Ridiculously long catch-up post

You have been warned…

Merry Christmas, if that’s your thing!  We’re having a relatively quiet day – the present frenzy has passed and the children are blissfully playing with their new stuff.  My dad and stepmom have just left after a lovely visit.  There are lots of leftovers to much on from yesterday’s goose Christmas Eve dinner (the tourtière got moved to Christmas Eve Eve Eve, just because it seemed crazy to have a pig side dish along with goose).  I got a ukulele (among other awesome gifts), so my family will have to suffer through me learning how to work it.   Another nice Christmas.  I hope yours was good too!

Also, a belated Happy Hannukah, if that’s your thing!  It was a busy choir week for me, and so I only got around to making latkes on the very last evening.  But I fried them in duck fat, which is kind of not the point.  Oh well, they were yummy.

And Happy Holidays, whatever you celebrate!

So, yeah, what have you been up to?  Me, I’ve been busy.  Reader’s Digest version:

I had a birthday:

That is a White and Dark Chocolate Pistachio Cake, from Death By Chocolate, a cookbook I hardly ever use, because everything in it is really freaking complicated.  It was delicious, though!

Dr. Thingo had a birthday:

For some reason, Dr. Thingo wanted a pie for his birthday.  Weird.  Note:  the crust is not made by me.  I suck at pie crust.  I’ve tried all the tricks (cold everything, food processor, plastic wrap).  No dice.  So I’ve decided that I’ll let the good ladies at The Stone Crock make it for me, since they do it far better.  Or Mr. Tenderflake if I can’t get to the Farmer’s Market. So there.  I did, however, make the filling.  Apple.  Exotic, I know.

Zebula had a piano recital:

… during which she got to do a duet with Dr. Thingo.  I like that her tongue is hanging out here.

I finished some stuff:

Those are Vilai, from Sock Innovation*.   They were a lot of fun to make, but required nearly absolute concentration, which means I heard most of season 6 of The Gilmore Girls rather than saw it.  Which is ok, because it was largely terrible.  Apparently Season 7 redeems it, but we’ll see.  But I digress…

Mittens for Vorlon.  He wore these for about a week and then lost one.  Sigh.

Mittens for Zebula.  None lost.

For Spinrite, a baby sweater and hat set, which, once again, I forgot to take a picture of when they were finished.  For some reason, this pattern was written flat rather than in the round, resulting in approximately one bajillion ends to weave in.  When I whined about this (after the fact – I did what I was told) to my contact at Spinrite, she said that people are too terrified of steeking, and so flat patterns sell better.  I personally am more daunted by the sight of one bajillion ends staring me in the face.

And then having to sew the pieces together!  Maybe it’s just me…

Started some stuff:

This will eventually be Fiddlestick Knitting’s Peacock Feathers Shawl, which I hope to enter in this year’s Guild Adjudicated Show.  The pattern is extremely well written, and the yarn is delicious.  I love working on it, but this is another one that requires some pretty close attention.  Aside:  I don’t know why I make shawls. I don’t wear them.  But they’re really fun to make.

I’ve started longies for Zebula, from EZ’s pattern in the Knitter’s Almanac* (sorry, no picture).  About one inch of ribbing from the end, I ran out of yarn, so they’re on indefinite hold.

I’ve also started a new project for Spinrite (sorry, no picture for this either), this time, a circular blanket knit on 9mm needles at 2 stitches per inch.  It’s moving fast.  Try as you might, you’ll have a hard time convincing me that a circular afghan doesn’t just look like a large, fluffy tablecloth.  I feel the same way about circular shawls, only those tend to look like giant doilies (which I have also made, by the way, and had a hard time getting rid of.  Turns out, nobody wants crocheted doilies anymore.  Including me.  Who knew??  Again, fun to make, but ultimately not useful.)

Got this for a friend’s baby, due in the summer.

I have three friends who are due to have babies in the next six months.  One of them is due in, like, a week.  I have some work to do.

The yarn above is from here.  (Ecogrrl, stay away from that site until July!)  I love her stuff!  I also got some Tussah Silk roving from her for spinning.

This picture absolutely fails to convey the luminousness of it. It’s beautiful.

Misc:

I’m still working on the modified Urban Cardigan for clevermonkey, but got stuck when I realized the attached button band for the front didn’t look good.  So I’ll rip it back and just make a separate one later.

Dr. Thingo bought himself a DSLR for his birthday, so the quality of photos is improving, though I still have to determine what all the buttons do (my plain old SLR was so much easier to figure out!).  This means that there now a zillion pictures of me, the kids, and the cats just hanging out, because Dr. Thingo is shutter-crazy.

All kinds of other stuff happened too (lots of singing, some dancing, holiday parties, sledding)  I love this time of year!  I hope you’re having a good time too.

* The link is provided for reference only – please support your local independent bookstore or yarn store.