Summer!

You know summer is close when Skeins her Way is having her Summer knitting goals contest!

I now consider it a tradition to list my summer knitting goals (even though I've never actually managed to reach all my goals). Anyways, here you go. This summer, I want to knit:

1. The Ishbel shawl, of course.





I'm pretty sure I'm going to use the above yarn (wool from unknown origin, that I got for free when Véronik destashed. Woohoo!)

2. Parrotfish/Pomatomus hat. I actually cast on for it this afternoon, using a skein of Lorna's Lace that I got during a round of Secret Pal. This is going to go to my aunt who'll be undergoing chemotherapy treatments this summer.

3. I'd really like to finish at least one of my UFOs/current WIPs. Believe it or not, I only have three things (not counting the hat) on the needles right now: Cardigan for Merry, Kiri Shawl and the Montego Bay scarf. I'd like to finish one. My money is on the scarf.

4. A pair of socks. I haven't decided on the pattern yet. Froot Loop, perhaps. Or a Nancy Bush pattern? Or Spring Cable? We'll see.

That's it for goals!

In other news, I realized that we can now organize our queue on Ravelry. How long have we been able to do that? I've been using tags for a while so I could just search "socks" when I only want my queued sock patterns, but now we have TABS! How cool! I have almost 300 items in my queue, so I need organization!



See? I now even have a tab for "things I want to knit soon" (Ishbel and Parrotfish are in it). Very practical. Ravelry is the best!

Ps/The Phlox socks are currently blocking! Pics soon!

Lace it up

So Ms Tara advised me to just give in to the lace lust and I'll admit I was tempted, but it wasn't until I got a comment from Robyn that I really got THE CALL.

Robyn casually mentionned hosting an Ishbel knitalong and I, not knowing what I was in for, looked up the pattern on Ravelry.

Instant. love. I want. I need. Must make now.

I can't fight it. I must give in to the call of the lace.

I joined the knitalong and will cast on on June 19. Anyone else want to join? You know you want to...

Twisted

Thanks to everyone who commented on my last post, I really appreciate it. And don't worry, I'm not going anywhere. I like to blog and everyone who read it and comment are people I have come to really care about (even those of you I haven't yet met).

Blogless-Kate and Tara asked which pattern I liked the most in the latest issue of Twist Collective. I like Bernhardt and Uhura. I think Niles and Cleo are the cutest toys Jennie's ever designed (and she makes great toys).

But for some reason, I'm really finding myself drawned to the lace. Aphrodite. Artichaut.

It is weird considering I've never been able to finish the lace shawl I started three years ago. Maybe I should get back to it...

(And I know I promised pics last time, but I really am almost done with the socks and I kind of want to wait until I'm done with them to share. Stay tuned).

I've been blogging for a while

I just realized that this blog will be 5 years old in August. It's crazy! Everything I've ever knit is on there, as well as most of the yarn I've ever bought or received. This past year, I've been writing about non-knitting subjects almost as much as knitting ones, but it remains mainly a knitting blog and I hope I can continue to keep it for a long time.

I do feel, however, that I'm having a hard time keeping things interesting. My life really is pretty boring. I don't have cute kids to take pictures of. And I'm not a really good photographer in the first place anyways. I don't knit as much as I used to and I try not to spend too much money on yarn. So what is there to write about, I'm asking you.

Still, I like to keep the blog. I like the interaction. I like to get comments. I only have a few regular readers, but I appreciate each and every one of them (seriously people. your comments make my day).

All that being said, I am happy to report that I've been knitting more this past week. I finally turned the heel on the second Phlox sock and I frogged and restarted the Montego Bay scarf.

I'm itching to start something new, maybe because the new issue of Twist collective is online and filled with beautiful patterns...

My next post will have a pic of a WIP (or FO, who knows?).

I ♥ NY

I am back from New York! I've actually been back since Tuesday night, I just haven't had the time to blog. I'll also mention that I haven't knit a stitch in more than a week! OMG! Crazy. I should be getting back into it tonight since we're planning on renting a movie so I'll pick my sock back up. No worries! I had brought yarn in New York, but I didn't touch it the whole time I was there.

Ok, so I'm sure you're all dying to know about the trip, right? It was A LOT of fun! I love New York! It's a great city and I definitely plan on going back. We left early Friday morning and we were at Newark Airport quite early (I think around 9). We also got very lucky because our room was ready when we got to the hotel.

Speaking of which, if any of you plan on going to NYC, I could not recommend our hotel more. Its name is pretty straight forward: The Hotel at Times Square. It's part of the Apple Core Hotels mini-chain. The price is right (we paid 150$ a night), the rooms are nice (though not luxurious, but we didn't care). The free breakfast was good. There was free internet as well as a gym (that I did not use). And it was a 5 minutes walk to Times Square! The location was excellent. I'd definitely stay there again!

The first thing I noticed when we got out of Penn station? The yellow cabs of course! They were everywhere and I really felt like I was indeed in New York!



After we found our hotel and took a shower, we went to Central Park. I loved it, it's so huge and beautiful!





I really wanted to find Strawberry field to see the John Lennon memorial.





We had lunch in a diner and I ordered a shrimp roll. It was huge! But very good.



I think we stayed in Central Park for most of the afternoon. In the evening, we went for a walk and we saw the famous Flat iron building.



Then we went to the Empire State Building and went up. It was great to see all the lights from up there (I don't have any good pics though).

On Saturday, we took the subway. We did ok, but their subway is more confusing than ours, that's for sure. We wanted to go to Canal Street but we somehow ended up in Brooklyn. Oops!



We got back and found the right station. We walked for a while and saw city hall. Then we sat near a fountain and Chris had fun taking pictures of a bird (he likes taking bird pics, go figure).





And I had fun taking weird fountain pics.



Then we walked on the Brooklyn Bridge, which was very cool. We only walked half of it though, and then we decided to get back.



After that, we saw a church where there was a memorial for the victims of 9/11, and then we went to Ground Zero.

We walked by the river and saw the Statue of Liberty. That's the closest we got though. We didn't really feel like going so we just looked at it from afar.



Then, Chris really wanted to go to Coney Island, so we took the metro and went. It was a loooong ride, but we had so much fun there it was totally worth it!





We saw a freaky sideshow with flame eaters, contorsionists and all that jazz. It was fun.



Then we went on the scariest rollercoaster ever. It was old and just scary. I sort of enjoyed it but I screamed a lot.


(It doesn't look scary? Trust me, it was.)

We were so exhausted that night we actually got back to our room pretty early, though we did see Times Square at night and it was something!



We spent a good part of Sunday at the American Museum of Natural History where we saw DINOSAURS! Or dinosaur skeletons anyways. Very impressive. We also saw a meteorite and lots of gems and precious stones.




Ooooh shiny!

That evening we went to a comedy club called Ha! where I drank champagne (hey, why not?) and laughed a lot.

Monday was the best day ever. In the morning, we went to see the UN, and then we walked on 5th avenue and saw the Mac Store as well as FAO Schwarz! I got to make my childhood dream come true by playing on the big piano!



Then I went to the Harry Potter section where I couldn't resist trying on the Sorting Hat.



In the afternoon, we went to wait in line because we had tickets to see THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART! I was so excited! I love Jon Stewart.





We waited for a long time. Think three hours. I had brought things to read and music, but Chris and I just spent most of the time chatting. Even though we were one of the first in line, we didn't get in first because they also had a VIP line (that was apparently for people who hadn't managed to get in the day before).

When we finally got in, I was pretty happy with our seats. We were on the side, but very close to Jon's desk and could see very well because there were no cameras in front of us (except during the interview with the guest). I was hoping John Oliver would be the correspondant that day, but he wasn't there. Wyatt Cenac was though and he was very funny.

I was very impressed with Jon Stewart. He was super nice and answered people's questions before the show. He was very professional during the taping, they did the whole thing in one take! The guest was Sarah Fisher, a race car driver. I didn't know her.

Stewart also did a toss with Stephen Colbert at the end of the show, which was great! He chatted with him a bit during commercial and then they did their thing and it was very funny. We just loved that whole day!



Tuesday was our last day and the weather was gorgeous so we went to Central Park again and spent the day in the sun.

Then we went on 5th avenue and we saw the Rockefeller Center.



After that we had about 2 hours to spare before we had to leave for the airport and we noticed TGI Friday had 3$ margaritas so we went in there. And we got carded! Woohoo!

I was very sad to come back. It all went by so quickly. We will go back for sure!

Hats!

I've been a bad blogger and haven't updated much. I'm sorry about that, life really got in the way. I've been working a lot and working out and preparing my trip to NYC (FRIDAY!!!!). And knitting! I'm back into it and my Phlox socks are coming along nicely. I don't think I'll have them finished by the time I leave like I wanted though.



Pink ribbon. You all know what that means, right? Breast cancer awareness. Like many people, I have been indirectly affected by it. My paternal grandmother was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 42. So young. Thank God she did survive and had a good long life (she died two years ago and she was in her 80's). She had her left breast AND arm amputated though.

Well in March of this year, the disease striked again. This time, it touched my mom's sister, who is in her early 50's (I think 53). She should start her chemo treatments soon. I saw her yesterday and told her I'd knit her some hats.

So now I need suggestions. Hat patterns, yarn to use. I have no idea how long her treatments are going to take so I think I'll make her a couple of lighter hat (cotton maybe?) and a couple of warmer ones. We'll see.

I think I want to make this one first. What do you think?

Knitting? What's that?

So you probably noticed I haven't been talking about knitting much these past few weeks. I seem to have lost my knitting mojo again. It has nothing to do with my current projects, since I don't even want to start anything new. I do want to place a huge order on Knitpicks though (but I won't).

This past week has been pretty stressful at work. Our weekend news editor is on vacation and I'm filling in for him. Responsibilities = stress. And this past weekend, with all the swine flu crazyness, work was quite stressful (but I think I did ok).

I'm not working today but I have so much to do, I don't have much time to rest. Definite DORMA*. This morning I went grocery shopping and did laundry (I still have a mountain of clothes to fold and put away), then I had lunch. Next on the schedule : the rest of the laundry, gym and cooking. I want to make chicken and broccoli divan, vegetarian chili, pasta salad and carrot and raisins muffins. I need to have meals ready because my work week (starting tomorrow) will probably be crazy again.

My gym is currently having a little friendly competition. Each trainer has a team and each participant log their cardio minutes for ten days. There are going to be prizes at the end of the 10 days. I went yesterday and I want to go again today. I'm trying to go as often as I can during the week since I most likely won't be able to during the weekend.

I'm closing this post with a pic of my Phlox socks:



(They will look much butter when they're blocked). My goal is to get to the heel by the end of the week. Let's see if I can do it!


*Day of rest, my arse (thanks to Tara for the lovely expression).

I didn't want to cry so I chose to laugh

Believe it or not, I missed the Habs game tonight. I can't believe I missed a playoff game! I barely ever miss games during the regular season, and I usually never ever miss a playoff game.

But I couldn't deal with another loss. And as much as I wanted the Habs to win (especially since Robyn was at the Bell Centre to cheer them on), I knew there was a good chance that they'd lose. And they did. We are now 0-3 in the series. I know nothing's impossible, but I don't have much hope.

So what did I do instead of watching an ex-Habs (stupid Ryder) score the winning goal for Boston? I went to a National Improv League game! It felt just like hockey, but it made me laugh instead of making me cry.

We had the national anthem.



We had music.



We had referees.





We had two teams.



We had a good show.



We voted.



The Orange team won.



Go Orange Go!

This post has no knitting content

I am completely addicted to the Genius feature on iTunes. I.Love.It. I have a lot of music on my computer but I'm often listening to the same songs over and over again. Lately I've been choosing my favourite songs on iTunes and generating playlists with Genius and I absolutely love the results. The one I'm listening to right now is based on Sometime Around Midnight from The Airborne Toxic Event (I love the song) and here's what Genius gave me:

1. Sometime Around Midnight (The Airborne Toxic Event)
2. Troublemaker (Weezer)
3. Oxford Comma (Vampire Weekend)
4. Ulysses (Franz Ferdinand)
5. Rebellion (Lies) (The Arcade Fire)
6. Gamma Ray (Beck)
7. I Still Remember (Bloc Party)
8. The Heinrich Maneuver (Interpol)
9. Middle of Nowhere (Hot Hot Heat)
10. Hammerhead (The Offspring)
11. Flathead (The Fratellis)
12. Last Nite (The Strokes)
13. All the Same (Sick Puppies)
14. Lost Cause (Beck)
15. Time is Running Out (Muse)

Ok the list actually has 50 songs in it so I'll stop here but you get the idea. I just wish I could get the feature on my iPod (I have an iPod classic, 5th generation and it doesn't support Genius, unfortunately). But I can save the playlists and drag them into my iPod so all is good.

What are you guys listening to these days?

It's going to be that kind of day...

Anybody watches 24? (no spoilers ahead)

I just wanted to say how disappointed I was at the twist at the end of the last episode! I don't want to say too much, in case some of you haven't seen it yet, but let's just say I'm mad at my favourite character. If you've seen it, you know what I mean ;)

And yes, I am perfectly capable of being mad at a fictional character. That's just the way I am, I get into the stories too much and I come to care too much about people that don't even exist! ;)

That being said, I'm having a bad case of the Tuesdays (which is just like Monday, except, you know, one day late).

It all started yesterday, actually, when I went to the gym. I don't bring my purse with me to the gym, I just shove my keys and wallet in my gym bag. Forward to today, I need to go grocery shopping even though I really don't feel like it. I shop through the whole store and just as I was about to go to the cash, I realized, you guessed it, that I didn't have my wallet with me! It was still in my gym bag. *sigh*

Chris was at work so I couldn't call him to come and bring me my wallet. So I had to ask an employee if I could leave my cart somewhere, run back home and come back to pay. Joy.

Ps/ I finished one Phlox sock! Yay!

Food and planes

Last week, the weather was very blah. Rainy and cold and all. So it made me want to eat soup.

I had seen a yummy looking lentil soup recipe on a blog, and I decided to try it. OMG. Delicious. I loved it so much I ate it for lunch and brought the leftovers at work that same night. I definitely recommend it and it's so easy to make too. You can find it here.

Also, I have news:



I'm going to New York, baby! I've actually never been before, can you believe it? I've almost been a couple of times, but something always came up. This year, it looks like it's going to happen.

We're going in May and we'll only be there for five days. We found a place to stay that looks nice (and it's close to Times Square). I seriously can't wait.

Oh and we have tickets to a taping of the Daily Show!!! Seeing as I'd like to have Jon Stewart's babies, you can guess I'm excited! Of course, having tickets doesn't mean you'll actually get in, but we'll get there early and hope for the best.

Since we won't have that much time, I'm not planning on going yarn shopping, but if there happens to be a yarn store close to where we're at, I'll make sure to go in. So if any of you can recommend good LYS in NYC, let me know!

I feel meh

I had today off and expected a great day but it didn't up being yucky. And it rained all day so I stayed home and knit (that wasn't so bad, I'll admit it).

Last week I cast on for a new pair of socks:



Unfortunately, I couldn't get a good pic and of course the sock hasn't been blocked yet so it doesn't look as good as it will when it's finished. The yarn really is beautiful though, isn't it?

The pattern is Phlox by the lovely Jennifer. The yarn is from Biscotte & Cie. I got the yarn and pattern from Robyn's nest (it was one of the sock club kits).

I can't wait till I finish them so I can show them off. I'm thinking they may become a gift for my sister.

Waves of blue (and white!)

I finished the baby blanket on Saturday morning, just in time for my friend's baby shower!



Pattern: Waves of Blue by Bev Galeskas
Yarn: Bernat Softee
Needles: US 7/ 4.5 mm

The pattern was very simple and easy to memorize. I absolutely love the end result and my friend was very happy and touched that I would take the time to make something for her. The yarn, well it's acrylic that I got last Christmas. It really wasn't bad though. It's very soft and easy to work with.

Next on the needles: Socks, maybe? I also want to finish a project or two.

Glorious markers

I've always thought I had enough stitch markers. I only ever use a few at a times anyways, so I don't need millions of them, right?

That's what I thought until I realized I just couldn't live without Brigitte's Go Habs Go stitch markers.



Seriously, how cool are they? The Go Habs Go beads even look like little puck! She sells sets of 5 stitch markers and the 5th one is custom made to honour your favourite player (TP14, guess what it means?). I love them!

BTW, Brigitte's Etsy shop is named Les TricotLores (brilliant!) and she sells Habs inspired yarn. Profit from the yarn go to the Montreal Canadiens Children's Foundation. It can't get any better than that.