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!
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