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Tuesday, May 29, 2012

To NYC and Back AGain

Beware the long post.  

I've been thinking about the highlights of my trip.  NYC is quite a town!  I stayed in Times Square which is full of taxis and travelers from all over the word, as well as the touristy sellers of trinkets and things.  The Met was amazing as was the performances of the Wagner Ring Cycle.  After 4 different operas, each 4-5 hours long (during which I was not allowed to knit, lol) I'm opera-ed out for a while.

More pictures of my trip are on flickr.  

I really enjoyed meeting a couple I met on the Internet over 10 years ago.  It is a rare pleasure to meet with Internet acquaintances, and it was such a nice visit.

I didn't get to see the whole park, but Central Park is a lovely lovely place.  This is the Literary Walk lined with statues of authors and gently curving trees. 


I loved Grand Central Terminal.  The cool ceiling of stars is hard to see through the lens of a small point and shoot camera.    I could spend days looking at all the great details of this wonderful building.  





A co-worker kept egging me on to go to the Hungarian Pastry Shop and I'm glad I did!  My strudel got a bit smashed, but it was delicious! I lust for the baklava I didn't get still.  Aah, the pastry not eaten.   Across the street was St. John Divine.  It had a garden to sit and eat lunch in with funky statues. 

There were so many cool things, I'll just have to go back one of these days. 

Prior to my visit to NYC I hooked up with my college roommate in New Jersey  I had not seen her in person for more years then I care to mention.  Though so many years have passed, it was amazing how we liked similar TV shows and music, and how talking was so easy.  She had me stay in her renovated guest room, which at first glance was very patriotic, but then on second glance the theme was the University of Kansas!  Rock Chalk Jayhawk!! She was hostess with most-est! I can tell she still misses the wide open spaces and pace of the prairie.  We share some great memories of when we were young and foolish, and good times with her family in Salina, Ks.  Her dog Razzi, a well-mannered rescued giant lab requested some kerchiefs.  I got to practice rolled hemming on my serger.  There is a learning curve, yes there is.  Baby Sister requested some yoga headband, too.  Yay!  I get to use up some fabric stash!

The clasp breaks away Razzi should step on it or get it caught on something.

I hope it fits Razzi.


I visited one yarn store in NYC, the Lion Brand Yarn Studio. The fiber creation in the window was a Picassoesque woman knitting.  Very cool.  It has all the Lion brand yarns so I got some Amazing to try out.  I was going to crochet the scarf they had on display  but went with a hat instead.

Pattern:  Urban Chullo, from Lion Brand Just Hats. Colorway Olympia, one skein
Hook:  Size J
Mods: none
Comments.  My ear flaps came out too long.  The yarn has some wool in it and is quite fuzzy, which makes it a bit sticky to frog.  It feels nice and soft. 

I also knit a pair of fingerless mitts. 
Pattern:  Wine and Roses Mitts by JoLene M. Treace from Interweave Knits, Winter 2006
Yarn:  Little Knits Indie 2
Needles: size 2
Mods:  none
Comments:  This little bit of lace gave me some fits.  The pattern is definitely correct, I just can't count.    The yarn held up to much abuse and feels very soft.  

I spun up my first braid of alpaca from Upstream Alpaca, colorway Emerald.  I was a bit hesitant after reading up on spinning alpaca, but this stuff was a real pleasure to work with.  I was going for a 3 ply worsted and I think it's close. What will it be?


.  

The big project is the sewing room organization.  When I got my new sewing table I had to rearrange the space.  My homemade ironing table did not fit.  My bobbins were driving me crazy and the fabric was out of control. 
I found some great ideas surfing the Internet (hmm perhaps less surfing and more actual work would be more productive?)

1.  Bobbin taming with plastic tubing.  I will cut it a bit wider and it should fit fine.
2.  Bobbin taming with plastic binding combs.  I found some of this at Fisher Hawaii for only 9 cents each.  The 5/8 inch one seems to fit my bobbins. 

I'm going to see which one works best for me. 

3.  How to fold fabric.  This is a great idea, but knowing me, I'll still be stuck with crumpled up little pieces of fabric too good to throw away. 



4.  Which leads to, what to do with all those small pieces of fabric.  I liked this idea of ironing and cutting those small pieces into charm squares.

5.  And to make my new mini-ironing board I followed this video.  

Mine came out pretty good.  Home Depot cut a piece of scrap wood for me for free! Woohoo!  I found a piece of wool fabric in stash and a bag I rescued from the Goodwill bag fit over the whole thing as cover perfectly!

I have uncovered several UFO's in my fabric stash.  Hopefully they will be done or frogged this year! 

My next trip will be to Washington State for the BIL's retirement.  I hope to get to Little Knits and have some Top Pot doughnuts!








Saturday, May 12, 2012