Knitting and Tea

Two of my favorite things are knitting and tea. Earl Grey is my favorite. I love bergamot and all things citrusy. In fact, last year I bought some bergamot essential oils and some unscented shampoo and conditioner to mix up the perfect blend.

So then I found this knitters tea swap and am exited for my first blog swap. If you love tea, you should check it out.

This weekend my mom was here to meet the fiance's parents, both sets. My dad couldn't come b/c he had an operation thing on Tuesday and couldn't travel. So it was just mom and me. And we took advantage of the time to visit a different yarn shop every day. First on Friday, we went to a boutique in Mount Washington to buy her mother-of-the-bride dress. It is perfect! A knee-length, fitted cocktail dress w/ bright orange, pink, turquoise and green flowers and a some sequins. The reception is in my parents backyard. Think elegant picnic. We are really doing a DIY wedding. Food will be fancy sandwiches. Music will be compiled from itunes. Lots of fairy lights on the trees and flowers planted, etc. So the dress she found will fit perfectly.

But we found it right away. No, this is a good thing, but I thought it would take all afternoon and several shops. So when I asked her what she wanted to do for the rest of the afternoon, she said: "Is there a yarn shop nearby?" And of course Woolworks was just down the road. So we stopped in. She bought a pattern and I bought some notions. No yarn. We were both very good.

Saturday was the day when everybody met up for lunch at Bonapart in Fells Point. Of course it was raining all day, but it let up for a few hours, just enough for us to walk around the neigborhood. And of course, that meant a stop in A Good Yarn. I love this shop, even though it is so small. The women who work there are the friendliest and most helpful of any yarn shop I've been to. The woman that day gave me info for Larissa about finishing sweaters and she spent a lot of time going over the yarn. Sadly we didn't buy anything that day. But I am thinking of taking the store's drop in sweater class on Sundays.

So, in between all of the meeting and shopping, I swatched my sock yarn on my mom's size 1 and 0 needles. I think I need to go to a 00 because I knit soooo loose. Of course, I thought I was going to break the 0s so I may have to learn to knit tighter.

So, Sunday couldn't come w/o another trip to a yarn shop. I've been working on a project for the wedding. My dress came last week! yeah! Only it is a little booby and I thought I could knit a simple lace wrap that would sit off my shoulders and cover the boobs for the church part. I picked up some cream yarn from my stash that I used in the Mexican shawl. This was a Lions Brand Microspun. And while very soft and nice in that shawl, it was driving me crazy for the wedding wrap. I kept splitting it. And mom said that I should get something real, something natural for it and then she offered to buy new yarn for me! So, off we went on Sunday to Cloverhill in Catonsville. The shop's April sale yarn is Manos cotton. They had it in a beautiful cream and now I am using that. Yeah! So much nicer, so much prettier. Thanks mom!

So, all in all a good knitting weekend. Oh, and the meeting of the in-laws-to-be went very well too. Everyone had a great time at dinner at Della Notte. If you ever go, get the crepes w/ mushrooms and goat cheese appetizer. I could have eaten a whole plate of them.