Travel - Day 2 Boston

So I'm writing from memory, hopefully will have most of the details. Good thing I photo'd with twitter to help me along the way. PS, this was going to be a GOOD photo post except left the camera USB at home, so cannot upload pics yet. Will use the ones from Iphone though.

First thing was a visit to the Aquarium.



This is a foggy view of the harbor I took while waiting in line.



It was really nice. They had a great variety of fish and I liked the layout. It basically all ramped and you can gradually walk up and view all the tanks. The center section looks like the Guggenheim. So you have the option of walking up the center in a spiral and down the outside walks which are angular or vice versal. Or just keep going up and down. This would make more sense in pics, so come back later for the visual. :)

So upon entering the building, you can go down some stairs and there is a jellyfish exhibit. After viewing, go back up and the first section you come to is the Penquins.



They had a nice big area and there were quite a bunch of them. A few were noisey, but mostly they just stood around, some swam. Then we walked around, took a bunch of pics and then out to the new exhibit that just opened. It's an open air place. They have 3 new seals there. It just opened the day we were visiting (good timing). It was very nicely done. The platform is really beautiful and the ceiling is neat as well.



After the aquarium, we crossed the street and headed to the Quincy Market/Faneuil Hall area. I really liked it! They had tons of vendors, restaurants, eateries, snacks, kiosks, etc. Lots of fun to look and browse. They had upscale places, too, like a Coach Store, Nine West, etc. We browsed there and I had some lunch.

Afterwards, we took a long hike to Windsor Button. It's a local craft store. Reminds me of a 5 & dime. Anyway... tons of buttons!!! It was pretty interesting and if Brian wasn't waiting outside for me, I would have def spent more time browsing. But they have all sort of odds and ends for all crafts. Even a pretty ok selection of yarn. I did buy one skein there because I really liked the colors. A lot of the yarn wasn't marked with a price, so that was a bit irritating. And none of the bins were marked, etc. But if you are in need of buttons, this is the place to go, for sure!



After that it was pouring down rain, so we opted to head back to the hotel. Worked out well as there was a T stop right near us. We came back, I had a nap and Brian swam. Rather than go back out, we decided on dinner at the hotel restaurant. It was TERRIBLE!! Anyway, then back to the room and watched SYTYCD!

Travel - Day 1 Boston

Woke up earlier than planned. Good thing because it took longer to get ready than I thought. And Scot arrived a little earlier. So we loaded up and headed towards the airport. We just rounded the curve to 270 and I realized I forgot our boarding passes. So we turned and went back. Got those and back to airport. We skycapped our luggage and went to find our gate.

The flight to Baltimore was a bit bumpy but uneventful. We grabbed a bite to eat and missed the boarding call for our plane. Whoops. Lucky for us they announced over the loudspeaker so we were the last ones on and got split up. It turned out great though because I got to sit beside a very nice businessman. He travels a lot and had extra drink coupons so he got me a free glass of red wine. We chatted the whole way. I told him about knitting and future plans for sock summit. He was fascinated and didn't look at me like a crazy person. He said if I got bored I could make him something. So he gave me his biz card and wrote his home address on it. I thought that was strange but whatever. So now I'll have to add him to the list of gift recipients. :)

And lest you think anything bad. He knew I wad married and he is as well. No flirting going on.

While at the airport and on plane I did do some knitting. I started a sock. But then I got a bit of motion sickness so I put it away. I have one cuff done so far. I could be knitting now while on the train but am writing instead.

After we arrived in prov. We caught a shuttle to the train station. Now we are headed to Boston. And we'll grab another train to get usto the Hotel. It's been a good day do far although Bri has been a cranky pants. Oh well.

ETA: Made it to the hotel, it was a bit hairy there for a moment. We walked several city blocks to a 'T' station, got on a train to an Aiport Shuttle stop, got on airport shuttle to Logan International... where we got the FREE shuttle to the Hotel. After a ridiculous traffic tie up, we made it to the hotel. Good grief, we were on all modes of transport today except horses and donkeys!

As we were quite pooped from the long travelling day, we called a pizza place and they delivered us a couple of really GREAT NY Style Pizzas. They were quite yummy. And then we went for a swim.

Not sure of the agenda for tomorrow... but I'll be updating the twitter feed all day if you are interested.

Follow me here.

Knitting: Weekend recap and MUSIC!

So after looking at my sister-in-law Kelly's registry and seeing how many blankets were on it... I decided maybe I should make her a baby blanket after all. As you may or may not recall, I started the pinwheel blanket. Had a few problems/setbacks and put it down, not to be finished in the NEAR future. And Baby will be here sometime in July. I had plans to do some baby shopping at Target on my way home Friday evening and having a 50% off coupon for Michaels, decided to stop there as well. I bought a pound of love in PINK by Red Heart. Not the softest yarn in the world and I totally wish I had Knit Picks comfort, but there's really not enough time to order, etc. Anyway, they had several cute free patterns, hanging on the little tear off strips and one was a blanket with a little hoodie on it. So I decided to make a blanket with a hood attachment.

After looking at the pattern and dissing it, I just decided to do a garter stitch on the diagonal increasing KFB on every other round (c/o w-3 sts). Once it measures the length I want, I'll start decreasing. And then I'll attach a hood piece to it, also. Not sure of the edging I want to do yet. But I've got a minute or 2 to think on it.

I'm thinking I'll have to make another blanket for this kid too. I definitely want her to have a SOFT blanket that is handmade.

Brian met me at Red Robin after dinner where I had a REALLY tasty salad. It was the Apple Harvest Chicken salad. It had grilled chicken, goat cheese, apple slices, walnuts on a bed of spring mix lettuces. Instead of the Honey Dijon dressing, I opted for the Asian Sesame dressing. It was AWESOME!



After dinner, went back home and started the blanket (mentioned above). Saturday was the baby shower, it was okay. Then I headed to Scot's and hung out with him and Joe, grabbed a burger from Wendy's and off to the HEART concert.

Holy crap... AMAZING! Seriously, one of the best concerts I've EVER seen. Ann Wilson is a freaking goddess or something. Her voice sounds as perfect as it did in the 70's. Crystal clear, not a hint of cracking or anything. I was awestruck that in 30 years her vocals have not changed a bit. Actually they might be even better than the 70's... but anyway. They ROCKED so hard!

They pumped the crowd up by playing some REALLY loud 70's rock songs (can't remember now). There were like 3 or 4, then all of a sudden... the guitars started for Barracuda and it was awesome! Loud, rocking, everyone was dancing. Awesome. They played hit after hit... somewhere along the middle, the pace slowed a bit and Ann did a nearly acoustic version of Alone. It was so beautiful it nearly broke my heart. I'm still getting chills just thinking about it. I can't recall exactly but I think their finale was Love Reign. Then they came back for the encore started with Led Zeppelin's, Going to California (my fave zep song).

The songs I remember them doing were Barracuda, Magic Man, Crazy on You, These Dreams (sung by Nancy Wilson), Alone, and there were others... but of course my memory fades too fast. But a great show, I encourage anyone to go if they come around again, they do NOT disappoint!

Sunday I spent finally getting some good knitting progress done. Made it through another tier on the Entrelac bag. It's definitely going faster since I'm decreasing by 1 stitch on the blocks now. It really is a fun knit. And in case you haven't seen it yet, here it is.



Had an impromptu cookout at the lovely Julane's house with Cath and Jimmy. Great conversations, food, knitting, awesome weather... and OHHHH... the cheesecake. YUM!

All in all, a very fab weekend... now on to work. :(

Knitting: Progress, always a bonus

So I am in serious need of blogging. I have so much to say about so many things that have gone on and I just haven't taken the time to do it. Bloggin first started going downhill mid-February due to a job change. Not my work so much as the team I was on, changed. Well with that my work load exponentially increased into ridiculousphere.

It's starting to better itself because I've worked my butt off, but it still isn't perfect. But now my system is locked up, so it seem an appropriate time to well, BLOG.

I've made significant progress on a few items.

1. Hemlock Blanket for Ashley - This is so close to finish I could cry, but I've had some pains with the edging. I even went and bought a book on edges and STILL having problems. Anyway, hope to get to this, this week as sweet little McKenna was born on 5/27 and I haven't seen her yet because I refuse to go until this is done and I can gift it to her. :)

2. The Pinwheel - Well after starting and doing well on it, I crashed.... Had several problems, ripped back many inches, knit more, ripped back, knit more, ripped back... and knit a little and stopped. I'm a little frustrated with this piece and it is now in time out. We'll see what is going to happen.

3. Pennant Anklets - These are half done. I really like them, they fit perfectly. I had the first one done and didn't like the heel/cuff action, so I decided to rip it back just a little. Ripped out the cuff, did a few more rows on the heel and am at the point of having to figure out the decreases like a gusset, but not really. Anyway, should be easy and then onto the ribbed cuff. This was worked from the toe up, so now I'll just have to figure out how many I actually cast on and increased, etc. Why I don't write this stuff down while I'm doing it, I'll never know. But eh, there ya go.

4. The Market Squares Tote - This has been in hibernation for EVER! If you don't know the story, I originally cast on a few years ago and then there was this awful twist after I was 3 or 4 tiers in, had to start over, had another twist, ripped back to almost beginning, found and untwist and moved on. So anyway, I finally picked up last weekend and worked a few blocks. Then on Sunday I finished the rest of the blocks for that tier (green) and then onto the blue tier. So I have 3 done on that one. I'd like to do at least 1-3 blocks a day, for the next few weeks. I want to have this done by SS09 and take to Portland with me for all that awesome shopping. :)

5. New socks as yet unnamed - I cast on for new socks Monday. Awhile back I had an issue with toe-up, mostly because of the cast on I was using. So I found this different one which I tried on the anklet (mentioned above) and I must have done it wrong because on that one there is a visible line (I don't care about it-can't feel it) but I did a REDO on these new socks and they are perfect. Anyway, it's just a closed toe cast on, but it looks nice and worked out well for me. I had this luscious merino super soft and fluffy sock yarn I've been dying to try. I've also been wanting to do a Cookie pattern from Sock Innovation, so I picked Sunshine. The repeats are fairly easy compared to some of the rest of the book. Anywya, I cast on for one did about 5 rows of the pattern, stopped, cast on #2 until 5 rows and threw both on a circ so I can do 2 at a time and hopefully finish a PAIR this century. YAY! So now I have about 2 1/2 inches on both completed. I think these will go along fairly well, at least until it's time for the heel cause then I'll have to figure out the construction and what I'm going to do to make it work, since I've slightly revised the pattern.

6. "Little" Red Sweater - This is from the fall Interweave. I decided to start now because knowing how I am and doing switcheroos all the time this will hopefully be done by FALL to wear IN the Fall! Anyway, it's a nice pattern, easy repeat and I love how it is coming out in the Knit Picks WOTA Bulky yarn. The red looks fab and I'm very pleased at the progress.

All in all, I've been working on a late and not taking any pictures, which I also need to better, but soon, I might be caught up on my life again.

Music: The killers, revisited

Not another lengthy word vomit, just a PSA.

The Killers will be performing on Late Night with Letterman, tune in!

I will be recording as that is way past my bed time!

Knitting: The freaking stash...

So... a few folks have recently posted of their stash and I did some cleaning and re'orging this weekend and can I just say HOLY crap! I knew I had a lot of yarn, but seriously when you see it in one spot (or almost one as project is not quite done yet)... it is really mind-blowing, even for me.

So now I really have to figure out a way to make more stuff or just make it faster! I made a resolution not to cast on NEW stuff this year, but to finish more stuff. Well... I have half/half stuck with this resolution. I have casted on many new things, however I am working at finishing them as well.

I am still losing the war with socks though... I just keep trying out new patterns and not finishing even ONE sock, let alone a pair... so I must make improvements on that area.

Anyway, back to the stash. I have enough yarn for SEVERAL sweater and by several I mean 13-15, really!

Sock yarn, I have enough sock yarn, RIGHT now to knit probably 50 pair of socks (I really wish I was exaggerating here, but I'm not).

And I recently aquired some roving to spin up, but that would just give me MORE yarn?! Good grief. I should have done this at the beginning of the year and maybe I wouldn't have been so tempted to buy more stuff. Oh well, it will all get used eventually, right?!

I know you might just be dying to see pics, but the project is not quite completed. My organizing system is in need of a few more pieces from Ikea to be complete. Sarah is bringing those with her on Wed. when she comes. Then I can finish putting things away and will photo and you can all see the madness.

I am going to the fiber fest in Wooster in a few weeks, I might buy a little, but it will seriously have to be something that you can't pass up cause I REALLY don't need anymore yarn... for a good long time. Shew!!! After that... nothing until Portland (if I can still get there). Oh but we are going to Boston, june/july, so I might have to buy some east coast yarn... but that's it! Really!!

I can quit anytime. LOL!

Music: A KILLER Concert....

SO this post has been in my head for a few days, but I've been too lazy or too busy to write it. So now at a time when I should be working, I've decided to purge the thoughts rolling around in my head.

Tuesday night I went to see the Killers. I bought tickets pre-sale back in February because I missed the show last year and have been irritated ever since. Anyway, they sent the tickets right away and I was UBER excited!!! So finally, May 5th arrived and I was without a date. My husband who was supposed to go ended up being out of town for work. I had a last minute dash to find a friend... and LO and BEHOLD... Lindsey (who has what I'm calling an awesome boss cause he let her leave early) was able to go.

We met up down at the LC and had some really bad pizza. I had a giant beer... and we people watched for quite awhile and man were there some characters and crazy fashion all over the place!!

The opening band was literally some of the worst noise I've ever heard. It was indescribably bad. And actually parts of the music (instrumentally speaking) weren't too terrible, however the gal howling was just plain awful. PAINFULLY awful!

Now let me divert your attention for a moment... I want to give you my musical history with the Killers. Way back when Hot Fuss came out... I fell in love! They were billed as alternative with a very POP like sound. Immediately my favorite song was "All these things that I've done." And it's funny cause a friend of mine, I'll call her Jillian (cause that is her name) liked them at first and then like after a minute was a hater, she decided they were too something, I don't remember, anyway, not that important... but I've been a fan ever since. I cannot even tell you how MANY times I've listened to that CD. It was on continuous play on my car cd player for MONTHS! But I literally LIKE every song on the CD. Now some I love more than others, but for the most part, they are all pretty catchy and you sing along before you even know it.

So then... a while passes and they end up releasing this atrocity called Sam's Town. I was never a fan of it and was quite let down by it. It's like they wanted to make a different type of music and push their limits or whatever... and let me tell you, it was definitely different. And I couldn't quite figure it out, until TUESDAY night, but more about that in a minute. But, they went back to what worked for Hot Fuss and they made Sawdust, which was ok, it definitely wasn't hot fuss, but it had a mix of good and bad for me and it was a far cry better than Sam's Town!!

So last fall Day & Age came out, so I bought it... without knowing much of what was on it. And it's a so-so for me. There are a couple of songs that I really like, but one thing I did notice is this is the cheesiest rhymiest pop music EVER! It's so bad it's good. Anyway, I don't care overall I still have a love relationship with the killers.

Now back to the show... It started just after 9 and I have no recollection of what they opened with, but I thought they did a great mix of tunes from all releases. However, they dipped into Sam's Town... and then it hit me, we were in the wayback machine to like the '70s! Sam's town was very disco like. Mostly the music, not so much the lyrics, but anyway, it was just an epiphany for me and having never really being a fan of disco, it made perfect sense why I hated Sam's town so much!

Anyway, they ended the show with my fave tune, All the Things I've Done! I was extrememly excited for that and yelled my head off. And at one point there was a giant POP and huge plumes of confetti sprouted up and flowed everywhere, it was cool! They came back for an encore and in a suprising twist did Jenny Was A Friend of Mine. Have always liked that song so that was a nice surprise. The encore was pretty tricked out with lots of fire and cascading curtain of sparkles... awesome!

For the most part, the show was completely energetic! There was a lull or 2, but for the most part it was pretty fast paced and fun. Unlike the first time I saw them, Brandon was definitely into the crowd. Back a few years when we went, he kept completely to himself, but this time, he talked to the crowd and seemed a bit more interactive. He jumped and ran about and he has the skinniest legs I've evern seen (besides my husbands).

Now there was one BAD point to the show (besides the sam's town garbage), I thought the sound was off. It's almost like they used bad equipment or just didn't set up everything quite right. It was LOUD for sure, but the problem, I just thought it sounded distorted or grainy. If it was a picture, it would have all those spots called NOISE. Anyway, I'm basing this purely on the fact that I did see them before at the SAME venue and the sound was crystal and amazing, so this time... not so much and a little of a disappointment.

But overall it's a 2 thumbs up because it was fun and loud and silly and they played all the songs I liked. It was definitely worth the 3 month wait!