I'm in love and it feels so good!

Last Saturday I fell in love for the first time. I thought I have been in love before, but I have been greatly mistaken.

All week I have been singing this song. The love that has been fluttering in my heart for the past week has given me the most incredible feelings ever. I can't describe it.

People talk about love at first sight, but I never understood it until recently.

I have been seeing my new love around town for a couple of weeks. Our first encounter was during my trip to the Yarn Tree in Brooklyn and then I saw them again at Knitty City in the city. After each encounter I always end up I thinking about them. Wondering if we would have the opportunity to be together.

When I saw my love last Saturday at the Wool and Sheep Festival I knew with all of my heart I wanted to be with them, but I was afraid that they were unattainable. I was also afraid that my friends wouldn't approve, but I was very wrong. When I introduced my friends to one who stole my heart. They agreed we should be together. Their approval meant a lot to me so after receiving their OK I ran to find my love.

When I approached my love I got there just in time. There was only one left and the Festival was shutting down for the day. I am sure at this point you are scratching head wondering what the heck am I talking about now.

My love is my Jumbo Ball Winder made by Strauch Fiber Equipment Company. OMG this is the best thing I have ever purchased for my knitting life!

A couple of weeks ago I purchased the Knit Picks ball winder and I hated it! I purchased it because it is $20 and it can be used as a hand held winder or as a table winder. It wasn't very sturdy. The handle kept falling out when I would use it as a hand winder. (Maybe it it better when you attach it to a table.) It is small, so it couldn't take a lot of yarn. The balls were sloppy and kept falling apart. The winder is made out of plastic. It is cheaply made. The pro of this winder is that it is a small, so it is easy to travel with it and I could tuck it away in my yarn box.

The Strauch Ball Winder is the total opposite of the Knit Picks ball winder. It is a conversation starter. It is gorgeous. It is hand carved out of wood. (I had the pleasure of meeting Otto Strauch (the creative genus behind the winder) when I purchased my winder.)

At first I was thrown by the $115 price tag, but after to talking to a couple of people and really examining I knew it was worth the price. The reason being is that I could see myself buying 6 of those knit picks winders over the course of a lifetime. I doubt that I will have to buy another ball winder for the rest of life. I may have to purchase the rubber bands that connect the two parts to each other.

Here is my review of the Strauch Fiber Equipment Jumbo Ball Winder:

• Pro: It can take a lot of yarn and make large balls.
• Pro: It winding system is very smooth.
• Pro: The balls that it makes are beautiful and sturdy.
• Pro: You don't have to bolt it to the table. I place my foot or my cellphone on it to stop it from shaking.
  
• Pro: It is made well. Nothing is falling off.
  
• Pro: Really easy to use! Pro: Educational intro video on the website that has great how to tips.
• Pro: It is fast. I can ball a ball of Vanna's Choice yarn in approximately 2 minutes.
• Con: The only draw back about the winder is that it is large. I am currently living is a small space, so I have to store it in a closet, because it is too large to keep out. I can't wait to get a place and have an area set up where I can keep it out and on display. It may be too heavy for me to take to friend's houses. If I am getting a ride, it is not going to be an issue, but I wouldn't want to carry it on the train.
  

I would recommend this winder to anyone who is looking for a winder. It is worth every penny and it will last you forever. Plus it will save you a lot of frustration.

Here are some photos of my love and I spending time together this week.

This was my first ball that I made. Very loose.

Here is a ball after a little practice. You can already see the difference.

I am cooking with gas now!

Here is a full view of my love.

I am sure I will post more photos after I use it with my swift.

PS I am not being paid by this company to advertise their product. I just really like it!
Hey , but if they want to pay I will take one of their yarn swifts for free. :)

Confessions of an Addict

My name Petrina and I am an addict.

I recently came to the realization that I am an addict because:

• I will do anything to get money to get my next fix.
• I lie about my habit.
• A good portion of my income is spent on it. (I refuse to figure out how much.)
  
• My friends are junkies too.
• I never leave the house with my drugs. When I do leave the house without something I always regret it.
• I try to get everyone to do it.
• I have paraphernalia all over my home.
• Sometimes I sit up all night doing it, because I just can't stop.
• I would rather cater to my addition then do certain things that I once enjoyed.

I have been an addict now for a little over six years. It started off harmless. I figured I would try it out with some friends. I thought it would be something we could all do together. None of knew us how that decision would change our all of our lives forever. We would have never guessed how much money and time would be spent catering to our addictions.

For years, I had toyed with idea of trying it. I remember when I first moved to the city I went to the corner of 8th street and Broadway and picked up some stuff. Figured since I didn't spend a lot of money on it I wouldn't be mad if I didn't get the high I was looking for. I remember rushing home to try it. Hoping that my roommates weren't home, so that I do it without them judging me.

I remember sitting on the floor looking at my new found treasure with glee with the hopes of getting high, but of course I couldn't figure it. So I threw away my cheap items and moved on to something else.

Years later, the notion hit me again, so I spoke to some friends to ask them if they ever thought about doing it and to my surprise they were interested. So I asked around to find out where I could score and I started making calls. I live in New York City, so it doesn't take long to get anything. I was able to find a dealer within a few days. I called my friends and told them that I found a place and that the fee was $135 and we needed to pay in cash.

I am not sure how long it took for us to get everything together, but I will not forgot the night I tried it. I remember walking up this dimly light stairway with my friends. There was something odd about the stairway. For a moment I wondered if were in the right place. Then we saw the door of the place were going to. Walk in and paid for our goods and then waited to be served. My friends and I weren't the only ones there. There were other newbies there waiting for their first taste.

As we sat there and waited I wondered. Did I just waste my money on something I may not or may not give me the high I am looking for? I wondered what was I going to do if I really liked it.

A few minutes later a hippy looking woman came out and introduced herself to us. You may think that I am going to tell you that my first experience was amazing and that I never felt a high like this. Nope not all. It was awful. I couldn't figure out what to do with the needle. My friends figured it out quickly and I could see their faces lighting up. I could see that they were getting the high that I wanted. The entire night I struggled. I remember going home that night feeling stupid for spending all of that money and not getting the high I was looking for.

I remember talking to my friends and them telling me how great it was once they got started and that I should try one more time. One night I met Suzy at her office after hours while no one else was there. She wanted to teach me in private.

I remember Suzy, Cheryl and I sitting around in a circle and they set me up and told me how to hold the needle, so that I could it get it just right. I couldn't do it. They kept setting me up and I kept screwing up and then finally everything worked and I got my first taste.

After an hours of practicing how to cast on I finally got it! Then we moved on the knit and purl stitches. By the time the second class came around I was ready for more. Once our 6 sessions of lessons ended I was a full blown addict. Wanting to try different yarns and patterns.

6 years my addiction has changed over time. When I first started it was more about knitting for hours and hours, but now my addiction has changed more into shopping. Buying and buying and buying yarn and other items.

Today, I was trying to figure out if I should work some overtime this week and I quickly answered my question with a yes. I can use that money to buy yarn during my day at Flying Fingers.

I know I am not alone. Feel free to share your addiction stories with me.

New York State Wool & Sheep Festival - Review

It was another gorgeous weekend in New York. Even though we had a major wind storm and it was really chilly it was nice to be outside all day. Especially after I put on my my newly purchased hoodie.

Yesterday (Saturday, October 16th) the girls (Suzy and Cheryl) and I headed up to Rhinebeck, NY for the Annual New York State Wool and Sheep Festival. I never had an interest in attending the festival, but for some reason I got a bug up my ass and I wanted to go this year. OMFG why didn't I listen to people sooner and go there. The festival was awesome. Tons of vendors selling amazing merchandise. Lots of things to see and learn about. Did I mention lots of stuff to buy. I bought a lot of amazing things. (You will find my list of goodies below.)

I really thought that I was going to hate the festival. I thought I was going to be surrounded by nasty smelling animals and that I would either have to pee in dirty porta potties or wait in line for an hour. Once I go there I realized that none of my fears were true.

The animals were there and they were smelly, but they were easily avoidable. The bathroom situation was great. They had real bathrooms! No porta potties! And they were clean! That alone made me a happy campier. When you have a bladder the size of a thimble that is always an issue.

While my friends played with the sheep I waited on the short bathroom line, so I didn't have to smelly the funkiness. I did see two super cute alpacas near the gate as we left and that was more than enough animal interaction for me.

The setup was really interested. Again, I wasn't sure what to expect, but I am sure I would have been wrong. The festival took place on the Duchess Count Fair Ground and all of the vendors are set up in barn house. The setup reminded me of flea markets that I used to go to growing up. There were approximately 10 barns.

Vendors sold everything from, live sheep, fleece, roving, yarn, books, clothing, maple syrup, jewelry, meat, bread and much more.

And me being the good American.New Yorker that I am, I had to do my best to stimulate the economy of upstate New York by purchasing the items below:

• Strauch Handmade Ball Winder - Check out the website and you tube video. I am truly in love with this thing. I think my next post will be about my love affair with my new winder. Yes, it is pricey, but it is worth every penny. If you need a winder, get this one.
  
• Birch wood yarn swift
• Blue cheese
  
• Blair's Mega Death Hot Sauce - This is no joke. My mouth burned for 20 minutes.
• New York State Honey - for my allergies
• Dip mix packets - :( The packets are downstairs and I can not remember the name of the company
• Gourtemtible Candy - It is so yummy that I wish I didn't buy it. I am so afraid that I am going to eat them.
  
• A Cute Kid Sweater Pattern - It's one piece so I can't screw it up
• Summertide Wine
  

Notice a certain product isn't on the list. Drum roll please. I went a wool festival and didn't buy yarn.

Honestly, I couldn't. I think I would really have to take myself to rehab if I did. Especially since the night before I went to Micheal's and bought two bags of Vanna's Choice yarn to finish Olivia's jumbo blanket, start a blanket for my forthcoming great niece or nephew and make a silly scarf for myself. Plus I have bought a lot of yarn recently and planning to buying more soon.

Let's take a quick look at my (yarn)life for the past couple of weeks/future plans:

• I went on to the yarn crawl last weekend - I got 12 skeins of random wool yarns
• I went to the NJ Smiley's sale a couple of weeks ago - I got 24 skeins of merino wool
• I went to Micheal's the night before heading to Rhinebeck - purchase an ungodly amount of Vanna's Choice
• I am going to Flying Fingers on November 6th
• I am going to the NYC Smiley's sale in December.
  

So I couldn't do it. Plus there were so many other things there to buy. All week long I kept asking myself what did I want, because I knew that if I came back with more yarn I would not be happy and the only thing I could think of was a swift and a ball winder.

I am really happy that I finally go a good ball winder and that I have a swift. Now I don't have to ask Suzy to make balls for me and I don't have to wait in long lines at stores to get my skeins balls and I don't have to hear store managers bitch that I want something balled that is apart of their standard complimentary winding.

I haven't tried the swift yet. I hope it is good too. For those of you who do not know what a swift is click here.

Even though I didn't buy any yarn that didn't stop me from touching it and falling in love. I fell in love with 5 different yarns. I wrote them all in my trusty note pad in phone, so I can always buy them online if I ever use the stuff that I have. It was nice to finally touch the legendary Socks that Rock yarn. It is awesome! Once I figure out the method to two socks at home, I am buying some.

Recommendation:
If you have been to the New York State Wool and Sheep Festival, then start making plans to get there for 2011. It is worth leaving the city for a couple of days and surrounding yourself around nature and beautiful things. Start putting your dollars away now, so that you can have a nice chunk of change when you go there. I am normally the girl who takes $60 dollars to every sale and I took a couple of hundred of dollars, because I didn't want to deny myself from the possibility of buying something amazing. Go with a group of friends and make a day or better yet a whole weekend out of it.

Sorry I can't report if the food is good there, because some how we managed not to eat there. Our lunch was tasting all of the cheese and other food items from the vendors. Then topped it off with wine and candy.

On a whole it was a great day and I look forward to going back next year.

I left my camera downstairs so I will post the photos I took in another post.

But here are a couple of shots I took of my new love with my camera phone.

New York City Yarn Crawl - Part Two

Sunday was another amazing day in New York City. We had the same perfect weather as Saturday and I spent another day foundling yarn with Suzy.

Suzy and I couldn't rest until we saw certain stores so we headed to the city for another day of crawling. It is good to have a friend who shares the same addiction. So here are my reviews on the stores we explored on Sunday (and my purchases).


STRING YARNS
33 E 65th St (bet Mad & Park), 2nd Fl
(212) 288-9276
www.stringyarns.com

Located in an apartment building on the Upper East Side. I wondered how many people in the building are knitters/crochets and how much money they spend at the store.

Cute store. Interesting selection of yarns. (They had this camel yarn that I am still thinking about.) All of the yarn are branded with their logo, so it was hard to compare prices to other stores or to go online and research them.

They had a lot of great samples of children sweaters displayed around the store. Unfortunately, they will not the patterns unless you are purchasing the yarn there, which leads to me believe that they do not own the patterns and that I could find the patterns online.

The one thing I didn't like is that the prices were not on any of the yarns, so I had to keep them how much the yarn I saw. I felt like I shouldn't be in there if I have to ask how much everything cost. I don't like not knowing the prices of thing. I am poor and I need to know how much something is before I buy it.

Recommedation:
Go check it out. It is worth a look

Items purchased:
None, but I keep thinking about the camel yarn.


SEAPORT YARNS
181 Bdwy (bet Dey & Cortland), 5th Fl
212-220-5230
www.seaportyarn.com

This is the first time I have been to seaport yarn since they moved. This space is a little better than the old one, but it is still a mess. I seriously think the owner has massive organization issues. Every time I see this show I think it should be showcased on Hoarders, Buried Alive or some news special about people who hoard.

Even though the store is a mess they have great merchandise. I found several items that I have been looking for the last couple of months. I even found an item that I liked several years ago.

The owner is interesting. If you go there be warned that she can be a little moody.

Recommendation:
Go, but know what you are looking for and be prepared to do some hunting.

Items Purchased:
None, but there are several things I think I am going back for.

PURL SOHO
459 Broome St (bet Greene & Mercer Sts)
Phone: (212) 420-8796
www.purlsoho.com

I never went to this store, because assumed that it was going to be snotty and over priced. I gotta say that I was really really surprised by how much I liked it. The staff was helpful and answered all of my and the prices weren't bad.

The store was lovely. Bright and nicely laid out. The only issue I had was I wish the aisles were a little wider.

Recommendation:
Go check it out.

Items Purchased:
4 Skeins of Eco Duo Cascade Yarn

I can't wait for next year's yarn crawl!

You would think that this would be the end of my shopping tales. Oh no my friends this is just the beginning. Next week, the girls and I are taking a road trip to Rhinebeck, New York to go to the New York State Wool and Sheep Festival and the first weekend in November we are going to take a road trip on the Yarn Bus to check out the Flying Fingers store in Terrytown, NY.

New York City Yarn Crawl - Part One

Saturday was a gorgeous day in New York City for so many reasons. The weather was perfect and I spent the entire day with Suzy (and some of the day with Miguel) touching yarn and exploring local yarn shops.

This weekend is the 2nd Annual New York City Yarn Crawl, so this post will showcase what I purchased and reviews of the stores we went to.

Here are my reviews on the stores we crawled to. (The list is in the order that we went to them.)

THE YARN COMPANY
2274 Broadway @ 82nd St, 2nd fl
212-787-7878
www.yarnco.com

My review:

I would only send my most hated enemy to this store. This store is awful! They have decent merchandise, but the customer service is the PITS. This is the second time I have gone to this store. I didn't like it when I went before and I will make sure never to go there again. The sales people act if they do not want my business. I would love to do a social experiment to see if they are snatchy with everyone who walks in there or just snatchy with certain types of people.

I wanted to buy a pattern for this really cute kid's sweater and the woman couldn't even bother looking to see if she had the pattern. I am not even sure if I told her that I wanted to buy the 24 balls of yarn I would need to make the sweater if she would have even moved. The last time I checked a small sale was better than no sale at all.

Items purchased:
Nothing - never going back
Attempted to buy a sweater pattern

Recommendation:
Stay away

Knitty City
208 W 79th St (bet Bdwy & Amst)
212.PURL.TWO (212.787.5896)
www.knittycity.com

My review:
For some reason every time my friends go to Knitty City I am always busy. They would come back raving about the store. I keep saying I gotta check it out, but never made my way up there until this weekend. After going there I see why everyone loves it. It is awesome and I can see myself spending my a good chunk of cash there.

The customer service was great! The store was packed with people participating in the yarn crawl and they had a table full of regulars sitting around the knitting table, but some how they managed to interact with everyone who came in the store. I felted welcomed and started pursuing the walls.

They have a lot of great yarns, but I have to go back and really look at the everything. For some reason I was over stimulated there and it was hard for me to focus on all of the pretties. I am not sure if it was the way that the store was laid out and that it was a little cluttered. (For those of you who don't know me clutter makes me insane and makes my mind melt.) Or was it Every section I went to had such amazing yarn. I didn't know where to look or touch and I was afraid to buy anything because I didn't want to blow my $100 budget there so I stayed close to Suzy and tried to hide my excitement. I think I just keep repeating we have to come back here another time, so that I can really look.

The good thing about staying close to Suzy was that she discovered all of the cool knitting accessories that were for sale.They actually had things that will help me with the BSJ. (Ha ha I'm already thinking about the next BSJ I haven't even finished this one.) So I got a bunch of accessories there. I was happy to spend money there and can't wait to go back with a project in mind.

Items Purchased:
Kitchener Stitch Key Chain
Stitch Markers with Information
Double Pointed Needle Holders (for small needles) - can't find links to show you :(
Double Pointed Needle Holders (for large needles) - can't find links to show you :(

Recommendation:
Go and go often!! :)

YARNTOPIA
974 Amsterdam Ave. (SW Corner of 108th St.)
NYC 10025
212.316.YARN
www.yarntopianyc.com

Review:
I really liked this store. It was organized well. I was able to focus in this store and didn't feel over stimulated. Each section was organized by the weight of the yarn. They had great merchandise. I wrote down a couple of things that I wanted to go back and check out. Because I was not familiar with a lot of the products I am not sure how the prices compare to other stores. The staff was friendly. I would go back.

Items Purchased:
Nothing

Recommendations:
As a Brooklyn girl I am willing to make the trek from Brooklyn to East Harlem to go to the store. I think it is well organized and they have late hours for us working stiffs.

Lunch
Before heading to the East Side we grabbed pizza from a place that sales JUMBO slices. The pizza was good, but I wish it was a little crisper. I would go back and try it again. Sorry, but I don't remember the name of the place.

Annie & Co.
1325 Madison Ave (bet 93rd & 94th)
212.289.294
www.annieandco.com

Review:
Cute store. A little on the pricey side. The staff was super nice and friendly. Chatted with several staff members and customers. Jotted down A LOT of names of great yarns. I picked up this skein of yarn and it was $47 dollarsssssssssssssssssssssss. WTF! Who pays for $47 for one skein average size skein of yarn. Not me. I have to admit that the sales table had some great but nothing was calling me. Suzy bought a bag of Rowan yarn that was 50% off the original price.

I would go back there again.

Recommendation:
Go there and touch the expensive yarn. It feels so good. You may find something you can afford on the sales table.

Downtown Yarns
45 Avenue A (bet E 3rd & E 4th)
212.995.5991
www.downtownyarns.com

Review:
Great store is in the heart of the East Village. When I arrived in front of the store. I realized that I have walked pass it a million times and never paid attention to it.

The store has a lot of character. The front door is a screen door. For a typical for a store that you will find on Avenue A. It looks like it is really small from the other, but it is well organized and there are a lot of goodies to find. I enjoyed looking at all of the samples hanging around the store. I also had a great time meeting other yarn crawl participants in the store.

The staff was really sweet, funny and super helpful. I asked about some cute children sweaters hanging around the store. As soon as I asked the girl about the sweaters she immediately went to the pattern book and started showing me the patterns (what a novel idea). Of course I had to get the pattern for the little sweater.

The store had a great selection of yarns and their prices were great. So great that I had to buy yarn. I was proud of myself that I didn't buy yarn all day, but I could help myself when I saw good quality wool yarn for $7 dollars a skein.

Items Purchased:
4 Skeins of hunter green cascade yarn
4 skeins of aqua cascade yarn
Pattern for a kid's sweater

Recommendations:
Go there! Even though there aren't any other yarn stores around it is still worth the trip to the neighborhood. Great bars and restaurants near the shop. Prices are good. There is something there for everyone.

I would love to hear what you guys think of these stores.

Time to rest. That was just the first day.

Don't Talk About it, Be About It!

One of my favorite "street"/urban phrases that I hear on the subway all of the time is "don't talk about it, be about it." The phrase popped into my head while I was working on Olivia's BSJ and I had to use the phrase as my next blog post title.

I've been talking about her BSJ for months, but I have nothing to show for all of my lip flapping and finger tapping. So I stopped talking about it and I have been working on it. As you can see from my Ravelry progress bar I am about 80% done. Finally!

Please Jesus, let me get to the end. If this thing is not done, by my next trip to Maryland, I am having a fire sale and I am giving away all of my knitting needles and yarn. Cause I can not call myself a knitter if I can't finish a little BSJ by Thanksgiving. (Stay back vultures I haven't given up yet.)

I should also put that same challenge to myself for Mr. Crawford's scarf. How the hell am I still in the same place as I was a month ago? Maybe I need to talk a therapist about my knitting issues.

Even though I am not knitting I am still shopping for knitting paraphernalia (that will be the topic of my next post.)

Anyways back to the BSJ.

It is really cute and snuggly (I made it out of cotton). I can't wait to finish it.

I found the cutest Hello Kitty buttons on eBay. I think the buttons will be a cute touch to the sweater.

If my weekend goes as planned, then I should be closer to the finish line by the end of the weekend.

The funny thing is that when Martha (Olivia's Mom) and I originally talked about me making the BSJ we both thought it would be cute to make it out of cotton. But instead of remembering that conversation and starting with a cotton sweater I went to Lion Brand and bought the merino wool. I guess Miss. Olivia isn't interested in wool. Cause this cotton one is moving right along.

The question now is what am I going to do with the 6 or 8 balls of pink and purple merino wool that I bought for her sweater. I can't return it for the red merino that I have ogling for months, because I opened it and Suzy balled it. Any suggestions?

Please wait

Image not available

The Hunt is Over

Figured since I am heading home and I want to figure out all of the functions of this app I would write another post.

I have been on the hunt for berry blue kool for months. I found three packets of it once at my local grocery store. Of course because it is so hard to find it is the most amazing color.

The other day i was trolling through ebay. (My new favorite hobby.) For some reason I have been buying a lot of strange stuff from ebay. Figured since I was on ebay I would look for it. I honestly didn't think anyone would be selling barry blue kool aid. Boy was i surprised to six people selling it. I excitedly clapped my hands and whooped. Amanda wanted to know what I was so excited about. When I told I found the berry blue kool she looked at me like I was biggest moron in the world. I didn't let lack of excitement ruin my moment. I ordered my twenty packets and they came two days later.

I haven't done anything with it yet nor do I know what I am going to do with it in the long run. Last night I put it in the plastic box that houses my kool aid. I think I am just happy to have it.

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Phone Bloging

Thanks Maggie for the comment. Seeing your comment inspired me to try out the blogspot app I downloaded on to my phone a couple of days ago. If this one has
more typos then usual...blame it on the phone.

I joined the modern phone world recently my trusty treo died. After months and when I say months I really mean months of searching. I gave in and got the droidx. I gotta admit that i love it and it was worth waiting for. I had to.adjust my attitude and stop wanting it to operate like my treo. which i honestly think was the best phone ever. so out of treo's death i got a cool toy that i can now use to update the blog no matter where i am.

i think my knitting block is gone. the bsj for baby legall is moving along. (She was born 2 weeks ago. she was a sweetie and so tiny.) i have a feeling a feeling she is not going to be as to wear it for a while because it is so big. i let "baby" try it on and it looked it was her size. "baby" is a meaty two year so i think baby Olivia has a while to go. maybe i'll give this one to "baby". (sidenote when is my family going to stop calling the little girl baby.) i am going to stop here because my stop on the train is coming up and i have no clue how this going to turn out.

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August 2010 Update

Sorry for the delay! Life has been a little nutty. Since my last post, I moved into my new "home", a got new "job", Baby Legall’s baby surprise jacket is on the needles and I realized that Mr. Crawford is a tall drink of water.

Knitting:
Mr. Crawford came to town the other day and we had a delicious dinner at Sushi Tatsu in Park Slope . (I can’t wait for him to move back to New York. I really miss that man.) I had his scarf with me, so I asked him to try it on to see if I was almost done. Thank god I had him try it on, because I got a big screaming NO! as an answer. I didn’t realize how tall he was. I have a lot of work to do before I can even think about stopping.

My grandiose plan of making him a box of knitted goodies is not going to be a reality. I guess if Suzy and I can make two scarfs and 4 hats between the two of us than that is better than nothing. I just need to stop having knitting issues. Last year I "made" him a hat and scarf, but I didn't give him either thing. The scarf was too short and I tried pulling it out, but I screwed it all up, because I pulled it out from the wrong end and the hat was way tooooooo big, so I kept it for myself. Hopefully he will a get a warm and fuzzy box of goodies, because I don't want him to go through another cold Chicago winter without a treat.

Last night, I started working on Baby Legall’s BSJ. Ok maybe working is an exaggeration. I only casted on half of the stitches, but at least it is a start. And it is not just a bunch of yarn laying on my floor. This is going to be attempt number 3. The old saying is 3rd try is the charm, so let's hope that is true.

I have decided I am not going to use the two colors together , because I wasn’t really a fan of it. So I am going to just make color blocks/stripes instead. I think that is going be really cute.

I really have to start working on it NOW, because she is coming at the end of this month, if not sooner, and fall is approaching.

Hopefully, I will have some photos to post by the end of the week.

New "home":
Last weekend, I moved into Amanda’s house. I have to admit that this was the best move I ever made. I have moved a lot in the past 15 years. Every move has been horrible and I usually end up in tears at some point. This time I decided to hire a mover and not use friends/family or someone my mom knows.

I took a chance and asked the storage place for some recommendations and found Lickshot. If you are in the NY/NJ area and you are looking for a mover, call Lickshot @ 646-299-5224. He was amazing. The entire job(moving out of my apartment and moving into the storage place and into Amanda's house) was done in approximately 4 hours. He was nice, but more importantly he was careful and didn't steal my shit.

Surprisingly, Amanda and I haven’t killed each other yet and on a whole things are going well. I am trying to adjust to living in a house with other people. It is so hard since I have been living by myself for most of my adult life and I hate living with people. I have to remember to smile, be helpful, courteous and not be annoying. And most importantly remember that they are doing me a favor by letting me stay with them for a very small fee while I am on my journey for for happiness.

I don’t miss the Ocean Avenue apartment at all. It honestly was a major factor of my sadness. I hated that place. I hated everything about it. I hated it from the moment I walked in the door. I hated why I had to move there. I hated the lay out, I hated the size, I hated the building, I hated that it was so old, I hated the people who lived there before me ruined the wood floors, I hated the guys who sat in front of my window and smoked blunts and played craps, I hated that the owner didn’t take care of it, I hated the uninvited guests and most importantly I hated what that apartment represented in my life.

There was some pluses. I loved the location. I really loved the neighborhood. If I never lived there, then I would have never met Amanda.

As soon I left the apartment, my soul and my spirit become lighter and happier. I guess I have to give up a little bit of comfort for a lifetime of happiness. It is not like I am never going to get my own place again. This is just a temporary living arrangement.

Some of the great things about staying at Amanda’s is that I am still in the same neighborhood as the Ocean Avenue apartment, expect this time I am on the nicer side. My apartment was on the "sketchy" side of the neighborhood. Now I am closer to the bars and restaurants that I love. The best thing about living there is that I have access to outdoor space. Last night was a nice night, so I sat on the porch and started the BSJ. It was nice to sit there and knit. If it is ok with them, I would like to spend many more evening sitting on the porch knitting.


New "job":
I started a new job. I am freelancing at Pratt Institute. I am working in the special events department. I am working with the Director of Events with the Legends 2010 Event. I like it, because I am not planning the event. I am just helping assisting. Plus it is only for 3 months.

It is nice to work in a place that isn’t filled with drama and craziness. I have to admit after quitting my last job, as the Director of Events for an unnamed company, I was terrified of going back to work or working on events. I really thought that everywhere was insane. Pratt is showing me that not everywhere is filled with that much drama. I joke all of the time that I should seek treatment for post traumatic stress disorder after working at my last job, because I seriously freak out when I hear certain keywords that I are associated with that place. (Omg my heart just started racing as I wrote the work associated, because my last job was with a (dare I say it) an association. UGH! UGH!)

I like working here. It is chill, but I am glad that it is a temp job. I do not think I could work here forever. As much as I want a stress free environment job, I do need some stress, because this place makes me sleepy. I never felt like I was going to fall asleep at my last place of employment. If anything, I was always in a crazy time warp. As soon as I would sit down there the clock would speed from 9am to 6pm in seconds. Here I feel every minute and I don’t have much to do. But is cool, it is a good introduction back into the working world. Plus I really miss working in the city. You never know how much you miss doing something until you stop doing it.

Now that things are getting back to normal, I will attempt to go back to posting twice a week.

A Clean Baby is a Happy Baby

I am happy to report that isn't going to be another post with me saying ain't nothing going with my knitting.

Hallelujah! I made something!

With all of the craziness going on and the knitting block, I wasn't prepared for Martha's (Baby Legall's Mom) baby shower. The BSJ yarn is being balled by Suzy as I type this post.

I couldn't afford to buy a present and I couldn't go empty handed, so I decided to make some simple washcloths. I read on several sites that handmade washcloths were a great baby shower gift, so I decided to make some. I wanted to make 4, but only finished 2, because the first one I made was really really ugly and I didn't start making them until the morning of the shower.

Martha seemed pleased with them and I told her that I would make her a couple of more. I personally believe that you can never be too clean and babies are always making a mess.

Making the washcloths was a great project to work with my current state of mind and budget. They were simple to make and cotton is a cheap material. I would recommend others to make wash cloths for baby shower gifts. Washcloths are a great way to practice new patterns/stitches. I have a feeling I will be making more of them soon. I have been dying to try patterns from the Knit Purl book that I bought a few months ago.

I promised Martha that I would complete the BSJ shortly. I am not going to use the two colors together for the next jacket. I really didn't like the way the colors looked together. I still have to use two strains at one, because of the size that I am trying to achieve.

Houston, We Have a PROBLEM!

It is official that I no longer know how to knit. Or that I have the attention span of a ti-ti fly.

Today was laundry day and I figured I would get in a little laundromat knitting. So I grabbed Mr. Crawford's scarf and headed to the laundromat. Surprisingly, it wasn't packed so I was able to get a seat. (Did everyone leave Brooklyn this weekend? I guess I missed the memo to get out of town. Too bad cause I could use a couple of days out of New York. I think I need to cash my miles in really soon.)

Anyways, I totally screwed up the scarf. It is not completely over, because I have my lifeline, but my lifeline is really far down. If I have to go that far down, then I will really spiral deeper into my knitting depression.

I don't know what is going on. I am fucking everything up.

UGH! Maybe I need to retire from knitting until I get my life in order. Maybe my mind isn't settled, because I am too busy trying to figure out how to fix this mess I call my life.

So right now I have a jacked up sweater and a jacked up scarf on the needles. UGH! What happened to the days when I had things on my needles forever and there were no major mistakes? I guess my knitting is representing my screwed up state of my mind.

Wish me luck. I am going to attempt to fix the scarf and put in a new lifeline.

Frogging, Swiming and Eating

UGH! UGH! UGH!

Baby Legall is coming next month and I have NOTHING for her. I was chugging along with the multi-colored BSJ. I got a third of it done; I started feeling like I was going to be ready for next weekend's baby shower. I pulled it out on Thursday night and noticed that it was turning into a big mess! It has snags in it and I dropped a stitch. I NEVER drop stitches. How did that happen? This poor baby is not going to have a jacket when she is born. Thank god she is coming in August and it is still going to be hot. Guess I need to go the store and get an impersonal present, so I don't go to the party empty handed.

I guess I will frog the BSJ today. :(

Again, I am writing another post saying the same thing. "I ain't got nothing going on with my knitting, so I am going to talk about something non knitting related."

Yesterday was another hot day in Brooklyn, so I decided to do something out of the ordinary. I wanted to go swimming/play in some water. My first idea was to go to Spa Castle in Flushing, Queens, but it is in Flushing and it cost 45 dollars just to go in (that doesn't include spa services, food, drinks or anything else extra). After a few minutes of pouting, I realized that I live in Brooklyn and Brooklyn is the home of Russian immigrants, so why not go to a Russian Bath House.

After a little research I realized that I live blocks away from the Coney Island Banya. (A banya is a Russian public bath in Russian can refer to any kind of steam bath, but usually refers to the Russian type of sauna.) Once I realized I was steps away from a pool, I knew that is where I was going to spend my day.
The only problem was that my two besties (Suzy and Amanda) that was supposed to chill with can't swim and didn't have any interest in spending their day in water, so I texted my road dawg "Momo" and of course she was down.

2 hours later Mo and I were standing in front the Banya. Trying to figure out if we should go in or not. As soon we walked in and we meet Victoria. Immediately, I was in love. She was very warm and welcoming. She didn't even blink at the two black dykes rolling into a Russian bath house.

I asked her if we could take a look around to see what the facility looked like. She gave us a tour. The place was really small. They have two dipping pools one hot and one cold. Two saunas one wet and one dry and one steam room. She also explained if we wanted to drench ourselves in freezing cool water all we had to do was pull a string to get ice cold water. I wasn't sure what she was talking about; only thing I knew is that I was ready to jump in.

The surprising thing was that even though the it is over 90 degrees outside there are only 10 people in there . We decided to stay. As we are paying, Victoria told us about the restaurant (which sounded amazing) and then we headed upstairs to the changing room.

Our adventure began as soon as we entered the changing room. The first thing I noticed about the changing room is that there are NO CURTAINS. Not even on the showers. There isn't a separate changing stall either. So that means that I have to strip down in front of everyone and I have to look at everyone too. YUCK! I don't want to see these people's junk and I really don't want them looking at mine, but I got over it and I put on my blue and white fat man swimming trunks and a wife beater.

As soon as we made it down stairs we walk over to the two dipping pools (both are less than 4ft deep). The hot one is empty (surprise surprise) and the cold one has a 10 year old boy in it playing. We decide to get into the cold pool. The water isn't super cold, but it is nice. I see a pipe and go over to it thinking that this must be the freezing cold water is that Victoria mentioned. But I couldn't figure out where the water would come from and then I looked over and saw a shower with a pulley string and realized that is what she was talking about. (Thank god I wore my contacts, because I wouldn't have been playing with the pipe trying to figure out to make the cold water come out.)

We stayed in the cool water for a while. I attempted to swim in the sallow pool when the boy walked away. It was nice to to glide across the pool and feel the water all over my body. Mo had the brilliant idea of going to the wet sauna. We went in and again I was confused, because I had no clue what to do in a wet sauna. I have been in several saunas, but never a wet one. I had noticed while we were in the pool that a woman had filled a bucket with the freezing cold water and went into the wet sauna room with it, but she was already gone. Mo, I and another first time attendee were standing in there trying to figure what made this room wet and then we figured out that the buckets that were in the sauna room are supposed to be filled with the freezing cold water and pour the freezing cold water over your body. Once we figured that out. I was in love with the wet sauna room.

That was until Leo arrived. Leo is the masseuse/keeper of the heat. Leo, who I think was a flaming homosexual, came in and told us we weren't using the room properly and it wasn't hot enough. (At that moment the room was at least 105 degrees.) He informs us that we should be sitting on the top row of bleachers to feel the full effects of the heat, so me being the adventurous jackass that I am. I climbed up to the top. Leo processed to warm the room up by throwing a couple of spoonfuls of the now warm water into the oven (the oven is a beautiful brick oven. It reminded me an oven you would find in brick oven pizzeria.) Then he took a towel and swung it around the room and all of sudden the room starts to warm up a bit. Then all of a sudden it went from being a bit warmer to being unbearable. At that moment I understood importance of the freezing cold water.

Mo left me before all of this started and I was left alone in this hot room with two strange men (both of them are newbies too) and I thought I was going to die. The guys were nice and they realized that we needed more water and they filled the buckets with FREEZING water and I poured the water all over my body and then fell in love with the room even more. After torturing myself on the top bleachers for a few minutes I climbed down and decided to join my fellow newbie on the lower level. Big yucky mistake! The guy was super sweet and we chatted and shared a bucket of freezing water together. Seemed like a nice man; we shared pleasantries and I was learning about him. Then I looked down and I learned a little bit too much.

Dude was not wearing swimming trunks. He was wearing boxers. And his junk was hanging out of his boxers plus he kept wetting himself with the water and his boxers were transparent. During our chat, I learned that he had not planned to come to the Banya, so he didn't have trunks with him and the front desk didn't have a pair in his size to sell him. So he decided just to chill out in in boxers. At that moment, I wish I had my one piece bathing suit in my bag, because I would have given him my fat man trunks. (In his defense, I do not think he realized that his junk fell out or that his boxers were transparent.)

After sitting in the wet sauna I made a pit stop at the freezing cold shower station and drenched myself. For some crazy reason, I decided to check out the dry sauna. Dear god, please tell me why anyone would willing walk into a room where the temperature is over 130 degrees. When I opened the door to dry sauna I was welcomed by the pleasant smell of eucalyptus. Between the scent and the dry heat I was captivated. I figured that Mo should experience this and I waved like a crazy woman trying to get her attention, but she had fallen asleep in a plastic chair. So I walked back in to the dry sauna and enjoyed the minty fresh room for at least 10 minutes.

By the time I walked over to Mo she was awake. We both agreed it was time for lunch, so I went to Victoria and ordered a Greek salad, potato pierogies and chicken pierogies. When the food came out, I couldn't believe the portions. Omg! There was so much food in front of us! I couldn't believe how good everything was. The pierogies were fresh. Nothing like the Mrs. G pierogies you get out of the freezer section. The bread...omg the bread was like fachcha bread, but better! And we had this "juice"...omg. Victoria is an amazing cook! During lunch we talked about how we had to come back to the Banya.

Leo, Mr. Junk out of his boxers and his very sexy lady friend came to visit us in the restaurant. They told us about their massages. Then Leo told us about a service that he offers at the Banya. To sum it out he beats the client with oak leaves to remove toxins from their body. It sounded crazy and amazing. All I could think about was how was I was going to round up the cash to get it done, because I want a flaming Russian man to beat me with oak leaves.

Now the point I dreaded the most. It was time to go upstairs to shower and get dressed in the curtain less changing room. After the relaxing day I didn't care and showed my body to the world.

After hanging out at the Banya we headed into the city, because Mo had to run some errands and she wanted to go the Buttas spot. I was more than happy to go the Butta spot, because the food and drinks are yummy. I had a lobster tail, shrimp, shrimp fried rice and small buttas. Then we headed home. It was a good day! Came home watched a little TV and started working on this post. I slept like a baby for the whole night which is a rare thing. Maybe it was the sauna, all of the food or the buttas. (For all you who don't know. A buttas is a mix drink. Don't ask me what's in it.)

My final recommendation is - go the Coney Island Banya and go often! It is worth the $25. The food is amazing. The saunas are relaxing and the staff is really great.