New Year's Day, though, we drove up to NY city. Our main intention was to go see Rockerfeller Center and the tree, and we did that, but we also went to the Jacob Javits Convention Center to see the boat show there. Yes, the boat show was open on New Year's Day. Isn't that a bit odd? I thought so, but it was convenient for us so we attended. We browsed at boats bigger than ours - what else is the future for if not to dream of what we might have/do in the future? When they threw us out at the end of the show we headed over towards the tree. I have not driven in Manhattan in many years and was a little stressed about my abilities, especially when it comes to parallel parking. I found a spot a little further away than would be ideal (due to the wind and cold) but I could get into it and there was no risk (we thought ) of getting blocked in, so we stayed there. The parking meter machines take credit cards - imagine that! We tried to use ours but the card got stuck. Gulp. Manhattan on a holiday and the card won't come out of the machine. What are our chances of getting help any time soon? Finally, after turning the cancel button several times and squeezing my fingers in the opening I was able to remove the card and we prepared to push quarters into the slot. A very nice lady told us that we didn't have to pay on the holiday, though. All that worry and we didn't have to pay.
We found a place to eat that was cozy and warm and not too expensive and had dinner (at 9 PM), then added a few layers of clothes and walked to see the tree. It was breathtaking, as always.
No matter how many times you see it or think you know what to expect, it is still awesome. It is sad that a tree has to die for that, but since no one asked me before they cut it down, I think the least I can do is to really appreciate it, right?
I took lots of pictures with my new camera - that was so much fun! No guilt about wasting film and the ability to view the pictures right away instead of having to wait for film to be developed added to the fun. St. Patrick's cathedral is another must place for us to visit, but it was closed. It looked like renovations were underway.
I didn't know, until that night, that there is an M & M store in Manhattan. We visited, of course, and it was jammed! The amount of waste was really something! There were trash bags of candy on the street and several had been torn open and were scattered over the sidewalk and street. That helped explain why the candy was $9.00 per pound. A litle pricey for my taste. We looked at the Saks window displays and watched the skaters for a while but we got cold and headed to the car. As we walked down the street we had parked on, my heart started racing. I couldn't see the Explorer. I saw a dumpster, but not the vehicle we had arrived in. We had been towed once before (even though we were parked legally - even the transit cop said so) and I had horrible thoughts. But someone had pushed a dumpster on wheels right in front of us and that hid the car. Phew! With a little work I got us out of that spot and we headed home. We arrived home at about 3 AM and headed straight to bed.
Bob and I had taken the 2nd off, so we slept in. In the afternoon Bob got to work installing the new range he bought for the kitchen. The one we had was the original in the house (about 20-25 years old) and was definately "well worn". We hope to sell the house in the next year or two and thought this would be a good investment towards that goal. It looks good and despite being a basic model, has many more options than the one we removed. I especially like the self cleaning oven option. No more evil sprays to use and wipe out, climbing half way into the oven in order to get it all out. Christmas gifts were put away, other things were put away and the house was vacuumed. I got in my 4 mile walk despite the cold wind and my very strong desire to stay cozy and warm. It is so much harder without my walking partner. Thank goodness she got home last night. Actually, knowing her, it might have been this morning when she arrived home. She is a night owl. I finally sat down to knit at about 9:30. The alarm going off at 5:15 this morning was not welcome.
Knitting and spinning news - not a lot, but some progress has been made. I have gotten halfway up both feet (toe up socks) on the new alpaca peds socks. I tried two different patterns and ended up choosing the one on the left.
I have a pair of socks that I started a while ago (2 socks on 2 circs at once) in Trekking bamboo that I had put aside for holiday knitting and I will try to finish those up. I would also like to finish the sock I am working on for my son for work. That's 3 pairs of socks in progress and I would like to decrease that number. I feel pressure with that many pairs in the works and I want to enjoy what I am knitting. I didn't try to knit on the lace hemp top - I was too tired last night, but I hope to make headway with that this weekend, and maybe have some photos to show you. It is an enjoyable knitting project with 5 different but easily memorized patterns in each pattern round and a round of knit in between. I finished spinning the yellow sock yarn single
and I am now ready to ply that with the variegated single to make my sock yarn. Hopefully that will also happen this weekend, and I wil have photos to show you.
Happy knitting.
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