last day on the job

greg walked in the door at around 1:30 this afternoon with the rest of his tchotchkes from the office and his cell phone empty of all work emails. i took a pic of him with the little monster.

no more work for greg for a little while!

he looks very pleased to be through in this pic, but he actually spends a lot of his time at his desk by the window . . studying networking on an online course whose re-certification exams he will take in the following months . .

 that is: he's studying when not napping with the little monster . . oh no! i said i wouldn't post this pic . . but i did!

 we did celebrate his last day by going out to eat at chumley's, an old speakeasy in our neighborhood that was founded in the 1920's by socialist activist leland stanford chumley (it was originally a blacksmith's shop). it's nothing like it was during its heyday when it was frequented by a myriad of writers, poets, journalists and activists, but it's still around with wonderful photos on its walls and very good food (this article in the ny times points out that the old time writers wouldn't even be able to afford one drink at the bar these days).

it was a very cold night! i think it was 11 degrees fahrenheit.

the entire building was renovated several years ago as it was (literally) falling down.

my photos aren't very good . . i was taking them with my cell phone and it was quite dark, but you can see behind greg's head, several of the photos they have up on the walls.

we sat at a cute round table in front of the fireplace (non-working) in which sat an iron english bulldog. very apropos! (you can see him clearly in the new york times article).

i thought this plate was incredibly beautiful! i was looking forward to eating from it, but it was removed by the server when our appetizer soup came out. i really, really wanted to turn it over and see where it was made . . but i didn't, which i regret! i'll have to return with more chutzpah to do so. (update on june 12, 2020: kathy read this post on january 5th of this year, and recognized the plate from her visits to the villeroy and boch store in southampton. its pattern is called audun ferme - autumn farm - from villeroy and boch.)

 i had "hemingway" chili which was delicious, but slightly salty. it was minced white fish and octopus. i did not expect the minced part and was a bit confused for awhile, thinking it was meat (though it certainly smelled fishy!).

the amazing dessert: a chocolate, chocolate chip cookie cooked in an iron pan so that it was like liquid chocolate with vanilla ice cream on top.

vogue knitting live weekend

i was out the door at 7:45 friday morning, on my way to the vogue knitting live event. somehow i managed to find the knitting needles i needed.

at the marriott marquis hotel on the 7th floor. the market place wasn't open yet, and the vendors were busy setting up,

 

while on the 8th floor the artists were preparing their exhibits.

 

ready for my brioche knitting class . . 

here are two of the other knitting students and the teacher. i enjoyed talking with the woman next to me who was from georgia. she was wearing a martina behm hat that i admired (tensfield).

it was an all day workshop with a lunch break at 1 pm. at 5:30 pm, after it ended, i wandered around the marketplace which was now packed with people. i stopped at park avenue yarns from texas because i loved their taxi cab themed skein.

michelle and leslee are mom and daughter and indie dyers. they're holding their skein of home dyed yarn which they prepared specially for the new york event. i thought they captured the colors of the night lights and taxi cabs perfectly. michelle also owns the park avenue yarn store in texas.

taxis and night lights . . this was my walk home. i'll have to add a pic of the yarn in the next few days . . 

 

(here it is . . city lights and taxi cabs, vogue knitting live event 2019, olive yarn dye company.)
 

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my breakfast saturday morning on my way to meet korrina.

one of the first things korrina did was to visit london kaye's exhibit where she could extend a strand of yarn from new york city to another city of her choice anywhere in the world. it was a massive knitted universal map. this was a popular exhibit and everyone had fun picking their favorite vacation cities/countries. i chose san francisco (of course) and korrina chose japan.

london kaye in front of her masterpiece.

having lunch . . 

saying hello to brooklyn boy knits, louis boria . . 

and listening to his inspiring story during one of the interview events . . we wandered around the two floors of vendors all day and then wearily made our way home.

 

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breakfast sunday morning . .

morgan preparing breakfast after having fed pluto . . morgan flies back to london this evening; we will all miss each other.

sweet pluto, resting after his big breakfasat.

riding the subway to sunday vogue . . we sat right in front of a poem that included knitting as part of its theme. it was such a perfect poem for this morning:

my words to you by jean valentine

my words to you are the stitches in a scarf

i don't want to finish

maybe it will come to be a blanket

to hold you here

 

love not gone anywhere 

 

--

did nyc transit know about vogue knitting live at the marriott marquis hotel? or maybe they knew morgan was traveling again?

 

times square . .

heading in . . 

it was fun riding the escalator and taking pics . .

and movies!

in this photo you can see that korrina has an avocado pin . . we both got one . . but i lost mine! i didn't find it until a few days later when i received a message from carlene at brooklyn general store (i had retraced my steps and visited all vendors whose yarn i had been admiring). she had found it in their pom pom bowl! i had been holding it in my hand and accidentally dropped it in. next time i need to pin it on my bag immediately!

at the ritual dyes/farmer's daughter booth . . korrina was looking for specific yarn for a sweater she was planning to make from the winter design book she had gotten at rhinebeck.

tired . . and time to leave . . 3:26 pm . . 

we walked to apple jack restaurant for coffee and fuel and to admire our purchases . . 

 

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 (while we had been at the knitting event all day, morgan had been at the new york live arts theatre, helping ellen with a family matters show - i received these photos while at the diner:

backstage . . 

a view of the audience's "lesson" from the wings.)

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matzoh ball soup and greek salad . . 

korrina's treasures . . 

and mine . . and then we went our separate ways home . . 

correspondance with carlene . . 

and correspondance with korrina . . greg and i drove morgan to the airport to catch the flight back to london. i must be tired . . good night!

(this was actually posted the night of june 10, 2021, when i was writing about a skein of trés liz yarn that had been purchased at this event. i wanted to link to it, but there was nothing for january 25 . . indeed there's not much for this year at all. i was so bereft at losing mom . . )

playing with the little monster