friend time

I took another road trip a few hours north to beautiful upstate New York to see my dear friend Shanna (and her cutie pup Ollie). I think we both needed some friend time, and it was nice to spend a few days just hanging out, and helping her with her work (I don't know if I helped that much, but I tried my best). I had the best chocolate milk of my life, and ate a frozen apple cider thing that was delicious, but I'm still not quite sure what it was. We did things only us besties can do together, including splitting a 1 pound burger, and nerding out over listening to classical music. It was nice to recharge and catch up in person, rather than online.

On my drive up and back, I kept myself entertained by listening to only two albums: blasting ABBA gold, and the new album by My Brightest Diamond. Totally obsessed with it. Tyler was probably glad he wasn't with me.

24 hour trip.

This weekend we went to a race, but the whole trip was a race. Race to get to Baltimore in time (had huge delays), race to get his race packet the next morning, Tyler of course racing against his PR (which he beat) and racing to get back to the hotel before checkout time. It was exhausting! I guess for Tyler too. But fun as always, and Tyler did so great, I'm so proud of him. He's got another one in a month, I'm getting a lot of practice at being a spectator/supporter.

stripe times.

So remember my quilt I started a while ago? I finished it on the plane to Portland a few weeks ago, and so didn't get pictures of it until my sister kindly sent me some with my favorite model (who apparently wouldn't stay still).

This picnic blanket was fun to make. I made it a smaller square size so it can be tucked into a bag easily and not be as bulky as a normal sized blanket. I used the lighter side on the front, and the darker side on the back. I quilted it with a neon green thread, but it didn't show up as much as I hoped. I used some vintage neon striped fabric for the edging, which was perfect punch of color to such a monochromatic look.

I'm off to a 24-hour trip to Baltimore, to watch Tyler run a marathon. One of my favorite things to do, I love watching races. I always leave so inspired (but not to run). Hope your weekend has some adventures planned.

my first, and maybe not my last.

I said before I was going to finish my sweater at the end of last week, and I did it! The seaming actually went pretty smoothly. I took in a little more at the sides to help the fit, but I'm pretty happy with it.

Big thanks to Tyler for taking the photos, it's a hard task to photograph quite possibly the least photogenic person ever, and having that person be a perfectionist photographer. He kept saying "your skin looks so white, is that ok?" The photos were even a bit underexposed. I am really that pale. 

I can take knitting my first sweater off my list. Next up, socks.

the pattern I used and my ravelry page with more details.

new things and old projects.

With a high of 45 this weekend, space heaters were brought out, heating oil is back to being a constant worry, and wool socks are on. Constant rain kept us inside so I was able to do very tedious domestic things, like making bread, finishing up Christmas present #2, and finally blocking all the pieces to my sweater. Which took much longer than I thought, making sure each piece was the right measurement.

I have a goal to immediately jump into the dreaded seaming, and get it done by the weekend. Don't let me forget it!

When I got back from Portland, I had a package waiting for me from Muji. Before we left I had shown Tyler a new product that I loved, and he sneakily bought some for me! They are tiny envelopes that are self sealing with a tiny square of post-it in the corner. Adorable.

*As you can see I also put on my new butter polish color, scoundrel. Love me a purple.