Destination: MD Sheep and Wool Festival

On Sat May 3, 2014 I set out on a small road trip to Howard County Maryland (I live in Baltimore, MD) for the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.  I was so excited considering that I have not been to any type of knitting event in two years, plus it was my first time at MD Sheep and Wool.  As I told you guys in an earlier post, I have been going through a knitting rut, hence the lack of knitting/yarn related posts.  Attending a knitting event, seeing all the beautiful yarns and notions, and being around my fellow knitters, was the perfect thing to yank me out of my rut.  I am back with a vengeance, stocked on yarn and have oodles of ideas for projects! I was beyond overwhelmed by the amount of vendors and people at the festival, so I didn’t snap many pics as I was busy taking it all in.  Here are the few shots I did manage to get. 

Homemade Moment: Sangria

It's the fourth of July weekend, which means let the drinks and the good times roll.  In other words, Sangria time!!!  I have been seeing many different recipes in magazines or on blogs for mixed drinks and cocktails.  Every time I come across cocktail recipes in magazines I tear them out and put them on the refrigerator, only to never use them.  After doing that for about a year now I finally decided to test out one of the recipes.  I found this recipe on Tasty Trials  yesterday and couldn't wait to try it.  The recipe is for White Berry Sangria,  I modified it a bit but you can find the original recipe and full detailed instructions here.

Ingredients:

1 bottle dry white wine
2 cups lemon-lime soda
1 cup raspberry vodka
1/2 cup brandy
chopped strawberries
raspberries
blueberries

The Sangria turned out great and it was fun to make, it was a complete hit with my family!!

Make your own and Enjoy!!

For the Love of Twinkle

Last Wednesday I took a really spontaneous trip to New York City.  It all stated when I logged into my Facebook account on Tuesday evening.  The first news on my feed was from Twinkle by Wenlan, she was having a warehouse sale in New York.  I don't know if I have shared that Twinkle is my absolute favorite designer/brand.  Twinkle has the most luxurious knits ever.  I have knit many Twinkle patters myself but I didn't own anything from the ready to wear line, since it is very expensive and therefore out of my price range.  So, when I saw that there would be a warehouse sale and prices would be 60% off I knew I had to be there.  The next morning I set out on a 4 hour bus trip to New York, all for my love of Twinkle.  I have been to New York a few times but never by myself so this was uncharted territory.  I arrived at the sale around 10:30 am, and found some great pieces.  I spent 180 bucks on nine Twinkle pieces,  all of the pieces  were originally priced over 100 dollars a piece,  so that was a steal.  After  I left the sale,  I had a delicious lunch in Chelsea at Cafeteria.  All in all a productive and relaxing day trip in NYC.  I should do that more often!

Vibrant NYC streets!

Inside the warehouse sale. 

Post warehouse sale cab ride...

The Damage...

Goodbye NYC...

Haulage! 

The Goodies....

Around The House

Sunday Morning...

*Pictures are my own, All rights reserved.

Adventures in Spinning

As you guys know I went to The New York Sheep and Wool festival this year. Being that it was my first time there I didn't know which vendors I would hit or goodies I would buy, but I definitely knew I wanted to pickup a spindle. While I will always be a knitter first, recently I have been intrigued by spinning. So I bought two spindles, one small, one larger one. I opted for the cheaper priced ones as I didn't know how my foray into spinning would turn out. I also bought 6 bags of acrylic roving. Once I arrived home I looked up a few spinning how-to videos on YouTube. I unsuccessfully worked at it for about an hour until I caught on. I tried two different methods but the park and draft method worked best for me. A feeling of pride came over me once I finished spinning all of the roving (which took about 3 days).

I Am Officially a Sock Knitter

I just finished my first pair of socks ever and I couldn't be happier. I used a really simple sock pattern I found on Ravelry paired with some beautiful wool yarn that I picked up at Rhinebeck. They knit up pretty quickly and they are so warm too. Also this was first time using double pointed needles. So, overall a great experience of firsts.
p.s. This is why I absolutely love knitting, there is always something new to learn or try. It never gets boring!