Lobster Pot {cashmere}

Lobster Pot Yarns are hand-dyed in a huge lobster pots on Cape Cod by a woman whose love of cashmere led to the creation of {in my view} the most knit~able cashmere yarn available. Once you've crafted something out of this amazing fiber you'll never want to use anything else.

While home for the holiday, I knit up these fingerless gloves {dashing by Cheryl Niamath} for myself from a few skeins of Sand Bar. I love this yarn/pattern combination so much I'll soon be making another pair in Boiled Lobster.

For a few skeins of your very own, try the online shop @ Purl.

Weekend Sewing

I'm happy to announce that a single class with sew-inspired has considerably reduced my machine-induced anxiety. And thanks to Pink Chalk and Purl Patchwork, I'm starting to develop a fairly respectable stash of fabrics.

{love this!}

So now my obsession is reading as many fabulous books on the subject as I can {Amy Butler's In Stitches, Joelle Hoverson's Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts, and Anna Maria Horner's Seams to Me: 24 new reasons to love sewing, just to name a few}.

My favorite right now is Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross.  Last weekend I made pajamas for everyone in an aqua seersucker gingham.  

I'm addicted. Almost as soon as the 1st pair was done, I started cutting the 2nd.

Jane Prater

Charlotte knitties-in-the-know love Jane Prater.  In this area, she's a yarn legend. I took my first class with Jane last night @ Charlotte Yarn and now I understand why.

Her custom-knitting class teaches how to knit from the top down, but more importantly, how to make your sweater fit like a Jermyn Street bespoke shirt.  

The Charlotte Yarn advert looked like this:

 

If it isn’t custom fit to your body, then it is just another sweater. Audrey Hepburn wore custom fit and so can you.

What's not to love about that? So maybe I'm prone to hyperbole, but Jane's a hoot & a 1/2 and she has a gift for making the complicated simple. At the end of class, I walked away wondering why I ever got so frustrated about something so silly.

Or as Jane says, lighten up.  It's just sticks and string.

SoHo / Greenwich Village

Sunny.

I squashed 4 favorite things into 2 hours.

cupcakes & Magnolia

fresh cut flowers near Broome

trunk shopping on W. Broadway

and inspiration @ Purl.

I love NY.

Purl Patchwork

When was the last time you were inspired to try something new?

A year ago I was shopping in New York and came upon a tiny shop tucked into a snug SoHo side street. Full of fabulous textiles. It was Purl Patchwork.  

At PP, 100% cotton fabrics are displayed floor to ceiling, all colors and styles, artfully arranged to make selection the easiest thing in the world. But here's the thing... finding wonderful fabric has never been my issue. I adore all textiles -- new calico, old ticking, crazy quilts, antique toile, even ric-rac. 

It's sewing that scares the *&%! out of me. Ever since 7th grade Home Ec and an unfortunate reversible bermuda bag cover incident.  

So it took a year.  And I'm not sure if it was vintage ticking at The American Antiques Show or a documentary on the Quilts of Gee's Bend that pushed me over the edge. But last week I finally bought a new Janome and some Liberty fabric. 

It's time to face my demons.