Author: fairfaxhill

handknit sweater pieces ready for sewing

adding zippers to hand-knit sweaters

Did you know you can order zippers to match your yarn? If you follow my Instagram, you know I’ve been working on the Jump Shot Hoodie pattern by Amy Herzog, at Sarah’s request. Now that I’ve completed the back and the two fronts, I started thinking about how to attach the zipper and where to find a nice one. This will be my first time ever applying a zipper to a knitted sweater and luckily Amy has a great zipper tutorial. While browsing the Vogue Knitting app I have on my phone, I stumbled upon another good resource for installing zippers, this one written by Deborah Newton, whose book Finishing School: A Master Class for Knitters I bought not too long ago. In the article she recommends zipperstop.com. One great thing about this store is that if you aren’t sure which zipper to buy (there are many styles and colors to choose from), you can arrange to mail them a sample of your yarn and they will help you find the right match.

summer tomato tart with ricotta and pesto

I know summer is officially over, but I didn’t want to leave this gorgeous tart behind with my never-published blog posts of 2021 and not share it with you. Bookmark it and make it next summer if you don’t have any ripe tomatoes around. Or, if by some miracle you still have some, do give this a try. The recipe is by Alexa Weibel. I stumbled upon it on the NYTimes Cooking website, the day I suddenly found myself with the most generous gift: a bag full of ultra sweet, organic, homegrown tomatoes left at our doorstep by my friend, mother-in-law, and expert tomato grower, Pat. You can put together the dish pretty quickly (which always gets points from me), and it looks beautiful on the table (perfect for when you have friends over). Serve it as a light lunch with a green salad, or make it your side dish at dinner time. When you are ready to eat the tart, make sure every bite you take has a little bit of each ingredient. The …