A Tempting FO!

I finished my Tempting completely, it's been washed and blocked, and the ribbon threaded in.

Here are the pictures. I am very satisfied with my first sweater. I had a lot of doubts when this was drying, as it was huge when wet, but it dried to a perfect size! Yay!
Now, if only this dang horrible cold would go away.

Tempting is blocking out....

I have finished the Tempting, it is blocking and looks huge. Hopefully it dries smaller.

Work is tiring, I don't know how you people do it.....

So, I have been pretty busy because I started work this past Monday. I am a new attorney with the New Hampshire Public Defenders, meaning I will be defending people who are charged with a crime and cannot afford an attorney. I love it. We started training on Monday and we went to spend the night at a cabin in the White Mountains on the Appalachian Trail. It was beautiful there, and we spent a long period of time chilling on the lawn and bonding. Then we went back for training on Tuesday. Friday I spent in my office, in Nashua and met my mentor. She is super nice and I think it will be a good working relationship. Wednesday night we went back to see Castle Hill in Ipswich because we are thinking of having the wedding there and we met with the coordinator there. We like that place. It was so nice not to do anything last night, just relax at the house with M, because I have a cold and am feeling all sleepy and tired still. Today we went to see a place we were considering for the wedding, but I was unimpressed. However, then we saw a place randomly near there and decided to stop in and look at it. It had pretty grounds and was a really nice big house. There were very pretty flowers. We stopped at PetCo on the way back and got some stuff for Big Papi, the cat we are picking up tomorrow! Toys, a cat bed, and a better litter container. Yay! Tonight we went to a goodbye party for two of M's friends, but did not make it to another friend's birthday party.

Tomorrow we go down to Chappy for my dad's birthday. My brother and sister will be there and we will get the cat from my sister. I am excited. M made barbecue sauce for my dad for his bday and I got a picture from graduation from law school of him giving me my diploma and framed it for him.

I also got my package from my secret swap partner. It's awesome.

Here are pictures.

The entire package's contents

Welsh Love Spoon (explained below)

Little Welsh? Doll

Notepad and Pen Set

Needle Roll for me, homemade by my swap partner
Yarn

Mmmm Chocolate!

The beaded edge of my beautiful capeletBeaded bag to match the capelet



Needle holder shot 2

She made a needle holder for M as well!



Beaded Capelet, in one of my favorite colors, so pretty and wonderful and I can't wait to wear it! Thank you NoBones (Ellie!)

Back from the long weekend and Engaged!

Yes, I have not been posting, mainly because I got engaged and immediately had to jump into notifying people, and start the planning. I make decisions, and I make them fast. As in, we got engaged on Saturday, August 11, 2007 and tomorrow, one week later, we are visiting three possible locations. We already know we want the wedding in late August, early Fall and so we are looking for a nice place in the Massachusetts area for that time frame one or two years from now.

The proposal was very nice. I sort of ruined it a little bit maybe though. We went down to Martha's Vineyard this past weekend to my Dad's house out on Chappy (where we studied for the bar, but no studying this time-just an engagement-yay!) We went to the beach one day and we were going to go for a walk. I could just feel something was up, not sure why, but I could. We grabbed Goldie (my family's dog) and when I started walking, Michael went back to grab something and PUT IT UNDER HIS SHIRT. Now, I am an inquisitive person by nature, and I like to figure things out. I had a pretty good idea what that thing was, and we went about 25 feet before I told him I was not going for a walk with him until he told me what he had under his shirt. I know, it wasn't a very slick way to hide the ring box, right? That's ok, it's the feelings and wanting to share the rest of our lives that matters. I'm crafty enough. He then took out the box from under his shirt and said, along the lines of wanting to spend the rest of his life with only me. I was a little stunned, very surprised, my heart was beating a mile a minute, but I was very happy, and said yes. Then we hugged and such and our families were watching because I am pushy sometimes and wouldn't go any further until I knew what was under his shirt. Never try and hide anything from me. I'll find it, it's probably a good thing in my future job, but complicates anyone trying to surprise me. Then we went back and everyone was sort of smiling and then my stepmother asked me if anything happened. I said yes, and held up my hand, with a beautiful and perfect engagement ring on it. I don't wear jewelry and I prefer platinum if I have to, and the ring was exactly what I would have wanted, it's low on my hand so the diamond doesn't stick up too much, it's small and of high quality and it is pretty discreet and doesn't bother me while I wear it. I love it, he listened to me very well and took a long time picking it out. He's a keeper, including for the reason that he knit the ring bag himself! He had some help, but jeez, how about above and beyond. I love him and I can't wait to get married. I thought I might never get married, because who needs society's labels? The label isn't for society, it's for us.


THE RING

THE HAND KNIT RING BAG
We went out for a nice engagement dinner that night (thanks Dad!) and it was very romantic. The post engagement glow has not yet worn off, so knitting has taken a back seat, mostly, but not completely, to wedding planning.

Oh yeah, I went to the Sox's heartbreaking 6-5 loss to TAMPA BAY. Blech.

I'm off for the (long) weekend!

I hope everyone has a great weekend and that no more infrastructure breaks down. The Tobin Bridge in Massachusetts is now raining down debris on boats going under it. It doesn't compare to the tragedy up in Minnesota, but as Annie Modesitt said on her blog, what if we took all the money we have spent in Iraq and improved the infrastructure in this country? I might have expanded the message somewhat, but I'm going to go out on a limb here and add education, mortgage assistance, student loans, and job training for the homeless to that list. Just imagine all the good we could be doing.

I'm off to see my little sister in one day of her horse show and then to the family beach house for the long weekend. I'll be making a stop in West Hartford, CT on the way back from Martha's Vineyard to our apartment in Burlington. I know, it's only a short detour right? It will be with M though, and therefore will be great. I can't wait to see him on friday night. This will be one very happy knitter.

Lots of Knitting well wishes to all of you this weekend!

I have been a bad blogger, but it all changes now....

I have not been keeping up with my blogging, and I have no real excuse for not posting yesterday. All I can say is that I was relaxing and having a sort of me day, which I needed. It was my first real me day since the bar and it was really nice. Today is another sort of me day and it will be just as nice hopefully.

First, let me update you on what has been going on since I last posted. I did in fact go to see the Yarn Harlot on Thursday night with the first sock I had cast on that day. She was very funny, I met lots of nice people, who I ended up waiting in line with, including one woman who I have to e-mail still. She doesn't even knit, she was just there for her sister, and I thought it was so sweet of her to do that. I had my picture taken by the Harlot, and ended up on her blog. You can see it here http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/ if you scroll down, it's in the post entitled Knitters and I am Rebecca. I did not in fact, have any panties to throw at her, and I had a seat in the back, but I did know in advance they were doing it, because of ravelry and knittinghelp.com's forums. I got a book and got it signed, and went home.

She did misspell my name (Rebecca) at first because we were talking about socks. It's ok, I was an English Literature major in college and so editing things is close to my heart.
It was sort of late that night, and I still had to pack for Florida for my grandpa's 90th birthday and my Grandma's 89th birthday celebrations and big Mom's side of the family reunion. I spent a lot of time that night doing two things besides packing. The first was trying to find a way to the airport for my 6:30 AM flight that did not involve paying a minimum of $18 a day for parking. I spent about an hour researching options on the internet, and due to the god awful early nature of my 6:30 departure, I was unsuccessful. I then spent another hour wandering around the apartment trying to remember where my glasses were. This was only such a problem because, one day, while coming in from the car, I set them in a very secure location (lime green case and all). The secure and not very memorable location? My kneehigh rainboots. What was I thinking? I think I thought that I would not drop them and would take them out right away, but did I do that? NO. I spent an hour looking under everything in our semi unpacked apartment basically scouring the useless information filled bottom of my brain until an image of the rain boots was freed from the detritus of a modern life and saved me from being stuck in that pattern and getting less than 3 hours of sleep that night.

Florida was a blast, and filled with family time. I got to see the English version of my world famous sailor aunt's (and her husband-he is famous too) film about their trip to Antartica where they froze in their 40 foot sail boat, Northern Light. You can find their book here: http://www.amazon.com/Time-Ice-Winter-Voyage-Antarctica/dp/0070063990. It simply amazes me how talented and variety filled my entire family is (not only the Shapiro side). One of my cousins is living in New Zealand now working as a restaurant manager alongside her chef partner. Another one gave me an amazing haircut poolside. Another one is playing rhythm guitar in a hip hop band here in Boston. I can't wait to go see one of her gigs. She's been studying at Berkeley School of Music. My brother is an architect, my sister is a landscape architect, my mom is an interior designer. My grandmother has done a variety of things, including a performance at Carnegie Hall. My grandfather is a scientist. I could not do any of these things. However, I think that my job will be a performance every day, involving a bit of acting, a lot of persuasion and a lot of creativity. I find inspiration from all of them.

This is me and my siblings in my grandparent's new apartment. They live in a beautiful new place where they still live on their own, but don't have to cook dinner and have lots of friends around. It's marvelous. I had a great time visiting them. Most of the pictures were taken by other people, but I'll have access to them all soon and will see if there are any other good pictures. We went to the most fabulous beach which was a huge, wide stretch of white sand. The water was so warm and you could just relax in it because of where Sarasota is, in the Gulf. I could just float. I saw some schools of fish and it was awesome.

I then came home and M has not been here because he has been in West Hartford, CT (home) visiting his mom and sister. We will meet up at my family's house on Chappaquiddick on Friday night (his mom and sister are coming too) for a nice weekend before he starts work on Tuesday. I went to Lexington, MA yesterday to visit a nice yarn store that was recommended to me by someone at the Yarn Harlot event. I went to Wild n' Woolly and the women were so nice there. I got some sock yarn to make socks for my grandpa to send along with the wrap I have been making for my grandma. I also got some lavender wool soak to soak my Tempting in when I finally finish it and to use to block my grandma's wrap with. Other than that I made some appointements to pamper myself today. Later today I am getting a pedicure, then doing some more packing because I will be heading to my little sister's horse show tomorrow and then to Chappy on Friday. Yay!

Here are the knitting updates.
1) First socks. I am making Jaywalkers by Grumperina in Schachenmayr nomotta Regia Stretch Crazy Color.
Jaywalker Link: http://www.magknits.com/Sept05/patterns/jaywalker.htm
Grumperina: http://www.grumperina.com/knitblog/
She is one of the first blogs I started reading, and this pattern fit the bill, as it wasn't too hard for a first sock and is Boston inspired and by Grumperina, whose blog I love.

I restarted these yesterday because I switched needles. I went and got an Inox 2.5 mm needle with a longer cord to use from Wild n' Woolly. I like them almost as much as KnitPicks needles, but they are slightly less pointy. The cord is as flexible, but I think the join is not as smooth. I think I will use this one, but also continue to use KnitPicks needles. The plus side of this one was that I did not have to wait for shipping.

2) Grandma's Shawl/Wrap: I found the pattern on Ravelry/Knitpicks. It's in Vogue Knitting Shawls and the vast majority of patterns in here are ugly. I would never knit them. However, the Vine Stitch Wrap is really nice and is turning out really well, knit with 2 strands of Gloss from Knitpicks. I am four 20 row pattern repeats in and still on the first two balls. It's really nice to knit this, just enough change every row to keep me interested so far.


The entire thing. I am so glad this is working out. I showed my progress to my grandma and she really liked it. I can't wait to send it to her.

The close-up money shot.

I have been working on my scarf for my Grown-Up Bonnet. It's a little bit longer and I just attached the second ball.

I also started the last bit of knitting on my Tempting (the yoke) again last night. No pictures until that is done.

I am going away again this weekend, so I'll post when I come back!

Lots of Knitting Love to all of you!

I have a new FO! First lace.

I am sorry I have been gone for so long. I have been moving into my/our new apartment after taking two bar exams right before that. I have been busy! M and I spent the last four or five days moving me and all my stuff out of my old apartment. Boxes one day, furniture the other, more boxes and cleaning the next two days. Now, it is unpacking time. That is, until I go to Florida on Friday for my Grandpa's 90th birthday. I also had to finish the second project (besides the felted bowl) for my swappee. It's a lace kerchief entitled Whimsy. The pattern can be found here: http://terrathree.livejournal.com/163279.html It's a pretty simple lace pattern, but turns out very nicely and there are a lot of options to customize it. I am going to go get the ribbon for it today and then mail off the package to my swappee. I havI hope she likes it! Today is the deadline. I would have had this done way before now if it wasn't for the moving.

The entire kerchief. This was my first lace.


The close-up of the lace pattern.

I also frogged my scarf for the Grown-Up Bonnet from Knit2Together and restarted it in a much better yarn for that project, it's being made in Manos del Uraguay Worsted in a beautiful blue color and is knitting up so nicely and it is so soft. it is one of their "solids" but I find it to be slightly naturally variegated, almost a shifting solid, and it looks incredible. It's knitting up very quickly. I'll post pictures of that when I can get some that show off the yarn. Luckily we have very good natural light here.