Saturday, December 10, 2011

Progress Report

Well, I'm happy to say that I do have a lot of progress to report! In case you didn't read my earlier post, I said that I had a lot I wanted to accomplish today and that I would report back with my progress.

We were out the door at a reasonable hour and scooted around town getting some errands done first. Then it was off to do some Christmas shopping. I was really happy with some of the bargains I found. Of course we had to check out the new bookstore! We've been lost since Borders closed its doors in the summer and now we're so happy that Books-a-Million has moved into the location. Today was their second day open. My knitting group is overjoyed... but that's a post for another day.

We ate lunch at the food court of the mall and while we were there we played a little trick on our friend Robbie from knitxcore. You see, we were eating our lunch when we spied him coming into the food court, so we tweeted him and asked him what he was getting for lunch. Then we watched as he looked at his phone and then looked around for us. We could see him, but he couldn't see us. It was mean and creepy, I know, but we did reveal ourselves soon enough. Sorry Robbie!

While we were out, we picked up some ingredients for the baking I had planned and then we were headed home. By 5:00 we had Christmas music playing, I had my apron on and I was working away in the kitchen. First I made a pot of the Yarn Harlot's Emergency Soup. Mine is just a little bit different than hers. I didn't have leeks on hand, so added onion and celery instead. This soup is easy to make, tastes sooooo good, and as a bonus it's really good for you. Mine looks a little different than the Harlot's because I think I didn't puree enough of it.




While the soup was simmering, I started on the baking. I did a test run of these cute mini pies. I want to give these as gifts. There are five of us from different departments at work who have become close friends and exchange a token little gift each year. Just something inexpensive like a candle or ornament or something yummy from our kitchen. It's fun to see what each of us will come up with each year.

Last year Bonnie gave us these cute little snowman statues. Each of them were a little different. I keep mine on my desk all year round. I think we all do.


But, back to the pies... I decided to make Apple Cranberry Pies with my favorite crust recipe. It's been a while since I've made pies so I was a little rust working with the dough. I think I need some practice making them look good. At 7:00 the pies were popped into the oven.


The cranberries gave them a very tart taste and I liked them that way, but I'm not sure everyone will. When I make them again, I'll either add more sugar or leave out the cranberries.



By 8:00 I was snuggled up in the living room with doggie, crocheting, and a magazine on my lap...


...while I watched White Christmas.


AND, I was able to get the blog post done before the night was over. Now that's progress!


Committed

I'm committed to getting a lot done today. The list is long.


Knitting
Crocheting
Shopping
Cooking
Baking
and most importantly... blogging about it!


I'll be back later to report on my progress of the day.


Hope your day is a holly, jolly one!

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Secret Knitting

I've got so much Christmas knitting going on right now! I've planned two knitted gifts for each of the people in my immediate family. Realistically I'll probably only be able to finish one gift for each person in time for Christmas, but hey, I can dream can't I? I'll get the second gift finished before the winter season is over. Hey, who doesn't like a nice hand knit New Years gift?


There's one young man who lives in my house whose knitted Christmas gift is almost always given to him after Christmas... for a several reasons.

  1. His gifts are rarely a surprise because he tells me specifically what he wants me to make him and he goes with me to purchase the yarn. Since it's not a surprise, I leave his knitting till last, after everyone else's is done. He says he doesn't mind.
  2. He usually asks for something I hate to knit... like a  scarf. Since it's something I hate to knit, I leave his knitting till last, after everyone else's is done. He says he doesn't mind.
  3. He usually asks for something that will take me a really long time to knit... like a scarf. Since it is going to take a lot of knitting time to complete, I leave his knitting till last, after everyone else's is done. He says he doesn't mind.
  4. It's really difficult to knit his gifts without him seeing me do it, since he still lives under my roof! Even if he knows what I'm knitting, it would be nice if he didn't actually see me doing it. Since he's always around and the others have moved away, I leave his knitting till last, after everyone else's is done. He says he doesn't mind.

This year the young man has asked me to make the Dr. Who Scarf! Needless to say, I am not working on this right now! And, he knows it. He's convinced that he won't be getting his knitted Christmas gift until weeks after the fact! But remember, I have two ideas for everyone on my list!


So, I'm doing a bit of secret knitting this year. I've taken care of three of the four reasons why he doesn't get his gift until after Christmas. Although #1 is still a problem since he helped pick out the yarn for this gift, at least it's not a scarf! And best of all, I have figured out how to get it done without him seeing me do it!


I keep it in this cute little Secret bag, handy at all times. I work on it when he's out of the room and when I hear him coming, I tuck it back in the bag and grab another project. I am absolutely, positively, sure that there is no risk of him looking into this bag and ruining the secret! He'd rather put his eyes out with a hot poker than look into this bag! In fact, he probably thinks his eyes will spontaneously burn out of his head if he looked into this bag!




I think my secret is safe. He's going to be so surprised! Hee, hee.



Saturday, December 3, 2011

A Bit of Whimsy

I made myself a whimsical scarf. It is from Twinkie Chan's book Crochet Goodies for Fashion Foodies.




It makes me smile.




I really like things that make me smile.