cowgirls day out

Today was a special day in cowgirl history.

I got to meet Cathy, Maddie and Nell in Tucson, AZ.

I have been friends with Cathy on ravelry but we have never met

UNTIL

Doreen was nice enough to drive me two hours south from her house in Awatukee for this cowgirl adventure.

We had an amazing day filled with hugs, smiles, lunch, yarnie goodness and lots of laughter.  Cathy gifted me this adorable squishy soft scarf, some beautiful raw silk yarn, a Cowgirl Cookbook, a painted card of her horse Nell,

 all tucked into a sweet goodie bag.  It was awesome.

We got to meet the infamous Maddie, 

Who joyfully danced for us in her hand knit tutu. 

She is as sweet as she looks...

I gave Cathy my Peacocks Journey shawl

Which I know will always remind her of the Brooklyn cowgirl

who journeyed all the way to that little farm

to meet her real cowgirl hero.

The end.

when a friend turns fifty

What do you do when someone you've known for half your life turns 50?

You meet them in Brooklyn

and take them to lunch.

You introduce them to Appletinis.

(Be careful, this could be dangerous.)

If they are a knitter, you make them something.

Knitters love getting knitted gifts from their knitty friends.

You smile back at them as they get all giddy from what you made them.

You take pictures of them as they are asking you all sorts of questions 

about the pattern you chose.

Then you make them pose for you out in the freezing cold 

on the docks at Sheepshead Bay.

You tell them to leave their coat in the car 

because it clashes with the knitting.

Then you pose together, trying to get both your faces in the shot.

You know it won't be the best photo.

But you're 50.

And it doesn't matter.

You are friends who found each other...

Lost each other...

Then found each other again.

And you're just happy to spend time together.

Being girls again.

Happy Birthday Midge. xxx

comfort food

There are many things that we could describe as comfort food.  In our house, potato & cheese pierogis is one of them.  My husband is Polish, and his mother Sophie used to make hers plain boiled with some melted butter on the side. 

I, on the other hand like to sauté a bunch of sliced onions, in butter.  Today I added a small head of sliced cabbage to the onions, and just let it cook while the water was waiting to boil...

The pierogis only take about 2 minutes to boil because they are fresh.  I then drain them out and nestle them into the cabbage and onion mixture for another minute or two...

And there you have it.  Just serve with some sour cream and you have an instant comfort food dinner. 
y u m m y...

knitty labels

I have been looking for a really long time to find nice labels to sew into my knitting.  While browsing around on etsy.com I found these cuties and couldn't resist...

There were many styles to choose from but being the dragonfly lover that I am I picked this design.  They came packaged in a cute little handmade card...

If you have to have these for yourself you can find them here...

Love them!!!

mountainstreetarts.etsy.com

rock collecting

Today I decided to go down to the river in Glen Onoko Park to collect some river rocks.  I love how smooth they feel and I like trying to find the perfect ones.  I stick them in the garden for fun and my brother has been known to paint a few in the past.

The river was running high today so a lot of them were under water.

Along the walk I found this beautiful, tiny, bright red leaf.

I think mom sent it to me from heaven...

arcadia cowl

I've been wanting to try this new Lion Brand Yarn "Arcadia"for a while now.  I bought two skeins on sale at AC Moore and knit up this cowl.  It's not very slouchy, but is dense and wooly and will be very warm this winter...

kato & the bear

One minute I looked out the window and saw my brothers cat Kato just sitting out there.  The next minute I looked out and saw this guy.  Then I noticed Kato was still out there.  Kato is from Brooklyn.  He's not afraid of no stinkin' bear!  Okay Kato, please come inside now...