Pasta-rific!

About a week ago, our knitting group decided to be versatile and add our skills to the kitchen. I brought out my pasta maker, drying rack, & headed over to Knittripps large kitchen for the festivities! Onigiri brought us the special flour from one of our local Italian grocery stores, and Natalie joined us for the main event. Here are some pics of our progress:
Our noodles turned out really good. I think next time we are going to expand beyond plain noodles and try either spinach or cracked pepper. YUM!

Nouveau made an appearance yesterday for a friend's wedding. I absolutely love this piece. Could be my favorite yet. I loved it from the minute I saw it in the pattern book. It was listed as crochet & advanced (when I am really a beginner with crochet), but I knew that I needed to try it. And it ended up being a success! Goes to show that everything is possible with a little ambition. Here she is draped outside:

She CAN do it, She WILL do it

Yup, that's right...Nouveau has been conquered! And as it lays here in our computer room, I am admiring it in blocking/drying state....wooo hoo!

I found that 21 squares suited me just fine, as well as the 10 balls of Jo Sharp's Rare Comfort Mohair Infusion. Which is sorta strange, because despite being spot on with the square measurements, I could not have squeezed out 32 if I tried. Deadline is this Saturday for a wedding, and it looks as though my goal has been accomplished. As for the fuzz? Well, to be determined. But check out the difference between pre-block & blocking (wet still in the pic). I am sooooo in love with the stained-glass effects of this pattern. Fantastik (pronounced fantasteeek) knitwear designwork Jo Sharp team!

Mo-hap-py

Mohair....fuzzy fuzzy, soft soft.

It is really difficult to get a good picture of this, but here is the progress so far. 6 squares done, and I think that my final # may be closer to 18-24 rather than the 32 the pattern calls for.

I had hoped to get this shawl done by next weekend to wear to a wedding, but barring any extreme crafty-time, I think I will not be finished.

I did receive my yarn for the Blue Sky Alpacas One Cable Vest while I was in NY. This time KnitPicks delivered their yarn quickly, the carrier pigeons must be on vacation :) I am looking forward to getting back to knitting, so I might start alternating projects again to spice things up!

Anyone getting a headstart on holiday knitting?

Take time to lend a hand if you can

I was doing my usual blog-reads and came across this wonderful initiative for the women who have lost loved ones with the recent Amish shootings. Do you haved knitting/spinning/shawl skills? Would you like to lend a hand?

Perspective

Ever since I was little, I have always been fascinated by New York City. I had never been there, but I always knew that it would be a spectacular place. I loved the idea of hustle and bustle and big, beautiful buildings. Lots of activity, diversity, and a really interesting place.

I just spent the last week there for work and was amazed. What is a gigantic place, feels so comfortable spending time there. One of my colleagues mentioned how he had been there almost 30 years ago and how he was amazed by how much cleaner the city is today, way to go Giuliani. I do think that there is a special amount of pride these days flowing through the city.

Work sucked up lots of time (isn't it funny how that works), but I managed to get in some time exploring in the evenings.

Times Square
View from Weehawken, NJ

View from the FerryNaked Cowboy makes his appearance on Times Square
The World Trade Center site and the progress being made on the Freedom Tower Down in one of the subway tunnels. Just thinking of the history here and how someone a long time ago did these mosaics by hand to mark what location the subway travelers were at makes me smile.