Life's a Stitch

I like taking an extra day of vacation time and starting back to work with a short week. It also gives me an extra day to recover from a break that reminds me of the Berenstein Bears and Too Much Christmas. I work hard and I play hard. OK, I knit hard, too.

This holiday season I hosted five parties. My office party, the one here for Chuck’s former co-workers form the health department, Boxing Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. Whew! I’m not complaining, I enjoy stuff like that.

The past days in WA were wonderful, having hit three knit shops, watching five movies without falling asleep (the key is to stay sitting up), spending New Year’s afternoon playing Catchphrase (a traditional family past time), and knitting for countless hours. One of the highlights was snaring a new person in my knitting web. I have created a new knitter – the 13 yr old daughter of a friend. I’ve read that, as a knitter, you always remember who taught you and I’m honoured to have that space in someone’s life. The first photo is my close friend Lynn, my eldest daughter and my new knitter, Samantha, with Gracee, on the beach two blocks from our place in Bellingham. The second is a scene from a round of Catchphrase for blood. All in all it met my expectations for a perfect break: we ate too much, drank good wine, visited three yarn stores, shopped some good sales, had fun with friends, and slept without an alarm clock.

On the knitting front here are updates of the Garter Stitch Cardigan and the Autumn Silk Cardigan:

Bryant, age 14, has said the words every knitting mother wants to her, “Do you think you could teach me to knit?” I would love to teach him to knit and I would enjoy his company at knit nights. He asked how long it would take him to learn. I told him it takes practice, but a half hour a day for two weeks should be a good start. He was thrilled to learn that it takes less time to learn to knit than to learn to ride a unicycle. I love kid’s logic. His interest was spurred by the new Stitch and Bitch book. He has four projects in mind. I had made him two items from the first book. Maybe he figures he could get them faster if he knits them himself. I’m looking forward to this.

   

On my own knitting progress: I’m where I was, prior to frogging, on the Autumn Silk Cardigan. The yarn is splitting a bit from having been worked twice.

 

A safe and Happy New Year to all. I’ll be away until Wednesday the 5th, down to WA, the land of many knit shops and no computer. Happy Knitting!

The purchase of a yarn winder and swift often comes with the need to justify the expense. No justification needed here. All you need is the opportunity to wind the huge hanks of Fleece artist yarn that comes in the cardigan kit. I can’t imagine winding that by hand.

Looking over the cardigan pattern there’s a suggestion to increase the needle size to make a larger sweater. I figure that if there’s enough yarn to do that there must be enough to make the recommended size longer. Here’s hoping. I’ll be depending upon my kitchen scale to monitor how much I’m using.

It’s fun to see what the colours are turning into when knitted. I was hoping the splashes of rust would be more prominent.

Due to the absence of knitting related items under the tree I felt the need to fill the void. May I introduce you to (drum roll) a Fleece Artist Garter Stitch Jacket kit. I’ve made a concerted effort to depart from my blue, green, purple, jewel tone habit. If you look at my photo album it is pretty much monochromatic. The yarn feels much softer than the jacket looks in the pattern picture. I’m looking forward to an easy knit to balance the more fiddly Autumn Silk Cardigan.

There was one item from my knitting list that made it under the tree – a wonderful book called Knitting Into the Mystery – about the meditative nature of knitting and a shawl knitting ministry. Thank you, Elina.

Look what arrived this past week:

I recently entered a blog contest and won. It was on Jenla’s Knotty Girl blog – their How to Make the World a More Positive Place contest. The prize was a Christmas stress relief package – a basket with a sheepy mug and ornament, hot chocolate, Scottish whiskey fudge, shortbread, chocolate, lingonberry jam, a skein of Karabella laceweight  mohair and a set of bamboo needles.

Thank you Jen and Laura! If you aren’t familiar with their blog, check it out – creative and entertaining, lots of talent there.

At our Chicks With Sticks Christmas Gathering I discovered something totally cool. These are tiny individual LED lights that can be used like teas lights without the fear of starting a fire. I can whole heartedly appreciate the concept (See my post of December 8th). Beyond the safety feature, the options are endless. On each plate for our Boxing Day dinner for 20, I placed one in a tiny clay flower pot and buried it with fake snow. They produce a beautiful glow. Just Call me Martha, quite out of character for me.

The Boxing Day event was a success. In the morning I didn’t think I’d be up for it. I’ve had what I though was a low grade migraine thing going on for a week. It peaked on Christmas and Saturday night was miserable. After four doses of Imitrex I still had it. It was particularly bad when I bent forward, reminding me of a past sinus infection. Talked with Ms. nurse-to-be, my daughter who will graduate in April, and she suggested I take some sinus tablets. Sure enough I felt like a new person in time for the party. Seriously, I had lost two nights of sleep thinking I had a migraine.

 

Back to knitting tomorrow!

I am entertaining 20 for Boxing Day and will be in no shape to post. Skal!

Our Christmas traditions:

 

1. Tree goes up Christmas week, each year one child  places the angel on the tree and their name and date are written on the bottom of the angel to avoid future fights.
2. Church on Christmas Eve or in the morning.
3. Santa puts the tinsel on the tree while delivering the presents.
4. Gifts are opened in the morning. Stockings may be opened before parents are up and kids may not awaken parents until sunrise. These days, parents are up before the kids.
5. Duck for Christmas eve dinner or Christmas Day dinner. These meals are scheduled according to when our Danish style celebration is held.
6. Our major celebration is a Danish cold table, this year on Boxing Day. The photo is of last year’s kids’ table. They have decided that they don’t want such hierarchical terms – kids’ table and adults’ table, so we’ve opted for the east table and the west table. This year we’ll have 20 for cold duck, smoked fish, cheese, devilled eggs, and pickled everything including us after a few shots of Aalborg Akvavit.

Hoping the true meaning of Christmas brings you peace and comfort despite the current condition of our world.

I have an ongoing beef about “traditional” Christmas family newsletters. I made a commitment to myself a number of years ago that I would only send them if I could come up with a unique design that reflected the reality of our lives. So, in the spirit of creativity, here is our Christmas letter: Download christmas_04_3.doc .

Merry Christmas from the Boesencrew 

I wanted to share with you a neat knitting story that appeared in my comments on Tuesday. I made a scarf for my friend, Rosie, for her 50th birthday. It was made from Anny Blatt Honeymoon, now discontinued. Rosie wrote:
“I wore your scarf when I subbed in the autistic program at Westover School in Stamford, CT. One little boy looks me in the eye, touches the gorgeous silk and angora scarf and spoke. He initiated the words OOOH Scarf, Feels Soft. That was a milestone on his academic chart.” That makes me smile.
Now, for the recipe:

Cranberry Pear Port Sauce

An unoriginal name for a wonderfully simple and delicious recipe

1 bag cranberries

2 peeled pears, cut into cubes

zest and juice of one orange

1 cup sugar (less if you like it less sweet)

1/2 cup port

Throw it all together in a pot, cook until cranberries pop. Serve warm or cold. It’s great over brie, melted in the microwave, or over cream cheese. Enjoy!

What a day it was today. Chuck is home for the third day with a high fever and hacking cough, the girls were driving back from WA and the car died 42 kilometers from home; presumable the clutch. I know it’s 42 kilometers because the towing company charges $40 + $2/km and I know what I paid. I went to drive the 45 minutes to pick them up and there was an accident on the highway so I couldn’t reach them. The nice tow truck driver delivered them to North Vancouver with the car. Then I dropped a pitcher of orange juice and a plate of roast beef on the kitchen floor and called two friends for sympathy to find neither one home. Calgon, take me away! I had a two year old once, who responded to that with “If you’re going with Calgon, I’m going, too.”
Here’s a last minute finished object – the drop stitch Tartlette scarf, a quick, quick knit. They should all be this easy!