No SnB today

there's some kind of horrible hacking cough/cold going around my office. I've got it too. FANTASTIC.

Introducing Children of Herakles (C.O.H.)

I'd like to introduce a friend of mine, named, Ruhhh....... oh wait, this is the blogosphere, so he needs an alter-ego! Fair enough, Ruhhhh... I dub thee "Children of Herakles" or COH, for short. Henceforth you shall be known as COH. Children of Herakles, you ask? What an odd moniker!

COH is the name of a play, but also:

a. a former colleague
b. a Cillian Murphy look-alike
c. non-knitter
d. all of the above

If you guessed "d", you are correct! COH, thanks for generously hosting me at Silvertone last night, I plan on returning the favor very soon, so lookout! COH is also a native of the city where I currently reside. That's right - CITY - not suburb, dude!

Happy Thanksgiving

Boston Worker Bee had a great Thanksgiving. Thanks to our special peeps who trekked through the rain and traffic for turkey dinner at our place: Mama & Babbo, L-squared, and Lil' H & Lil' D.

Mom was wondering what's on my christmas list this year, it's pretty much just knitting stuff. and socks. I have a few projects in mind that I'd like to try using Kid Silk Haze for, which is sold here:

Webs

I could also use a knitting needle holder for my straight needles, and a knitting bag to carry my projects in to and from work. I saw a beautiful silk embroidered knitting bag at Woolcott in Harvard Sq., that looked kind of like this. It was black and white, with some green leaves embroidered on it.

Knitting books and gift certificates to Halcyon Yarn are always welcome!

interchangeable needle sets?

I'm thinking about buying a set of interchangeable needles. These from Denise seem to be the standard. Any thoughts? I kind of like the price point of this set, too.

Gearing up for next project

I'm putting the cart before the horse here, but for my next project, I'm going to do another rowan sweater using this kid silk haze. I've got a gift certificate that's burining a hole in my pocket. "Spend me! Spend me!", it says. The skill level says "easy", so THEORETICALLY it should be less frustrating than my current project.

I'm also considering some palette cleansers. I still have to do baby booties for a friend, and thought I might use some of that fabric from NYC to make a cool needle holder, and little zip-bag for my knitting unmentionables (measuring tape, stitch holders, etc.) If anyone has patterns for stuff like that, let me know!

New York... Part Three

... What the.... HUH?? I bet you're wondering why I'm doing Part Three when I haven't done Part Two. I just posted Part Two

I'm having a little trouble uploading all my NY photos as a group, hence a separate Part Three.





I was really surprised at how much there was to see, botanically speaking, given that it is November. So many of the trees seemed to be peaking in color or still in leaf. The Japanese Garden in the Brooklyn Botanical Garden was aflame. I can't be sure that the fall isn't the best time to see it after all.

Back in the city, I took my DH up to the top of the Empire State Building. He'd never been!!



We also shared some matzo ball soup at a deli across from the Carnegie Deli. Before you fly off the handle, YES, we ate at the Carnegie like good-doobies, but we didn't feel like waiting in line a second time so walked across the street to this place. Yikes - that is a BIG matzo ball! We ate the whole thing. I could have polished it off myself, but I try to be nice and share.



We also spent a lovely morning walking around the grounds of the Cloisters.







So it ends. Busy weekend ahead.I'd like to continue working on my sweater. That's what I'd rather be doing. Ta!

Public Service Announcement

Just a friendly reminder to college students: flip-flop season is OVER. Kindly wear your socks and shoes, since it's getting COLD out!!!!

I had to get that off my chest, thanks.

SnB today

I'll be there today. There's a new person in my office whose interested in knitting. She'll probably be coming along, too!

Recycling yarn

An interesting link on how to recycle yarn from old sweaters has made its way to me from a lapsed SnB'er, who I am trying to rehabilitate, and who shall remain nameless for the time being (HA!). Thanks to she-who-must-remain-nameless, and to Femiknit mafia, who passed the link to her.

New York.... Part 2

The people demanded it, and we listened. Without further ado, here is part two.

A week ago I didn't know what "mid-town" was, and smiled politely when terms like "upper east-side" were used in my presence. Now I'm throwing the lingo around like I own the place. I can take the A train uptown, and the B train to Brooklyn. Getting around New York is so EAASSSYY! Woo hoooo!

I spent most of our five days in NYC walking around and doing things outside. I spent a lovely day at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. Autumn leaves and turtles. What could be better?







Here's a short video I took in the Japanese garden.



Ducks and Koi
Brooklyn Botanical Garden

New York.... Part 1

For those of you who are interested in what I found in the New York fabric district, I present to you, "Part 1"!



First off, we stayed in Club Quarters, a hotel on W 45th Street (between 5th and 6th avenues) that caters to business travelers. With our discount (offered by my employer), our stay was about $200/per night, including taxes. For the most part it was pretty nice. Despite being less than two blocks from Times Square, it wasn't very noisy. I'd read a lot of bad reviews about the hotel on Trip Advisor, that really were not justified. Although, if you are looking for a high level of service, concierge, etc., this is probably not the place for you.



The "fabric district" was about 4-5 blocks away from my hotel. The majority of stores are located on W 39th Street, between 7th and 8th avenues. There are also a few located on W 40th Street (see my links!). A lot of places on W 39th Street seem to make up prices as they go along. Bolts and rolls are not marked and heaped together everywhere. I overheard some shoppers bargaining with store owners, so that seems to be acceptable in many of the places. I wish I had worked up the nerve to bargain myself, because I'm pretty sure I got taken for a ride! My advice to shoppers is to spend one full afternoon looking at all the stores, and getting a feel for who bargains and who doesn't. I saw the same prints in many different shops, some priced differently. Then, when you've seen and heard, go back and spend!

I was really blown away by New York Elegant Fabrics. They have a cheesy name, but a vast selection of high end fabrics. I've never seen so much beautiful material in one place. Sadly, it was all out of my price range. Across the street was Lace Star, which as you can probably guess specializes in lace (beaded lace, regular lace, you name it). Again, prices here were not clearly marked. I also made it to Rosen & Chadick, Paron, and several hole-in-the-wall places on W 39th. I really enjoyed Purl Patchwork in the Village, but didn't enjoy the knitting store as much. The merchandising was very nice, but everytime I went to touch a ball of yarn, the staff would kind of look at me fishy. It was also pouring rain that day, so I was looking for a welcoming experience.

I bought some interesting prints, which I will bring in to SnB for show and tell. Here's a sneak peak:



Stay tuned for Part 2... PatchesMom1973's boring vacation photos!

A few things before vacation

Pre-vacation blog-a-thon! Today I've added two new features to Boston Worker Bee: a site-meter, which I clued into looking at Femiknit Mafia's blog, and a listing of the knitting books I own. Now I will be able to count all the five people who read my blog! Sadly the booklist is pretty short thus far! I think I have some more in the basement, but I'm too lazy to get them just now. I definitely have a sock book down there some of the SnB might be interested in.


First things first, meet "my preciousssssss", our new dishwasher:



I won't say anything else about this new addition to our home, because quite frankly, I just get too emotional.

Here's the status of my sweater. Back is completed, and the front is progressing. The large hole is where the 3" wide ribbon will thread through, and tie in a bow:





Looking over the 1988 article (Threads Magazine?) on NYC's fabric district my mom gave me, I read about a place called Tender Buttons. I think I kind of HAVE to go see it now. With a name like that, how could you not? I'm not sure I'm going to be able to handle New York. They have whole stores just devoted to ribbons, for chrissakes.

Keep it real knitting people. I'll be back after Veteran's Day with a full report. I'll be knitting in spirit on Thursday at 12:00.