Coming Off the Back Burner

Remember the Baktiari hat?

I started a Baktiari cowl too, but at about the halfway point it got back-burnered.  You know how it is when you have to do some yardage math and purchase more yarn (the black Cascade 220), the momentum slows and other projects are picked up.  After unearthing it from the WIP bin last week, I have decided to use the longer summer days to finish it.  The colors of that Sanguine Gryphon silk Codex* yarn are just too pretty to sit unknit in a ziplock bag.  They are Rhinebeck purchases and deserve better. 

I took it to see Blockbusters at the Bryant Park Summer Film Festival.  Three hours claiming a decent spot before the movie meant ample time to make significant progress.  You can tell how pumped people were to watch that movie next to the NY Public Library, where the opening scenes were filmed, by how far back and to the side my decent seat was.

See Bill Murray on the screen?

I am hoping to have a Baktiari cowl pattern out by the end of the summer.  In the meantime, here is a sneak peak at what's coming next.

*Sanguine Gryphon is no longer, but one of the spin off(?) companies, Verdant Gryphon, still carries it.  Such pretty stuff and lovely to knit with.

Recently on Insta

I'm more active on Instagram (username Wonderfallz) than anywhere else these days so I thought I would share a quick roundup.  But first this, not from my instagram:

My Galaxy S4's camera is my MVP.  I can't believe it got a pic this nice.

I went to visit a friend who lives in Long Island City where there is a beautiful new waterfront boardwalk/park.  It was a beautiful night with a crystal clear shot of Manhattan.  I got to watch the sky go from light blue, to pinky orange, to deep blue with a sparkly skyline.  I will be going back to knit in one of the many public lounge chairs.

Next up, this spring, a dear friend agreed to model some cowls for me.  I had several requests to see them on an actual human being (imagine that!).  We spent the morning wandering around the meatpacking district looking for good background walls, drinking chai, and just having a good time hanging out, which we don't get to do nearly enough.

Bloomst Cowl

Wribbons Cowl

Next, in May of this year I hit 10 years of living in NYC.  I like to make note of this anniversary every year if only because it is so darn tough to live here so it feels like an accomplishment.  

Now that it is summer the beach is warm enough to visit.  The first visit to Rockaway Beach every year marks the first good full breaths of air I get outside after allergy season.  Gotta love that salty ocean air in the lungs.

Just out of shot are all the buildings that remind you where you are, but really how incredible to be able to visit a place that looks like this and then hop on the subway and pick up bubble tea in Chinatown.

Time to Stop Being a Hermit

It's the start of the year and time to share some things.

Patterns:  

I have two new-ish (I published them in the fall of last year) patterns. 

*my apologies on the scary coloring of the pic.

As soon as fall weather hits I cannot get enough of Pumpkin themed stuff.  Large glittered pumpkins ala Martha Stewart, nerdy carved jack-o-lanterns of Firefly characters, Trader Joe's pumpkin greek yogurt...  I think the only pumpkin thing I don't like is Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte's (I hate them with a fiery passion despite their excellent cozy marketing).  So this year I decided to whip up a quick pumpkin pattern that could be used before and after Halloweeen, something that could be worn a little longer than the Hocus Pocus pattern.  The chart for this one is fairly small so you can adjust the pattern easily if you wish to change the yarn weight, size of the cowl, or if you want to use it for something else altogether.

This winter hat was designed on a lark Christmas 2011 and is the first thing I knit using yarn I spun (the green and grey version).  The green yarn was an awesome sparkly batt I got from the Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn a few years ago, post pool, pre riverside.  The grey yarn is alpaca that came from a farm in Callicoon, NY.  We visited the farm and got to meet all the alpacas.  If you have a chance to visit an alpaca farm I highly recommend it, they are adorable and so soft.  

The pattern includes instructions for a large or medium hat using bulky, aran, or dk weight yarn.

Christmassy Happenings:

Once again I went back "home/home" (CO as opposed to "home" which is NY) for 12th night.  Christmas day was spent in NY seeing Les Mis and eating Chinese food like 75% of the population of the city.  No lie, I took a lovely walk from the theatre in Chelsea to my favorite Chinatown dumpling place and I passed multiple people talking about Russell Crowe's singing.  

I decided to take a bunch of "Christmas in NY" pics this year.  I know it's a fairly common subject but NY does the holidays so well.  

If Christmasy pictures of NY are your thing, there are a lot more in my flickr.

A few days after Christmas I  took off of Colorado for some fresh air and family.  My deer friend came around to see me.

*please note that this is an absolutely horrible example of how to behave with wildlife.  Deer are wild animals and can hurt you.  If I still worked at the zoo I would be getting a stern lecture right about now.  Yes, I worked at a zoo in high school.

We named her Stella.  This is the second time she has visited me at Christmas.  Most of the deer are not afraid of humans but don't dare approach, Stella on the other hand is curious and will walk right up to our door and sniff until someone comes out to see her.  In internet terms, she thinks she's people.

The rest of the trip was lovely even though I was working through that dreadful flu that swept the country.  I saw high school friends, post college friends, and spent many marvelous hours sitting in the kitchen jabbering at my mom.  I also fit in a few trips to my favorite Colorado Springs places Panino's, Wimbergers, Salsa Latina, La Casita and fit in a movie, Silver Linings Playbook, with my dad at the awesome indie theatre, Kimball's, where they still allow you to bring ice cream from the the amazing Josh and John's next door.  Not so fun fact, movies are a good $5+ cheaper in CO than NY.  

OMG Have You Heard of This?!:

Lastly, over Christmas vaca I discovered Miranda.  

I'm completely obsessed.  I think I've watched every episode 10 times at this point.  Had to order this from Amazon UK which is surprisingly affordable and fast.

My mom, ever ready to replace TV watching with book reading, ordered Miranda Hart's book from Amazon UK as well.

It's going to live with Tina Fey and Mindy Kaling's books on the awesome and very funny ladies shelf.

Well it is lovely catching up with the dear blog again.  Now I am going to go enjoy the snow that fell last night.

7 Year New York-iversary

Seven years ago I flew into NYC to live.  I'm not sure why it is that I can't remember birthdays outside of my immediate family but the day I arrived in NY is etched in stone.  I remember the first 6 months when I cried every single day in a haze of terror, anxiety and homesickness.  I remember the 3rd and 4th year when I swore I would leave by the 5th year because NY summers are the worst.  There is so very much to hate about the day to day grind of living in NY that sometimes I find myself surfing the craigslist apartment listings in Maine.  But then I find myself walking around the lower east side, on a hunt for some kale chips that I had read about in NY Magazine, and I run into a friend on St. Marks, the street I thought was the absolute coolest when I visited at age 15 and saw RENT for the first time.  I take a sprawling long walk to my subway stop, get the kale chips, stop by the good gelato place, and run into a yarn store.  A few days later I leave from work, get a good mocha from City Bakery made with read chocolate, not syrup, run into the paper crafts store, browse for books at Books of Wonder, Barnes and Noble, and The Strand, get fancy little forks for .99 at Fish's Eddy, and check out what the occupy people are doing in Union Square Park.  It is on these wonderful walks after work and on the weekends, or when I see a musical, or go to a movie in the park that I understand what is so completely amazing about the city and why we all put up with insanely high prices and incredibly frustrating behavior.  At this point I know, it will physically hurt, like a really bad breakup, if I ever leave NY.  So in honor of my New York-iversary I stopped by the Madison Square food market, picked up a slice of Crack Pie from the Momofuku stand and then ran over to the Shake Shack, because this is NY and I can.

Best $20 Art Project Ever, or at least the Sparkliest

I was bored the other night and took a short visit to my favorite costume jewelry store. This place is amazing. Almost everything is under $4 and absolutely encrusted in cheap rhinestones. It is one of the best craft supply stores in town. After this visit I got home, looked at these ridiculous earrings and brooch and inspiration struck. I had this awesome $3 frame from Pearl River Mart and had nothing to put in it, until tonight. I raided my glitter paper stash and for less than $20 total I have the most awesomely tacky wall art.

If you are visiting NY and want to check out the costume jewelry store, there are actually two owned by the same people, check out Earrings Plaza or Jewelry Plaza. They don't have websites but they are on google maps. Don't be scared away by the ugly presentation, because the product is fun.