epicurious

epicure (noun): a person devoted to refined sensuous enjoyment, especially food and drink.

The Spouse and I have been on several lunch dates to experience the pleasures of food and drink. On one of our lunch dates, we went to Luigi Malones in Temple Bar. I have read reviews of this restaurant , some good and some bad...but in our experience each visit has been a pleasant one. The thin pizza crust was baked to perfection on my roasted vegetable pizza.

that's a wrap...

One of my favourite knitting projects was a shawl made with yarn from Fleece Artist. I have received so many nice compliments whenever I wear it as a wrap. I was so flattered when the neighbourhood butcher even commented on how lovely it looked.

I originally purchased the yarn kit at Village Yarns in Toronto. It was my first "luxury yarn" purchase and I've been a fibre snob ever since. The yarn is Goldilocks hand dyed in the amber colourway. Its fiber content is 56% kid mohair, 24% silk, 20% nylon spun into a boucle which gives the shawl a nice texture. The skein is 125g/500m.

The pattern for the shawl is included on the ball band. Very easy...

I used 6mm circular needles (100cm length)

Cast on 3 stitches.

Working in garter stitch, increase at the beginning of every row.

Continue until yarn is almost finished.

Cast off loosely....sorry folks, I did not count how many stitches I had in the end

ahhh...sweet knitty treats

The Knitters Treat Exchange is my first experience in swapping. On Monday, my spoiler was revealed to me when a package was delivered to my door. There was a sense of joy and anticipation while opening the package. It was just like Christmas. My spoiler was Sarah from the USA. She sent over a skein of Duet handpainted sock yarn, decadent chocolate, the novel Love Walked In, spring issue of Interweave Knits, my first set of handmade stitch markers, bling for my mobile (difficult to see in the photo, it's my initial). lovely lip balm and luxury soap. Thank you Sarah for an awesome package.

Thanks to the great enthusiasm and organization skills of Isobel and Sara, the Knitters Treat Exchange was a lot of fun. I enjoyed shopping and creating a package for Jodi. She received her KTE package on Friday (I am impressed with the Irish Post Office since I posted her package Monday afternoon).

The KTE has been fun and I now have two new knitty blogger friends in the blogshpere...A Caffeinated Yarn and The Plucky Knitter.

there is a reason to my madness

I found my USB cable for the digital camera. It was tucked in between yarn, needles and patterns. The reason why I placed it in this basket in the first place?

When I was in the spring cleaning mode, I put it in with all the other knitting WIPs. Uploading photos of my knitting was a WIP. At the time, it made sense to me…. So now I’m off to organize my photos…

a little too much, may be hazardous to your health

My spring cleaning frenzy is definitely over. I have "over organized" and de-cluttered my creative work space. Of course when I need something I have no idea where I set it aside. To date, I can not find my USB cable for my digital camera and my hole puncher. Oh well, I just hope I don't clutter the house looking for all the stuff I can't find...

knit night at TIK

Last Thursday. I made it over to Blackrock and joined Lisa and Jacqui at their new This is Knit location for their weekly Knit Night. I love their new place. It is quite cozy and welcoming with the bean bag chairs. It reminds me of my weekly jaunts to Lettuce Knit's SnB Nights.

Also, I am looking forward to their Offical Grand Opening on May 10th...


NB: photo is from Lisa's Blog.

blog of the week goes to....

In addition to cleaning and reorganizing our home this past week, I've spent this afternoon organizing my bookmarks on my computer. After perusing the whole lot of blogs...I thought I would resume my Blog of the Week post...

So, the Blog of the week goes to becks and posh.

How found this blog: while doing a google search on Avoca, and I bookmarked this page.

more spring cleaning...

The hedges and shrubs have been cut back and trimmed. The half the backyard has been weeded (yes only half...I gave up this time around).

So now I've moved my cleaning frenzy into the bedroom closet. I went over to my favourite store, M & S to pick up some hangers and here is what I picked up... When, I looked closely at the packaging, and noticed this... hangers made in France...I've only seen these here on this side of the pond. ... now all I need is a cafe au lait with a croissant.

what is on my stix?

My spring knitting is in full swing...

Goldielocks Triangle Shawl is coming along very slowly...

My sunshine handtowel was started to celebrate spring fever.

This is my second square of my long term WIP, Lizard Ridge.

spring cleaning

Spring has sprung in our household…the sunshine along with the mild temperatures since the Easter Bank Holiday weekend brought about spring fever. The Spouse and I rolled up our sleeves and cleaned, polished and organized our home.

We cleaned up the backyard, brought out the patio furniture and I am ready to decorate after perusing the M & S Summer Home catalogue....hmmmm, garden lights, patio umbrella, plates, glasses...

colour coordination

I enjoy perusing through the fashion magazines to update myself on the latest fashion trends. I enjoy shopping to follow certain fashion panache if I feel the style and colour will suit my body type and colouring. Since, I do not have any formal training in fashion design or colour coordination, I rely on the visual merchandising that I see displayed in the stores. I also like to "people watch" to observe fashion styles.

Friday morning, I was on the bus during rush hour...knitting and when I paused and looked across from me...eeegads, what was this woman thinking????

My camera phone does not fully depict the actual effect of this lady's fashion sense...

toffee coloured shoes, chocolate brown tights, navy blue and white striped stretch skirt with a black t-shirt and a green hand bag...a fashion faux pas or a fashion statement...pret a porter?

Belinda's list of things to do...learn to knit???

My witty knitty friend, t sent me an update on my "favourite" Canadian politician. Maybe she plans to taking up knitting and get over to a SnB night. Is there one in Aurora?

Happy Easter

What a wonderful Easter weekend we are having here on this side of the pond. The temperatures are reaching as high as 15 Celsius, with bright blue and sunny skies. I have spent some time in the garden...weeding and trimming back the shrubbery.

I also took some time to go shopping...The Spouse and I made our way over to the shopping mall. It felt like home....the big mall with tons of shops and restaurants.

if a picture is worth a thousand words....

I am experiencing writer's (blogger's?) block...

Remember my birthday gift from Holly?
Pre-draft...
waiting patiently to be handspun...
getting started...
look what I can do in a few hours...