great gatsby, ahoy! and vacay time...

i made it safely home from my EPIC vacay to philadelphia and nyc at, oh, 1:30 on friday morning. what a trip - what a whirlwind. it's trip recap time, i suppose! i've been lazy and fully pretending i was still very much on vacation all weekend long. this afternoon, it's barbecue time, then back to work tomorrow. wheee! and boooo!

before i left, thomas and i got all dolled up and went out to a fancy schmancy dinner at restaurant tallent. amazing - i had bacon wrapped pork. i couldn't be bothered with the "sides." i just wanted to eat all the pork. thomas got the lamb shank.


this is what i looked like. i got a full-on bullseye in darts after dinner and kicked his butt. it was rad.


i flew into philly on saturday afternoon, got my rental car, and promptly headed into the city and to two different yarn stores. got a wee tad lost and realized i probably wasn't in the best part of town when i walked past a housing authority type of place. oopsy daisy. i did find some stellar yarn, though, and am currently knitting up a super awesome, do-it-as-i-go topdown cardigan in malabrigo lettuce colorway. it's gorgeous! photos soon.

woke up on sunday, the day of the wedding, with awesome bedhead:


then i headed to west chester (very sleepy town on a sunday) and to valley forge:


poor little kite.


then it was wedding time! i think kim was making faces at nathan at this point to keep him from breaking down during his vows. it was pretty freaking sweet.


on monday, i met up with karen and bach in downtown philly. what a wonderful day - i had my first cheesesteak, it was sunshiney and beautiful out. we met up with jef at this awesome downtown bar where they had a baby sitting on the bar, games everywhere (like hungry hungry hippos and operation), and we witnessed competitive rock paper scissors! simply amazing. and, somehow, i took zero pictures.

tuesday afternoon i was headed to nyc, but first i wandered to independence hall.


then to nyc. i dropped my pack at gray's office, then we sauntered about for a while before the methodman/redman album release party. (no, there were no celebrity sightings... but i did get a rad new pair of kicks for 25% off and drank some hideous pink fizzy booze made/sponsored by ludacris).


on wednesday, we had a late breakfast (BAGELS!), then trained it up to central park. we wandered everywhere, got ice cream, went to the guggenheim, wandered some more, then tried to go to the moby release party. i say "tried" because we got there, and gray realized that the party is, in fact, NEXT week. BOO! he made up for it by taking me to paul's, which is this amazing burger shack. seriously, amazing. i had the best burger of my life.








my rad new kicks. did i mention the methodman/redman thing was at the adidas classic store? i wanted to buy ALL the adidas.


that night, we went to a different bar in his neighborhood, where they played the blow, clap your hands say yeah, and other fantastic music i love. the bartender even put on mclusky at my request. and sang along with me to it. beautiful.

thursday was shopping and slow-moving day. we got bagels at murray's and ate them in washington square park. then i spent far too much money at american apparel, hopped in a cab, and started my long journey home. my feet HURT. i had some ridiculous blisters. i think we might have walked 10 miles on wednesday. seriously. a lot.

in knitting news (and just to make this post a LITTLE longer), i finished the great gatsby dress from interweave knits! i am in love.








on the needles currently: tuck in knitpicks comfy sport in a nice pumpkin color:


and the aforementioned topdown cardigan in malabrigo worsted in this colorway:


yum-yum-yummy.

see you later, twenties...

i am told everything gets better when you turn 30. that you breathe a deep sigh of relief. that all the waiting and the crap of the twenties just kind of... flits away. that it's a weight off of your shoulders.

29 was tumultuous, but all in all, very, very good. i left for europe the day after i turned 29 on a solo trek from barcelona to paris to venice to rome. it may be the most amazing thing i have ever done. i lost a tooth and got three new ones. i got settled into a new job, which i still love. i had heartbreak, i had manic-crazy times, i knitted a lot and pet my cat and made new friends. as i said, overall, very, very good.

so i give you the last weekly self-portrait of my twenties. i look painfully serious, but i promise i'm not. on saturday, i leave for a friend's wedding in philadelphia. i have printed out maps to get to various yarn shops in philly, i have maps from hotel to liberty bell to south street, i have a "map" of nyc, which is really just a drawing of various stops i have to make, including the best bagel in the world. i have a charmed life some days.


i also have a motorcycle and an ailing houseplant on my back porch.

a prolific knitter...

i have been going nutso with the knitting lately. seriously, i don't know what my deal is or how i've been putting stuff together so darn fast - but things seem to be flying off the needles.

case in point: i started the great gatsby dress from interweave knits' latest issue. i'd been dreaming of the perfect knit dress for a while. then i check my mailbox and, voila! there it is, staring me in the face. i started this on may 3.

on may 6, we were looking at this for the back:


by yesterday, may 8? the back is done! (also, kitty cameo appearance as he tried to bat at all the hanging threads).


i really can't wait to wear this! i'm halfway there. oh, and i'm using knitpicks cotlin for it - the gauge is a bit off, but i think as long as i'm careful around the top portion, we'll be just fine. i'm knitting the smallest size, and so far, it's just going to be a bit longer than the pictured dress. just fine by me - so far, it's pretty much perfect.


i also finished another shawl collar baby sweater, this time knit up in three different yarns (hello, stash busting!). the red buttons make me inexpressibly happy.


finally, self-portrait day! my birthday is coming up. my mom sent me a check for 100 bones (which i promptly used to buy yarn online - free money, free yarn!) and THE FIRST TWO DIE HARDS! i love my silly action movies, and i love my mom.


speaking of how much i love my mom, i painted this for her for mother's day. now, i am not a painter. not at all. i paint like i draw, basically. so yeah, it looks a little like something an eight-year old would paint. i still love it, though. it was based off of a photo they took in the greek islands when they were there for my cousin's wedding a few years ago. "my uncle, ulysses athanassiadis, skin dives for octopi in the mediterranean" is possibly my favorite sentence ever uttered. and it's true - he does.

for the sophisticated babe-to-be...

i give you: baby sophisticate (free ravelry download)!

knit up with leftover cascade 220 heathers.


i added some moss stitch in halfway through and at the bottom. didn't realize the stripes didn't line up so well - whatevs.


i actually have another multi-colored green one blocking right now, too. too cute! i think i may have to work out the pattern for an adult lady size for moi at some point. in other news, i just received the yarn for my great gatsby dress. of course, i need to finish at least two other projects before i can really get cooking on this one. but i WANT TO START NOW! so bad. i'm a knitting addict.