Sneaking away for a little R&R

I recently went away for my first vacation ever. Unbelievable right? 30 years old and never been on vacation, what a shame. After a couple of hectic weeks, I was determined to go away and recharge my battery. I felt like I was running on empty! Since the child had the whole week off of school I gladly shipped him off to grandmas house (thanks Faith!) and set out to plan my getaway.

Since I've barely traveled outside of the northeast, I decided to be a little adventurous. Even though some may think that my decision to take a vacation all by my lonesome is pretty brave, its just that sometimes I prefer my own company the best. That way I can do what I want to do when I'm ready to do it and not have to wait for anybody. Don't get me wrong, I would've liked to have had someone to chill with during my trip but it didn't work out that way so I was determined to have a good time regardless.

I ended up in booking a trip to New Orleans, the crescent city. I spent 4 wonderful days in this beautiful city. My hotel was in the French Quarter so I was within walking distance of everything. What I enjoyed most was the food. I think I gained like 10 pounds on beignets alone. I went to Cafe Du Monde about twice every day I was there.
Of course I did all the other touristy things like the trolly ride Uptown and walking around the Garden District. Had some po'boys and jambalaya, hit up the French Market and got tipsy on Bourbon street. My other hangout spot was the yarn store on Chartres street called The Quarter Stitch (sorry no web site). I absolutley loved this store. It was so vivid and lively in there, it makes you want to smile as soon as you walk in.Thats the back of Carol's head in that picture. She was lovely to chat with, I could've spent hours in that shop talking to her. And the shop dog, Leif Ericsson was such a cutie pie. You would think he had never been pet before the way he begs for attention. He even posed for a picture. I didn't get a chance to take a picture of my purchases but they wrap your yarn up for you like a present with tissue paper, confetti and lost of brightly colored curling ribbon. I don't even want to open it, thats how cute it is. All in all, I would go back to Nawlins just to visit this shop again.I'll have more pictures on my flickr and facebook but I just had to blog about this cute little shop. I know some may have questions about NO after Katrina but to tell you the truth, I opted out of taking the tour of the devestated areas. It's not that I don't care but I'm a very sensative person and I would've been boohooing the whole time so I just chose not to go there. I do highly suggest that if you're looking for a nice little getaway, New Orleans is the place to go. The weather was nice, the food was great and the people are so hospitable. So far, this is my favorite (and only) vacation.

Outta My System

Now I can finally stop obsessing over this thing. I swatched on Wednesday during Lost and casted on yesterday. I felt compelled to finish or else this thing haunt me forever. You wanna know something? After everything was said and done, I thought to myself ...."Meh".

It was a very anticlimactic moment. It didn't turn out exactly how I remembered the orginal holy grail of a hat as being but its close enough. I'm not bummed out about it though. I know that my indifference stems from my yarn choice. The original hat was done in an aran tweed and here I used lustrous Vanna's choice acrylic. By the way, Vanna's choice is my favorite acrylic yarn to use. They come in some really nice colors. Except for the baby colors, they're not my cup of tea.

All in all, my obsession has been quenched and I'm glad that I can get back to knitting my socks. I took some notes so I'll definitely be on the lookout for some tweed yarn...or maybe just try to spin some up. Did somebody say Webs anniversary sale? Who said that? Bad enablers, no cookies for you!

Trainspotting & Copycating

Thanks guys for all your comments on my last post. I really appreciate your feedback and its also nice to know that I'm not in this boat alone, knowhatimsayin?

Anyway, I sat next to this guy on the 6 train during my ride home and I couldn't help but stare at his hat. We played that little game where whenever he turned his head I would examine the stitches in his hat, then he would feel my eyes on him so he'd turn back around and I'd divert my attention really quick so he wouldn't think I was a weirdo. I'm not a shy person so I finally just blurted out " I luv your hat" with a dumb look on my face. Then Kim said (did I mention that I ride home with my co-worker & knitting confidant Kim?) "We're knitters and we were just admiring your hat". He blushed a little and said thanks and that everyone seems to comment on his hat. He picked it up at an American Eagle Urban Outfitters (something like that) store 6 years ago. We continued to oogle over his hat the rest of the ride until he got off at 103rd. Thats when the wheels started turning in my mind.

I haven't been able to keep that hat off my mind, I think I'm obsessed! The hat was a pale green with specks of other colors in it, read: tweed. It must've been wool because he tugged on it and it was pretty givey. I wanted to ask him if I could turn it inside out so I could examine theI thought was very nice of him. I know I keep beating around the bush when it comes to the details of the pattern but hey, I'm trying to create some drama here. The pattern wasn't anything complicated but it was just how everything married together so perfectly, the tweedy yarn, the close fit but not too tight, the sparse single slipped stitches on a reverse stockinette background and the icing on the cake....(wait for it).... the sideways brim knit in reverse stockinette! Simple right? But believe you me, it was fly. 

Hopefully I'll get to bed at a decent hour because I know this hat is going to keep me up for a while. Maybe I'll be able to get it out of my system by the time Lost is over.