Seriously

29 days since I last posted. Amazing.

Here's what I've been up to:

First, I received the amazing package from my PRGE pal, Rachel

It was full of everything I love - dishcloth cotton (in awesome new colors), Selena's hand-dyed yarn (in a luscious purple), stickers, a mini-puzzle (which I have left at work), awesome coffee (which was promptly consumed during Sunday knitting, of which there have been 3 already since I received said coffee), fake tattoos and an adorable card, which got hung on my side of our back room. My side is for knitting, and honey's side is for paintings - of which there are many. The room just looks a mess since we both have quite a bit amassed in here. That's what back rooms are for.

I finally wound up some Unwind Yarn Company superwash merino that I had found on etsy, and then it just happened that it got a mention from the Yarn Harlot herself.

This yarn is amazing. The colors are rich and blend wonderfully from one to the next. With this yarn, I am making a pair of Broadripple socks . I am on my third try with them though, since I really want to use this yarn, but the gauge is different from the pattern suggestion. Not different enough to warrant an extra pattern repeat, just enough to make a different size needle necessary, and then adding a few strategically-placed extra stitches into the pattern. Not awful though, and the color changes are completely in sync with this pattern.

We had a weekend in Allentown, the place of our birth. We meandered over the to Allentown Art Museum and met up with some friends. After schmoozing with high school teachers there, we all walked over to the Allentown Brewworks for dinner. A pleasant place to eat - of which Allentown always had too few. Walking back to the car, I got an awesome picture of the boys climbing on the Soldiers & Sailors Monument in the middle of downtown.

I love these guys.

For Memorial Day weekend, I got some long-awaited baking done. Using this recipe, I made petits fours! They have always looked so hard to make, but they are always a treat. So, I dove in.
I made the batter, baked it, layered it, coated it in marzipan, and then refrigerated it.

I really should have stopped there. They tasted amazing at this point. I wanted to follow the whole recipe though. I now know that the poured fondant icing on the top was just too much sweet. The cake tasted like a fortune cookie, and I used Raspberry Polaner, so they were already sweet enough - didn't need the fondant. Also, next time I will cut them larger.

They sure were pretty. I had leftover chocolate that I had melted for the drizzle, so I dipped some strawberries to take along as well.


My next experiment will be creme-filled mini cupcakes!

Yarny weekend

It was quite a long weekend, and has taken me until now to even comprehend it to write about it. Especially since I had to get over my allergies that attacked full strength on Saturday.

Allergies or not, my MIL and her friend were in town for a visit. Since it was a bit chilly and gloomy, but not raining, we headed over to Old Wethersfield. This is the more historical section of Wethersfield proper. Most New England towns either have an old section, or they share an old section with the towns near them. This is the area where the earliest Americans lived. All the buildings have plaques on them announcing who used to live there. I love these kind of places. Now they mostly have charming cafes and knick-knack stores in them.

Behind one of these old homes, a barn sale was being held. We got into the barn, and lo-and-behold there it was:

My new Charming Rocker. That's what the tag said. I immediately sat down, and wanted to pull out my traveling sock. I sent a picture of it to my honey to make sure he liked it too, and 15 minutes later, we were loading it into my MIL's Trailblazer. It looks adorable in my living room now.

Also in Old Wethersfield, I visited Sit N Knit, too. I had never been to this location, and I really enjoyed myself there. The staff was so upbeat and friendly, and the knitters that were working at a table off to the side were also very lively and charming. I loved the arrangement of the store, and intend to go back there again. On this visit, though, I found their clearance room. In there, I found YARN WITH MY NAME ON IT:


This is a close up of the gorgeous saturation of colors:


I got two balls (skeins? hanks? it's too bulky to tell) of it. I have looked on Ravelry, and not really been too impressed with Super Bulky projects. I think I may want to do some kind of open-work scarf with it all. I'll know the right project for it when I see it.

Also on Saturday, we headed down to Mystic Seaport. I had never actually been there. Like, not around the tall ships and the museum aspect of Mystic. It was lovely, actually. I got pictures of my tall guy near the tall ships, but forgot to upload them from my camera. I will do that tonight.

Then there was Sunday.

I woke up early and dropped honey off to spend some more time with his mom, and then I headed to Northampton, Massachusetts. A wonderful town on its own, but now it's a wonderful town that just crawling with Knitters. Amazing.
I wandered my way into WEBS and it was just about packed with people. And Yarn, of course. I meandered around for a bit, and then I turned around:

Surprise! I knew Stephanie was going to be there (that's why I drove up) but I didn't expect her to be in that spot. I picked up a copy of her book, and waited patiently in line.

I even got to hold the Traveling Sock.

I got stopped by a number of knitters during the day, too, who commented on my t-shirt. It is the infamous Natalie Dee holding a sign that reads, "Will Knit for Tattoos." And I will.

I bought some sock yarn, and some other yarn, then forced myself into line to pay for it all and stop fondling skeins. Then, I popped in my iPod headphones and headed up to The Calvin.


I got inside, got a beer, found a seat, and pulled out my sock to work on. It was amazing. Another amazing thing is that from donations and purchases at WEBS, $4698.00 was raised for the Cooley Dickinson Center for Midwifery Care.

Her talk was inspiring, as always. I felt at home among all the Knitters.

After the talk, I walked back down to WEBS, and pondering some Ella Rae Bamboo Silk, but ended up putting it down because I just wasn't sure what I would do with it. I have now purchased it since being home again and confirmed the scarf pattern that I had in mind.

It was a great weekend, and my fingers are starting to calm down from their Spring Start-itis that I developed in March. I have a package to get in the mail to Carly tomorrow, and lots of sock yarn to work up!