Giving Thanks Pt. 1

 

Pup and I slept on the couch Wednesday night so I could be up bright and early to get food prepped. First was my grandmother's infamous jello salad. Carrots and pineapple in orange jello topped with mayonnaise. Everyone in the family hates it but I love it. It tastes like Thanksgiving memories to me. 

Then it was some Spinach Artichoke dip that had to be mixed. I was hauling all this up to Daughter's to be baked. I should have just chucked this whole thing in the trash before I left because it was terrible. I’m never making that again.

I gave a big sigh of relief when I was done chopping vegetables for a relish tray. I was certainly giving thanks at this point. I was thankful that this was all I had to do other than knit 2 hours in the car on the way up.

Gobble, Gobble

 

Old Tom Turkey wants to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving before he gets packed away until next year. I might get a little more done before the calendar turns over to December on Monday but I doubt it. We've got a long weekend packed with things to do. 

Wednesday WIPs: Something Done, Something New

 

I just made it. I wanted the last of the Halloween socks done by Thanksgiving and I pulled it off. The yarn is Static in The Bookhouse Boys colorway and now they are in the gift box. These are man sized so they did take me a bit longer than the others.

I'm past the waste yarn for the afterthought heel on the Christmas Stocking but I've run out of KAL podcasts to knit along with so that's no fun. Arne and Carlos ended their KAL on Sunday but will be back this Sunday to begin their Advent shows. That's a good thing because I need the company.

What's keeping me the busiest this week has been this. Remember my blankety blank Riddari? I complained for an entire year about it.  I got it out of storage last week and started wearing it again and The Mister could not stop harping about how I've never knit him a sweater and could I make him one like this one. Argh....Luckily for him I like my sweaters big and baggy so except for needing some added length in the sleeves mine fits him perfectly. I only agreed to this folly because I'm pretty sure he will wear it once and hate it so it will end up coming back to me. 

And....someone asked me if the new camel project was needlepoint and it is. I hadn't opened the box yesterday but I have now and this is what I found. As much as I love Funky Flowers, the yarn is cheap and old so I wanted to try something with decent yarn. This little thing wasn't cheap. It was gulp...$70 but I'm this close to my birthday so I threw the budget out the window and bought it. 

TNT: The Last of November

 

All the big stitching is finished on Matter's House. I'm saving the dots for its next outing. I'm bringing out the December projects on Friday.

I rounded the corner on Funky Flowers. This is what I've been picking up at night to work on when it's too dark to see tiny stitches. 

I've been liking those big needles and big yarn so much that I bought another kit. It's tiny. Only 6 x 6 but as slow as I stitch I'm sure it will get me through the winter. 

Dear Jane finally got some attention this week. I modified the heck out of her block and made it something that was actually easy and fun to work on for a change. The problem is the center circle that has to be appliqued down is too small now. I'm also going to have to add the borders before I can pull out those paper pieces so it's still got a ways to go.

Special Deliveries

I sense a theme. I just got these new cognac colored Crocs and a packet of Thanksgiving jibbitz delivered. My old brown Crocs had a hole in the bottom. They are the first ones I've ever worn out. 

On the same day they arrived, my new cognac colored zip up hoodie arrived. It's not any hoodie. It's an official Taylor Swift holiday merch hoodie from the acoustic piano collection. I know it probably looks like the ugliest sweatshirt you've ever seen but to me it's.....

...the memory of spending over 100 happy nights with 70,000 other joyful fans at the Eras Tour. It's been a year and we're still not over it. Lol. A week of daily surprise holiday merch drops left nothing unsold. I was lucky to get the hoodie. I've been trying to get an ornament for two years with no luck. Maybe next year.

And...I told The Mister we'd have the Thanksgiving puzzle done by the time we needed to get out the Christmas puzzles. Ta da....all it took was a little teamwork. 

 

Fruitcake Weather

 

When the beech trees turn gold it's time to make fruitcake. 

I use the same recipe every year from my very old and very dirty Betty Crocker cookbook.

I've got even older and dirtier cookbooks. This one was my great grandmother's. It was printed the same year I was born. 1953. I think I've held up better than it has. So far anyway.

You can tell we are a fruit cake loving family. There's two handwritten recipes for two different kinds tucked among those sticky pages.

You either love it or hate it. I love it. 

They bake forever at 275 and come out nicely cracked so they can absorb the brandy I'll paint them with each week as they age until Christmas Eve. 

Speaking of cake, look at this darling Peter Rabbit themed one Daughter had made for Baby Grand's first birthday yesterday. It was a day to celebrate even though the family won't get together until Thanksgiving. We all breathe a sigh of relief when the little ones turn one. Those early months are downright scary.

Oh, Christmas Tree

 

We got up early yesterday so we could beat it down to the boardwalk to see the big crane drop the tree. They told us it would arrive at 9 am and we were there....just in time to see the crane drive away. We missed it. My inner child threw a terrific temper tantrum because I really look forward to it every year. I suppose they got an earlier start to beat the rain that was expected but that didn't soothe my disappointment. 

Since we were already out and about, I did some shopping in order to encourage a return to my grown up sensibility. I needed brandy for the fruitcakes I intend to make this weekend. I now have brandy. They only carry one brand now at our local liquor store so there wasn't much choice. This one is new to me. 

That inner child returned when I saw these little stuffies at the gas station mini mart. I don't need another thing in this house but they had to come home with me. There was a whole box to choose from so I should be happy that I had the good sense to only adopt two. 

 

Hung Out to Dry

 

'Tis the season. I've got racks of knitwear all over the house hung with fresh washed woollies. This load is made up of my emergency knits that I keep in the car in case I don't dress warm enough for the weather. It happens all too frequently as it's much colder by the water than it is in our little valley. 

Even Pup's sweaters got a wash. She hates sweater weather. The most exercise she gets anymore is running away and hiding as soon as she sees one coming at her. 

Upstairs, Downstairs

 

The chair trick has been working beautifully. Pup gets her chair and I get mine. I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner. Lately I've been able to spend some quality time in both my craft rooms. I used to have to drag everything out into the living area so she could sit with me while I worked. If I didn't she would throw the canine equivalent of a temper tantrum until I gave up and just went and sat on the couch with her. Little dogs. They aren't like anything else in the world in their need for constant attention. 

We go downstairs one day and upstairs the next. Downstairs we are working on the Christmas cards. I've got a lot of coloring and die cutting to do for this year's card.

In the upstairs sewing room I've been back to work on the Colorwash quilt top. These are little 3 inch squares so I'm going to have to make a lot of them before I think about assembling them.

I've also been able to resume punching that set of mug rugs I've been working on. I really like the one I finished. It comes in very handy.

With the teeny tiny punch, I've added a beet to the veggie group. I never realized how important this me time in my putter rooms was until I got it back. It makes the day. 

Wednesday WIPs: Something Done

 

How it started. 

How it ended. In 2011 I bought 12 pounds of unwashed Corriedale fiber and over the years made many pairs of snow socks out of it. Maybe this year these will bring me some luck and we'll have a real winter again.

Other than the snow socks my other sock projects are languishing a bit because of the stocking KAL. I'm only doing five rounds a day but I'm always amazed at how fast these things knit up. 

I took advantage of the Knit Picks sale and bought yarn for the actual Arne and Carlos 2025 stocking that I'll start in December. I'm going to try it in a sport weight rather than the fingering weight I have been using. 

I'm still working on the Prayer Shawl in bed at night and I just used up the first skein. I probably should just go ahead and ignore the pattern and order another skein, right?

All these lovely woolly things are going on inside but outside, Mother Nature has been playing tricks. Hot, cold, hot, cold. Even my camellias are confused. 

TNT: Never a Dull Moment

 

The center section of Patchwork Automne is finished. I'm putting it away until January so I can get out my winter holiday projects. I'll tackle those boring borders in the new year. 

I'm working my way across the last of the stitching sections on Matter's House. Thank you for all your advice on what to do about the dots. I'll be taking everyone's advice. I'm leaving some out. Stranding some of them and doing those confetti stitches on the rest. I've got a plan but it will have to wait until after the holidays too. I'm really looking forward to getting out the Christmas Quaker. 

Dear Jane E5 is covered and I should be starting to stitch them together today.

My tiniest of needles are busy on the hexie runner and I've got the scars to prove it. I really want to get this over with.

As for never a dull moment, in the same weekend that we've had every search and rescue dive team in the state looking for a boater that went missing from here last Thursday, we had a big fire in the apartments behind the marina. I heard the sirens go off at about 6:30 am and they just kept on coming. I knew it was something big but I never thought it was this big. By the sound of it I knew someone was having the worst day of their life but I never imagined this. What a terrible way to start the week.

Where Projects Go to Die

 

Do you have a bag like this? I have a very bad habit of planning projects, kitting them up and then putting them in a bag where they end up living forever. I even printed out all the patterns. There are two pairs of mittens, three hats and a headband to be in there. 

I think this year's New Year's resolution will be to empty that bag. 

In my defense, something always jumps in line in front of them. Right now it's more socks for little feet. Daughter liked the pair I made for her Big Grand so much she asked for a smaller pair for the baby

And...I know I'm probably the last person on earth to know about these but I saw someone raving about them on YouTube and had to try them out. They are Swedish dishcloths in case you don't already know. I was a bit surprised when they arrived. They are stiff as a board when dry but when you wet them they turn into a vicious yuck fighting weapon that does an amazing job on the miles of stainless steel and painted cabinetry I have to wipe fingerprints off all day. I bought the pretty ones on the top for the kitchen and then turned around and ordered the floral ones for the bathrooms. Old dog. New trick.

One more thing...I was commenting to someone about a pop up type Christmas tree and I wanted to show the one that I have had for years. It's a Samlas from Ikea and you just take it by the top and pull it out of the little box and drape it over its metal stand.  It's like a magic trick. It doesn't have lights but it does come with already attached ornaments. We love it and some years, when things have been a bit hinky, it's all we have put up. 

Over and Out

 

They came yesterday to pick up the last of the logs. I'm going to miss that cute little Kubota that's been parked out in the yard since this all started. That's one amazing piece of machinery. I want one.

The very last load went up the driveway in the afternoon. The driver handed us a check for all the wood he's hauled away. When we saw that it was for $3,300 we couldn't believe our eyes. We had no idea that those ugly poplars were that valuable.  

They came back later that day and leveled out the ground, seeded and put down hay. They are coming back out again on Monday to clean up the staging area.

So what are we going to do with our windfall? Have a few more trees taken down out front, of course.