« March 2006 | Main | May 2006 »
April 28, 2006
The yarn gods are indeed smiling...
So I'm poking around blogland last night as I am hopelessly behind in my reading. I was catching up with Bookish Wendy when she mentioned this massive sale over at WEBS where you can get Cascade 220 for $4.79! I don't really need any Cascade 220 right now but I went over there anyway to check out the goods and guess what I found? Reynolds Lopi on sale for... wait for it... $3.75!! I explained to Geoff my quest for a good price on Lopi so that I can make a tree skirt that will make our holidays so special and explained that it is hard to find Lopi for less than $5.95 and how I have to get like 21 balls of the stuff to make our holidays so special and how I really would be stupid to pass up Lopi at the low price of $3.75 and he gave me the green light to go ahead and order the whole shebang (to make our holidays so special). So it's been ordered! I'm so excited! Without it I wouldn't have been able to make this tree skirt and our holidays would not be so special. Thank you, yarn gods.
Posted by allison at 11:55 AM | Comments (4)
April 27, 2006
I'm waking up
Whew! I think I'm finally recovering from our trip to Texas. Two days of driving both going and coming. Ugh. That can be so exhausting! Not to mention that I had to be at work early the morning after we got back for a conference I was helping put together.
I think I've finally caught up on my sleep and am back to eating healthier so my energy level is rising! Eating out every meal for over a week can wreak havoc on your diet!! I do not want to see another hamburger or french fry for a long time. My body is craving fresh vegetables and I'm loading up!
Anyway, the trip was fantastic. Really a good time. Let me just say that Austin, TX is such a great city! We really enjoyed bopping around town (even though they were experiencing record-breaking heat and rolling blackouts!). We were strolling around near our hotel when Geoff said "Hey look! Knitting supplies!" and sure enough, he was pointing at Hill Country Weavers, a very cute yarn shop! I was so excited that a) Geoff spotted it and b) he actually pointed it out to me instead of steering me in the opposite direction. I call this "progress."
Anyway, I left him on the front porch with his book while I ventured inside. About 15 minutes later (I think I made good time!) I emerged from the shop with this:
Some yummy Koigu that I am planning to use for these socks. I just love the blues in the yarn! And this sock pattern is toe up. I've never knit socks toe up and have always wanted to try! I'm trying to restrain myself from casting on because I have so many languishing projects. Unfortunately that was the only yarn shop I made it to on our trip to Texas. But, that was probably for the best since my bank account is not "yarn friendly" at the moment.
As for knitting on the trip, I did take Butterfly, Hourglass and the entrelac scarf with me. What did I work on exclusively? The entrelac scarf. I think it was because it could fit in my purse (which Hourglass can no longer do) and it works well for quick, sporadic knitting since it doesn't require much concentration (yeah, Butterfly definitely doesn't fall into that category). I won't bore you with a progress pic of the scarf. Imagine the last pic I posted of it but longer and with more colors.
Anyway, as for more Austin fun, we walked around the campus of the University of Texas and happened upon these fellas:
They have a turtle pond on campus! If I had gone to school there I would not have made it to a single class. I would have spent all my time watching the turtles. They were so fascinating! Also on campus was the LBJ Museum and Archives. It's really a shame that Vietnam overshadowed a lot of the amazing things this man accomplished during his presidency. If you're ever in Austin, this place is a must-see.
We also saw the famous bats come out from below the Congress Ave bridge one night. I can't believe that under that bridge can live 1.5 million bats! We went on a cruise on the river so we got to be right under them as they flew out for the night. So neat!
We also went to Houston but we didn't really see much. Geoff's friend was getting married so we did a lot of wedding get-together stuff. Not a lot of time for sight-seeing. But that's ok, I don't think it would have been able to beat the great time we had in Austin. Hook 'em horns!
Posted by allison at 05:07 PM | Comments (1)
April 16, 2006
Happy Easter!
Happy Easter, everybody! I hope the Easter Bunny was good to you and brought LOTS of chocolate. And yes, that's yours truly doing what I do best. Eating. |
 |
Posted by allison at 06:44 AM
April 15, 2006
All my bags are packed...
I'm ready to go.
Well, Geoff and I will head off to the Lonestar State at the crack of dawn tomorrow! We are excited about our road trip. The best part is we don't have to go back to work until next Tuesday! Over a week away! When Geoff came home from work yesterday I shouted "We're on vacation!" It was the first time it dawned on him and he grinned big.
Packing has been a nightmare but I think we are ready to go. My father-in-law was nice enough to let us use his car for the trip (I think a road trip like this would kill both Geoff and I's cars). The only downfall is that we'll be without our satellite radio. So Geoff has been filling up the iPod and today we bought a converter for the car. I think we're set.
My biggest worry about this trip? What knitting am I going to take?! I've recently rekindled my romance with the entrelac scarf I've been working on and since it's a very portable project, it's definitely coming with me. I'm also bringing Hourglass and Butterfly. I'm hoping that I will get some work done on those damn frills. They will not get the best of me!
I know in my last post I promised knitting content. The above paragraph will have to do. I don't have any new pics to show!
We're bringing the camera and the laptop so there may be opportunity for blogging on the road!
Posted by allison at 07:19 PM | Comments (2)
April 14, 2006
Good times
Our 1st Anniversary was wonderful. We went out to my parents' house to have lunch and dive into this...
The top tier of our wedding cake! Can you believe it held up so well?! And it was actually very good!! I've always heard horror stories of people eating their wedding cake on their anniversary and it tasting horrible. My mom must have done some magic freezing because it really was good and moist.
Anyway, lunch was great (Geoff's favorite chicken casserole) and as you can see, a good time was had by all...
Ok, ok before you call child protective services, my niece is consuming a non-alcoholic apple martini. You see, when you walk into my parents' house my mom will try and shove an apple martini in your hands. Maddie got a little jealous and wanted one, too. And since she had lost two teeth that weekend, we decided to indulge her (in a law-abiding way).
Anyway, later that evening, Geoff surprised me with dinner at a nice restaurant (Garibaldi's). He had me pack an overnight bag earlier and after dinner we headed to the Inn at USC which they recently built at USC and is so gorgeous. And it's completely non-smoking. I love anything that's completely non-smoking. In our room was a bottle of champagne and fresh strawberries and blueberries!
We slept late on Monday (check out isn't until noon) and then went to the Original Pancake House for brunch. I decided to try their specialty, the Dutch Baby, and I had it the way they recommend, with powdered sugar and lemon. YUM-O. I will never get anything else when I go there. All Dutch Baby from now on. Seriously, if you have an OPH near you and haven't tried one of these. Go NOW and try one. I've got a recipe and am looking forward to making one of my own someday.
Anyway, at the OPH we ran into Ryan, an old friend from college, you may know him better as Amos Lee. He was in town after doing a show. In case you haven't heard or seen him, I recommend you buy his music! He's been on Letterman, the Today Show, etc and opened up for acts like Bob Dylan and Nora Jones. My dad's a big fan and told me he was watching Conviction the other night and they played one of his songs. He's a bigshot now and it's weird because I think of him as crazy Ryan who would always come over to our apartment in college and crack everybody up. I think I have a picture of him somewhere with his finger up his nose. Classy. He introduced me to tofu and for that he will always have a special place in my heart. Mmmmmmm... bean curd.
Anyway, after our OPH experience, we went for a walk on the Three Rivers Greenway. It's a relatively new walking path along the river and it is just gorgeous!
So it was a really terrific anniversary. Geoff really outdid himself. And since it was our paper anniversary, he gave me cash! Yarn money! I'm saving it for Texas yarn shops.
Speaking of Texas yarn shops, THANKS to everyone who left comments or emailed me about suggestions of where to go! You have guaranteed that I will be completely broke by the time I get home.
There will be knitting content next time. Promise.
Posted by allison at 10:46 PM | Comments (2)
April 09, 2006
One year ago today...
Posted by allison at 10:07 AM | Comments (5)
April 08, 2006
Green
Green is definitely one of my favorite colors. It may stem from my Scottish heritage. Whatever the reason, I find myself always drawn to the color. Of course, green is a color I look good in what with my red hair and fair skin. I think it's also why I love spring so much. All of the green! Today seems to be greener than ever. It's a rainy day here but the gray sky seems to make the new spring foliage pop. You know, that chartreuse color of new leaves every spring. I just love it!
Want to see some green? How about a green Hourglass Sweater? (click to make all pics bigger)
She's growing slowly but surely. If I hadn't taken that little vacation from knitting she would probably have some sleeves by now. But that's ok. It's not like I'll be able to wear her anytime soon!
I'm really excited about the color of this sweater. It's one of the heathered colors of Cascade 220 so along with the main green color you can see gold and even turquoise running through it.
Want more green? My mom gave me a Bird of Paradise plant for my birthday this year. I really wanted a big plant like that to fill an empty corner in our living room. Well, I discovered this the other day...
It's a new shoot! I don't know how I hadn't seen this before. It seemed to come out of nowhere! I'm so excited to see it unfurl into a new leaf! I think it's gonna be a big one!
Yes. Green is good.
Posted by allison at 05:33 PM | Comments (2)
April 06, 2006
I'm alive!
You were probably wondering if I fell off the Cooper River Bridge this past weekend. I didn't! I'm still here! And I did survive the race. I didn't finish as well as I had hoped and that kinda pissed me off. I wore the wrong socks and I could feel them rubbing a blister on the bottom of my left foot after mile 4 and I. HATE. BLISTERS. So I pretty much walked the last two miles to keep Mr. Blister from getting worse. I did run the last stretch over the finish line, though. Another strike against me was all of the walkers! First of all, I have nothing against those who signed up to walk the 10k. I think that's great! Most of my family walks the race every year! But this year was a little different. In the past, the walkers walked a shorter distance and started at a different place than the runners. This year was the first race on the new bridge and they decided to make the walk a full 10k and decided to let EVERYONE start at the same time and same place! ACK! The walkers were supposed to line up behind the runners but no one was enforcing that so Geoff and I were pretty much running a zig-zag pattern trying to get around all the families and children and strollers. Oy vey. My dad started well ahead of us and he said that he was constantly dodging walkers, too. I think a lot of the runners complained so we'll see if anything changes for next year's race.
All in all, it was a really fun weekend and the new bridge is fantastic. Geoff ran with the camera and got this cool shot.
As for knitting, I took a little vacation from it. I seriously don't think I knit a stitch for an entire week. But don't worry, my dears, that little vacay is over. I picked Hourglass back up on Tuesday. Still no pic but I promise to get one soon!
Speaking of vacations, Geoff and I have a big one coming up in just over a week! YAY!!!! We are headed to Austin and Houston for a week! Gimme the scoop on some yarn shops in those cities! We have a wedding to go to in Houston on the 22nd so we decided to make a big trip out of it and go to Austin, too. We'll be leaving on the 16th and driving (yes I said driving) to Austin. Two days of driving both ways. Sounds like fun to me! Actually, it sounds like serious knitting time to me!
We made our trip to Texas bigger (isn't that what Texas is all about?) to extend the celebration of our ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY! This Sunday, April 9th, Geoff and I will celebrate one year of marriage. Holy cow! Time flies so fast! He's got something up his sleeve for this weekend. I was told to take Monday off of work. I'm excited!
Posted by allison at 10:16 PM | Comments (6)
