Take me out to the ball game…

Last night was the Lowell Spinners Stitch-n-Pitch. It was HOT and sticky but still a great time!

There was baseball:

And lots of knitting, including my project - Melody’s Shawl (Ravelry link).

Katy, Michelle & Sue were stitchin’ away.

Yovani’s sock made an appearance.

All of the Lowell Knitters were there - here’s Amanda.

There was a really good crowd full of knitters:

Jess and Casey from Ravelry were there. They are lovely people and took time to say “hello” to all of the knitters and hand out Ravelry stickers and pins. Yay! Ravelry!

Thanks so much to Spinning Jenny for organizing the event. I’m already looking forward to next year!

Long Weekend - YAY!

I just love celebrating America’s birthday, especially when it means a long weekend!

Jeremy often comes up to visit in the beginning of July and we always have a great time. This year was no exception. I got to leave work early on Thursday and Jere and I went to pick up my farm share and then headed home for wine, pizza, chatting, and music listening. That’s usually how we start our weekends - catching up and discovering new music on each other’s iPods.

Friday was the fourth and that means just one thing…

So, where’ve I been for the last few months and what have I been doing?

…And is anybody interested?

Well I decided to take a little break from the internets. Why? Because we were robbed again (the second time in three months) and I was feeling a bit violated and exposed.

It sucked for sure, but there was a silver lining - we’ve moved to a much nicer place. (We were robbed on April 28th and we were in the new place by May 1st - high speed move, anyone?) Our new place is twice the size, in a quieter location, has two bathrooms and laundry in the unit (WOOT), and is still close enough to work and the hubub of downtown that I can ride my bike or walk. And what a pretty bike ride it is…

CT Sheep & Wool (and a birthday FO)

Amanda, Yovani and I headed down to the Quiet Corner for CT Sheep and Wool on Saturday. It was a lovely festival but I was surprised at how small it was. I was amazing at sticking to my yarn diet - I didn’t buy a single skein of yarn (I did, however, get some cards for when I can buy again). Not only did I not buy yarn, I didn’t buy any bags (although I was tempted and had Yovani and Amanda whispering that I was on a yarn diet not a bag diet). Amazing - I went to take pictures and pictures were what I brought home!

Eye Candy Friday

I’ve noticed that a lot of folks post eye candy Friday pictures. I always enjoy them so I thought I’d jump right on that bandwagon. I can’t promise that I’ll post a picture every week (because, well, I’m pretty spacey and lazy) but here’s a Lowell landmark for your enjoyment!

Best. Pizza. Ever. (And I LOVE most pizza.)

I’ve been meaning to post about this pizza since I made it but it was one of my Flickr friends, Lee, posting a picture of her version (check it out, it’ll make you drool) that reminded me to actually post.

For someone who doesn’t have cable and therefore doesn’t watch the Food Network, I sure make a lot of their dishes. This is Giada DeLaurentiis’s Roasted Acorn Squash and Gorgonzola Pizza and it is divine. A little fussy but more than worth the effort. I changed the recipe a bit - I put half the mozzarella on the crust to pre-bake with all of the gorgonzola and then after I put the squash on the crust, I put the rest of the mozzarella and some parmesan on top and stuck it back in the oven. I also used a mix of arugula and mesculn to top the pizza. The finished product was incredible!

Really, really incredible. I made this recipe almost ten days ago and Gist and I are still talking about it. Seriously, make it now - you won’t regret it!

Who doesn’t love books?

Mick tagged me for a reading meme and I have to confess I’ve had fun clicking back to see everyone’s picks. Now I’m throwing my hat into the ring.

1. What book are you currently reading?

I am currently reading two non-fiction books, Parenting, Inc. by Pamela Paul and Gang Leader for a Day by Sudhir Venkatesh.

Friday - YAY!

Tonight Yovani and I had a lovely, there’s a lot to like about Lowell evening. It started at the 1st ever Lowell Film Festival.

We saw Bling: A Planet Rock, an excellent movie about hip-hop and diamonds. I am fascinated with diamonds and the diamond industry, and this movie offered an unique and interesting perspective on diamonds, where they come from, what they mean in hip-hop culture, and the devastation they have created in Africa. It definitely gave me a lot to think about but I was left wanting to know how the trip affected the artists (Raekwon, Tego Calderon and Paul Wall) and their lives back in the States. Do they still wear, buy, make jewelry with diamonds? Are they still connected to Sierra Leone? Has their trip and what they saw there had a larger impact on hip-hop culture? This will be a research project for another day…

After the movie, we headed to Lowell’s newest restaurant, Bad Dawgs, where we got the beauties you see pictured above. Then we did a walk-by of some of Lowell’s newest restaurants and headed to Sangria’s for some conversation, beers and chips and salsa.

Tomorrow brings more movies - I am definitely seeing two but, if I am really ambitious, it may be more.

Moroccan Spiced Chickpea Soup

This is a most excellent dish - easy, tasty, healthy, and even better as leftovers. I discovered it when Gist and I were at the D****’s hanging out and cooing over baby Alice. We were watching the Food Network and this recipe was on Good Deal With Dave Liberman, a show I’d never seen before. I was so interested in the recipe that I looked it up when we got home and made it that week. It was as good as I had hoped it would be.

Early to rise*

The following image is brought to you by hope, from what I hear it springs eternal.

This picture is brought to you by Old Man Winter - he’s hanging on like a trouper.

I have to admit I was kind of annoyed when I looked out the window and realized that I’d have to walk to work in icky weather but once I got outside and started walking the snow-lover in me was quite pleased and I enjoyed my walk quite a bit. I actually prefer yesterday’s snow to today’s sunny-with-a-high-of-32.

Enough about the weather, on to the title of this post.