Seven Facts

I've been tagged by Jade this seven facts meme that's been going around. Here's seven random (maybe boring) facts about me...

1. I am a citizen of Venezuela who grew up in Hong Kong and now living in New York City. I can't speak Spanish.

2. I have to keep all my knitting books and magazines in their pristine condition. I love that my collection is very well kept. I would not let any of them be lying around when non-knitting guests come over to the house in case they might carelessly flip through my precious pages clumsily and make creases all over.

3. I like to have a pattern in mind before I go yarn shopping. It's fun for me to shop for a pattern and then look for the yarn to go with it. I like to have just the right amount for a project or have as little leftovers as possible. I feel that if I have the yarn first, I'm afraid I would not have enough or have too much that I'd be reluctant to knit the project and then feel bad about having extras. There are exceptions of course, I don't mind stocking up on lace yarns.

4. I prefer tea over coffee. But I do enjoy cafe mocha occasionally.

5. I absolutely hate thick and thin bulky type yarns. Yes, I hate thick needles, too. I avoid knitting with needles bigger than a US7.

6. Whenever the weather is sunny and warm, I'm always in the mood to go biking or taking long walks with my husband.

7. I like to frame my favorite photos of me and my husband together and also favorite vacation photos to decorate the house with.

For anyone who's interested in this meme, consider yourself tagged!

Plans

My progress on Jarrett has been slow lately. I just finished making travel arrangements to go to Hong Kong and Beijing in February for three weeks. I'm spending five days in Beijing to see the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, and various other places. The remainder of the trip will be spent in HK exploring the city and visiting relatives. I'll be spending Chinese New Year in HK for the first time in so many years.

I wrote down a few yarn shops that I want to visit in HK. I want to look for unique items like Japanese patterns.

I didn't have any problems getting through security with my Addi's during recent flights to and from Europe. So I'm hoping it'll be ok again this time because I can't imagine 15 hours of free time without knitting.

Europe

My Kim Hargreaves kit arrived this week! It took only 4 days to get here. I'm very happy that it arrived so quickly. I can't wait to cast on. I've decided to take this project with me to Europe next week. Yes, I'm taking a vacation to Europe for two weeks. A project is the first thing a knitter packs, right? :) It'll be my first time visiting Europe, my first stop will be London for two days. I'll also be travelling to France, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg and Austria.

Icarus progress

The tail design is now visible. I just completed chart 2 and have 40 more rows to go before I do the edging. The rows are getting longer and longer. I'm at the beginner of chart 3 and have over 403 stitches on the needle right now. I wonder if I can finish this before I leave for Europe.