April 22, 2004

Of butter cookies, spring weather and ribbed sweaters.

Place Bellecour lookin' good in spring...

Spring weather made a big appearance yesterday. Captain Destructo was home from school [no school on Wednesdays in France] so we headed out for a haircut, a lot of scooter riding (with me jogging behind...I ran around the plaza about 20 times. Hello! My butt hurts today), and some french fries. It's hard to believe that just two months ago we were having this "Oh, snow! How pretty! Better stay inside and knit" weather. Yesterday it was like "dancing through a meadow with butterflies" weather. Just look at the leaves on the trees outside of my apartment! Looks like I'd better finish up my cold weather projects before the weather gets too hot to knit them. Like my husband's ribbed sweater:

Knit me some sleeves, already.
[Click to view a full shot.]

Good thing is, I've finished knitting the front piece. When my husband saw it, he got very happy and then asked, "Where are the sleeves?" Oops! Er...still sitting in skeins in that plastic bag over there? Must start sleeves next. In the meantime, I decided to distract my husband from the absence of sleeves by making about 5 dozen butter cookies following the butter cookie recipe from Melanie Falick's Weekend Knitting. Hellooooooooooooo, delicious! Very yummy, and worth the two enormous cement blocks of butter required in the recipe. I could feel my arteries harden as I creamed the mountain of butter and sugar together, but mmmmm boy. My husband took a batch of the cookies to work with him so I think I have managed to buy myself some more time to finish the sleeves on his sweater.

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36 comments to this entry:

You must be wearing Elfin if it's dancing through meadows with butterflies weather!!! Husband's sweater looks lovely - I like your distraction techniques too. In fact I might try them on myself!!

[Sarah W. on 22 apr 04 @ 12:33 pm]

What a great view from your apartment! I can't wait for the leaves to come out here, I'm tired of looking at naked trees!

[Jenn on 22 apr 04 @ 12:50 pm]

Wow! What a great view! I better give those butter cookies a try. The sweater is lookin' good. You'll be done before you know it. That's the best part about leaving the sleeves last. The big pieces are outta the way. That is truly an amazing deep blue. Love the ribbiness.

[froggy on 22 apr 04 @ 12:56 pm]

It's all good in France! It's raining here OF COURSE! Gosh those cookies sound fantastic, why are things made mostly of butter and sugar so amazingly nice? But it sounds like you earned them with running around after the trotinette (that is what he calls it, right?).

[jen on 22 apr 04 @ 01:01 pm]

Our trees here in Finland have no leaves yet :-(, but the weather is warm, and it's just a question of time, a short time. Your view is nice! I like the colour of the sweater.

[Maud on 22 apr 04 @ 01:09 pm]

Glad to hear your weather is as nice as ours!! It does make one want to prance about like you ain't got no sense :) Nice view!!

[Kathleen in Goimany on 22 apr 04 @ 01:19 pm]

Ah yes, the cookie distraction technique! I used to use the cookie bribery technique when I did system design and worked with programmers. Bake cookies, bring 'em to work. "If you'll change that error message, you can have this cookie." It never failed.

[Wendy on 22 apr 04 @ 01:33 pm]

Ooh, here's my chance to have a longstanding question answered! Do you really call them "french fries" in France?

[Diane on 22 apr 04 @ 02:14 pm]

Mmmmm. Cookie.

[claudia on 22 apr 04 @ 02:26 pm]

Sweater looks great and the cookies sound delicious. Will you knit both sleeves at once?

[Kathleen on 22 apr 04 @ 02:39 pm]

Interesting no school on Wednesday in France. Why is that. I would kill for a day off in the middle of the week at work. Never did understand the five day work week thing...

[Lu on 22 apr 04 @ 02:43 pm]

What a lovely picture! I have a funny visual of you and the Cappy making circles around that statue.. I'm glad you tried the cookies! I've been wanting to try some of the recipes in that book...butter cookies sound so good right about now. The sweater looks fab! I love that your husband is excited about it. Just keep feeding him the cookies and knit leisurely....

[Carrie on 22 apr 04 @ 02:47 pm]

That view sure does change with the seasons, doesn't it? Hard to believe both pictures are of the same view! Re the cookie: If you have the book and don't mind a decadent rich cookie, MAKE THAT BUTTER COOKIE. Wendy: Your comment made me smile. NOW I know why the husband takes cookies and cakes to work! Diane: I always call them "french fries" over here. If I'm talking to an English speaking person, that is. Otherwise, they become "frites" :-) Kathleen: I usually knit sleeves at the same time, even though I work more slowly that way. I just don't like knitting the same pieces, one after the other! In the end it's faster because I don't procrastinate on knitting a second sleeve. Lu: That's not all. My son gets two week vacations every two months or so!

[Becky from fluffa! on 22 apr 04 @ 03:06 pm]

Must get the Weekend Knitting book, if only for the yummy recipe! My banana nut bread I made earlier this week is almost gone. Love the pictures of the cityscape in different seasons. Makes me want to escape to France...<<Breaks into bars of "April in Paris">>

[Rachel on 22 apr 04 @ 03:06 pm]

What lovely pictures! The weather here has gotten a lot nicer too...I'm in a much better mood as a result. I've been working on some sweathers w/ 2x2 ribbing. Your ribbing looks so nice and even. Any tips? I tend to have bigger knit stitches on the left side of my ribs.

[Sara on 22 apr 04 @ 03:30 pm]

I made those cookies, too- half the batch plain butter and half with chocolate powder and chocolate chips in them. :-) YUMMY! I want to try the cocoa next!

[Sarah Elizabeth on 22 apr 04 @ 04:02 pm]

What a lucky hubby and what an amazing view out your window (I'll have to post ours, too, its also swanky). Makes me long for France. It's been a while since I visited - I was last there in April of 1996 for three weeks. Nothing like April in Paris.....

[julia on 22 apr 04 @ 04:10 pm]

What, no school on Wednesday's? Why didn't I get to go to school in France, darn it? ;)

[Kristine on 22 apr 04 @ 04:12 pm]

Of course, before everyone starts envying your son's schedule, let's mention (unless France has changed from the old days) that no school on Wednesdays means school on Saturdays! I'm once again glad my husband doesn't read your blog. If he saw how fast your husband got his sweaters...well, even butter cookies wouldn't buy me out of that world of trouble! I keep telling him that one of his long suffering projects is next in the laser-like-focus-must-finish rotation, but I can see he's not buying it.

[Evelyn on 22 apr 04 @ 04:13 pm]

Ah ha! I'm not the only one who resorts to cookie bribery. I have a certain guy who can't say no to a chocolate chip cookie -- especially if it's warm and there's a glass of milk around. Or if it's time for breakfast. Apparently cookies and ice cream are the ideal breakfast food of programmers. And yes, programmers can sniff out available cookies in .0002 milliseconds from their arrival in the building. When I made a batch big enough for John to share, I was always amazed to hear how fast they would disappear.

[TheresaW on 22 apr 04 @ 04:25 pm]

you? cooking? what? :) no wednesdays..ever? no matter what grade you're in? until the end of time? at least i'll have MAY in paris, right?? :)

[carolyn on 22 apr 04 @ 04:36 pm]

Why do I have to work on Wednesdays ? I hope you didn't eat to much sand/dust while running on the place, considering the wind...

[@nna on 22 apr 04 @ 05:01 pm]

Sleeves require a cocktail! As we've already begun the Cinco de Mayo beer ads on the tube, why not a delicious frozen margarita? The tequila sunrise is a compelling idea, but still remember the last time I drank one (okay more than one)...not over it yet...Good luck and speed on the sleeves.

[Silvia on 22 apr 04 @ 05:54 pm]

Thanks for the review of those cookies! I have the book and now must find some GOOD butter to make them with.

[susan in pa on 22 apr 04 @ 06:58 pm]

Not only is there no school on Wednesdays, but Saturdays are free, too. Only four days of school a week! Why, oh why did I not go to school here in France ;-)? Sara: I don't do anything differently when I knit ribbing; I just knit normally. But sometimes, when I cable using worsted cottons, I'll get loose purl sts on the left side of some cables. To fix that, I wrap the yarn under (instead of over) to purl that stitch and then knit it through the back loop on the other side of the work. It tightens them up nicely. Why not try that? P.S. I am cracking up on Theresa's comment. Whenever I make cakes or cookies, the counter in the kitchen is suspiciously sprinkled with crumbs the next morning. Like, a certain husband ate some sweets for breakfast. Hmm....

[Becky from fluffa! on 22 apr 04 @ 07:42 pm]

Food as a distraction must be universal! Men can be such suckers sometimes. Wow, all that ribbing must mean true love. I have that book, my blood slowed just reading the recipe.

[Chelee on 22 apr 04 @ 07:53 pm]

Springtime in Lyon looks marvelous! Of course, what doesn't taste good with a pound of butter??? ;-)

[Evelyn on 22 apr 04 @ 10:55 pm]

Good luck with the sleeves! I'll have to try those cookies. Speaking of such techniques, my supervisor has starting buying me cookies if I do what she asks. Yes, bribing me to do my job. Don't you wish you had my boss?

[Kat on 22 apr 04 @ 11:37 pm]

Cookies? Spring weather? Fun knitting? No school on Wednesdays? Can I come over and live with you?

[Leisl on 23 apr 04 @ 01:14 am]

You are one of the cutest people I know, inside 'n' out. Mwah!

[Rachael on 23 apr 04 @ 08:48 am]

I love this place, and esp. the place of rdv in town : "under the horse's tail" is a well-known way of having a place where to meet. Like in Paris, the Saint Michel's fountain. But this one is the funniest, I thought. These cookies sound delicious. I really have to consider buying this book...

[St�phanie on 23 apr 04 @ 09:40 am]

Wow. Spring in France. I'm so jealous! Better finish up that sweater and start knittin' some tanks, Mama! ;)

[Alysia on 23 apr 04 @ 09:49 pm]

You're cooking from knitting books, which gave me the idea to knit from cookbooks. The Knitter's Cake Bible---surely a concept with legs. Love the before/after views from your window. Your hubby can join Ann in a protest march demanding sleeves on their winter sweaters. xox Kay

[Kay on 24 apr 04 @ 05:43 pm]

Hi, Becky, this question goes back a few blog entries so please excuse that... I so loved that Pitchoun sweater in Aviso for your son that I immediately bought the magazine. Unfortunately I'm having trouble deciphering/translating the critical part about the raglan shaping... would you be willing to share your translation of the pattern? Thanks so much.

[Caroline on 25 apr 04 @ 01:38 am]

In one word: Amazing! In more words: what a difference a season makes, what a lovely green tree. The ribbed sweater is gorgous! Would you mind telling me about the white yarn I see running through it? I tried once threading through sts. instead of using a stitch holder, and I have a dickens of a time picking them back up again.

[Orli on 25 apr 04 @ 09:47 am]

What a fantastic view you have! Lucky rabbit!

[alison on 26 apr 04 @ 05:55 am]

April 22, 2004

Of butter cookies, spring weather and ribbed sweaters.

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