We are leaving for warm, sunny Texas, at 2:00am (ouch)…….
                  ………Wish us luck!!!………

Seven geese pierce straight line over frigid bay,
Intervals between them constantly equal,
Pointed wings slash as if joined to an axle;
Today is the ideal moment between yesterday and tomorrow.
Deng Ming~Dao

As I was searching and searching through Ravelry the other day for some sort of lace scarf pattern to test knit my Opulence yarn with, I kept coming back to Anne’s newest pattern, Oh Canada. 

As I was putting my dogs out yesterday afternoon and a flock of geese flew overhead, that clinched it for me.  I wound the yarn and sat down with the pattern, which has a beautiful flow to it.  Lovely lace work, but simple enough to move along quite quickly.  I will be traveling this weekend and wanted something easy to work on to bring along with me.  This will be perfect!

It was very strange to see geese this far north flying at this time of year.  Every autumn, I always mention how sad I feel when the birds leave and how each March, I rejoice when I hear those little chirpy noises again.

This winter has been a strange one for sure in regards to the birds.  The robins were here much much longer than I have ever seen them stay and over the last week, I have heard a lot more bird chatter than I have ever remembered at this time in the winter.  Perhaps I am just more aware of them…..or something is just a bit different this year.  Hmmmmmm……….

Pattern: Knitting Vintage Socks, Child’s Shell pattern
Needles:  2.50mm
Yarn: Woolen Rabbit Lambswool~Lady Sings the Blues

Wow….where did the week go? Each day that I was going to post managed to get away from me.  I really was not all that busy, but I found getting to the computer was a challenge.  Now how’s that for a switch? 

I did manage to spend some quality fiber time though this week, and I even poked around
ravelry a little bit.

I have to admit that each time I look at my project page and see all of those WIP staring at me, it bums me, so I made a commitment to getting some of this stuff finished.  I think this part of ravelry is going to be good for me.

My nemesis seems to be knitting the second sock.  I always love the challenge of the first sock….but the second one….not so much.

Now, knitting my Honey Bee stole is a different story.  Each and every stitch is a pleasure….so much so that I never tire of her…. with that in mind, I thought that I would use her for motivation.

Every week, I am going to try and complete a mate to one of the socks that are currently swinging singles and as a reward, I will get to work solely on Bee for one whole day……Sunday, my football day :-).  How’s that for creating my own motivation?  Haha…!

As an added incentive to keep Moriah Anne busy as well, I also decided to join Margene and Carole’s Naspinmomo.  Basically in a nutshell what that is, if you do not already know is committing to spinning every day for a month.  It can be a little or a lot, depending on what works best for you.  That is my kind of join~along.  No pressure, just pure enjoyment.

The roving that I am spinning is called Twisted Fiber Art in the Firefly colorway.  It is a blend of 70%merino and 30%kid mohair.  It was a wee bit felted, but if I separate the roving into thin strips and predraft it spins quite nicely.  I love the way the vibrant greens blend in and out of the smokey grays.

So, even though I missed blogging, I did enjoy my week of fiber!

Willow Tree Angel of Happiness
FREE to sing, laugh, dance… create!"

Ashley gave me this little angel for Christmas and it made me smile for his little angel embodies everything that I hope this New Year will be for me….to be free in spirit.

This is the year that I will turn 50 and it is my goal to free myself of some of the things that drag me down.  UFO’s, clutter,  and in general overloading my schedule and my mind.

I am looking forward to this New year and this new decade in my life… and knowing that you all are there to help me when I fall and cheer me on when I succeed makes it even more special.

Happy New Year my friends!

Most of you know how much I hate having my picture taken, but I have to tell you that I just LOVE, LOVE, love this hat! I love it enough that I wanted to show you what a great pattern it is!  For any of you contemplating knitting this hat…..get those needles out!

I was a bit concerned that I was not going to have enough yarn, so I skipped a few of the knit in pattern rows, but once finished, I probably could have knit them, as I had about 20 yards of yarn left over.

This is the first time that I have ever spun and knit with BFL and I am a new convert….it is THE BEST!  Soft, not scratchy and very cushy!

Pattern: Gretel
Yarn:  Handspun BFL from Gales’s Art in the Darkside Iris Colorway
Needles:  US 4 and 7

Heaven embraces the horizon.
No matter how jagged the profile,
The sky faithfully conforms.
Deng Ming~Dao

Our winter Saturday Sky………..

One of the things that I really do love about winter is the amount of time I seem to have for knitting.  With it getting dark so early at night, it is easy to justify the extra hours of knitting. 

I finished plying the beautiful BFL that I started spinning last week.  What a treat this wool is!  I worked hard to get a worcester weight yarn….now I am praying that I will have enough to do the regular version of Gretel.  I have the correct amount of yardage, but the cabling does seem to eat up large chunks of yarn.  I think I may do something size~wise in between the regular and fitted version, just to be safe.

This was the first time I have ever done a tubular cast on.  Ysolda has a fabulous video tutorial, which made it very easy to follow along!

It has been a very active winter so far up here, making for some beautiful pictures.  Knitting at night and appreciating the beauty of the NH woodlands and mountains has made this December and enjoyable one. 

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy of our last snowstorm on my ride to Jackson to drop one of the girls off at a friend’s house. (so far we have had 36 inches of snow this month!)

Wildcat River in Jackson

Carter Notch Rd in Jackson,NH

local farmland

my backyard this morning after yesterday’s snow

Whew…..what a whirlwind the last few days have been!  Cookies and baking done and then eaten, older children coming and then leaving and of course the busyness that a school vacation in ski country brings.

I did manage to squeeze in a little bit of knitting though :-).

Courtney’s mittens were finished and ready for playing in this week’s snow and judging from her expressions…I think she approves!

I had enough yarn left over to knit up a hat.  The hat was going to
be for my 7 year old granddaughter, McKayla…..but as you can see, that didn’t
happen.

The hat ended up being too big for the little one, but just right for Courtney…and she smiled. (good thing I didn’t tell McKayla it was going to be for her)

I used Tiennie’s pattern (minus the snowflakes) and even dropping down a needle size, the child’s sized hat still came out too large for a young child.  It’s not the pattern, I am sure….I think I must knit much, much looser than the average knitter.  Could it be that I am a thrower instead of a picker?  Hmmm…

When my older kids get together, you would never know that they are all in their 20’s.  The silliness usually just gets sillier and sillier as the night goes on.  It makes a mother’s heart feel good to see that her kids enjoy each other’s company even as adults….although when they are together…Hmmm…..adults?

Ashley, my middle daughter and her brother Miles were the best of friends growing up and truly shared the same unique sense of humor.

Here is a video of Ashley doing an imitation of Molly Shannon’s Saturday Night Live character, Sally O’Mally.  If you listen closely………the child almost knocks herself out…LOL!

I’m such a happy snowman
I love the winter time.
I love those Christmas Carols
and the jolly way they rhyme.
~Welshdragon

Some people collect Santa’s at Christmas time, but here, I collect Snowman in all different shapes and sizes.  I love their happy faces and their chubby little bodies!  They never cease to make me smile….all winter long and winter IS lonnggggg up here, so I keep those chubby smiling faces around until spring.

I took some time this morning to just sit and spin.  It’s been a long time since I have had the freedom to do just that……life has been busy~

The roving is the beautiful BFL that Keri gifted to me last month in the special swap.  Can you believe that I have never spun with BFL?  It is pretty amazing stuff….very soft and easy to spin. 

I am trying to spin it at a thicker weight, so that I end up with a worcestered weight yarn.  I thought that I would make myself a winter hat, as my old one is looking worn and tired.  After seeing Gretel on Cassie’s blog, I immediately downloaded the pattern.  It is the perfect hat for handspun. 

One of the things that I thought about as I sat and spun this morning, was how busy I have allowed my life to become.  It used to be the rare occasion that I did not spin in the morning with my coffee, but now it is the rare occasion when I do.

The internet is a wonderful thing and I have made many many lifetime friends, but I think the downside to the internet is what a time suck it can be.  Emails that need to be answered, blog pages to be read, shopping to be done, chatting with friends on AIM and more emails that need to be answered.

Do you know I managed to be so busy that I never even got my Christmas Cards in the mail this year?  Sheesh!  I feel awful about that…..how did I let myself get that busy?

As the year comes to a close and on this day of Winter’s Solstice, my resolution for the next year is to slow life down a bit and be more present in the here and now, and to limit how much I am running towards the future. 

I love Anne’s idea of weekly goals even more now that I have had some time to think about it.  Small obtainable goals each week is a good thing.  Along with weekly fiber goals, I am going to incorporate some weekly life goals, such as walking each day with a dog, doing something with one of the girls or grandchildren each week and so on….you get the idea.  If I put it in writing each Sunday and look at the list each day, perhaps it will help me slow down and enjoy each day for that day.

This will be my last post until after Christmas as I am going to spend the weekend with the girls making Christmas cookies and getting ready for the company that will descend upon me Monday.  It is always nice to have older children come home for a few days!

So as I close, I want to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday!

Anne has started a little thing on her blog called Work In Progress Wednesday.  Now a little bird did tell me that she had me in the back of her mind when she thought of doing this……imagine that…<grin>.   Being the good natured soul that I am, I decided that I would join along, in spite of all the teasing I have taken over WIP’s…LOL. 

I love the way Anne sets weekly goals for herself.  I think I may join along with that after the first of the year as well.

Now onto the WiP’s.  See that mitten………I have knit and ripped it now twice.  The third time was the charm.  Knitting with handspun is always a challenge when it comes to gauge for me.  The first mitten…….was a wee bit too skinny, the second one was a wee bit too long…..the third one, was just right.  Knowing what I know now….the next mitten should be done tomorrow…whew. 
Of course…….I could have knit a swatch~ eek!

No…you are not seeing things…there are 3 mitts.  Now you may be asking yourself…why 3?

The mitts that I knit last week, were to go into the mail over the weekend.  As I was getting them ready to be boxed and wrapped, I tried them on one last time, as I really love the way they feel on my hands, so soft and cushy!

The mitts looked the same….until….I turned them over.  Holy crap!  However did I manage to do that?

Now the person they are going to may or may not have noticed and may or may not have even cared, but I knew that I was not going to be able to send them that way. 

I looked at how much yarn I had left over in the skein and decided instead of ripping one back, that I would just knit another one.  The good news is, I now know that I can get 2 pairs of mitts out of one skein of this yarn :-).  So my friend will get a new pair of mitts…and so will I.

Moving on to Christmas Preparations…….
It’s hard to believe that Christmas is just one short week away.  Do you have your Christmas shopping/knitting finished?  I don’t, but I am getting pretty close to being finished. Whoo hoo~

Every year on Christmas Eve we have a family gathering.  I have been serving many of the same items year after year, and I thought that maybe this year might be the year to try a few new things.

Appetizers always stump me, as Martha Stewart I am not.  If any of you have some good recipes that you are willing to post on your blog, or share with me privately, I would be so appreciative.  In fact…….if you share one of your recipes, I will again share the one recipe that I could never not make on Christmas Eve………

EGG~NOG

12 eggs (separated)
1pint heavy cream
1/2 gallon milk
1cup rum (more or less)..we like more 🙂
1 1/2 c. sugar
3tsp. vanilla
                                    dashes of nutmeg
Beat
yolks & sugar in large bowl.  Beat whites in another bowl and beat
cream in yet another bowl.  Slowly beat milk into yolk mixture, then
fold in whites and cream.  (I actually beat the whites and cream in, so
that it is well mixed).  Add your rum and then top off with lots of
nutmeg  ~YUM

In the spirit of giving, I will leave you with the Christmas Carole that makes me smile each and every year.  This time I am posting it a wee bit early, so that you can enjoy it for a bit longer.  Of course my family gets tired of hearing it….but oh well, it’s only once a year, right? LOL
~Cheers!~