Why, oh why do I wake up at 7 a.m. when I do not have to go to work? I stayed up until midnight, and at 7 a.m. couldn't sleep anymore. But I'M STILL TIRED! Argh! This is really frustrating. I didn't want to sleep too late, since we are meeting Deb at 10 a.m. to go to the beach, but would it have killed me to sleep until 8?

Not much else to say. I found some cool yarns from Artfibers online, and discovered that they will send 5 yard lengths for swatching for just 50 cents each. I got Luna in Nightlight, Iris, Patina and Coral; and Cousteau in Lisbon and Venice for the bridesmaid tops. I also got Chianti in Ruby and Grape; and Sanskrit in whatever color they want, just because I want to see what the texture of this funky yarn is like. The woman I spoke to was so nice, and I can't wait to play with the yarns!

OK, gotta go get ready for beachiness. Have a happy Friday!

Here's the information on the NYC (and other cities) KNIT OUT activities.

Ugh, I am so bummed to learn that I am going to miss the New York City "Knit Out" day! And it's right around the corner from my apartment, too. Unfortunately, on October 6th, I will still be in Syracuse, celebrating Homecoming and my 10-year reunion with some of my former roommates who I never-ever see. I think that is also the weekend of the Chili Pepper festival at the BBG. Why do they always schedule all the good stuff at the same time?!

Other than that, not a lot to talk about today. Oh, except the real cool present I got last night! I have been bending Ryan's ear about wanting a sandwich press for ages. It got even worse after we got back from Italy, where I ate panini at every turn. So guess what showed up last night? I was really psyched - it's not just a sandwich maker, but a waffle maker, too! Now I can make panini AND waffles! I think Leanne might actually have the same model, and it made great waffles. I remember she made a whole bunch one time and froze them, sending me home with a few - much better than the store-bought frozen waffles. I see many happy breakfasts, lunches and dinners in my future! Something tells me I will be stopping on the way home to get some good bread and panini fixin's. :-)

I am hoping to have the day off tomorrow as scheduled so I can go with Deb to her beach club. I think Ryan is going to join us, too. There's this silly brochure here at work that has to be sent to the client, but all we are sending are layouts with a headline and two subheads, plus a content outline. I've written all of that and should be settled and internally approved today, so there's no good reason I should have to be here if they are still doing layout on it. All it needs is someone to read it and say "yes, that's what I wrote" so I think I can get Bernie (who is actually my boss's boss, and is the creative director on this project) to do that. Let's cross our fingers. I have not been to the beach here all season, and that is just ridiculous for a beachaholic like myself! When I lived on Long Island, I spent just about every weekend at the beach, and many weekdays when I was in school and not working. Now I am lucky to get there a few times during the whole summer.

So, I think I have exhausted all my interesting (semi-interesting?) conversation for this morning. I did not do any knitting yesterday, but I fully expect to finish my Paper Phil tank between tonight and tomrrow. Then I think I need to decide for good whether I am going to make Diana a sweater for her birthday, and if so, buy yarn and get that sucker moving. If not, I will work on the Moo blanket some more. I also want to find a good pattern for my Gedifra Dandy (it's colorway #1445). I am thinking about a cardigan, but a pullover might work just as well.

And, as always, there are the bridesmaid tops to think about. A major shout-out to Shetha who has been using this as an excuse to scout out every LYS in the Portland area and report in on groovy yarns. Talk about personal shopping! Once I have a bit more free time and Downtown Yarns is back on their regular schedule (after Labor Day for both, I think) I will head down there and check out their stock as well as their suggestions. Of course the problem is everyone is getting their Fall/Winter yarns in now, and I need lightweight summer stuff. Ah well, somehow it will all get figured out. :-)

OK, I just really want to be home today in the AC, knitting my way through the top of my tank. I got up to the armholes last night and just need a couple of hours to finish the thing. But instead I hauled my butt out of bed and here to the office, with the icy AC and the space heater on to counteract it. How ridiculous.

Stitch-n-Bitch was really fun last night. I made it a point to get there early so I could get a space on the sofa. At first it was a little crowded but by the time I left I could have stretched out and taken a nap there. Which, oddly enough, was why I had to leave - sleepiness set in around 9ish and I still needed to go change the kitty litter and stuff.

I am so glad I found this group of cool knitting women. It's just such a fun break in the week to hang around and chat and knit with a whole group of ladies who "get it." And it's always fun and inspiring to see what everyone is working on. I was really taken with the little eyelet camisole that Joanna was working on. She's using Morehouse Farm Merino lace weight yarn. The color is lovely - somewhere between a lavender and a blue. I am thinking I might like a color like that for my bridesmaids, though probably not merino for the middle of June. I still would like to pick up some of the Morehouse yarn for myself, but according to their website they aren't back at the Greenmarkets until September. (I know, that's a few weeks away but I hate to think that summer is almost over!)

I sat next to Jackie for most of the evening, as she was working on the top of her pretty Guernsey dress. It's such a cute little girlie dress - that is one lucky niece! And Marney was busy socknitting again. I swear, that girl just churns out stuff like crazy. I think I would go broke if I knitted as quickly as Marney does. I know for sure who I am going to beg for help if it rolls around to Memorial Day and I still have bridesmaid tops to knit! ;-)

(For the record, I do NOT expect this to happen!)

I keep forgetting to mention the good news Ryan and I received on Sunday. His sister Kristy called us to announce her own engagement! We were both really happy. Tom, her fiance, is a really good guy, and a good match for her. They are a lot of fun to be around - a smart couple with a good sense of humor. She said they are probably looking at a Spring 2004 wedding, since they don't want to squeeze in ahead of us (which was very thoughtful) and he doesn't want to get married in the fall/winter. Something about a Celtic belief that those are "seasons of death." Hmm. The wedding would be in Miami, which rarely feels deathly, but you gotta respect people's feelings on this stuff. Anyway, we'll all be recovered from our wedding by then, so it will be fun to do it all again for them.

So, do you think I should work today? I guess so. I have a lot of reading to do. Here I go!

I now believe my wardrobe is conspiring against me. This is the second time in as many weeks that I have been threatened with very indecent exposure. Last week it was a wrap-around skirt that decided to unwrap while I was walking down 3rd avenue and trying to pull my cellphone out of my purse. Quick reflexes saved me from complete embarrassment.

This morning, it was my new flowered pants. I swear they were OK when I left the house. But when I went to the bathroom at work, I discovered a large rip in the butt seam. These pants zip in the middle of the back, and from right below the zipper to the bottom of the crotch was wide open. And I hesitate to attract the porn crowd, but I was wearing the kind underwear that would make this problem particularly embarrassing! I didn't have my little sweater with me, so I sort of covered up with my bag a bit and ran to Vanessa's office.

Luckily, Vanessa had a needle and some somewhat matching thread. So, I came back to my office, barricaded the door (no lock) with my guest chair, took off the offending pants and sat with a jacket around my waist while I sewed them. How precious. Luckily no one needed to see me right then. The thread doesn't match perfectly, but if anyone has their head that close to my butt they (a) already missed the really exciting show and (b) are about to get hit with a sexual harrassment charge.

The day since then has been quieter, thank goodness. But I am now very concerned about disintegrating clothing. Eek!

Speaking of clothing, I decided to post my wedding dress photo, but if you want the link, you need to email me for it. I just think it's too tempting for Ryan to see the link here and look, even though he really wants to be surprised. It's kind of like if he had done the same with my engagement ring. Even though I didn't want to see it until he gave it to me, I could see the possibility of temptation overcoming me one day. And that was just a few weeks that I knew about it - this is nearly a year.

Also on the wedding and knitting combo subject, I tried swatching some of that Berocco Cotton Twist for the bridesmaid tops the other night. Awful! It splits like crazy and is just terrible to work with. When it doesn't split, the fabric is lovely - soft and luminous - but I can not see myself dealing with that splitting through four garments. Nuh uh! So, I am definitely still open to yarn suggestions. Something that will be cool to wear in June, has some sheen, and is pleasant to work with. I don't really want to go much finer than 5 stitches per inch if I can help it. The Lurex Shimmer was 7 and I thought that might kill me.

As for design, I am thinking I might try to do it myself, most likely with help from someone with experience in this area. Now that I have my dress, I want to do a neckline that will coordinate, so it will probably be easier to do it myself than to find something just right in the right gauge, etc.

Looking forward to Stitch-n-Bitch tonight. I am a few inches into the back of my Paper Phil tank, and will be working on that while I give the Moo blankie a rest. I'm going to be a good girl again and leave at 9ish so I can go to the supermarket and do some stuff around the house. Good Betsy!

It was a rollercoaster weekend, that's for sure. I think I'll stick to the high points.

I found my wedding gown and ordered it! When we went to Priscilla of Boston on Friday, they had a rack of the new designs, and only one gown really caught my eye on that rack. It was the first one I tried on, and my immediate thought was "oh no - I can't fall in love with the first gown I try!" So, I tried on many others, most of which looked nice on me, but nothing hit me the way this one did. Something about it just made me really happy. The ladies at the store were really nice and helpful, and encouraged me to think it over, and to keep the appointments I had at other shops the next day "just to be sure." That really impressed me.

So I did just that, and went to the two other places I had scheduled. At the Bridal Atelier I tried on about 8 dresses, most of which looked good. There was one that was prettier than the others, but it still didn't make me feel better than the dress I already loved. These dresses were also nearly $1k more than the Priscilla dress. So we left with a list of what I had seen and liked, and went to The Gown Company, which is right near my apartment.

The Gown Company was sort of a letdown. Tiny little curtained-off dressing room, only big enough to fit me. At the other places I had a spacious area (curtained at the Bridal Atelier, and a full room nearly as big as my apartment at Priscilla) to change in, and they gave me a strapless bra, shoes and a petticoat to try the dresses with. Here, they handed the dresses through the curtains and I struggled into them on my own, barefoot. That would have been OK if I had found anything I truly liked, but I just didn't. They had a lot of designer gowns at a good discount, but most were samples which had definitely seen better days. I think it's sort of a hit-or-miss type of place. If I didn't already love my dress, I would possibly have come back in a month or so to see what was new.

After those two stops, I was more certain about my choice, but still wanted to see it again. So Dad (who had driven Mom into the city and gone to the Whitney Museum with Ryan) drove us back out to Roslyn and I tried on my dress once again. This time I actually teared up a bit when I saw it on, and knew then and there that this would be the dress I would get married in. I showed it to Dad, and he got all teary, too. Mom had already gotten her tearies over with.

So, there you go - I have a wedding gown! And I love it! I'm also intrigued that since it is a brand-new trunk show, the rep there told me I was the first person in the U.S. to buy that gown. And if it doesn't prove popular, it won't make it into the collection for real and there could only be five or six made ever. That's kinda cool. The gown is definitely 100% recognizeable as a bridal gown, no question there, but it is somewhat unusual. I didn't see anything like it either online or in the other shops. I like that. :-) It is being made just for me in Spain, so it will be several months before it shows up and I can go visit it.

Obviously I am not describing the dress here on the blog, because I don't want the boy to know. And since it is a new gown, there are no photso online. If you're really desperate to hear, you can contact me personally. Otherwise, photos to come next June!