May 08, 2006

You're sick of MSW reports already?

Well, too bad. Mwah ha ha, I say.

Part One: The Swamp Our Nation's Capital

Spent the day taking in the sights and sounds of DC. I know this is sooo eighth grade field trip but I got a kick out of it. Haven't been down there since I was ten years old or so.

Part Two: Who the hell bought out all of the Socks that Rock?? I mean, I got to the freaking place at 11 and they were all gone!

I ended up taking way too many pictures of the ducks at the reflecting pool so I didn't have too much room left on my camera for pics at the festival.

>

My yarn haul from the festival was slim which is exactly what I had expected. I told Jess the week before that I "might not even buy any yarn" and she had a good chuckle. The Boyfriend pretended he didn't hear me. So yeah, here it is:

Let me get this straight, you say. You mean to tell me that you went all the way down to Maryland, drove out to the middle of nowhere, and got three skeins of sock yarn and little packets of dye?! Ohmygod, I can't stand the excitement of it all! There, there. I know.

So I very stupidly didn't bother to get anyone's phone number so I didn't get to meet up with Julsey and Carrie, my fellow Spiders there. I did, however, had the pleasure of running into Jessica and her friend Michelle. Must meet up at The Point sometime, gals.

Overall, a fabulous trip. Ooh, Rheinbeck awaits!

Posted by Sandra at 07:47 PM | Comments (15)

January 09, 2006

Comes as sweet and clear as moonlight through the pine

I'm back. And sick, once again. It's unreal, all I have to do is get more than 50 miles away from NYC and I always come down with something or another. Remember in Annie Hall how Woody Allen would get all queasy and ill whenever he was in LA? Well, all you have to do is replace "in LA" with "anywhere that is not the Tri-State area" and that's me in a nut shell.

I'm going to go lie down now. I'm fine, just have the sniffles. Just take a look through some pics I took in Georgia and I'll get back to you with a more compelling post in the next day or so.

Posted by Sandra at 09:02 PM | Comments (9)

November 14, 2005

And all that jazz. . .

I finished a pair of flap-top mittens a week ago. I probably would have blogged about them a lot sooner if I could figure out how to pose with those things on. Should I put them on and just hold my hands up in the air like I'm about to be arrested? On my hips? On my face? Should I be holding something? If then, what? A coffee mug? A teddy bear? The remote? I couldn't figure out how to take pictures of these mittens without looking like a complete dork. Here's what I came up with.

Well, I try, anyway.

Pattern: "Flap-top mittens" from Handknit Holidays

Yarn: Brooks Farm Duet Yarn

Needles: US 5 and US 7 double pointed needles

For: Me

These are my first pair of mittens ever. Whatcha think? Mittens are a real quick knit, a lot faster and a lot more fun than I initially thought. The only modifications I made were only to the flap. I first followed the directions on the pattern and the flaps just came out way too big. The decrease rounds start way too late in the pattern, imho. So I had to frog back about 2 inches and start the decreases from there. Other than that, I would highly recommend this pattern for flap-top mittens ( or "glittens"). It's very easy to follow.

And good god, is Brooks Farms yarn a dream to use. I could eat this stuff, it's so yummy.

Why yes, I did get that snowglobe in Chicago, how'd you know? I was just there this weekend as a matter of fact. If you're curious at all, just click on over to my flickr and poke around some. I won't mind.

Posted by Sandra at 07:44 PM | Comments (12)

October 17, 2005

Sheep and Wool Festival Part 2: Rhinebeck

The Spidey Crew headed upstate for the NYS Sheep and Wool Festival up in Rhinebeck last Saturday. I want to thank Joy for driving me, Sarah and Amanda up. You're awesome.

And I also wanted to say hi to Jess. It was so nice to have finally met you in person. :)

So how was my trip to Rhinebeck? Flippin' sweet. I didn't set myself on fire this time or anything!* Woohoo! There was nothing but blue skies, great company (It was lovely, as always, to meet up with the members of the Hat City Scissors Curcuit), and lots of yarn to be fondled.

This is where angora comes from. Fluffy.

Joy gets to second base.

Everyone decided to come out on this perfect day and take in the wool.

Watching some of the sheep dog trials.

Virginia makes a new friend.

This is almost too perfect of an ending to our day.

Coming up next: My Rhinebeck haul. My wallet is feeling awfully sad and empty these days.

*If you have no idea what I'm talking about, just ask Mary, Sarah, or Christine. They were there.

Posted by Sandra at 07:43 PM | Comments (6)

September 18, 2005

Ballet T-Shirt

I decided to take a break from the Baltic Sea Stole this weekend and work on a quickie knit.

I got most of knitting for the T-shirt done here. . .

. . .at Shea. B and I took in an afternoon of our national pastime yesterday. My beloved Mets lost to his Braves, 7-4. :(

Anyhoo, the ballet t-shirt is all done now so ta-da.

Pattern: Ballet T-Shirt from Loop-d-Loop

Yarn: Two skeins of Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in Pink-a-boo

Needles: US 15 circular needles (24')

For: Me

The shirt is a tad tight on me and I wish I made it a liitle longer. I'm not a big fan of the cropped look. But still, it's cute nonetheless. I just need to wear a tank top underneath, no biggie. This is a super fast project. And get this, there is NO sewing involved. What more can you ask for out of a pattern?

Posted by Sandra at 02:27 PM | Comments (11)

August 24, 2005

Back from Texas. *UPDATED*

"As governor of Texas, I have set high standards for our public schools, and I have met those standards." - George W. Bush

So yeah, just ignore that quote. As B mentioned to me last night, it really doesn't have to do with anything here except for the fact that the word "Texas" is in it. And that Dubya's from the Lone Star State. I was looking for a good Texas saying to start of this post and I came across that. It cracked me up so I decided to use it. All it did was cause confusion so just forget it.

Just walked through the door. Here are some teaser pics. Captions to come. The captions, they are here.

B and I attended a wedding in Fort Worth last weekend. We decided that we would make the trip down there worthwhile so we stayed in the Dallas-Fort Worth area for about a week.

Piggy takes in the vast Dallas-Fort Worth airport (It's huge. Did you know that the airport is considered its own municipality with its own zipcode and everything? Now you know.)

Some of the downtown Fort Worth skyline.

Elephant playing with a rubber ball at the Fort Worth Zoo. The zoo is also vast. I was very impressed. It's considered one of the the best zoos in the country and I get why. If you are ever in the Dallas-Fort Worth area for any reason, make sure you take the time to check them animals out.

The parrot exhibit at the Fort Worth Zoo. For a dollar, you can buy a popsicle stick covered with honey and bird food type seed thingies. You then proceed to kinda hold it up in the air for about five nanoseconds or so before three parrots land on the stick at once and proceed to duke it out, digging their talons into your right hand in the process. Or at least, that's what happened to me until that green parrot up there was proclaimed victor.

A Borofsky sculpture from the Nasher Sculpture Center. I think the description speaks for itself. It's quite impressive, no? And vast?

Here's another angle:

Outside shot of Ameriquest Field in Arlington.

And inside. Ameriquest is a beautiful, retro-inspired ballpark. Went there to take in Tuesday's Mariners-Rangers game. I had oodles of fun there, even though I had to withstand 3+ hours of American League baseball. *shudder*

I have more pics of the trip (you're damn right there's more, ha. :P ) I plan on downloading them onto Flickr sometime this weekend. You can head on over there if you actually care about any of this.

I also wanted to give props to Erin and her hubby, Aaron. I had a very nice time at dinner Monday evening at that Mexican Food embassy (Sorry, inside joke. You had to be there.) I think I can now tell the difference between Tex-Mex and Mexican food. Sort of. Because apparently there is this HUGE difference between the two that I was totally not aware of. It all looks and tastes the same to me. I don't get it.

Anyhoo, I had a lot of fun in Texas. Especially smoking in bars. I know I kept mentioning that Texas is "vast" but all kidding aside, I really appreciated that. After all these years of attending school and working in NYC and living in New Jersey (the most densely populated state in the country) it was really, really nice to look out into the horizon for more than 50 feet. Just felt like it went on forever. I got to see a whole bunch of sunsets. I hardly ever get to see them here. Let me tell you, they're really pretty.

Posted by Sandra at 10:31 PM | Comments (15)

June 25, 2005

The Renegade Craft Fair, Day One.

So I made it to Williamsburg and checked out the Renegade Craft Fair. It was fun. . .and oh-so-very hot. I saw a lot of my favorite DIYers in person. For instance, Leah from Craftster, Jenny from Frecklewonder, Teresa from Sewing Stars, Melissa from Lekkner, and Susie from boygirlparty (she was a former swap partner of mine from Craftster recently).

Didn't get too much stuff. Just. . .

this cute pouch from Lekkner. Seriously, not only does this pouch look awesome, it's also incredibly handy. My whole life pretty much fits in there (a couple of twenties, ID, a credit card, keys, Metrocard, bus pass, lighter, and a pack of cigarettes. Yeah, that's about it). . .

check out that lining. . .

and this lovely handmade brooch from Frecklewonder. . .

And this great reconstructed tank top from (where else?) Lekkner.

Overall, a productive day. Very, very hot but productive, nonetheless. Good times.

Posted by Sandra at 08:18 PM | Comments (13)

June 23, 2005

In Philly, they call subs "hoagies".

If you're associated with the Philadelphia media or town, you look for negatives. I don't know if there's something about their upbringing or they have too many hoagies, or too much cream cheese. -Mike Schmidt

B, his friend Carl, and I made a trek out to the city of brotherly love to catch a Mets-Phillies game. It was fun.

Piggy came along as well.

The Phillies new stadium, Citizens Bank Park is absolutely gorgeous. Even if you are not a big fan of baseball, I highly recommend taking in a game if you are ever in Philly for any reason.

Oh, and I was very excited about this, too. On our way to Philly, we ended up driving through. . .

Yes folks, this was the very first time I was in Staten Island. . .ever. I've lived here all of my life and I have never been to all five boroughs of NYC. There have been times where I've considered taking the Staten Island Ferry over just so I can say "Yes, I have indeed been to Staten Island." Now I can.

Another thing to cross off on my "Things To Do Before I Die" list. Yes.

Posted by Sandra at 07:54 PM | Comments (10)