What are you doin' Saturday? CRAWLING!!!

It's gonna be a doozie! This will be our 5th and best so far. Five shops are participating and we will all have different sales and promotions.

On The Lamb will have:

20% off all regularly priced stock including new deliveries!

50% discount on all Aero and Susan Bates METAL needles.

AND 50% off some fab yarns.

AND a couple of Draws too!

Just to entice you further: Lisa is opening The Passionate Cook's Essentials on Saturday (sneak preview!), a wonderful kitchen and gourmet supply shop (located in my old space, just across the hall), and of course we have Tin Mill upstairs for a wonderful lunch (reservations recommended) and the Tin Cup Cappuccino Bar just down the street, for a casual 'panini-y' type lunch.

Ahem - did i mention that i will have free coffee? And Lisa will have 'tasters' of her fab antipasto ... i'm just sayin' ...

However, since the fireplace guy's wife went into labour yesterday - no fireplace 'til next week. (You know, she HAD nine months to have that baby - kidding. No really, i am ...) BUT we have a lovely drawing of it on the wall and two beautiful leather chairs in which you can rest your weary bones!

Hope to see you here!

Saturday's Yarn Crawl!!!!

Vermont - the green state (reeeeaallyyyyyy!)

okay - i told you it ain't flat. And the shops were 'unusual'. And that we had a ball. Did i tell you we ate our way through the state? Really wonderful restaurants that we found in out of the way places; like Tiny Thai. We found that one whilst looking for Muriel who had 'wandered away.' She doesn't think she did and in the long run, it doesn't matter because we found Tiny Thai. It was tiny, it was Thai and it was delicious!!!! Aaaannnnndddd of course, Bellini's in New Hampshire.

And we saw covered bridges; this one looked about to fall over! No Meryl Streep or that guy with the creepy turkey neck anywhere!

And then, on the last day, Mom took a turn for the worse and spent the night in Cornwall Hotel Dieu, which is not a fancy hotel but a hospital. The nurses and doctores were so great, i told them i would put them in my blog! Good news is that Mom's on the mend. And we're on the search for a doctor who will monitor medications! Any ideas?

Next year, ladies - Rhinebeck and Upper New York State!

I hear it's flat.

YARN CRAWL IN DURHAM!!!!

It's time for our Durham Region Bi-Annual yarn crawl.

The date is October 3rd. Four or five shops participating ... great discounts, specials and draws at each shop!

Be there! It's the best thing since sliced bread!!!!!!

This is your first notice ... there will be more!

Dying to Dye Workshop

People were dying to know what we were doing! We died laughing! Live free or die! (that one's for you Lynne!)

We came, we dyed, we laughed, we had fun!

If you didn't get a chance to enroll in the dying workshop - please keep it in mind for the Spring. We had a lot of fun, great weather, a little bit of instruction in colour theory and the results ... well, you can see for yourself!

Donna, Gerri, Elaine, Marion, Lynne and Junne did a fabulous job - once they got over their fear of colour!

We'll do it again - just got to wait for Spring!

WOW! Vermont Ain't Flat!

Yup - that's what they say. Vermont ain't flat. And it ain't. And the roads ain't straight either. The road into Smugglers Notch, where we stayed, had a segment that was 10 minutes of switchback turns, s-turns and 180 degree turns, around huge rocks the size of your car!!!!

We had a great time - the yarn shops and towns had a different flavour from last years trip to New Hampshire and Maine. Have you ever gone into a yarn shop/fruit and veggie stand? Or yarn shop/picture framing/tourist geegaws? No? Then go to Vermont!!!!!

And i'm painting my house, so i was keen to see all the colour combinations; anyone for a purple house with taupe trim? More pics later...

A recipe ...

I know ... that's a little weird for this blog. BUT, we had a meeting of the Vermont Gang; the group that are going on a yarn crawl to Vermont on Sunday. And they liked my Orzo. And thought you all might like it too. Sooooo, here's the recipe.

Now first of all, Orzo, which is pasta shaped like rice, cooks like Risotto. You need lots of fluid and you need to keep stirring. Also, the pasta takes on the flavour of what you cook it with, otherwise, it's kind 'flat', so you need chicken stock or wine.

Okay, here goes:

500g of Orzo

2.5 cups chicken stock

1 cup white wine

1/2 cup melted butter

5 minced garlic cloves

2 cups parmasean cheese grated

10 or 15 torn Fresh Basil leaves

Freshly ground black pepper

6 tomatoes, diced.

First:

Bring liquid to a boil; add the Orzo. Start stirring.

When it's done, about 12 minutes (taste for al dente) you probably won't have any liquid left, just very creamy Orzo. (if you see the Orzo running dry, throw in some more white wine.)

Next:

Melt 1/2 cup butter in a large sauce pan, add and brown gently 5 minced garlic cloves (or more if you like)

Now:

Add Orzo to the sauce pan and stir to cover with butter and garlic.

Add 2 cups Parmasean Cheese (grated)

Add 6 tomatoes, diced.

Tear 10 or 15 Basil leaves and add.

Grind black ground pepper over top.

Give it a good stir. Flip out into a bowl. Decorate with some fresh basil.

Let me know what you think. We all really liked it. Mom thought that if you tossed in some cooked shrimp, you would have a meal in a bowl. Or even cooked chicken!

TADA!

Purl's and Prose OR The Knittary Litterary!!!

It was our first meeting last night of Purls and Prose;

the bookclub with the wool shop in mind!

We meet here at 7:30 p.m., on the first Tuesday of each month. Just bring your knitting and your opinion! No registration required, no cost, and no holds barred!!!!! (also no teach)

We took a few photo's but there's nothing quite like being here. Not everyone liked the book, not everyone read the book. But everyone enjoyed the experience!

We had champagne and chocolates to celebrate our very first gathering (thanks again Carolynne!); we had a few lovely snackers on the table (thanks Lynn and Carolynne!) and plenty of laughter!

Join us next time; you'll meet new friends and expand your mind at the same time. Now, what's wrong with that?

Our next meeting is Tuesday, October 13th, 7:30 p.m. The book is The Other Boleyn Girl - i will be ordering from Shelly at Blue Heron - let me know if you need a copy.

... just sink your hands into this...

Ahem.

A picture is worth a thousand words ... okay, a few words.

4 new shades of Baby Alpaca Sport.

To make this wonderful Shrug.

That is all.

Our First Knitterary Literarry meeting!

It's almost here! Our first very own "Lit-TER-a-TURE EVE-en-ing"

Tuesday, September 8th - 7:30 p.m. Here at On The Lamb (53 Toronto St. N, Lower Level.)

Uh Huh! It's Purls & Prose - the first Knitterary Litterary meeting!

Book is The Knitting Circle by Ann Hood. Good read, and semi autobiographical!

It will be very informal, lots of laughing, and meeting your new best friends! All are welcome. We'll run until about 9 or when we run out of things to say!

No Cost/No teach. So it's fun for me too! Hope to see you here!

Yessssssssss! It's here!

ok - not quite yet.

But i'm getting antsy,

and it's not scheduled to go in until September 28,

so i made one,

on the wall,

with Chalk.

i know.

nice, huh?

Sigh...

p.s. It's a fireplace. Oh. You knew. Right.