Oh the Places We Went and Food We Ate! Nashville Version

Warning! This post may cause a hankering for southern food. Especially biscuits.



When we heard that Stitches South would be in Nashville this year, it didn't take more than 60 seconds for us to decide that it would be a perfect trip for the Irish Girlie Knits Designs team. Looking back, I can't believe how much food and fun we packed in to such a short period of time. Most of that credit goes to the incredible organization of our knitterly travel companions @cupcake_faerie @2ducklips & @christinempk. Thanks so very much ladies!

First of all, we stayed at the convention center hotel and quickly found the Opryland Resort was appropriately named.




It was like a mini Disneyland!  There was a boat ride inside the hotel! Crazy!



And a waterfall!



First southern fried meal was from the iconic Loveless Cafe; complete with sides of fried green tomatoes and mac & cheese. And biscuits.



Biscuits and gravy...




Biscuits and jam... heavenly.

In the evening we headed to the Grand Ole Opry.



The young man above is Michael Ray who made his Opry debut that night and brought us all to tears with his heartfelt gratitude and raw emotion. The kid is going to be big.



He first sang "Green Green Grass of Home" as a tribute to his grandfather.  He followed it with his new single "Kiss You in the Morning."

The next morning we headed to Monell's for what we were told would be a true "Country Breakfast Experience."




A country breakfast is no joke...








This was just the first pass where I tried a bit of everything. The highlights were the sausage, fried chicken and the (surprise!) biscuits.

We walked off our full stomachs with a stroll around the Germantown neighborhood surrounding Monell's restaurant.

Then headed to Ann Patchett's store, Parnassus Books...







And took a little break at a darling coffeehouse:



Oh, remember we were there for Stitches South!

We also managed to meet up with some of the most lovely people in knitting:







Jody!! (GrannyKnits4U)



Donna had a booth for her store In The Making.



Ravelry IGK group member ChefCaroline!




And darling Sarah showed off Nashville in the Plucky Knitter booth!
(We did a lot of damage there - her yarns are beyond inspiring!)


Lest you think we were done with all the eating...

We got up super early on the day we flew out for one last biscuit frenzy.




It was sooo worth it.




 Not only can these people make the the Giselle of biscuits...




they take biscuits to the next level...



They fry biscuit dough into donuts, fill with lemon mascarpone cream and serve them with a blueberry sauce. Unbelievably delicious!


We were exhausted in the very best of ways!



Happy Knitting!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits
&
Tricia (@CheekyAttitude)

P.S. There's lots of fun sharing going on in the IGK Ravelry Group KAL. "Playing with Color" is the theme. The Dancette pattern is on sale for the month of May. Perfect springtime knit in gorgeous color.

When in Rome or Florence...

I am so thrilled to be part of the "We" in "We do not have a knitting problem." When Irish Girlie suggested I contribute, I knew exactly what I wanted to post first. And at the time I hadn't even boarded the plane.





My recent trip to Italy has been in the planning for over a year and there were times when I was afraid it wasn't going to happen. And then it did.

A couple of weeks before departure I started panicking -- What to knit on the trip! It had to be pretty portable (duh!) and I was afraid of losing tiny needles either to security or just because of my own clumsiness. And even though I am a notoriously slow knitter, I have a great fear of being under yarned. And then I remembered Irish Girlie's Comfort Food pattern for fingerless gloves.

 IGK Comfort Food Fingerless Gloves in Neighborhood Fiber Company Studio Chunky

I've decided that fingerless gloves in a larger yarn are the best travel project. So easy to take everywhere.

Knitting on the Spanish Steps

Our first stop was Rome where our hotel was located near the top of the Spanish Steps. No need to climb UP the steps, we just walked down and around town from there. Bonus!

I honestly love this glorious green colorway

We walked and walked around Rome and also spent a day at the Vatican.

Swiss guards at the Vatican

I was going to ask the guards to pose with my knitting, but decided against it.

Saint Peter's Basilica

It is so very hard to explain the splendor of the art and the scale of the Basilica. But look at the bottom of the photo above. Those are people - look how tiny they are compared to the columns and archways!

Outside view of Saint Peter's Basilica

Outside St. Peters they have chairs set up for when the Pope gives his regular Sunday blessing.

Lemon!

Gelato Break! There was lots and lots of gelato breaks.

Wine & Knitting

And wine with every meal except breakfast. (Cheaper than water!)

Morning Cappuccino

And Cappuccinos every single morning. So good I had to stop myself or I would start to get the jitters.

Not much progress

Lovely day spent walking around one of the palaces - Notice I haven't made much knitting progress. Oh well.

Meat and Cheese Plate (The wine was there, trust me)

We tried to eat at little neighborhood places where we could get bread, and cheese and meat or a sandwich.

Train rides are a great time to knit

We took a side trip to Venice and also traveled to Florence by train. It was such a great way to see the countryside.

Gondolas!

Sights so picturesque I felt like I was in storybook land.

Duomo, Florence

Craftsmanship both inspiring and intimidating. No CAD programs available in 1446 when construction started on the Duomo.

Colosseum at Night

A tour of the Colosseum at night was one of the highlights of the trip. (I used Walks of Italy as our local tour guide and we had stellar experiences every time.

New knitting bag from Italy!

I did end up finishing one of the mitts. But I'm not quite done with the second yet. I love how the cables add interest to the mitts. They also add a little progress happy dance when you get to create the twist.




Ahhhh, I miss you already Italy. Someday we will be together again.

To celebrate being part of the "We" in "We do not have a knitting problem," we're designating the Comfort Food pattern as "IGK Pattern of the Month."  The pattern will be on sale for $4.75 the entire month of November 2014. 

Summer in NYC

Why yes, I know, it isn't summer and I'm not in New York City. But one of the things I love about this blog is that in addition to sharing my knitting, it is a space to remember special trips or events. I still can't quite believe that I haven't shared my quick two and a half days back at the end of July! And since  I'm on another quick trip this weekend, I figured I better share that trip first.



I arrived late Tuesday night and planned to cram a lot in in just two and half days. The agenda...... Food, Fun, and Broadway (I'm a theater junkie!!!)!

I followed a lot of Tricia's, aka Cheeky Attitude, recommendations from her blog. Being on my own in the city I could go wherever I wanted. In someways that was awesome, but in other ways, there were almost too many choices. So it was nice to have some trusted recommendations.





First stop, the basement of the Plaza hotel has a food hall that is amazing. So many choices. The lobster roll was delicious. And I couldn't resist trying a marshmallow or two.






Even though I had seen it before, I just couldn't resist seeing Alan Cumming and Michelle Williams in Cabaret at Studio 54! It was awesome!! That's how I started my Wednesday. Then of course, it was time for dinner. Ha! More food.





There is no way to describe how HUGE this pastrami sandwich was! I could only eat half! It was so good though! Now the amount of walking I had done that day was more than I had been able to do in months so I felt absolutely no guilt eating the next thing later....



A perfectly scrumptious vanilla cupcake from Magnolia Bakery. Day made. Except for one more amazing thing.



Seeing Audra McDonald perform her one woman show, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill. It was such an intimate theater too, plus I didn't realize when I purchased my ticket that I was practically front row (the theater is set up a little differently, so she sang two or three songs literally about six feet away from me....just amazing!). She truly embodied Billie Holiday.

As perfect as Wednesday was, Thursday was even better. I had planned to meet up with Tracey, a friend I had met through knitting and Ravelry. Of course, there's always that little bit of worry that maybe we wouldn't hit it off in person, but, honestly, I just couldn't imagine that. And I was right. We both can't wait for the next trip!!! We had such a fun day!

We met up at Balthazar's in SoHo. It was lovely and relaxing and perfect.



Look at that big bowl of a cafe au lair. Just how I like it!




Balthazar selfie :)

I think we ate the flaky almond croissant too quickly to take a picture. Afterwards we made our trek to mecca, aka Purl Soho.



Tracey even came with a special yarn gift.....an gorgeous skein of Madelinetosh in a colorway dyed exclusively for her LYS! Isn't it gorgeous! Thanks again Tracey.



And then, I introduced Tracey to Laduree. I had scoped the place out the day before to see if it would be a good spot to just sit and knit for a couple hours (ok, a bit decadent to sit and knit, but it was on my list of things to do and thought it would be fun to do with a friend). We had so much fun!! Oh Tracey, I miss you!!









We sat out on the patio and enjoyed tea and sweets and knit and laughed and had a lovely afternoon. It was a perfect afternoon.







Macaron, anyone?

Tracey headed back home and I went back to the hotel for a bit before heading out for the evening. One fun part of traveling alone and going to the theater is having an early dinner. I was able to get a last minute reservation at the popular restaurant, Rubirosa's. Their pizza was AMAZING!



And then I headed up town to see Idina Menzel in her new Broadway show If/Then. The show had received mixed reviews, but I absolutely loved it. Yes, it was Idina and I had seen her perform in Wicked before. I think I loved this performance because I could relate so much to the character and the story and where she was at in her life. I really enjoyed it! And Idina was stunning and amazing and incredible and yes, I'm gushing!!

Friday was a quick morning....but I did grab lunch at Shake Shack (I was told it was a must!) at Madison Square Park.









And then it was back to the hotel to wait for Leslie to head to the airport together. Thank you Leslie for letting me tag along on your business trip and for staying at a swanky SoHo hotel that has a lobby that looks like this!

So yes, a few months later, but a great few days....thanks for traveling down memory lane with me. I promise to share this next trip with you a bit more promptly!

Happy Knitting!!
xoxo Irishgirlieknits