I made another Anthropologie Inspired Capelet. It's really cute! I just picked up a button for it yesterday at Knit, but here it is buttonless:



It's my favorite color combination: Green and Purple.
The yarn is some Colinette Graffiti I got on sale from Knit. All the yarn was about $35, which isn't bad for a sweater. And OMG it is super cute with a tank top and jeans.

Now that I'm knitting sweaters, I decided to finally knit the Lotus Blossom Tank I'd been wanting to make since last summer. I gathered my supplies and headed to Knit yesterday on my 1/2 day off work to cast on, which worked out very well. I didn't swatch because I never do - swatching hasn't been very accurate for me in the past so why bother? Anyways, Ellen helped me determine the size I'd need (the 39" bust size), whereas I'd have assumed the size smaller & been WRONG. Lol. I cast on and started knitting, and at about row 5 I realized I could much-too-easily slip the sweater-in-progress over my head, and then go swimming in it. Ellen said it was no good. So I packed up my sweater & went to run errands. I'll try again later.

Tuesdays at Knit are really jumping, I found out. Both tables were completely full of knitters. At my table, 2 women were working on the same scarf from crocheting in color and 2 were knitting the same sweater from a Sublime booklet. One other person was working on the Clapotis scarf in Koigu that a bunch of other Knit Patrons had already made. It seemed like a lot of people were working on the same projects and helping each other out, which was really nice to see.

Anyways, after I left Knit I met up with my friend T and taught her how to knit. Then we went to an Israeli Dance class at our shul, which was SO FUN. I am a terrible dancer in the real world, but Israeli Dancing I am good at :) It was the last class before a break until after Tisha B'av for the 3 weeks, so they were going over all the dances they'd already learned and T & I were trying to follow along. Sadly, T and I were already better than 1 person in the class, despite not knowing the dances & just following along. It was really fun, although some of the ones with a lot of turns I sat out & watched, they're a little hard to follow blind.

T might come to my knitting group tomorrow for followup knitting instruction. I think I hooked her with the Pi Shawl - she's a math nut.

This morning I was thinking: I should pick up some cheap yarn to practice the Lotus Blossom Tank pattern on, and then knit the real thing on the good stuff. I might hit Michaels on the way to softball and use my 20% off coupon...

sweater number three

Sweater number three is done!



Pattern: Anthropology Inspired Capelet
Yarn: Madelinetosh Tosh Bulky in Fragrant

I bought this yarn from the MadelineTosh Etsy shop. It's so soft and the colorway is gorgeous. However, I had a major problem with it. When I used up the first skein I wound another & went to attach it - and the yarn seemed thinner than the yarn I'd been knitting with. Sort of like a size 9 needle and size 8 needle are different sizes. Or even a 9 and a 7. It was very noticable. I pulled out the 3rd skein and that seemed to be the same thickness as skein #1 so I wound it up and used that one instead. Dye lot issues like my Saroyan shawl are one thing, but I've never heard of someone buying skeins of yarn from the same dye lot and getting such obvious differences in thickness. I need to email them....

Anyways, yarn weirdness aside this was a very quick knit and I love the finished results :)

I cast on the 49 stitches the pattern called for. I wasn't sure how to tell when to finish the Raglan Increases section, so I took some scrap yarn and measured around my arm. When I stopped increasing I had 28 stitches for each arm, but I think I should have gone 1 more row. Oh well.

After I split off the sleeves, I got through 2 rows before finishing my first skein. After I attached the second skein and knitted a row or two I realized that I should have knitted the sleeves before attaching the yarn to the body, so that I’d know exactly how much yarn I had to spare for the body of the sweater. Instead of ripping and un-attaching the yarn, I started knitting the sleeves using the other end of the yarn cake, and then went back and did the rest of the body.

On the sleeves I added 4 rows of stockinette before the 5 rows of ribbing that the pattern called for. For the body of the sweater, I knitted 15 rows of stockinette before switching to the 5 rows of ribbing. I have a tiny bit of yarn leftover, enough for at least 1 row but I didn't want to make the sweater too long.

I have 2 ends to weave in (oh Sarah, where are you?) and then I need a button or clasp or something to close the sweater with. Or not, I need to ask my Monday Panera group if I can wear the sweater open. Hey, everyone needs a fashion committee ;)

the story of my hat

About a week ago I was invited to a Bridal Shower for L. L is marrying A, the son of my parents' very, very good friends whom they've known since college.

A was Bar Mitzvah-ed but his family isn't very religious, and L isn't Jewish at all, so this will be my second non-Ortho bridal shower ever. That's significant not because I'm snobby about hanging out with gentiles or non-Ortho Jews, but in my experience, Ortho people in NY have a very specific Way of Doing Things which is sometimes loosely based on what the rest of the world is doing, but usually is quite different. I'm familiar with only the Ortho WoDT because that's what I've experienced to date, so I'm going to have to go over the etiquette with my coworkers before this shower. And the wedding.

Typical Bridal Shower I've been to: The invitation (or evite) invites everyone to Bridesmaid X's house at whatever time of day. We're asked to bring a recipe on a card. Sometimes we're asked to bring a photograph of ourselves with the bride or something. When I call to RSVP I offer to bring something, and usually end up bringing my favorite chocolate cake. Alcohol is unfortunately optional, but it's very low key and fun.

L's Bridal Shower invite: Very pretty printed invitations invite everyone to some nice-sounding place in Manhattan. The party begins at 2:30 and we are told to be on time (!) because L's arriving at 3. It's a surprise - my friends usually can't pull off a surprise. There are printed index cards for our recipes, and we are told to wear our favorite hats. (In July!)

Mom can't go because she'll be out of town that day, so I'm flying solo. I'll know L, A's mom and sister, and I may or may not recognize some of A's aunts and cousins from the Bar Mitzvah 13 years ago - but it's highly unlikely that they will remember me.

So of course I focus on the hats :) My favorite hat is probably the Divine Hats I've made 30 of, but that's hardly appropriate for a fancy affair in July. So I'm knitting Windansea, a free pattern from Berroco that uses 2 skeins of their Seduce yarn. The project calls for 50" of 18 gauge Milinery Wire, so yesterday I scouted the garment district and found some (6 yards for $6,which I think is a good deal). As of Monday I was up to the crown shaping, but the dpns I have are too grabby for the yarn, which is also super-grabby, so I'll have to hit Knit on my way to Softball tonight to get some Brittanys or Clovers.

*****

Last night Mom & I went to see Promises, Promises with Sean Hayes and Kristen Chenowith.

I like Neil Simon's Rumors a lot, and I also really liked this play. Sean Hayes is such a good actor!! I've seen Will & Grace but wasn't a fanatic or anything. I'm now a Sean Hayes fan :) There was a lot of witty and funny dialogue and he did such a great job with it.

Kristen Chenowith was pretty much as good as I expected her to be, and I had high expectations after seeing Wicked (without her :( ), Pushing Daisies, and Glee. She's so freaking talented! I hope she does more Broadway once she finishes this show.

As musicals go, this wasn't my favorite music-wise. All the actors did a terrific job singing, however I just didn't like many of the songs they were singing. Not my taste I guess. I didn't realize that Say a Little Prayer and A House is Not a Home were from Promises Promises. Both were on Glee this year, and I liked them in the show. There's a song sung by the 4 executives, and it was very well done - very witty and funny and they performed it very well too. My favorite song of the night though was I'll Never Fall in Love Again (and the reprise). The two main characters sing it as a duet, and they just did a GREAT job. It was beautiful.

I need to go see more Neil Simon plays, and I'd like to see more of K Chenowith & Sean Hayes's future projects.

the continuing saga...

The continuing saga called "Where the hell is my mail???"

I was expecting my sock club shipment to arrive this weekend, so I checked my mail twice on Friday, once yesterday, and even again this morning in case I missed the mailman yesterday. The only time I left my apartment building since about 8pm Thursday was lunchtime Friday to run some errands (it is WAY too hot out for me).

This morning I saw my neighbor leaving the elevator as I was heading upstairs from the laundry room, and she tells me to ring her apartment because they have some mail for me. Her husband tells me that the package has been sitting out since Friday evening so Saturday morning they took it in for me, because he doesn't like leaving mail out overnight. And that this morning he was going to ring my doorbell.

I've been home the whole time!!! And I would've seen a package Friday because I went downstairs after 5 to double-check if the mail came late.

I told him I was home the whole time but didn't necessarily leave, and thanked him for taking it in. Um, maybe next time he could ring my doorbell when he sees the package out there? Sigh.

To recap, the possible places for me to find my mail now include:
My mailbox
A slip to go to the postoffice
The Super
The Porter (assistant Super)
My neighbor

Sarah came to visit me again, and this time she brought her husband too :)

They arrived in NY last Friday afternoon. I cooked dinner (because how often does one go to a Shabbat meal in Arkansas) and invited 2 couples from the neighborhood and a friend from GN. I figured this way, Sarah & Chris wouldn't be the only "new" people since the GN friend was new to the RP friends. Also, T is from Nebraska originally, so S&C weren't the only non-NY-ers.

One of the dinner guests also has a motorcycle, and he was in an accident on Friday! He has a broken something but is otherwise okay.

Saturday S&C went to Manhattan while I cleaned the kitchen and mostly hung out on the couch. :D

Sunday I introduced S&C to the NYC bus system. Gotta love the unlimited ride metrocards! We took a bus to the express subway stop since the local was closed in the direction we needed. We got out of the subway @ 63rd and since it was on the way we stopped in to String (65th @ Madison) for literally 5 minutes. We could've taken the 6 but the M3 up Madison Ave was much more scenic, and I pointed out my high school as we passed by.

The Met was SO fun. We started in the Egyptian wing. It's incredible to look at stuff that's 3000+ years old. I'm amazed that they even know it's that old! We tried the 2pm 'Highlights of the Museum' tour but it wasn't our taste, so we ditched that. I was really into finding the Van Goghs and S&C indulged me :) Along the way we found a special exhibit on Picasso, which was so inspiring to see. We found the 19th century impressionists eventually and I decided that it's my favorite kind of painting. I LOVE the happy colors. I also decided Van Gogh's my favorite artist. I got a couple of posters of his art for my apartment, and since they had a buy 2 get 1 free deal on the posters, S&C picked a Monet poster.

Lunch was good, we went back to Ozu on the UWS. Mostly because it was near Cafe Lalo. S&C are obsessed with You've Got Mail, and S loved the cafe. Then we walked around some part of Riverside Park that was in YGM. We hit a Starbucks & then caught the subway home to meet T. Her first time at my apartment! I think it got a good review, it was hard to tell :) After some super quick showers - I love that Sarah's as OCD as I am! - we went to a diner a couple of blocks away for dinner.

Monday - on Sunday C invited us out to Fire Island, and S&C had expressed interest in going to the beach, so that's where we went Monday. I had fun, and I think S&C did too. My friend from GN that was at dinner Friday went with us also.

I started a toe-up sock with some KP Felici yarn.

Tuesday I went back to work & S&C went back to Manhattan. At night we went to see the Yankees play the Orioles. Of course my Yankees won :)

Wednesday S&C had their concert at night, so I played softball. Thursday morning I dropped them off at JFK to fly to Boston. All I can say is that Jen'd better treat 'em right up in Boston! lol