Monthly Archives: November 2015

Thanksgiving Prep

It’s almost time for us to submit to our yearly food coma! Among other things, this year I am thankful we are not traveling anywhere.  We are looking forward to a quiet “just us” day of binge-eating and parade/dog show watching, followed by pie with our friends The Stowells.

Today I am working on prepping everything I can in advance of tomorrow’s cookfest. I made cranberry chutney this morning using THIS RECIPE. The only thing I changed was that I swapped out the water for bourbon, beacuse, well….have you met me?

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I am also making the pumpkin bread for the stuffing, which I will finish putting together tomorrow morning.  As always, I’m using Susan’s recipe, because, honestly, it’s what my dreams are made of. You can find that recipe HERE.  I can’t wait! I’m going to serve it in this adorable pumpkin serving dish I picked up at World Market.

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Speaking of all things pumpkin, I tried out another recipe of Susan’s that I can’t get enough of, and I offer up here in case you need a (very) last-minute side dish idea.  STUFFED PUMPKIN

Can I just tell you, it’s the most cozy, homey, delicious ambrosial thing you have ever, ever had.  I made it last week when Paul had the kids in NY with him, and I ate at least half of it myself before they got home and finished it off.

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I let it cool quite a bit before cutting it so that I could get individual pieces rather than eating it like a fondue (though that would be scrumptious as well).

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Really, try it for yourselves.  I used a sugar pumpkin because I could not get my hands on a Long Island Cheese pumpkin for all the tea in China around these parts.

Incidentally, if you’re relatively local to Richmond, Va, there’s a brewery that makes a pumpkin ale that compliments this dish beautifully.

The other food advice I can give for the holiday is THESE dinner rolls from King Arthur Flour.  They are very nearly foolproof, the recipe makes plenty (quickly!) and everyone loooooooooves them.

The kids in particular are looking forward to breakfast – I got some frozen chocolate croissants from Trader Joes for us to enjoy while we watch the parade, all snuggled together in our jammies.

It’s going to be an interesting holiday season with all the new cats around here, but no one seems to care about the potential for disaster, since they’re so darn cute. And they haven’t mastered jumping up on the table yet, either, so there’s that.

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As for Dilly, she’s just as adorable and naughty as ever, but she’s coming around to them. She’s even actually been playing with them. But she still won’t admit she likes them.

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Happy Thanksgiving, all. Hope it’s a warm, cozy, fun, delicious one!

 

 


Frenchtown Bridge …

Uhlerstown/Frenchtown Bridge over the Delaware River

Frenchtown, New Jersey

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Thanksgiving 2015 …

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Review: Free Spirit Knits

Review: Free Spirit Knits post image

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First, the facts:

Title: Free Spirit Knits: 20 Knitted Garments and Accessories Inspired by the Southwest

Author: Anne Podlesak

Published by: Interweave Press, 2015

Pages: 143

Type: Patterns

Chapters:

No chapters, just a list of patterns

KS: Free Spirit Knits

The In-Depth Look:

This is a nice, straight-forward pattern book. Except for a few technique pages at the back, the entire thing is made up of the patterns so you can dive right in with your knitting.

What kind of patterns? Well, the inspiration is right there in the title–the Southwest of the United States.

The author says at the beginning, “The high desert area of the southwestern United States encompasses many different types of gorgeous vistas–from mountains to arroyos to mesas to valleys. This area has inspired many different types of artistic creations, including jewelry and pottery from the local Native American artisans, as well as the painted works of Georgia O’Keefe.”

As you might expect, then, the colors and designs are all inspired by the Southwest’s wide-sky and vivid color. The offerings are mostly sweaters and wraps, but there is at least one pair of socks, a hat, and a few things to keep your neck warm, too.

The book’s vision is clear, and the back of the book says it best: combining the beauty of the high desert with a sense of play and adventure.

You can find this book in your local LYS or buy it at Amazon.com.

Want to see bigger pictures? Click here.

This review copy was kindly donated by Interweave Press. Thank you!

My Gush: Vivid and relaxing knits, like the region that inspired it.

Weekly Challenge: Trio …

My trio is this statue in Morristown, New Jersey of the Marquis de Lafayette, Colonel Alexander Hamilton and General George Washington

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https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/trio/


When someone is *even better* in real life than you could have wished for…

Sheep Stash: wooden fiber animals rating money for Heifer International, with free patterns by Susan B. Anderson

Last week, I sent a few sets of wooden sheep and alpacas to several of my “famous” knitwear designer friends and yarn makers to see if they would dress them up to help us promote them. They have been appearing on Facebook this week, and Susan B. Anderson just took this game to another level. She made sweaters for her animals, and if that wasn’t amazing enough, today she published free patterns so you can make them too!

 

I gave a speech in NYC a couple of months ago and one of the slides I showed was, “People will help you, if you ask them.” I am so grateful that I stepped out of my comfort zone to ask busy, important people to help us with this project. And I am even more grateful with their response.

You can get your own set of sheep, alpaca, goats, llamas and bunnies in our pop-up sheep shop.

Ravelry Indie Designers Gift-Along 2015

I can't believe it's November! And, this means it's time for Ravelry's most amazing time of the year for independently published knitting patterns.  This year is no different, and I'm participating as a designer with 14 patterns on sale for 25% off their usual price...



AND, I'm offering a physical prize, too!  I'm offering a giclee (fancy term for high-quality inkjet) print of my knitterly illustration "6 Fabulous English Sheep Breeds".  So, if you're interested in winning it and/or hundreds of other prizes, check out the Ravelry Indie Design Gift-Along page full of information on the super-fun events to come.

  • Prizes
  • Games
  • Contests
  • Knit-alongs
  • Crochet-alongs
  • Machine-Knitalongs

All the details are on the Ravelry Gift-Along page and the magical gift code in order to make your 25% off of my knitting pattern dreams come true is there too!  Have a great time, and I'll see you there!

Look …

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Walking Over The River …

Recently on my daughter Deb’s birthday we went for a walk over the Hudson River on the beautiful Walkway Over The Hudson,

(the above photo is from Google, all others are mine)

The walkway is in Poughkeepsie, New York… it was a former railroad bridge built in 1889, the bridge deck stands 212 feet above the river’s surface and is 1.28 miles long, making it the longest, elevated pedestrian bridge in the world.  The day we were there was sunny, cloudy, breezy, windy and as you can see still lots of beautiful foliage.   Here we go…

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pizap.com14471878998221Deb & Chappy                                        Deb & best friend Dawn

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view up river …
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down river towards NYC which is approximately 85 miles away…

IMG_1663 looking straight down …

pizap.com14475459731561half way point…

pizap.com14475460666361and another stunning view of the Mid-Hudson Bridge..b

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barge coming up river…

pizap.com14475461502601After we had lunch and rested for a bit we started back across the bridge..

I want to give honorable mention to 14 year old granddog Chappy who never once slowed down and enjoyed every moment of the bridge walk. IMG_1696
One last look…
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This was so much fun and if it were closer than almost 2 hours from where I live I’d walk it more often.

Here are links to Walkway Over the Hudson:

http://www.scenichudson.org/parks/walkway

http://nysparks.com/parks/178/details.aspx


2015 Indie Design Gift-A-Long

GAL 728x90_JoinusIt’s nearly time for the 2015 Indie Design Gift-A-Long!

The gift-a-long, aka GAL2015, will run Thursday, November 19th at 8 pm (US-EST) through Thursday, December 31st at midnight (US-EST). Prizes galore (patterns, books, yarn, and more) will be available. 335 indie designers are participating this year. To join in the gift-a-long, simply knit or crochet any of their paid patterns and post all the required info in the appropriate thread in the group here.

From Thursday, November 19th at 8:00 pm US EST – Friday, November 27, 2015 at 11:59 pm US EST the participating indie designers will be discounting between 5 – 20 of their patterns 25% for this event. Use coupon code: giftalong2015.

I have 20 patterns chosen for the sale — you can get a peek at them in this pic:

GAL 2015

I’ve tried to pick a variety of accessories, using a variety of techniques.  Many are unisex.  Stranded? Plenty of it, including my Ringtail Hat and the Quatrefoil fingerless mitts from California Revival Knits. Lace? The Undersea Garden cowl, also from CRK. Lace and stranded? Check out the Wave Break cowl. Cables?  My Slide Rock socks are full of squishy cable-y goodness. And there’s lots of texture, including the Gila Mitts, Mica Cowl, and Javelina Hat.  And that’s just what’s in the montage above!  I have 12 more patterns that you can see in the bundle here.