February Projects

Happy March! I spent February watching the Winter Games and knitting up a storm. I finished up a couple quick projects - one not so quick - and started a new one. Here's the latest:

The baby jacket is complete. I LOVE this Ambiante yarn, particularly the color scheme and the way it knits up. I am very happy with this jacket - I do think it came out a bit long, so it will definitely be a jacket and not just a sweater. I did follow the pattern to a T. Well... almost. You're supposed to knit 10 garter ridge rows between each button hole row. But that count depends on whether you count the button hole row as a garter ridge row or not. I did not (because I am a strict, "by the book", rules-oriented person), and therefore I may have actually put 11 garter ridge rows between each button hole. One extra row is no big deal, but do that every time for 5 buttons, and you've added an extra inch of length to the project. I just tell myself that since DH and I are tall people, and our baby will be tall too, so having a garment that is an inch too long will actually work out better for him. Let's go with that.

What else - oh, I finished these "outdoor work gloves" for Jason (they are actually just fingerless mits, but I changed the name of them to make them seem more appealing to him. But I think he's on to me by now...). I convinced him that he could use a pair for raking (not that we rake) or working on the car (not that we do our own automotive maintanence) or at a minimum, wear them when we go for walks in the evening (that we actually do!).
Once again, they came out a bit long, so in this photo, he just folded the cuff back once. What is wrong with me? I think I have this fear of ending a project too quickly and having it be too short/small, but I realize that ending it too late and having a product that's too long is just as bad. But these are still functional! DH did say to me - "these are great, but maybe you can make me another pair that's shorter. And in a different color. And that isn't as tight on the thumbs". He is so sweet. Fair enough. I'll put that in queue. Deli ticket # 295, now serving # 3.

Have you heard of City Bakery in NYC? I was supposed to go there for their Annual Hot Chocolate Festival and Knitting Night, but by the time I went to purchase a ticket on-line, they were sold out! I was so sad - so sad, in fact, that one of my good friends at work took me out for a pity dinner at the Melting Pot in Hoboken (thanks so much Kerry! You are so kind)!. Anyway, Purl Soho (which is moving locations, I hear) was going to be one of the featured vendors. They posted this cute pattern for "Chocolate Bar Coasters".
I knit them because believe it or not, I've never knit with 2 strings of color before, and I wanted to learn! This whole time, I've been relying on varigated or self-striping yarn to make colorful projects! So the brown and white coasters were a perfect project to learn how to use 2 strands of color. The pattern for the striped coasters reminds me of those ski sweaters from the 70's! I'll have to visit City Bakery some time soon. Perhaps with Junior!

Speaking of Junior - I just started this adorable "Baby Alligator" scarf from Morehouse Farms. It looks so cute!!! Maybe this is my way of nesting, before the baby is here? I keep thinking "what if I'm too busy to knit when the baby is here, maybe I should get this done now?!?!?" Could happen. I just think it's so fun to knit for babies. The projects are so small and they knit up quickly - it's very rewarding. I just started the scarf last night, and I was just able to knit the snout: I think I'm going to make an excel table that corresponds to the pattern because lots of folks on Ravelry said keeping track of the number of repeats for the gator's back is confusing. Being an engineer (albeit a practicing engineer many, many moons ago), I am convinced there's nothing excel can't fix or be utilized for!

In a completely un-related random sidebar, the baby shower was 2 saturdays ago. I'd made these "Bird in the Nest" cupcakes for everyone to enjoy during the shower.
Thank you so much to you wonderful ladies (friends and family) for coming over and sharing this special event with me! I'm not sure if any of you are regular readers of this blog (or even casual readers!), but I still wanted to express my gratitude! The gifts were so generous! DH and I are just amazed and how giving people have been - I have 3 co-workers that gave us tons and tons of baby clothes, in addition to baby gear (including strollers, bouncy seats, toys, etc.) and wouldn't accept any payment or donation in return. Amazing. I really had a wonderful time at the shower - we are so lucky to have you all in our lives! I hope you all had as nice of an afternoon as I did!!!

Lovely Day

Yesterday was Valentine's Day and Jason and I spent it in the city. We really had a wonderful weekend, primarily just because we got to spend time with each other, without worrying about work, life, or the endless "to-do" list!

We started off by having brunch at Balthazar, in Soho. I'd actually read about this restaurant for their entrees and dinner, not for it's bakery, which it's probably even more well-known for. Their food is outstanding - I had a goat cheese and onion tart and a croissant - the tart was fantastic because the cheese was light and creamy! And how funny is this - we were sitting right next to John Grisham and his wife! We actually saw them on the Today Show earlier in morning - he must have finished the interview and went for breakfast with is wife (Jason recognized he was wearing the same outfit as on TV). Every time he looked our way, I kept thinking "I wonder if he's inspired by the way Jason poured syrup on his waffles, or the way I use a "caveman" grip on my fork when cutting, and maybe he'll write this into his next book!" which is pretty arrogant of a thought, I suppose. Anyway, I digress... go to Balthazar. You'll love it.

Balthazar is also just a few blocks away from PurlSoho, one of my favorite knitting stores. We swung by after brunch, before heading up-town. The shop looks like a box of Crayola crayons (the 64 crayon pack), with every nook and cranny of each wall neatly stacking all sorts of yarns in a rainbow of colors. I picked up more Manos yarn. You know... anyone who thinks knitting can't be addictive hasn't been to this store.

After Purl (and a tenuous 30 min where temporarily I mis-placed our theater tickets), we headed uptown to the Music Box Theater to see August: Osage County. This show was fantastic. It had a bit of a slow start, but got better and better every act. I really liked Johanna Day's portrayal of "Barbara Fordham" - Barbara is the pragmatic, sharp-tongued daughter who temporarily steps in as matriarch (out of duty? or personality?) of the family when her father disappears and her mother's drug-addiction becomes incapacitating. The show's set looked like just like a scaled up doll-house! I haven't seen a play or a show in years, and this one has reminded me how talented Broadway actors are and what a great experience seeing a live show can be!

After the play and dinner, we retired to our hotel, the Waldorf=Astoria (owned/operated by Hilton, I believe). You know.... for a "luxurious, elegant Hotel" (their words, not mine), we though it was a little bit lacking. The 100 year old hotel itself, is beautiful, and I don't even like "old stuff". The lobby and concierge area has classic dark-wood walls and a beautiful clock in the center - the lobby actually reminded me of the clock area at Grand Central. But... there were just some amenities that didn't stack up. Like the shower - it took 20 min to run before hot water arrived (or course I realized this AFTER I finished a chilly shower and was about to call the front desk once sensitivity returned to my frozen fingers). And the parking situation - even though we called the garage 30 min before we were heading out per instructions, we still had a 20 minute wait to boot. I'm sure part of this is something that just comes along with a "vintage" hotel - I'm guessing that the old plumbing doesn't support bringing hot water 26 floors up quickly - and it's not like originally the hotel had to deal with parking and jockeying hundreds of cars around the way they do now. So I suppose I understand that. But the continental breakfast kinda felt like a feeding frenzy with lots of people cutting lines to eat egg casserole and cereal from plastic dispersers (like something you'd find at a casino in AC); This kinda stuff has nothing to do with the age of the hotel. And rather than pay $30 for a pint of ice-cream from room service, we just walked across the street to Duane Reed and got the same for $5. Overall, the hotel is nice, but doesn't justify it's price-tag.

I think just having an entire day together, with no responsibilities other than to relax and enjoy life, was what made Valentine's such a lovely day (cue the music, please).