A Weekend Of Fun

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!

An Afternoon of Yarn

Anyone who knows me knows I can't pass up a sale. So today after my training for Primerica, I went to Yarn Garden and met up with Anphoe there. The funny thing is, following me into the store immediately wasn't Anphoe, but it was costumchick! Speaking costumchick, she was mean and "made" me join yet another KAL. Go check it out and sign up!!

Anyways, so Yarn Garden had everything 40% off! EVERYTHING! When Denise hold a sale, she has a real sale! Here is what I got from the few hours of shopping:

A Gathering of Lace by Meg Swason, Knitting on the Edge by Nicky Epstein, Noni Lattice Bag pattern and Sustermann Step (mit Aloe Vera und Jojoba Öl - with Aloe Vera and Jojoba Oil)

I also got my friends some sock yarns and Christmas secret pal a pattern and some yarn and accessory, but I don't want to show it, in case they read my blog (in fact, I know they do). I'll reveal once the package is sent.

Afterwards, Anphoe and I went to Panera Bread to have some lunch and wind the lace yarn we got awhile ago. I actually bought a digital scale at LnT for pretty cheap for this purpose as well:

All the yarn!!


See the scale?

Anphoe and I had loads of fun! Now only if both of us knew that we were gonna join the Mystic Waters KAL, we would have also gotten some blue lace... Blue lace, anyone? anyone? Com'on costumechick!

Super Bowl Sale!

What Super Bowl Sale? You ask. Well... for all the football fan out there, they are probably busy all day preparing food and drinks for the party they are having, for us yarn addicts, it is the Yarn Super Bowl Sale today!!! I met up with Emily, Suzy, and Karen from SnB at Au Bon Pan and started our "Yarn Crawl" today. We first went to Yarn Garden - All yarn are 41% off! ALL YARN!!! I ended up with these:

1 skien of Skacel Merino Lace in Pink, 10 balls of Louisa Harding Kashmir DK in Pink and 7 balls Debbie Bliss cathay in blue

I plan on using the Skacel Merino Lace for the Moon Dance Stole and Debbie Bliss cathay for Temping II but without the buckle. As for Louise Harding Kashmir DK, I haven't figure it out yet... Probably a short sleeves sweater for the spring/fall. David is skiing at Vermont this weekend, and he called me last night and said "Honey, just limit to two bags, okay?" HA! TWO BAGS??? I should have gone to IKEA and filled two bags there! But I did well, I like to think - I've only filled half of a bag!!! And I have purpose for all the yarn! well... almost.

We then went on to Yarn Barn... The line for the register is absolutely RIDICULUS! I think just for waiting in line is about an hour! On top of that, it was hard to tell what's on sale and what's not - all the label fell onto the floor and there was no way you can figure out what to look for either! We left after much of disappointment... I need some smaller size needles, but I ended up just leaving without buying it. There was no way I am standing in line all that time to buy couple of needles.

Of course, we couldn't miss our weekly SnB meeting, so we went to our usual spot and had a little show and tell. We met Lilith's Texan today as well. He is here only for the weekend though. The best part, he was wearing his kilt and knitting by the time we walk in!!! What a man! Only if David knits... nah, he'll probably be better than me, so I think I'll keep the craft to myself :)

So what was added to your stash today?

Apple Picking and Yarn Garden

Yes, I was suppose to post yesterday, but I was busy finishing this:

Cowl Neck Sweater No. 2 and that's Mick behind me trying to get into the picture!

Pattern - Cowl Neck Pullover No. 2 from VK KnitSimple Winter 2005 by Wilma Peers
Yarn Called For - 18 skeins Bunny by Tahki Yarns in Natural
Yarn Used - 7 balls of Valley Yarn Berkshire Bulky in Fuchsia
Needles - Denise size 9
Gauge - 13 sts and 23 rows = 4" in St st
Knit - September 10-ish, 2006 to October 29, 2006

Ahhh... Finally done with the sweater for my mom. I am working on one of the gift projects that's not related to Christmas. I will post more once the gift has been given.

Ok. On to what we did yesterday. Some of the SnB girls and I went apple picking yesterday morning. Well, it was a lot of fun and a lot of Golden Delicious, and a lot of WIND! It was so cold! But we got apples none the less.

Ola, Beth, Myself, and Emily

Golden Delicious from the trees on the right and Fuji from the Farm store on the left

We went to the Lyman's Farm Store afterwards and I got these:

Cinnamon apple cider donut holes, honey maple spread, and 4 honey sticks - I ate two already :)

Afterwards, we went to Yarn Garden at Meriden. I told myself that there would be no yarn purchase for me since I got a bunch at home. And I didn't. I came home with these instead:

Boathouse from Classic Elite and Book Two KFI Yarns of Ella Rae Design

I can't wait to make stuff out of them :)

That would have been the end of my post, however, when I came home tonight, there was a package waiting on the steps with these in it:

Care package from Sher!!!

In the package contained 2 skien of Lambs Pride Bulky in April Green and Aztec Turquoise, a skien and a half of Gedifra Arktis color, a bottle of Key Lime Juice, and some baby Afgan patterns. Sher is one of my future MILs and she knits as well :)

Thank you Sher! :)

Happy Knitting!

NYC Knit Out!!!

Knit Out!! and Crochet Too! Were you there? I was!!!

I bought the 10-trip tickets from Metro North and met with the girls at New Haven train station. We took the 10:32 train down to Grand Central and just in time for the doggie show! Although I didn't really get to see it because I was busy browsing through the booths. I got some free patterns and a ball of Bernet Boa yarn in white (now I have to figure out what to do with it... might be good for some trim or something...) I wore Pink Frosting and was very excited that I got to do that. I got loads of compliments on it and it really is the first time I wore it in public - all the other time I had to have a jacket over it because it was cold.

While at the booth, I met Amy Singer from knitty.com and she was nice enough to pose for me:

Amy R. Singer from Knitty.com with her new book!

We went to Starbucks to sit down and eat for awhile, just to replenish and make sure we are not all sun burned and get heat strokes. After we got back out, we met the Yarn Harlot - Stephanie Pearl-McPhee and the traveling socks!

Yarn Harlot, Me and the famous traveling socks!

After we left the knit out, we went to here, and here is what I got:

2 hanks of Misti Alpaca, 3 balls of Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk, 2 hanks of MANOS del URUGUAY

I will be knitting the Misti Alpaca using the Irish Hiking Scarf pattern, Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk for Fetching and MANOS del URUGUAY is yet to be determined. If you have any ideas or suggestions for those yarns, please let me know!

We then went to Lush to get some awesome handmade cosmetics. I even got solid shampoo and conditioner so I would be able to travel with them and not have to check them in!

Finally, we bid NYC goodbye for now... Thanks to these girls, I had a great time today!

Ola and Beth


Sue and Julie

Karen

Happy Knitting!