So Far, So Good

The third week of the year and I am keeping to my resolutions.  I finished a pair of socks for myself that I started in October!  Yes, they are my take along project, but I really haven't been knitting on them as much as I should.  I also finished a hat for Granddaughter#1's birthday and started a pair of socks for DH.

Penguin's

In the "projects I've been avoiding" segment, I put together my sister-in-law's sweater that I took home last summer to do for her.  Took me a few hours while watching playoff games this weekend.  Why did I wait so long? So that's one bag out of my craft room.  We also cleaned out the front hall closet which had the picture overflow that needed sorting and throwing out.  These included posters and pictures we purchased that will never go up on the walls and old pictures of the grandkids that need to go in albums while I recycle the picture frames.  Another nagging project that took very little time when we finally got to it.
So far three weeks, three completed knitting projects and three nagging projects done.

No movies this weekend, but I did re watch one of my favorites "About a Boy" on Monday when DH had his monthly Romeo dinner.  Great movie with Hugh Grant.  We are also really enjoying the second season of "Downton Abbey"  I recorded and am re-watching the first season and loving it.

Book Department:  I finished 3 books, so far this year.  "Endangered Species", "Firestorm" and the second Flavia De Luca "The Weed that Strung the Hangman's Bag".
And I actually had to go to the library for a "real" book on Saturday.  I'm reading my way through the Anna Pigeon series and "Endangered Species" was not available for Nook or audiobook.  I found, interestingly enough, that I was reading much faster with the paper book.  I think it is because turning the pages is a totally unconscious movement, with the Nook, I am still very aware when I turn the page, either by touching the screen or clicking the button.  I have to think about it for a split second and it disturbs my train of thought.  Sometimes the pages don't turn or too many turn so again, it stops me for a few seconds.  I'm sure I will get used to it.  The convenience of having an assortment of books at my fingertips is worth the learning curve.

Friday the kids had a half day of school and of course we had our first real snow storm of the season.   It was a little tricky driving and it took me about an hour to get there, but we managed.  Then over the weekend it warmed up and rained buckets.  Today the weather turned again and it is very cold and a bit snowy.  This type of weather is really bad for the garden.  Plants heave and the roots freeze.  Better a deep blanket of snow like last year.

Let's see how this resolve holds!

New Year

Some people start the new year by cleaning their houses, sweeping out the old to bring in the new.  Some people eat herring at midnight to bring good luck in the coming year.  Some people clang noisemakers at midnight to scare off the bad and ring in the new.  I should have done one of these things to break the string of bad luck that started right before Christmas.
Beginning the Friday before Christmas, I lost my little MP3 player, that I use to listen to books downloaded from the library.   It must have gotten lost somewhere between the bakery where I was buying the Christmas morning coffee cake and the Botanical Gardens where we took the kids for the Christmas poinsettia show.  Loaded with books, it was distressing. Then the Thursday before New Year's, just before going to see "War Horse",  I broke a tooth while eating a sandwich.  The dentist wasn't available until the 2nd so I babied it for four days.  On New Year's day, the desktop computer died.  No picture, no nothing just a humming sound from the tower.  Sigh.   Backup?  What's that?
Oh, we got a new iPad for Christmas, fortunately, and we have the laptop, so we have time to decide if there is a new computer in our future or we'll just make due with what we have.  One of the small gifts I got was a gift certificate from my LYS.  Did I tell you they had a fire in the building and have smoke damage, so they are closed until they decide what they are going to do. So all the bad luck isn't mine, I guess.
I lost the last week due to the tooth problem.  I had a crown put on that required some very painful oral surgery, and the week between the surgery and the crown being put yesterday on passed in a haze of painkillers and eating the softest things I could find.  So I'm just getting to the year end review and New Year's resolutions.

Looking back at my resolve for 2011, I fell down the rabbit hole and am now digging my way back out.  I foolishly went every which way in buying yarn and making things for the sake of taking classes.  I have a bunch of items I am not really sure I even like.  Certainly not the one's in my queue or even the ones I had yarn for.
As a result, I have more unfinished objects and yarn waiting to be knit than ever.
So, even though I had about the same yardage used and items finished, it is somehow less satisfying than what I accomplished in 2010.
So 2012 is the year of production.  I want to have something produced every week.  Not just knitting, but a project that has been sitting around waiting for me to get to.
The first week I finished one sock and the elephant vest for Jordyn.  I also took down and put away all the Christmas decorations and cleaned the house from top to bottom.
I organized all my Ravelry queue matching up projects with yarn in my stash and I started Dad's Cardigan for DH with KnitPicks Wool of the Andes that I have had for so long, it is the large skeins of 220 yards.
Even though I love making them and have yarn for a large number, I am going to slow down on shawls.  I never wear them.  And no one I know does either.  My thoughts of wearing a different shawl as a scarf each day haven't come to pass.  It's been too warm.  No need just yet to wrap oneself in wool. I took a walk through my garden this morning after feeding the birds and saw green leaves on the rose and butterfly bushes. Weird.
And this is the year I get through piecing my Cream bedspread and knitting some of the other 5 afghans I have yarn for.  Hmmm.  2012  the year of the afghan is a good thought.

Cookie Central is Closed

With the last batch of cookies fresh out of the oven, I am declaring CookieCentral closed. And I got 3 batches made before 10:00. Yeah me!

The last ones are pizzelles,pecan tassies and hello dolly bars.

I'd like to make another batch of gingerbread, but I ran out of butter. Of all things! I went to the store twice yesterday but it never occurred to me to check my butter supply. I have been stockpiling since thanksgiving,but I guess quantities of cookies take quantities of butter. Maybe next week. I like the gingerbread the best and can eat it Ll year round.

So this year we made Italian fig cookies (cuccidatti), cut outs, gingerbread, Mexican wedding cakes, jam thumbprints, pecan tassies, hello dolly bars and pizzelles. The new kid on the block was peppermint bark, which has been such a huge hit that I will make another batch and add it to the annual cookie parade.

Now off to start the wrapping and clean the house, which has been sadly neglected the past few days (weeks?)

Free Day

It has just gone from two days of constant rain to blowing wet snow. A perfect day for home made soup, bread and cookies!
After all the cooking in the past two weeks, you'd think I'd prefer a week or two off, but these recipes are easy and make the house feel and smell so good. Besides, I am trying to avoid going to the grocery store until my normal shopping day on Friday. I was there every day before Thanksgiving and I am done! Going to make do with what's in the house and since there is no bread, need to make some. Also I'm tired of pies and oatmeal raisin cookies just sound yummy.

Thanksgiving was wonderful. I got an 18 pound turkey, started it at 7:00 am and it was done by 2:30. Cut it up, kept it warm, made gravy and all the last minute items, was able to put everything else in the oven and I wasn't fretting about the turkey being done on time.

We had 8 adults and 2 kids with 3 more for dessert later on. (Three people cancelled, last minute.)
18lb Turkey and 2 extra legs and thighs just right. Need a larger turkey (more white meat if there are more people for dinner)
2 bags of plain bead cubes with 1 1/2 lb of sausage (lots leftover but that's ok)
3 rutabagas
2 butternut squash
2 bags of Brussels sprouts
2 bags of onions
10 sweet potatoes
5 lbs of mashed potatoes (all the potatoes were gone)
2 pumpkin pies
2 chocolate pies
apple pie
cherry pie
whipped cream and ice cream


Much wine and good conversation and good company. And the football games were okay this year. A great day! Would you believe I do not have one picture of Thanksgiving to share this year. Too busy to pick up the camera.

Little girl is sick today and other grandma is taking care of her, so I have a day off which is one reason there is soup, bread and cookies.

Some knitting might get done today, too. We'll have to see.

A Long Time

No time to blog, no excuses, just haven't gotten around to it. So what has been going on in my life:

vacation at Letchworth

Dh's birthday


week with the first daughter and family in West Virginia over Halloween

wedding, at which I wore my beautiful, incredible black shawl with a red dress

fall garden cleanup

Aunt Mary's 91st birthday celebration

Thanksgiving preparation- not sure how many people will be at my table this year. Hoping for a couple of tables full.

Lots of knitting.

More later!

The Black Hole

Having the kids in school, I thought I would have oodles of time to blog. The days, however, get filled up with all kinds of other things and just zip by.

I have been knitting things that also have seemed to be never-ending projects that I feel like I have been looking at forever. One of the problems is that I have at least 5 project on needles, so that slows up the finishing, of course. This is the reason I really like to have only two projects going at any one time, a sock and another item. I am forcing myself to finish each project, one at a time.

I got the black silk shawl finished last night. I will wash and block that today. Nathan's socks are at the foot of the second sock, so I will try to power through that today.


Then I will tackle the February Lady Pullover. I have the top of the back, sleeves and finishing to do on that. Maybe after the weekend that will be done.

It doesn't help that all these projects are dark (blacks, browns and a hodgepodge of dark colors). I feel like I'm struggling to see, especially when it is dark and gloomy and rainy as it is today. Time for some bright, light colors; next projects, Jordyn's Purple Elephant Vest and the pink socks of a different stripe.

I ooopsed at JoAnn's the other day when they had Paton's Kroy Sock yarn on sale. A pair of socks for $9.00? How can you go wrong. I love this stuff and I love the socks it makes. Slightly thicker and warmer than other sock yarn. Perfect for our weather!

Summer's End

Can't believe I haven't blogged since the first of August. We have been very busy the past month, but now the summer is winding down and school starts on Tuesday. (Picture me doing a Happy Dance.)

Some of the things we did this past month besides swimming (which we did almost every day, one of the best swimming summers ever!!!):

Went to the Erie County Fair and ate like crazy;

Hiked a nature trail;

Planted a fairy garden;

Did a lot of crafty things;Put together lots of puzzles;Painted little bird houses;Made a beer can robot;Made and flew airplanes;Now I get to pick up the messes and get out my knitting.