Thursday, November 30, 2006

First pair finished

I haven't been able to blog much recently as I have been busy with new job. I finished my first pair of short socks a couple of weeks ago and I must say I'm quite pleased with the Vesper yarn.




I'm starting a new pair today and this will be for a special occasion. A xmas present for my mother actually (hoping that her English is still basic and that she will not get what I have just written!). The Grignasco cashmere is exquisite!

Friday, November 17, 2006

Moore goodies in the box

Another swap with Ryoko, my favourite swap pal! It took a while to cross the ocean but it finally arrived to Japan!

As always, she was very generous with her swap! I received the 3 copies of my favourite Japanese magazines: Cotton Time, Cotton Friend and Cotton Paint. Amazing! I will post more pics later. Ryoko also sent me some cute fabrics, writing paper and greeting card! Thanks so much Ryoko, I love it all ♥ !



I sent Ryoko things I brought back from my trip to Hawaii 2 months ago. She wanted some traditional Hawaiian prints, Hawaiian newspaper, vintage postcards and some handmade lavender wands. I also sent her separately a copy of Gourmet magazine, special Christmas issue!



The Christmas swap left a few weeks ago and should reach Japan fairly soon!

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

From France ♥

♥ These beauties came in my letter box a few days ago. Vintage silk floss :o
The colours are so vibrant. I think I will use them to embroider bridal pillows and silk brooches.
Ces petites merveilles sont arrivées de France il y a quelques jours. Des échevaux de fil de soie anciens que j'utiliserai peut-être pour des coussins d'alliance ou broches en soie.



♥ Also came in the post, my favourite French craft magazine: Broderie et Couture. I was a bit surprised by the lack of Christmas projects. They will probably be featured in the next issue due in December. On the other hand, Marie Claire Idées is full of Christmas projects! I also got some vintage sewing patterns. That will hopefully motivate me to loose a few inches around my waist as there's no way I would fit in one of these..lol..!
M'est aussi parvenu mon magazine préféré: Idées Broderie et Couture. J'ai été surprise de ne pas voir de projets de Noël, d'autant plus que la prochaine édition ne sortira pas avant décembre. Je me rattraperai avec le Marie Claire Idées qui lui ne manquent pas de projets! 2 patrons de robes des années 50. Pour le printemps prochain.. ca dépendra de ma taille de guêpe.. mdr! un gros bisou à ma maman pour les envois!




♥ An article featuring handmade baubles caught my eyes. Every year, I try to add a few more handmade baubles to my collection. Vintage ones are hard to come by. I found these 3 large one at the Rose Bowl Flea market a while go. They are extremely fragile. Unfortunately, one of them got smashed. I did my best to put the pieces back together. I just couldn't get myself to throw it away!



Here is a sample of the projects featured on the Marie Claire Idées that I liked:


Beautiful Christmas wrapping ideas.



I like the organic feel of the fabric
ornaments.. and the cute bunnies!


Better go now and get the tea ready for the Knitting Party!
Je vous laisse car j'ai mon Tricot Thé dans une heure!

Monday, November 13, 2006

Size matters?

Oh yes! Look at the size of this brioche*. We discovered a French patisserie on Wilshire blvd yesterday. Being so far away from my home country, I'm always searching for a tasty reminder. This time a croissant and a brioche. They were very good indeed. The croissant was very buttery but not greasy. I'm sure French expats or any expats will understand this ;)


* Husband tells me that it is not a one person brioche. What is he talking about?!


On a different note. The progress of the first sock. Going very well thanks to my knitting friend Yuliya! I love the Vesper yarn. For months, I was intrigued by people knitting socks. I think I understand now. It is a fun project!

Saturday, November 11, 2006

Joyeux Anniversaire mon lapin!

Hubby might spank me for posting a picture of him wearing diapers! ;)
I thought he was the cutest baby. Today he still has the same big smile!

Happy birthday darling! I cannot believe that we both have entered the "late 30s" category. We enjoyed the day out at Topanga Canyons and had a fine meal at Roy's.


Mini hubby at 8 months

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

In the mail

A post dedicated to things that arrived in the post in the past few weeks:

A wonderful package from the lovely Tania from Portugal: gorgeous printed linen and cotton fabrics, trims, vintage lace, buttons and postcards. And look at the embroidered love birds pouch! it makes me smile every time I look at it! Thanks so much Tania. I am a spoiled gal :)



This is what I sent to Tania. Some vintage Russian polka dot linen, vintage trims, winter issue of Knits magazine, assorted teas and sweets.



We have another swap on the way... just in time for Chritmas :)


Another great arrival!

I had spotted this beautiful calendar on Diana's website. She designed the cutest calendar for 2007 with a different design for each month. This is a sample:


Soon to be on my office wall..!

Monday, November 06, 2006




Thank you so much for your comments and emails!


Saturday, November 04, 2006

Happy Anniversary sunshine

Today is the 2 year anniversary of our civil wedding! I remember this cold day in Manhattan. It was freezing and windy but we were happy! We walked hand in hand to Town Hall. What an experience! If you have got married at Town Hall in Manhattan, you will understand! It was a fast moment.. The ceremony lasted 4 minutes!! We like to celebrate this important moment of our lives however we prefer to celebrate the anniversary of our religious wedding in May.

Thursday, November 02, 2006

At yesterday's knitting tea party, we tried to dye some yarn using Kool Aid. We used some undyed Peruvian wool. We followed the Knitty tutorial and it was pretty simple!
We will probably be more adventurous next week and try to make variegated yarn.



I also learned something new, thanks to knitting expert, Yuliya. I am knitting my first pair of socks! Never touched circular needles before and it did feel very awkward at the beginning. I'm using some lovely Vesper yarn.


Vesper Meteor



THE WAY TO A MAN'S HEART.... This certainly applies to my husband who loves this pizza. You can do the dough either the night before or in the morning.



    Pizza Dough
  • 1 1/2 cups of warm water
  • 2 Tbsp. Sugar
  • 1 packet of Dry Yeat (7g)
  • 1 1/2 Tsp Salt
  • 2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
  • 4 cups unbleached flour


Instructions:

Pour the warm water in a large mixing bowl. Add the sugar and the yeast. Stir gently for a minute until the yeast and sugar start dissolving. Let it sit for 10 minutes.

Add the salt and olive oil and stir. Add 1 cup of flour and whisk until it is smooth. Add a second cup of floor and stir. Add 3r cup of flour. The dough should getting quite thick at this point. Add the last cup of flour and mix your your hand. I add flour until the dough is not longer sticky.

Remove the dough from the ball and start kneading on a table top/board. Some recipe say you have to knead for 8 to 10 minutes.. I don't. I do it for about 2 minutes at most!

Coat the dough with a bit of olive oil and place it back in the bowl (with a bit of olive oil at the bottom). Cover the top with a piece of kitchen film and let it sit at room temperature for 75 minutes. The put in the fridge for a further 5 hours or overnight. The dough should grow to 3 times its original size.

Take the dough out of the bowl and cut in half.
Pre warm oven to 475F
Press the doughball flat to desired thickness and then put your ingredients!

For the ingredients: I used a tomato base (1/2 tin)- pan-fried sliced cured salt pork (you can use parm ham or any meat you want) - sun-dried tomato and basil mozarella cheese (Trader's Joe) - I normally use fresh buffalo mozarella but didnt have any yesterday - a sprinkly of dried oregano - any spices your like.
Place on a pizza stone if you have one. I used a metallic tray and baked for about 20 minutes. Add the fresh basil and serve! The recipe above will make 2 pizzas like the one on the picture. Voilà! or should I say "eccola!"

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Apples and Pears!

This is a very special event for me! After over 2 years, I'm going back "home" for 3 weeks in January. Although I am not British, I do consider London as my (former) home as I lived there for 10 years. I haven't been back since I left for the USA in September 2004 so I am really excited! This will also be the occasion to visit my folks in France.
Unfortunately, hubby won't be able to come with me as his schedule doesn't let him. I feel a bit guilty to leave hime for such a long time.. :-o


Chelsea


ps. if you wonder about the title: Apples and pears is a Cockney expression (London slang). Nuff said!

More cables!

I am really enjoying knitting again especially knitting cables. This was another project for a friend's birthday. A twisted cable scarf. I used the same yarn as the cable purse, Debbie Bliss Merino Chunky in Aubergine color.




Regarding my previous post on the cashmere sweater unraveling :

NOT every sweater can be unraveled! There is a great tutorial which explains the difference between good and a bad seams. So before you start unraveling, you want to make sure the sweater has good seams!