American Beauty and a Pizza

I mentioned in my last post that I bought some gorgeous yarn while visiting New York. I stopped in at Purl Soho which is such a delightful store. Something about the way the yarn is arranged is so visually pleasing. It just bursts with color and I only wish I could have stayed longer, but alas I was with Non-Crafty Meg and could only subject her to so such much fawning over yarn.

I went to Purl with a mission. I was looking for bamboo or silk in red. The staff at the store was amazingly helpful and soon I was fondling this gorgeous Tilli Tomas 100% silk in American Beauty colorway. I have never seen this yarn before it is just lovely. I just love it and it's mine all mine!!! (Insert cackling laugh here.) Oh wait, actually it's not really mine for long, I bought it for a gift for someone. I guess now that I have stated that here I guess I can't even keep it for myself.

Now for a "what I've been cooking from my CSA haul update". This week saw the return of the beet risotto, a bacon, squash and chard quiche and this white pizza with artichoke and chard. The pizza was yummy but the taste of the veggies kind of got lost in the cheese and dough. But that's really okay because it's cheese and dough!! Yummy!!

Hot Time in the City

It's a warm Friday night in the city and what am I up to? Laundry! And I am just fine with that. I was away the past few weekends and now my naturally homebody-self is happily sitting at home catching up on shows on the DVR and my Netflix.

I spent the 4Th of July weekend up in Maine where we picked strawberries, made strawberry daiquiris, strawberry and sponge cake and strawberry pancakes. All wonderful until I realized by the end of the weekend I have developed a strawberry allergy and had to hit the store for antihistamine and calamine lotion. I like to think that maybe my body couldn't handle the strawberry overload and I am really not allergic. I do love my denial.

This past weekend I went to New York City to visit Non-Crafty Meg for her birthday. We packed a whole lot into one weekend. We saw The Hangover (hilarious - but not for those who dislike profanity and ribald humor) then over to Serendipity for a late dinner and their famous frozen hot chocolate.




Serendipity


We had lunch at Justin Timberlake's bar-b-q restaurant with my cousin who is interning at a magazine in NYC for the summer. A loooooot of walking around and much drinking of iced coffee, a quick visit to the Museum of Arts and Design, where the current exhibit The Art of Industrial Ceramics was very cool and is there until Sept 13 so check it out if you're in the city.

Columbus Circle (photo taken from outside the Museum of Arts and Design)


That night we went to see "The Tempermentals" starring Michael Urie from Ugly Betty. He and the entire cast were just wonderful! A really great and interesting play. Another must see if you're visiting the city. And who was in the audience just a few rows away - Joan Rivers!

The celeb spotting continued all weekend as saw one of the kids from Gossip Girl and an actress from One Life to Live on the street. The next night we went to Rock of Ages (fabulously cheesetastic in an 80s music kind of way) I won the ticket lottery and got a sweet seat in the 2nd row! and who was there but Phil Collins! The play stared one of the folks from American Idol but since I have never watched it (yeah I am one of those 10 people) I don't count him in my celeb sightings. Meg says she saw Pierce Brosnan at a cafe in Soho the next day but I missed it so I can't corroborate that sighting.

I did squeeze in a visit to a yarn store but the yarn I bought there is soooo pretty that it may deserve a post of its own and I haven't taken pictures of it yet.

Besides the yarn I picked up these super cute appetizer plates at CB2 that were recently mentioned at decor8. I bought them before Meg pointed out the decor8 post to me. I am just soooo trendy, ha! (Hear that Marsy I'm hip!)




Whew, by the end of the weekend I was exhausted and my feet were a wee bit sore but we had a great time and I think Meg's birthday was celebrated in style. But now I am happily loafing on the sofa watching summer tv.

Everyone Gets The Clap Sooner or Later

Stop being so dirty you know I mean The Clapotis.

The amazingly popular pattern that is one of the most knit patterns out there. As I write this there are 11,847 projects on ravelry. I finally know why. I really enjoyed knitting it. East to memorize, with just enough detail to keep the miles of stockinette from getting too tedious. Plus, you get to drop stitches - on purpose!!
The only drawback was the yarn I used. Berroco Softwist is a wee bit splitty. I love the shine the rayon gives but it took a whole lot more concentration while knitting to keep it from splitting.

Now I am already thinking about knitting another...maybe some variegated sock yarn.

I asked my favorite model, to pose for the photos of the project. I may have to knit her a kid-sized version.

Knit Your Bit

As long time readers may remember I was given a poster by my folks a while ago of Knitting Girl, a vintage poster for a french store. I wasn't so sure how I felt about her then but soon after I came to love her, she's my avatar, my knitting alter-ego and even design inspiration for my front entry room (I picked up the red of her chair for rugs etc....)

So I was searching around for other knitting related posters a few weeks back and I came across this one that really caught my eye. It's a reproduction of a Red Cross poster used during World War I around 1918. I like the irony in the fact that I don't knit socks and this poster is telling me, no ordering me to so. We'll see, I'd hate to be unpatriotic. Oh, and the fact that the yellow background of the poster is the exact same color as the walls of my office/craft room is just the icing on top. I am pretty impressed with myself in the fact that I got the poster in the mail and bought a frame and hung it up within days. I am usually a horrible procrastinator and let things sit unframed and unhung for months at a time.



And just for fun here is a glamour shot of this week's CSA goodies. I am all about the greens now. Or it could just be that I love anything sauteed with olive oil and garlic. I off to start looking for some radish recipes and I'll check out Ariel's blog who is linking to recipes she may use for our veggie haul. It's good to have friends who read foodie blogs.

We Got the Beet

I have been MIA from the blog again. I got all thrown when I caught pneumonia the end of May/beginning of June. I am all better now and I feel like I got better pretty quickly for pneumonia but all in all not a fun experience. I was so tired while I was sick that I couldn't even knit. I do have one project that I need to post about but Boston has been in the middle of this icky, rainy cycle that seems to appear anytime I think about taking photos.
Just to give you a clue what I knit I can say that it is probably one of the most popular patterns out there and there are over 11,000 projects on ravelry. I do have one picture of it - an action shot taken from the Paw Sox Stitch n Pitch last month (amazing what I forget is on the camera)



I am also really excited about the farm CSA that I joined with my knitta Ariel. We had our first pick up yesterday and I now swimming in greens; kale, chard, arugula, lettuce, beets, curly cress and strawberries (well, the strawberries are actually gone already - they were so wonderfully tasty and sweet that I gobbled them up.

Ariel took some gorgeous veggie eye candy photos so check them out here. I found a yummy sounding recipe for beet risotto with greens and goat cheese and since I was spending Father's Day with my family last night, Ariel beet me to it (oh, bad pun!) and let me know that it good so I made it tonight.

Brimfield

I took Friday off and joined my sister and brother-in-law at the monster antique-fest know as Brimfield. It is just fields and fields of antiques and junk.

We started off with clearly our most important purchase of the day. Amazingly silly matching rings for my sister and I, which gave us amazing Wonder Twin powers. Luckily my brother-in-law is a patient man 'cause my sis and I are together since we can be a wee bit goofy.



I had a few things I was looking for, for some DIY project ideas that are bumping around in my head. I got some vintage hooks, an old key and this great and amazingly heavy rotary phone.



My sister and hubby scored some great art pieces that are sure to look amazing in their already well-decorated home.

Marsy shows off her new Colman's Mustard poster.


While Charley's new game board will be a welcome addition to his collection.


I kept an eye out for knitting and fiber related items, but the $200 sterling silver knitting needles and the $700 whale bone swift from the 1800's were a bit out of my budget.

I did spot this spinning wheel....


I just love the amazing colors of these weaving bobbins.

Then literally moments after commenting on the lack of fiber goodness I stumble across - Yarn!!! A woman was selling some of her friend's yarn from Ragtime Farm in New Hampshire. Her friend does it all - raises sheep and goats cards the wool, spins, dyes etc...ya know I just had to support that. So I picked up this lovely hand-painted sportweight merino. The photo does not do it justice but it is just a gorgeous mix of blues and greens.

By the end of the day, my feet were sore, my arms a bit sunburnt and I was beyond exhausted but it was all totally worth it for such a great time.

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Just a quick pop-in to finally post some knitting! I finished this scarf for my mom a few weeks back for but of course blocked it at the last possible moment to give it to her today for Mother's Day. Here's my version of Liesel, knit in Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool. I love the way lace looks when it's done but too bad it is so not my style to wear. I guess I'll just have to keep knitting it for gifts.