sarah in nyc

I got a delighted phone call from the mother of the recipient of this sweater.  It made me happy that I had made the effort and that my niece was as delighted by this sweater as I am, perhaps even more. Another great niece visits on Monday and I made her this sweater. It is knit with a wool-blend heavy weight yarn and is edged in purplish crochet. My favorite part of this sweater are the buttons.In Hebrew this baby is named for my Mother , Zipporah, which means bird. This baby's middle name in Hebrew is Zahavah, which means gold. I was delighted to find the button with a beautiful cloisonne bird.  My mother, in the family was known by her English name. I think that the hand  carved shell buttons are a nice evocation of my mother's English name. I love a baby garment that is a bit over the top. Tonight is officially Tisha B'Av but since we don't fast on Sabbat ( except for Yom Kippur) the fast begins tomorrow night. There is a tradition to...

There has been a bunch on my plate, some of it work for clients and some of it that falls into that category of other. In the other category, I just completed this sweater for our Santa Barbara great niece. I bought the green yarn at Santa Barbara's best thrift store when we visited last summer. A fancy yarn store had gone out of business and had donated gorgeous yarns to the thrift store. The beautiful carved shell flower hook closure comes from the stash of my friend Pearl's mother.  Pearl's mother was a really excellent knitter. She knit herself beautiful suits that she wore to each of her grandchildren's bar-mitzvahs. I have a small leather change purse from her stuffed with wonderfully carves shell buttons. This closure would be great even if it were made out of plastic but out of carved shell, well, you just can't get any better. I used the flower embroidered ribbon to give the clasps a firm footing. They also do a good job of jazzing up th...

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...

It was now time to tackle the atara/ neckband for Isabel's tallit.   I went back to look at my sketch. I had forgotten that I had planned to make an atara with the priestly breastplate in the center.   So I had to get to work creating it.   Last week one of the local thrift stores was selling a roll of Joe Fresh gold knit fabric. It was a really really shiny bathing suit knit. If I wanted to star in a 1980’s aerobics video I would make myself work out clothing out of this knit. It was a silly amount of fabric for a silly price.  I had made myself a slip out of some of it.   I realized that it would be perfect for the breastplate for Isabel, the girl who loves bling.   I cut a rectangle of fusible fleece, and drew the stitching lines on the fleece with a marker. I backed the fleece with the shiny fabric and stitched. I then added twelve different shiny bits as the jewels. I then tidied up the little breastplate.   ...

I know, there are times when it seems like I do nothing but cook. But my hands have not ben involved only with cooking. I removed the border from this challah cover and replaced something that was just OK with African mud cloth from my stash. The mud cloth is a much better choice. I knit a cowl for my daughter. I completed Kyra’s tallit. here are the pinot /corner pieces. This is completed tallit.   The silk is really luscious.  If I ran the universe I would have made an atara/neckband as well. Kyra though seemed really sure of what she wanted. I will see if she changes he mind when she comes this afternoon to tie her tzitzit. OK, a moment about food. last night was the first night of Chanukah.  As I have said before, I am not a big fan of latkes. I was willing to be swayed by the pleading of my family and made a batch.   I also made sweet potato and ricotta cheese latkes. Yes, I made apple sauce. I also made a childhood favorite, cra...