A new hat for New York

Adam and I went to New York for a few days, leaving the kids behind with family (thank again, you guys!). Let's just say that it was awesome. It was our first time in the city, and we managed to cover a lot of ground, but I'm already plotting a return because there is just SO MUCH.

Before the trip I set a new personal knitting record by completing something in only a week. I knit slowly and get distracted, so a seven-day turn around is very nearly miraculous. But bulky yarn is the best, and knitting in the round isn't as scary as I feared, so I managed to finish Adam's waffle hat in time for us to leave our own cold and snowy region for a different cold and snowy region.

I was really happy with the yarn, some Malabrigo chunky. It had a nice firm-but-squishy thing going on that felt good to knit with. And the pattern was great too. I still consider myself very beginner level, and this had a couple of challenges (knitting in the round! a slightly more involved stitch pattern than I've used before!) but was still easy enough that I could chat a little while working on it and not lose my place.

Hat details on Ravelry here.

Traveling Bag Tutorial

Traveling Bag Tutorial PDF!

(Not really) funny story: I made this tutorial for my sister to use sometime, oh, two years ago. Partly because she asked and I'm awesome like that; partly because I figured that after she tested it out, I could share the tutorial on the blog. But I guess I forgot to go ahead with that last part. Whoops.



I whipped up the first Traveling Bag before our trip to Portland and Seattle a few years ago. I wanted something basic and tough, small enough to pass as a purse, but big enough to hold maps and a travel book. I think it's perfect for that. It's since been on several trips and conveniently fits all my notes and jotted-down plans (and snacks, because I always take snacks) without looking "touristy." In fact, it is so perfect for me that I use it as my everyday purse as well.



I even made a slightly modified one for my other sister one Christmas.

Anyway, time to finally share it with the rest of you! I've put the whole tutorial together in the pdf linked below, two instruction pages and two illustration pages.

Traveling Bag Tutorial PDF!

I hope you like it! And if there are any issues/questions, please let me know!

Field trip!

Adelaide loves animals. Usually, the only ones available for her high-pitched exclamations and frenzied pointing are cats, dogs, birds, bunnies, and squirrels.



So today, we took a field trip to see some bigger and more exotic critters.



So much fun. Plus ice cream for lunch.



And my little baby is looking more and more like a big kid every day!

On shopping and eating

Obviously, there were lots of cool places on the London/Edinburgh/Dublin trip, but when it comes to cool gift shops there is a clear winner: the gift shop at the Churchill War Rooms.

We are not very gift-shoppy people, but we left there with some cool WWII reproduction prints to hang on the walls. And a "Make do and mend" keychain. But I have a bit of a WWII-homefront obsession, so there were also tons of things I very nearly bought (including some quite tempting reprints of WWII home-front-related books such as ration cookbooks and a guide for English war brides headed to the U.S.). The war rooms themselves are pretty cool too. [edited to say: Upon reading through this, I realize I used the word "cool" WAY too many times in those few sentences. But what's done is done, and I'm letting them stand, but with apologies.]



Other shopping highlights: Chocolate bars from Rococo Chocolates. (The woman working at the counter was the nicest shopkeeper ever and gave us samples. We went to the one in Belgravia.) Yarn from a knitting boutique in Edinburgh. Though it is difficult for a novice like me to figure out what to make with one skein of yarn picked at random with no plan in mind. Hmmm.

And the all-important food category: Of course, the area isn't really known for having great food. And some of our experiences definitely confirmed that (we had maybe the worst Italian food ever at some place near Westminster Abbey, and the smell of heavy unpleasant bar food hung thick in the air of Edinburgh). But we also ate a few meals I'd be more than happy to repeat.

So, if you're ever in the area, here are some recs. We ate a very yummy lunch at Mildred's, a vegetarian restaurant in Soho. And we had a tasty dinner at Henderson's Bistro, a vegetarian restaurant in Edinburgh (though I cannot recommend the cherry pie). Another really good dinner in Edinburgh was had at Ristorante Gennaro, an Italian place. And I also really loved Wagamama, a chain of noodle places. We visited Wagamama toward the end of our trip when I wasn't feeling too great and the Moyashi Soba was just what I needed, like chicken noodle soup for vegetarians, only better. Upon returning home, I had a dream that a Wagamama was opening up in the Chicago area and the level of excitement actually woke me up.

The Tower

Today was a rough day. We had a big list of around-the-house projects and errands, and it just seemed like each one of them was ten times more difficult than it should have been. Frustrating and exhausting. So now seems like a good time to revisit one of my favorite parts of our recent vacation.

I loved the Tower of London. Partly this is because the Tower is very, very interesting. Partly this is because I am a very low-brow historian (meaning I cannot keep actual history in my brain at all, but I get really excited to see places associated with the characters from The Tudors; pathetic, I know).



The Tower of London is huge, which I was not expecting. I mean, I didn't think it was small, but I didn't realize it was basically its own little village. The yeoman warders and their families actually live there (complete with bicycles and doormats and patio furniture that you can see if you look down off one of the high walkways). There are museum-ish parts and historically restored rooms (some lived in by prisoners, some lived in by royalty...and some lived in by royalty who became prisoners) and a chapel and the crown jewels and extensive grounds and on and on. Easily a half-day adventure. It was amazing.

Also: New blog masthead! Definitely too cold now for the bare-feet-in-the-grass header of this summer. (And thanks to Adam for the new photo, which he took in Dublin as we walked across the campus of Trinity College. And for some of the Tower photos above.)

Long (but never long enough) weekend

A football-game-watching, architectural-site-seeing, camping-in-the-woods road trip. Plus my birthday.











Photos:
1. A late-night stop for donuts in Columbus, Ohio. Because it is always a good time for donuts, especially after a victory. (Other Columbus food recs: Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream, where I had a surprisingly delicious scoop of the sweet corn with blackberry, and Northstar, with a super veggie burger and the best ginger ale I've ever tasted.)
2. The view from Kentuck Knob (we also went to Fallingwater). Rolling hills and old built-on-the-hillside towns are such novelties for a prairie girl.
3. Two of the rangers at Fort Necessity. All dressed in British soldier gear...they end the presentation by firing one of the muskets!
4. and 5. Happy birthday to me! A pretty blue vintage Schwinn with fenders and a basket! Thanks, Adam!

Of birthday cards and other stuff

We spent Memorial Day weekend on our first roadtrip in the new car. We went down to Springfield to see my sister and visit some Lincoln sites. Then we spent some time with the in-laws and celebrated our niece's birthday. I made a card, because that is how I roll. Super easy and, I think, pretty darn cute. Just machine-stitch some ribbon to that thing and call it a day. Excellent.



Also, on my Friday off, I spent a bit of time watching Julie and Julia (with the Netflix "watch instantly" thing...love that). Honestly, I was not that into the Julie parts. They weren't bad or anything, they just didn't catch my fancy. But I loved the Julia parts! Loved! And how great were the Valentine's Day postcards Julia and her husband sent out? So freakin' great. (See one here. Just click the small picture to enlarge it.)

Trip highlights

Because I'm sure you were wondering. In chronological order:

Buying fancy-pants salt at The Meadow. It felt so delightfully frivolous.



Powell's. Best bookstore ever.

Sampling macarons* from Pix Patisserie. Caramel, pistachio, raspberry and espresso. All good, but raspberry and espresso were the most delicious.



Mount Rainier. Absolutely gorgeous.



The tour (with samples!) of Theo Chocolate. Our tour guide was awesome. The chocolate is not only really, really yummy but also all fair trade and organic and feel-good. And, of course, I brought home some souveniers.

Meeting up with my brother, who is now a mountain man.

And, of course, spending all that awesome time with no work and lots of Adam.

*I had never had macarons before. I tried making some chocolate macarons last Christmas using the recipe from How to Be a Domestic Goddess. The project was a massive failure. Massive. As in inedible. As in straight-to-trashcan. Not sure if this was due to the recipe or me, but probably me. Anyway, now I am convinced I need to try again. Because these were pretty darn good.