Knitting and Brunch with Friends!

You may remember I've written before that I belong to an awesome knitting group. We have such a mix of people, older, younger, male and female; and yet we are quite a homogeneous group and have a great time together. Two of our members we don't get to see very often because they live about an hour and a half from our meeting place.

These two great guys invited the group to brunch at their home this past Sunday and we had an absolutely wonderful day. We enjoyed so much yummy food, everyone brought an offering to the table.

There were mini blueberry scones. I wish I had eaten another one of these, but I just didn't have room!

Two different kinds of quiche.

The famous Ambler Donuts (that we hear so much about!) cut in bite sized pieces so we could sample them all. I loved the maple cream filled one. I did't try the peanut butter one. I wonder how that one was...

A wonderful fruit salad that everyone wanted the recipe for.We were told that because of the constraints of ingredients on hand, the dressing was an adaptation of the one in the cookbook. We all agreed we wanted the New Jeff Original recipe!

Some Ham Stuffed Rolls with a Maine Honey Champagne Mustard. I guess I didn't to get a photo of these after the basket was opened.

Juices, Coffee, and the most amazing Hot Chocolate made with real milk and large chunks of chocolate that melted in the mug of milk. (Again no photo.)

And then, there was the ever growing leaning tower of waffles! These waffles were the best! They were light and crispy around the edges. Oh so tasty!

Jeff slaved at the waffle iron most of the morning.

We were able to keep the Cook company as the guys have a huge kitchen with a great big table... clearly the hub of their home when entertaining!

After we stuffed ourselves, we retired to the living room (or as Will claims they say in Downton Abbey, "crossed over to the drawing room").

There was much knitting and spinning going on. We also discussed and planned for our next Secret Swap.

A knitter couldn't help but feel the warm and welcome in their home. Everywhere you look there were signs of fiber awesomeness!

Thanks for having us, Will and Jeff! I can't wait for our next outing!

More June Photo a Day

I've been keeping up with my photos every day even if I haven't had the time to post them each day. I have to say, I'm really enjoying this assignment... going through my day with my daily prompt in mind. I've even gotten my family involved in the process a little bit.

I haven't always been 100% happy with the photos I've come up with. They aren't always the most creative, but I feel like I'm learning a bit from the whole process. Sometimes the story behind the photo is better than the photo itself.
So, to pick up where I left off:

#10~ Best Bit of Your Weekend

A gathering of family to celebrate a graduation!

#11~ Door

Down around the corner on Main Street in my little town.

#12~ From a Low Angle

Knit Nite at the bookstore.

#13~ Art

My dad's artwork.

#14~ Time
Timeless!

Just a note about this last photo. A few friends gathered tonight at the bookstore for an extra Knit Nite this week. I told them what today's prompt was and how I didn't want to take a photo of just a clock or watch or something, but that I hadn't come up with an idea yet. One friend suggested Time magazine. I thought it was a great idea. I didn't say it, but I thought to myself, "I hope the cover of this issue is something really cool." In a few minutes I put down my knitting and wandered over to the magazine rack. I nearly jumped out of my skin when I saw the cover! For those of you who don't know me well, I couldn't have wished for a better cover!

Thank you!

I've wanted to do a giveaway for some time now, but with just 12 followers it seems a bit silly. Then I was thinking back about my first year of blogging and how it feels when someone new starts following or when someone leaves a comment. I really appreciate everyone's comments! However, there has been one faithful follower who consistently leaves me such encouraging comments. So, I decided I would make something special for that follower in special thanks for all the devoted comments.


This follower of mine is an a very talented Craftmaster who sews , loves vintage stuff, and loves owls. I had an idea in mind of something I wanted to make but I wasn't sure if I would find the fix-ins for it. But I did...

Thank you Robbie! I hope you like it!

Happy Memorial Day

We took a little ride to New Hope, PA today and met up with our good friends, Chuck and Carol. If you've been a reader of my blog for a while, you might remember that they are from Connecticut, where we're from originally. We normally see each other about four times a year when we visit them or they come to see us in New Jersey.  Recently though, they relocated to Pennsylvania, shortening the distance between us from four hours, to less than two! Yay!


But, getting back to our day in New Hope... We had a really beautiful day, all sunny and bright. We ate lots of good food, browsed all the fun shops and took a short ride up the Delaware River on a ferry boat.


I had a little bit of fun with my camera today, too. Enjoy some of the sights of my day.

Indulgences

Definition of INDULGE

transitive verb

1

a : to give free rein tob : to take unrestrained pleasure in : gratify

2

a : to yield to the desire of : humor b : to treat with excessive leniency, generosity, or consideration

intransitive verb

: to indulge oneself

Rittenhouse Square

In April my good friend and knitting buddy, Carole, and I had a day of indulgence! We took a little train ride into Philadelphia to visit the yarn shop Loop! Since both of us are usually on a very limited yarn budget, this was a treat of excessive generosity!

Another knitting buddy of ours, Will, works at Loop. When we arrived, he yielded to our desires and gave us free rein to browse about the candy store yarn shop, all the while answering our questions and offering creative suggestions. We took unrestrained pleasure in every yarn we looked at and touch.


Loop is a wonderful yarn shop. It has very clean and neat appearance and is very organized.   The staff is friendly and helpful. I'm not just saying that because Will is my friend... I've been there before and everyone has been welcoming. They have a large work table with chairs that calls to you to sit for a bit and knit few rows while chatting with the staff and customers.


While I sat for a moment, I was able to better take in the array of yarns that I thought I had just looked over quite extensively, and yet I was seeing things I hadn't taken in from the close-up inspection I had just made. Once I sat back and looked around, I was seeing some yarns for the first time.


While we were there, many customers came and went, asked questions, shared their plans for their yarn, and were all very friendly. At one point Carole and I got involved with helping a customer to decide on a project and choose the yarn for a baby gift. We joked that we had earned our keep by "working" for a while. I would LOVE to work in a yarn store!


It took some time, but we finally settled on our own purchases. We didn't buy a lot, but we left knowing that we would be back again, so there was no need to indulge oneself too much at one time!


Here we have my indulgences for the day.

First, some Black Bunny Fibers Silk Sock in the colorway Iridescent that you see here already in progress. Yes, this is the yarn I was bribing myself with in an earlier blog post. Yes, I know I haven't shown you all the finished projects that were involved in that bribery yet, but I will.

Second, some Elsebeth Lavold Hempathy in Olive, Denim and Pale Silver. I plan to make myself a shawl with it. I had in mind the Earth and Sky by Stephen West, but Will isn't in agreement with me on this. He is encouraging me to be creative and come up with my own design. I'm not sure yet, I'm still pretty stuck on my first idea.

In the morning before getting on the train to Philadelphia, we visited a little bead store. My eye was caught by a pair of earrings on display in the wonderful colors of orange and green. So summery! I just had to yield to the desire to buy the beads so I could make them for myself. I also found some great blue bugle beads that I couldn't live without.

And finally, here is one of the the beautiful yarns Carole indulged herself with. She is making my favorite pattern... the Multnomah Shawl! 

How have you indulged yourself lately?

Straying Off the Path

I have a finished object to share, but I must confess that it isn't one of the many, many UFOs that was shown littering my craft room floor. This is a project I started after that photo was taken. Yes, I strayed off the path a little bit by starting another project, but I did finish it in record time, so it hasn't held up my progress too much.

It is knit from Socks that Rock Lightweight in the colorway Mossay. This beautiful yarn was gifted to me by the wonderful and talented Jaqi last fall. I knew as soon as I saw this yarn, what pattern I wanted to knit it into.

I knit the Multnomah pattern the first time with Madelinetosh in Toasted Pecan and named it Amber Waves. Although I wear it any time of year, it has come to be thought of as my autumn shawl. This is now my spring version in a lush green. (Jaqi knows I’m a sucker for green!)

I was having a hard time deciding on a name for this beautiful shawl until I was inspired during the photo shoot. I have always loved Sassafras trees… and just look at the way the green of the yarn matches the leaves.

So now it's back to the UFOs. Oh, and by the way, I'll spare you more photos of it for now, but I've been working a lot on the Dr. Who Scarf!

Basement Workouts

In the basement of the building where I work, there is a weight-room/gym that is available to all employees. For free. It's not a fancy gym mind you. It's mostly weights and benches that have been donated, but there is an awesome, state of the art treadmill and a not quite so awesome elliptical. There are also lots of mats, a TV and a DVD player.


I've never been a gym goer. I've never had the desire to go to classes for aerobics or yoga or spinning or any of that kind of thing. I prefer to do my exercising in the privacy of my own home. Or on my bike in the open outdoors. But sometimes it's just hard to get motivated and you find yourself being less and less active.


So, a friend from work and I have been trying to motivate each other and have been taking advantage of this make-shift gym lately. We sneak in at night about 7:00 when we know no one else will be there.

We do about a 1/2 hour of cardio, trading off on the treadmill and the elliptical; and then we do about a 1/2 hour to an hour of yoga/pilates.

This week we were able to motivate another coworker to join us. And then there were three...

Oh, and remember my plan to do the 21 Day Yoga Challenge? I failed miserably. Hopefully this plan will work out a little better for me!