Eye Candy Friday

Birds

Holly

Book Review: Alterknits

AlterKNITS, Imaginative Projects and Creativity Exercises by Leigh Radford published by STC Craft/A Melanie Falick Book, 2005.

1. Altar: an elevated place or structure, on which sacrifices are offered or at which religious rites are performed
2. Alter: to make different in some particular; modify, to become different in some respect.
(The American College Dictionary)

When I first picked up this books I was thinking of definition #1 something along the lines of knitting as religion/philosophy so you can imagine my delight and surprise when I found this book was all about definition #2. This book contains not only innovative patterns from sweaters to cushions, from hats to door screens (yep, I said door screens). Not only are her patterns innovative but she uses every kind of material possible, not only yarn, but also nylon cord, crepe paper, wire, cut up t-shirts, ribbon and recycled sweaters. With easy to read patterns and schematics this book is fantastic. But wait there's more as if a book full of great patterns weren't enough Leigh went one step further with inspiring activities to stimulate creativity and inspire the reader to reach beyond themselves in their craft. I love this book. It is most definitely going into my collection of knitting books.
Holly

Secret Spinning

Before I get to Secret Spinning I must say a bit about Tasty Tuesday. I was all set to write about my newest culinary expirence when I realized that today was not Tuesday but Wednesday and I am completely confused. So I will save my culinary expirence until next week, I have not given up on Tasty Tuesday. Stay tuned.
Now...
I signed up for 2 separate swaps, which are supposed to be kept secret. However I am so very excited about this yarn that I am making for one of my people I simply must share. It is going to be a three ply sock yarn made from medium wool. It is in my person's favorite colors. I have 2 plys completely done and am almost done with the third.

Here is a picture.

Holly

Oh, I almost forgot...
I have to mention this. My hat is off to Google who does doodles for many holidays and they did a great doodle for Christmas celebrating the hand knit gift .
Holly

And now back to our regularly scheduled knitting...
I love boxing day, of course we don't celebrate it as such in the U.S. but I love it. I love it because the entire month of December is like a snowball, you know the kind you see in cartoons. It starts out really small and slow and it grows and grows swallowing everything it its path until, boom it explodes at the bottom of the mountain. Christmas is the boom, boxing day is the sitting up taking a breath and making sure that all of the essential parts are still there. Now, don't get me wrong I love Christmas but it always get just a little insane.
Christmas Goodness
I got few gifts this year which is fine, because I got what I really wanted this year, the gift of better breathing via an air purifier. I also got a great needle storage container, knitting stitch book and my husband completely surprised me with an ipod!!! I have been listening to a lot of knitting podcasts lately and he noticed. He is totally my hero.
The buffalo
I'd just thought I'd share: my husband has this dream of one day owning a bison farm, so for Christmas I got him this:

It is a needle felted ornament, and I must say the hit of the party (he's anatomically correct) . He's made by a Michigan based company called AuGres Sheep Factory that looks really neat. I bought him at my favorite LYS, Neighborhood Knits.
And if that wasn't enough:
As we were falling asleep last night a little voice comes wafting into our room. "Mommy my tooth came out" Really, the tooth fairy and Santa Claus on the same day, does it get any better?

Holly

The Twelfth Joy of Christmas
and I think the most important to me. The celebration of the birth of the Christ. Whatever beliefs you hold and whatever it is that you celebrate it is my fervent wish that you would find peace, joy and love in this season.
Holly

The Eleventh Joy of Christmas
Christmas Cards
They are not only a great way to decorate during the season, but I always save them for fun, crafty projects and gift tags.
May you have joy in this season

Holly

Eye Candy Friday

Frosted Ivy

Holly

Technorati tags: eye candy friday

The Tenth Joy of Christmas
Happy Surprises and Polish dinner.
So here is the story: I was waiting for my daughter to get out of school last Monday when my Brother-in-Law walks up to me (this is not an unusual occurace as his son and my daughter are in the same class) and says "Are you planning on doing the Polish Christmas Eve?" Utterly confused, as I have never done the Polish Christmas Eve dinner I reply "I wasn't planning on it, why?" "Well" he says "I bought all the stuff to do the Polish Christmas Eve dinner." "Oh in that case" I say excitedly, "sure we'll have the Polish Christmas Eve dinner."

When I was first married, we used to go to my husband's father's side of the family for Christmas eve. They are Catholic and go to Midnight Mass, so there is the whole evening for Christmas festivities. They always had a traditonal Polish Dinner called a Wigilia (although, ours was not meatless). There was kielbasa, pierogi, saurkraut, boiled potatoes, sledzia (creamed herring) with cream puffs for dessert. Before dinner you had Oplatek, which is a really thin wafer, you went and broke off peices of other people's wafer and wished them peace. It was so good and totally different from my traditions, as my heritage is not Polish, but rather German and generationally a lot further from the old country than my husband's family. After my husband's paternal grandmother died the dinners didn't happen any more. So you can understand my excitement when my Brother-in-Law (who, by the way, is Dutch in heritage) proposed having Wilgilia (and cooking to boot). This truly is an exepected Christmas Joy!
Wesolych Swiat Bozego Narodzenia! (Merry Christmas)
Holly

Post Script: If you would like to hear a really funny song about Polish food at Christmas get (or borrow from your local library) Veggietunes: A Very Veggie Christmas
Technorati tags: Christmas

Tasty Tuesday

Now I know that there is someone out there who is looking at this picture and saying to themselves, "this woman is pathetic, she's never made hamburgers and tater tots." Well I have made hamburgers and tater tots and this is not it. This is a picture of a venison burger and tater tots. Recently we purchased a quantity of venison. As I have never worked with this meat before I immediately went to the local library and check out both books on venison (I was impressed that they had 2), Oh Deer, The Venison Cookbook for Beginners, by Cheri Helregel and Venison by Rebecca Gray. There were a lot of good recipes in these books but none for an easy hamburger so I kind of made it up. It is really hard to just squish the meat into patties like hamburger because it is so lean so I added a dash or two of Worcestershire sauce and a hand full of breadcrumbs and it tasted pretty good. It got rave reviews from the family. I have one more food picture: when I put the tater tots on the stone to cook the reminded me of Stonehenge, yea I know I'm a little weird.
Fiber Content

The pink socks are done, woo hoo. As this is my only bit of Christmas knitting that I am doing this year, I feel very good about finishing before Christmas. Now I just have to pack them up with a nice how to care for your handknit socks tag and get them off to their intended recipient.

Holly

Technorati tags: cooking,knitting

The Ninth Joy of Christmas

Lights

Our family likes to drive around after service on Christmas eve and view all of the lights.

There are places that we could go and spend money to see lights

But I prefer to see how people are creative with their houses in the neighborhood.

Peace to you in this season.

Holly

Technorati tags: Christmas

The eighth joy of Christmas

Parties.

The food

The gift exchange

the fiber

Ok, ok, the only party that I really go to every year is my spinning guild, so there is holiday fiber shopping to be done. Oh joy!!
Holly

Technorati tags: Christmas

Eye Candy Friday

Christmas Cactus

Holly

The Seventh Joy of Christmas
snow.

I like snow, especially if I don't have to drive anywhere. It is so much fun to go out with the daughter and make a snowman or snow angels or just tramp around the yard in our boots. The photo of the snowman with incredibly cute kid was from last winter. Unfortunately this year, with temps in the high forties, we haven't had much snow. Never fear, the Internet is here. At the website by Popular Front you can make your own snowflake and watch it fall from the sky. Really fun, really addictive and apparently charitable.
May you find joy in this season.
Holly

The sixth Joy of Christmas

Lebkuchen. Now, I know that this looks like more cookies, and I suppose that would be an accurate observation. For me, however, lebkuchen is so much more than just a cookie. My family lived in Germany for 3 of my formative years (aged 4-7). I have hazy memories of this time, as I suppose most people do. The taste of the lebkuchen, beyond being one of the best cookies on the planet, taste -wise, also brings back to me memories of Kristkindle markt in Nurnburg, trips to the local market in Karlsruhe with my dad, proper bratwurst, brotchen and orange Fanta like you cannot get in the United States and a whole host of other childhood memories. And that is why I buy lebkuchen every year at Christmas, because that is the only time of the year that you can find it. As for the cookie itself, often time in attempt to tell English speakers what is in the package manufacturers will put on the bag or box gingerbread. Let me put the record straight: lebkuchen is not gingerbread. It is a moist, warm tasting, cake or cookie, with just the slightest hint of citrus, often covered in chocolate. I will put in a tiny plug here: I buy my lebkuchen at Cost Plus World Market. It can be very hard to find and I am very, very lucky to have a place that is close that has a decent selection.

My you find joy in this season.

Holly

The fifth Joy of Christmas

Cookies.

I love cookies. I love making cookies. I love eating cookies. I love exchanging cookies (then getting to eat other people's cookies), I love giving cookies as gifts (especially to hungry teenagers who absolutely rave over home baked cookes). There is just something really, really good about cookies.

Here are two differnt kinds that I baked this weekend.

The macaroon Kisses cookies and the snickerdoodle

May the joy of christmas be with you.

Holly

A Perfect Friday Knit Night, Almost

Ok the husband is out, the daughter in bed what is there to do? Relax, of course. At least that is what I did last night. I found the podcast Cast On. Now normally I am not a big fan of listening to other people talk, however I love Cast On. Brenda has a voice that is so comfortable to listen to. She blends stories with music in just the right way. I am hooked. While I was listening to various past episodes I was working on my sample project. I was feeling nice with a fire in the fireplace, listening to Brenda and company read great stories with fabulous music, watching the fair isle pattern come to life beneath my fingers. It was wonderful. So when I realized that I had made a horrible, horrible mistake, it was ok. I know, I know, about gauge. I read the section in Knitting Without Tears on gauge, I understand it. It is just sometimes I don't think that hard and fast rules actually apply to me, and of course, they do. Here is the rule which I declined to aknowlege: smaller yarn=smaller gauge=smaller garment. So, long story short, I ripped out the whole thing, got bigger needles and started a gauge swatch. On the bright side, I will not have a great story to tell my knitting class about why knitting a gauge swatch is so important. Now, I am off to bake Christmas cookies.

Holly

The fourth Joy of Christmas
is stockings. I made all three.

This is also my eye candy. Just imagine sitting in front of the fireplace, so relaxing.

Holly

Teaching Thursday
Teaching Knitting:
I have taught knitting classes for about 5 years. I like it because it is completely different than teaching school. The people in the classes are adults and generally want to be there, sometimes there are people who are humoring the friends who dragged them along, but usually everyone is eager to learn. The odd thing about teaching adults is frequently I am teaching women who are old enough to be my mother and that is a bit intimidating. The class I teach most often is beginning knitting. It is freqently funny when first time knitters walk into the class. There are double takes, stares and the question "Are you the teacher?" Appearently people expect an eighty-two year old instead of a thirty-two year old. But they quickly get over it and we move on in style. My classes are very workshop based, essentially what I do is introduce the project, get everyone started, then move from person to person, helping them and moving them along as each person is ready. I find the students respond to this because they are not pressured to keep up with everyone else, and can work at their own pace, which reduces stress.

I have see this question posed in several venues, so I thought I would endeavor to answer it. "How do you get started teaching knitting classes?"
There are several ways.
8 Check out your local community education department. Ours is assoicated with the public schools. Almost all of the districts around here have them. This is how I got started.
8 Go hang out at your local yarn store. Many have drop in knitting nights. Make friends, influence people, heck, just come right out and ask if they are looking for a teacher.
8 Check out the big box craft stores like JoAnn's and Michaels , I have seen want ads for teachers in their stores from time to time.

So to conclude this Teaching Thursday post I have a small, but exciting, announcement: I am extending my teaching to my local yarn store, Neigborhood Knits. I will be teaching two classes this winter, I am very excited.

Holly
Technorati tags: teaching, knitting

The Third Joy Of Christmas
is the holiday plants such Christmas cactus, poinsetta and, of course, holly. I love the botanical red and greens of the season.

My husband is amazing with plants. These Christmas Cati bloom every year. We got the little one with dark pink blossoms 2 years ago. It was just 3 leaves.
Joy to you in this season,
Holly

Technorati tags: Christmas

Tasty Tuesday

I did it, Yea! I made something new and exciting for my family for dinner. I was looking for something to do with left over turkey, and found it. This is the Pampered Chef's turkey cranberry holiday wreath if you are interested the recipie is here. It looks really spiffy, but is not actually that hard.

I thought that the pre-stuffed wreath looked really pretty, like a star. Here is the finished product. I served it with green beans. It got a big thumbs up from the husband, but just a lackluster "can I have more green beans" response from the daughter. I thought it was very tasty.

Fiber content:

Well, knit unto others is done for this year. I didn't win any of the cool prizes. What I did win is the good feeling that happens when you help someone else. I also won a new habit. The habit of knitting for charity. I am almost done with my second hat, I am into the second decreases. Here is a picture: I did finally cast on my sample (pics and more on Thursday), and I need to finish the pink socks. I have no spinning to report, because I am just too busy knitting.

Holly
Technorati tags: knitting, cooking

The Second Joy of Christmas

is angels. I've always loved angels, I'm don't really dwell on them, except maybe at Christmas. They are such a part of the Christmas story. First to Zarchariah, then to Mary, Joseph in the dream and finally the shepards. I have collected angel ornaments since I was a little girl. My mom gave me an ornament every year, saying that one day when I left home I would have some nice ornaments to hang on my own tree. What do you know, she was right. Here are three of my favorite ornaments.

Angels are also a part of new tradition that we have started in our family. We participate (through our church) in angel tree. We always get a girl about my daughter's age. This is to remind her (and us) how blessed we are, especially at this time of the year. This also gives me a great excuse to go shopping with my daughter, and spend time with her.

Joy to you in this season.

Holly
Technorati tags: Christmas

The first joy of Christmas
is the advent calendar. I've had one every year for as long as I can remember. Now the calendar is technically my daughter's but I still opening the little doors with her full of anticipation about what will be behind each one. Some years we buy them from the store, some years I make something. I saw some really neat sketches for advent calendars that Tasha Tudor did at an exhibit at the Henry Ford. Here is a picture of the one that we got this year. It is store bought with little chocolates in every door.
Joy to you in this Christmas season.
Holly

Technorati tags: Christmas

12 Joys of Christmas
Ok, I am trying to put up my Christmas Tree, I have been cleaning for what feels like a month on top of my already way too busy life. I am definitely feeling the song "the 12 pains of christmas", annoyed with everything from the tree to the cards to shopping and everything else associated with this holiday all the while snapping at my family and friends. Finally, I just dropped everything (litereally) in exasperation and sat down at the computer to take a mental break. While listening to some calming Christmas music I was reminded that this holiday is not about shopping and trees and cards but rather about peace, love and joy. So I am going to start the 12 joys of Christmas to remind me of those things that are really important at this time of year. I would invite you to do the same (take a button from the side bar). Do it once or twice or 12 days in a row, it doesn't matter, just find 12 things that makes Christmas special to you and share the joy.





Holly

Technorati tags: Christmas