Merry Christmas 2021!

We finally got our tree up, and I wrapped all the presents I was personally responsible for.

I've been wearing the thrift-store cardigan I added an afterthought pocket to way back when. I hadn't worn it for a while because I had worn a hole in one of the elbows. I had a nice woolen pullover the moths got into some time ago. I washed the moth-eaten sweater in hot water and ran it through the dryer to felt it, then cut out some elbow patches to sew on my thrift-store cardi. It's sort of like a kidney transplant for the cardigan, which will now "enjoy" an extended life. I sewed them on using a blanket stitch.

I spent some time on the phone with an Apple technician, getting my Bose Sound Touch app to update. It took two sessions, because I needed to delete a ton of duplicate photos and some apps I never use to download the update. The Apple technicians were, as always, very patient. (I wonder if they knit while waiting for people to call.) Anyway, we got it to work. It was really important, because I have an extensive music library in my external hard drive, and I couldn't access it except to play the music through my laptop's speakers. While nice, they are really not suitable for listening if you aren't sitting at the computer. I have 18 hours of holiday music in one playlist and 15 hours in another. I could almost play one playlist after the other and never have a song repeat. It's all on my external hard drive, though. Not much good if the computer won't connect to the Bose.

I did some cooking for the holidays. I made some Lanttulaatikko (Finnish rutabaga casserole), a family tradition.

We also needed some Pulla (Finnish Cardamom Braid), another family tradition.

I made some cranberry sauce with honey, minted ginger, pepper flakes and lemon juice.

I still have dressing and a Sri Lankan sweet potato recipe to make for Christmas dinner. We have a fully-cooked turkey breast that just needs roasting and some Quorn "Meatless" Roast that also needs roasting. We'll have salad and some kind of green vegetable (maybe Brussels sprouts). We have some kind of pie or cheesecake for dessert, along with DH's birthday cake, which has been in the freezer since September.

Having most of the cooking in hand, I began the H-word, beginning with my workroom, which will be a bedroom for our daughter and her family. While Beatrice, my Eufy robot vacuum, worked her magic with the floor, I straightened up and made up the day bed and the trundle.

The wicker trunk will slide over in front of the closet doors (out of the photo), maybe with the desk chair, or we can move one or both of them into our bedroom, which has a lot of floor space. The kiddos will sleep on the floor in sleeping bags.

Then I moved the packages addressed to our daughter to the workroom table.

They're flying in, so they preferred to send their presents directly from the stores (and Amazon, as you can see).

I still have the other guest room to prepare, but that won't take much, and the rest of the house to (ugh!) clean. (Beatrice is going to be busy!)

Also during the week, I ran around to deliver copies of my new book to various places, including the library and the local yarn shop. The new book has links to the free patterns for the Wonderland Turtle turtleneck and the Everyday Play dress for dolls in 18", 19" slim and 14" sizes. The owner of the yarn shop wants me to make samples of them and leave a couple of dolls there wearing the items. Dolly and Gabi will go to work. The owner of the shop had suggested offering the patterns, yarn and book or books to customers when I left some copies of the first book with her. I included the links in this book. The customers can make something for a child's favorite doll and include it with the book as a present. I bought my yarn for the Rose City Yarn Crawl Mystery KAL there, too. All I have to do to be ready now is wind the yarn.

Rocky continues to get drops in his eyes (one kind six times a day and then the other kind twice a day) and his regular medication twice a day. I have to be sure to be up before him in the morning, because he shouldn't go down the steps to the family room to get out of the house to potty, because he can't see and could hurt himself. He also need an occasional check on him when he's outdoors, because he sometimes can't find his way back to the house. He has no trouble finding the person with the sandwich, however.

The choir is preparing for Christmas Eve. It's going to be a busy week.

Reminder: If you have a few minutes and are willing, please go to Amazon and B&N and search for "Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart" in Children's. Every click on the page for the book makes it more likely they will keep a good supply in their warehouse and stores. If you are outside the US, you may have a separate website for these retailers. If you have a copy of our first book, Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook, it would help if you left an honest review on the websites, especially if you bought from them.

Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.

What's on my needles: Getting ready to CO for the Rose City Yarn Crawl Mystery Knit Along.

What's on my loom: Still the trailer rugs. I really had hoped to have finished them by now.

What's on my sewing machine: Still its cover. No progress (for some reason) on the T-shirt quilt.

What's in my hoop: Still the whole-cloth quilt. A little bit more done.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: The Week Before Christmas finds The Writer frantic because there is so much to get done before family members arrive for Christmas. The dolls take pity on her and do all the preparations for her, while she sits with a cup of tea and her up with Christmas movies on TV. People have been telling me they really enjoyed this one, which is a poem reminiscent of "The Night Before Christmas."

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished listening to State of Terror by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Louise Perry on the Audible app. It was hard to put down, but it took me longer to listen to because I was trying to get all the stories scheduled for the month. Now listening to Mel Brooks' All About Me. I heard an interview with the 95-year-old comedian and screenplay writer on NPR during the week and tried to buy the book. Sold out! (It's still available on Kindle and Audible, however.) I wish my books would sell like that.

What's in my wine glass: Madroña Vineyards' Lake Tahoe 2016 El Dorado, a new favorite.

What's my tip of the week: Always dust before vacuuming. That way, the vacuum picks up the dust you just removed from shelves, etc. Start with the highest shelves or places to dust and work your way down.

Where are my books: The stories in each book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with few changes. Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook is now available for preorder from booksellers world wide. The link for Book Baby is here. The three stories are Best Buds, Getting What You Want, and The Boys Cook Dinner.

Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook is also available. The three stories in the first book are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.

If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to St. Jude. Other booksellers pay much less. 

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

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Out With the New, in With the Old?

Woven scarf finished.

Done blocking and ready to wrap and give. (Watch after Christmas for photos of the gift items I made other than the rabbits. The kids don't read my blog yet, so I could show those.)

Part of this past week has been spent in organizing my fiber studio again, now that the weaving is finished (for now) and the loom can be folded up and moved against the wall to make room for family visits and space to play with the bear house.

You can see the pups' bed is right in front of the fire. Here's another view:

The pups, however, prefer the couch. That black blob on the couch is Rocky, wearing his new sweater.

Here's another view, showing the cleaned-up quilting area.

My Featherweight has been put away to make room for wrapping packages for the kids.

Speaking of the grandkids, three of whom are still in diapers, we have been concerned about our washer of late. It makes sort of a grinding noise just as the tub is ready to spin. The repairman who came to fix the dryer (just lint build-up inside the works) and the stove, thought the problem with the washer might be the motor. We were concerned about all the laundry we'll have to do, and we don't want the washer to go out when it's needed, so I called Maytag. The technician there thought it might be the pump. He indicated that this 32-yr.-old washer was the one the company was able to build its reputation on. "If you replace it you will be sorry, I promise!" he said. Seriously!

We made an appointment with our local repair company to replace the pump and possibly some belts. If it turns out we still need a new motor, it will still be cheaper than a new washer that would be expected to last at most ten years. The pumps are new, but a motor would have to be ordered from a department at Maytag called "Angel Parts." Presumably from machines that had gone to Heaven. Stay tuned.

Speaking of the pups, Sunny went in on Thursday to have a very large adenoma removed from her left hind leg. When they shaved the area, they found two more. They were all removed without resorting to general anesthesia, and Sunny didn't bat an eye. We hiked the Gorgoza bicycle trail the next day. I'll spare you the photo of the disgusting things (the adenomas are disgusting, not the pups), but the big one was making it impossible to groom her without nicking it, so it had to be done. Our vet takes good care of the pups. Maybe it's the home-baked bread I give him for Christmas every year...hmmm?

Thursday (while Sunny was under the knife) I went to Redstone Shopping Center to make an appointment for pedicures for the "ladies" for my birthday. (Miss Daphne is considered one of the ladies.) While we're getting pedicures and stopping by Park City's only local yarn shop, a few doors away, the dads and granddad will do something manly with the three boys. I made the appointment at California Nails and then stopped in at Wasatch & Wool. I couldn't resist. I had to pick up some goodies:

The yarn from Manos del Uruguay is probably going to be a winter hat. The yummy spinning fiber from Greenwood Fibers is for my spinning enjoyment during the "spin-in" on the Knitting Community from February 27-March 2nd.

Park City Singers will be over after Tuesday night's performance. we had our first performance last night. Tuesday I missed my iPhone when I got home from practice. My music bag had gone flying from the seat when I had to stop suddenly, so I assumed it was on the floor in front of the passenger seat. A search with the flashlight failed to reveal my phone. I was afraid I had left it at the church where we practice, but the "Find My iPhone" app said it was at my address. Since I couldn't find it with the flashlight, I had to wait until daylight to take the car out of the garage, and then call my number with my iPad. The phone, set on "vibrate" made a buzzing sound in the door pocket, not at the bottom of the pocket where I expected it, but in between the pages of a map higher up in the pocket. Whew!

The holiday letters and cards are all in the mail, headed to distant locations. And finally, Soren is as big as a Christmas tree:

And happy birthday to my number one son, Timo, born this day in 1967. What adventures we've had!

What's on my needles: The Johan socks and Mr. F's clothes. Still hand-quilting my Spring Flowers quilt, only a little progress this week. I've been busy, as you can see.

What's on my Featherweight: Put away in its case, so I can use the space for wrapping presents.

What's on my loom: Still some warp for another scarf, but the loom is folded up to make room for Christmastime play.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still listening to Dyeing Wishes by Molly MacRae from Audible. Still reading Sherwood Smith's Crown Duel, from Book Bub on the iBook app.

What's my app of the week: The "Find My iPhone" app. I would probably have driven back to the church the next day if the app hadn't told me it was somewhere at my house.

What's in my wine glass: Charles Shaw Shiraz, one of the best of the "Two-buck Chucks."

What's my tip of the week: This photo says it all:

Thanks to my friend Jean for sharing this with us! She points out you can even keep one of these clips in your knitting bag. Or it can stay on the loose yarn when you're in between bowls. Happy knitting/quilting, everyone!

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals were harmed during the production of this blog post.