All the Good Stuff

Look at what I won from Knittymuggins????

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And I suppose I should really post some knitting progress:

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

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

Memorial Weekend

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Anticipation

Look what came in the mail!!!!

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

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

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

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

Saturday Adventure

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!!! :)

When you have no intention of buying...

... that's when you make the purchase!

We went into Sears for this, we found it, but we also came home with this! I mean how can you not with that price!!!!

Well, we didn't get it from Sears because they ran out, but we went to Circuit City and they price matched it! We didn't have the truck with us so we are picking it up tomorrow morning :)

We also went costume shopping for my cousin's party tomorrow. You'll have to wait and see what I'm gonna be :)

Update on the Hemlock Ring Blanket - I contacted Carol from Farmhouse Yarn last night, and she immediately emailed me back and ask me to return the skein to exchange it. Well, the thing is, my HRB was 60% done so now the half way through HRB will go back to Carol, along with the unused yarn, and I'll be getting a new sweater skein, or maybe few different regular skeins that results to 50 dollars worth of yarn. ::sigh:: At least I get new yarn, and don't have to deal with the frustration anymore. I'm sad though because I really like the colorway and how the blanket turns out so far. Maybe she will have something similar in color at her sale.

Well, I guess I should start the Secret of the Stole...

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!

Last Weekend in September

Where did September go? Time does fly when you are having fun! So let me recap on what happened this past weekend - I feel like I need another weekend just to recover from all the excitement!

The excitement really started Saturday afternoon after coming home from my morning training session. A picture is worth a 1000 words:

The beginning


The wing

Pattern - Swan Lake by Melanie Gibbons, aka Pink Lemon Twist
Yarn Called For - 780 yards of lace weight yarn, Zephyr used, black or white
Yarn Used - 1 skein of Skacel Merino Lace in pale pink
Beads - About 300 Swarovski crystal in Antique Rose, bicone, size 3
Needles - Crystal Palace bamboo circular size 2
Gauge - N/A
Knit - June 29, 2007 to September 24, 2007
Blocked - September 29, 2007
Modifications - None

SOOO PUUUUUURTY! The wing and where the cat's paws pattern in the center was hard to knit - it's not difficult, it's just boring! And adding beads just slows down the process. I also didn't use any stitch markers until the wing portion, and I only used one. But all the trouble is worth it at the end! And now I'm gonna send it to its merry way. Maybe I have enough yarn leftover to make another one for myself when I feel like it! Speaking of yarn, I forgot to showcase these awhile back when I received the order, along with quite a few of my fellow SnBers:

Pounds of Zephyr!!

No, they are not all for me!! I am holding for Anphoe and a friend Anya.

After the MS3 dried, David and I went to the Mid-Autumn Festival celebration put out by Aiping Tai Chi & Wu Dang Kung Fu Academy. It had a huge variety of different performances, including students from the academy showcaseing what they learned, special guests from "Changing Face" master to Chinese Acrobatics. Here are some of the pictures I took during the celebration:

Lion dance!


Traditional Chinese folk music


"Changing Face"


Everyone who performed


The Chinese Acrobatics who is balancing THREE eggs on some stick!

Yeah! THREE eggs! He even cracked them to prove that he didn't cheat! I thought that was amazing! The show was definitely worth my money and we will be sure to come back for next year!

Sunday morning I woke up with these on top of me:

Mick and Bruno on the bed waking me up

See my arm? Yeah, Mick likes to cover my face for some reason - it's a good thing he just got groomed and is super fluffy and soft and smelly good :). I let them out and saw the beautiful Sunday sky:

Beautiful September sky

We woke up so early for Sunday, it's not even funny... 6AM!! Yes, you read it right, and for what? See below:

46 tires!!!

A truck full of tires - We had to go get it up in MA, near VT border. It was for David's race car, and they were free, so there we were, up so early to get them. After we got the tires, we drove back down to go here:

Yankee Candle Village

I haven't gone there for awhile now, and I always like going in there, one, to check out all the new scents, and two, to see all the Christmas decorations. Although, I completely forgot to take ANY pictures...

After Yankee Candles, we finally headed to the Big E. (Click if you don't know what a Big E is) The first vendor we went to sells linens. We found these beautiful doily type thing that has autumn leaves on it - perfect for our wedding! So we ended up buying 15 of them for the center pieces. We continued on and went into the State Buildings (Each of the New England State has its own building showcasing what is produced in that state). New Hampshire was the first. I got a Maple Sundae and turned around and found this:

Spinners in New Hampshire Building

Yup! You see that right! And she was wearing her handmade socks! :) Then we moved onto Connecticut. On the way in, we saw this new potato place that wasn't there couple of years ago:

Giant baked potato with butter, cheese and BBQ pull pork. YUM!

Now, what you need to know, is that Baked Potato is Maine's specialty - at least that's when people lined up all the way outside to get a Maine Baked Potato:

The looooong line in Maine Building waiting for baked potatoes!

So this year, we didn't wait at all! AND we got pull pork on top of it! We moved on through all the states and went out to the antique car show:

OOOOOLD car in display

There are actually quite a few cars out there and I wish I had them all... Old cars are just so much prettier than the newer ones. The next major thing we did was to go see the bears:

One of the bears we saw!

This time, there was no mama bear though. I hope mama bear was okay. There were about 6 or 7 bears in there total. They are actually quite cute and they nudged the guy who was IN the trailer with them who fed them to play! Can you imagine? In an enclosed space with 6 live bears? Yeah, me either.

The last place we went to was the barn that house all the live stocks. There was a little place for the fiber:

Fiber? Anyone??


Baaaaaaaah...

I went inside the fiber nook but I just missed it! They were all cleaning up! However, I did find a vendor who is not completely finished on cleaning and found a bunch of patterns. I went home with 3 Fiber Trend patterns for $5!!! Not to shabby if I do say so myself!

While we were there, there was a sheep show going on...

Sheep show

So here is the loot:

The Loot!

The green Marker vest usually runs about 80 bucks, but I got it for half off, along with the hot chili undershirt and long underwear - all for half off! I know it's hard to think of winter right now, but when they are at that price, I know it is a good idea to get them now. The yellow 400 thread count Egyptian Cotton sheets - 20 bucks for the entire set! Great Pyrenees picture frame, key chain, tea cup ornament, and stickers - we NEVER find anything Great Pyrenees related so we had to get them! I put the key chain on my purse and I'm going to print some pictures of the dogs to put it in the frame. The autumn leaves doilies, Florian ratchet-cut pruning tool, a box of fudge, and the stuff from Yankee Candles - Tea and Honey candle, Maple leave cookie cutter and a little maple syrup for my Christmas Swapee :) It's secret, so no showing off her blog right now, in case somehow she finds me. But I am super excited about the swap though :).

We were so exhausted when we got home... My legs and butt still hurt when I woke up on Monday!! We took this right before we went to bed:

Vanilla waiting for us going to bed!

Yeah, my weekend was just a little busy...

ps. Just so you know, there are only 76 people in front of me in Ravelry!!!!

In No Particular Order...

Yesterday, Katy, one of the SnB member, had a garden potluck party. I was originally gonna make the Chocolate and Zucchini Cake, but Mick got sick so we ended up at the Vet instead. But I made it up by going to Julia's Bakery and bought a Peach Pie for the party. I met quite a few people there, and Archiknist and Soozies were there as well. Archiknist came with her new toy and I told David that I want one too!!! :)

Today was slow and relaxing. I went to SnB and got to talk with Costumechick. I haven't seen her for awhile so it was great seeing her again. And speaking of someone I haven't seen for awhile, Lilith came too! And she brought WIP Clessidra with her! I think I'm gonna either make that or Monkey next. And I get to cast on as early as now, if I want to, because I finally finished my first pair of socks for Summer of Sock 2007:

Pattern - Falling Leaves by Jessica Landers on Knitty.com
Yarn Called For - 2 Skeins Koigu Painters Palette Merino in #823
Yarn Used - 2 Balls Reynolds Soft Sea Wool in #0650
Needles - 2 Addi Turbo size 2 circular
Gauge - 7.5 sts per inch
Knit - July 05, 2007 to August 12, 2007
Modifications - Universal formula sizing, Magic cast-on, 2x2 Ribs

This pattern was an easy knit and a great introduction to lace. I love the way it came out and I really like the yarn I chose - I think solid yarn show case the pattern much better than the variegated version. I knitted both socks at once and I think it's a great choice and from now on, I might just do both at the same time! I actually didn't use 2 balls and I think I might actually have enough left to make a pair of ankle socks. We'll see what comes out of it.

Right before I went to SnB today, I found out a local Farmer's Market that happens on Sundays - I am so excited because usually they have it during Wednesday on mid-day and Saturday mornings, which both are bad for me. They had been expanding it and added Thursday late afternoon/early evening and Sunday during the day. I stopped by before going to SnB and bought some fresh peaches and a blueberry lemonade - yum!

Not much progress was made for MS3... only 20 rows into the Clue 4...

After SnB, I decided to use the giant zucchini my brother brought home:

I tried the recipe "Sweet Potato & Zucchini Frittata" from Moosewood Restaurant New Classic. Besides sweet potato and zucchini, it calls for onions, eggs, cream cheese, garlic, milk, smoke cheddar, marjoram, salt and pepper. I love Moosewood cookbooks - although it is vegetarian, I think anyone can find something in there that they like! My friend introduced me to Moosewood back when we were in college and now I have almost all of their cookbooks!

YUM!

Progress Report and Some More...

Alright, I admit it, I have been a BAD blogger lately. I've been slacking on the posts... But when you are still kinda in the middle of a move (yes, we still have crap at the old house, and now we are helping our tenants move from the old house to the new house!!!), it is tough to justify doing other things besides unpacking.

Speaking of unpacking, I unpacked the yarn of course, and let me present you...

MY YARN WALL!!!

David and I went to IKEA to get some cabinets for the kitchen and when we walked through the "AS IS" section, we spotted 4 bookcases, 1 for $94, 2 for 85$ and 1 for $74. On top of that, you get 20% off!!! So I became the proud owner of a Yarn Wall for only $54!!!! It was amazing :) The only thing that is wrong with it was that there is a dent on the top shelf - but you can't even see it once you set against the wall! Highly recommend the "AS IS" section of IKEA.

Now to my cabled pullover... I am very disappointed with my progress on this. It feels like that I've been knitting the damn sweater FOREVER! I did lose March to moving, but still...

Front and Back panels


The sleeves!

The front and back panels are a little different, even though the pictures from the website and the pattern book showed that they are the same. The reason being, when I was following the chart they provided, the front and back ARE different. According to the chart and the written instructions, front and back are different. But when you look at the pictures, it showed that the model front was the same as the chart for the back. I wrote to Classic Elite to ask for clarification, but never heard back from them. Archiknist and I decided that the model was wearing it backwards.

Archiknist and I also went to the Farmhouse Yarn Sale. Let me tell ya, it is a NOT TO BE MISSED event if you are as obsessed about yarn as us. We split the "Fill the Bag" sale and I came home with one GIANT sweater skein - usually priced for $125/skein in the store, Carol was selling it for $50 at her front yard, and if you can squeeze it in to the "Fill the Bag", then lucky to be you! And I was the lucky one! We stuffed so much yarn it in, it wasn't even funny! We must have gotten at least $500 worth of yarn. The giant skein had seen been wound into TWO GIANT yarn cake, which you can see in the top left cubby of the yarn wall, and the rest of the yarn is in the third left cubby. I got a baby design in my mind for the cotton yarn I got there, and I want to knit it up and maybe send it to Carol for pattern publishing. I've never done design before, but I'm sure I can figure it out.

On to things other than knitting... I finally joined "Facebook" - after my friends bugging me for awhile... I have to say, it is ADDICTING! I can spend many hours on it just for doing NOTHING! Well, reading others profiles... It is like a time black hole that just sucks you in and you won't know when is the last time you eat! Okay, I am exaggerating a bit, but still!

I am working on our wedding website, which is also taking away my time to post. I will post the link once it is presentable. I do have to say though, the website is inspired by my friend Dyanamaria. I went to high school with her and I haven't seen her for a very long time. I found her on MySpace awhile ago, but we lost touch again. The reason I decided to find her again was the whole Facebook thing, because I thought she might have a profile there, but she didn't. Instead, I found her on her wedding website, which was absolutely beautiful and professional. I found her on the day after her wedding day, so she is currently on the honeymoon, hopefully, we will reconnect after she gets back. The coolest thing though, she married one of our high school friends! We were all in Chamber Singers and spent a lot of time practicing together. Two of her bridesmaids were also in Chambers with us. Dyanamaria was one of my friends from high school that I wish I didn't lose touch with and I am excited about the fact that I found her wedding website and would be able to reconnect again.

I think that's enough of update for now. I promise I will be a better blogger from now on...

CT Pet Show!

David's mom came down from Mass for the weekend. We decided to go to the CT Pet Expo at Hartford. The rain had stopped for a bit when we got there, which was very nice, since we parked pretty far away. When we first walked in, I was overwhelmed with all the venders - leashes, collars, dog food, vacuums, dog clothes, just to name a few. They also had some vendors for humans - fudges, socks, country stores, soaps, lotions, etc. From one of the vendors, I got this:

I think the mug said it for itself.

Of course, they also had dog shows, the kind you see on TV, where they judge the best of breed, then best of group, then best of show! We saw two St. Benards, one puppy, one full grown. We didn't stay very long for the show though, cuz they didn't have any Great Pyrenese.

We walked around more, and then all of the sudden, I saw THIS:

Giant angora bunny!

AND THESE:

Spinning wheel with yarns!!!

Angora Yarn!!!

Of course, I was VERY EXCITED. I got to talk to the lady, whose name is Louise Walsh of Taunton, MA. It turned out she breeds and sells angora bunnies and she is the Creator of the Giant Angora!!! She was at Rhinebeck, booth 35, but I didn't see her though. We chatted about bunnies, fibers, spinning wheels, and which wool festival to go to. She was nice enough to pose for a picture with me:

Louise and I

I was happy.

More tomorrow. Happy Knitting!