*365* January 12 - Mr. Ducky Says Hello

My photo for yesterday, submitted without comment ('nuf said):

Days 10 and 11 - The 365 Project

Here is my day 10 submission for the 365 photos project: Fresh Socks!

 I love getting new socks. Eventually I will become proficient at knitting my own but until then I love K. Bell socks. They're comfy, come in cool patterns AND have my initials embroidered on the toe (that's a great conversation starter...people actually think that I have that done, lol!)
Now for day 11: Let Sleeping Noahs Lie

I was at home today waiting for the inspector for the city to come and give us the green light to fire up the solar panels we had installed last week. Needless to say both kitties were excited to have human company, Noah especially. At one point he pushed the knitting out of my lap so that he could cuddle up on my chest.  This was a tricky shot to get, had to mute my phone and move very slowly...you can see one of his peepers open with a warning leer.  He was still happy though.

*365* January 9 - I'm Tired!

Last night, it was 8:15 and I was fading fast.  I decided to just give in and go to sleep.  As I lay there I realized that I didn't take my picture for day 9 of my 365 project.  What better way to document the fact that I am a 90-year-old woman than by publicly posting that I was in bed and ready for sleep at 8:47pm!?



So there it is!  My bedtime last night.  Personally, for being a list minute picture, I am IN LOVE with this.  If you have an iPhone (or it might be available on Android now...not sure), you need to check out Instagram.  It's such a cool way to spice up otherwise dull photos!

Project 365 - A year in photos

I tried this a couple years ago, but failed after day 5.  I'm now on day 9 so I think I can publicly commit this year!

The object of this challenge is to sharpen your photography skills: take at least one photo a day for a year.  Mine has no theme other than just "my life." I'm sort of using it as a visual journal to see what was going on throughout the year.

Without further ado here we go!

January 1 - Rusty At Sleeping


This is my friend Punch's cat, Rusty. He's the sort of cat who is anyone's friend.  Poor little guy had just gotten in a fight with the cat next door on New Year's Day and needed some major nap time on my lap.  I was more than happy to offer up my services.

January 2 - Last Day of Vacay


Taken with Instagram (LOVE IT!!) it's my last glass of wine before winter break ended and I had to go back to work.  I savored it!

January 3 - FAIL! (See January 4)

January 4 - From Fail Comes Win!

I realized as I woke up on Wednesday morning I forgot to take a picture on Tuesday....oh well, it became the subject of my next day's picture.  I'm not giving up though!

January 5 - A momentous occasion!

If you look very closely you'll see a black blob on Wino's lap...that is our kitty Margot who has NEVER, I repeat NEVER sat on our laps before in her entire 6 years of existence!  While this isn't the best quality photo, it needed to be documented none-the-less.

January 6 - Friday Nights

A typical Friday night in our house: wine, food, and tv.  (Yes, I still had my Christmas tree up then....we did take it down this past Sunday - Don't Judge ME!)

January 7 - Hexipuffs A-Go-Go

My first ever hexipuff for my Beekeeper's Quilt.  Since Saturday I've knit nearly 3!  I'm aiming for 300 at minimum.

January 8 - Cliche, no?

Yeah, yeah, we set up the work out equipment around new years.....its a resolution of sorts but less to do with the new year and more to do with the "omg-I'm-turning-30-this-year-and-am-freaking-out-because-I-still-haven't-reached-my-weight-loss-goal-yet" thing.

Today's picture will come later tonight...once I take it.  Enjoy!

The Presents are Pouring In!

So, right before Christmas I finally made a decision on what spinning wheel I wanted.  At first I had myself convinced that I wanted an Ashford Kiwi, but then lo-and-behold the "Cadillac" of spinning wheels appeared on eBay and made me second guess.  A Schacht Matchless was up for auction!  I gave myself a maximum I could spend on it, did lots of research as to why this would be better than a Kiwi and decided to place a bid on the last day of the auction as long as it was below my max.

Well, sadly it wasn't.  So the Matchless slipped through my fingers.  Sad and pouty I went with Wino to work at the gallery in Carmel, and happened in on a quaint little knitting store to pick up the spare yarn for the rest of Salt's headband (see the previous post where I talk about that). In the corner of that store sat a fancy looking wheel.  Wino points to it and says "Is that the wheel you'd wanted?"  I looked at it and said "No, I think that's a Kromski, I'm looking at a Schacht."  Then I asked the owner of the shop if the wheel was indeed a Kromski and explained that I've been doing quite a bit of research on wheels lately.  She said she loved hers for many reasons but one was because it had a small footprint.

That little encounter got the wheels (pun intended) a-spinnin' (again, pun intended) in my little brain.  I got home and started looking at Kromskis and fell in love with the Minstrel.  It was reasonably priced, did everything that the Matchless did and came in a beautiful mahogany finish.  Lets just say that it took me less than a week to click the "Buy It Now" button on that one.  She arrived on the 23rd.

Everyone: I want you to meet Gwendolyn!

Isn't she just breathtaking!?  Sigh. I swoon each time I see her, even still.

I've been a bad spinner though, I haven't touched the poor thing since December 26th.  I've been all rush, rush, rush since then.  I go into the guest room to ogle her at least once a day though :)  I plan to spin some this weekend.

I've been a busy bee otherwise.  We took a trip to Napa (I was sick 100% of that trip, 'twas not that fun, but I still managed to get in some wine tasting).  Sadly, I was still sick for New Years Eve and spent it at home on the couch with Wino instead of with the "gang." That's ok, there's always next year.
I realized, on the first though that "this year" I'll be turning 30.  That made me panic for a moment (actually I've been panicking since then, but I'm trying not to show it!) I realized that I need to get my butt in gear and lose these last 23 or so pounds to make Lifetime in Weight Watchers.  So I've rededicated my efforts to get healthy again.  So far I've lost nearly half a pound....but getting back on this horse has been a struggle.

This past weekend we set up our new work out room.  Gotta get back to that running!

On to knitting progresses!
Salt ADORED her scarf/headband (yay!), and Pepper liked his scarf!  Joyous noise all around!

I finished my first sock:

There was no second sock syndrome, I cast on for sock #2 right away and was almost done with the leg ribbing, until I dropped a stitch and was too frustrated to pick it back up.  So I ripped the whole thing out.  The sock yarn is now resting at the bottom of my knitting bag.

I finally started the front of my sweater for the Lion Brand knit-a-long.  It's coming along slowly.

And finally, my LYS is hosting a year-long KAL for the Beekeeper's Quilt.  If you haven't heard of this, look it up.  It's awesome take-along knitting.  I even took mine to the airport with me to pick up a friend.  It's great way to pass the time and oh-so-adorable!

Ok, that's enough with the updates!  I'll be posting shortly announcing my new 365 days project (In which you're suppose to take a picture every day).  I'm going to try to post each picture here, beginning today (and I'll get you caught up from January 1).  Enjoy!

Flyin' By

How the heck did we get to December already?! That's what I want to know!  It's extremely difficult for me to believe that it's just over two weeks until Christmas!

Thankfully most of my shopping is done, I just need to get something for my dad, and wrap things for everyone else!  Go me!  I planned ahead this year!

As for knitting, I've pared down my original list.  The nieces will get no knitting this year, due to a technicality in finding an appropriate pattern for Girly.  Bro-in-law's scarf has now become Pepper's scarf, and I'm chugging away on Salt's scarf.  It will definitely be long enough with the amount of yarn I have left, and that makes me happy (especially after I ran out of yarn for Chicka's scarf!)

I had to take the picture in Instagram and use a fancy filter to get that color to come out remotely true.  It's still such a lovely yarn, I don't think I could get tired of it.  I still get gasps at Knitter's Anonymous on Wednesday nights, and usually at least one person comes by to pet it.  As you can see by the picture it's really long!  I'm so happy (and more realistically, relieved) that I had enough yarn.  My own mother was giving me a hard time because she didn't think I would have enough.  Boo-ya Mom!  Take that!

I'm currently in Carmel, we're at the gallery.  I'm knitting in the office (and catching up on my podcasts--knitting of course) and I'm hoping to have this critter pretty well done by the time we leave here at 5pm (I've got two hours....can I make it?!)  I mention where I'm at because I actually need another skein of this Malabrigo wonder!  Salt put in an extra request to have a head band (a la our other friend Giggles'), made out of the same yarn as her mitts (which yes, I finally did finish and sewed the buttons on!).  So I found a LYS in Monterey that sells Malabrigo yarns and plan to hit it up before we leave.

I will have a post soon showing all the delicious food we had at Thanksgiving.  I've been knitting my fingers to the bone lately so I haven't gotten around to writing that up.

Until next update, and hopefully with Salt's scarf and head band finished!

Ta-ta!

Edited 12/11

So guess who finished Salt's scarf before she left Carmel.....I'll wait while you think.....*whistles*

You're right!!  Me!!!  Plus I got another ball of Malabrigo in the same color way and have 10 inches of a headband on the needles!  Woot for progress!!

Prepping For The Feast

I'd rather not talk about November.....especially the NaNoWriMo portion of it.  I'll get into the details of what happened some other time.  I just can't bring myself to talk about it at this moment.

Instead, I am going to prepare you for the hilarity that may ensue at our house the day after tomorrow (otherwise known as "Thanksgiving" here in the US of A).  I shall see if I'm still thankful after Thursday....we may need to rename the day.

So here's my menu for the day.  It is gleaned mostly from the Food and Wine November 2011 issue.

For the main attraction (the Bird) I will be serving a Cider-Glazed Turkey with Lager Gravy.  Next up is the veggie dish.  Now here I will put in an aside...I am trying something new and unique...I've never eaten a Brussels Sprout in my life.  Why then am I cooking them for Thanksgiving?  'Cause I'm adventurous (I hope the rest of our guests are just as adventurous!).  I am making Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Capers, Walnuts and Anchovies.  Don't everyone scream at once!!  I know, I know, "anchovies," but take a look at that picture and tell me that doesn't look delicious!  I will also be making mashed potatoes from our Anthony Bordain cooking class from Sur la Table (they are scrumptious).  I'm going for a "heartland" theme, so to go with that I picked up some mac & cheese from Costco.  I'm also going to bake some bread.  Finally, for the icing on the cake (literally), I will make a Pumpkin Spice Cake, a recipe I found on Country Living.

We will be hosting 7 people to our home: Wino and me (obviously), my parents, and Wino's parents & grandma.  It should be quite a nice time, very low-key.

Wish me luck, here's hoping there are no disasters that involve smoke detectors!