MyLuckyChicken

Thanksgiving in New York

Is there anything better than spending Thanksgiving Day in New York City? I really don't think so.  

We are spoiled and had tickets for the parade in the grandstands! 

Every year I watch the parade on TV and every year I say, we should go see that in person. It was so exciting! 

Look how close we were! 

If you can do it, go. Don't worry about the crowds. Everyone was so nice and super happy to have seats and just full of enthusiasm for every bit of the parade. 

After the parade we went to Balthazar for lunch. 

Although lunch was delicious, my favorite part was the desert; pot de creme. How can you go wrong with a pot of cream? Chocolate cream at that. Yum. 

Saturday we walked through a farmers market, you know I loved that. Here is a sweet retro sign across the street from the market. So great. 

The Catskill Merino Sheep Farm was there. I practically skipped over to the booth.The yarns are all natural and spun at  The Green Mountain Spinnery. Then they hand dye them with natural dyes. They are soft and cozy and wonderful. I bought 2 skeins of this worsted weight . It's been over dyed with indigo. 

The colors remind me of the hills in this Breugel I saw at the Met. sigh.

 

As if that weren't inspiration enough, we then went to ABC Carpet and Home.

 

These pillows are lovely. The one above is silk with a linen back.

And these are linen with tiny mother of pearl buttons. I see a lot of linen in my future,

and maybe some sequins too. 

Saturday Morning

continuing with pillows...

I'm in love with the pillow I made the other day. So much so that I was inspired to make another one.

It's a vintage cotton (possibly some ployester in there) and I backed it with muslin.

I love the envelope closure, so easy. Plus the simple cream muslin matches the flowers on the other side. 

I also managed to finish a cowl, which you can see on my ravelry page here. The pattern is called Dovetail Cowl and it's available here. It was a pretty easy knit and I would happily recommend it for a beginner. 

I've started this super cute baby hat. My friend is having a girl so I get to knit with pink. It's making me really happy. Plus I am using a wool, silk, cotton blend by Tahki Yarns that is lovely. Again the pattern is really easy, great for a beginner. 

Notice the theme? Easy, simple. That's been my goal all fall, simplify my home, keep everything easy and manageable.

So far, so good. But...

I've been a bit of a slacker in the Bento department. That's ok, right? I'll leave you with a few more days. Even though they might seem familiar, they were simple and simple is good. 

Day 12

kiwi, havarti cheese and crackers, cute little sweet biscuit type cookies

Day 13

rolled salami and harvati cheese, crackers, and a clementine

Day 14

a little halloweeny, apple slice mouths with marshmallow teeth, the burger s are little cookies with nutella 

Day 15

kiwi, clemintines, and teeny bear cookies

 

simple. 

Easy Peasy Vacation Knitting

I am on vacation and have been looking for simple project that I can finish in a week or so and that don't require too much thinking. 

I got my hands on this lovely Noro yarn...

It's a silk, cotton, wool, blend, a true pleasure to knit with. I really like the Noro yarns. Their earth tones are always flawless. 

In the spirit of simple no thinking knitting,

The Simple Cowl...

Forgive the ipad photo, the colors are more like the top shot, but it gives you the idea.

It's done on circular needles and so it's just knit, knit, knit, in circles until you feel like you're done. easy peasy. 

I orignally thought this would be some of my Christmas gift knitting, but I'm not sure I can part with it. The colors are really lovely and it has just enough to it to be warm, but not bulky. 

Maybe I can knit up a few more and then I can keep her! 

Details can be found here, on my ravelry page.

Still Knitting

I am feverishly working this scarf...

super simple. Cast on 18, knit, repeat. It's a gift so there is a deadline. You know how I am with deadlines. 

I also have 2 baby blankets and 2 pocket dolls to finish. It's going to be a busy week!

WIP

A little update on my knitting projects...

This scarf is almost done. I am going to marathon knit tonight and see how far I get. 

and I've got the first three rows of this hat on circular needles. It's my first attempt at using them and I feel very fancy. I also love the idea at real Pilgrims wore a hat just like this one. Fitting for the season, don't you think? 

Just keep knitting, just keep knitting...

I've been wanting to learn how to knit for a while now.

Mostly so I could knit socks. I love socks. Cozy, thick, wool socks. Like these...

And sometimes I would start, but I found it annoying to keep the yarn in my left hand. And after crocheting, having two needles made me feel clumsy. 

A friend told me I needed to knit for 3 hours straight and I would get over it. So I did. I signed up for a class, that I had to pay for. This is my motivation to go because it is at night, after a long day of work, and children, and laundry. It is also 7-10. pm. But I went and knit for 3 hours. It didn't work. I was still clumsy and hated the needles. I actually said, "I think I might hate knitting." 

But those socks were calling to me. The promise of a lifetime supply of thick, cozy, wool socks. As long as I had some needles. and a sheep. 

So I kept with it.

Knit 2 , purl2, knit 2, purl 2.

Forever.

Or maybe it was just 3 weeks.

And look...

my first scarf.

It's finished now and I can wear it.

Which I did today because it is snowing here.Yes, in October. But I am embracing that because it turns out that snowy days are really great for knitting...

another scarf, commissioned by my little guy, to be paid for with kisses.