaking of football, I was very impressed with NBC network. All the NBC family network is having the "turn the lights off" initiatives to raise the awareness of being Green, and to educate their watchers the importance of environmental issues we are facing. At the half time game of Cowboys vs. Eagle, they turn off the lights and light the candles, and the anchormen talked about the upcoming segments from Arctic, Antarctica, and Equator - How much have changed from the past 10 years. It is great that a major television network is doing such initiatives.

Well, 25 hours a day sure is great, but it doesn't last. Night all.

Almost Complete

2007-11-02T20:32:00.000-05:00

Hemlock Ring that is. I have 14 rows left, but it is taking forever because each row contains a huge amount of stitches that I don't want to count.

But I need to hurry as I need to start the model knitting for Schaefer Yarn... Do you think I can get some more time in a day than 24 hours?

31 Days, 31 Posts

2007-11-01T21:12:00.000-05:00

I DID IT!

I had made a little promise to myself that I will post everyday for the month of October. As I am sitting here tonight, wondering about what were some of the exciting things that happened today, all of the sudden, it hit me that today is no longer October! Wow, where did the time go?

And looking back, I don't think I posted anything boring! I am so proud of myself. I think from now on, I am going to stick to the same guideline. I find it much easier to post a little everyday, than a lot in one day for the past week.

31 days, 31 posts. I did it.

Somewhere Over the Ranbow...

2007-10-31T21:09:00.000-05:00

Absolutely Amazing...

Parents Are In Town

2007-10-30T21:26:00.000-05:00

They are here and they are well.

I will probably post minimum post this week. Don't be alarmed.

Oh, and my dad likes the vests I made him.

Night.

Computer

2007-10-29T21:00:00.000-05:00

... is out of commission currently. I had my laptop reimaged and somehow the wireless is not working.

My parents are coming to visit tomorrow for a week! Yay!

Red Sox rule!

I'm out.