The long over-due one with the Christmas Loot!!!!


Clockwise from top left:  Bare Stroll Fingering to dye, acid dye starter set,  Sock Yarn One-Skein Wonders, a lovely skein of Colorado Merino Wool my brother brought from Colorado - home spun (not by him) and naturally dyed, two yarn ball ornaments, Wool of the Andes Bulky in Wallaby to knit Sigil , and Folk Socks.  In the middle: Interweave Knits Winter 2010 and a crock-pot for acid dying.

Although as far as K.C. was concerned . . . .


she is the only present that needed to be under my tree!!

I’m great at making resolutions.  I’m a champion list maker for anything and everything.  I’m also really great at picking area of my life that I feel I’ve done an utterly crappy job.  So resolution lists get made every New Year’s, and often at multiple times during the year as well.

As great as I am at making resolutions, I’m not so good at keeping resolutions.  Yes, I do make sure my resolutions are measurable and attainable and all those other tips we read about resolution making.  The problem, I think, is that I try to change too much at once.  I have my long list of what I’m doing wrong and what I need to fix.  And after a few days, I get totally overwhelmed and discouraged and just give up - one resolution at a time.

This year, I’ve decided to do something different.  Instead of making a list of resolutions, I’m going to work throughout the year on improving myself and my life, one small step at a time.  Each week, I will take a baby step toward doing something in my life better.  The next week, I’ll pick something new to focus on - hopefully while keeping up on the “resolution” from the week before.  If I start to slip on one of the goals, there will be no reason to abandon the whole process, because I can just restart that goal again when another week starts.  The idea is to be constantly moving forward throughout the year, one tiny goal at a time.

The first goals that pop into my mind are mainly health related.  My goal for this week is an easy one, yet one that is pretty important.  Throughout the month of December, I’ve been really (really really) lax about taking my cholesterol and blood pressure medication, as well as my iron, Vitamin D and Vitamin C pills - which are all very important for a girl with Type 1 Diabetes like me.  There really is no reason not to take five seconds to swallow down these capsules, other than pure laziness with a bit of forgetfulness mixed in.  So, since January 1st, I take my morning pills while waiting for my coffee to brew.  And I take my evening pills before hopping into bed.  Easy as pie.  (Mmmm, pie.)  A goal that I know I can continue through the year.  Which leaves me feeling good and ready to choose a new goal to work on next week.  Maybe that goal should involve knitting every day??? 

Think about it.  Being on hold for 45 minutes?  Sucks.  Being on hold with your knitting project in your hands?  Cool.  Traffic at a dead stop?  The worst.  Traffic at a dead stop with a sock in progress?  Awesome, and beyond awesome if you are in the passenger seat.  Doctor running over an hour late on appointments?  Okay, okay, I’m sure you’ve caught on by now . . .

For me, baseball fits into the scenario perfectly.  Nine innings of men hitting a white ball with a wooden stick?  Boring!  Stitch n Pitch?  The best afternoon ever!

This was our third year attending our local minor league Stitch n Pitch.  Somehow it seems to get better every year.  There were plenty of knitters . . .

The stadium was kind enough to provide yarn holders with each seat.  My sock-in-progress got in on the pictures, as did the corner of my awesome SnP goodie bag!  I wonder what non-knitters use the yarn holders for?


We had a great view of B.B., the official Bluefish mascot.



Oh, and baseball.  I almost forgot about the baseball . . .



It's true, knitting makes everything better, even for this non-baseball fan.  Knitting in the sunshine while my husband enjoyed the game was the perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

June 26th is one of my favorite days of the year.  On June 26, 1999 Pete and I went on our first date.  And on June 26th, 2004, Pete and I became husband and wife.

Happy Anniversary, SweetPea!!!

I'm cute and cuddly.

I'll keep you warm at night.  (By sleeping right on top of you - your arm may fall asleep under me, but that's a small price to pay for warmth.)

I'll make sure you get up on time in the morning.  (By laying down on top of your windpipe - trust me, that will wake you up good!)

I'll help you get plenty of exercise.  (Because I'll quickly shove all of my toys way far under the furniture.  You can burn tons of calories moving the couch and get plenty of stretching reaching under the entertainment center!)

I'm all about saving the environment by recycling and re-purposing.   (That's right, pine pellet cat litter also makes a great toy.  I'll toss as many pellets as I can out of my litter box and batt them all around the house!)

I'll make sure you are properly nourished.  (I ALWAYS know when it is meal-time . . . and I make sure you know it too!)
But  most of all, I'll let you know you are loved with my purrs and nuzzles and make your heart sing at the sight of my sweet little face.  And I'll never, ever get into your yarn.

What more could you ask for in a Meowentine??

The tree has been taken down, the presents are all put away, the decorations have been tucked safely away until next December and Pete's vacation has ended.  Although we are into our fourth day of the New Year, today is the first day that actually feels like the holidays are over.  Like it's time to get back to work and make a fresh start.

With that in mind, I thought I'd share some of my New Year's Resolutions.  I've got quite a long list this year, so I won't post them all here.  They are really more like goals rather than resolutions.  And many of them are just a starting point.  Small improvements to be met and then built upon to get things where I'd like them to be.  I plan to visit my list often and revise the resolutions as the year progresses.  But here's where they start . . .

• Complete a pair of socks each month for SAM - I've been lax at sock knitting (and knitting all together) lately.  I want to get back to it in 2010.
• Knit one Christmas gift each month - I've joined this Ravelry group to keep me inspired and on track with this goal.  It reminds me of the KAL I was in a few years ago where we knit a gift each month.  It was so great to have a pile of hand-knit gifts tucked away when December came!
• Read at least one book each month - I used to love to read.  Somehow I let knitting and wasting time on the computer lure me away from that hobby.
• De-clutter - we've got a lot of stuff in our house that we simply don't need, and we have a serious lack of storage space.  This will be the year I finally toss or donate what we don’t use or need and organize what we are keeping.
• Blog two or three posts each week - this is one of those early goals I hope to improve upon as the year goes by.  My real goal would be to post every weekday, but I'm going to let myself start out slow.
• Comment on my friends blogs and get back to emailing replies to comments my friends leave - I feel like I haven't been the best friend lately (both on-line and in real life).  More comments and emails are my way of showing my love to my poor neglected friends.  Hopefully some of you have already noticed that I've been commenting more over the past four days?
• Lose 30 pounds - hopefully by July!!
• Eat at least two fruit and three vegetable servings each day - I'd eventually like to up this to seven total servings rather than five, but this is another one I'm starting out slow on.
  
• Exercise five times each week

So there you have it.  Quite a list, I know, but I also think they are very doable.  What about you?  Have you put together a list of resolutions??

Our traditional Christmas breakfast of coffee and cookies has been eaten.


The presents have been opened. Even K.C.'s - although she's scared of the whole Christmas experience and won't touch any of her new toys.   At least she cowered near the coffee table long enough for me to get this shot of her by the tree on Christmas morning.

Now we're off to my parent's house for more celebrating and feasting!  Hoping you and yours are having a wonderful day too!!

1. Me!!!  It seems all of that NaBloPoMo writing burnt me out but good.  I felt like I needed a bit of an internet break this week, so I took it.  It felt good.  And allowed me focus on other areas of my life, such as . . . 
2. Fat and Calories.  I've been working hard on burning these.  Which also causes burning . . . 
3. Muscles.  Ouch.  Feel the burn.  It's good though.  Right?
4. Money.  As in, the Christmas shopping has begun and I'm burning through my budget!  My credit cards are getting just as hard a work-out as my body is!   But it's been fun.  The favorite gift I've bought so far is for a Yankee Swap at my best friend's Family Christmas.  One lucky guest will enjoy the softly burning light of . . . 
5. A Leg Lamp Night Light!!!!  Please note: Cat not included with gift!!

Now that Thanksgiving is behind us, I suppose it's time to look ahead to Christmas and start getting into the spirit.  How do I make that happen?

By indulging in my first Gingerbread Latte of the season.  It certainly won't be my last!  Some how the holiday stresses seem to lighten up when I catch a glimpse of that little gingerbread man dipping his toes into my coffee.

What holiday treats do you look forward to all year long?  Have you indulged in any yet?

The turkey has been eaten.  The pies have been served.  The thanks has been given.  What two things am I most thankful for?

The two loves of my life!!  What else am I thankful for?  Here's a not-so-serious list . . .

• all my yarn
• the fact that while my home-made ravioli were a bunt, my home-made cranberry sauce was a grand slam!  Hey, wait, I'm not into baseball, I'm into figure skating.  Okay, the fact that while my home-made ravioli were a single lutz, my home-made cranberry sauce was a quad-toe loop!
• the fact that I'm not into baseball, I'm into figure skating.
• my family.  Even the uncle who told me today how fat I am.  Twice.  Really, he honestly did.  Yes, I am even thankful him.
• the fact that I didn't cry in front of everyone after talking to that uncle.
• that there are only four more days left of NaBloPoMo.  Seriously, any more and I probably wouldn't make it!!
• that both my father's twin and my mother's sister were released from the hospital and got to spend Thanksgiving at home with their families.
  
• did I mention all the yarn???

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving too!!

At least, I hope she would!  You see, every year at Thanksgiving, my grandmother would make home-made ravioli.  I don't remember having them at any other time, although I'm sure she must have made them more often for my grandfather.  This year, I decided to try to keep the tradition.  Grammy taught me to make pasta dough, and I've made fettuccine often.  But I've never attempted ravioli.  So, how did it go?  Well, first I made the well of flour.  Then I added the eggs to the middle.

The next step is to mix it all together.   This part is always pretty scary because the eggs want to run all over the place.  I'm getting pretty good at keeping them under control though.  Before I knew it, I had my dough.


Next up, roll out the dough into strips. Then place the bottom layer into the ravioli mold.  My grandmother bought both the pasta maker and the ravioli molds for my mom.  I'm the only one who has ever used them.  My mom isn't Italian - and can't be bothered cooking anything too fussy.


Okay, now it's time for the filling. These are just plain cheese ravioli, but I'm looking forward to experimenting with more exotic fillings once my technique improves. Mmmmm, lobster ravioli!! Once filled, the second layer of pasta goes on and the mold gets rolled with a rolling pin to seal and cut the ravioli.


The last step is to break them apart.  Oh and boil them up for a taste-test, of course!!


In usual "bad blogger" style I forgot to take a picture of them on the plate before we gobbled them up.  So, how were they?  Honestly?  Eeeehh.  Pete thought they were great, but I can see room for improvement.  First of all, I need to roll the sheets of dough thinner.  I was afraid they'd be too delicate and break so I guess I left them a bit on the thick side.  I also need to put more filling in.  Neither of these things were much of a surprise.  I made 60 ravioli when the recipe was supposed to make 72 and that I had a ton of filling left over.  So yes, next time, thinner and more filling!

Are you trying anything new for Thanksgiving this year?

Thank you to all of the veterans who have done so much for our country.  And thank you to all of the servicemen who are still sacrificing.  Here's hoping for the day we see peace on Earth.

So November is here.  And I've decided to give NoBloPoMo a shot.  I'm not sure I can post every day for an entire month but I'd like to give it a try.  I am sure that some posts may be about things other than knitting.  Today, for example, is about my quiet Halloween at home with Sweetpea!

On Friday I was thinking about how busy and stressed Pete has been at work.  And I decided to throw together a little Halloween "party" for the two of us.  As soon as he left for his haircut yesterday I sprang into action, printing out a menu card and shopping for our supplies.

The menu included "Bloody Road Kill Stew with Bat Wing Scoopers" and "Scary Slaw" - which was really Turkey Chili with Blue Corn Chips and Broccoli Slaw.  With the menu ready to go, the next step was to put out a few decorations . . .


and get the coffee table looking festive and ready for some treats!


You can't have Halloween without a Jack-O-Lantern, so pumpkin carving was up next.  I drew the face and Pete carved little Jack up while I roasted the seeds we had scooped out.


Once the sun went down it was time to light up the pumpkins - the one we made and the ceramic one that makes an appearance every year.


Next up? A little cupcake decorating, of course.  Our witches and spiders weren't as cute as the ones I saw on the dessert web-site I had found, but they were pretty good and they tasted great!  I would have rather given the spiders black legs, but after searching five stores without being able to find black licorice strings we decided red legs would have to do.


Decorations up, food prepared, pumpkin carved . . . . what's left?  Just to settle in on the couch for the spooky feast!  Oh, and maybe a little drink.  What's better on Halloween than a Ghost-ini?


You're never too old for a fun and festive Halloween!

Okay, that statement is not exactly true.  The only sport I actually like to watch is figure skating.  But when you combine baseball with knitting?  Well yes, then I am a big fan!

This year was the second Stitch N Pitch held at our local minor league field.  Last year was a blast despite the rain, and with sunny skies this year was even better.  We arrived early, and I had my Retro Rib sock at the ready.

It didn't take long before our section was filled knitters and their friends and family.


Pete enjoyed the fresh air . . .


And the baseball.


I finished the leg and heel flap AND turned the heel!


In the end, our team lost the game. But with goodie bags like this, we were all winners!


Want to see what's inside? Well, it's going to take me a while to get that post finished, but stay tuned next week!

Can you remember?  I can.  I was writing my very first blog post!!  Wow!

Four years. 493 posts.  Over 120 finished projects.  30 pairs of socks.  Dozens and dozens of wonderful bloggy pals.  Lots and lots of comments, which I treasure more than you know.  And way too much yarn to count!!

It feels like we should have a contest, doesn't it?  What kind of contest should we have?  Hmmm, I don't know.  How about just that?  Okay, announcing the . . .


To enter, leave me a comment with a great idea for a contest.  How would winners be chosen?  What would the prize be?  You have until midnight on Monday, August 17th to leave your contest idea in the comments.  The winner can choose either a skein of sock yarn from my LYS in the color family of your choice or a $20 gift card to your favorite yarny web-site.

Get those creative contest juices flowing!!

Ten years ago today, Pea and I went on our first date.

Five years ago today, we were married.

I wonder how I ever got along without him. He's my biggest supporter and my best friend.  We laugh, we dance, we share.  And I can't wait to see what the next five years will bring!

Here we sit, on the cusp of a brand new year. Many people like to look back over the past 366 days (it was a leap year, remember?) and do a little recap. But as I type, my stuffy head and scratchy throat seem very fitting. For me, 2008 was a pretty crappy year. Not to say it was all bad, but a lot of it was and ending it with an icky head cold seems fitting. So instead of doing an end-of-year recap, I've decided to end the year by blogging my completed Christmas knitting. Look for two more Christmas projects in early 2009 - since poor Pea's gifts are still on the needles.

First up, a scarf for my mom.

This gift was quite a special knit for me. While we were in Louisiana for my uncle's funeral, my family humored me with a trip to The Yarn Nook, which was less than a mile from our hotel. While there, my mom spotted this scarf, which was knit up as a shop sample, and commented several times on how pretty it was and how much she liked it. At the time I barely reacted (to make her think I wasn't listening), but as soon as I got home I set about finding the pattern. Thanks to the wonders of Ravelry, I found it was a Yarn Nook shop pattern and soon after I was knitting it up for mom. Although our trip was a sad one, I hope the scarf always brings her warm and comforting thoughts of her brother.

Next up was a gift for my god-son Zach. He's now 8 years old, so I thought he might be past the knitted stuffed animal phase. My best friend said he'd love a hat, so I whipped this up in his favorite color, BLUE.

This was such a fun pattern! I can see myself knitting many more of these as gifts for next Christmas. I only cast on 80 stitches and increased to 88, hoping it would fit Zach's head. It was a perfect fit, and he seemed really happy with it.

Last up, a gift for Zach's brother. Camden is 2 1/2, which means I can still get away with knitting toys for him for a few years. This year, I chose Sheldon.

I freaking love this pattern!!! So cute!
The Classic Elite yarn I used for the body was won in the very first blog contest I ever entered! It's just perfect for Sheldon. In fact, he knit up so cutely, I have to admit I thought about just buying a gift for Camden and keeping Sheldon for myself. That's not really in keeping with the Christmas spirit though, is it? So Sheldon has been gifted. Luckily, I think I have enough yarn left over to eek out my own Sheldon, if I use a different yarn for part of the shell.

That wraps up my Christmas knitting (so far) and my last post of 2008. I hope you all have a wonderful and safe night, and that all your dreams come true in 2009!