Until tomorrow, I leave you with this…
You are bamboo.Warm, cozy, and thoughtful, you take your time and enjoy how things feel, smell, and taste. You love the craft and beauty of traditional things, and you value the comfort and experience of knitting as much as the results. But while you are reveling in your warm cozies, don’t get stuck. Warm is wonderful, but so is the whole wide world!
Take this quiz!
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Ever heard of Pay It Forward? The concept is so simple, but it warms my heart, and hopefully, it will warm others…
Octopus Knits had offered to make handmade gift for the first 3 people who leave a comment on her post. I decided to continue the Pay It Forward and here I am:
This is “based on the concept of the movie Pay it Forward where acts or deeds of kindness are done without expecting something in return… just passing it on, with hope that the recipients of the acts of kindness continue to pass it along as well. Here’s how it works: I will make and send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment to this post on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I do not know what that gift will be yet, and it won’t be sent this month, probably not next month, but it will be sent (within 6 months) and that’s a promise! What YOU have to do in return, then, is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.”
If you would like to continue the Pay It Forward, please leave me a comment on this post, and email me at jennsquared AT gmail DOT com with your contact info.
ps. I FINALLY finished my MS3 this past Sunday! But I haven’t give it a bath yet…
A year from yesterday would be our big day.
David and I took Friday off (swapped with another holiday) and drove up to 1000 Islands to check out the weather, and also sign some contracts to finalize the wedding – just the big picture, no details yet. We actually drove up Thursday night, stopped and see Grandma Nancy on the way and got there at midnight. We stayed at Sir Robert Peel Motel – it was very clean and inexpensive, although the beds are a little hard. If you ever want to go up there and visit (well worth your time, I promise), this would be a good place to stay. Actually, when you call up for the reservation, you can pick rooms that come with a mini fridge and microwave if you are staying longer. In the back of the motel, there is actually a huge back yard with picnic tables and grills so you can actually have a BBQ.
Friday morning, we got up and met up with Terri from Happily Ever After to finalize some of the contracts. I have to say that I was very biased from the website at the beginning, but after meeting with Terri, all my doubts went away – website isn’t EVERYTHING! We had booked Terri for the flower and chairs/tents rental (she’s a florist by trade) when we went up back in July, so this time, we booked the harpist, DJ, define how many chairs/tents we need, officiant, and photographer. We are using John Wayne Photographix – again, website isn’t everything! We actually turned him down when we first saw his website, but after seeing some of his work in real life at Terri’s, we decided to meet with him and chat – he really fit the style we are looking for and we are very excited to say that we are glad to have him as our photographer. He is actually redoing his website so hopefully he doesn’t lose too much of business base on his website.
We went into town after the appointment and just walked around for a little while, and then we drove to the Wellesley Island State Park to check out the lighting of the ceremony spot – we are quite pleased with the whole thing.
The area we are having the ceremony is actually closed, hence that we would be able to have the ceremony there. We picked the location on where we usually camped so it is more meaningful to both of us.
We left the park went directly to the Joey’s at the Thousand Islands Yacht Club for dinner. We are thinking of having the rehearsal dinner there so we want to try out their food first. On the way there though, we found this:
We bought these to go with the Drive-In for later:
We got to the restaurant just when they opened and was seated immediately. David and I ordered these, and they were delicious!
Pork Chop in Honey Butter sauce
We spoke to Rick, the owner, and set up the logistic of things and then left with full stomach. We went directly to the Drive In as it got dark very quickly after the dinner. We went and saw Super Bad, lets just say it is super bad…
Saturday was pretty relaxing. We woke up late and didn’t leave the motel till 11am. We went to the Thousand Islands Winery first and tasted some wines. They are actually a very new winery and have quite a few sweet wines. I came home with two 375ml bottles:
We went into town and walked around some more, including Treasure Islands – where we got my engagement ring, David’s wedding ring, and they are currently making my wedding bands. This time, I actually brought up the pearls my mom gave me to have them make earrings to match. I can’t wait to see what they come up with!
We then went on the Twilight cruise by Uncle Sam’s – the castle was absolutely beautiful under the twilight -
We woke up pretty early today and left the town around 10am. We decided to stop at Grandma Nancy’s again since we don’t really get to see her all that often. On the way to grandma’s, there is an Indian Casino with gas stations – we stopped and got gas, and decided to live a little and gamble. We took out 80 bucks and told us that would be the only money we play. David started it with Let It Ride, it was a very cool game, but we only won one hand. I then spotted something named Keno – it’s kinda like bingo, but don’t have to be in order. It was pretty cheap to play so both of us played 10 dollars worth of games (5 games). The first couple of games, I got either too many matches or not enough. I wasn’t too happy about it but it was only 4 dollars worth of entertainment so far so there wasn’t much to complaint about. Before the 3rd game started, David said, “Watch, this is the game you are gonna win like 100 bucks!” I laughed and said “Yeah, right, I NEVER win anything!” Lo and behold…
I have 9 numbers matched! I didn’t even realize what it really means, I actually just told David “oh, I got 9″, and David flipped the pamphlet and yelled – You won 150 bucks!!!! WHAT? We counted again, and sure enough, I won $150! I was so excited I could careless for the rest of the games! I won total of $152, and David won $6, along with $10 he won from Let It Ride, we were up 100 bucks!!! We left pretty happy 
When we got to Grandma’s, uncle Dave and Leslie were there helping grandma changing the cabinets face – they looked really nice! I keep asking when is uncle Dave coming to see us instead
We got home around 7:30 and I worked on MS3 on the way home today. Yes, you read it right, I knitted lace stole with beading in a car – I know, not the smartest thing to do, but I only screwed it up once! I am three rows from finishing the whole thing and blocking! I can’t wait. No picture of it just now, hopefully tomorrow
So did you have a nice, relaxing weekend?
HA! THERE! For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Bruno, the head dog of the house. Those two humans keep forgetting that and order me around. If it weren’t for that I’m older and wiser than them, I would have growled and showed them who’s the boss!
So the female human, the “Mom” – she really isn’t my mom, you know? She wasn’t there when I came home with my Daddy! She just moved in all of the sudden few years ago. I really don’t like the fact that I have to share dad with her, but on the plus side, she convinced him to cook ground beef for me for dinner, and she remembers to feed me and give me water and treats. One thing about her though, she keeps forgetting to mention me in this “blog” thing – so I took over and here I am! Aren’t I cute? See! Her friend from something called the knitting loves me, and thinks I’m the cutest thing on earth too! How can she forget about me?
Well, this typing thing is hard to do with just paws so I think I’m off now. She better leaves this post with my cute picture up for a few days, because I deserves it!
Ever seen an infomercial? Ever want to try the product but don’t want to risk your money and the hassle of buying it online or order via the phone? Yeah, me too.
One day few weeks ago, David and I were watching TV and one of the infomercial was on for some slicer thing for vegetables. I was busy knitting so I didn’t pay attention. All of the sudden, David said, “Hun, did you see that?” Of course, we rewound it and I was actually bored with it. I said, “yeah, it looks cool, but does it really work? Plus they have similar stuff from the kitchen stores, we don’t have to buy it from infomercial and it would be easier to return it if we don’t like it.” David then said, “Just keep watching!” hmmm… okay… a minute later – “OH MY GOD, I WANT THAT THING!” And that thing would the the “free gift” for the slicer – Tater Mitts!!! Yeah, it looked SO COOL! But of course, I wasn’t gonna order it just to get the tater mitts, I figure I can probably find it at an ASOT store at the mall, if I remember then I will buy one.
Thursday night, David and I went to Target to find something and there it is, sitting on the shelf, Tater Mitts!!!! Of course, I came home with one:
So needless to say, I tried it out tonight.
The Claim: Peel a potato without getting your hands wet in 8 seconds.
The Start:
We tried out the fries cutter as well, it works very well but hard to press to begin with. It is very uniformly cut once it does go through. So the free gift gets a 3 and half stars as well.
I think I will keep it for now. We definitely had a good laugh playing with it.
On the knitting front, I am working feverishly on MS3. I am on Clue 6 (chart I) one third of it done. I am really hoping that I can finish it by next week as Secret of the Stole is starting pretty soon. I am way behind on Hanami, and I haven’t started Hemlock Ring Blanket either, or the Autumn Rose… yes, I am very behind. Granted, I don’t have the yarn for the two lace stoles, but I do have the yarn for Hemlock Ring and Autumn Rose, however, I promised myself that I will finish MS3 first, only then, I can cast on a new project.
Now, I am not just behind on knitting, I am even behind on my swapping! For Football-a-long, I joined the swap (it’s not a secret swap) and was assigned a swapee – Robin from The Knittin’ Coop! She’s got an awesome blog and just had two new additions to the family, so go check it out! Anyways, so I emailed Robin and explained to her that I had a late start and she was very understanding of the whole thing. I will be sending her some awesome stuff her way very soon – all football related. Hopefully she’ll like it!
Well, that’s all there is to it. Time to get back to MS3 and football and baseball – Go Patriots and Red Sox! For giggles, I leave you these:
This weekend was full of excitement as David and I decided last minute that we are gonna go autocrossing with his race car. He had worked hard to get it running and while the weather is still good and it is still the racing season, it is only reasonable for me to do some of HIS hobbies, instead of only doing things I want to do.
In between each run, there are time that we got to sit around. I brought knitting, of course (did you expect something different?), my dad’s second vest, and MS3. I started off with the vest, but I ran out of yarn (forgot to bring extra with me) so I moved on to MS3. I finished clue 4 finally last night and got to work on the Wing today.
I have made quite a progress this week and I hope I can keep it up! I really, REALLY, want to cast on for Autumn Rose!!!! But only one easy, and one hard projects at one giving moment.
On football news – Patriots and Packers won on their first game of the season, which is a great thing
Oh, and I got my swapee for Football-a-long, but I’m not sure if it is suppose to be secret or not… And because some of the participants don’t have a blog, they are not doing a questionnaire. I guess I’ll be developing one tomorrow then.
Did you enjoy your weekend before it gets too cold?
My labor weekend was lazy and busy at the same time. How? you asked. Well, I guess I felt like I was lazy and didn’t do anything, but when in fact, we did a lot.
David and I went to the mall Friday after work. We haven’t gone for so long and a lot had changed. I actually picked up this book while I was there. Yup! I want to at least learn what’s in my garden and how I can plant some of my favorite flowers.
Saturday morning I went to Primerica training and when I got home, David and I drove to Mom’s to have a BBQ, and met up with our friend Tanya. I of course, forgot my camera and didn’t take any pictures while we were there! We got home around 10pm and I stayed up and finished reading “The Sisterhood of Dropped Stitches” (I got the book via PaperBackSwap, see sidebar). It was a very easy read and it was only slightly knitting related, and there were no patterns of any kind in the book, but it reminds me the Stitch n Bitch group I go to. I remember the first Wednesday meeting – I was a newbe at knitting and I didn’t understand anything people were talking about! Slowly, people clued me in on the yarn, the pattern, the names, the techniques… I think without my “sisters”, I wouldn’t have grown so fond of knitting, and be able plunged into any pattern I want, and of course, have my large yarn stash. I can feel free to express what was in my thoughts when I go there and I can always count on a good laugh. Recently, one of the ladies that attend had some personal trouble, so we moved the meeting to her house. Even though I wasn’t as close to her as the others were (we have a big group), I can feel that she appreciated us being there, and that it was good that we were there. Although I can’t ease her pain, but I know I will be there when she needs me.
Sunday was a late start at 10am. David and I went to the Mark Twain Library book sale first. I went last year on a Saturday, and this year, I went to the half price day. On the way there, we stopped at a nursery that had mums for “5 for $12.95″. I picked up these:
Aren’t they beautiful? They are not full bloom yet and from my handy dandy new book, it says that I shouldn’t plant them now until the Spring, so now they are just sitting in the front lawn waiting for the good weather to be gone and be moved inside.
We headed to the sale after the brief stop and we must spent over 3 hours there. Here is the haul:
All that for grand total of… you ready?… $22.25!!!!!!! You can’t beat the price! Among the books, I came home with these:
Needless to say, we left happy. A lot of the books are replacing my paperbacks and the paperback will be listed on the swap for other books that I want and didn’t find at the book sale.
After the book sale, we stopped at Costco and Trader Joe’s to get some much needed shopping done, and got home with a car full of flowers, books, and food.
And while we were doing all these driving, I had finished Petrol -
Pattern – Petrol by Carol Sulcoski on Knitty.com
Yarn Called For – 5 Skeins Manos del Uruguay in #27 and 1 Skein Manos del Uruguay in #64
Yarn Used – 6 Balls Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk DK in #26011
Needles – Denise size 7 and 8
Gauge – 4.5 sts per inch
Knit – August 18, 2007 to September 02, 2007
Modifications – added 2×2 ribs for two inches at the waist, use only single color
This was a very quick knit – instead of the purling rib, it has garter rib. It was different enough to keep me awake but not too complicated so I can knit it during a movie. This is one of the vests I am making for my dad. So now, one down, one more to go. The next one will probably be in a regular plain vest since the yarn is heather and dark and wouldn’t show too much of stitch definition.
After we got home, we sat around and be bums for a few hours, until the heat has gone down a little, and we went to our old house and cleaned out the garage, so we can put one of rare car that David is collecting into the garage. So now, we actually have ONE car in one of our garages!!! Well, the race car is also in the garage too. I think I’m just too happy to actually cleaned out the garage from our move – we ONLY moved about 6 months ago… yeah…
When we got home, we grabbed some quick dinner, and I was going through my blog subscription via Google reader (I love that thing! I don’t have to sign up separate account at bloglines or anything! And it integrates into my google homepage, which I can read the posts via google homepage) and saw Brooklyntweed‘s post about his Hemlock Ring Blanket and that there is a KAL started for it. Okay, yes, I joined it. Go ahead, say I am crazy, nuts, or whatever have you. But to my defense, I already had the yarn in mind and printed out the pattern when he first post about it! I would have started the KAL if I didn’t already host the Autumn Rose!
Monday morning I got up early (well, 8am IS early when I don’t have to go to work!) and went to meet up with the Team Lead of CLCC (Collegiate Leadership Coaching Committee) for SWE business. I am part of the team and we had to get the budget set up and figure out what we are doing for the fiscal year. It was a lot of fun meeting up with her, especially we haven’t seen each other for 6 months.
When I got home, I decided that I should continue to be a bum for the rest of the weekend – lots of people relaxed and did nothing during 3 day weekends! So that’s what I did – I watched CSI marathon on SPIKE and knitted MS3 – yes, I am finally going back to it. But with the whole afternoon and evening, besides the one and a half hours of making pizza, I only knitted 36 rows!!!! Well, I think I spent about half an hour just trying to figure what went wrong – missing stitches! Luckily I figured it out after only tinking back one full row (missed a YO and also dropped a stitch – good thing I use merino so it didn’t ladder down). So I am almost finished with chart E – maybe by Wednesday I will have chart E completed.
So now, it is time for this bum to go to bed – even though work has tomorrow off (floating holiday), I decided to work tomorrow so I can take another day off when we go up to 1000 Islands in a few weeks.
What did YOU do for your holiday weekend?
Many of you already know I joined the Christmas Around the World Knitters Swap. Along with the swap, comes a questionnaire, and here you go:
