field trip: a good thing

Wednesday morning early, I met sister Lulu here, NY bound. Say what you will about New Haven, we have incredible pizza and a grand train station.

By 11 am we'd rounded up our mom, and her sister, Aunt Marcia from points south and points east.
All very proud of ourselves for accomplishing the meetup, we celebrated by...cutting through the side streets of the flower district . This time of year, its like walking through the magic forest in the middle of the dismal city. I didn't do it justice, but I did catch Lulu showing off her Meseta Alta (rav link) shawl. Tulips by the hundreds in bloom! Pussy willows 8 feet tall! Ranunculus in every color! We oohed, we ahhed, we made asses of ourselves smelling the blooms while blocking the narrow passageway.

A few paninis & coffees later, we head to our people in line.

It looked suspiciously like a sheep & wool show......oh the shawls! and felted totes! and sweaters!
and ....a cupcake. Being completely obsessed interested in queuing up my next 8 sweaters for the NanKniSweaMoDo that I'm, ahem, not really doing, this was great opportunity--- sweaters on parade. I had a 2 minute conversation with someone in a minty green mohair cardi, it reminded me of this or this, but the fit was less roomy, so flattering..she told me it was from an IK , Fall of...(help can't remember!)..damn those frowning production assistants in their headsets, just as she was giving me the lowdown, she was swept away for seating. All I heard was, in the mag it was shown in a hearty tweed but she'd knit it in a Jo Sharp something-fuzzy--and if you know what I am talking about, send me the name of that pattern! Of course I went home and looked through my old mags and didn't find it. It was a cardigan , and there were a couple of panels with diamond shape eyelets, bell sleeves....

Oh, sorry, where was I/ yes, ahem, on the set of the Martha Stewart Show, the special yarn show where we were invited to bring our knitting projects, descriptions requested in advance as if someone cared. We were there to show the love by knitting throughout the show while also clapping wildly on cue. (Don't try this at home.)

My 2 second review: fun to see the studio set, Mo Rocca is much better when he can do his shtik alone, the audience was wonderful, the show itself..eh. Ok, the crocheted urinal was...worth a peek.Or should that be worth a pee? You can watch on Monday 3/23 and judge for yourself.

It was a beautiful spring day in NYC, anyway. We left with an enormous tote bag each, a sample of Soak from Purl (mwah) and an..um..underwhelming swag choice from a sponsoring yarn company . Margaux' (tentenknits) expression here said it for all of us.

word to Martha:it's International Year of Natural Fibres. And that, my dear is a good thing.

ps that giveaway for copies of Shear Spirit is still on over at the fiber farm CSA blog, in honor of the year, go over and enter!