Another Birthday Zooms Past...

But certainly not un-celebrated! This year was a "big" birthday for me and my family had a wonderful party at ICE.

There were just 15 of us, mostly my family. We selected the menu and (with the help of several professionals) made dinner! Some of us also wore chef hats...

Here is my sister texting, not cooking...

Here is my brother and my mother making pasta...
Peter wielding a sharp knife...
My sweetie and brother browning butter...

My sister, Jeri and Bob working the pasta...

And here is BadKitten, flipping crepes! And then we sat down and ate it all.

A birthday never passes without dear friends giving me lovely and thoughtful gifts, and Sandra got me the English version of this gorgeous Estonian lace book. I have the Estonian version and love the charts and photos but always wanted to really read the text. It is the most charming book. She also got me a set of Blackthorn needles, which I have resisted up until now. I can't wait to cast-on with them. And some Optim fiber, which is merino that has been stretched to make it finer. Again, something I have never tried but always wanted to.

Some of my Thursday evening knitting friends gifted my with yarn. Clearly they know I like purple. Top right is plum Zephyr from Margret, bottom right is Lineapiu Camelot Melange and purple beads to match from Cara and bottom left is Phoebe/Mocha's Fiber, from Dawn. Three shawls waiting to be born!

Jeri got me blocking tiles!! She knows I have been using my old rug. And she made a gorgeous bag for me to store them in. These will be used in a few hours...

Several of us went on a little shopping trip and I managed to collect a few beads for my stash. Seriously, each tube was selected to match yarn that I have for a project. Really!

And to top it all off, The Metamorphosis Group had a virtual birthday party for me and Karen collected the posts and gave me this journal and a CD of matching music! It was really wonderful and I can't thank everyone enough. THANK YOU!

Next week I will be back to the business at hand, and that would be Metamorphosis. We have several finished objects to share and I hope to have all the project samples ready (with cheesecake shots) for that post. Until then, keep knitting!

The Midtown Manhatten Bead Crawl...

Do you ever find yourself between a train at Grand Central and a train at Penn Station, with an hour or two to spare? You know that I do! You could shop for clothing or souvenirs. You could see the sights around Times Square (which is now a Disney version of its former edgy self.) You could eat. Or you could shop for beads, which is my usual favored option. If you are starting at Grand Central, walk west on 42nd Street until Sixth Avenue (Avenue of the Americas.) Turn left (south) on Sixth and walk:
1) Stop one is Bead Empire (1032 Sixth Ave between 38th and 39th,) where you will find a good selection of Japanese seed beads, including 8/0 in many finishes. They have Matsunos and also some cheaper ones. You can't always tell, so look at them with care!
2) Stop two is Fun to Bead (1028 Sixth Ave between 38th and 39th.) The have all sorts of strands upstairs, but if you go downstairs they have a wall of small tubes of Matsuno beads for a good price (especially if you just want a small package.)
3)M&J trimming (1008 Sixth Ave) is stop three, which has some hanks of Czech seed beads, but more importantly has more trim and buttons then you will know what to do with. Way fun.
4)Stop four is Toho Shoji (990 Sixth Ave between 36th and 37th.) They have large packs of Mastuno beads and smaller packs of Miyuki beads, in many sizes, finishes and shapes. They also have findings and crystals and other goodness. This one is a favorite of mine.

If you have time for yet more, turn around and go north again on Sixth and hang a right (east) on 37th. As you walk east you will see a slew of shops that stock beads and trimming, so explore! Here are some I have shopped at:
5)Margola, at 48 west 37th, has a wall of Czech hanks. You have to buy the entire hank, so be warned! If you go all the way in, you will see a small wall of seed beads in large tubes. They have some nice 8/0s with pretty finishes, for not much money.
6)City Beads, at 15 west 37th, has a huge selection of Delicas in all sizes and MANY finishes. They are not cheap, but they are not bad for Delicas, and it is cool to see such a nice selection.
7)York, at 10 west 37th, is a tiny shop STUFFED with strands of all sorts of lovely beads. Most are Czech, including hanks of 8/0 3-cuts and other nifty stuff.
8)Phoenix Stone and Beads, at 5 west 37th, had really big bags of seed beads for very little money, in case you want to re-sell. They also have many interesting strands.
You really can't have too many beads, right? The fashion district is full of great shops for beads, buttons and trims. Feel free to add your favorite midtown bead shops in the comments section. Until next time, knit on (with beads!)

My Tagine Runneth Over

I thought I would share my good fortune and at the same time offer a huge thank-you to everyone who shared my birthday and made me feel so very special. Your generosity is overwhelming and I am so happy to have you all as my family and friends.
To my darling Badkitten and her father, I just love you guys! BK whipped up this cake for me, and she says you can have some for yourself if you follow this link.
My brother and his family gave me this elegant Tagine, in which I made this for dinner last night. He also gave me a rice cooker. We love to cook chez BadCat, so these will get good use.
My sister and her family gave me these, so I can keep that Tagine full on a regular basis!
Harry made me this, and I was told the stickers were hand selected with me in mind. I love them.
This is just a few of the cards I got, that I though were most appropriate to share. The peas in the pod are yarn...
I snuck this little swatch in, for lack of a better place! 2/80 merino cashmere on 4-0 needles. More later!
My friend Sandra gave me a selection of these amazing stitch markers. These fit on US 2 and smaller needles, are totally handmade (even the headpins) and the nicest I have ever had. They are from Spindle Cat Studios. I love them.

My friend Dawn gave me a pair of US 2 needles. Not just any needles. THESE needles. She selected the shortest length and the stiletto tip. She knows what I like. I love them.
The swatch is from a cone of 2/18 Cotton and linen that my friend Pat gave me. Purple. I love it.
My friend Jeri made this name tag for me. She is an amazing art quilter, beader and knitter. I still can't believe that she made this just for me. And in purple too...I love it.
This is a terrible photo, so please forgive me, but my friend Mary Rose made me this a little while ago and I wanted to share it. She secretly grabbed my Ravelry avatars and made me a shirt with them. How cool is that??? I love it!
This is just a "little something" my friend Lara sent me. A real knitter's kit, I have no idea how she stuffed so many goodies into one bag! You can see just a few of them, but I believe she thought of everything a hardcore knitter might need in a pinch, including some cool things I had never seen (note the crochet hook with a knitting needle end, the handmade stitch markers and a perfect clip light for knitting in bed while your honey is trying to sleep.) Amazing! I love it.
One of the most stunning surprises I got was a package from my friend Malle. She sent me all sorts of goodies, but I will share two with you! This mitten book was just published and is in both Estonian AND English. It is full of wonderful history and MANY charted patterns for traditional Estonian mittens. It is another gorgeous, hard cover book from Estonia. I love it!
She also sent me Valentine's Day yarn. I understand it is a typical Estonian yarn, and it has very long color repeats. It is a 2/8 yarn. I have not decided what it will be yet, but I love it.
And not to be outdone, I selected a few things for myself, and we can say they are from my little family even though I ordered them, right? These are two cobweb weight yarns from Bev, at Land O Lace. One is a 2/56 and one is a 2/60. Both are in colors that are new, in my favorite color family. I am note sure what they will become yet, but they are gorgeous.
I got this Folca box, from The Gossamer Web. You can see that I filled it with some of my little necessities. It is really cool.
I also got another skein of Love Potion #3, which was such a pleasure to work with. I am not sure what it will become yet!
Finally, I got this little Kuchulu spindle from Jenkins Woodworking. The penny (it happens to be Canadian as a little homage to the Olympics) shows you just how tiny this baby is. Lilac wood and pink ivory. Perfect.
Finally, a little Snow Queen update, so you don't think I am all goodies and no action! This is a closeup of a beaded section in Chart F.
And this shows everything through Chart E. Our group just moved to Chart F last week and we have some serious knitting to go.


Again, I thank everyone from the bottom of my heart. I love you all. I will be back next week with a picture tutorial on fixing nupps. You know how those nupps seem to give up a loop every once in a while? I will show you what I do to repair them. Until then, knit on!

What I did on my summer vacation...

Consider this post a postcard...and start with "Wish you were here."

We went to visit family in Greece. We have been there before, but this time we decided to take in some of the sites. BadKitten is all about ancient Greece and loves languages (especially the ones people don't speak anymore...) We flew into Athens, rented a car and hit the road.

Because I have some serious jet lag going on, I have been up since 4am getting all sorts of things done. I already got the next chart for Dark Star posted at the Summer Squares group, I have a new piece I knit (a traveling project) blocking, and I am on my fourth load of laundry! The sunset is from a ferry traveling from the mainland to Lefkimi, on the island of Corfu.

Here is a darling hummingbird who visited my father-in-law's yard in Lefkimi every day we were there.

And here I am, knitting in Athens. As long as I have the correct projects with me I can knit any time and any place...

The food is very good in Greece. Did you know that? Here you can see a lovely salad (that Kitten and I made...)
Here are some lovely lentils that Aunt Lenio made. She gave us a cooking lesson, so now we can cook like her at home. We wrote her technique down plus took some pictures, because she never measures anything...

Here is a very pretty shop in the old part of Corfu Town. I didn't get anything, but I love how all of it looks.

We got these funky little shrimp (if you look closely you can see fingers in the picture for a size check) at a Taverna on a bluff not far from Lefkimi. The food is great but the view is better.

Like I said, the view is better...

We took a ride on a small motor boat from near Lefkimi to a pretty harbor on the mainland.

We drove all over and visited Delphi to check in with the Oracle. It was very cool. Hot, but cool.

We also visited the Oracle of the Dead, which is also very interesting and cool. Again, hot but cool...

And we went to the Acropolis. It was hot, cool and crowded! The new museum opened and it is amazing. I suggest you check it out if you are in Athens. And so you don't think I neglected my stash, let us start with yarn...and there was not too much to be had. I know there is a yarn shop (one) in Athens. I didn't have time to go there. I heard rumor there was one yarn shop in Corfu Town. I tried to find it, but could not...and guess what? I found yarn around the corner from my father-in-law's house in Lefkimi!

So if you are in Lefkimi, stand on the bridge in the center of the old part of town and look down the river toward the sea. Turn right and cross the street, walking straight down the only road you see. In one block you will see this:

This shop has fabric, "dry goods" and YARN! They had some Italian acrylic that BadKitten just loves. She got a bunch and has been crocheting hats and fingerless gloves. They had an excellent selection of fine cottons, but only in white and ecru. I got some nice cotton.

A German family who vacations every year at Aunt Lenio's beach cottages knew we were coming and brought me two balls of this very nice cotton. They know me...
And this is the cotton I bought at the little store in Lefkimi.

At the Acropolis Museum they had the most lovely display of spindle whorls. They were gorgeous and so well preserved! As I looked at them I plotted how I might have one for myself. Surely they have many more than they need, as you can see in the postcard...
And would you believe it!? At the gift shop they had handmade reproductions. The reproductions were each unique and I picked one out for myself! Above is the top view and below is the side view.

And finally, everyone knows you can find beads in Athens, but did you know there is a nice, little bead shop in Corfu Town? Neither did I. Here is the address (in English and also in Greek below.)

I bought some vintage seed beads (European) in something about a 10/0 (green luster) and something like a 6/0 (mat blue.) I also got some little eyes and some shell beads that are hard to see.

Now I have to finish my laundry and take a nap. I will be back soon with cheesecake pictures of Dark Star. Until then, knit on!