Home Sweet Home

I am finally home! I just got back from a long weekend spent with Mike and his sister and Uncle. His parents are in Cancun for their 20th wedding anniversary, and last I heard having an amazing time. We are all very jealous of them, but as I continue to remind Mike when he complains that they didn't take him along, they are having a really great and romantic time without their spoiled (in only the best loving way) kids. I envy them their dream vacation, but admire them for their marriage. They really are great people as well as great parents.

It was great to get to know Mike's sister more, she is finishing her 7th grade year, so that is very exciting for her! We got our nails done so that was really fun. I miss doing girly things, so it was fun to get away for a little bit and splurge on some girly-ness. One night we made waffles for dinner with chocolate pudding for dessert, breakfast for dinner is fun! Mike and I hit an exciting date, our 11th month together! Rapidly approaching is Mike's 19th birthday and our 1 year anniversary.

I cannot believe it has already been a year together. Time is passing so quickly, before I know it this summer will be over and I will be going back to Flag to start my sophomore year. Wow. For now though, I love being home and relaxing and spending time with my mom. Being in Flagstaff is great, but it is hard to be so far away from family. Now that I am back home, living in my room, and I am realizing that well... I think my room was attacked by a rouge tornado while I have been gone. That is simply the only explanation for how it looks like how it looks like.

I am convinced of this because there is stuff everywhere, not to mention that in my living room the contents of my dorm are still sitting in boxes. Through being on vacation, then going to Mikes for a few days, I haven't been home to work on it. After spending yesterday working to organize it and not even making a dent, today I decided that instead of embarking on that frustrating mess I am going to procrastinate and start my quilt! Yay!

The time has finally come. So I sat at my sewing machine and watched gossip girl (don't judge, it was on Netflix and I had never watched it before). And I have good progress! Well, I have 4 of the little 4 square quilt blocks done. I am a little worried because each one doesn't end up being exactly the same size, but I am sure at the end when I go to finish it I can even them all out. It is fun to see all the pieces of my quilt starting to come together! I have a lot of progress to be made, but it is lots of fun!

Layout of my squares

Progress of the first 4 square!

2 down, 40ish to go!

I am missing Mike. Being home is so wonderful, but it is very hard to go from seeing each other every single day for hours on end to being limited to texting, calling and FaceTime. Thank goodness for technology. I have decided that I do not like texting. It is annoying and things I say that are supposed to be funny just sound lame via text. And I hate that my heart jumps every single time I get a text message, and it falls when it is someone else texting me not him. Then I feel pathetic over having so many emotions over a stupid text. I hate that I can't just take the 2 minute walk across the quad to see him whenever the heck I want. I feel for those who have long distant relationships, I cannot imagine the suffering that must be to have that all the time. This distance certainly sucks, but absence does make the heart grow fonder. When I am with him, we make up for time lost by having as much fun as possible and enjoying our time together. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, but honestly, if my heart got any fonder I think it would just explode because there is no more room for any more love in there because it is totally full. Alas, I will continue to be distracted by my disaster of a room and my quilt which I really shouldn't work on until the room is done.

For now that is all I have for you. As usual, if you want to comment I would love to hear from you to know I am not just blogging to an empty internet, thinking I am making witty funny posts where in reality people from all over the world are laughing at me... so yeah, I would love to hear from you!

Countrywool and the Saving Grace

We have been traveling through the beautiful states of Connecticut and Massachusetts, basically choosing towns and then taking the scenic routes to get there, and wow it is beautiful.

I have been in the backseat steadily working away at my cardigan. Today, while analyzing and admiring my work, something seemed off… my raglan increases on the right side were in the wrong place!

I sat in the back feeling more and more depressed at the prospect of having to frog (rip out) everything… AGAIN. I decided I needed someone with more experience and expertise to tell me what to do. So I headed to Knitmap.com to look for a yarn shop in the direction of which we were headed for the day. After finding a few that were not open because it is a Sunday, we found one in Hudson, New York, which was on the way to the Catskills, which was the place we picked to go today.

Our GPS was leading us down several little country back roads, but onward we went in search of this little yarn shop. The drive there was absolutely beautiful, so much so that we just had to stop and take pictures! (See below).  Lady Luck was on our side because she was open 10-3 on Sundays, every other day by appointment only. Countrywool, run by Claudia Krisniski (aka my saving grace) is the epitome of a local yarn shop. Cozy and inviting with yarn and needles and pattern books arranged around the store, everywhere invites you to come in and sit awhile.

I went into the store, pulled out my project and explained the problem. (For those of you looking to make the Rocky Coast Cardigan, I will do a separate detailed post chronicling my mistakes, so you can learn from me and not make them!) She originally said that I would most likely have to rip out and I felt myself beginning to slip into an internal sadness but then she kept on looking at the work and she said she had a solution. Yay! Queue intense knitting surgery. 

Here is the complicated knitting surgery

She was great in explaining all the details, and letting me sit and do a few rows to get confident in this new confangled knitting surgery technique. 

My aunt asked, “Would you like to look at yarn while we are here?” Claudia and I shared a look that most likely resembled how cats look when a bowl of milk is set before them and I answered, “What kind of question is that, OF COURSE I would like to look at yarn”

Knitting is an addiction, I swear. So Claudia and I talked about sock yarn, because as you all know I have conquered my irrational fear of socks! So now I am looking to try the technique of two at a time socks! That is a project for after I finish the cardigan. BUT that doesn’t mean I can’t buy some amazing yarn for said future socks!

Claudia set me up with some beautiful and scrumptiously soft Mini Mochi by Crystal Palace Yarns in the colorway Storm. It is so soft and pretty!!!! I will have to go waste hours looking for sock patterns now, but for now, I am perfectly content to fix my sweater thanks to my saving grace of the day, Claudia.

New sock yarn with one of our random destinations in the background

It felt really good to support a small local yarn shop that is the epitome of what a yarn shop should be. Claudia has an amazing online store with great yarn and needles and more, and I highly recommend going to her shop if you are in the Hudson, New York area! www.countrywool.com

I am now finished with my emergency knitting surgery and back on track with my sweater. I am doing the increases only on the sleeves and preparing to set them aside to work on the body.

This is amazing trip and a beautiful place, but I am also excited to head home to be with my handsome man soaking up the California sunshine. We have made plans to spend a whole week together divided between his parent’s house and mine. Traveling is fantastic, but there is something about the small pleasures of being with the person you love, doing the little everyday things.

In front of a beautiful view of the Catskills

After the Storm

I survived!

The past few weeks have been a blur of writing, studying, packing, driving, packing again, flying, driving, and craziness. 

I finished my finals with a 3.8 GPA! Now, as weird as it is to say, I am now a sophomore at Northern Arizona University. Where did the year go?? I feel as if I was just packing to go to college, and now I am completely moved out of my freshman dorm. After a long 8 hour drive back to Southern California, I slept in my own bed (which was so amazing!) and then packed up my suitcase to leave for a family vacation to the East Coast!

I am currently in East Hampton, New York with my mom and aunt on a wonderful vacation! We spent 2 days in New York City, looking at places my grandmother and her family once lived when they first came to America from Italy, and it was so amazing! I am going to be on the East Coast for 5 more days, then back to So Cal to enjoy a summer of sun!

As previously written about here, I will be working and making a quilt this summer. So very excited to start that! But right now my focus is on my beautiful cardigan. 

My new Addi Turbo tips in 10.5 came in the mail a few days after my last post. Yes I took a picture, because it was incredibly exciting for me.

I casted on, and started forward on my cardigan. It was so fun to work on!! I worked on it every chance I got. It was a lot of fun, and I got a pretty substantial amount done! See?! See?!

Here comes the part where my heart breaks and the inner tears begin... I had been a naughty knitter and had not been counting my stitches to make sure all my increases were even on both sides. So when it came time to move on in the pattern, I had a very wrong amount of stitches, because somewhere I made a mistake. After tinking back a few rows, and realizing that the problem was much farther down, I had an inner discussion and sob sesh, and that fateful night I frogged out my entire work. Wah!! It was awful to unravel that amazing work, but it was flawed and I could not just leave it be with all the mistakes in it! (Also, the fact it was 2 AM may have contributed to my rash but good decision to frog it all)

Now I have re-casted on and have been working on it all over again. I now count my stitches frequently. Lesson learned I guess. What helps is that I have a personal deadline for this sweater. I have until August 2nd, 2014. Why August 2nd you ask? Well, Mike's grandmother is arranging a family reunion with a lot of family I have not met before. It is a great opportunity to meet his extended family, as well as a chance to be presented as an important part of Mike's life to his family... no pressure or anything. I am quite nervous already, even though it is months away. Before leaving for New York, my mom and I went shopping for some things for summer, and I found the perfect dress to wear to the reunion. It is pretty and feminine but still modest and flattering. It is patterned with blue, green and white floral patterns. This sweater will go perfectly with it. So I really want to have it finished by the reunion. I hope to achieve this goal!

The frogging setback is no fun, but there is nobody to blame but myself! (Except maybe Law and Order SVU). I am back on track, and being much more careful.

I am having a wonderful time on vacation, but I am also excited to have Mike pick me up from the airport when we get back. I love seeing all the great things we are seeing and spending time with my mom and aunt, but I still miss him. I know this is only the beginning of being away from him and missing him, but I just have to look at it in a way that when we are together, it will be that much better.

Well, I think thats all I have for now, but here are some pictures from my trip.

9/11 Memorial Reflective Pool Panoramic

Beach by the Hamptons