Friday, January 16, 2009

New Vintages

Robin Williams once said of Canada's relationship to the US - "It's like living in a loft apartment over a really great party". Make that a cold apartment. As my yoga instructor announced last night, "I've got February head in mid January already". I'm on the last sleeve of Roam and I feel like I'm roaming through an endless desert with all of that seed stitch. I'm also working on my first store sample in some delicious Americo Alpaca. It seems like ages since I experience a warm day or the delight of a new pretty spring project.

It's this stage in winter's course that a few things help me to hang on. Seeing the launch of the new spring knitting magazines is one of them. I know when the new Rowan comes that Madrona is just weeks away and then March is around the corner and I consider that the home stretch. I don't have the new Rowan magazine in my hands but heck, I'll throw caution to the wind and highlight some of the designs that have caught my eye early on from Rowan and Berroco.


I'm loving this cover cardigan called "Lotus". The model is stunning and I'm a sucker for this elegant shade of wheat. The crochet edging appeals to my need to shake things up a bit and I think it would be beautiful over dresses, summer tanks and a variety of outfits. Consider this queued.




Also in Rowan - I'm intrigued with the Kaffe Fassett Summer Tweed sweater. It's vintage Kaffe and the way the triangles intersect really makes it interesting. I bet this would go with lots of colours and outfits too.



Norah Gaughan appears to have delivered another great collection in her NG Volume 4 pattern book. This cover tunic called "Flower Child" is stunning. The way the panels intersect on the back (are we seeing a theme in what I'm attracted to here?) is also beautiful and I think it would be a fun knit.



It's been a while since I spoke about a wine in this blog. I need to get back to that because I've been attending lots of classes and tastings to learn about the new vintages. Normally I pair a lighter rose or riesling with the new Spring pattern books but the new Trius Red deserves special notice. The 2007 vintage has just been released and since the summer of '07 was a winemaker's dream - the Ontario 2007 vintages will be the best EVER released. This Trius red is fruit forward with the perfect touch of oak. I love I it when I can't pick out the individual elements in a wine because the blend is so perfect and this one hits the mark. When I drink it I remember the summer of 2007
....and dream of pretty sweaters.


2 comments:

Manon C. said...

You're going to Madrona in February -- are you flying from Toronto? I will be going too and flying out on the 11th (Air Canada direct, Toronto to Seatac). Any chance we're on the same plane?

I agree with you on the weather, it definitely feels like we're in February already. We're run out of places to put the snow and the city has not removed it (only pushed it to the sides, i.e. our driveways).

Manon

life ldc said...

More wine reviews please! I'm going to try this one.