Short Story Long

  Today's to-do list: -cut out and count Box Tops that expire this month. -work on that one last gift, even though it will never get done in time. -don't eat all the chocolate cookies; after all, I told the boys they still need sprinkles! -watch some Poirot while working on the previous three items.  -iron blouse for church tonight.  It's red, of course!  Merry Christmas to all my friends and loved ones, near and far!

No, that's not dirty snow!   After pouring some little jars of vanilla extract, we had some vanilla beans ready for re-purposing.   I threw them in the food processor with a cup of sugar and blended it up.  The big chunks of vanilla were sifted out and processed with a second cup of sugar, and then repeated this with a third cup of sugar.  You can see in the picture how the sugar on the right has more brown bits than the middle, and the sugar on the left has the least.  We actually did a fourth pass with just a half a cup of sugar because I didn't know how much more would fit in the jar.  We mixed it all together and put it back in one of the quart jars that we used to make the vanilla extract.  Vanilla sugar!  Time to make some cookies...!

  More than halfway through the day, I realized it was 12-12-12, and that was on my list of things to shoot for the 112 in 2012 photo group .  I didn't have anything 12-12-12-worthy to shoot and it was almost dark.  Then I realized, it's just like any other day:  the magic is there, I just have to stop and look for it.

Personally, I enjoyed the cool morning, with my newly finished, hand knit sweater, and a stack of packages waiting to be sifted through, presents waiting to be wrapped.  We usually make some of our preserves into smaller jars to give as gifts at Christmastime.  It is the perfect gift for a teacher or neighbor - consumable, not expensive enough to warrant any strong obligations, and yet very personal; not something we just ran out and got.  In addition to the preserves, this year I was inspired by this post to try my hand with vanilla extract.  In May, I purchased a pound of organic vanilla beans and split them with a friend (I think they came out to about fifty cents a piece), and bought some vodka.  Then some more, then some more.  I filled up five quart jars with Fleischmann's Royal Vodka, chopped the ends off of eight beans (per jar), split them lengthwise, and put them in the jars.  We gave the jars a little tip or shake every day for a ...

December dawns. We began this month with the anticipation of many great things, including the hunt for the perfect tree.  After a good night's sleep, my parents, my brother's family, and my own family headed out.  Despite the lack of snowy, or really any wintry weather, in northern Colorado, and being surrounded on all sides by beetle kill and evidence of the fire , we all found perfect trees.  I'll post a picture of ours soon. Many more good things to come.  One that I relish, real mail:  hand addressed envelopes with notes from people I know! 

If I post everyday about things I'm thankful for, I know that will be far from original.  But I just might do it, if only to remind myself! Today, I'm thankful for light, in all its forms.

I've got a new pattern out!  The Gingerbread Men Mittens pattern is available for purchase on my Ravelry pattern page here !! A couple of years ago, I made some Fair Isle mitts for my sister-in-law and just fell in love with this technique!  There are so many beautiful patterns in the world for this project.  However, what I really wanted was a pair of mittens with gingerbread men.  Alas!  There was no such pattern.  So I wrote my own, bought some yarn, and got started on knitting them.  As it tends to do, life got busy and I set this project aside.   Fast forward a year, and I began to work with Dianne at Windy Valley yarns, going to all the Stitches conventions.  One of my tasks as part of Dianne's team was to sit at the "yarn tasting" table and knit with all the yummy yarns, and encourage other people to try them.  As I was knitting with her merino yarn, I realized it would be a perfect match for this pattern that I h...

What's not to love?

Thanks to Dianne at Windy Valley Muskox (and her aunts who took my Beginning Knitting class and introduced me to her) I had the opportunity to go to all four Stitches knitting events in 2012. I had not been on an airplane since before 9/11 - just no reason to, most of our family is in Colorado, and had not really gotten out of my comfort zone in a long time.  It has definitely been a fun year! I wrote about Stitches West  here . Partly because I didn't know what to expect, and partly because I expected it to be a one-time opportunity, I definitely spent the most time absorbing the environment and getting to know people at West. It also helped that I got to sit at the Yarn Tasting table and talk for eight hours a day with knitters, and answering yarn and knitting questions. I met  Sue  and  Christine  there, as well as Sarah Peasley and Debbie Radtke, and Kristi and Lisa on the XRX staff, all of whom have since become friends. I neglected to write ab...

We drove past a neighbor with a fairy ring this morning, and she was kind enough to let me loiter in her yard for a few minutes this evening, so that I could get a few pictures of it.

You have been a good month.

Fall is here!  The last month here has been crazy busy.  Let's see...  After I went to my mother-in-law's for a visit and some peaches, I spent a week with my cousins here.  I think I mentioned that.  The next week, my LYS and others in the area had a "yarn crawl," otherwise known as a shop hop.  I went to all 21 shops with my bff.  It took us four days - we had to keep coming back by mid afternoon to get all our kids from school, so it took longer than if we'd had some dedicated calender space.  It was a lot of fun.  I had never been to Fabric Bliss but we loved that shop, and loved Aurora.  We also enjoyed Fancy Tiger, though I've been before, and I was tempted to buy some house yarn from Gypsy Wool but we had to stamp and run in order to get the kids.  Again.  There were lots of great shops.  I hear it will become an annual event, I'm happy to say!    I've also published a new pattern!  The Aisling (...

On Monday, the boys and I drove down to see my mother- and father-in-law once more before school starts. On the top of my list was picking peaches.  You may remember we picked peaches a few years ago .  May I say, I am not a big peach fan (it's the fuzz) but I make an exception for these peaches.  They are delicious!  Grandma, the boys and I picked about four boxes of peaches, just the ones that seemed ripe.  We enjoyed spending time with Grandma and Grandpa, and playing with the chickens, and came home with two of those boxes.  Boy, are we enjoying them!   On Wednesday, I made Spiced Peach Preserves from here .  I did not have cardamom but otherwise, followed the recipe pretty close this time.  I realized I must have done half batches before, as I did not recall the pot being quite so full.  And I actually had vanilla beans in my pantry, which I know I did not have previously.    I also have a couple of cousins i...

In yesterday's post, I forgot to include pictures of some others who are enjoying our sunflowers!

Some days, I'm just too busy for words.  In the evenings, when things begin to slow down, one of our favorite spots is out on the back patio, relaxing in our green chairs, watching the bees buzz from flower to flower.  

Are you watching the Olympics?  Last night, BFJ and I watched the first half of the Opening Ceremonies while the boys were away.  I enjoyed the pastoral scene as well as the industrial scene, but could have done without the modern era.  We picked up the boys and got home in time to see most of the athletes coming into the arena, and definitely got to see Team USA entering.  I thought the cauldron lighting was amazing!! Today, we are enjoying the swimming and archery specifically.  Hurray! Team USA, winning the silver in archery; I'm sure it was bitter sweet for them but they're young, I think they'll all be back.  I'm furiously knitting a Starling , hoping that Phelps and Lochte will pull it together tonight and get some medals!  (My Starling will be done in time for Stitches MidEast.)  I was thinking of Jane when the Canadian girls' soccer team won their match this morning, Jane being a Canadian in the UK.  What events are you w...

Today, we went to the Colorado Renaissance Festival.  It was a hot day but we had fun.  Personally, I like being in a community, if a temporary one, where there's such a high percentage of people who know how to make things!!  I tried to travel light and only took a short lens, so I didn't get many pictures of people and costumes.  I did take a few pictures though, here are some from the day.  Can you guess what they are?  Answers at the bottom.   From top to bottom: an astrolabe , a hammock in the making, an elephant trunk, a barn owl, and finally, the smiling camel who gave two of my boys a ride. 

   I've been meaning to post a picture or two from the High Park Fire devastation.  I'm thankful to say that my parents' house had absolutely no damage.  Their view has changed drastically, and the smell of fire was looming when we were there, but their home is safe.  Unfortunately, a few of their friends did lose homes, but the majority had minimal damage.  Makes you thankful for fire fighters!  You can see the whole set of pictures I took here . 

   ...after a family photo session; reminds me of a song. 

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was knitting a beautiful shawl, and a few people have asked since then whether I was going to post pictures. So at your request, I'm happy to do so.   DETAILS Pattern - Leaflette Shawlette by Stormy Autumn Yarn - Adorn Sock in the Brannagh colorway from Three Irish Girls This yarn was 430 yds; yardage noted for the pattern was 460.  I cut it really close; I had 14 inches left! Mods - the only modification I made was to cross some of the twists the opposite way from written.  I wanted my lines to go over-and-under.  I love it, though it is a bit pointy.  I really liked the architectural quality of the cabling, and I'm glad I knit it.  However, next time I'll look for something that's a little more fabric around the arms and shoulders where the drafts get me, and a bit less down the back.  If you want any more information on this project, you can check out my Ravelry project page . A couple more ...