Water water everywhere!

It poured today so I stayed in. The weather has been lovely otherwise. I love Boston. It feels like home to me. It represents everything that I love about the northeast. I will take some photos tomorrow. Yesterday I went to Providence RI. I love that city too and in reality, I can see us retiring there as it is so much more affordable than Boston and less than an hour away. Rhode Island, known as the Ocean State, is beautiful in the summer. There is water everywhere and there are hydrangeas all over the place! I'm partial to blue flowers so seeing hedges of hydrangeas makes me very happy. Providence is easy to get around and in most places you can just pull up to the curb and park for free--unlike Boston where you will pay $8 per hour in a lot. Even more surprising were some of the housing prices in the East Side which is near Brown Univ which is a lovely neighborhood. First I saw this house:
This one is out of my price range. It is going for a little over a million dollars. Compared to the DC market, that's not bad given that this house has 10 bedrooms and 6 baths. It is huge and gorgeous!
The next two are well within our price range. If I could afford to retire, I'd work on talking DH into the first house which is being sold as a short sale at $349K. That's less than our house is worth and this one has 9 bedrooms and 5 baths. It is divided up into 3 three bedroom units with the one on the first floor having central air. I figure you could live on the first floor and rent out the other two.
The third house is also in the $300,000's. It has a unit on the first floor with 2 bedrooms and then the 2nd and 3rd floors make up a townhome unit with 4 bedrooms. Again--you would live in one and rent the other.
I think purchasing a multifamily unit will be the way to go! We'll see how we feel when the time comes.

I have spent most of my time here buried in microfilm. After a while, your eyes go nuts with this! I'm always amazed that there is still more to discover about my ever expanding family tree! Being in Boston means that there is a lot of walking involved. Fortunately my foot is a lot better though I've had to stick to ugly shoes for the time being.

I would not be seen in public in those shoes at home! I'm hoping to be in my heels when school starts as I have 4 pretty sun dresses to make and ugly shoes just won't do!

I visited two yarn shops. The first, Windsor Button, is in downtown Boston a block away from the Commons. It's been there since 1936 and has every type of button imaginable. They have started carrying yarn and have a nice selection. In fact they have the best section of Malabrigo that I've seen in one place. I bought two very large and fancy mother of pearl buttons by Lantern Moon and 2 skeins of silky Malabrigo in a beautiful teal. The color is lighter than in the photo. I think the yarn will be a scarf. I also got a gift for my secret pal which cannot be divulged here!

The other shop I visited was in Providence. It is called Fresh Purls and it is an absolutely lovely little shop. They have an incredible selection of nonwool yarns and I got to see and feel some yarns that I'd seen online and wondered about. I bought a skein of Malabrigo worsted to make myself a Struan hat. I had been looking for the right color and this color will go with my Shalimar fingering yarn that I'm using to make my Entagled Stitches gloves.

The colors look gray in the photo but they are a lovely medium spring green! I'm itching to start those gloves but I will have to swatch. The pattern is only for a size large and the gauge is 30 st. to 4 in. on size 2.5 mm needles. I figured that I need to get a gauge of 36 st. to 4 inches so I will swatch on a 2.0 mm needle to see how it goes.

My other project before I left home was to put together a package for my Cuppa Tea swap pal. We did a tea towel swap. I love linen tea towels so I decided to make a vintage style one using the colors of her kitchen. I bought Irish linen and made a scalloped hem on the bottom and a hanging loop on the top. I used a vintage embroidery design from the 1940's and hand embroidered it using her colors. It turned out quite well! I may have to make some of these for myself as I love them!



I have to go work on my homework!

Kitty Cam: Harley looks so regal when the other kitties aren't around!

Is it June yet?

There's not a teacher in American who isn't asking that question! I've been feeling that way since February. I burned out earlier this year--probably because the current economic situation has vastly affected my job. Secondly, because the school system I work for is terribly misguided in many ways. That's another lengthy post for another day.

Now it is time to catch up! Hockey playoff season kept me busy--at least through the second round of playoffs when my beloved Washington Capitals were eliminated by the reviled Pittsburgh Penguins in game 7. I guess it just wasn't meant to be this year--but I would have preferred any team to the Pens. And now it looks like the Pens may win the Eastern Conference Championship which means I will actually have to cheer for the Western Conference in the Stanley Cup finals! That will be a first. DH says that you cheer for your conference. This is true unless my conference is being represented by the Pens! The DC area has some long lived rivalries. In football--it's Redskins vs. Cowboys. In baseball--it's the Orioles vs. Yankees. In hockey--it's the Caps vs. the Pens --with the Flyers being a close second! I will say that I was impressed with the class that the Caps fans showed in game 7 which was a home game. The final score was 6 - 2. All the other games had been close but this one was a total blowout. Still during the last minute of the game, the fans were on their feet cheering "Let's Go Caps!" They then gave their team a standing ovation at the end of the game. This is quite a contrast to the New York fan who threw trash on the ice when the Rangers lost a game. The Caps gave us a great ride this year! It can only get better!

I did very little knitting during the last few weeks. I have to finish my 2nd Musica mitt then I have a summer project that I hope to start:


I knew the minute I saw the cover of the newest Vogue Knitting magazine that I had to make that! I am also working on Sylvi which will be a very long term project --at least until I get to the back. All that seed stitch blows!

I also participated in a sewing swap! It was a pincushion swap where you were to make a pincushion and include some other goodies for your swapee! I chose to make a theme--gardening--specifically bees! I made these pincushions:




The beehive is made out of felted wool and the flower pincushion is made from a bottle cap and craft felt. The bee pins were done with a craft punch and shrink plastic. I also made a little bee bag:
This was adapted from a pattern in the book Omiyage. The original design was a cicada so I made a few changes! I also made some bee stitch markers and included some wildflower seeds and other goodies! I also received a lovely package from my swap partner:


I love the pincushion she made! It has a center compartment with all the little necessities--seam ripper, scissors, needles, and measuring tape. I decided to keep it on the end table in the family room which is where I do most of my mending.

I've been planning some summer sewing projects. I have a great piece of vintage fabric that I unearthed at my Mom's house when I was cleaning it out:

The fabric screams to be made into a 50's style halter dress. I had a pattern like that but decided that I wanted something I could wear to school. I will make the bottom right view but I will change the skirt. The pattern has a pleated skirt which doesn't work with this fabric in my opinion. I will do gathers and probably make it a little fuller. I will also fully line the dress.

The next project is another dress:

I will be making the bottom right view. The dress will be made with the black fabric. The little modesty panel and the skirt lining will be in the gingham.

The last dress I have planned is this:

I love this pattern and I have a similar vintage dress which doesn't fit. I fell in love with the Beatles fabric! I will probably add black piping to the bodice seams to bring out the details.

I need to get out in the garden. I've done nothing in that department. I hope to put some flowers in my front urns and get the hanging planters and deck planters done in the next week or so. My spring concert is this week so that will be keeping me extra busy!

That's about it for now!

Kitty Cam: This one is from Ems--Chelsea sits still long enough for a picture: