NYC, Rhinebeck and Tough Bugs

Why is it that when I take my camera somewhere, I forget to take pictures? I'm a knucklehead....that's all there is to it.

Two weeks ago I headed to Philadelphia for yet another business trip. This time, I was in downtown Philadelphia. It was my first time and I liked it a lot. We were right across the street from Reading Terminal Market.This is a phenomenal place with all manner of vendors of food, organic vegetables, Amish goods, etc. A truly amazing marketplace. If you are in downtown Philadelphia, I would highly recommend a visit.

Took a nice walk to Rittenhouse Square. A beautiful city park surrounded by a lot of shops and restaurants.

Took a little side street trip to Rosies Yarn Cellar where there was quite a large amount of yummy yarns in a very small space.

The conference in Philadelphia was nice. I had the opportunity to connect with some friends from my past life. It was great to be able to represent such a well respected organization. People were constantly coming up to our booth telling us they were members and loved AACN. I am lucky.

Wednesday, I took the train to NYC. Wow, how easy was that. Amtrak was right on time, an hour and 15 minutes later, Penn Station. No muss, no fuss.....easy as can be. The next few days were spent hanging out with my sister, brother-in-law, niece and nephew. I got to watch a couple of soccer matches, meet teachers and see an amazing showcase at LaGuardia School for the Performing Arts. NYC has a very complicated process of choosing a high school. The process involves going on school tours, interviews, auditions, portfolios, etc. It is as tough as getting into college. We went and visited Millennium High School down by Wall Street. It's a new school built after 9/11 as a result of the efforts of Sen. Clinton. It's a very nice space. I was very blown away by LaGuardia High School. We saw performances by the Jazz Band, the Orchestra, the choir, some drama students, dancers, and art. Those kids were amazing. The academic program is quite remarkable as well.

I came down with a nasty cold (well, at that time it was a cold) and it knocked me down for a few days. My sister, niece and I did get to the New York State Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck, New York. It was a couple of hours north of the city and it was a glorious fall day.

There was so much beautiful yarn it was hard to wrap my head around it. It was a delightful trip and well worth the adventure. I

Monday, I headed back to California. Note to self......don't fly when you have a cold. It sucks, I know why babies cry. If I could have cried, I would have. I did take NyQuil before getting on the plane so I did sleep for a few hours. Thank goodness, it was a non-stop flight from Newark to Orange County. Landing was miserable. The only good thing is that the descent into OC is not prolonged so the pain only lasted about 30 minutes. The bad thing was that I couldn't hear much once we landed. My ears were a mess. Since getting back, the past 6 days have been pretty miserable.......cold transitioned to rotten sinusitis. My ears finally cleared up yesterday and I am actually feeling human again.

It's been a heck of a couple of weeks and I am looking forward to getting back to work. I've started knitting again and life is good.

Congratulations to my cousin. She kicked butt in San Francisco last weekend running a half marathon and finishing a full 30 minutes ahead of her estimated time and even better than her stretch goal. She has worked hard to accomplish this and she did great.......

How Many Times Can You Rip Out Your Knitting?

I have this beautiful Handmaiden Sea Silk yarn that I bought a few months ago. It is incredibly beautiful and soft. I know that I want to use it to make a wrap for me to use at the office when it gets a little chilly. My problem is that the yarn is soooooo beautiful with a miltitude of incredible colors that I can't find the right pattern for it. First, I thought I would use the pattern that came with it. It's a lovely pattern and it would be beautiful however, it used both balls of yarn at once and I had to keep trying to remember to to the other end of the row and knit again. For someone who has trouble counting a pattern repeat off 4 stitches, this was a definite challenge. Then I decided I would do a horseshoe lace pattern. The problem wiht this was that I couldn't see the pattern really well because the varigations in the yarn are incredible and the pattern got lost in it. Then after talking to my sister (the most amazing knitter) I decided to do a simple open pattern. I thought, hmmmm, that yarn over, knit two together would be nice. Well, being the novice that I am, I didn't realize that I needed to yo K2tog on every row, so I purled back on the wrong side row. This created a very lovely but trapezoidal shaped wrap. I was not happy. So, I tried a couple of other types of stitches K1 YO P2tog K1, which was lovely but a bear to knit back when I made the inevitable mistake. I tried going back to making a simple shawl which was okay but not great. So after about 20 different tries at using this yarn, I think I am finally on my way. I'm back to the YO K2tog on EVERY row......nice and straight, a little open, simple.....very nice.

Tomorrow is the Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool Festival and my sister and I are going. I am very excited because it seems like it's a big event in the yarn world. I'll let you know how it goes.

It's been fun being in NYC although I've been a bit under the weather. I did go outside today (unlike yesterday) and it was good to get outside of the apartment. I have been laying low, trying to prevent this cold from growing into something more. I think I've got enough Advil, Halls and Dayquil to get me through.

Carry On (Can you believe Jeffrey won Project Runway??? I thought Ule was the best!)

Lost Posts and Misty

Last week, while sitting in a hotel room in King of Prussia, PA, I spent quite a while typing a blog and I even had a picture......but when the picture started to load, it kept loading forever and ever and ever and I lost everything. I don't even remember what I was writing about at the time but I am going to move on now. With luck, this one will actually make it to publishing.

This is the story of how one person can become slightly insane about a cat......Last week I had to travel for work for the first time. I had made arrangements for Misty (remember her? Here's a picture just in case.)

Misty went to stay with a co-worker and her family. Her son really wants a pet and this was an opportunity to show his parents that he was responsible enough to care for a pet....PLUS he wants to by an iPod and is looking for ways to make the big bucks. So, Misty went to stay with this lovely family in a large house with stairs and more than one bedroom and people coming and going.....a family. Misty is a very social cat and loves having people around. She's not really a lap cat but she does like being in the same room with people. So, it was a nice place for her to be. Anyway, the son and the Dad really fell in love with Misty and want to get a cat if they could find one as cool as she is (I can tell you that just won't happen.) So, in my moment of insanity or estrogen deficiency or something, I thought maybe I was being very selfish where Misty was concerned an that she would be better off with a whole family. I had myself very convinced that this was what would be best for Misty. I talked with the Mom who told me I really should wait until I was a bit less tired to make that decision but that she would talk about it with her husband. I talked to

my Sister........

I talked to

my Mother.........

I talked to

my Cousin.....

and they all said the same thing. Are you crazy? You can't do that! Misty loves you....you are her human....

Sanity ruled.....estrogen kicked in......Misty's home. I'm happy.