Trying to feel productive

Stuck at home, sick, since Friday. I left my knitting bag at work. ARGGGHHHH. It's probably for the best, since Claritin makes me feel befuddled.

It is asian New Year, and I keep hearing the sound of drums and firecrackers going off in my neighborhood, which is pretty exciting. Yesterday as I walked over to the grocery store, I saw a bunch of kids dressed up in elaborate traditional costumes walking down the street. Pretty cool. I'd go out again and try and find where the celebrations are, but I'm feeling pretty tuckered.

For the past week or so, large flocks of canada geese have been swooping in from somewhere to spend the day pecking at the grass in the soccer field behind our house. Patches doesn't quite know what to make of them. I used to think they were pesky until I watched Winged Migration. I rented it again yesterday, and it is probably one of the best documentaries I've ever watched. What I find funny is that they swoop in between 9:00-10:00AM or so, just when I'm getting up. They disappear before it gets dark. I thought birds were supposed to be early risers.





Last week DH and I went up to Rockport for a visit. Although we spent most of the weekend next to a nice warm woodstove, we did manage to take a walk down near the water. It was brisk. We saw some interesting creatures along the way:





I'll leave you with this image of one of my favorite stops along our walk. I find it to be very Winslow Homerish.

Happy Valentine's Day!

A happy, snowy-sleety, Valentine's Day to all! Especially, my DH.

Command Center has been implemented.

On February 10th, in the year of our Lord 2007, in the City of Quincy and the State of Massachusetts, the Chair was delivered without incident to a very happy Worker Bee.



Scratch guards were promptly put into place, to protect against this:



And this:



She really loves faux suede. She's got good taste,what can I say?

Interweave Knits!

My first issue arrived in the mail yesterday. How nice is that? It's a quarterly magazine, so I completely forgot it was coming! A lot of the patterns are for bamboo yarn! I had a passing thought of using my gift certificate for Woolcott to buy the yarn for the sweater on the cover page (different color maybe). I fell in love with bamboo yarn on my trip to WEBS recently. It is so soft, and has a beautiful sheen.

Nuthin' doin'

Couldn't make it to SnB today, since I forgot my knitting at home, AGAIN. Only about 48 hours to count down until the arrival of the Command Center.

First sleeve is progressing

Made some real progress on the first sleeve this weekend. It currently measures about 13". When I get to 17", I'll start shaping for the top of the sleeve.

So tired. So very tired.

Participate in my first ever "Blog Poll"!

DH and I are thinking about going on vacation in October (still crunching the numbers). Check out my vacation blog poll at the bottom of the page!

Command Center: Phase Two

Project Command Center has now entered Phase Two. I arrived home last night, shivering from the icy blistering walk from the subway, to a message on the answering machine from B&P's that my beloved chair (AAAND ottoman) would be arriving to their warehouse, and I should call to arrange delivery.

Delivery has been scheduled for: Saturday February 10th!

Hooooorrrraaaaaayyyyy!

I'm going to have to cat proof it. I'm completely devoted to her, but if Patches thinks she can scratch the sh** out of this chair, like she has done to everything else in the house, she has another thing coming!

On a not so different tangent, I've been fantasizing about my dream house. Mine wouldn't need this amount of square footage. HALF the square footage would be perfectly adequate, thank you. Imagine building your own solar powered/heated house, and not only would you NOT have to pay for electricity or heating oil, but actually having enough electricty left over, you SELL it back to the electric companies? I would also design a really amazing vegetable garden, and be completely sustainable. I have a design all worked out in my head. Not quite the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, but pretty durn close. DH would raise chickens and hunt wild boar (cinghale!) and we would cure our own prosciutti. All right, I'm really spinning out of control here. I'll stop. I draw the line at dressing in calico.

The Rebel

I want one of these, desparately.



It's the Canon digital SLR (single lens reflex) "Rebel XTI". I know, I know. I just bought a Canon PowerShot in October. However, as lovely as this is, I can't really manipulate the lens. Therefore, I can't get a full range of focusing options that yield more artistic results in my photos. The Rebel costs anywhere from $750-$1,000. Yikes. If I saved $83/mo, I could buy one this time next year!

Why do I want one so bad? DH and I are planning a vacation in October (destination TBD). One possible destination is Asia, which would provide many exciting photographic opportunities, and I would want to make the most of it.

I'm in kind of rut due to the frigid weather. I just want to sit at home in my pj's and eat stuff that is really bad for me, and take naps, ALL DAY. Also, I have a sort of Jimmy Carter White House-esque self-imposed ban on using a lot hot water and energy (trying to conserve heating oil!), so long hot bubble baths are not on the agenda. That depresses me. Deeply. On Saturday morning, I lay on the couch with the Striped One, watching installment one of Masterpiece Theatre's Jane Eyre. I couldn't even summon up the energy to lift knitting needles.

Speaking of knitting... I want to say hello to a friend who is a new reader. She's known around here as "The Rev". She's part of the "Amoeba" and wanted me to call her "Her Eminence", but I think not. My blog. I decide. I'm the decider. She's starting to get back into knitting, and I'd like to offer her my encouragement. Go for it TR!!

Webs

This Saturday, Boston Worker Bee, and Mama [Worker] Bee (my mom) drove out to Northampton, MA to check out Webs. Talk about being over stimulated. There. Was. So. Much. Yarn.

Taking of advantage of the price breaks, I decided to stock up on Rowan Kid Silk Haze, to use for my next two projects. The lighter pink is actually Kid silk Night, which has a metallic silver glint to it. Mama Bee picked up a skein of this really stunning silk yarn, which unfortunately I do not have a name or picture for.



Saturday night and Sunday I was in Worcester at a mini-reunion of sorts with old friends otherwise known as "the amoeba". You ladies rock! I laughed so hard it hurt. Then I did it all over again. HA!

Sunday evening conversation with Dear Husband (DH):

ME: Would you like to see the yarn I got?

DH: [Gesturing to television, gritting teeth] There's ten minutes left in the game that will decide who goes to the superbowl. [painful whisper] And, it's TIIIIED.

Me: Oh! OK. hee hee hee!

God bless him, at the next commercial break, he was oohing and ahhing over my new yarn (without being coerced). No one can resist the softness of kidsilk haze. Not even a Patriots fan.

Command Center - Phase 1

My long awaited knitting "Command Center", as Danielle would describe it, has entered Phase 1.

Thanks to my lovely DH, who gave me a gift card to Bernie & Phyl's for xmas, I was able to purchase this baby over the weekend. Unfortunately, I will have to wait three to five weeks for delivery, and (fingers crossed) they will be able to deliver it through our freakishly narrow doorways.

For those of you familiar with my incomprehensible fear of driving our stick shift toyota on the highways - new frontiers have been pioneered. I drove the stick shift BY MYSELF on I-93 to the furniture store in Braintree this sunday. There was only the sound of the gears shifting and my heart pounding. For those of you who do not live in Massachusetts: I-93, and the section of it called the "Braintree Split", is about as close as one can get to playing "frogger" in real life. Yes, Lady S, this means I will probably not be renting a zipcar everytime I have to drive on the highway now! ;)

former co-workers say the darndest things

My social diary was rather crowded this week. Drinks downtown with Children of Herakles. Grilled cheese at the "peach pit" with "JJ", "Be-FAYZ'd", "D-Mo", and "Krosol". And tonite, mongolian hot-pot with my DH.

When will this dizzy merry-go-round stop, so I can get off?

Hee hee!

Be-FAYZ'd (hope you like your new nickname. I also have trouble using words.) check THIS out!

Heading South

Boston Worker Bee went to St. Pete to visit the in-laws over New Year's weekend. It was a bit of an ordeal getting there an back, but I have to say, it was wonderful to get some sun and warmth. Sadly, there wasn't a whole lot of time for knitting by the pool, but I did make some progress on my spiral rib hat number 2. I'm trying out Debbie Bliss "cashmerino", in a deep red color. I'm allergic to wool, even most blends, but I'm going to give this a try and see what happens.

Stay tuned for a hat photo, in the mean time, I hope these other photos will take away your winter blues.

Holiday cheer, and sleeves!

xmas eve, chez boston worker bee

For god's sake, don't touch her panettone.

Special holiday wishes to Lady S, Children of Herakles, Betty Crocker, MIT SnB, and BWB readers!


I cast on this week for the first sleeve of my sweater. So far, so good!

I'd like to now take this opportunity to show off some of my mom's handiwork. For christmas, she gave me some lovely waffle-knit dishtowels and a matching potholder, that she wove on her loom. Amazing!

I'm off to Florida early (EARLY!!!) Saturday morning to visit my mother-in-law. I'm planning on stopping off at Windsor Button in downtown crossing to see if I can get some yarn to try making another spiral knit hat. The first one I did in alpaca, which stretched terribly after wearing it just two times. Oh, and ummm, then I tried to felt it, and it came out kind of crappy. Back to the drawing board.

Front is finished!

Whew! I finished the front of the sweater last night. I'll be casting on for the sleeves. Holy cow. I can't believe it.



I'm learning a lot of lessons from this pattern, and it's definitely making me a better knitter. Rule NUMBER ONE: always do a test swatch. This pattern calls for 4 balls of kid silk haze. To finish the sleeves, it'll probably bring me up to six balls of douceur et soie. Also, This weekend, I discovered a mistake I made in the pattern: the alternating stripes are supposed to end at the bust line, and the upper portion of the sweater is all lace. Like this.



However, I misunderstood the pattern, and you'll notice I ended up doing alternating stripes all the way up. I think the end result is going to make the sweater look a little dowdy. But I'm committed, so I'll deal with it.

Wait! Scratch that!

Henceforth, "M. Munroe" shall be known as "Betty Crocker"! Damn, you do make good lemon squares. BC, in answer to your question, no - I did not ask for a Mr. Misty steam hair curling set (I already have one!), however, I do still covet this.

Christmas in Rockport

Panoramic View of Rockport Harbor

I thought I'd entertain you with some photos of Rockport. I was up there visiting this weekend. I almost (and I mean ALMOST) finished the front of the sweater. I'm going to try and do that this week, and cast on for the sleeves.

A special holiday greeting to my friend in New Jersey who is studying nursing. Henceforth on this blog you shall be known as "M. Munroe" - HA! I got your holiday card and note - thanks! I loved the photos.


Home sweet home...


Don't mess with the baby Jesus?


Here we go a-lobstering


Motif #1

rowan static

Just came back from SnB, and I can't extricate my mind from the rowan pattern static that has taken over brain waves. Must. fight. urge. to. open. knitting. bag. until. five. o'clock.

gahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

why am I cursed with a long attention span.

Evil thoughts

This morning as I waited for my train, wearing my new hat, which felt like it was big enough to cover a watermelon, I began contemplating ripping the whole thing out, and trying to re-knit it on smaller needles. It's so loose and stretchy its not really going to keep its shape.

ARGHHH!

Spiral Rib Hat (Ann Norling)

Finished Project!!!!!!

Spiral Rib Hat (Ann Norling)



This pattern works for gauges 2.5 - 6

The yarn I used is Frog Tree 100% Alpaca (worsted weight), which calls for US #7 needles, which may explain why the stiches on my finished hat are so loose. If I were to do this again, I would do a test swatch first, and play around with the tension until it was just right. I would have preferred a tighter tension on this one. It was the first project I made with my new interchangeable needle set.

Also, the pattern calls for using double pointed needles in the decrease section at the top. Man, I do NOT know how to use double pointed needles. I'm hoping someone at SnB will take pity and show me how. In the process of awkwardly holding the various needles, I dropped several stitches and had to go back with some yarn and a needle and do some damage control. The recommended finished measurement for a woman's small in this pattern is 20" - WAY too much hat for me. The final measurement on this one is 8".



Well, I guess it's back to my sweater! I might pick up some extra alpaca and make a scarf to go with.

Half-a-hat

I still only have half-a-hat, which is not doing me a whole lot of good in this freezing $#%@! cold weather. I'll be sitting on the couch tonite, knitting until its done. It would be nice to have a section of my blog that's called "finished projects". Someday.

My thoughts go out to Lady S, who is going through a hard time right now. I'm with you in spirit!

No SnB today

Somthing's come up last minute that I need to take care of! I'll see you guys next thursday!

Girl's gotta have a hat

My DH is out getting us PIZZA for dinner! SWEET.

I'm feverishly working on a hat to match my winter coat, before it gets any colder. This goes against my strict rule about multi-tasking projects that end up never getting finished. BUT, it's knitting up pretty quick. The pattern is Ann Norling spiral hat, which I picked up at Woolcott. It's great because the pattern works with any gauge yarn you happen to have.



I also picked up some items at Windsor Button.



And here's somthing gratuitously cute:

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.