Friday, September 26, 2008

Travel Is Over!

I'm home! What a journey ... 9 days and 8 nights ... too much. As as much as I planned to photograph the entire journey, the only shot I have is from the last night. I stayed at the O'Hare Hyatt (which I had thought was the hotel on site at the airport, but the hotel at the airport is a Hilton!). The Hyatt is a beautiful hotel, and I had a lovely room. I grabbed a bite before crashing into bed, and it was wonderful! An appetizer called Grilled Prawns and Avocado, with Chipotle Dressing (along with some bread and wine). Yum! Other highlights of my trip? A great photo shoot in New Harbor, ME; 3 great days with friends in Chicago, shopping, dining, giggling at the Bobbi Brown makeup counter with Jasmine (the makeup artist), and going on a great river boat architecture cruise! Chicago's skyline (or river-line) is something else. Then on to Lake Geneva, WI, to another great location. But this time it was two days of hard, volunteer board work. And I came home with way too much to do. It's going to be really wet here this weekend. I hope to re-organize my office, get some laundry done, and chill/knit a bit. Hope you have a great weekend too!

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Photoless

It's been a busy few weeks. I took a trip to New York via train, and had a really good visit. I met with, ate with, and visited with my colleagues at Vogue Knitting and Knit Simple; I had lunch and dinner with my brother and his family. And I did a little visiting and shopping at three great New York stores: Knitty City; Purl Soho; and String. Each is very different from the other, with a unique personality, stock layout, and ambiance. And one of the highlights of my trip was getting to see Maksim (a.k.a. Max), who is now 6 weeks old! What a cutie. I was lucky enough to stay at my brother's apartment on the Upper West Side, and managed to get around New York via subway most of the time. What fun to be in the hubbub of NYC!

But no photos. My camera stayed safely tucked inside my bag for the entire three days.

Late last week I had a chance to drive out to Webs, America's Yarn Store. It was fun to see Kathy and Steve and show them some new things we may do next spring. And they gave me a tour of the new bead store, aptly named Webs, America's Bead Store. It's a good thing the bead store isn't in my neighborhood. I could do a lot of damage to my pocketbook there.

I meant to take pictures of the storefronts. Nope. Didn't happen.

Last weekend we went to a great wedding - my husband's 2nd cousin was married in Portsmouth, NH. A beautiful setting by the sea; great weather; wonderful family. What a nice day for them. And they really lucked out - Friday it rained, and Sunday it rained, but Saturday (the wedding day) was PERFECT! Congrats to the newlyweds. Saturday during the day, the two of us explored Freeport, ME, home to the L.L. Bean store and numerous outlets. We didn't do much shopping, but it was a nice day so we enjoyed wandering around.

And no photos from me. Not of the wedding. Not of Freeport or Portsmouth. None.

Tomorrow I head to northern Maine for our spring photo shoot. It's a beautiful area and I know our products will look great in that setting. I'll be there until Friday, then I flyto Chicago for an annual WWW (wild women weekend). Then Monday, I drive to southern Wisconsin for a trade association board meeting.

I PROMISE TO NOT ONLY TAKE MY CAMERA, BUT TO ACTUALLY TAKE SOME PICTURES! Promise.

Next post will be very photo-intensive ... stay tuned!

Friday, September 05, 2008

FO

I always have at least one project on the needles. Right now I have two active projects, and have my eye on a third. Completing projects is a whole other problem. But guess what - I finished my Lace Ribbon Scarf! Veronik Avery created this great pattern. She did hers in a solid color of Alpaca Sox; I did mine in one of the new kettle dyed colors (not yet available in stores...sorry). Don't you love the way the waves of the lace stitch (easy to memorize, by the way) and the changes in the blue hues work together?

I can't wait to wear this, although I dread the cooler temps. And I liked the pattern so much, I may do another one for my Mom! Do they wear alpaca blend scarves in Houston?

If you live on the east coast, stay dry and safe this weekend.