bit like a dream

Hey y’all! I just got back from my 6-day jaunt to NYC last night, and it was SUPER AWESOME. I had so much fun, walked allllll around and ate everything in sight. At some points it felt like I would never want to eat again, but we all know how that goes. I’m gonna have to split up my adventure into a few blog posts with lots of photos!

Today: Thursday and Friday.

Left Toronto mid-morning and got to NY Penn Station around 1:30. First thing to do? Eat, of course (pretty much why I went to NYC). We hit up No.7 Sub while still dragging around luggage since it’s near the station! I had General Tso’s Tofu and my companion had the Eggplant Parm. DELICIOUS!

the very first thing

Dropped off stuff at the hotel and went a’walking. The hotel was really well situated on E. Houston, right on the subway and really accessible for walking to different neighbourhoods. Spent some time at the MOMA design store and Sur La Table, just randomly poking around in Soho and Nolita. One cool place I stumbled upon was Kiosk, a really interesting sorta random stuff store up a mysterious staircase. One of the things I really loved about this trip to NYC was seeing really cool design stuff and the love of good design in general.

kiosk

Kiosk

Had delicious Motorino pizza for dinner then just kept walking the evening away! I think we had Pinkberry on St Marks Pl for dessert.

motorino pizza

Seriously the pizza is so good. I went twice in 5 days.

Friday morning breakfast was coffee and beautiful pastries at Ceci-Cela on Spring. I’d say it was the best croissant I’ve had outside France.

croissant

Walked walked walked and ended up on the High Line, an elevated railroad track that’s been converted to a beautiful urban park.

meatpacking district

the high line

There’s a nice sitting area with basically a viewing platform over traffic with a great view.

traffic

Ended up at the craziness (and deliciousness) that is Eataly for lunch – took a little while to figure out what was going on. It was super crowded! It’s basically a large marketplace with different areas for different foods (like meats, cheeses, baked goods, pasta) and sit-down eating areas. Lunch at La Verdure (Eataly’s vegetarian/vegetable focused restaurant area) was amazing.

Roasted peppers stuffed with perfect risotto.

lunch at eataly

One of many cheese cases.
eataly

Took the subway across to Brooklyn and wandered for awhile, and ended up spending a few nice relaxing hours chilling with beer at Bierkraft in Park Slope – great beers on tap and tons in bottles too, and there’s a nice communal seating area for drinking your purchased beer!

beer

Chilly stroll along the Brooklyn Heights Promenade at sunset, then we waited outside in the FREEZING COLD (seriously the entire trip was freezing) for 40 minutes to have pizza at Grimaldi’s under the Brooklyn Bridge.

brooklyn heights promenade

grimaldi's

Walked back to Manhattan across the Brooklyn Bridge – the view was lovely at night, but again, super cold!

brooklyn bridge

brooklyn bridge

And then upon getting out of the subway at Spring St, we found a lovely tiny chocolate shop with a comfy couch that had chocolate cake, hot chocolate and lovely tea. Ahh, perfect.

Savile Row Cardigan

My trip to NYC is imminent, but I wanted to get this pattern out to you all before I leave! This sweater pattern has been a long time coming – I knit, ripped, knit, ripped and knit to get it right for Rhinebeck last fall, and then just…didn’t work on it for months afterwards. Finally got my act together to shoot it with Jasmine when we met up to do the Map Collection, put together the (rather complex) pattern and here is the result!

Savile Row

SAVILE ROW CARDIGAN

A perfect blazer cardigan! Savile Row has curved hems and a shapely waist with a fun ribbon detail. Fastened pockets hold all those little things, and soft notched lapels are polished and classic. Knit seamlessly with set-in sleeves from the bottom up with I-Cord edges. Deep garter stitch cuffs on the sleeves are closed with lots of wee buttons.

Shown in size 37” / 94cm with 2” / 5cm of positive ease.
For the best fit, I suggest choosing a size which will give you 0-2” / 0-5cm of positive ease.

Technical Editing by Jaya Purswani.

Savile Row

SIZES
Finished Bust: 31 (33, 35, 37, 39, 41)(43, 45, 49, 53, 57)” / 79 (84, 89, 94, 99, 104)(109, 114, 125, 135, 145) cm

YARN
DK weight yarn. Shown in Madelinetosh Tosh DK (100% superwash merino; 225 yd/206m per 4oz / 113g skein) Colour: Composition Book Grey

Skeins: 6 (6, 6, 6, 7, 7)(7, 8, 8, 9, 9)
Yards: 1200 (1250, 1300, 1350, 1430, 1500)(1550, 1600, 1750, 1830, 1950)
Metres: 1097 (1143, 1189, 1234, 1308, 1372)(1417, 1463, 1600, 1673, 1783)

NEEDLES AND NOTIONS
US 6 / 4mm 32” / 80cm or longer circular needles
US 6 / 4mm double pointed needles or needles of choice for small circumferences in the round
one larger needle for binding off loosely
stitch markers
waste yarn
buttons, lots of buttons
1.5” / 4cm wide satin ribbon

GAUGE
22 sts and 30 rows = 4″ / 10cm square in Stockinette Stitch, knit flat

Savile Row

MORE INFO
This is an 8-page PDF pattern only. Includes photos, schematic and abbreviations. This pattern features fill-in forms – fill in the numbers for your size!
This pattern is one file for all sizes 31″-57″.

SKILLS NEEDED
This pattern is suitable for an intermediate to experienced knitter. You will need to: cast on, knit, purl, increase and decrease, knit in the round, short rows, and work complex shaping.

HOW TO BUY
Available through Ravelry (no account needed), payment by Paypal (bank transfer or credit card). Please note that the price of this sweater pattern is in Canadian dollars – Paypal will automatically convert the amount for you if you use another currency.

$7.00 CAD

Savile Row

map collection winners!

Thanks for entering my little contest! The random number generator came up with these for winners of the Map Collection:

381, 156, 113, 256, 324, 26, 394, 180, 36

The grand prize winner of the Malabrigo Twist is Kate, comment number 11. Here’s her entry:

“Crocuses are up in the garden around the corner. All but one are creamy butter yellow. The odd guy is almost white.”

I’ve emailed all the winners. Thanks for playing!

P.S. Yesterday I went up to visit my parents and use my mum’s sewing machine – whipped up a (very poorly sewn) new laptop case with a Canada Goose on the back. This pleases me greatly!

laptop case, back