My card catalog keeps getting better

It’s rare that a piece of furniture can excite me this much.  But my card catalog has really made organizing so many things so much better.

I thought that after I put the yarn and jewelry in it, it’d be a while until I found a use for all those empty drawers. But then the other day, I realized it’d be the perfect place for my nail polish.

In the last month, I’ve accumulated a lot more nail polish because of a Christmas gift and also a great sale on Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure. I kept it all in a toiletry bag in the linen closet and when I went to polish my nails, which I try to do weekly, I’d dump the bag and pick through the colors.

But not anymore.  I can see it all clearly lined up. I just had to remove the inserts I made for the drawers so they fit and there is plenty room for more in those two drawers.

I still have plenty of empty drawers and I’ll keep thinking of ways to organize.  It’s really nice how something so simple can make me so happy.

Saturday Out in NEPA

Yesterday my friend Celeste and I had a wonderful day trip around Scranton and the Poconos.  The main purpose of our trip was to visit the Boden Outlet which opened at the end of 2011 in Pittston, PA.

Appropriately, the store is located in a former dress factory.

For an outlet, shopping was pretty easy with nothing too crammed together and most items organized by size. It was light and open and made it really easy to go through the racks.

There were plenty of colorful items to browse through including a good selection of kids clothing.

We planned for a Saturday because we thought it was only open one day a week from 10 am to 4 pm.  We talked with a sales rep who told us that besides also being open on Sundays from 12 pm to 4 pm, in August they will also open on Fridays from 10 am to 4 pm.  They get shipments once a week.  I got a blue linen tunic with colorful buttons and a necklace.  We’re already planning to go back in late fall.

After shopping, we headed to Old Forge to have Old Forge Pizza for lunch.

Celeste chose Revello’s. She grew up near by and it is the one of the many pizza restaurants that line the main street that they usually chose.

I’d never had Old Forge style pizza before. It’s square, has a crispy thick, but light, crust with a good sauce and creamy (sticks to your teeth) cheese.  A quick search online suggests it’s American or Fontina cheese.

During her campaign, Hilary Clinton stopped at Revello’s for a cut (what they call a slice).

After lunch we made a quick stop at DSW before heading to our final destination, Holly Ross Pottery in La Anna, PA.

We went across the swinging bridge before heading inside.

We both really wanted to get one of those ceramic Christmas trees with the little colored lights that get inserted into the holes in the pottery.  They always have them but neither of us have ever bought them before. Sadly, they said they lost their supplier.

Instead we browsed around before settling on a few other things. The best part of Holley Ross (in my opinion) is all the Fiestaware they have at reduced prices.

Most of it is seconds with very minor flaws.  I got a pitcher and two mugs and the flaws are so minor (for example a rough spot on one of the mug handles) that you’d never know they were there unless you looked for them.

They also carry a lot of other well-known collectible pottery and glass items and it’s just fun to look around.

After, we drove home.  It was probably about five hours in the car, but it was so nice to spend the time with Celeste and spend time in a different part of the state.  I think we always have a good time on our excursions and yesterday was perfect.

Knitted Reading Glasses Lanyard

On Friday afternoon, my parents arrived early so I took the afternoon off so we could walk around the People’s Choice Festival.

One of the things we tend to joke about when we’re walking around arts festivals is that we see something and say, “Oh, I could do that!” The reality is that while we could possibly do some of the things, we probably wouldn’t and that’s why we just buy stuff to support the artists.

But, one thing we saw was a lanyard type of thing to hold reading glasses that my mom thought would be perfect for work. It was made of some kind of novelty yarn and we thought it might have been crocheted. It wasn’t really her style or we would have bought that one. She wanted something more simple. Regardless, we were serious when we said that we really could make something like that and it turned out great.

Friday night we went through my leftover yarn and came up with a plan. We selected leftover yarn from my honey cowl. Here’s what you need to do what we did.

Yarn: Fleece Artist Blue Face Leicester DK (scrap amount)

Needle: 2 US 6 DPNs, F crochet hook

1 inch round, plastic stitch marker

Cast on 4 stitches to knit an i-cord. (I started it and my mom finished knitting it when it got to the length she desired, so that it would go to about the middle of her stomach.)

Once at the desired length, on next row: k1, k2tog, k1 (3 stitches remain)

Following row: k1, k2tog (2 stitches remain)

Last row: k2tog (1 stitch remains)

Slide that stitch off your needle and use it to begin a single crochet around the stitch marker so that it is tight and you can’t see any of the stitch marker. Use the crochet hook to secure the cast on end to the crocheted stitch marker and then weave in your ends.

It turned out great and took such a little bit of time. It was a great team effort.

Delectable Delights by Heather

This past week was our third wedding anniversary and to celebrate I decided to have a cake made by Delectable Delights by Heather.

Three years ago, Heather made the cupcakes and cake for our wedding.

These cakes and everything else I’ve had from her are so good.  So I shouldn’t have been surprised that the cake we had this weekend was just as delicious.

That’s yellow cake with chocolate buttercream frosting and chocolate ganache filling.

Mike and I decided we should try to remember to celebrate with Heather’s cakes more often than once every three years.

Why I Haven’t Been Knitting As Much

The past month has been a whirlwind of activity.

I still haven’t finished that super cute baby tunic but plan to this weekend.

So what have I been doing?

Well, traveling like usual for work.  How many people get to go places for work where they see neat things like this?

There’s been a lot of running too.  At the beginning of the month, I ran the Broad Street Run for the second year in a row. I wasn’t that pleased with my performance (four minutes slower when I wanted to be four minutes faster) but I finished and felt like my regular self instead of hurting for days, so that’s an accomplishment.

Here’s me giving my parents a thumbs up somewhere in mile five.

And then I didn’t run this 5K but helped with the planning starting last summer. It was the first ever to raise money for a project in my community and we had 112 registrants (over our goal by 12!).

I’ve also been trying to learn more about my Nikon D3000 and trying to ditch the point and shoot whenever possible in favor of understanding photography a little more.  I’m learning but I’ve got ways to go and I’m enjoying figuring things out while looking at my community in new ways.

Working on a Super Simple Baby Tunic

I started this project a few weeks ago for a friend’s baby who is due this summer.  The Super Simple Baby Tunic is easy to follow and a pretty quick knit.

There’s is an error on the directions for the bodice front part but I just knit that like she suggested the back piece. I just have to do the back bodice, weave in all the ends and then select some great buttons.

When worlds almost collide

I made my dad that DNA Scarf because he’s a microbiologist and spends his time in a lab looking at DNA and other scientific things I don’t really understand. But before he majored in microbiology, he was planning to major in astronomy.  He said that it was after he took his first two calculus classes that he decided it should remain a hobby and not a career.

Growing up, he always knew when really exciting, noteworthy celestial things were going to happen.  We lived on a block of row homes in Northeast Philadelphia and on the those nights, his telescope would come out and he’d set it up by the postage stamp front lawn (which grew the best urban garden before it was even trendy) and we’d look at the sky. The neighbor kids and adults would come over and we’d take turns checking out the sky. Sometimes it was constellations or shooting stars or other rare happenings. And then we’d move it to the back of the house in the driveway to see if the view was better.

And this continued at their house now and if we’re lucky enough to visit when something good is happening, we check it out. Even when we aren’t visiting, he still reminds us to set a middle of the night alarm for amazing shooting star displays. I can’t say that I’ve actually set the alarm but one summer I was away with Jenn at our friend Jenna’s home at the shore and we stayed up to watch the Perseid meteor shower on the beach.

So when they were here this weekend, he told us we had to look for the Venus Jupiter conjunction right at sundown. This exciting show of the planets is visible without a telescope and they are bright. He researched it online and found pictures and we had our cameras ready to go. The hour or so leading up, it was cloudy, then kind of clear, then cloudier and then completely overcast. We missed it.

Even though they went home, Mike and I were ready tonight and the sky was completely clear so we got some decent shots.  We used the Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS and the Nikon D3000. And just like I would expect from my dad, he called just as I was uploading my photos to see how mine came out.

Here are just a few of mine. In my pictures Jupiter is at the top left above the moon and that’s Venus further below.

WIP: DNA Scarf

Well I’ve finally started a DNA Scarf for my dad. I mentioned back in the fall that I thought he’d love it. After that post my dad said that he’s worked with Dr. Thomas Montville, the original commissioner of this pattern. So even better.

My dad picked the redwood mix colorway of Berroco Ultra Alpaca and I’m knitting the scarf on size six needles.

I’ve worked on this two nights and I’ve finished one repeat of the pattern.  I had to rewrite the directions a bit so it would be easier for me to follow but I’m finding a groove. The twenty stitches of the DNA cables in the center are made over about 36 rows.  Each row is different so I’ll really being paying attention to this one.

So far so good!

2011 Project Recap and 2012 Goals

2011 was a really satisfying year in knitting for me. I finished 20 projects.

From right to left starting at the top:

1. Star Crossed Slouchy Beret; 2. Short and Sweet Earflap Hat; 3. Killington Scarf; 4. Stitch DC Infinity Scarf; 5. “Spring” Baby Headband; 6. Sunday Market Shawl; 7. Cable Braided Necklace; 8. Pretty Twisted; 9. Saartje’s Bottees; 10. Quick Cable Slouch Hat;
11. Short and Sweet Earflap Hat; 12. Baktus Scarf; 13. Alice in Wonderland Gloves;
14. Boneyard Shawl; 15. Sun Kissed Neckwarmer; 16. Honeycomb Hat; 17. Easy Cable Headband; 18. Short and Sweet Earflap Hat; 19. Berry Baby Hat; 20. Lady Kina

I am almost finished with my Bow Headband and it should be my first finished project of 2012. I’d also like to finish a few projects that are currently on my needles:

1. Fishtail Lace Scarf; 2. One Row Lace Scarf; 3. DNA Scarf

And start (and finish) a few other projects from my Ravelry queue:

1. MC2; 2. $5 in Paris; 3. Shalom Cardigan; 4. Dolores Park Cowl

There will be other projects and hopefully this will be a prolific knitting year.

 

Apple Cake

I am not a fan of cooked fruit but Mike has a weird allergic-like reaction to most raw tree fruits with a pit or core. So when I saw Teddie’s Apple Cake on Alexandra’s Kitchen, I knew that he would love it.

It turned out perfect! It was very easy to make (especially since Mike peeled and sliced the apples).

I had a piece last night and it tasted really good. I still don’t loved cooked fruit but I can see how this would be a great cake for someone who does.  The cake part is so moist and flavorful and the outer part is a little more dense and chewy.

Since I won’t be eating any more of it, we froze a large portion of it (hopefully it holds up) and Mike can enjoy a few more pieces this week.