Thanksgiving Treat

I went to New York to gift myself with a visit to my daughter and her husband for Thanksgiving. A nice, quiet ride up on Amtrak and dinner ready when I arrived, along with my "grandchildren" patiently waiting for me.

Meredith had to work on Friday, so I wandered around the city by myself, one of my favorite things to do. I started out at the Fulton Fish Market area and wound up on a bench at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge, where I sat and knit for a while, just enjoying the gorgeous day.

While I was there, I took a couple of pictures for tourists, but this guy told me he wanted to use his timer. It didn't take me long to see why: he had set it on video so he could record his marriage proposal! Isn't that so cool?

Christmas tree at the Fulton shopping area, with lots of cobblestone streets and boutique shops that I didn't visit. Much too beautiful a day to be indoors.

 

I even ate my lunch on a park bench at Union Square Park.

 

 

 

After lunch, I visited the Lion Brand Yarn Studio to see their gorgeous window.

 

Despite the unseasonably warm weather, the day definitely put me in the mood for Christmas! Hope you enjoyed your weekend, no matter what you did.

 

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Travels and Thanksgiving

Gracie is hiding her eyes and hoping I will start staying home with her more than I have been lately. I have been out of town for four of the last five weekends, as my mom informed me yesterday, just in case I hadn't noticed.

Steve and I spent last weekend in DC, mostly wandering around the DuPont Circle area, enjoying the autumnal weather.

 

 

I love the arrangement of succulents in one of the cafes we visited.

The only museum we visited this trip was the west wing of the National Gallery, and that was only briefly.

Steve wanted to see the Vermier exhibit and I wanted to relax and knit.

I had made decent progress on a hat, but didn't like the gauge I was getting, so I ripped it out and started over after I got home.

I finished the Lapsang, my fourth hat from the Tea Collection, in Quince & Co. Puffin. Great pattern.

I'm on the Amtrak train to NYC as I write this, to spend the Thanksgiving weekend with my oldest daughter, Meredith. Other than hanging out with her, I don't have a lot scheduled this time. And when I return home on Sunday, I'll put my suitcase in the attic for awhile, since I don't have another trip planned until March. Kind of looking forward to settling in at home for awhile, and thankful I have such a cozy nest of my own.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

 

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My Happy Place

I've been knitting like it's my job lately, and as a result, I have some FOs to show you. This is the third hat from the Tea Collection: Chai, in Quince & Co. Puffin, as modeled by my youngest daughter, Melissa. She had a little Grey Gardens thing going on last night but I love the twinkle in her eye! She's been dressing with her own distinct style since she was a 2 year old and these photos really take me back.

 

This is Hibiscus, done in Misti Alpaca Paints. I haven't blocked it yet, so the lace pattern isn't as pronounced as it will be.

The first one I knit, Everyday Brew, also in Misti Alpaca Paints. Stephanie appropriated it as soon as she saw it, which brings me to my exciting news: she is home from Togo!

 

It was rather sudden and a bit nerve racking, as she was traveling from Lome', through Paris and Brussels, just ahead of the terrorist attacks. She was flying Friday night, which meant we really didn't know for sure if she was able to leave Europe until we met her at the Norfolk airport on Saturday afternoon!

Thankfully she arrived safe and sound and completely unaware of the tragedy in Paris, as she slept on her layover in the Brussels airport!

She brought back a suitcase full of clothes in gorgeous African prints and colors. Aren't they beautiful?

 

I've already cast on for Lapsang, using another skein of Puffin. I'm really happy about using so much stash yarn!

I think I was able to knit so much due to a short break on the Outer Banks of North Carolina with a group of friends. I drove down on Friday at noon, and was supposed to stay through Sunday, but instead, I drove home in time to meet Stephanie at the airport on Saturday. Even though my stay was short, it was wonderful, partly due to the friends, and partly due to the gorgeous weather. Just look at that blue sky!

I made time to sit on the beach for an hour before I headed home. As my mom said when I showed her this picture, "the beach is my happy place." So true.

Have a great week and love your life!

 

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Bang on the Drum All Day

Remember the Todd Rundgren song? I was thinking of that song Friday, only substituting the words, "I just want to knit on the couch all day" instead of banging a drum. This year is a rough one in many ways and I'm not alone in feeling this way. However, I'm determined not to live each week waiting for Friday, so I won't belabor the point here.

I cast on for the Everyday Brew hat using some stash yarn, a blue shade of Misti Alpaca, that I bought at a deep sale a while back and I've already finished it. I finished my beautiful Wayfarer scarf on Thursday night while I was at my knitting group and I'm hoping to block it this weekend and take photos, if it ever stops raining. I was able to photograph it but didn't block it yet; I used Canopy Worsted from the Fibre Company.

The hat was definitely a quick knit, and I'm planning to gift it to one of the girls for Christmas. I need to make a guy hat or two but the Tea Collection was calling my name. I so rarely make women's hats; not sure why though.

 

Steve was out of town for work last week from Sunday night until Wednesday night and he's doing it again this week, so I had my Rhinebeck friends over this afternoon for a knitting and tea party. I made spinach quiche and mini cheesecakes, plus it motivated me to do a little house cleaning!

I've made a few Honey Cowls, or at least I thought I had, until I started the most recent one and realized I'd been making them wrong. Every time I've made them, I've done the slip stitch pattern on every row, instead of every other row.

They are fine but I'm really liking the way it looks when knitted as the pattern was written. I'm using my last skein of Cephalopod yarn and I may have to keep this cowl because of the yarn. It's so gorgeous and since she went out of business, it's one of a kind.

 

 

 

 

I'm also working on the Guernsey Wrap; I love the Green Mountain Spinnery Weekend Wool I chose, both the color, Pumpkin, and the crisp stitch definition.

 

This week should be fairly easy as I only have students on Monday, Thursday, and Friday. Looking forward to it but also to more knitting time. It's time to cast on for another quick Tea hat!

 

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Winter is Coming

I was listening to a podcast last night and heard about a collection of hat patterns named after tea, so I looked them up on Ravelry. The name of the ebook is The Tea Collection and the patterns are adorable, so I bought it. These photos are from Claire Devine's Ravelry page and are the ones I like best, although they're all super cute. The ebook even includes two cowl patterns, the Earl Grey Cowl and the Lapsang Cowl.

Peppermint Leaves

Lady Grey

Everyday Brew

Earl Grey

Chamomile

 

Check it out if you'd like some cute hat patterns. Remember, winter is coming, which means Christmas is coming too.

 

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What Fun!

One of the teachers in the English department suggested we all dress up as a literary term on Friday as a way to reinforce vocabulary and to have fun with it. This is a photo of four of us, but almost the entire department participated. I was a metaphor. (As in, "I'm not like a witch. I am a witch."

On Saturday, Steve and I drove up to Richmond, and took a party bus with the Georgia Tech Alumni group he belongs to and went to Charlottesville for the Tech-UVA game. Although GT lost, it was a great day for college football; the weather was perfect.

 

 

Of course, I knit all through the game.

 

The GT mascot, Buzz, came up in the stands for some photo ops.

Since I couldn't talk Steve into a photo with him, I took a selfie!

We stayed at a historic inn in downtown Richmond last night; the Lindon Row Inn, which dates back to when Poe was a resident of the area.

This was the view from our room:

I've almost finished the scarf, thanks to some car knitting, although it's still too warm around here to get any use. But at least I'll be ready for Thanksgiving in Brooklyn!

 

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