tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6185372627247630302012-02-17T14:58:59.540-05:00Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.comBlogger3591100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-80159325352029458182012-02-17T12:23:00.000-05:002012-02-17T12:23:22.216-05:00

What is March 8, you ask? That will be the last day that I'll be running my Etsy store. Due to the logistics and the shipping limits being imposed on me, I can't take my stock with me. Also, there is the small worry that I can't feasibly ship while I'm moving. So I'm giving myself a nice cut-off date before the stress gets too much. Here's the deal: I'm still having 30% everything with

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-86373871722450197592012-02-16T14:57:00.000-05:002012-02-16T14:57:08.644-05:00

She's a yodeler. Check out this video of her, showing off her crazy yodeling chops for the TV lady. I can't get the video to embed, which I'm not going to let ruin my day. Jump to the 2 minute mark to hear her sing, it's totally worth your time: Segment Four: Main Streets and Back Roads/Bethel, Maine - Video - WCVB Boston Last summer, after 10+ years of living in New York, I finally got

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-26086370580667864252012-02-13T15:09:00.000-05:002012-02-13T15:09:27.012-05:00

The Semolina Cheesecake from The Family Store. It was love at first bite. The dense, eggy ricotta filling with a pleasurably grainy, sticky citrus-soaked crust. I will buy a slab of it on Monday thinking that it will stick around for most of the week, but miraculously, bite by bite it usually disappears before Tuesday comes around. This is my go-to comfort food, along with a dozen other

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-79187803613501877872012-02-10T13:17:00.000-05:002012-02-10T13:17:16.703-05:00

Guess!!! Je déménage à Paris! I am moving! That little trip we took in the fall was a little more than just a vacation. It was a reconnaissance mission of sorts. I've been living in New York for a little over 11 years now. That blows my mind a little bit. It wasn't easy- I had a few very lean years here when I was starting out. I was pretty much prepared to crawl back home to

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-62303948893776887992012-02-08T11:04:00.000-05:002012-02-08T11:04:20.789-05:00

I had a bit of time off around Xmas to putter around the house with a nasty cold keeping me in. While the soulmate decided that the time was for making beer, at one point I jostled him away from the stove to put my dyepots on. Finally, I've got everything photographed and labeled and listed and ready to go! Oh, except for some lovely merino lace yarn that I want to re-photograph. That will be

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-70216035535454781992012-02-07T10:19:00.001-05:002012-02-07T17:05:44.697-05:00

For the most part, I like my co-workers. Some of them have the uncanny ability to drive me to drink, but I can honestly step back from the situation and view it as almost entirely positive as far as a corporate job goes. I get paid well, I get a stack of gift certificates and bottles of Scotch for Xmas, and every once in a while, they let me take the group someplace nice so they can golf and

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-8717274683343292092012-02-06T17:05:00.000-05:002012-02-06T17:05:19.874-05:00

All those days off that we got in December and January over the holidays...well, those days got turned into beer. Lots of beer. Which, in turn, had to be bottled, which took a great deal of the weekend to do. It took up all the kitchen space. I couldn't even get to the fridge and open it at one point, which was horrifying because I had a nice wedge of Roquefort in there that was screaming

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-31690915221125893212012-01-30T11:18:00.000-05:002012-01-30T11:18:12.103-05:00

Fa-la-la... I finished something.... Actually, I finished it a couple weeks ago, but their isn't enough daylight in my week to get a decent shot of it. I think if you are going to spend hours and hours handknitting something you really need to do your work justice with a nice well-lit outdoors or studio photographs. This usually isn't a problem from May to September, but wintertime can be a

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-4647446861806038282012-01-23T14:38:00.000-05:002012-01-23T14:38:23.045-05:00

I love hosting visitors from out of town. I don't get to see anything fun otherwise, and if I actually did see something interesting, I would blow right past it on my way to something else that I'm probably running late for. The leisurely pace of tourist in this town is an ideal way to really see things. Sometimes I have to give myself permission to walk slow enough to hear the grunts and

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0Midtown, New York, NY, USA40.757276685066316 -73.9853737347656340.71789268506632 -74.01867523476562 40.796660685066314 -73.95207223476564tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-86535336781584703922012-01-20T15:08:00.002-05:002012-01-21T16:49:02.277-05:00

Traveling for business can mean that going someplace the most people view with pure joy and happiness can fill me with pure dread and loathing. Oh yes. Seeing the sun coming up after several sleepless all-nighters due to the massive amount of work that needed to be done was some how a relief: that is one less sunrise that I will have to endure in this place. The weather appeared to be

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0Orlando, FL, USA28.5383355 -81.3792364999999928.4051525 -81.5182165 28.671518499999998 -81.24025649999999tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-27329347060553046312012-01-13T11:07:00.000-05:002012-01-13T11:07:06.187-05:00

Two weeks in to 2012 and I've not cast on for a pair of socks. This means, despite having limited knitting time, I've gotten some real progress done on sweaters. Multiple sweaters. First up is the Pas de Valse from Twist Collective. It calls for fingering weight yarn but it works up pretty quickly at a loose gauge. I'm using Sanguine Gryphon Bugga in the Adonis Butterfly colorway. I

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-66602655706916205002012-01-12T16:03:00.000-05:002012-01-12T16:03:18.002-05:00

Oh, sigh. These were such a good idea: They are the Argyle socks from Veronik Avery in her lovely book Knitting Classic Style. The beauty of them is that there's no colorwork to keep track of or get tangled or mess with your tension or have to deal with knitting the sock flat and seaming it, but everything colorwork is duplicate stitched on top of the finished sock. Genius. Except I

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-49494276455656952572012-01-11T14:02:00.000-05:002012-01-11T14:02:21.767-05:00

I'm a little fascinated by the relic of the 1920's and 30's: the fox stole. Why anyone would think that an animal carcass with facial features and feet slung over their shoulders is beyond me. But still. It exudes a certain glamour. Fur has gone out of style, and for good reason- it's heartbreakingly cruel, right up there with foie gras and veal. I really only see it being worn by the

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-51458737575421484592012-01-10T17:04:00.000-05:002012-01-10T17:04:39.208-05:00

Well hello! I'm so happy that I didn't publicly declare my need to "blog more" in the New Year. I have some nice things to show off, plus plenty of events and pictures to share, but really no good time to sit down and collect my thoughts on anything in particular. Everything is good though. So, first up, a pair of socks. They will be the last socks I knit for a while...I want to knit some

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-66981451264456101442012-01-02T15:10:00.000-05:002012-01-02T15:10:35.002-05:00

Ahhh, New Year. Let us wash away the icky old one with a refreshing dip in the drink, shall we? We once again made the trek out to Coney Island for the Polar Bear swim. Technically, if you are really, truly a real Polar Bear, you do this all the time. It just becomes a thing to do on the weekend. Like the binge drinkers going on the tear the night before, this is amateur hour. You can

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-79885365663312264392011-12-29T10:48:00.001-05:002011-12-29T10:48:53.414-05:00

I am a spontaneous gift-giver. There's usually no rhyme or reason to the care packages I send out. It's just, surprise!, it's August, but I made you mittens because it will be cold one day. It's not the most practicable way to be, but I find that life is more fun that way. My co-workers won't adopt my system. Bummer. Like clockwork, the week before Xmas, the bottles of booze start piling

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-519135952911913472011-12-28T14:57:00.000-05:002011-12-28T14:57:03.611-05:00

Finally! I can start to show off a few of the things I've been quietly working on in hopes of actually surprising people. First up, a sweater I designed myself. A men's sweater, inspired by the great Ernest Shackleton. I've been completely fascinated by the Man and the Adventure for ages. Here we have a captain and crew of 27, sailing for Antarctica for a chance to be the first to cross

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-3676260217120420012011-12-27T15:33:00.000-05:002011-12-27T15:33:33.712-05:00

Hiya! I hope that everyone had a fantastic Christmas, Hannukah, Whatevermas. If there were latkes and mulled wine and gift-giving involved, I can usually find it in my heart to celebrate equally. Now that the holiday crazies are done with, I love to take advantage of the sunshine when we get it, bundle up and walk. We were lamenting the lack of giant blizzard this year- last year that was a

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-49351181322265342512011-12-21T15:11:00.000-05:002011-12-21T15:11:24.795-05:00

I can feel the gradually returning sun warming my bones already. Never mind that the real-deal winter wear has yet to be put to good use and it's getting to be drearily unseasonable. I will put a pot of mulled cider on the stove and do a little wassailing, just for fun, even if it means that turning on the stove means I have to open all the windows in the house to keep from breaking into a

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-78456269319000439762011-12-16T14:32:00.000-05:002011-12-16T14:32:36.058-05:00

That's really my biggest spinning challenge now. It takes me so long to set myself up and sit down in front of a wheel that I need to commit time to it. Also, it's bad to run back and forth from spinning to cooking dinner, as no one wants chunks of alpaca in their kale and bean soup. So here we go. I'm still trying to consciously control my spinning and not just zone out and make

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-77265327428950334932011-12-15T13:20:00.000-05:002011-12-15T13:20:08.573-05:00

I'm pretty sure I could piece together my life story based on what obsession I had at the time. My whole attitude of "go cashmere or go home" applies to lots of things. Some of these preoccupations are more useful than others, and I usually end up dropping the obsession once I realize how impracticable it might be. I COULD turn my apartment into a cheese cave, but I probably won't since that

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-8473283025832265422011-12-14T10:11:00.000-05:002011-12-14T10:11:44.130-05:00

Oooh, wow. I just realized I made these way back in August. Gah. Well, here they are, about to be sent out to their intended recipients. I've been seeing a lot of hugely long cowls on the street this year. Mostly on women, but I've seen some being worn by stylish men as well. They are either worn long as one continuous scarf or doubled to make a warmer thick cowl. These were originally

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-27037402604430018002011-12-13T13:40:00.000-05:002011-12-13T13:40:38.749-05:00

I've been quietly knitting away, and spinning as well. It all kind of feels like a sneaky little guilty pleasure at this point. I still don't really have the proper mind to write a proper post though. The constant distractions I'm dealing with (aka "work") make it hard for me to form a sentence otherwise. My creativity suffers so. I did finish these mittens quite a while ago though.

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-2622967996767666032011-12-12T13:56:00.000-05:002011-12-12T13:56:56.267-05:00

Just a quick post to start the week. I went to a lovely memorial on Saturday for Jose Gaytan, who is Knithound Brooklyn's husband. He passed after a terrible and long battle with cancer. He was a very talented photographer, documenting life in less than glamorous places and finding beauty in grit and industrial grime. Check out his website for a great retrospective of his work. The NY Times

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-37352103459196727672011-12-07T09:33:00.000-05:002011-12-07T09:33:26.258-05:00

I'm a couple days late with this, but celebrating the Repeal of the 18th amendment has long been my favorite holiday. The freedom to indulge in a bit of tipple is a dear freedom indeed. Not that those dry 13 years did too much to prevent motivated people from drinking- contrary, it gave rise to some powerful mobsters, Speakeasies and mixed cocktails to hide the awful taste of bathtub gin.

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-17667496801709836052011-12-01T15:07:00.000-05:002011-12-01T15:07:03.034-05:00

I made another pair of socks. Technically, they are not finished yet. Embroidery of sorts needs to be done. It may not ever get done. It started out with a Skein of Sanguine Gryphon Bugga. LOVE. love. love. It's dyed beautifully. The colors are amazing- it was really hard to capture the subtle shifts of dark greens in the skein. The color is "Autumn Tiger Beetle". It's a good,

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-2253278998403038262011-11-30T11:47:00.000-05:002011-11-30T11:47:56.352-05:00

My obsession with sock knitting over the years means I has turned my free and commuting time magically into dozens of pairs of socks. A great deal of them end up being gifted, so I can't really keep track of the wear and tear they get. I'm usually pretty gentle with my socks. I wash them by hand, or, if I have confidence in what I made them with, I wash the hard-core superwash/nylon blends in

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-27101888271120698812011-11-29T09:15:00.000-05:002011-11-29T09:15:04.604-05:00

I'm having a bit of a sale over at my Etsy store- everything is 30% off when you use the code "TRENTE" at check out. Yarn, jewelry, roving, batts...all of it, on sale. I've also listed the roving from Muriel the Moorit Merino in manageable 3 and 4 oz bumps. I've been spinning and spinning and can't seem to make a dent in it. It's lovely stuff, but I don't think I'll be sitting down to spin

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-50483036638181248362011-11-29T06:42:00.001-05:002011-11-29T06:42:00.863-05:00

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Any holiday that involves overeating with your loved ones can't be all that bad, right? As long as I have enough booze to see me through... Thanksgiving is by far my favorite holiday. Sometimes I make a mini thanksgiving dinner at home when the mood strikes me, usually in mid-April. Since my family lives in the far reaches of northern

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-41865589188764461122011-11-28T15:56:00.000-05:002011-11-28T15:56:17.964-05:00

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0Paris, France48.856614 2.352221900000017748.813328 2.229360900000018 48.8999 2.4750829000000176tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-46288983384800504702011-11-28T13:34:00.000-05:002011-11-28T13:34:41.444-05:00

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0Ypres, Belgium50.8512778 2.884194400000069450.7788928 2.7804894000000693 50.923662799999995 2.9878994000000696tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-15927716279844090762011-11-27T08:03:00.000-05:002011-11-27T08:03:00.930-05:00

Versailles is free for visitors the first Sunday of the month...instead of exploring another wee chateau, we decided to join the masses and see the mother of all French palaces. Once upon a time, Versailles was a country village when le Roi-Soleil, Louis XIV, moved from the dirty squalor of Paris to a more bucolic setting. Louis, ever humble, decided that the royal hunting lodge on the

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-36428858098090309542011-11-26T12:03:00.000-05:002011-11-26T12:03:17.352-05:00

A town that claims to have invented whipped cream and there are horses everywhere and you can traipse around the chateau gardens for hours? Sign me up. Chantilly is a gorgeous little town 45 minutes out of Gare du Nord. So, legend has it that one of the Princes of Condé, Louis Henri, believed that he would be reincarnated as a horse. Therefore, he must have a stable built that was

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0Chantilly, France49.19316 2.46873890000006249.1698065 2.428982900000062 49.2165135 2.5084949000000623tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-56113524534055966872011-11-25T16:08:00.003-05:002011-11-25T16:11:17.596-05:00

I trust that everyone had a great Thanksgiving in the states. It's by far my favorite holiday, if only because I do love the pleasant exhaustion that follows the days of slaving away in the toasty warm kitchen, and the justification of that comforting wintertime padding that accompanies all the discarded butter wrappers that are in the garbage today. I will have snowy holiday pictures that

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0Paris, France48.856614 2.352221900000017748.813328 2.229360900000018 48.8999 2.4750829000000176tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-43233755095020678902011-11-24T21:45:00.000-05:002011-11-24T21:45:00.053-05:00

Really now. La dame de fer is still one of the most awe-inspiring sites in the man-made world. All the postcards and cliche Paris scenes can not prepare you for the size and grace of iron lace that rises up 81 stories into the sky. Unlike the Empire State Building, which is filled with office towers, the only purpose of this structure is to make you feel very small. It's hard to

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-61910318455035995912011-11-24T07:11:00.001-05:002011-11-24T07:11:00.229-05:00

Well...Happy Thanksgiving!  I'm quietly creeping around the ancestral homeland in the cold and snow, but here are some more Paris for you. It seems like I have quite a few favorite haunts (ahem, sorry about yesterday's dreary post) around the city. The Palais du Luxembourg is no exception...and being there in the late afternoon meant to lighting was absolutely fantastic, especially since it

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0Palais du Luxembourg, 75006 Paris, France48.849142 2.337330199999996748.848433 2.336667699999997 48.849851 2.3379926999999965tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-47748138630634910782011-11-23T20:22:00.000-05:002011-11-23T20:22:00.485-05:00

I think the first time I found the entrance to the catacombs, I was rather proud of myself. It's not exactly well-known, unless you are a tourist obsessed with the macabre. It's a small, unassuming doorway that looks like it might be the entrance of a storage shed. Instead of gardening tools, you get to start your journey down, down, down into the depths of Paris. The black line on

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0Denfert-Rochereau, 75014 Paris, France48.83386400000001 2.332615000000032519.766635500000014 -57.43300999999997 77.9010925 62.09824000000003tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-31280013708940791992011-11-23T08:14:00.000-05:002011-11-23T08:14:00.099-05:00

Tucked in behind high walls right near the gold dome of Hôtel des Invalides is one of my favorite little museums in Paris. It's the Rodin museum, and it has an incredible sculpture garden. The museum itself is where Rodin worked. Upon his death, he willed everything to The inside of the museum is a bit shabby and in need of some repairs, but it ads to the charm.

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com079 Rue de Varenne, 75007 Paris, France48.8559132 2.315803500000015419.7993957 -57.449821499999985 77.9124307 62.081428500000015tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-45370682444116425482011-11-22T08:39:00.015-05:002011-11-22T08:39:00.171-05:00

The Tuileries is a very manicured garden that sits between the Louvre and the Place de la Concorde. It was the site of a grand palace in the 16th century, which was eventually destroyed and demolished in the 19th century. The park lands were once private, but became a public space after the revolution. On the Western end of the Gardens is the Place de la Concorde. There

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0Tuileries Garden, place de la Concorde rue de rivoli, 75001 Paris, France48.8634916 2.32749430000001248.860629100000004 2.320952300000012 48.8663541 2.334036300000012tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-73158455459866762872011-11-21T23:10:00.001-05:002011-11-21T23:10:00.444-05:00

Place des Vosges is the oldest square in Paris. It's also one of the prettiest. I could imagine that finding a place to live on the square would be akin to scoring a place on Gramercy Park (and getting a key to said park). Victor Hugo's house (and now a museum devoted to him) is here. The buildings have covered galleries over the sidewalk with lots of tiny shops and cafes. I remember

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0Place des Vosges, 75004 Paris, France48.855473 2.36635599999999648.854707000000005 2.3652099999999963 48.856239 2.367501999999996tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-12027074583179807052011-11-21T11:09:00.001-05:002011-11-21T11:10:14.406-05:00

Paris is such a gorgeous old beast of a city...so to house their modern art collection the giant Pompidou was loudly plopped down in the middle of a grand old neighborhood. I loved how this woman's stockings mimicked the iconic external staircase of the building: Ultimately, the plaza out front has become a gathering place for buskers and jugglers and street performers of all kinds.

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0Voie Georges Pompidou, Paris, France48.862976 2.323793000000023348.849681000000004 2.2740425000000233 48.876271 2.3735435000000233tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-24353143604800733672011-11-19T12:40:00.000-05:002011-11-19T12:40:18.100-05:00

I was fortunate enough to be staying close by to the Bois de Boulogne- a huge park just West of the city. It was a former forest designated as a royal hunting ground that is currently more than twice the size of Central Park. Because of it's size and relative isolation, it's become a bit of a red-light district, with prostitutes hanging around at all hours in the open. It was a lovely park

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com1Bois de Boulogne, France48.8624492 2.24916680000001248.8462477 2.2225643000000117 48.8786507 2.275769300000012tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-14483238837287342492011-11-18T13:56:00.000-05:002011-11-18T13:56:08.094-05:00

Paris has a pretty good reputation for having lots of interesting street performers. This footballer outside of Sacré-Cœur was exceptional. He was incredible. He could do handstands with the ball tightly wedged between his foot and his ankle. He took off his wifebeater with the soccer ball balanced on his head. He climbed a lamppost with the ball on his head. At the top of the pole, he

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-61502065485878651492011-11-18T09:50:00.000-05:002011-11-18T09:50:58.956-05:00

Just a fair warning: there are some pictures of dead animals in this post. These butchers were, uh, a couple of hams. I love wandering around markets. I think it's a great gateway to understanding food culture of wherever you travel. The sellers are usually quite friendly and more than willing to talk about what they are selling while being liberal with samples. Not so much at the

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-54252555096732923052011-11-17T13:26:00.001-05:002011-11-17T13:32:58.878-05:00

Wandering around Montmartre is a great way to spend an afternoon. It's streets narrow and steep, with most of them leading up the the hill that is crowned by Sacré Cœur. Picasso, Dali, Pissaro, Degas and Van Gogh all left their marks here. Montmartre wasn't incorporated into the city of Paris until 1860, so it became known a wild, festive place outside the city walls that filled with

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-58351751004013574842011-11-17T12:15:00.000-05:002011-11-17T12:15:30.334-05:00

There's something very melancholic but beautiful about these overcast days in Paris. This is Sainte-Chapelle, which is a very old church built in the 13th century. Its fragile spire punctuates the skyline of Île de la Cité. Inside the church, it is best to visit on a sunny day as it has the most incredible stained glass windows. Notre Dame is close by. It's far grander in scale, but

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-74321249319133067602011-11-16T08:50:00.000-05:002011-11-16T08:50:42.511-05:00

I think that it's very telling that the first touristy thing we decided to do was to tour the Paris Sewers. I guess I can say it was part of the literary tour, as Victor Hugo wrote in Les Misérables of the revolutionaries escaping through the sewers. Really now, we couldn't have just gone to see where Quasimodo lived? There were rats, and it smelled as you would expect a sewer should

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-88891698151655148562011-11-15T15:41:00.000-05:002011-11-15T15:41:20.557-05:00

The Louvre is spectacular based on it's sheer size and ornate facade. Inside during open hours it's a bit of a nightmare. Not only is it insanely crowded as the world plows their way to see the Mona Lisa, but walking those endless corridors and giving each piece it's due time is a surefire way to drop dead from acute museumitis. It's gloriously overwhelming. At night, with the

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-34958068779595068812011-11-14T10:45:00.003-05:002011-11-14T10:47:21.202-05:00

I'm back... I had a lovely series of adventures on my journey, and some really memorable meals. I was looking forward to eating more than anything, and filling the time in-between meals with leisurely wandering around. Paris is really the most beautiful city I've ever been to. The weather was a bit gray (which is an excuse to shoot in black and white for me) but I usually try to go places

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0Paris, France48.856614 2.352221900000017748.813328 2.229360900000018 48.8999 2.4750829000000176tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-69532714343147412822011-10-27T12:12:00.000-04:002011-10-27T12:12:30.510-04:00

I'm taking a break for a couple weeks... As long as I don't lose my camera, or clumsily fall on it (which is never beyond my capabilities), I will have more pictures and adventure tales when I return. Plus...I will be having a fairly massive sale in my Etsy store as soon as I get settled back home. Santé!

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-46300382613817805392011-10-26T10:02:00.000-04:002011-10-26T10:02:42.398-04:00

BT Shelter has fast become one of my favorite yarns. It's a blend of Targhee and Columbia wools, very lofty and springy. It's a rustic, imperfect tweedy yarn, and it knits up to almost a velvety texture. I brought along a hat pattern and a skein on my Rhinebeck weekend trip to have something simple to work on. This is the Fornight pattern from Jared Flood. He's really masterful at

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-14443497328819156792011-10-25T10:02:00.000-04:002011-10-25T10:02:51.187-04:00

I'm a bad knitwear role model when it comes to my hands. I dislike the bulk of knit gloves, and only wear mittens if it's so freezing cold out that your fingers need to snuggle up next to your other fingers for warmth, like puppies. I do love the elegance of leather gloves, especially if they are lined with something wonderfully soft and warm, like cashmere or deerskin. A few of my friendos

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-24492717356941967652011-10-24T14:11:00.000-04:002011-10-24T14:11:09.408-04:00

Nothing screams "Autumn" like a bucolic day of picking apples in the countryside. This was an activity that I did pretty much every year growing up...our favorite place to go was an orchard owned by an order of somber but well-fed monks. The orchard was on a rolling hillside with mountain views (if only the gray Maine weather would warm up enough for the fog to burn off). It had been a few

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-55161928238914554092011-10-20T13:07:00.000-04:002011-10-20T13:07:34.458-04:00

My favorite part about Rhinebeck is wandering around and checking out the sheep and goats and then eating said sheep and goats. Kidding! They do serve plenty of good lamb dishes though. They put some distance between the sheep being petted and the sheep being eaten...the places serving lamb are far away from the sheep barns. It does seem kind of cannibalistic. Apple cider donuts and kettle

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-59249456018276448462011-10-19T13:00:00.000-04:002011-10-19T13:00:25.855-04:00

This man is a rock star. Well, in the spinning world anyway. It's Norm Hall, and he makes the most amazingly gorgeous spinning wheels by hand. They aren't cheap. He doesn't have a website. He stopped taking orders in 2005. You can get on a wait list, but it's not unheard of to wait many many years before you get a glimmer of hope that your dream wheel will get made. There is an active

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-66830651005511706492011-10-18T11:37:00.001-04:002011-10-18T11:47:59.109-04:00

Or maybe two. I took a lot of pictures. I've has quite the roller coaster ride the past couple weeks...my long-term business partner/ boss resigned, a great deal of the company is being reassigned to unemployment, and I've been dealing with a pesky and painful reoccurring kidney infection that knocks me out for days at a time. Morale is pretty darn low in my 9 to 5 world. Some quiet

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-25847614513605735032011-10-12T10:21:00.000-04:002011-10-12T10:21:06.529-04:00

Well then. It's been a crazy past few weeks for me with a lot of changes going on at work and maybe (eventually) at home and all the other good fun things that take up all my time, force me to stumble home at 2am and do it all over again the next day. I did manage to finish a sweater that I had been plugging away at for a while. It started as a whole bag of discontinued Cashcotton DK from

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-90039971652829663862011-10-05T13:59:00.000-04:002011-10-05T13:59:03.626-04:00

I received word over the weekend that Bob Arihood had passed away. Bob was my neighbor when I lived in Alphabet City for 4 years. He documented the lives of the people in the neighborhood who were practically invisible or ignored by the rest of society...drunks, transients, drug addicts, schizophrenics...people that I would be afraid to approach. His beautiful photographs and intimate stories

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-22315125819960278272011-10-04T09:16:00.000-04:002011-10-04T09:16:55.119-04:00

Guess what? I've updated my Etsy shop with MORE BATTS! Scoop them up and spin yourself something awesome for fall! All of them are soft and well-blended. Most of the fiber I have hand dyed, and some of it is natural colored (Sheepy brown! Alpaca fawn!). A lot of work goes into each one, and they are completely unique. Some of these have merino, romney, bfl, alpaca, silk, bamboo,

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-84599619927164715742011-10-03T14:32:00.000-04:002011-10-03T14:32:57.670-04:00

New York awoke this morning to a cozier cube. The Alamo cube in Astor Place is a gathering spot for the downtown and NYU crowd. Olek is a street artist who has yarn-bombed a couple notable things- I especially loved her work last Xmas on the Wall Street Bull. Gothamist has a nice collection of pictures of her work.

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-40679772834913264592011-09-29T09:28:00.000-04:002011-09-29T09:28:22.316-04:00

I have not given up hope that one day, I will have knit everything I have in my stash. I'm still forcing myself to pick projects based on the yarn, and in somewhat alphabetical order. Just because. I dug out a couple skeins of Knit Picks Felici that has been hiding out in my stash for eons now. 5 years maybe? It's been a while. The colorway is "Schooner", but it's been discontinued.

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-87356949420905800572011-09-28T14:29:00.000-04:002011-09-28T14:29:08.601-04:00

The weather hasn't quite cooled off like early autumn usually does, but it's still pleasant enough for me to start up my epic walks again. I only seem to get inspired to do this in spring or autumn- after a long, cold slushy winter or a brutally hot spell. I'll pick a direction I haven't been in a while and walk until I can't walk any more. It's wonderful, and nothing works up an appetite for

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-3892414031039094272011-09-27T15:31:00.000-04:002011-09-27T15:31:17.433-04:00

I'm a bit swamped to write a real post today, but check out this video from the Maker Faire in New York. While most handknitters consider knitting machines to be the devil's handiwork, this guy is doing brilliant things. PS- I've never seen the Cosby Show before. I am terribly inept at pop culture. I know about the sweaters though. PPS- I tried a knitting machine and it was the least

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-23376945086223590042011-09-26T13:16:00.000-04:002011-09-26T13:16:25.617-04:00

I have been going a little crazy with the drum carder lately. The unexpected super high humidity we've been having means that I don't have to deal with the static and flyaways that always seem to end up in my eyeballs or in my dinner, so I will toast to that. A la votre! I do love blending fiber and colors to make beautiful and unique handspun creations. It's pretty labor intensive...

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-36741241326672361042011-09-23T17:05:00.000-04:002011-09-23T17:05:29.021-04:00

The geese are flying south. Sweet potatoes are becoming my favorite comfort food once again and I'm making a voluptuous red sauce out what might be one of the last weeks I'll get tomatoes. The crisper is full of the apples that I've been waiting for since last November, and I'm trying to limit myself to a reasonable number a day. 3 maybe? 4 if they are small. Oh, they are so good. Best

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-73053424377198738552011-09-21T15:34:00.000-04:002011-09-21T15:34:01.420-04:00

Surprise! I made another bunch of freaky little handspun hats. These ones started out as fleece; this was actually the very first raw fleece that I processed myself. It's a CVM from a farm in California, and just like every time I'm in sunny California, it had a bit of sunburn on the tips. I washed and carded into rolags, and then spun it up into a lofty bulky-weight 2-ply yarn. It

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-6744748143007449572011-09-19T10:38:00.000-04:002011-09-19T10:38:15.033-04:00

After a rather soul-destroying past couple of weeks at work, I was really looking forward to a cozy weekend filled with all the comforts: warm (and warming) beverages, strolls in the fresh autumnal air, slow-cooked dinners with mashed potatoes, and digging through bins of gorgeous apples at the farmer's market. When I wake up in the morning now the street lights are still on (which is shocking

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-75080082945855970042011-09-14T13:30:00.001-04:002011-09-30T16:35:52.262-04:00

The bumper crop of hats I have made are threatening to burst out of my winter woollies drawer. Some people in colder climates better have some birthdays coming up soon or this could get dire. This one started out as a couple of wee braids of Capistrano Fiber Arts superfine merino. I'm not sure what the color was called. Sometimes they aren't labeled. I pulled the braids apart and

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-75096381762361586232011-09-13T11:58:00.000-04:002011-09-13T11:58:25.817-04:00

Oh, surprise, I made another hand spun hat. Giftmas will be easy and breezy affair for me this year. I hope. This started out as two equally beautiful bits of fiber- a bump of baby camel and silk blend, plus some AVFKW club fiber of dyed Polworth. The color was called "Rosemary". I carded both of these together and ended up with 3 oz of soft, silky fiber. I pulled out the colors into

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-58614603981434256982011-09-12T12:21:00.000-04:002011-09-12T12:21:45.683-04:00

Yesterday was a sad day for New York and the rest of the world. Personally, I feel like I do not need fresh reminding of the events of 10 years ago- living it once was horrible enough, and being in New York means I'm reminded of it every day as I pass the site or look out at the skyline or walk past a fire station. I think the event got enough media coverage and everything that needs to be said

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0New York, NY, USA40.7143528 -74.005973140.6934498 -74.0296141 40.7352558 -73.98233210000001tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-17468623423132382182011-09-07T13:33:00.000-04:002011-09-07T13:33:58.488-04:00

It seems that at the tail-end of summertime, people party it up extra hard. All those weeks of ultrahot weather that made it impossible to roll out of bed without losing half your body weight in sweat are well behind us now. The prospect of it getting chilly soon inspires everyone to get out and do the things you won't be able to comfortably do in another month or two, and the people who

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-53981194324269394662011-09-02T10:33:00.000-04:002011-09-02T10:33:04.636-04:00

I made a pair of socks. They are fancy. So fancy, they took me forever to make. They weren't particularly hard to make but I did feel like they were time consuming. I have a hard time finding a spare moment to sit down and focus on charts and fiddly stitch re-arrangements, so I would work on them for 10 minutes and then not touch them again for a week. I cast on for them last May when I

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-53601708226098272202011-09-01T13:11:00.000-04:002011-09-01T13:11:06.218-04:00

I just updated my Etsy store with more baubles and finery for your nape. All the foul weather meant I was the queen of TCB and morphed into a whirlwind of productivity. Enjoy! Plus lots more pretty jewelry. There's still some yarn and roving hidden in the depths of the listings as well. http://www.etsy.com/shop/KnotMyDayJob

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-74515030069004691462011-08-30T12:35:00.001-04:002011-08-30T13:59:30.241-04:00

I hope everyone weathered the storm okay. It's wasn't as bad here in the city as elsewhere, but I don't think I have stayed inside so much in my life. Not only did I get pretty much all the stuff done that I have been avoiding all summer since I'd rather be sunning myself, I cooked like a crazy person. Hurricane is just another word for Party in my house. Blame it on my Maine upbringing,

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-21553633245516047372011-08-26T11:37:00.000-04:002011-08-26T11:37:46.629-04:00

Back to showing off a bit of knitting here. Here's another handspun hat that I whipped up in an afternoon. It started out as a 4oz braid of Creatively Dyed roving. It's a 50/50 wool and bamboo blend. I got this at MDSW a couple years ago. I just remember that it was hot out, and touching wool was a really big effort for me. Maryland has a great wool festival, but it's timed rather

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-29784195606077539052011-08-25T13:10:00.000-04:002011-08-25T13:10:38.352-04:00

New York, in summertime, is not without its pleasures. While I prefer not to be here once the weather is nice, I do find little moments of bliss that adds up to make my time here good. Despite having a brutal July here and pretty much everywhere on the East Coast, August has been much more pleasant. Less humid, more blue skies. Big late afternoon thunderstorms to entertain you and perhaps

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-63224249082607819882011-08-24T09:57:00.000-04:002011-08-24T09:57:07.982-04:00

Just South of Rocky Mountain National Park is a stretch of National Forest called Indian Peaks. It's a really wild place. The park contains some of the southernmost permanent glaciers in the US. Nice Marmot. Oh, New York. Why do I have to call you home? Ah, that's right. My job pays me enough money to keep me around.

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-25005202435526070182011-08-23T14:34:00.000-04:002011-08-23T14:34:12.719-04:00

Another day, another hike. This time in the South Foothills of the city. I was tickled to death that there were prairie dogs everywhere. The one sentry would give a chirp and suddenly the ground was crawling with furry fat rodents as they darted back to the dens for safety. It kind of reminded me of the rat colonies in Thompson Square Park, but these were much cuter. It

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-18964953558109242392011-08-22T12:06:00.000-04:002011-08-22T12:06:54.369-04:00

High above the city, Boulder Creek twist and turns and cuts its way through some lofty canyons. There are some really pretty scenic areas along the creek, but none as much as Boulder Falls. I was completely mesmerized. I love the sound of rushing water. It puts me in a very quiet trance and I can't pull myself away from it. There were rock climbers scaling a cliff across from the

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-24189057748047509462011-08-19T11:56:00.000-04:002011-08-19T11:56:43.754-04:00

I'm not saying that we should be practicing graffiti in our National Parks, but this made me smile. But a lot of things I saw made me smile that day. Lake Haiyaha Mills Lake Bear Lake I spotted a Pinion Jay, which are large, shy blue birds. Two Sisters Long's Peak, one of the 53(!) mountains over 14,000 feet in the state. From what I hear, it's not a technical climb in

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-66831576747591877262011-08-18T13:20:00.000-04:002011-08-18T13:20:17.132-04:00

Boulder is only about an hour outside Rocky Mountain National Park. I have mixed feelings about National Parks. All the parks are all incredibly beautiful- we are very fortunate to have so many breathtaking places in the US which deserve the public's appreciation. It's important to preserve them. However, they were made very accessible to the masses with paved roads. Without the roads,

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-39974860985338756122011-08-17T12:30:00.000-04:002011-08-17T12:30:53.328-04:00

I took some time to wander around and check out downtown Boulder. It's a small city, but there's a lot of good stuff going on. It's a very foodie town, which is right up my ally. After a quality lunch at Salt, it was off to drift around and explore and fight off the post-prandial siesta. They have a really interesting art-deco courthouse- there was a few stylish building like this that

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-35586445434929871742011-08-16T15:50:00.000-04:002011-08-16T15:50:13.148-04:00

I ofttimes feel like I'm a little too outdoorsy for my own good to be here in New York. It's a long and stressful distance to travel to get your dose of quiet nature in. Camping anywhere within three hours of the city limits usually mean you're tent is set up next to a huge extended family with barking dogs and screaming kids and car alarms going off all night. Going to a nice wooded park that

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-76277196066649843482011-08-10T11:43:00.000-04:002011-08-10T11:43:22.258-04:00

We spent a fun day in the Shawgunk Mountains outside of New Paltz. The 'Gunks are a huge draw for rock climbers from all over the East Coast, but there is great hiking as well. It was so hot and hazy, I couldn't get a clear picture of the cliffs. They are really stunning- the landscape goes from rolling hills to dramatic white cliff faces. We happened upon a county fair. I couldn't

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-81864812077957831192011-08-09T13:21:00.000-04:002011-08-09T13:21:07.243-04:00

I grew up in rural Maine, which really had its benefits. Owning horses was one of them. I miss it more than anything. Mind you, I wasn't out riding terribly fancy horses. Very few requirements had to be met upon acquisition: some basic sanity, sound enough to be ridden, and they had to be cheap or free. Some had been abused, others were ex-racehorses, and they were all just a bit flawed.

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-58573506102355622492011-08-08T13:04:00.000-04:002011-08-08T13:04:29.626-04:00

We usually take a long weekend trip up to the Catskills sometime in the summer. It's beautiful up there in summer and fall, and usually it's much cooler there even though it's only 100 miles away. That's Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant, an ageing beast alarmingly close the the city. I don't think I've ever even seen it before we made a stop in Peekskill. It's right across from Bear

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-5536043499673511472011-08-05T12:14:00.000-04:002011-08-05T12:14:38.838-04:00

The insanity continues. A 2oz braid of yet another bump of Capistrano hanpainted. This one is BFL. My A-Z stashdown is rolling right along... The color is "Seychelles". Blue and purple and red cool jewel tones. Again, with the singles. I'm trying really hard to make thick, lofty yarns that are even in thickness. It's a huge challenge for me. Lace is my thing. I feel like

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-593666536716781822011-08-04T15:35:00.000-04:002011-08-04T15:35:28.938-04:00

A couple weeks ago it was sofrigginhot out and it felt as though winter has never existed anywhere ever. How could these waves of oven-like heat come from the same planetary weather system that did this to my car just a few months ago? I spent the heat-wave week working from home in my little office with no air conditioning. That's how dire my work life has gotten- I would rather spend 8

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-85563407609958469972011-08-03T14:40:00.000-04:002011-08-03T14:40:40.401-04:00

I made a sweater. I dislike the way it turned out. It's the Caftan Pullover by Norah Gaughan from the Spring 2006 issue of Interweave Knits. It was supposed to look like this: Pretty, right? It's all bohemian floaty and comfy. I might go to a gallery and spend the day decoding some modern art and then sip cappuccinos and nibble little cookies which cause me to not gain weight or have wild

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-48147231436148714252011-08-02T09:49:00.000-04:002011-08-02T09:49:22.450-04:00

My A-Z stashdown continues as I plunder my stash for any non-wool yarn that I might be okay with wearing in summer. I had 8 skeins of Bamboo Tape yarn in my stash. Like so many yarns from Rowan, it's been discontinued, but a almost exact replica will certainly appear with a catchy name like "Tapey Bamboo" or something. I chose a pattern- after my previous lace project, I wanted something

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-3613993628833819462011-08-01T14:12:00.000-04:002011-08-01T14:12:45.458-04:00

I have a huge backlog of knitwear to show you. It's embarrassing, really. I made all these cute summery tops and it's been too hot to wear anything but the barest of barely there garments. Most of them require a bit of an undergarment or cami underneath- lace knitwear can be quite revealing and, uh, I just don't want to draw that kind of attention to myself. So camisole layer it will be!

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-20759070244146330072011-07-25T15:36:00.000-04:002011-07-25T15:36:43.146-04:00

There's a park a couple blocks from where I live. Due to the proximity to a wastewater treatment plant, some days there's a really funky odor coming from this park and it's unbearable to go anywhere near it. Other days, it's perfectly pleasant. Yet the malodorous nightmare really keeps people away and this park is fairly deserted. It's too bad because it's right on the water and when it's too

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-72682950393444563342011-07-22T15:59:00.000-04:002011-07-22T15:59:10.258-04:00

If an economically depressed town slips further during a financial crisis, does anyone realize it? Millinocket is a small town in Northern Penobscot County in Maine. The closest big town is Bangor, which is about an hour and a half south. It's an isolated little community that was built up around paper mills, which caused it to become a boomtown at the turn of the last century. All those

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-37943343971915002612011-07-20T15:40:00.000-04:002011-07-20T15:40:49.327-04:00

I feel super fortunate that we have a camp on an island on a lake in the middle of nowhere. It's remote. It's peaceful. The views are unbelievable. The remoteness of the place also means that we didn't get electricity or running water until 2 years ago. While hauling all your drinking water across the lake was a bit of a chore, the only thing I truly don't miss about the former camp is

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-71203933765115629792011-07-18T13:56:00.000-04:002011-07-18T13:56:27.217-04:00

Right off the coast of Portland there are dozens of islands to explore. Some are uninhabited, others have quaint little summer communities, others are populated year-round. Of these, Peaks is probably the most populous and easy to get to. It's about 20 minutes away from downtown Portland on the car ferry. Portland is still a fisheries kind of town. There are dozens of places along

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-66553832328367877762011-07-14T16:51:00.000-04:002011-07-14T16:51:11.049-04:00

Not having to be at work for more than a week means it's time to celebrate SUPER INDEPENDENCE. We headed to Maine to visit family and to sloth around for the week. We had nothing but gorgeous weather the entire time...sunny and warm enough to need a shade tent at the beach. It was delightful. We went to Ocean Park for an early-morning parade on the 4th. It's a tiny beach community right

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-28161225083694156692011-07-13T10:06:00.000-04:002011-07-13T10:06:50.258-04:00

I've been on vacation (more about that later) and I got to return to a city in full-on heat and humidity gross mode. Ah well. I enjoyed every moment of my time away. I was looking out onto the tree in the backyard yesterday and saw this: That's how hot it was. At first, I thought the squirrel was sick or dying because I've never seen one do that. I chirped to him a couple times to get his

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-35786350023417711412011-06-30T15:16:00.000-04:002011-06-30T15:16:21.808-04:00

From the ruins, lonely and inexplicable as the sphinx, rose the Empire State Building and, just as it had been a tradition of mine to climb to the Plaza Roof to take leave of the beautiful city, extending as far as eyes could reach, so now I went to the roof of the last and most magnificent of towers. Then I understood — everything was explained: I had discovered the crowning error of the city,

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-84407351863517194662011-06-29T11:28:00.000-04:002011-06-29T11:28:53.523-04:00

Nothing sums up my love/hate relationship better than this bit of wallpaper that can be found blanketing the library walls in the Google office.  Classy but kind of gross. Sometimes, one has to step back from the daily grind to appreciate the surroundings.  The day in and day out routine can get old fast- the accumulated stress of so many packed subway cars, the sitting in gridlock, the noise

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-618537262724763030.post-40934293540591330752011-06-27T13:40:00.000-04:002011-06-27T13:40:00.975-04:00

The city is abuzz right now with all sorts of good energy.  Summer is here, the sun is shining and wedding venues are about to get much more impossible to book as a great deal of New Yorkers can now officially get hitched.  It's amazing, really.   The other big news that has everyone is so happy is that the High Line park opened a new section of track.  For those of you who aren't local, this

Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04319779140985107444noreply@blogger.com1