Snow when I'm free to enjoy it!

Since I have today off, I thought I would get some nice pictures of the falling snow.  I don't normally get many opportunities to do this because the snow fall at night or while I'm at work, so I was fortunate today.

I didn't exactly select the correct footwear for this cold and wet expedition, did I?

I didn't really go far though.  Just down the sidewalk to the playground and back, but I was able to do some neat things using a fast shutter speed like stopping snowflakes in midair in the picture below.

Then I true Jo form, I took a snowy self-portrait.  At least you can see my face in this years, last year was just a picture of my ponytail with snowflakes on it.  Consider this one an upgrade!

10 on Tuesday: 10 Favorite Handknits made in 2009

1) Colorspun Mittens - free pattern by Lion Brand Yarns

2) Orly Hat - free pattern by Sarah Omoroso of Penguin Purls

3) Cowl'd and Frosty Morning Cowl - free pattern by Kelly Herdrich of Kelly Without a Net

4) Jayne Hat - free pattern by Dryope

5) Thayolin Doll - improvised pattern by me :D

6) Fab Silver Wimple/Shrug - loosely based on a free pattern by Mary L. McCall of Wool & Fiber Originals

7) Candle Flame Cowl - free pattern by Julia Allen of Peony Knits (can only be downloaded using Ravelry account)

8) Calorimetry - free pattern by Kathryn Shoendorf of Knitty

9) Greenaway Mitts - free pattern by Isabelle of The Purl Bee

 

10) Noro Striped Scarf - free pattern (more like guidelines) by Jared Flood of Brooklyn Tweed

Ladies and Gentlemen... I am READY for Christmas!

All cookies have been baked, all knitting projects finished, all presents wrapped, now time to relax and enjoy Christmas.  Here are some pictures to help put you in the Christmas spirit.

Our tree, finally with some presents under it.

Pretty pretty bows and paper.

A fine example of the cat humoring me.  I'm amazed I made it out of that one with my skin intact.

I am Meowcutus of Borg.  You will be assimilated.  Resistance is futile. 

Ten on Tuesday: 10 New Year’s Resolutions

1) Learn to Crochet - My ban on crochet is over!  So, the goal this year is to learn the basics.

2) Be Less Cluttered - My husband is a packrat and I'm a craft-aholic with a penchant for purchasing supplies on a whim.  This should be interesting.

3) Eat Healthier - Must eat more vegetables and less yummy fried things.  Oh, and do all eating in some form of moderation. 

4) See More Live Performances - I love live shows (music, theater, etc.) and there are a ton of them out there that are inexpensive or just outright free.  This past year, I really only went to two and I feel like I missed out on some great opportunities. 

5) Get More Involved with Charities - Right now I work for a non-profit and I knit chemo caps for another.  The caps are for the Teal Wings of Hope Foundation which is based out of New Jersey and is involved in providing awareness and education about ovarian cancer.  I'm hoping to be able to commit more time to making knitted items for them this year and hopefully I will be able to attend their Karaoke for the Cause Fundraiser in February.

6) Get up to Maine more - Over the past few years we really haven't been getting up to Maine more than once a year.  The 3.5 hour drive has been just enough to keep us away, so we have tended to go to the Cape more.   This year I want to get up there in the spring and summer as well as our normal mid-October trip for Dad's birthday and our anniversary.

7) Get back into Photography - This year I focused a lot on my knitting and all the skills I needed to learn to do that, so other than taking pictures of my finished projects, my camera didn't as much love as it should.  I'm thinking about doing a separate 365 blog with a picture every day starting in January.  That would be a good way for me to get back my rusty camera skills.

8) Try not to get so busy - I have a bad habit of getting so busy with all my hobbies and interests that sometimes I get overtired from all the parties, classes and projects I take on in addition to my job.  Last year around now, I had so much going on that I had no real time to enjoy the season and think about the real reason for Christmas.  I ended up getting really sick for the three days before Christmas and it was just aweful.  So, I'm planning on doing things with a bit more moderation this year.

9) Exercise more - We have a membership to the local pool and while Brian and I both love swimming, we just haven't gotten there since the end of the summer.  It might be the low teens temperature lately that keeps us away, but we had no such excuse a couple of weeks ago and before.

10) Sail More - We are fortunate enough to have a sailboat at our disposal when we are down the Cape and both Brian and I adore sailing.  We also hope to take a 3 or more day windjammer cruise sometime, but I think that won't be this year.

On the 85th day of cookies...

Ok, so I've given up on the whole day or Christmas day of cookies thing.  Too much work!  So, since my last cookie post, Brian, Mom and I have made the following:

Lemon-Honey Drop Cookies: These are one of my staples every year.  They are so versatile.  I have made them orange flavored and lemon-lime flavored as well and they turn out great!

Spritz Cookies: Mom dragged over her cookie press and made dozens of these small butter cookies that we decorated with colored sugar and other fun things.

Peppermint Swirls: I found this recipe in a Betty Crocker magazine you can get at the checkout at the grocery store.  It's a pretty easy recipe that is a basic shortbread dough which is divided in half and then one half is flavored with peppermint and colored red and then rolled with the plain dough to make the swirls. As you can see, the swirls take some practice.

Oatmeal Cranberry Sour Cream Bars:  I found this in in the same book as the Peppermint Swirls.  I wanted to make a bar and this was a nice simple recipe, plus is called for craisins and I LOVE those!

Chai Tea Shortbread: I found the next two recipes on the Food Network website from the show 5 Ingredient Fix.  A pretty good little recipe over all and the writer offers some good options to changing the recipe slightly such as adding nuts.

Almond Shortbread: This cookie uses the same recipe as the one above, but instead of using pecans as she suggested, I went for almonds and replaced the vanilla with almond extract.

I have at least one more recipe to go, so I'll post that another day, but whew!  Do you think we've made enough cookies?

Some of what January has in store for me: SelfKniMo!

So, I haven't been posting many of my projects lately.  Gee, could it be that Christmas is encroaching and I have made more than a few gifts this year?  Perhaps.  Since I can't yet share the glory of my finished projects, I will instead share with you some of my plans for January. 

I am very happy wall the knitted items I have created over the past year.  Today I actually counted how many things I have made to date in 2009 and got a total of 50 separate items.  Bwah?!?!?  I know, it's crazy!  So, after working so hard over the past year, I decided I was up for some kind of self-reward.  Thus, I have declared this January to be selfish knitting month (SelfKniMo 2009).  SelfKniMo will let me get to play with all those projects I have mulling around in my brain that I have wanted to make for myself.

One of those projects I've just been dying to get on the needles is Never Not Knitting's Cedar Leaf Shawlette (click here for pictures).  A week and a half ago I finally broke down and ordered the kit for myself.  I had lusted after that pattern and yarn (pictured in front of our Christmas tree) for long enough to make me feel that I could justify the purchase.  The yarn is an amazing blend of half wool and half silk and is called Lady Godiva by Handmaiden of Canada (you can see their colors here).  When Brian saw the mixture of fibers he was convinced that the yarn was made by a sheep/caterpillar hybrid called a caterpeep.  Lol!  Did I mention how awesome my husband is lately?  He's so good and puts up with all the yarn and pointy sticks quite nicely.

The Cedar Leaf Shawlette is just one of the projects I have in store for January.  Oh yeah, if you think I'm slowing down on the knitting you're crazy.  The only thing that might take up some of my time is that my self-imposed learning-to-crochet ban will be over as of January 1, so I might sneak some easy crochet projects into the mix.  Then again, I have 5 knitting projects lined up for myself already, including a matching scarf, hat and glove set.  So.... crocheting might have to take a back seat until February.

What's this white stuff?

I happened to snap this really neat picture of Molly checking out the newly fallen snow this morning.  She really likes our new bed and spends much more time in it then she did in the old one.  Due to its height it offers a perfect vantage point to checking out the goings on in the playground.  So, I can't say as I blame her.  From what I'm hearing we probably got the least amount of snow in the area at about 4-5 inches.   Surprise, our parking lot still isn't cleared over 12 hours after the storm stopped.