Knitting, Botany, Mycology, Nature, Adventure, and Life... in no particular order.
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The Next Decade
I am a week and 2 days into experiencing a whole new decade of my life. My 30’s. I’m wicked psyched!
To herald in this momentous occasion Vogue Knitting Online Live was held in my honor. (This is a bit of an exaggeration baldfaced lie, but it did help convince me to go to NYC for my big day.) I originally planned on signing up for a shetland colorwork with Jared Flood of BrooklynTweed fame and hearing the lecture from Franklin Habit of The Panopticon fame on antique lace. My procrastination decided that these, and the other courses I was interested in were actually full and I should take advantage of the big city with my fella instead.
Ultimately, the goal of the big weekend was for my wonderful fella and I to go skating at Rockefeller Center on my actual birthday. I did some searching and booked an incredible (and affordable) hotel in NYC
It’s that glass building there, and note how there’s one floor with balconies… the 11th floor actually. If you’re familiar with the architecture you may see that this hotel is very close to the desired skating locale, which is also my favorite group of architecture in the city. Here’s our view:
Daytime views from… our BALCONY!
And some night time views as well
As you can see, we were right in the thick of all the excitement.
I did go to the VKLive event and caught a fashion show of some Vogue patterns
It was fun and interesting, and though they didn’t have all the kinks worked out I think we all had a great time. I also managed to pick up a shawl’s amount of Qiviuk/Wool/Silk yarn that I talk about here. Finally, at the encouraging and gifting of the fella I also picked up a set of Blackthorn DPN’s in size 1. Blackthorn needles are made of Carbon Fiber (like the outside of the stealth jet, among other things) and it turns out are hand crafted for each needle. They are a real splurge, but it is about as nerdy knitting as you can get, which suits me quite well.
The highlight of the whole weekend was at about 2.30 when we went skating at Rockefeller Center. It was perfect! It was cold, but sheltered from the wind, it wasn’t too crowded, and we skated hand-in-hand for virtually the entire time (which was an hour!)!!
The full shot: Me, on skates, in front of Prometheus (who is really a wee bit creepy).
We skated and skated and laughed and skated. Eventually we were getting tired and the ice was cut up enough that with my pending exhaustion I was likely to fall we called it enough. An hour at Rockefeller was perfect though.
We look miserable, don’t we… (handknit items featured: Flora Hat, Citron Shawl, Trilsea’n Mitts, and 75 yard mitts. There should have been a hat for the man, but the hat and I are still arguing.)
We retired to la Maison du Chocolate around the corner and sat at the bar sipping magnificent cocoa. (Perhaps better than Burdicks. I said it, I meant it. Deal with it.)
We finished up the day with a lovely Spanish dinner and seeing Avenue Q (both with and courtesy of my Aunt & Uncle who live in the area). It was such great food and fun. Our hotel was so close to all the things we were doing we walked to get everywhere. Overall it might have been the perfect weekend/birthday.
Now I just have to hope I make sure to have the rest of my 30’s live up to that standard of fun and happiness and adventure (and knitting)!
A last parting shot of 1. Zeus modeled after Blake’s image (up top), 2. Prometheus looking like he wants to steal my hat, and 3. me, pretty darn pleased with herself. (I know there’s lots of me in this post, but it is my blog and I do only turn 30 once… I think, right?!)
