sarah in nyc

The High Holiday season is filled with weeks where each week is filled with the prep of the equivalent two or three Thanksgiving dinners in a week plus three days each week where all work is forbidden. So for a month each day of the week feels like a Friday, a Shabbat or a Sunday. My husband and I kept asking on another what day it was. My sister was in the hospital, (she is OK now, thank you for asking), and needed someone to escort her home and help her transition to home. I took the train. It was my first time in the new Moynihan train station, (the former post office building on 8th Avenue across from Penn Station).  I hadn't taken the train to Boston in several years. It is just so much more civilized than taking the bus. I love seeing Manhattan recede from view. We passed Costco! I have often stopped before I do my shopping to admire the view of the railroad bridge and the approach ramps of the Triboro bridge. I loved looking back at my usual point of view. One of the best th...

 Some weeks seem to be driven by a big project. This week was filled with bits of odds and ends. Tanta Marcia brought over her late husband's tallit. The fringes had gotten grotty with time. Some of the woof threads knots had gotten untied with time and others had simply worn away.  My plan is to cut off  the fringes---I used one of the stripes as my cutting guide. I reinforced the cut edge with a machine zig zag stitch. I will probably hand roll the hem---I had made one messy attempt that I will not show you. i pulled out that stitching and will try again soon. I also bought some thin wool yarn and will make knotted tassels to edge the tallit. I am just talking things through to myself here, but some of the tallit wool has worn quite thin so I will need to keep the individual tassels quite lightweight. I ordered the yarn and it arrived the other day. i can start figuring THAT out next week. I have made more mending progress on the  tablecloth. Most of the mending is...

 All of us are currently living with an elephant in our living rooms. But like the proverbial elephant in the room, I am going to avoid speaking about it until a little further into this post. I was about to make some gifts for some people. I decided to go shopping in my stash. I am glad I did. I found a length ( about three yards and change ) of a beautiful wool boucle with a windowpane plaid. I had purchased the yardage at my local thrift. I think that the contents of the home of a serious sewer were donated to the thrift.  There were several lengths of wonderful wool. The black boucle and a heavy white wool coating that may one day become high Holiday Totan mantles came home with me. I left behind a wonderful magenta and green boucle. I found the price tag on the wool. It cost me less than two subway rides but retail would cost anywhere from $35-$150 per yard. I cut just over two yards of the fabric and then cut the long length in half. Probably thirty years ago a nice sale...

My older son will be the houseguest of our dear friends in Philly. As I type this, they have two granddaughters. Tomorrow, their third grandchild will be born. I decided to make winter hats for their granddaughters as our house gift.  I had made the hats using a giant version of the little knitting knobbies I had used as a kid. A knitting knobby The knitting looms are exactly as mindlessly satisfying to use as the knitting knobbies. The only difference being is that it is easier to produce something useful using the knitting looms than it is to make something with a long snake of knitted yarn. When I was a kid I produced countless yards of skinny knitted snakes. My sister once attempted to make a miniature rug out of some of her knitting knobby production. I was never as resourceful. I usually tossed my yards of knitted rope after admiring my handy work for a while.  I bought the knitting looms earlier in December and  I have already made a couple o...