Convertible

Almost two weeks without a post. I'm a bad blogger. But I have an excuse. I have been using every spare moment to knit. Knitting is better than blogging, right? I started the Convertible shawl/shrug last Tuesday. I swatched before getting on the train at 6am to go to the gym. And it hasn't left my hands since. It was finished Wed. afternoon. Well, finished minus the buttons. I have to go buy them and then make them. That will take me til the wedding at the end of the month. Wanna see it? It's a fuzzy picture, but you get the idea.



And this is the close up of the pattern:


Next up, the Over the Knee socks from Holiday Handknits. I'm using Rowan Cashsoft DK. They're for my best friend. I've already gotten 2 of the lace pattern repeats done, and there are 15 in total before doing the heel.



A closer look at the ribbing:


I'm also going to do another Roxy bag, for the little one's teacher. I'll have more pics later this week. Maybe I'll post the cupcakes I made for a batchelorette party....

Letter J

Today's post is brought to you by the letter


J is for Joy. I feel that I'm cheating by using such a common thing, but yesterday was truly a joyful day. My husband, who usually works nights on the weekends, was off Sat. night, allowing us a rare Sat. day/afternoon together as a family (he's usually sleeping). So what does the family do on a sunny Saturday? Why, head to Coney Island to ride the Cyclone!


Hubby and I try to ride at least once a year, and I am very happy to have enjoyed the first ride of the year so early in the year. Roller coasters are one of our passions and we're lucky to have such a great coaster 5 minutes from us. After the coaster, we hit some kiddie rides, where the little one experienced some joy of his own:

He rode a kiddie coaster alone for the first time. He's a coaster enthusiast in training.

We then hit the boardwalk and strolled until we hit a playground. Hubby and my brother in law went to hit some golf balls while I sat on the sand and enjoyed the view

and while the little one had fun playing in the beachy playground and on the sand

We stopped to get ice cream (or spumoni) at our favorite ice cream place and headed home. Once home, I found a box on my doorstep. My vacation swap package! I tore into it and found a bunch of stuff wrapped in pink tissue paper. Wanna see the goodies?





There's pink smelly stuff, there's pink playing cards, there's a book I almost picked up the other day, there's a pink handknit case for the cards and the book (in alpaca!!!) and a handknit bookmark with teeny little socks! There's a handknit washcloth, shotglasses, and hand dyed pink sock yarn! And, oh my god, a gift certificate for a spa. Oh. My. God. Wendy has been incredibly generous and wonderful. I hope her vacation swap pal is as wonderful to her as she has been to me. Thank you Wendy!

It truly was a joyful day yesterday, and even though it's a cheesy J, it's a perfect J.

Knitting stuff? Well, I'm almost done with a Nautie for the little one, and am a few pattern repeats from finishing the Trellis scarf while I wait for the SWTC Bamboo yarn to come for the Convertible.

I made a decision

I finished the first of the the Spiral Rib socks (called "After Bertha" in the book).


They're short, but I'm ok with that. I kind of got tired of doing the spiral rib, not to mention that the cast on is a little tight. You can't see the pattern well with this dark yarn, but I like them, and that's all that matters.

Next, albeit late, my "I" for the Knitty ABC along. I is for ISBN.


The ISBN you see is for my favorite book, Falling Leaves, The Memoir of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter. As some of you may know, I am half Chinese. I went thru a period of time where I wanted to read books written by Chinese authors. Sort of searching for something with my heritage. I picked books at random, and this was one of them. I fell in love with this book. I have read it over and over again, and when anyone asks me for a book recommendation, I give this one. And every single person that I've recomended it to has loved it as well.

And last but not least, the decision I made. I have decided to put the shawl away. I am leaving it as it is, marking carefully where I left off, and putting it away. It is no longer fun for me to knit. And I don't want my knitting to be a chore. So, look for it again at a later time, but not anytime soon. Instead of this shawl for the wedding, I'm going to make Convertible. I need yarn (of course I do, don't look at me like that...), but I will purchase it this week. Look for pics soon.

Happy Mom's day!

Let's play catch up while banana bread is baking in the oven.

First, Bean tagged me for a meme:

1)What's your favorite LYS?: The Point.
2)What about it do you like most?: I like the atmosphere, the friendly staff, the ability to sit there for hours and knit in peace, AND that they don't mind the little one in the store.
3)What is your 2nd favorite?: I haven't really been there often, but I think my second fav would be Seaport.
4)What would you improve about it to make it a tie with your first?: A place to sit and knit and kinda veg out. The fact that The Point has food and beverages is a big plus.
5)What's the last thing your bought at your #1 LYS? Takhi Cotton Classic for a Nautie for the little one, some Manos Cotton Stria and size 4 dpns.
6)Who's Next?: Ali, Karma, Helen, Bezzie, and Terby.

Next up, finished Spey Valley socks. It's Trekking color 100.


I have been working on a bunch of small projects, some secret plots, some for the Vacation swap, some new socks, and one not knitting related.
Vacation swap knitting...there are 2 of these, one purple and one blue, and I'm not showing what it is, just a tease here:


New socks. They are the Spiral Rib socks from Socks, Socks, Socks, in the Trekking colorway that most of you admired. (And by the way, my favorite of the Trekking? The cream/brown pink colorway!)


Also making an appearance at the park yesterday with the new sock, the shawl....I messed it up again while at the park, so back into the back it went, but am planning on working on it all day today.


The not knitting related item. I picked up a Klutz Quilting book awhile ago. It's meant for kids, but since I am a kid at heart, I knew it would be perfect for me. I am interested in learning, and I finally pulled it out last night and started to work on a sachet. It's stuffed with fiber fill sprayed with Victoria's Secret Love Spell body spray. Click the pic to see the back of the sachet.


Last, we have my purchase from the Lion and Lamb sale with Bean last week. Go visit Bean's blog to see pics of me and how much I love this Malabrigo.


Happy Mother's Day to all my net friends!

I have been Nautie

Instead of working on the second one of these:

Or working on this shawl, I picked up a new project:

She's off to her new home tomorrow. I hope her new owner likes her as much as I do.

I got a few things in the mail over the last week. First let me show you the rest of the Trekking that I got. Anyone care to guess which of the four is my favorite colorway?


I also received what I won from the Fug Off. I think it's an adorable tote:


And, from my KnittySP6 co-hostess, Maryann, merino and possum wool:


I plan on being busy this week, with field trips with the little one, but in between such fun, I will be working on the shawl. The wedding is coming up fast, and I really do want to wear it.

And, a just because photo....hubby and I stole a few minutes together on Friday and hit Brighton Beach to walk along the boardwalk for a minute or two. He told me to go frolic in the sand, so I did.