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Memorandum

From: Abbie
To: My Faithful Readers
Re: Today’s Shameful Lack of Knitting Content

Due to other obligations, I did not knit a stitch today.

The Great Cookie Caper

However. I did make 20 dozen cookies, give or take the ones we ate already. I hope you can all find it in your hearts to be understanding.

(If you’re wondering: chocolate chip (half semisweet and half “holiday” chips), almond jam thumbprints and raspberry ribbons in the center.)

Since half of these cookies have jam in them, they can count as breakfast, right? Right!

I love the holidays so much it’s ridiculous.

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We Gather Together

I’m thankful for a lot of things this year, like the roof over my head and the food I eat, and for my yarn (so much yarn) and the beautiful things I can make from it, and also this blog, because I have made quite a few new friends from it already, and discovered a talent I didn’t realize I had.

So like every good American…

The most important part

I will express that thanks by partaking of pie.

If you’re celebrating Thanksgiving today, I hope you have lots to be thankful for, and lots of pie. If you’re not… I hope you have pie anyway.

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Expeditions

My friend Melissa came up to the city on Friday and we went on a little adventure to the Cloisters.

We saw very impressive carvings:
The Cloisters

and walked around the gardens, which are all ready for winter:
The Cloisters
The Cloisters
The Cloisters

Then we went downtown to see the Lion Brand Studio, but we forgot to check their hours. They were closed. We did, however, have a good laugh at their window display:
Lion Brand Studio Lion Brand Studio

It’s a little hard to see in the glare of the window, but yes, those are size 300 needles. I’m wondering what yarn goes with those.

Then I came home and did more Christmas knitting.
Christmas Knitting

This is from Knitpicks Tidings of Joy Ornament kit. I’m slowly working my way through the booklet, and I absolutely recommend it if you’re looking for some quick present ideas. (Unless you’re in Scotland, of course.) I could probably figure most of these out on my own, but sometimes it’s nice to have someone else do the lifting and figure out the numbers for you. It’s a terrific little kit with some great ideas — strings of lights! sugarplums! popcorn & cranberry strings! and I’m really enjoying turning out finished objects this quickly. The only problem is that I want to keep them all.

Ok. Enough jabber, more knitting! Dare I ask how everyone else is progressing? Or have you not started yet? I know one person is done. I won’t say who it is for her own safety, but she should know I’m pretty darn impressed.

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Heu heu heu!

Yesterday my mom and I took the train into the city to watch the Steuben Day Parade. (It’s named for Baron von Steuben, a German general who worked with Washington during the Revolutionary War, so they have adopted his name for the celebration of German heritage in the States.) We saw lots of stuff:


Steuben Photomosaic

It was a perfect September day, sunny and cool, and the Traveling Sock was very happy to attend the Oktoberfest in Central Park afterwards.

Traveling Sock Goes To Oktoberfest

There really isn’t much better than a good Oktoberfest, especially when it’s somewhere as lovely as Central Park. Tips for a good party: order your beer by the pitcher so you spend less time on line and more time drinking, and make sure you know all the words to “Ein Prosit.” (It’s very easy to learn.) Find a folk band to sit next to, and bonus points if they’re in lederhosen. Of course, if you’re in your own lederhosen or Tracht, well then you don’t need any advice from me!

It’s definitely fall now, and I couldn’t be more pleased about that.

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Geburtstag

So I had a birthday this weekend, which involved visiting with some friends, singing some karaoke, and, of course, some yarn:

Birthday

Amy’s Vintage Office sock yarn from Lorna’s Laces, a gift from J., and some Wollmeise superwash from Melissa, who also made the beautiful bag the yarn is in. She even lined it with a toile pattern, because she knows me that well. (I adore toile. Adore it.)

I had more surprises when I got home:

Best Birthday Present Ever?

This is the start of a collection for me, building off a coffee pot I inherited from a relative. My parents found some more pieces to match the pattern, and I was so touched and surprised when I opened the box I almost started crying. It’s not a fancy pattern; the value in it to me is where it started from. And I don’t think I’ll ever look at this bowl without remembering my surprise upon opening the box.

But the best part of a birthday is the cake. Or in this case, the cake and the bouquet of chocolate-covered strawberries sent by my sister:

birthday eats

That would be homemade red velvet with cream cheese frosting that my awesome mom made, and it tasted delicious. It’s an excellent way to start another year. Bring it, world. I’m fortified with chocolate and yarn.

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Plummy

Yesterday, before my knitting group met up, I had a walk through the Union Square Greenmarket, and my eyes fell on some plums. You should buy those and make plum cake, I thought. Dad really loves plums. It doesn’t hurt that lots of people have been blogging about making plum cake lately.

So I bought the plums, a lovely mix of purple and golden, and brought them home, and neglected to take pictures of them before I sliced them up this afternoon and got to work.

Plum Kuchen

I used this recipe, and threw in a few dashes of nutmeg and ground clove with the cinnamon in the batter. It was delicious. And as it turns out, my Dad (and the rest of us) had one of those days where one bad thing after another just sort of piled up, so having something delicious around to end the day with helped, just a little. And it turned out so pretty with the fruit and the cinnamon that I figured I’d share.

Plum Kuchen

I was hoping for leftovers for breakfast. But now that the hordes are descending, I think I better make other plans:
Plum Kuchen

I guess it tasted good!