Easter Weekend

Easter weekend...

Knitting, enjoying the fresh air, celebrating my nephew's early 10th birthday at the boardwalk, watching the sunrise on easter morning, finding sea glass, and reflecting on the wonderful life my 90 year old grandfather lived. He passed away on Good Friday. I'll do a post all about him this week.

Rest in peace, Gpop.

 

Yarn Along

I've been busy making and reading. I joined up with Annie from The Bookshelf for her "conquer a classic" challenge. I really enjoy her podcast called, From the Front Porch. It's a weekly podcast about her independent bookstore in Thomasville, GA. She also has a patreon group which I just joined last month and I'm so glad I did! I really enjoy reading and I have gotten away from it the past few years because knitting has taken over. When it comes down to picking between the two, knitting always wins. BUT I love reading. I am reading Lonesome Dove along with the patreon group. She breaks it down per month with the goal to finish in October. I have read ahead a bit but I'm going to stop this week and read something else. I also knit these socks as part of the #ilovebooksandsockknittingkal24 with Denise of Earthtones Girl. I don't love knitting socks...however, I have enjoyed wearing them. So I might just cast on another pair soon. We'll see.... 

I've had a few custom baby knit orders come in. The first thing I made was a squishy stroller sized baby blanket. I just held two strands together, big needles and basically made a giant washcloth based on this pattern. I had two skeins and I weighed them as I knit. Once I was half way done, I started the decreases.

I also knit this little baby bonnet. It's not really a pattern. I just cast on 58 stitches and go from there.

I made this little sweater for a baby due in August. I made the 3-6 month size. I held a strand of fingering weight sock yarn and a strand of mohair together for this one.

It's very cute! I had a hard time with the embroidery on this one. Not sure why but I tried a few different ideas but it wasn't coming out nice on this fabric. So I just went simple...

I'm excited to pick up my Rosemary Cardigan again. I have one sleeve left and then it's done.

I also have the rest of my yarn for my Eye Dazzler Sweater so I can get that done!

What are you knitting and reading?

Simple Joy

I have been watching a lot of episodes of The Magnolia Table with Joanna Gaines. 

On one of her episodes she made mushroom bisque and homemade French bread with fancy butter.

The bread looked very easy to make and I spent a little time making it for the first time.

She also made fancy butter! It is so easy and definitely I will do many times from now on.

I mixed up some room temperature butter with garlic and fresh rosemary. Wrapped it up in some parchment and popped it into the fridge until it was time to spread on the bread.

This is the recipe I followed. I had to add a little more flour to mine. It wasn't the prettiest but it was so good!!!!!! Highly recommend this simple joy. Easy peasy and it feels so good to serve your family alongside dinner. 

I also want to note: make sure you put it all away after dinner so your dog doesn't eat all the leftover butter and bread when you're cleaning up and not watching....yup. Buddy liked it too. 

 

Spring?

It looks like spring outside but it sure doesn't feel like it this week! Temps are freezing!!!!!!! But the flowers are blooming and the trees are starting to get little buds on the branches. I'm ready for warm weather here at the Jersey Shore. 

The photos are from a lunch break walk on our farm and the neighbor's horse farm. It's a beautiful place to take a walk and I'm very lucky it's just steps out my front door. Also, middle kid is home for spring break so I had to treat him with a big loaf of sourdough! Yum. Always delicious.

Quick Trip to Georgia

 

My oldest son moved to Georgia in August for grad school/work. I miss him like crazy and the move has been hard on him. Thought it would be nice to bring him a little sense of home so my mom and I went for a few days. It was wonderful! We had the best time visiting! We hung out, explored the area, ate amazing food and got to see him at work. Here are some pictures....

Plane ride knitting.

Just hanging out, spending time on his porch (that now has a table and chairs!) Thanks Walmart score!

Mom and Dalton at Brick Store Pub. Mom found a beer she loved! Notice the beer mustache.

It's a great spot. Good food, fun atmosphere, located right in Decatur Square.

Cute art gallery/gift shop also in Decatur Square.

While Dalton was working, mom and I went to The General Muir in Emory Point.

I wish I had taken more photos inside the restaurant. It was a really cool spot and the food was amazing! I had the tuna melt (which I thought was amazing UNTIL my mom had me take a bit of her Chicken Salad Club). This is honestly the best sandwich I have ever had. It was to die for. If you're anywhere near this place, go! The couple next to us were eating Ruebens that looked delicious. They go there just for that sandwich. SOOOOOO good!

Speaking of more great food...

We took a ride to Ponce City Market. You can read all about the place on their website. The place is awesome. Full of fun shops, bars, and a food court that will blow your mind. I say food court...it's more than that! We had delicious fried chicken sandwiches on biscuits for lunch, took a walk exploring shops to make room for some dessert. We had gelato, then grabbed a few desserts to take home.

The donuts from Five Daughters Bakery were hands-down the best donuts I have ever eaten. We had the vanilla cream and the purist. 

Some shopping...

I took these pictures of the pencils for my friend, Paige. She's a framer and I immediately thought of her. What a cool idea!

Back to the food...

We also showed my mom around Emory University (where my son is working as a sports information graduate assistant).

It's a beautiful campus and we soaked up the sun and warm weather. Couldn't have asked for a better trip.

Dalton working at the softball game (he's the guy taking photos with his phone for PR)

Mom literally stopping to smell the flowers :) She came away with pollen on her nose.

So hard to say goodbye to him...but so glad he's doing well and making his own path in the world.