Where Did The Socks Go?

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! :)

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!

MDS&W & Sock Pentathlon Sock #2

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

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

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

And see who we saw!!! :)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Harlot

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!

Thank You My Cocoa Swap Pal!

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 -