A Christmas Catch Up

Christmas was a bit strange this year. We waited until a few days before Christmas to put up the tree and when we did, it was just a four foot one with a few favorite ornaments because I just couldn't trust Emmett with a full sized tree full of bright, grabbable goodies. And it wasn't until Christmas was over that I realized we didn't take one photo. Not one. Video, yes, but no photos of Emmett's Real First Christmas. Sigh.

I made him a stocking this year. A colorful, scrappy one using this pattern.

I had so much fun going through my stash and making up a ball of random bits and bobs. I wish now that I'd taken a photo of the ball before I used it all up - it was very pretty.

Unfortunately by the time we finishing finding things for his stocking, it was too small! So instead he used the stocking I crocheted two years ago (which I just realized I never photographed to add to Ravelry).

I also really got into making snowflakes for the front window. They're still up, in fact. A few toward the bottom of the window didn't stick around long as standing on his little blue stepstool in front of the window is one of Emmett's favorite things to do. 

I was finding it really hard to get a photo of the ones that are left. For one, the window is dirty. Two, the view outside isn't the prettiest: a street. And three, every photo I took had a blurry car in it. Then I happened to notice the sun shining through and the crazy shadows it created. Not a great representation on the snowflakes but a much better/interesting photo!

I kept meaning to make more but never got around to it. I did create a favorite, though, that didn't go in the window at all as I didn't want to destroy it. If I ever get around to mounting and framing it, I'll take a photo. For now it's folded up and stashed away from little hands.

Yikes, it's now one in the morning! I should really get to bed as Emmett will be ready to get up long before I will!

 

 

Happy Valentine's Day!

I'd love to get back to blogging but it seems that all free moments are filled with other things - housework, a quick email or even two or three minutes of shutting off my brain and staring into space.

I miss everyone and hope you're all having a beautiful Valentine's Day!

Happy Easter!

Happy New Year!

Ring out the old, ring in the new.

Ring, happy bells, across the snow:

This year is going, let him go;

Ring out the false, ring in the true.

- Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Not Quite Ebenezer Scrooge But a Distant Relative...

Christmas is trying to work its way in around here but its having a hard time of it.  We packed up a box of gifts for my brother and parents and shipped it out on Tuesday which reminded me again that I won't be in Ohio for Christmas.  I was able to do the shopping and wrapping with my brain shut off but sending it off just brought it all back.  I put all of my Christmas music in a playlist today so that I can add it to my iPod again and I'm thinking dear, sweet Bing's "I'll Be Home for Christmas" just might have to be left off this year. 

I did get the tree up and decorated.  Granted, I fell over a couple of nights later.  Thankfully only one ornament was damaged and even it can be repaired and the cat that I suspect might have been lingering beneath the tree when it toppled fled upstairs and stayed there for quite some time. 

Sadly, I haven't had the heart to redecorate it.  I really meant to go at it with Christmas carols and a mug of hot chocolate this afternoon but...the ornaments are still in baskets sitting on the couch.  There are a few decorations in the conservatory as well, including a miniature tree, but they're not officially out and the tree is bare. I did watch the first two episodes online of Kirstie's Homemade Christmas that I'd missed so that I could watch the last here in about fifteen minutes and was hoping I'd feel myself sinking into the Christmas spirit.  Nope.  Perhaps it's time to pull out the big guns and watch Elf or The Christmas Story.  Matt's never seen The Christmas Story so I'm really looking forward to watching it with him - maybe this weekend.

I've been doing a lot of knitting and crocheting for Christmas that I'd like to share but I'm running out of time and I really would like to have a cup of that hot chocolate I mentioned a few minutes ago so I'll just share my favorite - a bear for my mom.

 

 

This is my first knitted toy and I'm really happy with it.  Rebecca Danger's patterns are cute and easy to follow - and I already have a couple of others in mind that I'd like to knit up - especially this guy.

Herman the Enigmatic Bear knitted with Rowan Alpaca Cotton.  

And now I'm off to chase the spirit a little bit more....

Wordless Wednesday: It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Funny Mishaps and Upsetting News

Our first Thanksgiving meal was a surprising success.  I managed to only miss something on a recipe once and realized it before it was too late so the pumpkin pie was delicious and not overly pumpkin-y due to a complete and utter lack of cream.  This is seriously a big deal for me because I'm terrible when it comes to reading directions and have screwed up more than one recipe by skipping something or adding too much or too little of something. 

We had one other near mishap that was quite funny.  I had bought double cream to make whipped cream but realized during dinner that not only do we not own a mixer but we don't even own a whisk!  Just the other day a contestant on Come Dine With Me had spent an hour mixing his whipped cream by hand.  We were in trouble because pumpkin pie - especially 'hard to come by in England' pumpkin pie - really needs whipped cream.  We tried using a fork for a little while but thank goodness my husband has a bit of MacGyver about him.  After a few minutes of rummaging through the utensil drawer, he came up with a tea strainer (not a tea ball but one like this) and attacked the bowl of cream again.  It worked!  So if you're in a pinch - no mixer, no whisk - we can attest that a tea strainer works. 

That night I also realized something a little upsetting when, thinking I would knit a few rows before bed,  I picked up my Gooseberry Cardigan.  It wasn't that my glaring mistake was still haunting me either - I finally ripped that back.  It was the discovery that when I knit, I hurt.  The muscles below my thumb start to burn after only a few inches of knitting.  It wasn't a sudden discovery - there's been faint pain for a little while now - but it had gotten to the point where I had to force myself to finish even one row and that was a real worry.  I cast on a Thorpe hat for my dad yesterday (because Christmas knitting stops at nothing) and knitting on large bamboo dpns didn't seem to bother me as much as I was able to get about a third of it done before I had to stop.  Thankfully it also seems that it doesn't effect crocheting at all.  It does effect typing on a keyboard, though, because it aches enough now that I'm not going to type much more. 

I'm knitting the cardigan on size six/4.00 metal needles and I know that metal needles have given me a little pain in the past - enough that I remember replacing a metal circular with bamboo on a project - but nothing like this.  I don't have a bamboo size six circular but ordered one yesterday because I'd really hate to send the cardigan to the UFO pile.  And, damn, I'm afraid of not being able to knit anymore.  I'm also going to watch some knitting videos and see if there's something I can change about my technique that might help.  It might be a really good reason to finally learn how to knit continental.

Hope that those of you who celebrate it had a wonderful Thanksgiving!