Tale of Two Thanksgivings

We are fortunate to have a good portion of my family living within an hour’s drive. Holidays are never spent alone, and in fact, we benefit from multiple dinners every Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas – any special occasion really. Most of the time, I spend days griping about the (short) drive, the inconvenient timing, a family feud – nearly anything I could possibly think of making into a justifiable complaint. And nearly always I am proven extremely wrong and a little bit insane. Oh, there are moments where I would be interested in strangling a relative or two, but I am sure it is tenfold in return. I think there are groups of stranglers lying in wait for me all the time.
Back on the topic of Thanksgiving! This is what I mean by veering off. Anyway, we had two lovely turkey dinners. We reconnected with our parents, grandparents, aunts ‘n’ uncles, cousins, and nieces ‘n’ nephews. The driving was scenic with the my favourite autumn colours and lots of sunshine. The weather was glorious – it was 30 degrees celcius. That’s mother-flippin’ hot. The girls were kept busy raking leaves, listening to funny family stories, walking in the woods, riding the little tractor and wagon, petting horses, catching up with cousins, lounging in the hammock under the twinkling lights, and sitting around the campfire. I took piles of pictures and laughed and laughed. I think my family is crazy in the bestest way.
I have yet to scrounge up a set of 5.5 mm dpns, but I am keeping my fingers crossed. I think this is my knitting karma telling me to finish the mother-flippin’ sock already, and I am going to listen for once. My knitting karma will reward me with some dynamite sleeves if I knit up those dang socks for the love of Todd. This, I am certain.

Remember when I couldn’t find an evening group for the life of me? Well, now I have them coming out my butt! Em’s old library branch is holding a free drop-in knit gathering twice a month, and London Yarns is resuming the defunct weekly KNIT Club this month! As luck would have it, both are on Thursdays, but there’s enough of me to go around. As with nearly everything I do, I will try the free group out first, and if all goes well, I can mix it up a bit. I will let you know how it goes.

I have nothing planned this evening – just me and sock #1, and some crafting and baking with the tots. Plus I have fabric remnants slewed all over my white sofa which isn’t really that great-looking, so tidying is definitely in order.
Hope you get connected soon, T. I am not doing the blog justice with my rambling.

N

Happy Thanksgiving

I have drafted about twenty posts since last Sunday, but none were right. Once I get writing I can veer off in directions I never imagined. So let's keep it simple.

The buttony is coming along nicely. I am actually nearly finished the body, and I am searching for a set of 5.5mm double pointed needles. Again, I have a gazillion needles, but none meeting these standards!

I scored SEVEN bags of designer fabric scraps for what I can only imagine will turn out to be patchwork projects!

And we went apple picking yet again - different orchard, different apples. This time I let El take the pictures.

We're off to eat our second Thanksgiving dinner. I love me some turkey!

N

Pears, Peaches and Plums

Three Spanish films later and a bit of heavy blogging to keep up-to-date and . . .

Inspiration struck again, and the pantry surprisingly had everything that was needed on hand!

T, you're not the only baker out there. It was delicious! Watch out 'cause I am about to take over with my completely-from-scratch pear pie. Who knew?

Your chocolate brown bag is too beautiful for groceries! Rather than work away on my 2nd attempt at the Donyale sock, I pulled out the stash of yarn from under my bed, and I found seven balls of plum-y Bernat Softee Chunky that was screaming to be a Buttony! Well, what could I do? I gave in and cast on 96 stitches!

It's hard to picture the cardigan from this, but believe me, I am nearly at the armpits!

Sorry, ol' sour sock.

N

Bagged

Dear N,

It's officially fall here and it certainly feels like it. I spent most of the afternoon painting away in the garage through another one of Minnesota's freak thunder storms. At one point I thought it might be a good idea to go back into the house but the rain was coming down so hard I would've been soaked by the time I crossed the yard to get in. Painting is much more taxing than I thought it would be and I'm bagged.

Speaking of bags, my mesh bag is completed. I sewed on grosgrain ribbon handles and added a bow pin to girly it up a bit. I quite like it and will hopefully remember to take it with me to the grocery store.

That door bell that you see in the picture is actually a button that used to be used to buzz people in downstairs. It doesn't work anymore, which is too bad, but I've scared a few people with the buzzing noise.

Well, I am off to see if the Mr.Clean Magic Eraser is as awesome as my boss makes it out to be. I picked one up at Target yesterday and will see how it does on my bathtub. Then I'm going to make a lasagna and try out a sticky toffee pudding recipe for dessert. This rainy weather calls for some comfort food. Happy Sunday N!

T

Knitting Mojo

Dear N,

Where has it gone? I haven't touched my needles all week and it's becoming a real concern. I come home after work and stare at the basket that holds the projects that I am currently working on and nothing happens. I search knitting blogs and free pattern sites and I am not inspired by what's out there at the moment. Either I've already knit it or it's too big of a project to begin right now, what with the Christmas project deadlines looming (it'll be October on Monday!). Then I recieved my Knitting Daily email today and see this.

It's simple and lovely and is just the fall accessory that I was looking for.

Thank you for the child abuse awareness reminder. It is sadly an issue that doesn't seem to go away.

Wishing you a weekend of inspired knitting, apple desserts, and sweet little girls with new crowns.

T

A Growing Concern

I’m sad. I haven’t received a Hawksley Workman fan email message in such a long time. Don’t you think it’s about time? What is that crazy guy up to?

October is Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention month. At work, we are provided with a purple ribbon to wear while in programs. This year the focus is a reminder that abused children don’t always look it because child abuse isn’t always obvious. To learn more about child abuse, how to recognize the subtle and obvious signs of abuse and how to report it go to: http://www.useyourvoice.ca/ . That’s sadder than no news from Hawksley. Sometimes I just need some perspective.

I am halfway through Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I was really looking forward to delving into it, but I must admit that it hasn’t been as enjoyable as the first six. It’s a bit blah and all over the place. However, there is still another half of the book – 300 pages – where some connections could be made, but I am afraid that I won’t remember the first 300 pages of details. I am in a bit of a mess.

I finished the Noro capelet, and it’s a bit too tight for my liking. It would look nice on your tiny frame, but on my taller and apparently broader shoulders, it looks a wee bit constricting. Em tried it on, and it looked perfect. Sad point made.

Next up – the RE-knitting of the Donyale socks. If you remember the first time I knit this sock, I made it so small that it didn’t go on the littlest’s feet. I went up one millimetre in needles, and I’ve knit about an inch or so, and it looks sadly GIANT. Is there a needle size between 2.25mm and 3.25mm? The cost of buying all these needles is killing me. That said, I have just remembered that I have a 40% off one item coupon for Michael’s.

B has her first of three stainless steel ‘princess’ crowns, and truth be told, it sort of frightens me. She waffles between considering it absolutely horrid and showing it off to anyone who cares to peer in her mouth. I just want to forget about it entirely, but the next appointment is in a week and a half, so it is never far from my mind. A little sad. It’s entirely my fault for waiting so long to see a dentist. Perhaps she wouldn’t have to go through this had we been a bit more on top of things. But as my dentist said, “At least we’re on the road to recovery.” And she’s right. That does make me feel better.

Bless me! I just sneezed.

In other news, B is enjoying her gymnastics and ballet classes. She is transitioning well between senior kindergarten and her kindercare days. There was some upsettiness when she realized she still had to go to ‘little’ school every other day, but the last week or two, she hasn’t made such a fuss about either. El is dragging through her homework, so we need to adjust our routines a bit, offer more encouragement, and sprinkle patience on top. I’m going to need a little more of that for sure!

Cheers!
N

Thank You Neiman Marcus

Dear N,

Drop everything you are doing and immediately head to the kitchen and make these:

Neiman Marcus Cookies

From the Neiman Marcus website

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 large egg (room temperature)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1-3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 teaspoons instant espresso coffee powder
1-1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Cream the butter with the sugars using an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy (approximately 30 seconds)

2. Beat in the egg and the vanilla extract for another 30 seconds.

3. In a mixing bowl, sift together the dry ingredients and beat into the butter mixture at low speed for about 15 seconds. Stir in the espresso coffee powder and chocolate chips.

4. Using a 1 ounce scoop or a 2 tablespoon measure, drop cookie dough onto a greased cookie sheet about 3 inches apart. Gently press down on the dough with the back of a spoon to spread out into a 2 inch circle. Bake for about 20 minutes or until nicely browned around the edges. Bake a little longer for a crispier cookie.

Yield: 2 dozen cookies

I made these over the weekend after coming across this article about the cookie's myth. I thought that I was a "thick and gooey" chocolate chip cookie person all of my life until these--perfectly crispy edges with a chewy, caramelly centre. In my cookie induced excitement I dropped a glass bottle of red food colouring (from the previous week's red velvet cake). It looked like I massacred someone in my kitchen.

(a gross ending to an otherwise pleasant blog entry)