K is for

Kin?
Kindred spirits?
Kindling?
Kindness?
Kings?
Krispy Kreme?

NO! Silly rabbit! K is for KNITTING!

Boston Knittahs

This Memorial Day my friend Dea and I decided to go to Boston for some patriotic fun. Living in DC is not enough! Living literally within 5 minutes of Arlington Cemetary isn't adequate! I needed some serious old-time flavor for this holiday weekend.

Veterans of the war for Independence are vets, too.


While I was there I'd like to say that we were seriously cultural. We meant to do cultural things like go to the Fogg to see modern art. And go to the Aquarium so I could be terrified by the sharks. Did you know that I am actually phobic about sharks? So much so that even at 27 years of age my mother had to hold my hand while I kept my eyes firmly closed, under the shark tanks at SeaWorld? At any rate, there were no sharks or wacky paintings in our trip. We were too distracted by the sights and tastes of the North End. We did check out the Freedom Trail.


And there may have been a bit of Sam Adams.


But most importantly, there was a heck of a lot of food.


And even more yarn.




And I also worked on some past projects, too. Like the first Monkey sock, which I knit up to the toe almost completely while on vacation.


For future Boston visitors, I found Windsor Button to be a very interesting craft shop, with just bazillions of kinds of yarn. It's very nice and the staff were helpful, but I admit it was more utilitarian than I'm used to for a yarn shop. They do carry some swank buttons, of course! I also went to Woolcott, where I picked up the beautiful pink Cotton Bam Boo I'm using for the eyelet cardigan depicted on the cover of the Jo Sharp book. It's like knitting a dream, and I found the shop to be very delightful. Prices were right on point (surprisingly so, for Harvard Square), and I was really entranced with the shop.

FO! Jaywalkers

There's a lot of knitting content heading your way. Be advised. But first off, I actually finished something. That's worth rejoicing! Also, apparently, worth trying to remember some ballet.

Like this!


Or this!


My Jaywalkers are truly socks of all seasons. I already posted when I took them to see the Capitals. And not to be outdone, they wanted to see the Nationals, too.

So off they went.


Hurray, FO!

Maryland Sheep and Wool, and a detour

Believe it or not, it's not all fabric and quilting ideas and abc's around here. There's still plenty of yarn to go around.

Maryland Sheep and Wool this year was... different. I live just enough farther away that it was a HAUL to get there. And once I was there... it was just crazytown. So many people. I did manage to purchase exactly what I was looking for, but I'm not sure I would go on Saturday next year. Sunday is just much more relaxed. Exhibit A of the crowds:


And another crowd shot, near the outdoor tents


Last year at Sheep and Wool I regretted only one thing: not buying cashmere yarn from Hunt Valley Cashmere for a shawl. This year (after much debate), I did buy enough for a lovely scarf. Knitting with it? Fantastically luscious. As you can tell, since I'm nearly one full repeat in already!


I can't stop touching it.


I also fell disastrously in love with Tess yarns last year- I knit my Hanami out of the laceweight merino and had to buy more for another shawl.


I also picked up three (enormous) skeins of their Merino Petite, a DK weight yarn for a simple sweater (pattern as yet to be determined).


After Sheep and Wool I needed to relax a bit from the crowds. I drove down towards Jamie's by way of 15, which was a beautiful and peaceful way to journey. And I saw a sign for a winery... and had to stop in.



It wasn't Oliver, but the wine was tasty and I enjoyed it enough to join their wine club. Unfortunately, after a day in the sun at the festival I was a bit dehydrated and not the nicest company that evening. I think I hate chardonnay for a reason. At any rate, their reds are delicious!


And cashmere makes everything better.

J is for

J is one of my favorite letters. It starts such great words: jubilant, joyous, java, jokes, jeans, jammies.

But it's my absolute favorite letter of all because it is the first letter of my own name (and yes, Mikaiya is just a handle). I am named after my father's father, Grandpa Jack, who died when my father was just a teenager. My initials spell it out... JAC. I started out as Jenny (and yes, now I'll glare if you try that one now). Jen for the longest time. In my professional life, I'm now a Jennifer. I switched in college, but especially when I was in grad school in the Midwest- they always misheard me as saying "Jan" which is NOT my name. Jennifer is a lot harder to mis-hear.

I find it interesting that when I worked in a more diverse environment, everyone used my full name... now I'm surrounded by American citizens, it's back to Jen. I don't really mind one way or another (though I always write out Jennifer nowadays). I don't have many good old photos of me, since my parents still have my old photo albums. But here's a few, mostly for entertainment value.

On the beach with Mom, around 4-5 months old:


First birthday:


Heading to the Honors Ball (freshman year of college, so 1999-2000?)

(not a bad photo, Alex, if you read this blog...)

Dancing in Jerusalem in January 2001


Unbelievable that Israel has hit 60. Another one from my trip, at the Kotel:


I rock the flared cords and apparently never grew out of flannel.

There you go. J is for Jen.

I is for Indiana

I can't believe it took me so long to think of an I word for the ABC-Along. It's practically a gimme.

I moved from New Hampshire to Maryland when I was 15. I lived there until I graduated from college, and moved to INDIANA. For grad school at IU (in Bloomington). Admittedly, I was not meant to be a professor, and I left with a master's and came back to Maryland, and now Virginia, to be a corporate chickie. Two years was enough for me, but I will never regret the wonderful people I met out in the midwest. And of course, Bloomington was my introduction to food from all over the world, especially INDIAN (another I).

Here's a few pictures to prove it.
Indianapolis


Talking philosophy in Abby-upstairs' apartment (Abby was, oddly enough, my upstairs neighbor)


A typical living room scene from grad school, including library videos/books, the book I taught out of for freshman comp, a little light literary theory, and chocolate


I had a 2br, because I needed my study NOT to be in the bedroom. It was also my sewing room