ARTwin knits

Relaxation

Well, our trip to the Poconos last weekend was lots of fun. I didn't take any pictures, so I can't share them with you, but we spent the weekend just relaxing with old friends. It was a great time. (Maybe I'll have some pictures soon once my friend posts his.)

This week has been crazy – but the last crazy week of the month and I think things will slow down a bit, but just a bit.

I've been knitting. I'm halfway through sleeve #1 on my cobblestone sweater. I would show you pictures, but L and H went to visit L's parents this weekend and took the camera. My phone has a camera but at&t has messed up my service plan and I can't send emails or photos, so, I'm pictureless. I'm headed into the NYC to see my sister and mom, who leave for Paris tomorrow. I hope to finish up sleeve #1 on the train. Cobblestone is a birthday present for L, but I'm late in finishing it. Luckily he understands.

Anyway, having the weekend to myself has been great. I'm trying to organize my office/guest room so that I can be more productive. More pictures of that, too, when it's done.

R&R

Still don't have any photos to share, but I do have some much needed R&R coming up this weekend. We're headed to the Poconos with a bunch of friends and their kids. It should be lots of fun, and hopefully relaxing. Hope to get lots of knitting done in the car, too.

Have a great weekend.

celebrity sightings

I have a tendency to see celebrities when you least expect it, and particularly when I'm with one of my work colleagues. A few years ago we were headed to a meeting in Washington DC and we had the good fortune of walking right past George Clooney. He was filming "K Street," the short-lived HBO series about government lobbyists. I tell you, there is something about him that is magnetic.

Anyway, today I was with the same colleague at a conference in NY. We were walking from the conference to MoMA to see the Richard Serra exhibition (his new work, by the way, was as unsettling as I would imagine a good Serra work to be).  On the street I saw Nick Verreos from Project Runway.  Then, we were at MoMA and I looked down into the Sculpture Garden and there was Al Roker with his wife, Deborah Roberts. I couldn't tell if the other woman that they were with was also a celebrity. Regardless, it was an interesting day for sightings!! 

I started a plain regia sock (#5279 on this page) on the train this morning and I've made it about halfway through the leg of the first sock. It's flying off the needles, which is actually what I need right now. I'll try to take a picture tomorrow.

Retail Therapy

Do you ever feel like you are cruising along, nothing much happening, and then all of a sudden, everything happens at once. That has certainly been the case for me lately. It's like we hit September running and I haven't stopped. And now it's almost over. I've really been pulled in about a million different directions this month, with barely enough time to breath.

This is nothing that some retail therapy couldn't cure. :P

Today, I took some time for myself – something I don't do very often – and went to Kohls. I really like Kohls and I was so excited to find out recently that they've introduced a new line of clothes, shoes and accessories by Vera Wang called Simply Vera. This reminds me of the strategy popularized by Target where they invite designers to create a line that is exclusive to that store, but targeted to a lower price point. I love this idea, and was excited to see what Vera Wang had done. I went online last night to see what they had and noticed that so many of the items were already sold out – and this was just introduced in the last week or so. I figured I needed to get into the store to see what they have. I ended up buying a great pair of stretch jeans, which will need massive hemming, but which are still really cute. And a really cute top, which I'm wavering on. But best of all was my new bag. I love this shape – so easy to find things in it, and lots of room for knitting, books, diapers or whatever I need to tote around. It was so funny when I bought it because the woman who was on the register asked me what I was going to use it for. She said it reminded her of a doctor's bag and she couldn't imagine carrying it around.

Anyway, I felt a bit better after having some time to myself. Hopefully some knitting progress later in the week. In the meantime, it's back to the writing.

 

NJ Sheep and Wool Festival

Wow – that was a long blog hiatus. I just haven't felt like blogging much lately. Does that happen to you? I've had lots going on and just needed to stay focused on that and away from the blogs. I hope to be back more regularly, but I'm not making any guarantees.

I've been knitting as stress relief, when I have free time, which isn't always easy to find these days.

I'm working on a Cobblestone (from IK Fall2007) for Larry.  I love the simplicity of the pattern. It's perfect for stress-relief knitting. And the best part – no seaming!!  I'm almost to the yoke. I'll try to take some pictures soon.

I took a bit of a hiatus from working on this to whip up some organic cotton washcloths this week. I picked up some Lion Brand Nature's Choice Organic Cotton. This is a lovely yarn. It is so soft and cuddly. I think it would make a good plush toy.  But, it also made up some good washcloths to go with the handmade soap and lotion that I bought. 

I'm liking a lot of the patterns in the new IK. I think Eunny did a fantastic job with her first issue.

Today, H and I went to the NJ Sheep and Wool Festival. Compared to MDSW, which is the only other fiber festival I've been too, this was quite small.  But we had a blast.  H liked all the sheep and animals. But most of all he liked the guitar.  There was a strolling guitarist and H kept saying "more guitar" and he'd get so excited when he would stroll by.  We saw some really adorable sheep herding dogs, including a very little puppy.  And H also loved the hay maze. He made his way through it without any trouble at all, and he kept going back for more.

 

I bought some lovely silk handpainted yarn from The Sanguine Gryphon.  It's a gorgeous combination of blues that will end up as a scarf, most likely. 

And I also bought some merino top from the Foxcross Farm, which is a NJ farm.  One of these days I'll start spinning and have enough to make some socks.