sheep in the city

Vacation part I...

Vacation Part 1:
It always takes being away for me to appreciate being at home! I love to travel, but nothing feels better than that first night back home. Jesse, my cat made his opinion known that a week was too long to be away! He followed me everywhere I went the first 36 hours I was back. Here he is sitting in my fabulous new chair that I got for my bedroom, it's a big comfy knitting chair!

My flight out to Boston was fairly uneventful, I worked on my Harry Potter scarf (I was hoping that the airline wouldn't seize my knitting for some freakish reason, I've read horror stories about that happening, but I chatted with a fellow knitter on the flight and we both had chosen to use wooden vs. metal for the trip). So I was seated next to the most precious 3 year old and her dad. Across the isle was his wife and his other two daughters who were 6 and 7 years old. His wife was also holding a three month old little boy. When I sat done I was sure that it was going to be a miserable time, but the baby didn't cry at all, and all the girls, including his wife, had never flown before. So take off and landing was really excting for them. It was kind of fun experiencing someones first flight! The days that followed were filled with lots of walking, historical sites, packing (that's the reason I went to Boston...to move a friend home), more walking, and more site-seeing. The city is a lovely one, with
beautiful public gardens and the history is everywhere.

To borrow one of my favorite Boston terms...it was wicked hot out there! Good Lord...you'd think growing up in Missouri would have prepared me, but Colorado has throughly spoiled me for any other part of the country!

Knit Shops...I wasn't able to see as many shops as I had hoped,only two, but I did ok considering I was along for the ride on this trip. I tagged along with my roommate and her family.
I visited Arabella Yarns in Salem, Mass. A bizarre little town, but a fun shop. I found some really cool big needles(size 15 and 17)that I just couldn't pass up. They are made in Rhode Island by a company called Serendipity Designs. I have a whole collection of fun knitting needles. I find it is an easy thing to pick up in my travels, and they are fun to decorate with. They had a great poncho knit up as a sample, it was basically two aran rectangles sewn together, but I loved the aran patterns they had chosen. Well...I was super disappointed to when she wouldn't sell the pattern to me. You get the pattern for free when you purchase the yarn. Aarrgghh!! I wasn't in the market to buy yarn since I just brought a carry-on suitcase with me. Oh well, that's the way it goes...i'll have to keep my eyes open for an aran poncho...anyone have any suggestions/favorite patterns??
The second shop I went to was brand new, and had only been open for three weeks!! It's called Newbury Yarns (on Newbury Street, imagine that:) and the owner was really personable and sweet. I found one of the cute sheepy needle gauges featured in the Fall 2004 Interweave Knits made by Goose Pond. And believe it or not...that's all the knitting stuff I bought! 2 pairs of needles and a guage tool.
Oh....but wait the coolest thing purchased on this trip was my new Swatch Watch!!! It brings me back to my Jr. High days. They were filled with Swatch Watches, Pop Swatches, Converse High Tops (pink and green, so of course I had to wear one pink and one green one...I was soooo cool:), splatter painted everything, followed by florescent everything. The watch has little white sheep all over it! Of course I had to get it! The face of the watch has 2 sheep jumping and it says sweet dreams in a bunch of different languages around the sides. Upon closer inspection, I saw one little black sheep on the wrist band. Too cute! Sorry for the crappy picture, my camera is acting funky.

Hopefully Genia's mom can share some of her pictures from the trip, so that you can actually see me knitting in public! I do knit,I don't just buy yarn, I swear!!! I'm moving right along with my Harry Potter scarf, Genia is still in the lead, but in my defense, I have been working on multiple projects!! I finished a Christmas stocking made of Noro yarn. (I'll post a pic soon) The second half of my vacation will have to wait until tomorrow. Until then...