Inspirational Knitting

Ah, I can’t believe I’m saying this.

I’m in a knitting slump. =P

No, I haven’t stopped knitting… I still knit a lot and finish projects here and there… But it’s different; I’m not as excited about projects as I was before. I know, I’ve said that before, so I know what to do. I need inspiration. Currently, I’m working on Silk Cocoon Cardigan by Connie Chang Chinchio. I really like her as a designer. All her designs are very delicate, feminine, but not fussy. My style. =D I can see myself wearing her designs at work, or at someone’s house party.

 

Well, unfortunately, this one is for my sister. She’s been requesting a wrap cardigan since I started knitting again 3 years ago. I tried knitting her one when I wasn’t really good at seaming. It looked kinda bad. Haha. So~ When I showed her this cardigan in Interweave Knits Spring 2009, my sister got so excited! So, now that I’m in this so-called knitting slump, I’m taking care of my UFOs and projects in my queue.

And it’s fun! I actually swatched and I never really swatch for my own projects. The only time I swatch is when I knit for designers because gauge has to be really accurate. As for my own knits, I knit with the needle and weight of the yarn given in the pattern, and I just knit, knit, knit, block to my size as much as possible, but if it doesn’t work I give it away. =D No stress. Plus, I have pretty accurate gauge anyway.

 

So, that’s my current medicine for the slump..

On the other hand, I finished some simple stuff, my initial attempts to get over the slump.

It’s called the “Song Hye Gyo Bolero” because the style got famous by an actress in Korea.

Among the Korean knitters, this bolero was a big hit. I mean, literally everyone has made it. It was really easy to make too, just be careful with your gauge.

I like how it fits, kinda wish it was bigger but I like it so far. I wore it everyday since I made it. Although it’s getting pretty warm these days, my room and Marty’s house are still pretty chilly. And I don’t do well with cold. I usually don’t even take off my jacket when I’m at Marty’s.

So that’s it for now~ I’m hoping to finish the wrap cardigan by next month so I can get it to my sister. Oh, and Ravelympics 2010 is coming up! What are you guys planning to make?

Happy 2010

 

 

Happy New Year, everybody!

Happy Holidays!

 

I’m shaking hands with Judge Nguyen at the Swear-In Ceremony, December 1, 2009. It was a Tuesday, and I was able to attend it with my lovely sister and my love Marty. I imagined this moment over and over again in my head and each time, overwhelmed by the sadness for the fact that neither of my parents can be there on the first day of my career as an attorney. But Marty and Sue made all the difference. I was happy, loved seeing friends from school once again, seeing professors who helped us all through the way.

 

Now, DECEMBER. 2009 was really a crazy year for me. Graduation, the bar exam, passing it… not to mention all the great people and friends I made this year, and friends I kept this year.

 

 

<Knitting>

 

Knitting is going great. I’m not finishing projects as much as before since for some reason, I’ve been busier than ever before. I had really thought that I’d have more knitting time when I finish school. But this one, I’m knitting for my mom. I blogged few weeks ago that I started Pfiffer Falls by Anne Kuo Lukito. It looked a bit complicated in the beginning but I cast on while flying to Boston.

The yarn I’m using is Berroco Ultra Alpaca (Worsted). It’s super super soft! I’ve always wanted to work with this yarn but finally got the chance when a LYS went on 20% off all yarn purchases last month. 4 skeins for $35! I only have two complaints: one is, most LYSs don’t carry this in all colors, so you might want to call ahead and make sure they have the colors you’re looking for.. Which isn’t always ideal since I, as well as most people, shop for yarns for inspiration and don’t always have specific plans in mind. The second complaint is the yarn itself. This yarn sheds SO much. I really hope this will get better after a while, or at least after blocking. Both my mom and I are fans of black clothes and I really can’t tolerate looking like Candy rolled around in my closet all the time. (Candy is our family’s white/tan colored, beloved Chihuahua).

 

<Life>

 

Last night, Marty and I went to Little Tokyo Service Center’s fundraising event. It’s so sad how this economic downturn has affected so many of us, especially in the lower-middle class families and nonprofit organizations that assist these families. Fortunately, they announced that they have reached their goal from the donations!! I wish I could’ve donated more but on practically-student budget, I could only do my best.

 

But I’m so glad they were able to reach their goal! Marty and I enjoyed the food, great conversations, seeing some familiar faces, meeting new people.

 

 

It’s also great that as we approach our first Christmas together as an official couple, Marty and I are getting sillier and funnier around each other. Before going to the event, we went to Porto’s Bakery for yummy cheese rolls and smoothies, then went over to Americana & Galleria for some shopping. Our shopping habits are the same, which I’m really glad for. We’re both gadget junkies, love playing with small toys, but don’t really care for clothes that much. Of course, that is aside from my knitting addiction and his game addiction. We don’t touch that area AT ALL.

 

My masterpiece at Lego @ Galleria mall. The girl actually has boobs!

 

And Marty finally found Spongebob keychain there. We’ve been looking everywhere for this, including the mega-Disney store in Downtown Disney, Lego store also in Downtown Disney, other stores that generally cater to customers between age of 3 and 55.

 

And with that, I say goodbye until next time I blog, which is most likely to be in 2010! I’m moving at the end of next week so I’ll be super busy. As a parting gift and since it’s Christmas soon, here’s a picture of Christmas tree I took from my seat in Taipan Restaurant in LA. I don’t know what store/company that is. But the tree looked so pretty! And I love the silly effect of dirty windows making it look like it’s snowing in LA. =)

 

 

Mind’s Eye Yarns, Harvard, and Banquet

Yoohoo~ Good morning, again. I’m getting ready for another day of excitement. Oh, Marty and I noticed how tanned we look in Boston. =)

 

 

 

First I took him to Boston Public Library, really to use the bathroom actually, but he was still pretty impressed. I just love this place so much. LOVE LOVE LOVE.

 

Then we hopped on T, headed towards Porter Square. Because the first thing I wanna do is drop by another yarn shop in Porter Square. Breakfast at Dunkin again of course (in Porter Square shopping place), and walking out, I spotted this cute pink house!

 

 

 

Again, I saw so many things I would’ve loved to buy (Malabrigo, Cascade, sock yarns) but I really wanted to get something that I’ve never seen before. So I settled on this!

 

100% merino wool, Jojoland’s Harmony. I’ve never seen this anywhere in So Cal. And this whole 880 yds of laceweight yarn was only $9.50 (no sales tax). How lovely! Satisfied, I left the yarn shop and we walked through some nice residential area in Somerville, then back on Massachusetts Ave toward Cambridge. Such a nice neighborhood! Then TA-DA!

 

 

Harvard Law School! We sort of stumbled upon this place. We were walking and walking, I said, “Harvard should be soon….” And looked to the left, and Marty said, “um, this says Harvard Law School…” Seriously, these people really don’t like to make a big fuss about stuff, huh. I expected more “BAM! Here’s Harvard!” type of entrance. But it was like, off the street, parking is over there, oh yah, and there’s the law school.. Nothing biggie, just Harvard Law School, that’s all.

And it was so quiet.

The best place on campus is this place of course!

 

 

 

If this were my library, I WOULD want to study here all day long. Who wouldn’t? Even with all these tourists, the library is so well guarded and non-Harvard students cannot get in. So unlike Whittier Law Library where even homeless person can get in (later kicked out, of course, but still, we’re open to the public…)

 

 

We walked out of the campus and went to buy some souvenirs—a T-shirt for my sister, and a monkey wearing Harvard tee for Marty’s mom. We arrived at Harvard Square.

And totally stumbled upon Curious George store! Marty’s mom is the biggest fan of Curious George so we went in!

So many street artists! I love it. We saw painters, people who were painting on the sidewalk, musicians… I still don’t know what that instrument is but it looked and sounded so cool. I’m so glad I had this camera with me since I was pretty far away from the musician. Love the zoom focus feature.

This was my Must-Stop place. Harvard Book Store is one of the oldest independent book stores in the area, while many others struggled to survive. In So Cal, we don’t see many independent book stores; in the area of OC I live in, I know of NONE. I like independent book stores for their selections of books. Definitely more variety. And this book store has tons of used books (main floor AND downstairs), it’s worth it to visit just to pick up a book or two on the trip.

 

Then we’re off to see Harry Potter Exhibition, something we’ve been looking forward to since we planned this trip!

The exhibition is in Science Museum, which means the admission is very pricey. This one was $26 per person. But then, we’re on a trip, and that’s what you do when you travel right? Pay for overrated things and enjoy it… =D Besides, we love HP, so what is there to complain?

 

The cafeteria wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, considering it’s a popular tourist spot.

One of the things you hear about a lot in Boston is the Duck Tour. Basically, they look like this one, half-car half-boat vehicle. It takes you around the city, and even goes into the water too. See this one in action.

 

 

It was developed in the military, so they had the real version on display. The ones on the tour are cuter and more cheery!

 

So HP Expo here we go. Oh, and we weren’t allowed to take pictures inside. If you’re going to do a audio tour, bring earphones. We were in the line when some dude came out of the expo, complained very loudly to one of the employees how he couldn’t hear a thing because things were loud in there. I had earphones in my purse, so I gave them to Marty. This let us kind of share the audiotape sometimes. Pretty cool stuff, if you like HP movies. And of course I loved looking at all the knitted garments and blankets, and learning how they were made for the set!

 

 

I could take a picture of this one because it was displayed outside the expo. It’s a chess piece used in the second HP movie! Totally cool. Yes, I’m such a geek but so what! I love HP!

 

After the exhibition, we hurried back to the hotel, got dressed up for the banquet. I took a shot of our hotel (Copley Square Hotel) from the 24^th floor across the street. And this is why I loved the hotel we stayed at. The room comes with iHome. And complementary wine hours, mp3 players, yoga practice set. You could ask for personal trainer at the gym for a fee. They give you a newsletter every night, letting you know what’s happening around the city the next day so you can plan better. Complementary bottled water too.

 

Oh, and Marty got the Regional Director position! Here he is, getting sworn in!

That person with newspaper was so annoying! It’s rude to read a newspaper like that when people are getting sworn in on the stage, OK?

 

We stayed until as late as we could, meeting people.. Then Marty took me back to the hotel so that I could sleep early. I plan on attending the 8 oclock mass tomorrow at St. Cecilia Parish. Then check the bar result right after. The results have been out since last night in PST. I haven’t checked Facebook or Twitter because I knew people would post their results on their status. I’m going to stick to my plan and not check until tomorrow.

 

Ah, just one more day then our vacation ends.