The Greatest Gift is....

...hearing your four year old sing in the Christmas Show! (Yes, people, FOUR!!!) This mom was teary eyed through the whole production.

.....finding some time for yourself to knit. And using that time to finish up your oldest work in progress and finish knitting all the components to another. (Pictures to come before the end of the year).

.....knowing that your stash has lots of juicy yarn for any number of projects to keep you fingers happy should more time come your way.

Hope that the greatest gift has found its way to your house too!!

Knitting a Monkey

A Monkey Sock, that is. Yes, indeed, I have!!

And it has been FUN.

It would have been more fun if summer vacations hadn't kept interrupting my knitting time. Or if I hadn't just started my newest new job. [This one is a keeper!] Or if...the list goes on.

For this sock pair I used Socks that Rock Lightweight yarn, Puck's Mischief colourway.. Socks that Rock yarn IS all that it is cracked up to be. It IS all that and a bag of chips. Don't go looking for this colourway though, for it has been officially taken off the market.

Then again, what greater pleasure is there than finding a discontinued yarn colourway on the internet?

Rowan Cork, Very Berry colourway anyone?

The Full Bounty

This was today's lunch! I call it "Chicen Creole" because the taste reminded me of my mother's shrimp creole, one of the most flavorful dishes I have ever had. EVER. The recipe was simple: 2 frozen chicken tenderloins (Trader Joe's), cup of chopped multi coloured peppers (Trader Joe's), a 1/4 cup of frozen onions (local), a cup of homemade chicken stock, two teaspoons of canola oil, and a 1/4 cup of cooked rice (leftover from dinner a few nights ago). Sautee the chicken for two or three minutes or until the outside layer begins to cook. Add stock and simmer until chicken is tender. Add peppers and onions. Add salt and pepper to taste. When peppers and onions are cooked, add rice. Serve immediately!! And, for my Weight Watcher readers out there, this recipe for one serving is only 8 points!! (And, since I am always most hungry at lunch, I am perfectly happy to eat 8 points at lunch. Especially a hearty, healthy, and filling lunch as this. (Especially since I usually only eat 3 or 4 points at lunch!)

Did I mention that I love Trader Joes? I LOVE TRADER JOES. It is a veritable Weight Watcher Cook's Heaven. My newest favorite find there? Greek yogurt for a fraction of the cost of Fage!! YUM!!

Ok, for those of you who only come here for the knitting, onto the knitting! OPK. Other People's Knitting. And in this instance, that "other people" is Polly, my Rowanette Knitting Exchange pal. I have been SO LUCKY every time I participate in this exchange, for each year I have participated I have received a fabulous package of knitted and non knitted goods. Polly sent me not one but TWO pairs of socks, among other thins!!

The first pair of socks is the Child's First Socks from Nancy Bush's Vintage Socks and is made from Rowan 4 ply Cotton. LOVE THEM. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. THEM.

Now, any other knitter would have stopped there. But Polly is not any other knitter. She is POLLY!! As generous as she is gifted with the needles. And no one is more Polly than Polly. Included in my fabulous package was this second pair of socks:

These socks are knit from Hipknits Cashmere in a really fabulous shade of green. In the her note to me Polly writes, " The green socks I had some misgivings....they are rather densely knit in Hipknits Casmere and should make good bed socks." When I wrote to Polly she told me to throw them "in the bin" if I didn't like them. Well, the only way I would throw these in the bin was if I LOST MY MIND, which I don't plan on doing in the near future. (Hey, I have a kid to put through college and maybe even graduate school!!) And, if I did put them in the bin, my neice would be the first one out there fishing them out!! (She tried to convince me that I "needed" to give them to her!!)(Back off sista!!) Polly did not say what the pattern was, so if you have any clues, please leave a comment.

Polly's package also came with a lovely little pink knitted beaded bag that contained a fabulously fragrant bar of soap. Darling Daughter immediately took possession of the bag. It is now her "treasure purse." (Sorry, no picture!!) It also came with a box of truffles. (Sorry, no picture. Truffles were eaten long before this post by Darling Daughter and me, long before I started my new "get in shape for my favorite season fall Weight Watcher membership.") I do have a picture of the last thing that was in my package. It was this:

Two luscious skeins of Pieces of Beauty sock yarn in one of my favorite colours: pink and brown. OMG!!! OMG!!! OMG!!

My bounty IS full, with all of this and more that I am not at liberty to blog about at this time. Thank you, Polly for your continued generosity and kindness to me and Darling Daughter. (AND, thank you, thank you, thank you, to the big guy/gal upstairs watching over Darling Daughter and I. Thank you for taking care of us. Really and truly.)

We are off to London this week. YES!! LONDON! We have a meetup scheduled with two celebrity knitbloggers which will be well documented if one of them, doesn't, um, drink too much and blogged about upon our return. If you have a favorite spot in London or within an hour or so's travel therefrom, please DO let me know. Ta Ra!!

Friday Postcard - 08.24.2007

Portrait of a Young Girl with Her First Fish.

Yes, Her First Fish. Caught in the wilds of New Hampshire. Life has been good around here this summer. What with the vacationing, the fishing, and the museum going, and the deliciousness of doing nothing at all, life for us has been good.

Here's to more of the good life for our family, heck, for everyone.

Wish you were here.

Finally

These darn socks are finally done. And now that they are done, they are getting shipped out to my Rowan Exchange partner ASAP. I hope my Rowan Exchange pal likes them.

The gory details: Plain vanilla top down socks, prototype pattern from Ann Budd's Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns. Yarn is Great Adirondack Yarn Soxie, Kenya colourway.

The yarn is absolutely beautiful and my photo of the finished socks does not do it justice. I would use this yarn again in a New York Minute, but would chose a lighter colourway instead, for with my bad eyes I had a hard time reading the stitches and kept dropping them.

I will not tell you how many times I frogged the heel on both socks. I will not tell you how many times I frogged the foot on both socks. I will not tell you how I have grown to dislike kitchener stitch. These socks made me feel like a bumbling beginner.

I will say that I cannot wait to start another pair of socks FOR ME!! And I have some to die for sock yarn waiting in the wings. I will also say that I have something on the needles for Darling Daughter that she is going to look DE-vine in.

And, for those summer dieters or looking forward to fall dieters, what would you knit for yourself if you lost 10lbs? Twenty pounds? This curly haired knitter wants to know.