We’ve had a weird spring in New York. March was unseasonably warm and sunny, so much so that many plants budded prematurely. April, however, was a different story (and May has followed April’s suit for the most part). Much colder, rainier, and windier. So much colder, in fact, that those plants, like the dozens of lilac bushes in Highland Park, that budded in March were damaged by the unexpected frosts of April. Those plants that managed to bloom only had a fraction of blooms that survived, and the rest of the plants never bloomed at all.

So when you see a wall of plants like this:

and know that, in a normal year, this wall should be covered with lilac blossoms, you get a sense of the scope of the damage that the bushes sustained.

Some of the plants did manage to blossom in part, but those blossoms were either thinner than usual or looked damaged:

Unfortunately, we didn’t see any of my favorite blooms, the deep dark purple “double lilacs,” but there were still a few valiant plants that were able to overcome the cold snap, and the trip was worth it just to see them nodding their heads in the breeze.

And luckily, the pansies took the weather fluctuations in stride and produced quite a show:

Let’s hope next Spring is a little kinder to the lilacs!

The weather was incredible in the NYC/Philly area this weekend – endless sunshine, light breezes, and almost no humidity. It really made for some great photo ops on the ride down on Friday night. Look how good New Jersey looks in this gold-tinged light!

The highlight of the traveling itself, though, had to be the 30th Street Station in Philadelphia. Just exactly the grand old type of soaring, uplifting public building that you’d hope to see in a city that’s chock full of history itself. (I particularly love all of the old clocks and signage.)

I hope there’s lots more trips like this one in my future! Hope everyone had a good weekend!

PS: Knitting is so much easier on the train….maybe that’s why I love it so much.

Swirled into thick greek yogurt, dolloped onto vanilla ice cream, or spread over your breakfast toast – you can’t beat tartly sweet homemade rhubarb jam.

Happy weekend, everyone!

PS: I’ve got some interesting photos to share from a trip to the Lilac Festival in Rochester, NY last weekend. Soon, I promise, soon!

As I’ve shared many times here, I’m not good with baking recipes that need yeast. So, in an effort to correct this, I “lured” my mom into teaching me everything she knows and I chose the ooiest, gooiest, stickiest, sweetest thing I could think of as the teaching tool. What good is all that learning if you can’t have a sugar high at the end?

Her recipe notes are years old, and the best part about this recipe is all of the knowledge and technique hidden in between the lines of written notes. What are some examples of those “secret” skills, you ask? Behold, the expert steps in living color:

Scald the milk until it develops a skin in the microwave.

Melt the fat into the sugar and salt until it’s cool enough NOT to kill the yeast.

If you put a pinch of sugar in with the yeast and water, it’ll encourage the yeast even more.

You know when your dough has been kneaded enough when it doesn’t stick to your finger when you touch it.

Let the dough double in size during the first rise. (And use a heated earthenware bowl for the rise. That’s a really good tip.)

And you know the first rise is done when your fingers leave an indentation in the dough.

Go ahead and roll that dough firmly – it can take it!

They’re not called CINNAMON rolls for nothing.

Pat their little faces down before they rise again, so that they don’t form peaks in the oven.

You’ll never split the dough evenly in half, so don’t worry about it. Proof: my chubby rolls on the left, my mom’s perfectly proportioned rolls on the right.

Brush a bit of butter on the rolls after they’re baked to give them a great sheen.

Add a bit of light corn syrup to the glaze to get it to set faster and to give it a beautiful gloss, even after it comes out of the freezer. (Yes, my pan is that Jackson Pollack-esque glaze explosion you see on the bottom.)

And the best tip of all? EAT THEM!

Thanks, Mom, you’re the best! Now I guess I can’t tell Andrew I don’t know how to make them anymore….

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Anyway, the weather that greeted us looked a whole lot like this:

This didn’t deter us from our merrymaking at all, although I am ashamed to say that I didn’t snap any pictures of the festivities on my trusty iPhone – I forgot oops! (The videos that we have of the dancing, however, are rife with blackmail material! evil laugh)

Nor did the clouds stand in our way of our other plan for last Saturday: a photoshoot of my latest design! This design is still deep in the testing phase with two of my fantastic test knitters, so it’ll be a little while yet before the pattern release (which will include the triangular shape shown here and another rectangular, stole-like shape). But the overcast skies, the lack of wind even at the shoreline, and the perfect scenery created just the right mood. This big ‘ol shawl is knit with fingering weight yarn at a loose gauge to create a fabric that’s as light as air but warm and soft. Behold the yumminess (tentatively titled “Avian,” as in, you know, “birdlike.”)

Andrew was the trusty photographer and when he said “go stand on that seawall,” I did what I was told (which, I think, also amused a constant stream of curious tourists wandering by – the things we do for fashion!!!). As you can see, he was also having lots of fun with the filter tools to make the sapphire-hued shawl stand out against the slate grey sky.

The shawl is knit with 3 skeins of Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light in the aptly named “Lapis” colorway. This yarn just glows and makes the dreariest day more vivid.

Here are a couple of other detail photos, where I think that you can see where the name “Avian” came from, the way that the cables look like V-shaped flocks of birds.

As you can also see, this shawl is very generously sized – more than 60″ across and nearly 30″ deep, if memory serves me well. The 100% wool yarn is so warm and gentle against the skin, but the fabric is loose and floaty enough to keep from smothering you. Perfect for 3 seasons of transitional weather wear!

Well, that’s sadly all for now, folks – I’m a traveling fool this month, with 3 different trips scheduled over 3 consecutive weekends. I’m off to Rochester this weekend for some Mother’s Day hijinks (cinnamon-roll-baking, anyone??) and hopefully some Lilac Festival activities if the weather holds and my all-time favorite flowers cooperate!

And Happy Mother’s Day, all you moms!

ADVANCE WARNING: this post will consist of an excessive number of random photos obtained by Ye Olde Trusty iPhone during our 10 year college reunion weekend a couple weeks back at Duke University. While the weather did not cooperate to its fullest (it’s called “Carolina Blue” for a reason, Mother Nature….) we had a blast and made a whole bunch of new memories to add to 4 unforgettable years of hijinks. There was sightseeing and campus tours, porch sitting and plaza lounging, window shopping and chapel gazing, and as usual, a truckload of eating. Now if only I’d gotten more design knitting done sigh. Anyway, behold and enjoy!

Hey, I used to live there! How come these young whippersnappers get window air-conditioners? Weak!

I always wanted to live behind that clock, but not in a creepy Quasimodo way.

Andrew smiling broadly, now that his many hours in Perkins Library are behind him. We tried to find his favorite study hideout, but that floor of the stacks has been reorganized. And although the library looks the same on the outside, it’s also getting an astonishing overhaul inside.

Here’s just one change to the library – a gorgeous light-filled pavilion for eating while in the library. That’s right, you can eat AND study. No more excuses! Meanwhile, the little windowless cafe where I used to hold tutoring sessions exists no longer. (Moment of silence for The Perk.)

The Chapel needs very little introduction from me.

Meanwhile, Duke’s world-famous gardens on campus were a little more subdued under the grey skies, but the azaleas, on their last leg, were still showing off:

A new staircase added to the gardens that, despite being something as prosaic as a staircase, showcases its multihued local stones and fluid railings beautifully.

My archnemesis, no doubt waiting for me to (a) obtain a piece of fruit; and (b) turn my back. If I haven’t already regaled you with the story of my near-death at the filthy clutches of a brazen hussy of an airborne squirrel during my freshman year, then consider yourself lucky.

Now we come to the portion of the tour that I call “compare and contrast.” This is what the current engineering students have:

and this is what I had:

Hey, nobody puts Hudson Hall in a corner!

(I kid, it’s not quite as stark a difference as that (although they long ago took the engineering library collection out of Teer Library, causing our student tour guide to exclaim “oh, now that explains why this building is called a library!” headhitsdesk). We had fantastic facilities and a world-class faculty. It’s just that now those things are fantastic x 1,000.)

Ok, enough with the culture. Let’s get to the food. First stop: Elmo’s Diner, one of my all-time faves, for sweet tea and a heart-stopping meal of biscuits and gravy. (The former: mine. The latter: his.)

As for the next day, I was not going to wait for my Chick-Fil-A any longer. (“Mom, what IS that place? Chick-fill-uh?”)

Admit it: you’re hungry now.

Durham is undergoing a seriously overdue, but incredibly welcome, shopping/dining/living/gentrification overhaul in its downtown area. We had a blast at a number of places, like Alivia’s (above) with its firepit tables on its outdoor patio,

Fullsteam brewery, with several delicious local options, and the scene of our complete Thursday night trivia domination (through halftime, anyway….at least I was able to identify the theme song to “MacGyver” out of thin air….)

and a delicious dinner with creative cocktails at Piedmont, a farm-to-table restaurant that reminded us a bit of our fave, Blue Hill.

Despite all these fab new destinations in downtown Durham, sometimes…the old haunts are the best.

As you can see, Cosmic Cantina has had no renovation. Who would dare?

One word: Bruegger’s.

The Regulator bookshop, an independent gem. And, admittedly, the place where I used to buy more iced mochas than books.

(I just had to photograph this – I heard this author speak in the city two weeks before our trip. I felt pretty smug when I saw his book on the shelf ha.)

and the Mad Hatter bakeshop, still churning out cookies that can fuel even the biggest sugar craving.

Mom – look! Whole Foods ate Wellspring! (Color me unsurprised.)

One of the cutest discoveries on our trip was the boutique Ox and Rabbit on Ninth Street, a fabulous and vintage-y collection of gifts, paper wares, baby items, and even a soda counter! I love the wall color and the natural light coming in from the old-fashioned streetfront windows.

Finally, on a stopoff to Brightleaf Square in serious need of my favorite mocha latte after a luxurious appointment at Posh Salon (loved it! check it out if you’re in D-ham!), I was surprised to find that my old hangout, Fowler’s Market, had been replaced by another market/gift shop/specialty store, Parker and Otis. P&O was very cool and funky (coffee mugs with Pantone colors! the yummiest dessert-themed wrapping paper ever!), but I miss you, Fowler’s!

Well, that’s all she wrote, folks. (Besides, that was a lot of pictures, wasn’t it? I’m exhausted )

Carry on, Class of 2002!

Every year on Ravelry, there’s a Madelinetosh celebration throughout the month of May. Since we’re all very aware of how much I love MT yarns and since we all know that we need to pick the perfect pattern before any celebratory knitting can begin, this is also the perfect time to have a pattern sale!

So from now until midnight EDT on April 30th, ALL OF MY PATTERNS ARE 20% OFF! Just use the coupon code MADTOSHMAY when you check out.

Just a couple of the offerings in the sale include:

Zuni

Integral

and Augusta!

It doesn’t matter if you’re shopping in the Makewise Designs store on Ravelry or if you’re shopping here on the website, all of the transactions will be processed through the Ravelry cart service where you enter the coupon code. Issues or questions? Just drop me a line using the “contact” form above and I’ll be happy to help!

And be sure to join us in sharing all of your lovely MWD FO’s with us over at the Makewise Designs Group on Ravelry. I always love seeing the creativity of knitters working with and adding their own unique touches to my patterns.

Happy MadMay, all!

It occurred to me that I’ve never posted my adapted recipe for a puttanesca-flavored pasta sauce (or at least I think I haven’t posted about it before. See comment above re: speedy passage of time for explanation of my fading memory.) I thought this would be a fun post to whip up before our departure.

Anyway, puttanesca sauce has a bit of a “saucy” reputation/lineage/history, if you will, being the reputed dinner choice of Sicilian prostitutes who let the strongly flavored ingredients marry in a bowl on a windowsill in the warm sun while they….worked. So it humors me to no end that I make an even quicker/dirtier/lazier version of it when the temperatures soar and I don’t want to stand over a steaming stove in this summer-like weather or wait for hours while a bunch of ingredients marinate in the sun. I originally saw a version of this recipe in a long-ago issue of the Cucina Italia magazine. Essentially, it’s nothing more than an assembly and roasting process.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and put a rack in the center of the oven. In your preferred roasting/baking dish (mine is a 13×9 pyrex dish, which is also big enough to hold the pasta once it’s cooked and store any leftovers in the fridge; less dishes = happier Danielle!), just toss in the following ingredients:

–enough capers and pitted kalamata olives to satisfy your salty side; I usually do about 1/2 cup of olives and a couple tablespoons max of the capers;

–the zest of a lemon, and the remainder of the lemon quartered and thrown in; once the sauce has been roasted, the lemon quarters can be juiced to add more flavor to the sauce;

–two to three cloves of garlic unchopped; I prefer them to stay whole so that they can flavor the sauce and then I can discard them if I don’t want full-on garlic breath;

–olive oil, salt (if desired on top of the caper/olive saltiness), and pepper to taste;

–and, obviously, the star of the show: tomatoes. This is a great recipe to use on not-so-great tomatoes to enhance their texture and overall flavor, especially the bland and mealy ones that we seem to be cursed to endure in our neighborhood. I used about 7 tomatoes from the vine here, deseeded and cut into eighths. Don’t be fastidious on chopping here; the heat will break the tomatoes down so bigger chunks are ok.

–I don’t use anchovies here, which are traditional in puttanesca. I don’t mind anchovies, it’s just that they’re hard to find and frankly, sometimes I’m lazy!

Toss everything together to get it evenly coated and then just roast unattended in the oven for 30 minutes or so! When it’s finished, it will be bubbling with a seriously appetizing smell filling your kitchen.

The tomatoes will be soft enough to break apart with a spoon. Squeeze the lemons to remove their juices and then discard the quarters. Toss in your pasta of choice (whole grain rotini for me) that you cooked on the stovetop while the sauce was roasting, and add a dash of freshly grated parmesan and boom! You’ve got an easy, healthy, and flavor-packed dinner, with enough leftovers for a good lunch or two while you’re at it.

Hope everyone has a great weekend — get out there and enjoy all of this Spring loveliness! We will miss this little face while we’re gone, but we hear she’s going on her own vacation to visit Nana and Papa – no hijinks, Coco!

PS: Another shawl design in the works currently, with a stole design to accompany it. We’re still in the sample knitting and testing phase, but I love the way the Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light, in the “lapis” colorway, looks like railway routes against the backdrop of my London public transportation bag from Three Bags Full:

Want a sneak peek at the design?

Cables and lace and stockinette, oh my!

Naturally, this will be the place to discuss everything related to MWD designs, like showing off your finished projects, asking questions about pattern instructions or highlighting any errata (although I hope not on that last part haha!), and also being able to join the latest test knits for upcoming design releases!

I suspect, however, that the MWD group will grow beyond this to become a great community to discuss all kinds of good stuff, knitterly or not (crazy dog pictures? secret tips? favorite yarns? new recipe? check!). And the only way this community can grow and evolve is with YOU! So c’mon, won’t you join us? I think we’re going to have a great time

Angela, I’ve sent you an email so be sure to send me your shipping address!

Thanks so much to everyone who entered (this was so fun! I already want to do another giveaway!), and if you didn’t win this time, then go check out the other awesome and fun little markers that Steph has available in her Etsy shop – you’re sure to find something delectable