North Carolina and Back

Mike and I drove to Charlotte, North Carolina to attend a wedding this past weekend. In typical summer roadtrip fashion, we rolled down the windows for the windblown look shown below.



I brought a new project for some road trip knitting. I'm using my cashmere to create a Pi Shawl, which is a 72" diameter circular shawl. Knitting this was quite fitting, since it is in Elizabeth Zimmerman's "Knitter's Almanac" as her July project, and she specifies that it is great for long trips. It is an ingenious little pattern, but I think it may need some beading on the fringe to spice it up!



I was so excited to see my parents and finally give my mom her completed Lace Ribbon Shawl in person, as a belated birthday present. She really liked it, and wore it to the wedding. My friend, Sammie also loved her green scarf.



On Saturday, we visited the Levine Museum of the New South, which talks about the growth, agriculture, culture, change and evolution of the South. It was hard to see certain broadcasts, photos and read documents, but also beneficial in my opinion. We can't ignore the truth in the past or present.



My favorite part was dressing up in the vintage outfits, and learning about the process of cotton from the farm to the fabric.



There was also an exhibit called Corapeake, which was a photography show documenting a community of people in a small rural area in 1995. It was beautiful, sad and touching. At the end, they invited you to write a poem about your own hometown. My parents and I made friends with a second grader and helped each other write poems about Virginia, Florida, the Philippines and New Jersey.

On Sunday, we visited The Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. Construction started in 1895, and it was the largest residential building in the United States. The home itself was 4 acres, and the grounds were a whopping 8,000 acres. It took us nearly 3 hours to tour the house, and I especially liked learning about the historic renovations.



It was fully equipped with electricity, had an indoor swimming pool with a call buzzer for martinis, the first indoor bowling alley, heated plumbing for their indoor tropical garden, and 250 rooms. Most honorable of the Vanderbilts was that they wanted to enjoy their wealth and benefit the community, not at the expense of the community. They provided free milk to the community members, cooking classes and paid New York City wages although they were in North Carolina. Each maid was given her own room which was heated, spacious, had windows and brand new furniture specifically ordered for them. That is pretty impressive, especially when you consider the time period.

After touring, we needed pastries just to build up strength to hit the gardens!







What a beautiful state you are! Thanks for having me, NC!

Scarf for Sammie

I love this Tilli Tomas yarn from MD Sheep and Wool, but I adore my friend Sammie even more. I babysat her as a little girl, and once accidentally dyed her pink by using food coloring in order to convince her to take a bath. Her parents thought it was hysterical and bring it up annually.

Only funnier is that in an unintentional way to get me back, they neglected to mention that a six foot pig stuffed with an apple in it's mouth was chilling in their tub waiting for a roast the next night. I found this out while using their restroom.



So, I'll be seeing my friend Sammie soon, and she's recovering from pretty extensive knee surgery. She recently learned to knit, so I thought I'd make her a fun scarf to wear in Florida. This girl always makes me homemade books, jewelry, and was my brother's favorite fake little sister.

Did I mention that I'd see them this weekend? Thus, the easy pattern and drop stitch on size 10s. I think that this John Deere loving gal will appreciate the green.



I'm off to Quizzo, my friends! Have a great night.

Completed: Landscape Scarf

The Landscape Scarf is completed. What an adorable and fun project. The larger shawl isn't particularly my style, but this small triangular version would be perfect for anyone.

To re-cap, I started with three Koigu mill ends, which was equal to about 1-1/2 skeins.



I used a Russian join to join the yarn together from the different skeins. I recommend using this type of join, especially if the yarn is slippery and will not felt together easily, such as silk or super wash wools. It creates a seamless thread of yarn, and eliminates the need to weave in lots of ends. I wanted to switch pretty often, and this join worked perfectly.

The only change I made in the pattern was to add a picot to every row, instead of every other row.



I gave it a little bath, and blocked it out slightly to shape the top edge better.



I then took gratuitous shots of my new scarf next to cupcakes with matching sprinkles. This was a complete coincidence though, the cupcakes were because Mike's nephew was visiting.



My scarf's maiden voyage was at the Bastille Day Festival at the Eastern State Penitentiary. I put it on briefly to show the girls and pose for a group photo with Madame de Farge.



A quick note on my awkward pose; my hand is stuck in the air because it's covered in Tastykake frosting from the "let them eat cake" festivities. Yes, those are Tastykakes being shoveled off of the roof and pummeling the crowd. Glorious.

Summer Days

Now that I have officially checked off the checkable items off of my to-do-list, I can revel in some summertime tomfoolery (that word must be used whenever the opportunity arises).

I forgot what freedom you have when you ride your bike around the city. Unfortunately, the hardest part is getting my bike in and out of the apartment. Sometimes it's the steep stairs, and sometimes it's a person passed out on your front stoop.



This afternoon I took a ride along the Schuylkill River. I rode so far south, that I realized I was practically at Lisa's house. Within a few minutes, she agreed to meet me for some iced coffee and knitting.



The Landscape Scarf is coming along, after being ripped out a few times. It's the size of a bandit's kerchief, but growing steadily, one adorable picot at a time.



I had to take a minute to admire this ingenious wall garden outside of the cafe. How do you think she waters these plants? And really, do we even care? They're just so pretty.

Independence Day

While ordering a cheese steak at a cart yesterday, my friend and I met a professional chess player in town from London. After making sure he got his fill of Philly food, we started chatting.

We spoke about our malls, the strength of the English pound versus our dollar, chess, and Philadelphia. He then asked, "Tomorrow is one of your national holidays, correct?"

Of course I responded in typical Marissa style and replied, "Well, yes! It's our Independence Day from....well, er... your country!"

We shared a nice laugh, and he jokingly gave us the American version of "the finger". So I in turn gave him his country's version of "the finger". We wished him luck with his tournament and went upstairs to get back to work.

I'm attending two barbeques today, and even had a chance to make some uninentional Patriotic Freedom Toast. (Ha ha ha.)



Enjoy your day off, my American friends.

Constant Vigilance!

Today, my submission for Make, Bake or Buy, had to be a garden. I must have gardens on the mind, after seeing all the lush, envy producing greenery that Shona and Kat are working on!



Why a garden? Mainly, it would imply that I owned or rented a freestanding house that was hopefully at least a few yards away from negligent next door neighbors and their grease fires. Or not living above a man whom once tucked an upholstered chair into a space heater and left for pizza. Lest I remind you of the gasoline spilling neighbor who has since moved out. Why do I feel like I am a stunt double on a bad action sequel that should never have been approved for production?

After some minor drama from the grease fire next door, a quick response from the Philadelphia fire department, and some bonding with our lovely ex-block Captain, things settled down. When we couldn't get the eardrum splitting alarm off, I took a walk to Rita's to get some custard.

I fear that my poor mom will make me move home with my reference to choking and fires in these last two posts. Don't worry lady! I'll practice constant vigilance!

All kidding aside, thankfully, everything was fine. But it is a good reminder to have renter's insurance, to purchase a fire extinguisher, check on batteries in your smoke detector and to remember never to throw water on a grease or electrical fire.

End public service announcement. Stop.