Le Poulet (and some knitting)

The hubby is enrolled in cooking courses to earn his certificate in culinary arts. What a great thing for me! In the first class, he learned to debone a chicken, make chicken stock from the carcass and make pan seared chicken breast with homemade pan sauce! Yum, you say? Yes, well check out the these thighs and stock:




In knitting news, this is a sweater I finished in March - Very comfy!

Pattern: Yarn Girls' Guide to Simple Knits Sweatshirt
Yarn: Manos del Uruguay
Alterations: Left off the hood

Sewing: part trois

I'm diggin' my new camera. I need to talk to the Blogger folks about getting a faster upload though. They really need a drag and drop feature like Flickr. Maybe there's something that I'm not aware of?

Anne, Kristen and I are in the craziest sewing class! Tonight was our 3rd session and it was insane. We're making the following pattern, which states that it is tres facile, which I'm finding more difficult to believe with each passing week. Who knew that sewing was this hard!?



I think I'll stick to knitting and keep my sewing to pillows and curtains. Despite my stress with sewing, I have been having a wonderful time meeting the girls for dinner each week at European Market before the class. Leslie was able to join us tonight! Leslie, we miss you in the class! We enjoyed some wonderful soups - Anne ordered gazpacho and Kristen and I chowed down on shrimp and tomato soup. Leslie ordered a chicken salad sammie which looked quite yummy. I ended my meal with a homemade raisin cookie, which was delicious. Really - if it weren't for our European Market trips, I would lose my mind in this class. Thanks gals!

I'm back!

If there are any readers left for this sad, abandoned blog! I've been absent for a while as I was waiting to buy a new camera. While I was looking at the Canon Powershots, the hubby went and bought me a brand new camera for mother's day! (Glad I didn't buy one too!). I love it - it's fun, and really easy to use. So, I'm back in the blogging/picture game. I have so much knitting to show off!
Cheers!

Truth

Really this says it all! Happy Easter!


The only place where housework comes before needlework is in the dictionary. ~Mary Kurtz

Are you ready?

When you cannot sleep it is a perfect time to think about yarn and yarn related items. Is it March 18th already! I can't believe it. Spring is just around the corner. Are you ready for spring, summer and fall festivals!?

This year, I'm going all out and planning to attend many of these. Which of these are you planning to attend?
Hope to see you there!

May 3-4
Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival
Howard Co. Fairgrounds, MD
Notes: I have never been to this festival as we're always out of town. No matter what is going on (barring an emergency), I'll be in MD this year to see the sheep and enhance my stash.

June 14-15
SoXperience 2008 at Carodan Farm
Notes: I attended last year and highly recommend it! The farm is situated in the mountains of Virginia. You'll knit outdoors amongst sheep, alpaca and llamas.

Oct. 4-5
Fall Fiber Festival
Montpelier Estate, Orange Co., VA
Notes: I attended this show a few years ago and thought it was great. Since it's so close to me (and my brother and sister-in-law live right down the road), I'll probably head over this year.

Oct. 18-19
NY Sheep & Wool Festival
Rhinebeck, NY
Notes: OMG! I am so excited about Rhinebeck! I've never been, but this year some new friends that I met at last year's ASIST conference emailed me about going to NY! Hopefully I'll see some snow (as I've been deprived of any real winter this year ).

Nov. 14-16
KnitXperience, A Knitters Retreat
Graves Mountain Lodge, Syria, VA - sponsored by Carodan Farm
Notes: I signed up for this retreat last year, but at the last minute had to cancel. November at Grave's Mountain should be really cozy!

More

Things I Love

As I was Web surfing this morning I found a fellow blogger that had listed 100 things they love. I thought this was such a cool idea so here goes:

100 things I love in no particular order:
1 - my husband's homemade bread
2 - knitting
3 - rosemary
4 - cats (particularly Bloo)
5 - black and white photography
6 - sheep
7 - historic homes
8 - hydrangeas
9 - alpacas
10 - lavender
11 - downy woodpeckers
12 - grandpa ott vines
13 - goats
14 - my yellow yarn room
15 - farmer's market
16 - honey
17 - sleepy time tea
18 - my kitchen window in the breakfast nook
19 - inverness, scotland
20 - organizing things
21 - antique china
22 - northwest gardens
23 - the library of congress
24 - arts and crafts style
25 - the hubby's beef bourguignon
26 - dinner crepes at "le chat qui pêche" in valenciennes, france
27 - the jewish museum in prague
28 - the smell of pine
29 - holiday decorating
30 - fuzzy water
31 - côtes du rhône
32 - eva hesse (diary & artwork)
33 - red leaves in the spring on my tea rose
34 - russian sage
35 - swirlees at tomasitos in santa fe, new mexico
36 - the international rose test garden in portland, oregon
37 - my cashmere shawl
38 - my swallowtail shawl
39 - j.jill
40 - linen
41 - angora bunnies
42 - the outer banks in the winter
43 - pea island national wildlife refuge
44 - peony
45 - pine bark nuggets (mulch)
46 - my arbor
47 - ashtanga yoga
48 - pride & prejudice (bbc 6 hour version)
49 - rain
50 - snow
51 - wind chimes
52 - chicago architecture
53 - simone de beauvoir
54 - npr
55 - my new car
56 - seaboard cafe in raleigh, nc
57 - agatha chistie's hercule poirot mysteries
58 - the french language
59 - reading
60 - traveling to new places
61 - raspberries
62 - pottery barn & williams sonoma
63 - lewis ginter botanical gardens
64 - the wilson library at UNC
65 - historical maps
66 - chartreuse hydrangeas
67 - tulips
68 - wine labels
69 - the weatherspoon art gallery in greensboro, nc
70 - thai food
71 - blood oranges
72 - douthat state park in virginia
73 - grapefruit
74 - grove park inn in asheville
75 - bandelier national monument in new mexico
76 - a wood fireplace
77 - planting seeds
78 - elizabeth zimmerman books
79 - buying fabric
80 - my french press
81 - jefferson vineyards
82 - crabtree lake in nc
83 - kayaking
84 - otters
85 - montbeliard, france
86 - lemurs
87 - foreign films
88 - golden retrievers
89 - cottage living magazine
90 - west virginia pepper jelly
91 - watching trash tv with my new friends
92 - pottery
93 - getting my hair cut at aveda
94 - spas
95 - bicycling in the outer banks
96 - sewing
97 - vintage fabric
98- antiques
99 - scrabble
100 - fried shrimp at the farmer's market in raleigh, nc
and of course family & friends!

Lace Leaf Shawl

My camera finally died so I don't have my own photos to post until I buy a new one. I am currently working on an adorable set of booties in Rowan Denim to go along with the Baby Bib O'Love bibs for my friend's twin boys (yikes!). The pattern, Ruth's Perfect Baby Booties, is available for free online. Once I finish up bootie #2, I'll start on the Evelyn Clark Lace Leaf Shawl in Blue Sky Alpaca Silk, garnet 138. I have heard that this shawl is a bit easier than the Swallowtail, which I found to be pretty straightforward until those dreaded nubs!

Too Tired

I've been too tired to knit or to write. I'll post photos soon. I did finish the blue sweater and have wrapped up the baby bibs - very cute. I wanted to pass along this fantastic site: Bedlam Farm. If you're in the mood for some gorgeous pix of upstate New York, funny shots of goats and sweet photos of dogs, check it out. Jon Katz, owner of the farm and author, apparently writes a column for Slate. I read his recent article, Getting My Goat, at work yesterday. I laughed so hard! Photo from the story is above - Credits to Slate and Jon Katz. Bedlam makes me want a farm even more!

Enjoy.

Baby Bib O' Love

I'm currently making a really cute Rowan Baby Bib O' Love from Mason Dixon Knitting
for a friend of ours who recently found out she's having twins! I am using a skein of Rowan denim I had in my stash. I love it!

My sweater is in limbo - I couldn't figure out how to set in the sleeves on this one, so I'll be heading to TYL on Saturday begging for help...

Updates!

I know. I know. I suck at updating this blog. Since the beginning of the year, I've been working on 2 papers for publication, a new technology interest group in Richmond, and numerous projects at work! That said, I have been knitting quite a bit (more photos to come from that) and will be seaming up my 2nd seamed sweater today!

I had so many other photos to catch you up on that I thought I would post those here first. Many of these photos are from Christmas and my birthday (January 1). In terms of knitting paraphernalia I made out this year. It was a knitting filled holiday!

The hubby bought me tons of yarn (photos forthcoming) and these really cool books, Folk Style


and Knitting Nature.



My mother sent me Elizabeth Zimmerman's The Opinionated Knitter (my all time favorite book!) and The Natural Knitter. If you weren't tempted to own an Alpaca farm before, this book will make you want to do so.


The hubby's mom, my favorite mother-in-law sent me these AWESOME hand-knitted socks, which I adore and wear all the time. You can't see if from the photo, but the socks have a beautiful cabled pattern knitted into the cuff and down the top.





Other than knitting, the hubby donned his cooking outfit and we made goodies for our grandmothers (ok, so he made the goodies and I watched and sampled).



We traveled to Colonial Williamsburg to see the sites.


The hubby gave me my first sock monkey!



Bloo enjoyed several cat naps.


My Christmas/January month was also highlighted by the Hand Felted hat class Anne, Kristen and I took at the Visual Arts Center. My hat looks ridiculous and has since turned into a felted bowl.