An Unlikely Saturday

Yesterday I met a friend at The Connecticut Flower and Garden Show.  This is not something I would normally attend, but I hadn’t seen my friend Leona in over a year and had never met her newest little girl.  So off I went….to sit in traffic for close to an hour…

Getting there was fine, coming off the exit took close to 30 minutes..then finding parking another 15 minutes (and $9), then to stand in line and wait to buy a $14.00 (!) ticket another 15 minutes…..It’s a good thing I really wanted to see Leona!

Sure, I like looking at gardens and pretty flowers as much as the next person, but I don’t “garden.”  Anything I’ve tried to keep in the house has died…In my classroom, has died, and outside, has died.  Plus I hate dirt under my nails.  I hate dirty fingernails period!  The Hubs likes to garden though and he is already planning it out.  He was at the Ole Homestead yesterday working on the bathroom, so couldn’t go with me.

I did run into a couple of other teachers from my school and my besty, Deidre, showed up before I left.

Leona and her girls left before me, but they had been there for a bit when I finally got through the doors.

Her oldest was fascinated by this fake fire

and kept asking us to touch it….Kids are free under 7, which is a good thing, as there really isn’t anything for them..and it was wicked crowded with lots of strollers and older people with walkers…

Here are some of the exhibits:

Things in trees…

Luckily I did find some vendors I enjoyed and got some kickass earrings and a pin from Etc. Design.  Love, love, love her stuff!!!

Also found the Hubs his birthday present – shhhh!!!!

Deidre smelling the flowers..

I left soon after I found Deidre and her sisters…All in all, glad I went…doubt I’ll ever go again…Leona and I have plans to go to the Science Center next time…

The Village Wool

I tried to get to The Village Wool this summer.  However the day I stopped by they were in the middle of a flood....The apartment above the shop had sprung a leak...
So this past weekend, the Hubs and I were out and about and swung by.....It was worth the visit....Very friendly shop, crochet friendly, nice selection of yarn....lots of sales and not just on "fun" yarn (you see a lot of sales on those special fun yarns)  I walked around for a bit and then settled on these:
So what’s here?
The black is Nashua Superwash and the purple next to it is Mirasol Chirupa in Electric Purple.  These have already been turned into a hat. 
The 3 purple/blue skeins in the back are Fibranatura Cobblestone – a scarf for me..
The three green are Mirasol Akapana for a cowl for a friend
Six skeins of Mission Falls 1824 wool in a deep red.  I am heartbroken that they are going out of business!
Marion the owner was very nice and she remembered me from when I’d stopped previously!



They were unpacking lots and lots of yarn…and said there would be more sales….so I’ll be keeping my eye out…I liked them on Facebook to keep myself in the know…I will revisit….


Oh and we saw this bench on the way back to the car...care for a seat?

Fun Before School

So my friend, Deidre, decided that her son was going to slide down the snow mountain at our school…

She scaled the mountain, but decided against sliding…I stayed safely on the ground….

It was just a bit of fun before the school day….

Geeking Out!

 

I got an email a couple weeks ago about an upcoming program at the Palace Theater in Waterbury….I booked it!

Today I geeked out…

Riding the bus to get there……

We couldn’t take pictures during the show….I went to Star Trek LIve today and subjected all of my students to it too!

The student sitting next to me said, “You know a lot about Star Trek!”  after I answered several of the trivia questions correctly…..

There were TRIBBLES!  OMG! Tribbles!  One of the other teachers asked, “Are those real?  Are there really Tribbles in Star Trek?”  People!  Where have you been???  Classic ST episode!!!  OMG!

One of our students was TRANPORTED!!!!!  to a Romulan ship, by a Vulcan!  HOW COOL IS THAT!!!!!!! 

I totally geeked out today!!!  It was so freaking AWESOME!!!!!!

Knit New Haven

So this past week, I continued on my quest of visiting Connecticut LYS’.  I went to Knit New Haven in New Haven.  I don’t go to New Haven too often, I think I’ve probably been there less than 10 times in my life.  But I would definitely venture down to visit this store again. 

I was lucky enough to get parking right in front of the store, as it is meter parking.  It wasn’t busy in the store, but it was late on a Thursday night. 

It was bright and had a good selection of yarn.  It was also crochet friendly, having crochet supplies, books and projects featured in the store..

Lynda took care of me and she and I had a great conversation covering several topics.

I had heard good things about this shop from a couple of people and I’m glad that I went myself.  .It was worth the trip.

What did I get?  From left to right…

Fleece Artist Scotian Silk in Boreal – utterly squishable, destined to be a hat or cowl

Malabrigo Sock in Candombie

Pagewood Farms Aleyeska Sock in Mardi Gras

Road to China Silken Jewels in Carnelian

They have a good selection of yarns and carry some major names, as well as smaller farms and up and coming names…

My Vacation Week–Long Post

This past week I was on February break….I did a whole lot of nothing and a little something…

First off I joined this:

and spent most of Saturday, Sunday, and parts of the rest of the week visiting the 870+ blogs involved.  I visited EVERY SINGLE ONE!!!  I only commented on those that I wanted a chance to win the doorprize and I won two! One from here: http://brittanyfaeries.blogspot.com/, a rose quartz tree and one from here: http://rey-gato.blogspot.com/2011/01/my-second-one-world-one-heart.html I picked the purple frog.  I think it’s funny that I’m getting one from France and the other from Mexico, as I have both of those heritages in my background…I added several new blogs to my Blogroll, added several etsy shops to my favorites and gained a couple of new followers – Howdy!  Not sure I’ll do it again next year, with the whole new twist…

Oh and Janine from Germany won my giveaway, another country I have ties to…

I also watched:

The Social Network – bored me

The Kids Are All Right – really good

Winter’s Bone – Bleak movie, but beautiful and fantastically acted!

I’ve also seen:  The King’s Speech, Toy Story 3, and Inception.  This is the most movies I’ve ever seen that are nominated..

Monday – The Hubs and I went on a day date….we went to Nodine’s and picked up some jerky, Goshen to visit a pottery place that was closed.  But I took a picture of the last covered bridge in Connecticut

  and then we headed out to Kent to go to Black Sheep Yarns.  We stopped first at Kent Falls, it was a gorgeous day!

Then onto the shopping, where I picked up this:

As it was Valentine’s Day, I got some red and the whitish ones are for some knucks for the Hubs…he picked the yarn.  We also stopped at the in-laws for a bit…I also picked up this at House of Books I had seen it last fall and it stayed with me, so I picked it up….

Tuesday…I went to lunch with some friends at the Cheesecake Factory.  Forgot to take a picture…and bought a couple of books at Barnes and Noble

Wednesday… I hung out and watched tv and visited more blogs, was not feeling well, had a bit of a stomache upset. Oh and I finished The Girl in the Gatehouse which I’d downloaded to the nook.  I enjoyed it.

Thursday….I hung out for a bit, but knew I was heading to New Haven later in the day….I wanted to do some LYS’ visits….First I went to Knit New Haven and I will blog separately about it..but it was enjoyable.  Then I went to Yarns LLC..I did get this, top from Knit New Haven, bottom Yarns LLC..

Then I joined some online friends: NutmegKnitter and WifeMomKnitter at their Stitch and Bitch group in North Haven.  I think this is the third time I’ve joined them.  I wish I was closer, as I’d go every week..but it’s a 40+ minute ride and it would just exhaust me…so I venture down when I’m not working the next day…and WifeMomKnitter helped me progress on my sock …….Thank You!

Friday…hmm what did I do???  Oh Friday I made this:

for the winner of my blog doorprize, Janine.  I asked her what color she would like.  She said light pink, I had this light rose pink, so hope that is okay.  It took about 4 hours.  I was also helping the Hubs with online applications and stuff….

Saturday…we were out and about again….dropping off applications, stopping by a friend’s house and what’s that…oh…visiting ANOTHER LYS..I will blog again separately about my visit to the Village Wool in Glastonbury, but I got this:

and Saturday, I spent the day making this:

with the black and purple yarn.  It’s a gift for someone who compliments my hats all the time and really wants one…

I also watched: Easy A – loved it! and Crazy Heart – so good (but still think Colin was better in A Single Man)

And that was my week so far….did I get anything done I planned, NO!  Still have to do taxes, lesson planning and correcting, BUT I do not go back until Tuesday, so maybe tomorrow those things will happen…

and woo-hoo Amazing Race is back tonight!

And the Winner is.....

Comment #25, Janine from Germany who wrote:
Hallo , nice to meet you.
Thank you for giving us the chance to win your great doorprice.
This is beautiful.
This blog isdelightful
Please count me in.
Please come visit me on my blog aswell, I join the OWOH- event too.
Regards from Germany and happy OWOH
Janine

I had the Hubs pick a number, just to give him a feeling of playing too...Congratulations Janine..I will send an email...you have until Sunday to get in touch.  If she does not, then I will pick someone new...

Blog OVERLOAD!!!! Watch out!!

Seriously, since I joined OWOH right before the deadline last night, I have been visiting blogs…
219 at last count (these are only OWOH blogs) I’m also keeping up with my regular blogroll blogs…
I am in blog overload!  But there are prizes to win and I am on vacation, so who cares if my brain is fried and I can’t put a coherent sentence together!  Prizes – people – prizes to win - even a bag of worm poop!!!!
I have not registered for all the prizes, only those that appeal to me…I am sure some people will visit my blog and not want an amigurami bear and that’s okay….I don’t want to take a chance away from someone who may really want or use something….but I still have about 600 blogs to visit…
I did take a break for a nap and to watch The Social Network…I found it very boring, maybe it was my mush head, but I just didn’t care about the characters…yeah it was interesting how Facebook started, but knowing that a lot of it was made up….well, it just didn’t appeal….
I’ve seen a couple of the Oscar nominees: King’s Speech, Toy Story 3, and Inception.  I also have rented for this weekend: Winter’s Bone and The Kids Are Alright….Inception was awesomely good, but a few parts slow and it was A LOT to understand to follow the story, Toy Story – well it’s my favorite animated series, ‘nuff said…and The King’s Speech was riverting…so I ‘m routing for either the Toys or The King to win….
This week is vacation and I have a lot planned, including a lunch with some friends I haven’t seen in awhile and maybe another movie, a trip to WEBS and a few other LYS’s possible, taxes, cleaning (yeah – it may happen), and correcting and lesson planning (sure, it’s on the list!)….

One World One Heart

I went back and forth on whether or not to join this, especially after I visited some of the blogs and saw the fantastic door prizes…but what the heck…I’m off this week and can enjoy this…
So here goes….OWOH’s Fifth and Final Year

I have been to many of the participating blogs and their creativity has blown me away…I didn’t think I’d have anything to measure up to, but I finally decided on my door prize…



It is an amigurami bear, similar to the ones above. 
So now to tell you about me:  I have been married for 19 years.  I am a fifth grade teacher (10 and 11 year olds) in an urban school district.  I love being a teacher and became one later in life and it’s the only thing I’ve ever done that I totally love…My husband and I were not blessed with our own kids, but I have great nieces and nephews…I love to read, crochet, am learning to knit, I bead and love to learn about new places and traveling…yarn makes me very happy…I like day dates with the Hubs…I’m a sci-fi geek!  Stargate being my favorite, then Farscape, Star Wars, Star Trek, Xena, Buffy, Dr. Who, etc…..I could go on…I like post-apocalyptic stories….I own two birds.   My favorite movies are The Wizard of Oz, Jaws and Pride and Prejudice (I have varied taste!)
So hope you enjoyed your stop and please leave a comment, if you’d like to win a bear….

Edited to add:  This ends on February 17 and I will draw a name when I get up in the morning on Feb 18 and notify the winner....
Edited to add:  My name is Tammy....Gracey was a name given to me by an online teacher friend I met when she was visiting the States a long time ago...it involved a dark road on Cape Cod, wet dewy grass and trees and a necessary stop on the side of that dark road.....

Yesterday Was A Good Mail Day

I came home to this:

One box held this:

The bag held this:

And the third box was my first Loopy Ewe club order of this:

Altogether it looks like this:

What did I get you ask? From Left to Right…

Scarlet Fleece Ewe Silky Thing in Under the Sea

Yarn Love Elizabeth Bennet in Delicate Aquamarine

Paca-Peds H-T in Promise of Spring (Club Loopy)

Indigo Dragonfly  MCN Sock in My World is All Askew (Willow)

Indigo Dragonfly MCN Worsted in Hootenany-Well It’s Chock Full of Hoot, Just a Little Bit of Nanny (Oz – favorite character – think I need to watch some Buffy!)

Indigo DragonflyMCN Sport in When I Bit Into Him, I Could Hear the Ocean (Drusilla)

Indigo Dragonfly MBS Sock in Don’t Wear This on Star Trek

and finally

Sweet Georgia Superwash in Autumn Flame

Hmmm…what colors am I attracted to at the moment…the Hubs was all like “they’re the same yarn!”  I was all like, “No they are by different companies and are different types!” And nary a green color in sight!  The horror!!!!

Anyways, I’ve gone on a kinda spending spree…And I still have my WEBS gift card…February vacation is next week and I’m off for 10 days, so I might be heading up there sometime next week…but I think I’m going to supplement the hooks and needle stash and maybe a book or two..and of course check out the sale yarn!

Oh and this is the hat so far

Loving the pattern, but had a dickens of a time figuring out the whole M1 thing…had to watch a video….Really love the yarn and the color too, it’ll be a great spring hat….

And welcome to my three newest followers….how exciting!

A New Project

I make a lot of hats and I’ve been thinking of making a green one for spring…then today I saw this pattern and immediately purchased it!  I LOVED it!  Now hopefully I will have the skillz or figure out the skillz to make it! 

I pulled all of my green yarn out and the Hubs and I looked at it.

 

It came down to the two on the left and I’ve decided to go with the Wildflower Whimsy in Emerald Isle…the second to the left skein.  I love the Socks That Rock, but I do think I want this more bright green for spring…and a bonus if I finish it in time for St. Patrick’s Day!

Now off to wind it.  I’m going to have to work it double, which I’ve never done before, as the pattern calls for worsted and it’s a fingering weight…

Wish me luck!

TUSAL Update

This is it…not much work done in January….always happens..I finished a big project, my Games Ghan, and taking it slow to start something else…Crappy pics, as it is after 7 and I kept forgetting to get a pic the past couple of days….

My thumbs are hurting too…so I have worked on some things, but not much…

I have to correct papers and do lesson plans, too…not sure that is happening either…

Hey someone from Milwaukee just spent a boatload of time coming back here and visiting other blogs via my blogroll…HEY DROP ME A LINE AND SAY HOWDY!!!!!  It’s nice to make new friends…

I have to make a postal run tomorrow…one thing going international, two going to NY, one to AZ, and one to TX…..and speaking of TX…

BOTH Supernatural boys are from there…they grow them BIG, as Jensen is 6’ and Jared is 6”4….Here’s some eyecandy..

Not the best picture, but they have cowboy hats on, so I figured it fit…I’m OBSESSED at the moment and spent a great deal of time on Youtube this morning watching clips of them….last time I did this was for Captain Jack Harkness (he’s hot and can sing, as can Jensen)

Oh and for those in need of a Zombie fix..look what I saw at Barnes and  Noble…