My Birthday

For my birthday this year JF offered to take me on a road trip. I desperately wanted to see the Ocean (I miss it so much), so I decided to go somewhere in New England. After a little bit of research I almost chose Boston, but then decided on Maine, since it's so pretty and apparently has quite a few yarn shops.

We took the scenic route down and drove into Portland to check out yarn shops (Central yarn Shop, Knit Wit and Seaport Yarns) and in the evening we took a little Ferry Cruise around Casco Bay. We decided to stay at a B&B about an hour outside of Portland in Kittery where the Outlet Malls are (we were within walking distance to the mall).

On my birthday we went to one of the beautiful beaches along the coast (I can't remember which one) and we shopped at The Yarn Sellar. I had seafood for both lunch and dinner (MMMMM!!!!). In the evening we did some outlet shopping, but only had 2 hours so we didn't actually get a lot done. (I hit Old Navy and got an awesome argyle cardigan in pinks and green Oh my!). We did the rest of the outlets on our last day and then drove all the way back home.

Here are some highlights:

Beautiful sunset on Casco Bay.
There was a spinning wheel in my B&B room. (hehe)

Knitting on the beach.

I did a lot of yarn shopping because I set out to buy most of my yarn for Xmas knitting (everyone is getting something knitted this year, yes I'm that crazy). Here is the haul:

Berroco Ultra Alpaca in (l-r) Plum Mix, Salt & Pepper, Cardinal, Peat Mix, & Winter White.
The purple and green are to be the Icewine Mittens for my Aunt and the rest I just had to have.
Cascade 220 in green for a hat for my cousin.
Rowan Felted Tweed in Phantom for a hat for my brother's bday.
Some Baby Cashmerino in blue for my mom for gloves and the red is mine.

Plymouth Galway Colornep for Koolhaas hats for JF's parents and Galway Paint for some felted slilppers for my grandmother and JF's grandmother.
Berroco Touché for an Anouk for our friends baby girl.
Sock yarn (l-r) Oasis Aussi Sock in grey for my dad, Colinette Jitterbug in October Afternoon for myself (I just loved the colours) & Jojoland Melody superwash for me(interesting and cheap).

My birthday also brought an awesome gift from Robyn. I only photographed the yarn but included was also some awesome Sheep themed oven mitts and pot holders, some candles, a couple of interesting drink mixes, a wip/notions pouch and this awesome pendant:

from http://jessejanes.etsy.com
the yarn. Some lovely green mystery merino and Colinette Jitterbug in Ginger cinnabar (I was eyeing this in her shop).

Thanks so much Robyn I love it all!

JF's birthday cake

I totally forgot to post about the cake I made. I decided to have a surprise birthay party for JF since he spent his actual birthday in Japan. He has an affinity for lego, it's a childhood thing he didn't have much of an exciting/fun childhood but lego was the one thing he remembers that he loved. Today he still buys the expert sets, and it allows him to connect with his inner child which is never a bad thing. I found the recipe here. Here are the pics of my version:

It was really fun to make and it took a little time but the result was worth it. Everyone was amazed. The blue was really bad for staining the teeth and tongue but otherwise excellent. If you have a lego lover in your family I recommend this recipe.

Happy Early Birthday

So I celebrated my birthday with Robyn and Kadi today and she is awesome by the way, for amongst other reasons:

Knitting themed pencil case!?!?(ewe-some :oP), Chocolate body truffles products, raspberry stuff, and best of all Socks that Rock in Chapman Springs (OMG)


Also a Tinkerbell lunchbag, and iron on transfer (I HEART TINKERBELL!!) and some really cool springy corn picks.

Thank you so much Robyn, you rock..

Kadi brought us little mini cakes, which were so good and so rich.. I love cake, especially when there's chocolate involved.

A while ago I spotted something that I wanted for my birthday, a little cupcake display like this:

JF got it for me.. YAY!! It's awesome. I love to make cupcakes, and I never have a nice way to display them when I take then somewhere. And now I do.

I also have to photograph the yarn I bought for myself with the birthday money my grandparents gave me. Briggs and Little, now that it's all wound, I'll photograph soon.. Promise.