Yarn Along

I finished up the cowl I had started before taking my son to school. It is supposed to be long but I made it a cowl. It is the Riptide. I loved making this! It kept me busy while on the long road to Pittsburgh. I knitted this with alpaca/wool yarn. It's super soft and squishy. 

Eggplant Recipe

As much as I LOVED the early quarantine days....the scale will tell you that I really enjoyed myself! Oof! Lots of delicious food, wine, sourdough bread, baking pies all adds up to too many pounds on me! I have rejoined Weight Watchers to help me shed some weight. It's slow going, but it's better than what I was doing!

I came across this eggplant recipe and it was really good and easy so I thought I would share it. Great summer lunch or dinner. 

I substituted the pizza sauce for crushed tomatoes and I only had arugula so I used that instead of spinach. Other than that, I made it exactly to the recipe.

Here is the link to the recipe.

You slice the eggplant 1/4" thick. Cook for about 9 minutes then top with the sauce, etc; 

and back into the oven!

7 minutes in the oven and topped with some fresh basil and parmesan cheese.

Tea for My Achy Body!

I made this tea and it was delicious and apparently has lots of good medicinal benefits.

I have no clue if it actually helps, but it was worth a try! Just thought I would share the link in case anyone wanted to try this. I made it on the stove and then let it sit all night in my fridge. You can drink it hot or cold.

Here's the link

Thank you, Jon #knitinthepit

For the past two years, I have been attending "Knit in the Pit" in Asbury Park. Jon Giswold put this gathering together to bring people together. To create a community in our area where people can come knit, crochet, meet, relax and enjoy one night a month together. We met at The Asbury Hotel on once a the month from 6-8. We enjoyed a drink, laughs and amazing atmosphere. The man at the head of it all was Jon. A great spirit, full of energy. FULL of it! Always hugging and smiling. Making every person feel good. He would walk around the room and say hello to every single person. He made you feel welcome. Always! Jon was a big supporter of the Knitting Community and passionate about providing support to others and their organizations such as Hat Not Hate and SoapSACKS.

To explain more about how it all started, I found this interview with Jon.

Michael Cook: To kick it off, Knit In The Pit; it is truly a remarkable and amazing group and community you have built in Asbury Park and beyond; tell me about it.

Jon Giswold:  I have been a knitter since the age of 10 and have kept my craft at home. It always made me self conscious to knit in public. Over the past couple of years however, men have been coming out of hiding it seems or at least more visible to media outlets than before. Many of us found community in a local yarn shop or groups. I found that in the dead of winter, I was feeling isolated and truth be told a little lonely. I reached out the owner of The Asbury Hotel in Asbury Park, David Bowd to see if it would be okay to sit in the sunken living room at the hotel, where Tea Dance entertained men during the summer months, but was also a little quiet during January through April. David was more than generous and invited us in. It started with 4 gay men, friends of mine and 1 woman who saw on Instagram an open invite to join me for a knit together. Now, just over a year later we have surged into a CommuKNITTY with sometimes 100+ showing up at the Hotel for our monthly knit together. The IG page has over 750 followers and our closed FB page has almost 300 members. We knit together and knit for social causes such as HATNOTHATE (HATNOTHATE.org) and Soap Sacks as well as now going into the Boys & Girls Club of Asbury Park to teach kids to knit. It has become an event and a force for good – organically.

One of the best nights was when we brought Brady along. He loves to make things and was more than happy to hang with us. Jon made him feel so special. It was a night I will never forget. This is a picture of Louis (aka Brooklyn Boy Knits). What a fun night that was!

Sadly, we learned yesterday of Jon's sudden passing. Details are vague on what happened. But it seems it may have been a complication of his hip surgery last month and an infection or possible blood clot. He was in contact with people on Saturday. A friend was coming over to bring him ginger ale because he wasn't feeling well....20 minutes later she arrived and he was gone.

The knitting world has lost a very bright light! Life can change in an instant. I'm glad I got to meet Jon and attend these fun nights at Knit in the Pit! 

Thank you, Jon, for creating so many fun memories for us. Your spirit will go on I'm sure!

Stitching Time

My friend, Carrie, likes to purge her stuff every once in a while. I was the lucky recipient of some of her yarn and this cute little kit! It's the Mini Maker Felt Embroidery Kit, Snow Garden.

Everything you need comes with it. The design is printed on the felt and all you have to do is the stitching. It's mindless and was perfect to work on during our home office update meeting. Lucky for me, I didn't have to have my video on and I could listen and craft! Bonus of working from home!

I really enjoyed making this and would like to order some kits. They would make nice little presents for friends. 

Have a great weekend! We will be watching our little guy in his first ever baseball tournament. Just a one day local tournament but I am so excited for him. He's been to so many tournaments for his big brothers and it's fun to see him being the one playing now! This also means LOTS of knitting time for Mom!!!!! Yay!

Yarn Along

Knitting keeps me calm. Thank goodness for that!!!! Because my nerves were shot last week anticipated and preparing for my oldest leaving for college, I casted on a new color work project that I knew would keep me company during the trip.

This pattern was the perfect thing for me. All over color work always flies off my needles. This is worked in the round and is supposed to be a long scarf but I decided to make it more of a loose cowl.

I will sell this in the farm store when it's done. Using alpaca/wool blend yarn, it's super soft and squishy!

The pattern is Riptide by Jill Zielinski. She is a new-to-me designer that I discovered after posting on Instagram for ideas of what to knit next. She has so many that I loved instantly! I'm sure this won't be my last pattern by her.

Hope all is well with all of you!

Pitt!

After a tearful goodbye with his friends, we hit the road to take our oldest to college.

It's still hard to believe that he's 6 hours away and starting this part of his life. I am proud of him and all that he has done to get to this point. Pitt is an incredible school and I know he will have many opportunities and a great education. Let's hope everyone stays healthy and they can have a full semester on campus during this crazy time. I miss him already!