Day trips

It's been a while but I still wanted to share of the fun day trips I went on recently. My friend Nicol was in town for a visit and we went EVERYWHERE! After picking her up from the airport in DC - headed to Alexandria for dinner and ice cream.


We ate at the Fish Market and it was fun to sit up on their balcony and look over the activities on the street below. After dinner we drove home via DC and stopped at the monuments. It's always amazing to see the monuments at night all lit up! Please excuse the crappy cell phone pics!





The next day we headed to Philly!

We walked around South Street and I had a cheesesteak at Jim's - my favorite!




After South street - we headed to center city and saw the Liberty Bell and Independence hall.





Finally - we went to Manayunk for dinner - such a cute little town!



Next up was Baltimore - I took Nic to see my favorite parts of Baltimore - Inner Harbor, Fells Point, Camden, Hampden and everything in between!



Sunday was DC! We headed down early to get tickets for the DCDuck tour. We bummed around China town, saw a Nationals game and saw more monuments and landmarks.




It was a busy but fun filled weekend!

Monkey Business

When I was a little girl, my grandmother made me a sock monkey. I'm sure many of you also had a sock monkey as a kid! He was my favorite toy - I slept with him every night. I kept him with me through many moves after I left home - he was a constant reminder of my childhood. Of course he moved with me to our latest home. He never made it out of a box unfortunately and as some of you may know - we had a fire in our house after a nearby tree was struck by lightening. This was just about 4 years ago now. Although there wasn't too much damaged by the actual fire - there was a great deal damaged by the water the firemen used to put out the flames. My sock monkey and most of my childhood memories were destroyed by the water. I was crushed!

By far the worste loss was my sock monkey. I swore I'd make myself a new one.

Well - I had the opportunity last weekend. John, our cousin William and I went to the American Visionary Arts Museum to make sock monkeys!

They were offering a free class and all you had to bring was your own pair of socks. We arrived to find a HUGE room of tables and supplies.



Each table had an array of embroidery floss, yarn and buttons to add to your monkey...



There were plenty of "Monkey helpers" around to help us on our way. Here's a step by step look at my monkey creation!

First I split the sock to form the legs and added stuffing to the body.




Next I added the tail...



On went his eyes...



and mouth...



I love his crooked smirk!

Next I added his arms...



At this point - we'd been at it for about 4 hours and sock monkey class was over... It took a surprisingly long time to hand sew these monkeys!!

John and Williams had fun too.

Here's William stitching up his awesome monkey!



And here's John working on his:



We didn't all finish our monkeys - but they still looked pretty cool sitting in a row!



I walked around when I was done and snapped a few pics of the other monkeys around - what a variety of awesomeness!



After we came out - we put the finishing touches on our monkeys and here they are - ready for snuggling!




Have a monkey of a good week!

We're off to see the wizard...

The wonderful Wizard of Oz!

Sunday was Jolene's birthday and as a special treat I took her and her girls to see the Wizard of Oz at the Lyric in Baltimore.

It was a great show and the girls loved every minute of it - as did I.








It was fun to keep the treat a secret from the girls. They had no idea where we were going! I couldn't resist making these bags for them and even when they opened them they still couldn't guess...

I made each girl a tote bag with this awesome Wizard of Oz fabric from the Seminole Sampler.






And I made Jolene a little wallet from the Ruby slippers fabric.

Rhinebeck Rocked!

Even though I'm not home yet - I had to post pics from Rhinebeck!

I saw lots of friends, bought some cool stuff and had a grand time! Jolene and I flew up to RI to drive to Rhinebeck from Sarah's house. We had tons 'o knitting time in the car and I manged to knit half a sweater and finish clue 3 of the mystery socks! Pics of these items coming soon.

We stayed in Fishkill NY about 45 minutes south of Rhinebeck but it worked out perfectly. We went both saturday and sunday. Saturday was BEAUTIFUL!! I was so worried it was going to rain and or snow but it didnt. Here are some pics of the friends we saw....



They had these cool pumpkin carvings on display there...



And Jolene fell in love with these spinning wheels - especially the yellow one...



Sunday was much less crowded and a but rainy but we had a great time anyway because we got to see the things we missed on Saturday! And we watched the end of the sheep to shawl competition. Here's the winning team (at least they finished first). I loved their rainbow warp!






We also were somewhat restrained in buying... I only got three skeins of yarn - 2 socks that rock mill ends, a skein of angora sock yarn and a bag of merino roving.

Here's all three of our loot combined...



And best of all - I ran into a gal in the artichoke line wearing my Merletto mitts!! I had to take a pic!



After Rhinebeck we went to New Paltz NY to historic Huguenot Street. Pics of that soon!

Wedding post!

I went to Jeanine and Robbie's wedding two weeks ago. The wedding was in Cape Cod and it was perfect weather and a beautiful day.



I had the best time hanging out with Jeanine (who is Sarah's sister) and her family and friends.

Sarah and I even managed to do a mini photo shoot of her latest shawl - yes we are knitting nerds to the end!! It was a fun day and I was honored to be invited!

Sowebo Fest

I forgot to update you on my activities on Sunday! I went to Sowebo art fest (sowebo = south west baltimore). It's a street festival with art, jewelry, music, and people watching :)

I had a great time with the people watching especially. There was some very interesting sights including these lovely swans :)




I went with my friends Larissa, Zeke and William and we also enjoyed sampling the array of tasty treats! Watermelon/strawberry slushies, sausage and peppers, pizza, and lemonade were all sampled.



The music was great too - every area had it's own genre - folk, heavy metal, hip hop and even a marching band!



I was also lucky enough to run into an old friend! My friend Tim and I hadn't seen each other in over 4 years! How awesome is that!



I ended up buying a gorgeous handmade necklace (which I'm wearing in the above pic), and some homemade ginger hemp granola from Michele's Granola (yum!).

Stitch and Pitch!

I made my second annual trek down to the National stadium on Saturday to see the Stitch and Pitch game. This year the Nationals were playing the Orioles in the Battle of the Beltways! I didn't care who won - but in the end the O's beat the Nats 2-1.

Here is my plain sock in progress:



I went with Coleen, Hollyanne, Theresa and Jen. I was an idiot and forgot my camera - so I am stealing Theresa's pics!





We had a ball - eating way too much good stuff including Bens' Chili bowl and the most amazing Gelati! Mmm - Mint Chip for me and Theresa and Lemon for the rest!

I also have some big news - I bought a new car on Saturday!!! I got a new 2009 Ford Escape to replace my old 2004 Ford Escape. Love it! It's Sangria Red and has a sunfood and leather seats and butt warmers and an Ipod hookup and cool lights inside - on my!

I'll have to take some pictures and show you!

Wine in the Woods

I helped out at the Far Eastern Shore Winery at Wine in the Woods. My good friends Tien and Tara are the owners.


To quote from their website:
"Far Eastern Shore Winery is a family-owned, boutique micro-winery located on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, in the historic town of Easton.

We produce less than 200 cases of each of our wines annually, so we hand-fill and label each and every bottle!

While we would enjoy your company in touring our facility, our zoning does not currently permit us to do this. Right now, you can only sample our wines at the Maryland Wine Festivals!

We are in the process of expanding both our production capacity as well as our wine selection, so be sure to visit our website frequently to check up on our progress!"

I highly recommend checking them out!

It was a very successful busy day!







This was the only picture I got to take before I dove in to start working. The crowds were out in force.



Here's Tien looking at the day's tally...



And here's Tara (in black) after the crowds were gone.



It was a busy day and everyone loved the wine. I may have to go back today and actually walk around!

Maryland Sheep and Wool!!!

What started out as a rainy icky day - turned into a great one!
The first day of Maryland Sheep Wool for me was actually yesterday - I helped Jolene setup the Cloverhill booth. We worked from 9-5 and man were we tired! But it was all worth it - just look at these crowds!!





Of course - the best part of MDSW is seeing all the friends!



It was a great day - I can't wait until tomorrow!