Time for some photos!

Living room – before

Living room – after, with my new chair from Design Republic.

Bedroom – before

Bedroom – after

Foods! Scallion pancakes with scallions from the farmer’s market – so, so delicious. The dipping sauce is stellar too.

Tiny peach pies! I didn’t have enough peaches for a full pie (because I’ve been eating so many of them) so I made a few minis instead, in a muffin tin.

Knitting? Sure. I’ve been nuts for a tubular cast on.

In Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock:

And in Malabrigo sock, too:

Amidst all the packing, moving, unpacking and setting up, I have been knitting:

Tanis Fiber Arts green label in Midnight – aran weight works up soooo fast!

A sweater in Koigu – the opposite of fast, but it is beautiful.

I haven’t been taking tons of photos, but I’m trying to get back into the habit. Here are some more glimpses of what I’ve been up to the past few weeks.

Oy, so disorganized! I’m happy to have such a nice full sized bedroom for my new office, though. It even has a closet!

I got a ride to the airport with my parents, and did the usual waiting around thing (no hassles at the airport, straight through security in under 15 minutes), and was glad that YYZ finally has free wifi. The flight was fine, although there was a fair amount of turbulence that kept stopping the drink service, which in turn delayed the meal – we left at 8:30pm and dinner was finally served around 10:30. It’s an odd time change, because you lose an entire night to a flight that’s only 6.5 hours; we landed at 8am British time and I pretty much hadn’t slept a wink. I even had a bit of a panic attack about halfway through, ugh.

Once I landed in sunny Glasgow I took a cab to the train station then the train to Edinburgh. After being cramped on a plane for the night, the quiet train ride was relaxing. Train travel is so civilized. I knit a little on the train, which I didn’t do at all on the plane – I just didn’t feel up to it.

I’ve been to Edinburgh a few times, so it was nice to make my way over to ysolda’s flat, though my backpack and carry on bag were awfully heavy! It would’ve been much better and quicker if I’d say, had a map. Oops. The walk from the train station really isn’t that long, but it’s longer if you keep having to backtrack! After a few hours’ sleep, I headed out for a short walk around the neighbourhood and picked up a bit of food from Tesco to cook for dinner. It really is awfully nice to have the option to just cooking some comfort food for myself – something I’m sure to miss when I’m staying in hotels further along in my trip.

I didn’t really do anything in the evening, just relaxed and watched Doctor Who, and did some thinking about what I want to do the rest of this week. I’m pretty much on my own the whole time, which I’ve never had in Edinburgh because every time I’ve come, ysolda’s been here! The time zone change really kicked my ass this time – I couldn’t fall asleep for hours, then slept the morning away. Luckily all I had planned today was a bit of wandering around the city centre and shopping.

I walked through the Meadows and stopped off for a wee knitting break in the sunshine.

Had some delicious soup at Hula near k1 yarns on Victoria street, and bought some yarn and whisky!

Walked through Princes St Gardens, along Princes St then back along George St with a stop at one of my favourite fancy clothing shops, Jigsaw

A bit of a wander down an alley set me atop Victoria St, which is a very cool view. The sun sets really slowly here – it doesn’t just disappear. The light sticks around until nice and late – it’s still a wee bit light at 9pm so far, which will continue to get later through the summer!

After taking this photo (it was brighter than it looks in the photo though) I stopped off at Mums for a dinner of mushroom wellington, then headed back to the flat – and it was still light! It wasn’t the longest day of activity ever, but I figure I need a bit of time to get into the swing of exploring on my own, and rebuilding the stamina for going around all day. I really love having such a comfortingly familiar place to stay here, it’s perfect for helping ease me into feeling more comfortable for the trip ahead.

Hi Jennie!

I bought my ticket for the “Piecing it Together” tour, which focused on several families of garment makers that lived in the tenement. For those not familiar with the museum (I hadn’t heard of it before I started planning my trip), the museum is a tenement building on Orchard St that was built in 1863, and occupied until the 1930′s when it was condemned by the city and boarded up. The museum was founded in the late 80′s, and consists of apartments in various states of recovery and restoration. I couldn’t take photos inside, but it was super interesting and definitely worth checking out if you’re in the area! The museum’s about page has lots of great info, and there are photos and stories on their website as well. After the tour I bought a copy of 97 Orchard, which I’m excited to read!

Since the tour actually wasn’t until later in the day, after I said hi to Jennie I decided to do a bit of shopping. I hit up All Saints, Anthropologie and Purl Soho and got some great clothes and some Shelter yarn. Purl was really lovely, sadly I had a bit of camnesia and didn’t take any photos!

After the tenement tour and dropping off my purchases at the hotel, I went to Momofuku Noodle Bar for a late lunch – the ginger scallion noodles are veg, and really hit the spot. I loved the roasted rice cakes as well, and I’m hoping to try my hand at a similar dish here at home.

I decided to check out Habu since everyone said it shouldn’t be missed – I didn’t take any photos, and I didn’t buy anything, but it was really interesting to see all the yarns. It’s such a funny space in an office building, almost feels just like someone’s stash or something. I went to the Avril/Habu store in Tokyo when I was there a few years ago, so it was nice to check out their yarns in person again.

Amidst my wanderings I ended up outside the Rockefeller centre, and though I hadn’t been planning on it, went up to the observation deck (Top of the Rock). It was just after sunset, so it was quite cold and windy but the city lights were lovely. I ended the night by grabbing take out from S’mac (macaroni and cheese! mine had broccoli and cauliflower in it) and turning in early.

Tuesday was my last day in the city, so I decided I would check out a museum or two before I had to head to the airport in the late afternoon. I went to the MOMA only to find out they were closed on Tuesdays! Way to research, self. There were plenty of other people milling around outside who’d clearly made the same mistake, so I didn’t feel too bad. I guess it’s like the Louvre. Instead, I went next door to the American Folk Art Museum and looked around there – they have two floors of quilts amongst other exhibitions, and they were lovely to look at.

I’m glad everything ended up the way it did, because by going to the Folk Art Museum I was reminded about the Infinite Variety quilt exhibition that was going on over the weekend, put on by the museum at the Park Avenue Armory. I hustled over on the subway to see it, and I can’t even tell you how glad I was that I made it there!

On display were 650 red and white quilts collected by Joanna S. Rose, hung as if suspended in midair. I can’t really describe how incredibly awesome, gorgeous, and humbling this was.

It was spectacular. I just don’t know what else to say about it!

Every time you looked, there was something different that you had missed, some amazing shape or texture or entire quilt you hadn’t noticed before. There were lots of people there, and you could just feel the amazement of the whole crowd. There’s so much history, so many stories in these everyday quilts. I would say it was one of the most inspiring and beautiful things I’ve ever seen.

I made this panorama out of several photos stitched together in Photoshop. I know it’s small here because it’s so much wider than it is tall, but I hope it gives you a bit of a sense of the layout – this was only half of the room! If you want to see it bigger, click here! This version is 2000 px wide, and I hope it helps you imagine what it was like to be there. I can’t wait for the catalogue to come out, because I’ll be picking it up for sure.

For my last meal in NYC I went to Motorino again and had the lunch special, a salad and and a margherita pizza. It was delicious. And then despite some mishaps with NJ transit, I got to the airport early enough that the airline put me on an earlier flight home and I got home 2 hours early. And that was my trip to New York! I had so much fun. I can’t wait to go again…maybe in the summer!

After breakfast, we took the subway up to the Upper East Side and walked around a bit before going to the Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum. They’re under renovation so they only had 2 exhibitions on – Set In Style featured really gorgeous and shiny! jewelry from Van Cleef & Arpels. One thing that was particularly interesting to me was the great iPad integration…no more audiosets, but an iPad and headphones for closeups, videos and details about selected pieces. The other exhibit on was Art and Fashion by Sonia Delaunay, which I found really inspiring and interesting.

Afterwards it was lunch at Hummus Kitchen – not a particularly amazing meal compared to the others, but I was hungry and Really Had to Eat, so it fit the bill perfectly. The mint lemonade slushie was yummy!

And what trip to NYC would be complete without some Central Park action? I bought a piece of cheesecake from Lady M bakery and ate it in the park. It was really too cold to do that for long (which I was sad about), so more walking, walking, walking including checking out FAO Schwartz (crazy busy!), Times Square (whoa – so not my thing) and basically checking out touristy areas really quickly and moving on.

That evening was spent walking around Williamsburg and having actual green vegetables at M Noodle Shop. Their veggie dumplings were really good, and I liked the sesame pancake with veggies too.

Hmmmm I just realized I don’t have a single photo from Sunday! It was a fitting lazy Sunday – lined up at Doughnut Plant for a Valhrona Chocolate and a cinnamon bun, got bagels from Kossar’s Bialys and ate many carbs sitting in the pedestrian park on Allen St. Walked around Chinatown and Little Italy, checked out Dean and Deluca (i love grocery stores!) and I got my black & white cookie from Donut Pub – man those things are huge. After dinner at Angelica’s Kitchen (a great vegetarian place), my companion headed back to Boston so I went to the movies and watched Jane Eyre. I only recently read it so watching the movie was fun (though a bit lonely).

And so I have another photo, a preview of what I did on Tuesday!

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!

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

One of many cheese cases.

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!

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.

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

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.