Yeah, I pretty much went MIA this summer, but a lot has been going on. Ed and I have been working feverishly on the wedding, I had a fantastic bridal shower (everyone was SO generous), we’re in the process of buying a house, and I’ve been doing some knitting too!

Other than that, I don’t have much to show for the summer. Planning a wedding and buying a house are much more exhausting than I thought they would be. I mean, I knew I’d be tired, but I didn’t realize just how tired I would be. The good news, is we should be closing on the house soon, so we can get it all set and move it just before the wedding. Luckily, it was built in 1984, so at this point, it doesn’t need to much work. Some paint, a new kitchen and bathroom counter, but nothing MAJOR. Things that I’d like to change will go on the list as the years go by, but those are the kinds of things that come with being a homeowner, I suppose.

So, knitting…

For my shower I knit the Two-Tone Ribbed Shrug from Fitted Knits, but in one color of Valley Yarns Goshen. I had not had the chance to work with it yet, but I can’t even express how much I love this yarn. I am NOT a fan of cotton. In fact, I have Hey Teach languishing in the UFO pile right now because I had it with the cotton. It’s such a pretty sweater, and I’m nearly done with the back, but UGH cotton! Anyway, back to the shrug…I couldn’t decide which size to knit, and I had two people measure me and get two different results, so I went with the smaller size. I think it is actually a pretty good fit!

 

(mmm, margaritas)

The next project I completed this month (wow, that’s two for August so far…maybe I can get one more done!?!?) is a shawl out of Louet Mooi. I wasn’t sure about this yarn when it arrived, but I’m absolutely thrilled with the results. I made a fairly nice sized shawl out of just one skein, which is nice because it’s not the cheapest yarn in the world, but it is absolutely lovely. It is bamboo, bison, and cashmere. Every time I tell someone about the bison, I’m met with the response “bison??.” Yes, there is bison on cashmere that lend to the softness, and the bamboo adds just the slightest sheen that I think does wonders for the lace pattern.

The pattern is Garden Shawl from Knitting Lace Triangles. I think Evelyn Clark is a genius and I absolutely adore her patterns. There are several more of hers that I want to make, and I really want to experiment with the book.

While we are on the subject of books, allow me to introduce my new favorite that arrived the other day.

Custom Knits by Wendy Bernard

I’ve been reading her blog, Knit and Tonic, for a while now, and love most of her designs, so when I saw she had a book, I was really excited. I love nearly every pattern in the book, and even the ones I don’t love, they are still really pretty. I can’t wait to fish some yarn out of the stash and get going on one of them (though I do have some things to finish first, and I’m sure moving will have to be thrown in there too!).

So, I’m going to try very hard to be a better blogger. Maybe it will help me start crossing things off my “to do before I move list” (I did throw out 8 contractor bags of stuff this weekend!)

There will be MANY pictures! This weekend, Ed and I made our way to Boston for the Phantom Gourmet BBQ Beach Party. We attended last year, but just for one day. I think this year was even better. They pushed some of the vendors back, so it seemed like there was more room. They also moved the stage to City Hall instead of on the “beach.” I think this worked out MUCH better. They also had more places to buy beer, which we didn’t partake in. Water was PLENTY expensive thank you very much!

We sampled ALMOST everything. There was one place we didn’t try that we had tried last year and weren’t impressed enough to go back. We also didn’t try Firefly’s, as they are Boston-based and we could go there. We wanted to make sure we tried all the out-of-staters.

Where to start…

 

Yes, one of the vendors came all the way from Australia, and it was totally worth it! The Aussom Aussie. They had some fantastic sauces. The Raspberry Chipotle comes to mind. A little sweet, a little spicy…very different from your “regular” BBQ, but very, very good. So good in fact, Ed actually ate shrimp. He’s not a shrimp eater, and neither am I. I can’t say that I liked it, but at least I tried it.

We had some excellent ribs and beef brisket from Rasta Joe’s. They put “real Jamaican Rum” in their sauce. It was pretty darn tasty too!

Oh, and allow me to introduce you to Wicked Whoopies. We sampled several of the flavors. The best, was just the plain old original. I am kind of a whoopie pie snob. We have a fantastic recipe for whoopie pies that my parents have made since I was little, and it’s really hard to beat. None of that stinky Big Y giant whoopie for me! (ICK!) These were quite yummy though!

Yet again this year, we visited Cowboy’s for a fantastic beef brisket sandwich. I got my own here. No sharing for me, which is actually how I worked most of the time. I just took bites.

This is the most delicious beef brisket ever. The sauce is yummy and the beef is just spectacular!

And finally, where was the absolute best of the entire trip? When we walked up to order, the guy said to us “You’ve tried the rest, now try the best!” and we were kind of skeptical. It was so good, Ed went back up to him and told him he was right, then got more ribs!

So, Q, you win as most delicious ribs in our book! (Alas, there is no site, but they are out of Virginia and I love them very much now!)

It was a great mini-vacation and we can’t wait to go again next year! (Especially now that I’ve gone back through and done all of the linking and looked at the pictures!) I didn’t get much knitting done, but I did get to relax.

I have definitely decided that I don't want to grow up! It's WAY too stressful! This whole buying a house (or rather looking at this point) and wedding thing is crazy and I don't know what I was thinking. Well, I know what I was thinking, I was trying to be practical, but sometimes it seems like the more practical I try to be, the more stressful and less practical it becomes.

I've done a lot in the past couple weeks. I took a spinning class, yarn of course, not the bike. With my luck, I would fall off with my feet still strapped in if I took a bike class! So, now I know how to spin, which leads to the problem of wanting a wheel, but not for a while. I've got knitting to do for the store. LOTS of knitting. Plus gift knitting. Jeesh, no wonder I'm stressed! :)

Last Thursday, I drove up to Burlington, VT to be on press for the next catalog. It was a LONG day, but they were really nice there. Even had my name and our designer's name up on this tv they had on the wall with the image of our catalog welcoming us. At least it was a beautiful day. Though, six-plus hours of driving is exhausting for someone who isn't used to driving (gotta keep that low mileage insurance discount!)

Yet another recital has come and gone.

Isn't she just so cute?? I can't believe she's done with kindergarten! Where does the time go. Pretty soon, she's going to be a grown up too! :(

I'm going to attempt to forget all I have going on for the next two days. Ed and I will be in Boston wearing our purple (if only in our hearts) for the Phantom Gourmet BBQ Beach Party. I'm sure I'll have pictures. And, hopefully, some knitting done.

 

Friday, June 6th, my cousin Laura married Steve. It was a really nice wedding. I didn't tear up then (I think because I was too busy thinking "oh crap, I have to do this in four months!), but looking at the pictures, I'm getting a little misty. Remembering all the time we spent together when we are little, and how the times we see each other now are so few and far between.

I hope she won't mind me sharing pictures. I don't think she will, because I don't have many readers, and honestly, I'm pretty sure most of my family doesn't even know about my blog. Plus, she looked gorgeous, so she has nothing to worry about!

Here we have a blurry picture of Steve, Steve's mom (left) and Laura's mom, my Cioci Mary Ann (yeah, we're Polish, want to make something of it :)?)

My cousin Deb, the matron of honor.

Laura and her dad, my Uncle John. Isn't the dress pretty?

I don't have any good pictures from the ceremony. Too many heads in the way, and they are grainy.

This was the first "you're next" face. She had a lot of fun rubbing that in while I was freaking out wondering what I'm thinking doing this in front of everyone!

The first dance! Don't ask me the song, I can't for the life of me remember it, but I can hear it.

This is when she was telling me about how she can't wait until it's my turn because she can just sit and watch. I love her smile in this picture because it totally reminds me of the smile she used to get when she was really excited about something. I can see 5-year-old Laura jumping up and down in my head when I look at it! :)

And a series including the cake....

And now, my freaking out can commence. The entire time, I've been like "oh, I'm okay, Laura's wedding hasn't even happened yet." Now, I need to get a move on. I've still got a few details to work out. I have to register still, oh and that whole pesky finding somewhere to live thing, but we're working on that. I haven't done much knitting this weekend, but it's been unbearably humid. I can deal with some heat, but you throw humidity in there and I become pretty useless.

It's too hot to knit...and too hot to turn on the other computer and share pictures. We went to a wedding this weekend, which has me slightly freaked out, but that's another story for another time (with pictures, provided they come out!)

Perhaps a little later.

Ed and I had a very busy Saturday. First, we went up to Cummington for MA Sheep and Wool. We saw lots of people and I only took one picture...see...

Melissa was signing her book at FoxFire Fiber's booth. Which brings me to my first purchse:

Lovely, squishy, soft Cormo Silk Alpaca...mmmm

Followed by my second (Sojourner Design Evol-HUE-tion....super cool!)

And third (a pretty kit from Ball and Skein)

And fourth (a last minute decision purchase from Enchanted Knoll Farm)

So, in the end, I spent a little more than I wanted, but I'm not going to be at Rhinebeck this year (yay honeymoon!!), so I figure it's okay. I didn't take any pictures of sheepies, even though I LOVE them (Mary did have a little lamb after all) because we were watching the shearing, and one of the sheep had two cuts...for all I know they were there before, but it totally freaked me out, and couldn't get the picture out of my head. Even today, all I can see are the two gashes on the poor sheep!

After, we went home, helped Dad with the new pool and headed up to Northfield to catch Indiana Jones and Iron Man (which we had already seen, but it's a good movie!)

Look, hot dogs...hehehe

After I took this picture and watched the first 10 minutes of Iron Man, I fell asleep, which was really disappointing, because as I said earlier, it's a pretty good movie. Even the cold wasn't keeping me awake (because it was chilly Saturday night). We had fun anyway. I'll have to build up my stamina for later in the summer. It was a late night the night before and I didn't get a chance to take a nap!

I have finished Chelsea's Frangipani and a project for the store. Now, I'm working on a pair of socks, which are being exiled at the moment because they are making me angry, but I'm sure it will be better in the morning.

Things still feel really crazy! I feel like I haven't really rested in weeks. Last weekend we had out cake tasting. MMMMMMMM. I'm very pleased with the selection. Chocolate cake with chocolate mouse. La Fiorentina. MMMMM

I finished up the last minute knit for the catalog. It's a Fiber Trends pattern knit in Valley Yarns Berkshire Bulky. It was a pretty quick knit, and considering how much I hate finishing, I think I did a pretty gosh darn good job. (Must be that Fearless Finishing class I took!)

Here it is on me...far to small of course, but I think cute anyway. (Yeah...no head...bad hair and glasses, not a pretty sight!)

And here it is with buttons and on a mannequin in the store.

Mother's Day was fantastic. We had brunch, but I didn't eat too much. Okay, maybe I had half a waffle too many, but I love waffles! And the weather was absolutely fantastic. Look at this:

Soon those will be delicious blueberries. I can't wait. They were so tasty last year. I just hope we remember to get them covered in time so the birds don't munch them all!

I've got two projects going right now...actively. I'm working on Frangipani for Chelsea (isn't that a cute pic from Sublime book 610), knit with Berroco Comfort DK (I am loving this yarn!!)

And still working on the Pea Pod sweater for Ed's cousin's baby. I must admit, I am not loving working with the Cotton Fleece, making the project REALLY easy to ignore. I'm not sure how much knitting I'll get done this weekend...as it's Tent Sale time again.