Finished Vacation Projects

In a previous post I talked about what projects I was taking with me on my vacation. Well I decided to take two small, simple, easily portable projects with me and I'm really glad I did, they came in handy when we were stuck in the airport waiting for our delayed flight.

The project I chose was The Question Bag from the Burien Yarn Stash. A free pattern given out during the 2011 LYS Tour. It was a really simple design and an easy to follow pattern.  Once I got into the rhythm of the pattern I was able to leave the pattern sheet in my bag and work away at it while announcement after announcement was made on how long our flight was being delayed.

I picked two really great colors to make my bags:

Cascade Ultra Pima Cotton in turquoise and periwinkle

I finished one bag on the last full day of my vacation and I gave it to my son's sister who was celebrating her 17th birthday.  I wanted her to have something to remember us by when we are so far away.

I guess I also got a little too much into the rhythm of the pattern because the first bag came out a little long. As you will see from the picture below:

The pattern didn't indicate how long the bag should be so I just kept knitting thinking that I was supposed to use the whole skein.  Well when I noticed it was looking more like a wine bottle gift bag than an a drawstring purse, I stopped knitting and binded off.

Compared to the picture of the one below that is shown on the Burien Yarn Stash's site as an example of the bag, I think I did go a little too long.

Photo courtesy of the Burien Yarn Stash

But that's okay, because Aiden's sister loved it anyway and with the added length she can stuff more things in it.

The second bag I finished on my first day back from vacation:

And I stopped before it got too long this time and it came out looking more like the example.

Train ride into NYC...to see the sights for the day

My son and I decided to catch the train to Penn Station and see the sights for the day. And as you can imagine, the City is alive and moving early. We left Albany around 7 a.m. and arrived in NYC around 9:15 a.m. and even in the rain the people were out and about.

I don't think I remember walking so much, and seeing so many interesting sights:

Giant button and needle on Fashion Avenue

How often do you see something like a giant button and needle sticking through it?  Or for that matter a six foot Elmo character walking around?

We saw the usual sights: the Empire State Building, Times Square, Madison Square Garden (which was under construction of some kind so I didn't get a picture of it), Planet Hollywood, and Radio City Music Hall.

Me and my son Aiden standing near
the Radio City Music Hall

And then there was the Hershey's store, I was very tempted to go inside, but was afraid I'd blow all my spending money in there, so I opted for a photo instead!

Loving my vacation...

I'm having a great time on my vacation.  Loving being home with family and friends. Celebrated my son's 16th birthday here with cousins and siblings!

My son celebrating his 16th with family

Also during my down time I've been working on my Question Bag in the pretty turquoise color that I picked out.  Here it is so far:

Can't wait to hit up some of the local yarn shops.  I checked the Fiber Arts blog to see where the local yarn shops are located.  Want to check out: Trumpet Hill here in Albany, there are a few others in the area, including: BeauKnits and Eastside Weavers that I hope I will be able to visit as well.

Happy Knitting from New York!

Later today:

Bummer, all the yarn shops I visited were closed. Not open on Tuesday's, what is up with that?!  Anyway, I will try to hit-up at least one of them before I leave to head back west!

What project do you take with you on vacation?

So I've been checking the airline sites to see what is allowed and not allowed in my carry-on for my vacation which is coming up really soon.  I'm going for a visit to my hometown in upstate New York and I'd like to take a small project or two with me to work on while sitting on the long six hour flight and layover in New Jersey. I usually bring a book or two with me, but since I'm not checking any bags this time around, I didn't want my carry-on to be too heavy and with the added laptop bag, I'm already at my two bag limit for carry-ons, so I figured I could find some easy, light-weight project(s) to bring on the plane.

I've been reading other blogs looking for ideas, advice, and suggestions and what I've come up with is I'll work on making two small drawstring bags.  I got this really great pattern during the LYS Tour-Puget Sound called The Question Bag that was a free pattern give-away from the Buren Yarn Stash.  I only need to bring a size 4 needle - 16" needle and one skein of the Cascade Ultra Pima Cotton. I think I can only squeeze two skeins into my purse, so I'll be able to make two of them.

I've already picked out the colors that I want to use as you can see from the picture below. These are really great colors for this bag.  When I was at the Burien Yarn Stash, I saw this bag made in the Ultra Pima in a beautiful red and the color made the pattern pop and the stitches really stand out. I fell in love with the design. I only hope that mine come out as good.


Turquoise and Periwinkle Cascade Ultra Pima Cotton
Great colors to use for this project

The Question Bag

Are you going on any vacations this summer?  Where are you going and what kinds of projects do you bring along with you to work on?  Leave me a comment, would love to hear from you.

On a side note:
Just finished a pair of felted slippers for a friend at work. He was very happy with the results.  He wanted a pair of felted slippers in purple and black in size 10.5...so here they are!