What a bust.

I was so excited to spend last night watching really fun Fall TV. But what did I find when I came home? My TIVO had recorded re-runs of Project Runway instead of ANTM and Survivorman instead of Lost! I nearly cried.

And speaking of crying, I almost lost it at the end of Project Runway when it was only Michael and Jeffery left. I was really going to cry if Michael got elimintated. Thank goodness he didn't!

I'm having some issues with flickr.com right now, so I won't be posting much. Not that I have been in the last month anyway.

In the meantime, check out where I'm moonlighting and s'occupez-vous!

the little sock that could

Paul Revere House
Originally uploaded by Needleworks, Inc..

Boy, yesterday's post looks like real junk, huh? I'm still mastering this multiple photo's thing. My internet connection at The Works is too slow to even allow it, so I posted from work, after hours, and I guess I was just too tired to get it to look right.

This is a pcture of my Jaywalker sock in Boston. It was only approriate that I brought the Jaywalkers with me. I had a nice, four hour-train ride to work on this sock and it was enough time to knit the heel flap, turn the heel and pick up stitches for the gusset.

I have to tell you, though, I'm really disappointed in it. The tension on my heel, where I had to work back and forth, is so much looser than the rest of the sock. It looks awful. Just awful. And I don't much like that knitting backwards business. Oh, well, I don't know if I see many more socks in my future.

Oh yeah, I spent the weekend in Boston. It was fun. We were real tourists and did all kinds of tourist stuff. You can see more pics on my flickr page.

(And you know what else, I must have been really, really tired last night because ANTM isn't even on on Tuesday. It's on tonight! Tonight, by the way, is a major TV night. I don't know if I can handle it!)

I had a super-big weekend, two weekends ago. So big that I am only just recovering.



First up, The NYC Knit Out and Amy Singer Visit. Amy Singer came to our store and all my worlds collided. Here is Amy with the Famous In My Universe, Carol. I love that Carol and Amy got to hang out because they are both really cool ladies.
The rest of the weekend was a blur. Needless to say, people who know me, know that I worked, and didn't participate in the Knit Out much. Oh well.





That very same weekend was a book release party for Heather, hosted by the fabulous Jill. Pictured left, Heather, Claudine, Jill and Berhan. This was Saturday night. The next day was the Knit Out. It was a action packed weekend.









Then, on Tuesday, it was Berhan's birthday. Why do I have no pictures of us singing karaoke at Berhan's birthday? Because it wasn't pretty. That's why. Trust me.

I managed to muddle my way through the week and then go to Boston this past weekend. I spent Saturday - Monday there. I will have proof of my visit (and knitting activity) for you tomorrow.

Now I'm off to watch ANTM and last night's Tivo-ed Studio 60. Farewell.

nostalgia

nostalgia
Originally uploaded by Needleworks, Inc..

It's no secret that Thursdays at The Works is more about nesting and less about knitting. It's a day that I get out of work early and have the chance to do things like shop, cook, and blog.

I saw these dahlias as I was walking to the subway and they called to me to buy them. Flowers are a luxury item when you live in the city. You have to depend on your local deli to provide afforable greenery, rather than stepping into your garden to cut it yourself.

In the bowl are some "italian prunes," or at least, that's what the produce store was calling them. They're a small type of plum and my grandparents used to have one of these trees in their backyard.

It wasn't until I put these purchases on my table that I realized that what drew me to by them was nostalgia.

My mother's parents always had these two items in their backyard. They had a little patch of land in Trenton, NJ on which they had a pear tree and plum tree and also grew tomatoes, green beens, cucumbers, peppers, onions, garlic, horseradish, and recently, eggplant and zuchinni.

The fruit and flowers undeniably remind me of my youth and my grandparents' garden. There were always dahlia's to cut at the end of summer. My mom has pictures of me as a little girl, clutching bouquets of dahlias to take to my teachers on the first week of school.

As I grew older, I loved to go to my grandmother's yard and cut the overgrown flowers to take home with me. They always cheered me up. In fact, I felt that they held mysterious cheer-ing powers. When my grandfather was sick and dying of cancer, I would cut a few every day and put them in a plastic cup near his bed. I believed that they must make him happy as they did me. They were a reminder of the garden that he spent so many hours working and weeding.

The plums and pears were consumed constantly while they were available. The plums were baked in to cakes and buckles and eaten whole. We often couldn't keep up with the pears and they would ripen and fall to the ground making the backyard a minefield of buzzing bees. When they were picked, my grandfather would feed us, cutting slices of the pears with a small paring knife.

Once the season came to an end, the fruit was stewed and canned and we would eat them all winter long with our Farina. My grandparents managed to preserve a little of their Old World lifestyle amid the concrete of their new city.

These plums won't last long enough to can them. I plan on eating them tonight. You take them between your thumb and index finger and squeeze to reveal the little pit. One you remove that, you can pop the whole thing in your mouth.

I'm using the last of my grandmother's tomatoes to make a roasted tomato soup with lentils. I have a bag full of green beans that I don't know what to do with. I think I'll freeze some so that I can eat them mid-winter. The rest I plan on pickling.

But the plums, the plums will be eaten right away. Tonight.

P.S. Thanks to my friend, Berhan, who made a lovely gift of this pitcher and bowl!

the spoils of home

Some things I do almost immediately upon arriving at my parents' house.

1. Raid my mom's closet:

My mother is quite the fashion-plate and she never throws anything away. As a result, every few years or so, I get to rediscover some very cool stuff. This is a pin made from a walnut shell and a beaded necklace from when she was in college.

2. Hit the thrift stores:

I found these shirts at the local thrift shop. They just called out to me to buy them. I am going to make them into a patchwork something, but I'm not sure yet. Any thoughts? I also scored a cool, olive green, corduroy suit and a pleated, calf-length, wool skirt.

3. Go shoe shopping:

I always hit the Target and DSW in NJ. I find it so much more palatable shopping for shoes here than in NYC. It's less cut-throat. I picked up these babies yesterday. Aren't they the cutest?

slouching towards fall

alpaca beret
Originally uploaded by Needleworks, Inc..

I just could not take knitting on Not Bad Penny for one more minute, so I took one night off to make this beret.

(Sorry for the really bad quality photo. This is what happens when you try to take picture during a rainy afternoon.)

Made from: Misti Alpaca super chunky, double stranded

Knit on: size 10 and 15 addi turbo circular needles

Time to knit: one viewing of Angel, season one, disk three, one Deadwood season finale

You can find the pattern here. This is just the right kind of quick fix knit when you're longing for fall. Sigh.

SP8 Loot

SP8 Loot
Originally uploaded by Needleworks, Inc..

So I finally had a chance to snap pics of my SP8 loot. Now that you see it all, you know why it took me so long! This is what was included:

* Jam from a local orchard (Master P and I ate this for breakfast on Thursday - It was so good.)
* 3 skeins of merino wool from handpaintedyarn.com, colorway Strawberry Fields
* 2 skeins of Knitpicks sock yarn
* one skein of sock-weight soy yarn from local soy producers!
* more Sharpies and a cool notebook and little accesories pouch
* laceweight merino from handpaintedyarn.com
* fruit cocktail (This made me laugh the most. It proved that Stacey really, truly read my blog)
* a pig Christmas tree ornament and a t-shirt from Stacey's hometown
* sock yarn, hand-dyed by my secret pal. Isn't she the best?

What didn't make it to the photo gallery: a bunch of beauty supplies, which I had trouble photographing, more laceweight yarn that is a beautiful dark, almost black, purple color, and some chocolate goodies that I opened and ate right away.

This was my first blogger gift exchange and I have to say, that I was very, very fortunate. Thank you for everything, Stacey!