Charlotte love...Just a quick post - I have no pics, and I need to run off to bed soon.
Poor Kersti - my ribby sweater has been momentarily abandoned. I've been seduced by a wild charmer - Charlotte. I can't put her down! I love the way her pattern grows. I am entranced by the way the colors merge - and having a change every 16 rows keeps my interest high. I have 39 rows left - I have just started the repeat set with only color 4...
Of course, the
Boys must be thanked for the yarn. I'm already planning my second - I think its going to be a poncho, though. And, maybe in this huge skein of Interlacements yarn I have floating around.... we'll see. (Its the yarn on the left - this is a recycled image!)
Awesome trip...TripSo, I had a wonderful vacation. New York was awesome. (no yarn shopping done, though. Ah, well - maybe next time)
After last minute panic - Actors' Equity union had been working w/o a contract since the end of June, and talks broke down on the Saturday before we left... leaving very open a strike. Closing almost all Broadway shows. But 5pm on Monday (7pm flight...) a preliminary agreement was made. Whew! Trip was on! We flew out Monday night, and got to our hotel just off Times Square - the
Hotel Belvedere. Nice enough hotel. Very decent rates.
Tuesday we attempted to get into the Conan O'Brian show. We stood in the standby line, and got standby tickets (they handed out 75, and we got the 71st and 72nd). This gave us the right to come back later and stand in line again. At which point, they took the first 40 people (sniff). In between, we did a bus tour of downtown. In the rain - but being former Seattle dwellers, we scoff at rain - and we sat on the top of the bus (outside). We got a little wet - mostly from stitting on wet seats, though.
After being disappointed about getting into Conan, we went to
Chicago (the musical - we didn't skip town). This summer, the character Roxy Hart is being played by Trading Spaces' Paige Davis. She was very good - the show is wonderful.
Wednesday we started our day with a bus tour of Uptown. Fortunately, no rain. At least not in the morning.... We then hit the afternoon matinee of
Avenue Q. Essentially Sesame Street for Grownups. Very Very Good - but not for the easily offended. And definitely not for children. Don't be fooled by the puppets - this is an adult show. Full puppet nudity, adult themes and language. Raunchy. I loved it. The music is catchy, the acting good. It was a bit odd to start - the puppetteers are visible - they carry the puppets and act with them. But you get over it quickly. I cracked up over "The Internet is for Porn"
Wednesday night we went to see
Wicked - the main reason for our trip. This is a wonderful show - I've been singing the music ever since. (My poor iPod is getting tired of it :-) )This show also called the timing of our trip - we wanted to see the show before July 18th, as that was the last day for 3 original cast members - Kristin Chenoweth, Norbert Leo Butz, and Joel Grey. We didn't get to see Mr. Grey... but everyone else was wonderful! Ms. Menzel truly deserved her Tony. The story is loosely based on the novel
Wicked: the life and times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire. Different in some fundamental ways, but definitely based on the book. It is a fun story - Elphaba (Wicked Witch) and Glinda are college roommates - and it runs from there.
Thursday morning we did a quick tour of Liberty Island and Ellis Island, then headed for the airport. See - no time to find yarn shops. No time to knit - except on the plane. And during the long wait for our flight on Thursday - we had given ourselves a healthy buffer to allow for traffic. Then, the traffic was fine, of course.
Knitting UpdateI have done some knitting - see my progress on my Kersti! Isn't it wonderful!
And, I started my Charlotte... The first color goes by so fast - and I'm almost to the point to add in the third. However, I need to buy more of these stitch markers. I've decided that marking each repeat of the lace is a good way to go. I catch errors really quickly that way (and I've missed about 6 yarn-overs by this point!)
Such fun projects - yes, its Koigu city around here.
Happy Blog Birthday
Oops. I missed my Blog Anniversary - I started blogging last June. Oh well - happy belated Blog Anniversary to me!
Back home...
Back from New York.
Had a wonderful time.
Not much knitting, and no yarn shopping - had no time!
Much theatrical goodness! (I'm a musical theater junkie)
Longer post tomorrow!
Pics and NYC
Not much knitting done since yesterday - we went to see Spiderman 2 last night! Left monitor-monitoring duties to my dad, and my DH and went to the late show of Spiderman. Excellent, excellent movie!! I laughed, I cried, I gasped. Very fun!
I did remember to grab my camera, so I have pics.
First - finished Kersti blanket!! Its beautiful!!
I love it, and I'm sure the baby will also.
I swatched out my Kersti Ribby Raglan - See?
The bottom ribbing is to gauge (amazingly enough! It only took 3 tries!)
Then, since I got gauge - I started knitting - I'm pretty slow, so it will take me a while to finish. I'm enjoying every stitch!
Whew!
I'm getting VERY excited. Next week I'm going to New York City for a couple days. We leave Monday night, and fly back Thursday night. The Big One will be at overnight sports camp, and the Little One will be at her Grandma's house. Don't have a lot of plans for Tuesday yet, but Wednesday afternoon we're going to
Avenue Q, and Wednesday night we're going to
Wicked. I'm SO excited - I've never been to NYC before... and I'm a musical junkie. Seeing Broadway musicals is SO amazing. (We're also staying within walking distance of both shows!) My husband planned the trip as a surprise - isn't he awesome!
Off for now! Gotta knit more Ribby Raglan! Bye!
Finally....
I had been going to post pics, but I left my camera at work. Oops... pics tomorrow, I guess
I finished the Kersti Blanket, and its beautiful! And, since its July, I swatched the Ribby Raglan and knit the first inch or so. And, gifted both the waves blanket and the Kersti blanket. Granted, the parent of the Waves blanket recipient wasn't in the office today, and the other parent was waiting to open the present until he got home so I have no idea of the reactions.
Since I have no pics, I'll share a sappy sweet story about the Little One instead.
On the Fourth, we had dinner with friends, then went to their Grandmother's house to watch fireworks. (Aside - this was a wonderful location. We saw the Stillwater fireworks, which are set off over the Mississippi river. This house is set on the bluff, with an amazing up and down stream view. I love fireworks over water - the boats, the reflections... I hadn't seen the Stillwater fireworks before, but they are a perfectly acceptable set of pretties.)
So, the Little One sat on my lap, held her hands over her ears, and told us that the fireworks "scared her ears". Eventually she sat back in her chair and watched the rest by herself. The great part is yesterday, though. Yesterday approximately 7 times she'd say "fireworks". After someone agreed that she saw fireworks, she'd put her hands over her ears and say "they scare my ears". Agreement, then she'd say "The light scared my ears". Then she'd continue "On my chair. With the guys".
The description never varied. She told us the same thing over and over. I think the fireworks made a great impression on her - don't you think. And, isn't "scare my ears" just the cutest?!?
Ok. Enough gushing. Pics tomorrow.
I love Kersti :-)
Holiday Weekend
I had been going to post pics, but I left my camera at work. Oops... pics tomorrow, I guess
I finished the Kersti Blanket, and its beautiful! And, since its July, I swatched the Ribby Raglan and knit the first inch or so. And, gifted both the waves blanket and the Kersti blanket. Granted, the parent of the Waves blanket recipient wasn't in the office today, and the other parent was waiting to open the present until he got home so I have no idea of the reactions.
Since I have no pics, I'll share a sappy sweet story about the Little One instead.
On the Fourth, we had dinner with friends, then went to their Grandmother's house to watch fireworks. (Aside - this was a wonderful location. We saw the Stillwater fireworks, which are set off over the St. Croix river. This house is set on the bluff, with an amazing up and down stream view. I love fireworks over water - the boats, the reflections... I hadn't seen the Stillwater fireworks before, but they are a perfectly acceptable set of pretties.)
So, the Little One sat on my lap, held her hands over her ears, and told us that the fireworks "scared her ears". Eventually she sat back in her chair and watched the rest by herself. The great part is yesterday, though. Yesterday approximately 7 times she'd say "fireworks". After someone agreed that she saw fireworks, she'd put her hands over her ears and say "they scare my ears". Agreement, then she'd say "The light scared my ears". Then she'd continue "On my chair. With the guys".
The description never varied. She told us the same thing over and over. I think the fireworks made a great impression on her - don't you think. And, isn't "scare my ears" just the cutest?!?
Ok. Enough gushing. Pics tomorrow.
I love Kersti :-)
(edited to change river from Mississippi to St. Croix - I'm blushing over my lack of knowledge of Minnesota geography)
Light Knitting Week
My husband is out of town - therefore I don't knit.* I chase kids, and watch TV, and go hide early. That, and I spent Monday with my Mom for her birthday. And, Tuesday my sister came up for a couple days. We talked, giggled, and played video games after the kids were in bed and before I had to crash, because I don't do mornings well, and I've needed to get my older daughter on a bus before 7:10 am. Why do summer activities start earlier than school? Answer me that!
My sister is awesome. Actually, both my sisters are pretty cool, but my youngest sister and I have a bunch in common. And, I see her more often since she's a senior at a local college, and our in-between sister has just finished her Masters in Arizona. (Yea!) My little sis is more cynical than I am, though.
Hmmm... what may have never come up before is the part where I love video games. I'm currently working through Zelda Four Swords Aventures on my Cube, and will get back to Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles soon. And, Mario and Luigi Superstars on the Game Boy. And Dark Cloud 2 on the PS2. Oh, and the guys at work and I have been playing Unreal Tournament 2004 recently as well.
I kinda collect consoles - I have the aforementioned GBA, Game Cube and PS2, along with a n64, a SNES, and a Dreamcast. My husband puts up with me :-) I also am fond of board games and card games...
When I lived in CA and worked at a large computer company named like a fruit, I was required (as a lead) to have a team meeting either weekly or bi-weekly. ;Well... my team was small, and we all sat together in a converted lab (though we all sat in cubes, we did have a door on the room, so the 5 of us could at least shut out the rest of the floor. And we had windows.) Even though my team was consistently up to date on the project stuff, we did still have to have a meeting. So, one guy went for Juice Club (now called Jamba Juice - best smoothies ever), and we shut that aforementioned door and have our meeting. 5 minutes - I had brought everyone up to date (10 minutes on big news days). Then, we broke open the cabinet and took out the board games. (The one I remember is Don't Crack the Ice). Or, we'd play Marathon - one of the first FPS's for the Mac. And a great game. I figured it was team-building. :-)
*OK... some knitting has occured. But not much - the Kersti blanket is inching toward completeness. Thanks everyone who said they couldn't see the skein change. I'll believe you all that I'm just hyper-critical about these things (which is amazingly true). And, I've thrown on a couple more rows of duck feet. And, the amazingly pink purse is inching toward the point where I can knit handles.
Oh... and I started my gauge swatch for my Kersti sweater! No pics yet - but it is knitting up rather beautifully!!
