Thinking of something new

A bit brain-fried and pooped after the unpleasantness of the bar exam, fresh starts are on my mnd today. Like resolving to pay due attention to other things in my life, like cleaning (that's right, honey), cooking good food, and knitting of course. So as my tired eyes wander the internet, there are two lovely possibilities for my next knitting endeavor:

1) Knit and Tonic's Flair. Very Audrey Hepburn in Charade, no?

2) Bamboo. After reading IK's piece on bamboo yarns, I'm dreaming of that Alchemy Bamboo I felt at Purl on my last visit. So silky soft and smooth. And it's on sale at Webs, which I happen to have a gift certificate for from Christmas. However, I have no particular project in mind. Suggestions? Something that would require 1-2 skeins?

Okay, that's it for now. I'll be back soon, rested and refreshed.

Goodness gracious, today's the last day of February!

Sweetness and snow + too much law

Hello, thanks so much for all the sweet words on Lady Eleanor. I'm absolutely flattered and touched. I will wear her proudly.

On a not-so-exciting note today, I'm sorry to report that the February knitting forecast is not looking so good. Folks, I'm taking the bar exam in a week and a half. After I took the NY exam in 2004 I swore I would never again think of the Rule Against Perpetuities or General Testamentary Powers of Appointment, but here I am, making my outlines and cursing the law of contracts all over again. However, I certainly cannot complain, as my job as a lawyer in Vermont is part of what enabled us to move here, and to continue in that job I suppose I need to be licensed in the state. And my firm has generously granted me a 3-week sabbatical to accomplish this studying, so I've been trudging through this stuff from the comforts of my home, enjoying lunch at my table and watching the snow float down from the sky. I also owe many thanks to Jess, whose recent suffering through the bar has afforded me some great notes. But studying and feeling like a student again, a very strange feeling indeed.

As for the snow, my goodness, I think we have 4-ish feet total outside. That's cumulative over the past month or so, but at least 2 feet in that crazy Valentine's Day blizzard! My dear mother is coming to visit from Atlanta this weekend - she already believes we live in eskimo country or something, and this is going to come as quite a shock to her. Vermonters are tough cookies though, the snow plows have been working around the clock and everyone seems to be continuing business as usual. Our snowplow man came to plow our driveway last night and he wasn't even wearing a jacket or gloves!! I love it.

Hope you had a cozy little Valentine's Day. Ours was lovely and fun, and a little bit of an adventure. We had dinner reservations at a wonderful inn about 30 miles away and we were too stubborn to let a little blizzard scare us away from a good meal. So off we went in our trusty Honda Element 4-wheel drive - how bad could it get? Well, we made it, but probably risked our lives to get there. I would recommend listening to the National Weather Service when they say "extremely hazardous driving conditions" next time. We enjoyed every bit of our well-earned meal by the fire though, and the drive home was made a bit easier by a fresh plow. We ultimately did get stuck, but luckily it was just at the bottom of our driveway!

And thanks to my sweet Valentine, I also have a bunch of new projects for the knitting queue. In addition to the prettiest set of sticky notes I've ever seen, I received this book, which is full of beautiful pillows, blankets, and goodies for the home.





Well, really I must be studying now. Why is it that I feel most creative and inspired when I have no time to put my ideas into action? Oh dear.

I'll leave you with a few shots of my winter wonderland. Keep those fingers and toes toasty!

A whole lot of white

What better way to kick off February's Project Spectrum than with 5 more inches of snow?

As promised, some finished shots of Lady E:









Stay warm and cozy! I recommend cocoa.

So much

Oh my, why am I have so many problems with blogger? It took me
forever to publish this post, ugh! Anyway . . .

I've been a little quiet about knitting recently, not because I
haven't been knitting of course, but really it's just been repeat and
repeat of entrelac for the Lady Eleanor stole. Not something that I
find boring in the least bit, but there's only so much you can write
about. But now, it's ready in all of its lovely silk garden glory:



This is really only a sneak peak. This project is deserving of its
own photo shoot in good light, and not just photos consisting of me
turning the camera on myself. This weekend, perhaps.

I do love this shawl. I'd longed for this beautiful shawl for ages,
hesitant to plunge in to such a large project - size-wise, I thought
I might get bored or tempted to start something else mid-way
through. 10 skeins of noro is no small investment, and I wanted to
make it worth it. And boy did I ever. I completely enjoyed knitting
this shawl from start to finish. Entrelac is surprisingly easy, and
there's enough variation that I never tired of it.

This past week has also been a perfect week to roll out a new winter
accessory, in terms of the weather. All I really want to do is stay
in my house, wrap myself in warm things, and split my time between
the kitchen and knitting by the fire. Sounds great, right?
Unfortunately, I do have to make a living, so I have been reluctantly
venturing out to work every day. But that hasn't kept me from
promptly parking myself in my comfy chair, with my comfy pants, after
dinner each night with my new project, the ubitquitous clapotis.




This is my second clapotis, the first was knit with the pattern
choice of Lorna's Lace Lion and Lamb, which is hands-down the most
wonderful yarn I've ever knit with. This time, I'm knitting with a
yarn I've had my eye on for a while which I received as a gift for
Christmas - Brook's Farm Four Play in a lovely brick red. Though not as buttery feeling as Lion and Lamb (that's the best way I can think to describe it), Four Play is a similar wool/silk blend and it's really
nice too.

And, in the spirit of my continued infatuation with lists, a few
things I love right now:

1.
Sometimes I think the snow looks like the surface of the moon.
And it's so white!

2. The Black Apple, beautiful art and charming stories.

3. Nicole is a newbie blogger, who shares my love for babycakes treats and endures many colder days than me.

4. Socks for all! Knee high wool socks in every color of the rainbow, I'm in heaven.

5.
My new earth
shoes. Yay for sensible shoes.

6. Good stuff.

7.
Sunshine in the morning.

Friday is right around the corner!

Baby it's cold outside

Holy crap, it's sixteen below!



Warm wishes from chilly Vermont!

Tea for two

Sometimes I'm just so overwhelmed by all the neat things out there on the internet.

This caught my eye the other day and I thought it was just about the cutest thing ever. So today, in the mood for a delightful little snack to accompany my delightful Saturday afternoon, I pulled out my favorite recipe for pumpkin muffins and set some water to boil.

The table was all decked out with my fancy vintage napkins, special teacups, and our teapot from Sunrise Mart (my favorite NYC source for all things japanese).



The tea du jour was one purchased over Christmas in Pittsburgh. It's a japanese green tea called Fukamushi-cha, which is really fun to say. We ran out of our usual organic japanese sencha, also from Sunrise (man do I wish they sold online), but this one was quite similar.

All ready





The tea was superb



And the muffins were fantastic! You must make these.



Pumpkin Spice Muffins (adapted from Sweet and Natural
(makes 8-10)

1 cup spelt flour
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or a mix of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves)
1/4 tsp sea salt
3/4 - 1 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup canola oil (or other light veg. oil)
1/2 cup maple syrup (use VT maple syrup, it's the best)
1/3 cup raisins

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Mix dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately
- Stir wet into dry; add raisins
- Spoon into muffin tin and bake for 18-19 minutes. Do not overcook!

Have a lovely week!

Home from the holidays

Happy 2007 dear internet! I'm amazed how quickly 2006 flew by -
whew, in a flash!! Looking back on the past year, I'm pretty
astounded how things have changed for me. I moved from NYC to rural
Vermont, changed jobs, bought a house, made my first sweater, etc.
What a year. I'm a very lucky girl; I can only hope 2007 will be as
sweet.

So I've been gone for a bit. Here's my holiday, by bullet points:

- Visited my family in Atlanta before Christmas. I spent some
quality time with my parents' new Shih Tzu puppy, became a creature
of strip mall suburbia for a few days, and was reminded how much I
absolutely love seeing my family.



This is Blair. He is so lovable.

- It was almost 70 degrees in Atlanta. I didn't wear a jacket, and
my wool socks never saw the light of day. It was kind of strange
watching the high school kids walking around in flip flops doing
their Christmas shopping though. And as an aside, when did it ever
become fashionable to wear pajama bottoms as regular pants? Do
people have no dignity?

- Oh, while I was in Atlanta, I got the urge to cut some bangs. One
of those things I just need to do every once in a while. I like them
a lot.



- Travelled from Atlanta to Pittsburgh to spend Christmas with my
husband's family. We lounged in our pajamas in the mornings, enjoyed
feasts prepared by my culinary-gifted Danish brother-in-law
(including a traditional Danish Christmas dinner), wandered the
Carnegie Museum, visited my favorite vintage store, watched a little
too much of the Travel Channel and Food Network, and, most
importantly, chatted amongst the ruins of a Christmas morning
centered around my fabulous 5-year old niece.







- Back to Vermont. Though our trip was wonderful, it was so nice to
return to our comfy little abode. We were greeted with nice layer of
fresh snow, which was supplemented by on and off snow showers over
New Year's weekend. By this point in my vacation, I was fully
adjusted to my new holiday sleeping-in schedule and wanted nothing
more than to stay in, cook all day, and sit by the fire when I wasn't
occupied in the kitchen.

- About a week too late, I finished the irish hiking scarf for my
brother. It turned out great, but it was a little anti-climatic
watching him open a scarf which I had to promptly re-claim, promising
the needles would be removed in about a foot.



- I watched a few good movies. All the Real Girls, bittersweet, and
Zooey Deschanel is oh-so-lovely. Capote, which is a bit of a downer,
but Philip Seymour Hoffman was superb. The Bishop's Wife with Cary
Grant, a perennial favorite of mine. And The Life Acquatic, which
although pretty entertaining, I my eyes got quite heavy by the end
(that's not saying much considering my record though). And An
Inconvenient Truth . . . did I mention 70 degrees in Atlanta?

In the words of our wise king, oh why can't every day be like
Christmas? Hope your holidays were merry and bright, and may that
magical holiday feeling lasts well into 2007. Until next time . . .

Sometimes I love dreary days

It should be snowing up here, but instead it's a drizzly grey day. Dreary Saturdays are sometimes the best though, staying inside and feeling content doing simple things. Today I plan to go to the coop, look for some Christmas goodies in Montpelier, and make some serious progress on this:



It's the Irish Hiking Scarf, of course, knit in the oh-so-luscious Malabrigo. This stuff feels soooo good slipping through my fingers. So squishy and soft. It's a Christmas gift for my brother, and it will be a hard one to part with. Of course, that's assuming I actually finish in time! I'll be going down to Atlanta to visit my family in a few days, so my fingers will be working hard until then.

Actually, I'm not doing much gift knitting this year. Last year, I decided making an entire family of Jess Hutch toys for my niece would be a good idea, and then I turned into "grumpy Christmas knitting lady" and that was that. The toys were a big hit though, and definitely worth it.

Something else that caught my eye recently from the winter Knitty is this neat little head thing.

And then all these other ideas flying through my head, like making specialty notecards with these, baking cookies for the cookie swap on Monday, and finally pulling out that embroidery set again.

Finally, I have to share the gift my aunt sent us yesterday. She found the funniest ornaments for me and my husband, and they are just perfect!

A lawyer with a legal brief for me:



And a computer whiz at a desk for my husband:



We laughed so hard when we opened them!

Warm thoughts on a chilly winter day

Memories of our wonderful thanksgiving with family (21 of us packed in my grandparents' house).

Our stop at Frank Lloyd Wright's Zimmerman house in Manchester, New Hampshire. Everything about this house makes sense.





Lady Eleanor continues to grow. A truly enjoyable knit.



Cozy nights bundled in our new down comforter.

Steaming green tea in the afternoon, usually around 3:30, as the daylight begins to slip away.

Snow-kissed trees, a perfect white blanket over our yard, and watching the ice creep across the lake.





Have a lovely weekend!

Moose tracks, and not the ice cream variety

Spotted on my driveway this morning. My goodness, I really do live in the sticks.