sophy's knits, notes, etc.

i know you're probably bored with this by now (i do have knitting to show!) but i just wanted to finish off writing about the rest of my trip. and because the timestamps are all wrong, i'm not sure which day i took these photos... but it's either day 4, 5, or 6. i really managed to pack a lot into just 6 days.

outside of rosie's, once-upon-a-time my lys.

of course, a trip to Philadelphia wouldn't be complete without a trip to Rosie's Yarn Cellar. the funny thing is, more often than not, i get lost trying to find this place. i don't know why. i mean, i lived only a few blocks away from there. luckily, my sister was with me. (one twin has the better sense of direction, and it isn't me.)

i know i know. my yarn stash is huge! in fact, my sister gave me almost half her stash, so, i didn't need to buy any more yarn. instead, i bought a pair of circular needles to knit a plain and simple pullover sometime in the near future.

approaching rittenhouse square.

in case you couldn't tell, i spent a lot of time walking through and around Rittenhouse Square. in fact, when i lived in the neighborhood, i used to walk out of my way just to pass through this park. on this day, i walked along the perimeter on my way to meet a friend, whom i work with, at La Colombe. she returned to San Francisco before me, but is now back in Philadelphia until the new year. i'm kind of jealous, actually.

preparing dinner with my cousins.

there are so many places we went that i didn't take pictures of... guess i'm somewhat a bad asian tourist. but, i just wanted to mention some of them, and i encourage you to check them out as well if you ever find yourself in Philadelphia!

one night, we had drinks at National Mechanics in olde city (ask them to make a cider and rum drink for you!) before meeting friends for dinner at the Pub and Kitchen before heading to quizzo night at Doobie's. the next day, we grabbed falafal sandwiches at Maoz after a couple of hours of walking around downtown. another night, we met with more friends for delicious dinner and drinks at the South Philadelphia Tap Room, which i was surprised to find was just a few blocks from my parent's house. and apparently, their neighborhood has been renamed, Newbold.

friends of the forest mitts!

oh yeah, the knitting -- i finished this first side while watching tv with my mom and adam. i actually modified them a good bit because somewhere after the 15th row, the pattern didn't seem to line up correctly. it wasn't until i was on the flight back home and half finished with the second side that i realized i made a pretty silly error. can you tell what it is?

happy knitting!

well, so much for blogging while i was on travel, huh--here i am back home in San Francisco. i'm glad to be home, but i have to say that this was probably one of the best trips back to Philly, since moving here 4 years ago.

day 2

here's the thing--when visiting Philly, we tend to fall into this routine of just eating at the places we used to eat and going to the places we used to go. so yeah, we had a cheesesteak our first night. and afterwards we went to doobies to meet our friends over drinks. but the next few days we decided to try new places, at our friends's recommendations. i think it really made the trip much more fun.

lunch with helen and bryan--aren't they ♥cute♥?

the next day, we had lunch with helen and bryan at Smokin' Betty's. my favorites were the small plates: cheesesteak springrolls and riblets. the chrispy chicken salad was also very tasty. but mostly, i was just happy to see the two of them--since helen was scheduled to fly out the next day to Australia, i knew we were unlikely to see more of bryan while we were in town. (at least i got to see the kitties, bon-bon and patrick!)

local favorites!

afterwards, adam needed to do some work, so i wandered around the city a bit. inevitably, i found myself standing in front of Loop and Spool. i was very tempted to buy hanks and hanks of lorna's laces, but i resisted them and everything in the sales bins. (so hard!) i did buy a pattern for baby things to sew for my brother's baby girl--we're expecting her any day now.

day 3

saturday dawned cold and rainy--like, icy rain--but, we warmed up over brunch with jim and abby at a lovely restaurant in old city, Farmacia. their grilled cheese sandwich was delicious!

jim, abby, and adam. can you tell who's not used to the cold?

that night, we went out to New Hope for a party with adam's extended family. it snowed the entire time we were there. in fact, i think it's snowed each time we've attended this party. here's the view from our cousin's back porch:

straight up, a winter fantasy.

well, i hope i'm not boring you with the details of my trip. i'm sure you're all wondering if i'm still knitting at all... i am!

fingerless mitts with bobbles!

i started these on the flight to Philly and almost finished them on the flight back home. almost.

happy knitting!

it's been a while and i hope everyone's enjoying the holiday season. (i love this time of year!) i have so many projects to blog about, but just haven't been able to find the time. now, here i am in Philadelphia and while i force myself to have some downtime, i'll try to catch up and write about my completed projects and this trip.

one of many statues outside of City Hall.

the flight was very quick and pretty uneventful. adam claims we hit some turbulence just before descending into PHL, but i didn't feel anything. we landed mid-afternoon yesterday to find the city gloomy and overcast. which really seems to describe the city well. still, the moment i stepped off the plane, i really felt like i was home again.

avenue of the arts, Broad and Walnut Streets.

we dropped our things at my parent's place (three blocks away from Broad and Snyder streets) and headed out towards our old neighborhood (Rittenhouse Square). it was Thursday, after all, and Thursday means Doobie's. (one item checked off the list!)

waiting for friends outside of Rittenhouse Square.

dinner was cheese steaks (another item checked off the list!) at Gusto. this is a pre-Doobie's custom, you know. (Gusto, not cheese steaks -- we didn't really eat cheese steaks that frequently while we lived in this city.) now, we can spend the rest of the week eating healthier! i'm looking forward to cooking dinner with my mom this weekend. there's really no where else that i can eat Cambodian food as delicious as my mom makes it.

today, i hope to revisit my favorite knitting haunts, namely Rosie's Yarn Cellar and Loop, before we drive out to have dinner with my in-laws. maybe i'll run into you there!?

happy knitting!