My first grown up FO!!

woot woot! I finished my first grown up knitting project that wasn't a hat or scarf ; )

It's the Back-to-School U-neck vest from Fitted Knits by Stephanie Japel









Isn't it lovely? I'm so happy with the way it came out. Just like the picture. I only made one modification and that was to add an inch to the length. I used 3 skeins of Cascade 220 Teal Heather

If I can talk my friend into it I'll try to post a pic of her wearing it ; )

Lovely weekend indeed

I had a fantastic weekend! It started on thuresday with my husband and I having dinner at Mall of The Emirates in Dubai. I had tabbouleh and rice from Beirut and he had a salad. So sensible.

Then yesterday (Friday), I met up with Sydney for lunch at Biella in Marina Mall (that's in Abu Dhabi in case you were trying to figure out if the new Marina Mall in Dubai is open yet, it isn't). After a wonderful pesto we wandered around the mall then headed to Caribou Coffee to meet up with our fellow U-Knitted Amiras as it was time for our regular meeting once again! Most everyone showed up and Sydney even had her first FO!!!!
I have a pic but I'm going to send it to her because I really think she should be the one to show the world her first FO... then up load it on to ravelry so that we can all favorite it!

Today I went to the Green Branch (our local LYS I suppose) although I didn't head over there for knitting needs rather I needed some painting supplies... but of course I got in to downtown Abu Dhabi at like 2:30 and the Green Branch doesn't open until 4:30! So I headed over to Starbucks for some coffee and PDK (public display of knitting) in case I hadn't gotten enough coffee and knitting yesterday ; )



I just sat and watched the world go by as I worked diligently on my Phiaro Scarf. Every once and a while a passer-by would look inside and see me knitting and usually, well, stare until they almost ran into something or ran out of window to stare through. hehehe. it was a lot of fun. two guys were about to sit in the two seats in front of me but when one of them saw me he said "lets sit up stairs I don't want to block her view." isn't that nice! I really appreciated that cause I gotta look somewhere while I am knitting and it would have been just plain awkward to stare at them the whole time.

So now I'm laying in bed working on the finishing for the Back to School Vest (after a pep talk from Kundi yesterday, thanks Kundi!) while we get carpet installed in the living room. YAY! I'm very excited. no more unfinished floors!! I'll take pics and show you the house now that it's "presentable".

I hope you had a great weekend too... have a lovely week!

Thanksgiving and Eid Celebration

Today i made a proper turkey dinner with all (well almost all) the trimmings. this was a two for one because we decided to celebrate both Thanksgiving and Eid in one big dinner for two


look at this spread! turkey, mashed potatoes (idaho of course!), stuffing, glazed carrots and gravy. YUM!


and here's a up close of the turkey because i'm just that proud of it! i put a secret rub on it (although it's mostly a secret to me because i cant remember everything i put into it) and it really added great color and flavor.

Also today i have nearly finished the Back to School Vest from Fitted Knits. all i have left to do is the edges around the neck and the arms. i even wove in all the ends! what a productive day!

so now i have to go because i can feel the turkey comma coming on.

help! WIP confusion!

so i was all excited to give you project updates on my two WIPs and now i'm worried i have messed up on one... uuuggghhh

but first let me you tell you about the phiaro which is coming along slowly but surly. it's great to work on while i'm in the car (a passenger of course) or while i'm watching a movie and want something more mindless (i.e. headache-less) and well, endless.

here's the updated picture.... i'm not sure it actually looks longer than the last pic but it is. and i feel i work on it a lot so you get a pic anyways.

now for the help.... here is the Back to School Vest. see? i have made a lot of progress from when you last heard me talk about it here. and now it looks like this!


yup the front is all done!


look at that waffle stitch.... i'm really happy with the way it looks and it's so easy to do!


but the back. the back is where all the problems are.... the pattern said decrease one at the end of the next 7 rows. which i did. and then i started knitting on to get the 6.5 inches of length the pattern calls for. but about 5 (cough10cough) rows into the even rows i had a flash back to the baby cardi! 7 really means 14 doesn't it! aakk is 7 decreases RS and 7 WS.

dang. i think i just answered my own question! it's really decrease one at the end of the next 14 rows isn't it? :::sigh::: and i just counted my stitches and i have too many. uuugghhh! why didn't i check earlier!!! oh well i guess i have some ripping to do. at least i didn't get too much further, like to the end and sitting there confused as to why i have too many stitches. however i have heard the back comes in a bit narrow so maybe i shouldn't do all 14... although i'm not sure i could figure out how to fix it from there to match the front. no i think i'll just stick to the pattern.

unprecedented!

we are in unprecedented times here people! UNPRECEDENTED!!!! really, the events of late are ones that are shaking my whole vision of reality. i'm starting to question all that i believe to be true and retest theories i have developed over the years.

and no i'm not talking about the whole economy / presidential election thing. no this is bigger. much bigger! Etisalat (our local UAE phone and internet service provider) told us they would install our internet in 2 weeks. And people it's been 2 weeks and i have internet!!! lets just take a few seconds to let the gravity of the situation sink in... (or perhaps you need to re-read the sentence to make sure you read it correctly)
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i'll background here for all you non-UAE'rs... when anything of this nature (installation of internet, cable, water, electricity, etc) needs to be done out in Abu Dhabi or Dubai the service provider will tell you 2 weeks and really they mean 6 weeks and that's only after many phone calls, a little bit of yelling and serious contemplation of not needing said service at all! so i don't know what happened here. DH told me Etisalat said they would be out in 2-4 weeks so i took this to mean 6- infinity weeks and low and behold we got a phone call this morning from Etisalat saying they would be at our place in 20 minutes and 1 hour later they were here!!! 10 minutes after that they were gone and we had internet. i couldn't be happier or more surprised.

so now that i have internet i need to catch you up on my goings on...

first the reason we didn't have internet for 2 weeks (only! woot woot) is because we moved. we decided to move to a small town in between Abu Dhabi and Dubai so that both cities are more easily accessible for us both (as we seem to be going to both cities a lot)

here's princess helping me pack.



here's princess exhausted after all the packing



this is our new room. which i love. i would show you more but it isn't done yet so you'll have wait



the move actually went very smooth this time thanks to Aramex coming and packing everything into their trucks and reassembling everything at the new house. we are almost completely unpacked at this point and i love love the new place. it's so calm out here. i feel like i'm at a retreat ; )

now. on to knitting news... i have been working a project for a friend of mine who is such a great friend that a knitted project is over due for her! she supports me through all my work craziness and opens her house to me when ever i need to stay in Dubai. when i saw this project i thought of her and when i showed it to her she loved it! so i let her pick out the yarn she wanted (which was Cascade 220 in a teal heather) and then i immediately ordered it from Yarn Country (along with some Rowan Purelife **cough cough**)



as soon as it arrived i got busy. (the pic above is more accurate for the color)



this is the makings of the Back to School U-Neck Vest from the book Fitted Knits by Stephanie Japel. this is the second pattern i have been working on out of this book. the other patter is the Crisp Rectangle Tunic. i refuese to say it's hibernating but i did take it off the needles. only because i needed the 7's to work on the back to school vest. but i'm re-motivated to finish this tunic and enjoy wearing one of my own pieces. so don't worry you will see progress soon!!!

oh and finally HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!! hope your halloween is very spooky ; )