Hunting

The end of our lease (and probably some burnout on my part because of the job and the 3-4hours of daily commute) has inspired us to do some apartment hunting and move to Brooklyn. I must say I found the whole process very pressuring and stressful, but I believe it was the thought of moving (and soon) that kept me sane during the crazy deadline packed week I just finished. On Wednesday we saw an apartment that was wonderful, but the community was not quite what we were looking for.

On Friday we set up a meeting with a broker to look at a neighborhood right next to my college, but he never showed up. It was probably for the best though because he kept putting off showing us the apartment we wanted to see and was actually having us meet him in a different neighborhood all together.

Determined not to waste the time we had set aside for hunting, we called on an apartment that I found on Craigslist. There was no answer, but we decided to walk over and check out that neighborhood in case we could get an appointment for this weekend. we loved what we saw Friday night, and made an appointment with the broker for Saturday. I think we have a place picked out. Nothing is finalized because we have to do the credit checks and so forth, but the broker seems pretty confident that this one will be ours.

So let me share it with you....

View Larger Map

I don't have any pictures of the actual apartment. The residents were still living there when we went to see it, and I felt that Mike's measurements were enough. We didn't need to be intrusive by photographing their mid-packing chaos.

As you can see from the map the entrance is on the center of the block, so we have to walk down and around the corner to do anything. Let me show you what is down and around the corner...

If we go East and turn the corner there, we come to the subway stop that will take me right to work and
The Brooklyn Museum.

If we go West and around the corner we come to the entrance for the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens and
Brooklyn Public Library. This picture is from Friday night. On Saturday this area was filled with umbrella covered tables for reading in the shade and a little coffee/ice cream stand.

If we continue West past the library there is Prospect Park and a Saturday farmer's market that is year round, and
Grand Army Plaza. The area is also full of restaurants, shops, and incredibly beautiful brownstones.

Congratulations Chris and Katy!

I would like to take a moment to welcome Charlie ...

Aleita Again

Pattern: Aleita Shell by Bonne Marie Burns (Interweave Knits Spring 2008)
Yarn: Renyolds Saucy Sport
Needles: US 6 (4.0 mm)
Notes: As I mentioned earlier, I made a slew of changes in this top. First, I adjusted the measurements of the bottom slightly so it fit closer to my waistline. I also added about an inch to the length of the stockinette section so it would fall where I wanted it to on my hip. I decided that I wanted the pattern to start below my bust line and fit like an empire cut. I tried to do that with my first Aleita, but even though I had the proper length measurements it didn't fit like that. To try to fix those fit issues, I took about half of the increases out of the stockinette section and decided to put them in as bust darts at the beginning of the pattern section.

I have never done bust darts before, and the only tutorial I've read about it was for a simple top down, stockinette, raglan sweater. I had to rework some of the numbers and figure out how I wanted to make it a part of the pattern. I decided to start with three of the knit stitches of the pattern right next to each other, and increase in the purls in between them. I am really happy with how my first bust darts work out.

The final change I made was to the shoulders. I didn't really like the I-cord cover for the shoulder seams. Instead, I connected the shoulders with kitchner and left the I-cord off. It is not perfect because it doesn't follow the pattern, but I am still pretty happy with it.

Meet My Brompton

I would like to introduce you to my Brompton. Hubby and I recently bought these, and they are the reason I've not been near my computer at all for the past few weeks. (Mine is the bright yellow one.)
After a lot of research, we decided that our situation called for folding bikes. We live in New Jersey, but we are a quick bus ride from Manhattan and we spend most of our free time over there. We knew that we were going to want to take the bikes across the river with us so we could ride around Central Park and the other beautiful green spaces in New York. Once we decided on folding bikes, we talked with the guys at bfold and they helped us pick out the right one. Since we wanted our bikes to fold up as small as possible for toting on the bus, and sturdy enough for the pot holes of the NYC streets, the Brompton was the bike for us. Here is what it looks like almost completely folded up.
The handle bars are open in this picture, but they fold down and the whole bike becomes a compact little square. I love my new bike! Not only has it been on the bus and to Central Park, but we've ridden along the Hudson river on both the NJ and NY sides, ridden though Times Square, Union Square, and Columbus Circle. We've also folded them up and taken them with us in restaurants, the grocery store, the movie theater, subway, and on the ferry. It is one of the most empowering purchases I have ever made.
Since May is Bike Month in New York City, we've got big plans for these bikes. I'm not going to be biking to work on the 15th, but we are planing on checking out the small wheel races next weekend, and the folding bike ride though Brooklyn and Manhattan. As you can see by the sweater I'm wearing, the bikes haven't cut into my knitting time too much.

If Mrs. Obama wants a healty lunch...

Elmo wants a healthy lunch too!