Holiday Fun, Part 1

We had a great Christmas visit in Wisconsin.

It was a white Christmas, and when it wasn't too cold, we had some play time.

The presents were lovely. For example, here's my Fabric Haul, part one. (More coming during a shopping trip to Kokomo/Indianapolis.)

I also got a "shopping spree" at Knit Picks. I bought Wool of the Andes Bulky in a variety of "flavors" for weaving rugs.

The pups got some presents, too, and enjoyed sharing them. With each other.

During the trip to Wisconsin and during the visit, I worked on Soren's "Green Pastures" cardigan and finished it, except for sewing the buttons on and blocking, which I will do when we get home. The pattern is "Welcome to the Flock" by Julia Farwell-Clay. The yarn is Swish Worsted in Dublin, White and Black.

Daphne has been wearing her bigger version, which she got for Christmas. I love that she recognized that the blobs across the yoke were supposed to be sheep. We went out for breakfast at the Blue Moon in Onalaska for my birthday, the day after Christmas. Daphne enjoyed playing Zoo Train on my iPhone.

We got the waitress to take a photo of all of us after our food arrived.

Daughter Karen and I were wearing our boas, made for us by SIL/DIL Alexa. Karen and I are both knitters, so we appreciate the work that goes into any knitted gift, and love that someone knitted for us!

Zachary had fun eating--I mean drawing with--the crayons.

I was so grateful not to be sick on my birthday and remembered the awful time I had last year. Good health is the best present of all!

I worked on my "Green Tea" socks. Here's where I was a couple of days ago. 

The yarn is Panda Silk, and the pattern is  the Broad Spiral Rib from Charlene Schurch's More Sensational Knitted Socks. I have finished the first sock and started the second. I hope to post a photo of it next week.

We left Wisconsin on Saturday to go to Indiana. Planned excitement there includes a do-it-yourself quilt-shop-hop, when I will spend the "funny money" I got for Christmas designated for just such an adventure. It will be wonderful to see our son and his wife. They didn't make it to our camping trip, so it will be a great reunion.

What's on my needles: "Green Tea" socks for me, one sock finished, second one started. Dogwood Blossoms and Christmas Waffle sweater, travel knitting.

What's on my loom: Christmas present scarves languishing on the loom at home.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: During the trip here, we listened to Innocence by Dean Koontz from audible. Perhaps his best yet. I'm still listening to The Fairy Godmother by Mercedes Lackey from Audible. Listening to the Fiber Hooligan podcast and the Knit Picks podcast.

What's my app of the week: Zoo Train. Wonderful entertainment for a preschooler. 

What's in my wine glass: Charles Shaw (aka "Two-Buck Chuck" or "Three-Buck Chuck," depending on where you buy it. For us, it's "Three-Buck Chuck," because we bought it at the Trader Joe's in Rochester, MN) Merlot. Taking some home. 

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.

Merry Christmas 2013!

Wishing you all peace on Earth...

...and the best of holiday joys with family and friends, good food and music!

Ready for Christmas!?

Soren's Green Pastures cardigan is progressing nicely. It should be ready for Christmas or shortly after. 

It doesn't look too different from the same stage of Daphne's, although it's a size smaller. 

In the plans are two I-spy quilts, one for each of the boys, perhaps in time for their second birthdays. 

This week was busy with concerts. I'm in the Park City Singers, and we were privileged to get to sing with the Salt Lake Vocal Artists. They're very good, so it was an honor. Here are some photos from the last concert. The second concern was a sellout:

We had some children sing with us. They were awesome!

Dr. Brady Allred and Laurel Enke, the pianist, entertained us after the show was over

We'll be hitting the road soon. Hope to have some great photos to show you from our visit in Wisconsin.

What's on my needles: "Green Pastures" cardigan for Soren, working on the body.  Dogwood Blossoms and Christmas Waffle sweater, travel knitting when Soren's sweater is done, and Green Tea socks still with the heel almost done.

What's on my loom: Making more progress on the Christmas present scarves.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: I'm still listening to The Fairy Godmother by Mercedes Lackey from Audible. Reading Yours Affectionately, Jane Austen, by Sally Smith O'Rourke from Book Bub. Listening to the Fiber Hooligan podcast and the Knit Picks podcast.

What's my app of the week: NORAD Tracks Santa, ready for the big night. 

What's in my wine glass: Concannon Merlot 2011. The really big bottle. For medicinal purposes. 

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.

Cold and Colds, Mishaps and Repairs

It's been a hard week in the mountains of Utah. The weather was part of it. 

That was taken Wednesday. We had several more inches over the weekend. I had to turn off the alerts on my weather app, because it kept waking me up at night and annoying me during the daytime. (As if I couldn't just look out the window and know, yes, it was a winter storm, and yes, there was danger of avalanche!)

I came down with a cold about the time the kids left, so I spent a good part of the week on the couch, reading and blowing my nose. Rocky loved it, though. He really likes to cuddle on the couch when the weather is cold. In one of those cuddly moments, he was in DH's lap chewing on a toy, when DH suddenly noticed he was chewing the quilt by accident. The hole went clear through to the other side.

(This photo is a closeup. The visible threads in the quilt backing will give you an idea of how close.)

I decided that THAT would be a good place for a label. Right there! (I had been too lazy to put a label on this one. Now was the time.) It was fortunate that the hole was fairly close to one corner, about where a label would go anyway. 

On the top side of the quilt, the hole went cleanly through one patch with a black background, easily (well, with some work) fixed by appliquéing a similar fabric on top. With the tiniest sts I could manage. You can recognize the spot because the machine quilting doesn't cross the patch. 

I'm not sure it would be worth trying to correct that issue. You really have to know what to look for, and this is a utility (i.e. "cuddle") quilt. 

Daphne's Green Pastures cardigan was really close to finishing, so I dragged myself off the couch to finish it. Colorwork always looks better after blocking. 

It took almost two days to dry, maybe because it has been so cold here, even in the house. The yarn is Swish Worsted in Dublin, Black and White. The pattern is "Welcome to the Flock" by Julia Farwell-Clay, available on Moth Heaven. Chest measurement 25", sleeve length from underarm 10".

I CO for another, slightly smaller, version for Soren. I have the body ribbing done and am working on the st st for the body. 

The pattern was designed for babies, but I made Daphne's bigger by using thicker yarn (Swish Worsted) and bigger needles. She's out of diapers, so I eliminated the shaping in the body that allowed for extra bulk and just CO on the number of sts I would have after the decreases. I'll do the shaping on Soren's, though. He'll be in diapers for a while yet. 

I needed to make an iPhone cozy for DD's iPhone for Christmas, a quick and easy project. Here it is, finished, felted/fulled and modeled by my iPhone. (She didn't want the Apple logo.)

I have the instructions on my Ravelry page for the project, and anyone is free to use/copy as they like. 

You may remember that I lost my credit card during Shop-small Saturday last week. It could be I dropped it in the bakery, where I used it last, but I think they would have found it and called me. I could have dropped it in the parking lot outside, where it would have been covered by snow by now and scooped up into a berm by the snow plow, not to be seen again until spring. Maybe it fell between the seats of the car and is waiting for some unusual car-cleaning frenzy by a future owner of my Honda.

At any rate, I had to cancel it and order new cards. (The news isn't all bad. DH had to pay for my expenditures at the quilt shop, Davidene's, and it turns out he got a rebate on everything he bought from a small, local, shop, using his American Express, so whoopee! Bargain for him, free for me!) My new card came this past Saturday, causing me to miss Cyberweek but allowing me to get my Audible credits on time on Saturday.

A sad, but not totally unexpected event this week was the passing of Nelson Mandela. I was reminded that during our short time in the UK, DH, DS2 and I went to Trafalgar Square in London to listen to a horn group play Christmas carols and to sign a petition asking for Mandela's release from prison. DS2 was 12 years old at the time. It made a big impression on all of us. We had to wait in line to sign. So much has happened since then.

In a season of sad anniversaries, Pearl Harbor comes to mind, and the anniversary also occurred this week. I was born after the "day that shall live in infamy," being one of the few war babies, born to a minister who could not serve even if he were young enough to be drafted or willing to sign up. This poster reminds me, though, of the event every year, and that we, as crafters, are among the most giving of people, often knitting, spinning, quilting and weaving for those in need.

I'm not sure you could stand any more cuteness after last week, but Soren just turned 17 months and Zachary 20 months in this past week. I'll try to include a photo next week. 

What's on my needles: "Green Pastures" cardigan for Soren, working on the body.  Dogwood Blossoms and Christmas Waffle sweater still on hold, and Green Tea socks still with the heel almost done.

What's on my loom: Making more progress on the Christmas present scarves.

What's on my wheel: Full Circle Roving in "Wolf". First bobbin finished. No progress this week.

What's on my Sewing needles, Featherweight: Delectable Pathways, piecing the Delectable Mountain block panels. Appliqué panel #3, No progress this week.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: I'm still listening to Bath Tangle by Georgette Heyer. Finished reading The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley on the Nook App (highly entertaining), and then The I.P.O. by Dan Koontz (not Dean), on the Kindle app (spellbinding), both from Book Bub. Listening to the Fiber Hooligan podcast and the Knit Picks podcast.

What's my app of the week: Pages for iPad, which I use to compose my blog post each week and our annual Christmas letter. I love how easy it is to use on the iPad, and how fast I can type on the on-screen keyboard! Almost as fast as I can think. Guess that isn't saying much, now that I think of it. 

What's in my wine glass: Bogle Vinyards Petite Sirah. Elegant!

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.

Rolling Over and Over in My Gravy.

What a week! Soren and his entourage came for Thanksgiving, since we won't be able to be together for Christmas this year. 

I spent most of the week cooking and cleaning. The kids arrived Wednesday night, and we had Thanksgiving dinner early in the evening on Thanksgiving. The dinner was...interesting.

Since I don't eat meat, and I wanted something as close to what the rest of the family was having, I tried to find a Quorn Turk'y Roast at the local Whole Foods. No luck! Usually Smith's carries it, but they were out of it, too. I had to make a trip to Salt Lake City early in the week to visit a thrift store to get some things for Soren to play with, to JoAnn to get some webbing to finish the chair pads and buttons for Daphne's sweater, and to Toys R Us to pick up Soren's Christmas presents, so I added the Whole Foods, Salt Lake City, to my list of stops. They had the Turk'y Roast, and it was on sale, so I picked up two. I had bought a regular turkey breast for the others. We were also having Finnish Rutabaga casserole, maple sweet potatoes, asparagus, salad, stuffing, gravy and a cranberry relish recipe that DDIL2 learned about on Facebook. The gravy tried very hard to finish me off.

DDIL2 made the salad, while Soren played in the living room under supervision of the guys.

Everything takes longer to cook at high elevation, but this turkey breast took longer than I expected. I started heating up the gravy too soon, got distracted, and it boiled over on my stove. Fortunately, I had plenty of the vegetarian mushroom gravy, so I put it into another pan and stuck it in the oven with the turkey breast. It boiled over again, all over the bottom of the oven. (I should point out that everything boils at a lower temperature at high elevation, too, and I should have known better.) I was really distracted. 

When I finally got dinner on the table, we took the photo above, and started passing stuff around. I reached over the sweet potatoes to get the gravy, which promptly slid in its dish and tipped over, spilling gravy all over the tablecloth in front of my very patient BIL. We cleaned up what we could, covered up the spot with paper towels and had a wonderful time eating and drinking. Soren preferred the Turk'y Roast to the real turkey. Smart boy! (Of course, the fact that he doesn't have too many teeth yet might factor in. It's easier to chew.) We finished our dinner with a pumpkin cheesecake from Trader Joe's. Yum!

On Black Friday we went for a hike instead of shopping.

(The hat was part of Soren's Halloween costume, a character from "How To Train Your Dragon.")

The pups needed a run, and everyone needed to be outside in the fresh air on such a pretty day. Most of our route was a paved bike path (chosen to avoid the mud), so we took the umbrella stroller. We stopped at the local bagel shop for hot chocolate on our way back to the car. 

We had decided that we wanted to "shop small" on Saturday, so we started out at No Worries, a locally owned restaurant in our neighborhood, for breakfast. Soren was well-behaved, in spite of having to wait some time for a table, and we had a great time.

From there, we went on to Great Harvest, a locally owned bakery franchise, where we picked up some nice bread and some treats to feed some friends who were coming for tea. Then we went to the local toy store to get some special presents for the grandkids, and finally to the local quilt shop, Davidene's, where I discovered I had lost my credit card. I had used it at Great Harvest, but a phone call to them revealed that they didn't have it. I had to cancel it. (That's going to take the fun out of Cyber Monday!)

Football: We had watched my Patriots win their game Sunday night, and then DDIL2 and DS2's favorite team Oregon Ducks win theirs on Friday, and finally The Ohio State's (where DS2 did his graduate work) game, which had to be recorded and watched after we got home from shopping on Saturday. They won, too. It made up for the gravy fiasco.

We also Skyped with Daphne and Zachary and their parents, and then with DS1 and DDIL1. We will see them all around Christmas time during our planned trip east. 

We had a bunch of board books checked out from the library. Soren loves board books, and we read each one several times. He also discovered my iPad. I have some great games on it for kids. He really liked Pocket Pond, one of my favorites. DS2 showed Soren how to play Angry Birds, one of his.

All good things come to an end, and our visit had to as well. Sunday morning we had to drive Soren and his entourage back to the airport, where he said goodbye to Grandpa...(Soren kisses with his mouth open and his eyes closed)

And to me.

Soren made friends at the airport before the flight home. He never met a stranger.

During the week I managed to get some work done on Daphne's "Green Pastures" cardigan. I had to rip out several rows of the sheep pattern that I knitted during the nail-biter Patriots game. Guess I was tense, because it was too tight. However, the redo worked fine, and I'm ready to sew on the buttons, sew up the underarms and block it. 

I feel ready to be put out to pasture now. It was an exhausting weekend, but lots of fun!

What's on my needles: "Green Pastures" cardigan for Daphne, just the buttons to sew on, underarms to sew closed and the blocking to do. Dogwood Blossoms and Christmas Waffle sweater still on hold, and Green Tea socks with the heel almost done. Ready to CO for second, smaller Green Pastures cardigan for Soren. 

What's on my loom: Making more progress on the Christmas present scarves.

What's on my wheel: Full Circle Roving in "Wolf". First bobbin finished. No progress this week.

What's on my Sewing needles, Featherweight: Delectable Pathways, piecing the Delectable Mountain block panels. Appliqué panel #3, No progress this week.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: I'm still listening to Bath Tangle by Georgette Heyer. Still reading The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley on the Nook App, purchased through BookBub. Another intriguing story. Listening to the Fiber Hooligan podcast and the Knit Picks podcast.

What's my app of the week: Pocket Pond...again! This app is always a winner with the small set! Soren got a kick out of "splashing" in the water without getting wet. He also tried to dump our the water, and had a look at the other side of the iPad, trying to find the depth to the pond. 

What's in my wine glass: Liberty Creek Pinot Noir, another big bottle. We need it! It's time to rest up, but I will really miss the 5:30 AM wake-up call!

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.