Knit Knit Knit

Like many crafters (I suspect), I go in spells ... for awhile I'm a dedicated quilter, then maybe a couple of weeks of nothing but cross-stitch.  Last weekend and this past week, it's been all about the knitting.  I did several of these ...

 ... hand-knit kid mohair / silk scarves ... light as a sigh and luscious against the skin ... in several different colours (ice blue and raspberry shown above) along with these ...

... felted flower pins to match the scarves.  This yarn felts beautifully by hand ... just massage gently with a little dish soap under running water ... and dries to a delicate soft felted finish.  I have also knitted several pairs of these ...

... thrummed mitts, or "30 below mitts" as I like to call them because all that unspun sheeps wool knitted inside ...

... will keep your pinkies perky when it's forty below!  (I know because I wear mitts like this myself, and it gets that cold here at times.)  All this knitting has been very satisfying ... seeing all these finished projects stacking up ... but not very pleasing to the feline.

My hu-mom keeps playing with sticks and string, and it all looks REAL interesting ...
but she keeps telling me "NO!  BAD!" 
Hmmpppffff!!!!!!!!

Maybe that's why I've found this ...

... in my bed several mornings this past week!  (It used to dangle from a door knob for Her Pussness's batting pleasure.)  It squeaks very realistically and feels quite convincing when rolled upon unexpectedly.  Boots will be happy to know that I'm about "knitted out" now, and looking forward to starting a big new quilting project soon.  She loves it when "we" quilt (together).

Winter definately seems to be here to stay in my part of the world.  According to the local "old timers" and the Farmers' Almanac, this is going to be a colder snowier winter than usual.  Something to do with "La Nina".  I've probably said this before, but I truly don't mind the cold of winter, which often surprises me with special sights like this ...

... a frozen spider web in the corner of the bus shelter!  (Apparently another bus rider didn't appreciate its beauty because it was gone when I got back from work that day.)  I carry my cheap little digital camera around with me and try to record neat things like the above, or this ...

... lovely but lonely snowy little tree that lives across the street from my apartment building.

Speaking of trees, I have developed a tradition of hanging my one and only Christmas ornament on my little Norfolk Pine tree so that no one can accuse me of being a total un-festive Scrooge.  Well!  Houston, we have a problem!  I can't find my little beaded snowflake ornament this year!  I remember taking it off the pine tree last January ... no, Miss Boots was not involved as she didn't come to live with me until March 2010 ... but have no clue where it went after that.  I might have to go hang out with the above lonely snowy little tree ...

Signed,

Undecorated in Northern BC

Bliss

Merry Christmas everyone! And now that the BIG DAY is finally over, I'm going to share something with the bloggy world. This used to be a secret pleasure ... a sneaky treat, if you will ... but at my age I'm finally long past sneaking and guilt over little moments of pleasure (and DIVINE pleasure at that). So I'm going to share with y'all MY personal definition of

HOLIDAY BLISS.

First, there are some essential pre-conditions:

Cold and snow outside (minus 15 at the moment), and toasty warm inside. CHECK.

Second, there are some necessary PRE-preparations to complete:

One, comfy attire. Elastic waistbands are suggested. I've chosen my favourite and well-worn "the cow jumped over the moon" purple jammies. CHECK.

Two, festive music to set the mood. Andrea Bocelli's CHRISTMAS CD is an excellent choice. This man does things with Jingle Bells (with the able assistance of The Muppets) that simply makes my heart happy! The rest of the CD is pretty darned good too.CHECK.

Three, a festive beverage. Think Christmas dinner here, people. What do YOU feel goes well with turkey and all the trimmings? I chose a lovely Gehringer Brothers Auxerrois for this occasion. Superb flavour! CHECK!

Once these pre-conditions and initial preparations are in place, it's time to get on with the actual preparations. PLEASE NOTE, what I am about to share with you has been perfected over fifty-some years. For maximum pleasure, it is ESSENTIAL to follow the instructions I'm about to share VERY CAREFULLY! If you choose to mess with fifty-some years of wise experience ... well, you do so at your own peril!

Shall we begin?

Let's shall.

One, take two slices of bread ... white, brown, whole-grain, this choice is immaterial ... and BUTTER generously.Yes, I did say BUTTER. This is one of those important moments in life when margarine simply will NOT do! Butter both slices of bread generously, and make sure you spread that butter right to the very edges. No skimping!

Two, spread a THIN layer of cranberry sauce (I prefer the wholeberry kind ... in fact, I make it myself every year from fresh cranberries just before the turkey is cooked) on ONE slice.Spread that cranberry sauce right to the very edges, same as you did with the butter.

Three, spoon a THICK layer of leftover turkey stuffing on top of the cranberry sauce.

The thickness of it will be inversely related to the amount of Christmas dinner guests who helped themselves to an extra helping of stuffing at the table on the Big Day. As you can see, MY dinner guests made piggies of themselves, so my layer of stuffing is a wee bit sparse. (NOTE TO SELF: remember to hide the bowl of stuffing after everyone has ONE serving!)

Three, gently place a teaspoon of leftover turkey gravy on top of the stuffing layer.

Don't be alarmed if your leftover gravy has thickened and congealed. After a night in the fridge, it SHOULD be thickened and congealed! (You DID put it away in the fridge, didn't you? Remember FOOD SAFE!) With the back of the teaspoon, gently and lovingly spread this spoonful of leftover gravy over the layer of stuffing.

Again, work right out to the edges.

Four, dust gravied-stuffing generously with freshly ground black pepper. I like LOTS of pepper! Mm mmm!!

Five, firmly place sandwich halves together and cut into two triangles.

Serve with a dill pickle.

Hey!

Not only did my dinner guests help themselves to seconds of the stuffing, but they also ATE THE LAST OF THE DILL PICKLES!!! (NOTE TO SELF: edit guest list before next Christmas!)

Oh well. T'is the season of peace and goodwill and all that. I guess I can forgive and forget.

Six, enjoy!Pardon the blurry photo ... I just bit into PURE BLISS!

PS: leftover slices of turkey are optional. I'm not personally a big fan of the bird ... so long as I get ample stuffing and gravy.

PPS: potato chips are also optional. Sometimes a little extra CRUNCH of plain old potatoe chips in this blissful sandwich is just what the doctor ordered!

PPPS: Happy Holidays!

November 26th

I just realized that Nablopomo ... or whatever the heck it's called ... is about 4 days from over. This is day 26, and I have actually ... faithfully ... posted something every single day for the past 25 days! I had no idea I had so much trivial crap ... er ... INTERESTING STUFF to blog about.

This post is not what I planned. I was going to share pix of Christmas crafts. Okay, y'all can get up off the floor now. S'true. I did say Christmas crafts. But y'all have to wait until tomorrow now. My mind is kind of full of other stuff at the moment, so that's what I'm going to blog about.

Some time back I was busy grumbling about the task of convincing other people to be so thrilled with the Christmas season that they would make generous donations toward our Christmas hampers project. I really do dislike begging for money! I'm not a happy camper when it comes to fundraising. However, this week we've been realizing the fruits of my fundraising efforts, and today in particular was a very good day.

First, a local business called to say they would sponsor not one but TWO families (families = grandparents raising grandchildren), and could we please choose LARGE families 'cuz the more kids the more fun for their staff! This is the first time my organization has done this sponsor a family thing, and I wasn't at all sure how well it was going to be accepted. The community response has been astounding so far. THEN a local retiree group arrived at my office with ...... 75 hand-sewn shopping bags filled with goodies for our elderly hamper recipients! I have to admit the generosity of this community is very touching this time of year ... even to a Scrooge like me. And THEN I was invited to a local crafters guild meeting to receive ...... a substantial cheque toward revitalizing one of our organization's most important outreach programs! This is a photo of me receiving the cheque ... and that smile is absolutely 150% genuine. And look! My broken right foot actually fits in a shoe again! Okay, the shoe is unbuckled, but don't tell anyone. I also received a fabulous little perk after that cheque presentation ...... an invitation to stick around for a craft demonstration, and the gift of a kit to make my very own Cathedral Window Pincushion. How cool is that?

November 25th

One month from right now, I hope to be ... well, not here! I hope to be doing what I like to do for Christmas. Y'all know I'm basically a Scrooge at heart, right? Well, you should also know that my heart is not COMPLETELY Scroogish! Close to completely, but not completely.

How can I claim this?

'Cuz I DECORATED my livingroom last night! See? No, NOT the Christmas Cacti ... but they are starting to bloom rather nicely, and just in time. They are both about double the size they were last year when I got them. Get a little closer to my living room windowsill ...... now do you see? No? Well for Pete's Sake look closer ...... surely you can see all my decorations NOW! That's right! The beaded snowflake in my Norfolk Pine! That's my official Christmas decorations. That's it ... that's the sum total. Unless of course you count Marge the Moose's festive red bow ...... although it isn't REALLY a Christmas bow. It just happens to be red. And festive. Like Marge.

Just wait until tomorrow ... I've got pictures of something that will really astound and amaze you (coming from a Scrooge)!