Test Knitting & The Holidays Part 1

First of all I love to test knit for various reasons:

1) You get opportunity to make something that is a brandnew design

2) You often learn a new technique or how to do things different... and often smarter

3) No WIPinitis as you are on a deadline (OK, may not be a favourite thing for many but for me it works extremely well and is fun)

4) You help a designer to improve their already great work

... and best of all: A beautiful piece of knitwear for you :-)

This season I got really lucky as I found great testing opportunities that at the same time generated gifts for family and friends.

A very quick and fun knit is my Sainte Chapelle which is based on a pattern called "Arches and Columns Hat" by "Ancient Pathways" (US$5.00) Ravel pattern.

The name of my project came upon me as the gothic like arc construction of the pattern reminded me of the chapel of Sainte Chapelle:

Very easy and fast knit with absolutely beautiful result - voila Xmas present for Chriselle.

Little bits of summer's hanging on

See you next year :-)

Pumkin Soup & Three Pepper Shrimp

I did some of the cooking for Thanksgiving this week (no, not the Turkey - did that once and it can't be topped) - not sure if the combo is very traditional but yummy for sure:

Pumpkin soup & Three Pepper Shrimp





My personal recipe for the shrimp - nothing new or unique but so easy and quite tasteful if you want to try:

5-6 medium to large shrimp per person
Black, white, green pepper (I grind them fairly coarse)
Olive oil and grape seed oil
Salt and Red Pepper flakes

Toss shrimp with good dosing of olive oil (you can use a neutral oil if you don't like the taste of Olive oil) and 1/2 - 1 tbs of pepper per serving. Let marinate for about an hour.
Heat non-stick skillet on medium heat with little bit of grape seed oil; grill shrimps in batches for about 2 minutes on each side (don't overcook or they get rubbery).
Salt and add Red Pepper Flakes to taste (this is spicy version, you can skip Red Pepper and it still taste great)

Can be enjoyed warm or at room temperature. Bon Appetit!

Happy Turkey Day!

Till moving to the US 10 years ago I never observed Thanksgiving but I must say that I really like this holiday - even if you sometimes don't realise there is so much to be thankful for each day. So once in a while stepping back and saying thank you is a good thing.

I am very lucky today as I will be spending time with friends and their kids - nothing fancy or formal just a relaxed afternoon with yummy food and great company and chats :-)
Something to be thankful for!

Wishing you all a very Happy Thanksgiving and time to reflect on the good things in your life.

Autumn in Good Old Germany... Take I

With multiple business meetings in EU over next few weeks I have a chance to stay with my mom during weekend in Germany.

Here are some photos that I took in our garden today - no additional words needed:

Pink Diamonds turned blue for me

I just finished testing another lovely pattern - it is called Pink Diamonds (by Timeless Creations) and will shortly be available for sale (Pink Diamonds)

The pattern has instructions for matching scarf & fingerless gloves and I tested the scarf:


Close up:

The scarf consists of 8 row repeat - easy to memorise which makes this project an easy take-along project. Pattern is also written in a very clear way. As I love how the scarf turned out I plan to make the fingerless mitts as well.

Bottomline: If you are looking for a charming fingerless mitts/scarf set I really recommend this pattern.

Italian Men

Well, I love Italian men (or at least most of them) for their relaxed style - they have a way to look very manly and stylish but you have the impression that they do not even try (not true as I was told by some of my Italian male friends). Anyway the vibe of doing the stylish thing totally unintentinally looks great to me.

But today I am telling a totally different story of Italian men being great gentlemen and putting me in some trouble because of it.

I was on a fairly long business trip in EU and therefore took a much bigger suitcase than normal. Yesterday I finally came to Rome airport to fly back to the US... so far so good.

Stayed at airport hotel - short walk from Terminal 3 (T3). When I got there I could not locate any reference to my flight... so curb-side I checked if I may be at the wrong terminal. Some lovely Italians informed me that all flights to US leave from Terminal 5 (T5), short bus ride away and that I was in the right place to board the bus. I was still not quite convinced that my assistant should have gotten the terminal wrong so I continued checking with one of the gentlemen... while another loaded my heavy suitcase on the bus.

Problems with that 1) I did not realise that my suitcase got loaded on bus to T5 2) bus took off with my suitcase but NOT with ME AND my SUITCASE 3) it turned out that my flight on Alitalia would actually go from T3 so no need to go to T5.

Here I am @ T3 already little late for check in and my luggage travelling all by itself to T5... what to do???

Plan A - check if bus comes back on round-trip so that I can just stay put and wait for it to come back... sorry, m'am not this particular bus.

Plan B is needed fast - convince Italian gentlemen to page their colleagues at T5 to pull my suitcase off bus and keep it save for me - me jumping on next bus to T5 (two pairs of new shoes in my suitcase so I am very attached to it!!!), grab suitcase (actually nice Italian gentlemen again loading it on bus - this time with my knowlegde!!), ME AND SUITCASE taking next bus back to T3 and run to check-in & make last call to board my flight. Phew - talk about cutting it close.

Learning: It's OK and fun to flirt with nice Italien men but keep a close eye on your luggage :-)