A New York State of Mind

I was fortunate last week to be able to escape to New York city for a couple of days. My husband and I, alone for 48 hours. No 5 year old demanding attention, no meals to worry about, no cleaning to do or anything else. It is such a luxury to be able to escape like that, I know, and I am not here to brag, but simply share some highlights of my little getaway.

I’ve been to New York a few times, so I have seen most of its major hotspots. This time we simply wanted to walk around and discover, absorb the atmosphere, explore a couple of neighborhoods in depth. When we were there in September I never made it to the Flatiron Building, and I have always wanted to see it, so this was our first stop. It really is an amazing architectural highlight. I could not stop taking photos.

Lunch was also a great experience at a place called Eataly. It was built to recreate the look and feel of an Italian marketplace, and it certainly delivers on that promise. You can easily get lost sampling and looking at the wonderful variety of products that they offer. There is absolutely everything from coffee (oh the smells!), gelato, cheese, cold-cuts, fresh pasta and all kinds of bread, a meat and fish counter and let’s not forget the myriad of olive oil and wines. I had the most delicious scallop dish, and I plan on going back to try lots more dishes.

The afternoon we spent walking through Greenwich Village and Soho, and I fell in love with the little details of these two neighborhoods. As you can see I could not stop photographing the architecture.

I did manage a stop at my favorite yarn shop, Purl Soho, where I grabbed a tote bag before my husband dragged me out. Right around the corner from the yarn store there is a place called The cupping room cafe, where I sampled the most amazing lemonade!This was followed by more walking and photographing.

My second day in New York I spent walking some more, taking some time to relax in Central Park, making some good progress on Game of Thrones (anyone else addicted?) and slowly taking in Madison Avenue.

It was a very relaxed time, if you can call walking for 12 hours relaxing, but I loved it,and I cannot wait to go back. 

A break, a getaway, a little me time, that's what everyone deserves every once in a while.

TTT KAL Finish- Lessons learned

My title my sound positive, but the reality of it is that I have decided to frog this project. I am about 3/4 through and I have known for a while that this is not going to end well. It's simply not turning out the way I envisioned it.

What went wrong? 

Here's what I think. 

Lack of proper measuring on my part mostly. In determining which size to knit, I simply based me choice on the bust measurement, and nothing else. I started knitting and blindly followed the pattern without any additional measuring. This approach usually works for me, and I have obviously been very fortunate with fit thus far. This is a very simple top, and fit is that much more important when you are making such a sleek item. I should have made it longer, narrower, shortened the lattice portion and decreased the neck-opening. Lots of fellow knitters made the Cap Sleeve Top during the KAL, and almost everyone made some modifications, so the next time I attempt this, I will certainly read more notes, measure and try it on constantly.

Here's to learning from your mistakes!