woolythyme

holiday knitting....

Please tell me these have the possibility of passing for elf socks.  

I have a pen-pal....my 9 yo granddaughter...who is totally obsessed with everything elf-ish.  The fact that maybe she's too old for this obsession is irrelevent.  Obsessed she is...and drives her whole family crazy at the holidays and May 7 and October 5.  May?  October?

May 7th is the date that her mom arbitrarily proclaimed as Clyde's (their Elf on the Shelf) birthday when queried.  No sooner was the date out of her mouth, she regretted it, knowing that there was an ulterior motive to the question.  Can Clyde come for a visit on his birthday?  Can he? Can he? Can he....PU-LEEEEEESE!!!!?    And you guessed it.  October 5 is HER birhday, and a couple years ago, all she wanted for her birthday was for Clyde to come for a visit.  That was it.  Nothing else.  NADA.  It's hard not to comply.  Traditions are made in the strangest ways aren't they?

The end of November in my letter to her, I asked her to tell me what she wanted for Christmas....and what her brother and sisters wanted.  This was her mission.  Her job.  I needed to know, since her mom and dad were no help in getting me a list. 'Surprise me' is not a list item.  Thanksgiving got in the way....and while I knew she was working on her letter (we talk to them on the phone, but this letter thing is just another of her obsessions!) it didn't come and it didn't come and it didn't come...until last week.  A whopping 8 page typed letter from a 9 year old is pretty good; I read every detail of Thanksgiving and all about her cousins and her dancing and her basketball games and all the things that she wished she was doing but not...but the Christmas list was almost an after thought.  She wanted the stuffed girl elf to keep her stuffed Jolly company (he's Clyde surrogate when Clyde is in the north pole)...and she wanted to KNOW if I was getting it for her because she didn't want to waste a gift request to Santa if she was already getting it.  I guess in their household, they can only ask Santa for one or two things.  And the only other thing on her list for me were 'elf' socks to run around the house in and sleep in.  She wanted me to knit them.

Wishing I had a bit more time to figure this out....yet, knowing she's real hot natured and handknit socks have never been a high priority for her---I turned to the stash and found some red and green.  I guess the yarn will do.  The socks probably should have been striped...or had a curled up toe which means they needed to be felted and this yarn won't felt. A friend suggested I duplicate stitch an elf belt below the cuff.  ARE YOU CRAZY??  This is Christmas knitting that has a deadline and I HATE fiddly!!!!  And she probably won't wear them, anyway.

Maybe if I sew enough bells around the cuffs, they might be obnoxious enough to have some appeal.  Sort of like belling the cat.  

I think her family might thank me.

waiting and anticipating....

Sandy!SandyClaws!!!!Here I am!!!

decking those halls....

Dinner club comes tomorrow...

    Decorations are decking...check  (high and low....inside and outside)

    Feather tree is reassembled....check  (the picture is just blurry; it's not ready to fall again!)

    Dishes are washed (no doggy pre-wash)....check

 

 

My supervisor has been sort of slacking off...

allowing this to happen.

I have no food cooked.

Gotta go!

Turn, turn, turn.....

Turn, Turn, Turn.  Anyone remember this song?  Written by Pete Seeger in the late 50's but became a hit by the Byrds in 1965.  It's my favorite song.  (I'm old.)

You don't remember it?  How about a refresher?

 

To every thing there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, a time to reap that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace, I swear it's not too late.

 

I'm a little embarrassed to say, but it was my favorite song before I knew that it was really Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, set to music.  The only words written by Seeger were...'turn, turn, turn', and the last line, 'a time for peace, I swear it's not too late'.  Word for word from Ecclesiastes, so I guess that means King Solomon wrote it??  Maybe. We'll never really know.

So, now it's my favorite Bible verse, and my favorite song, but it's also my mantra for so many things in my life...taken, of course, totally out of context.  Like... 'a time to get, and a time to lose'.....  a time to keep, and a time to cast away....  is my minimalism/simplifying life attempts.  Yes.  My friends are rolling on the floor with laughter at this point.  They've seen my house.  They've seem my 'stuff'. 

(FYI:  there is less 'stuff' in it this year than last year....probably by one or two items.  I'm trying.)

The reason I started thinking about this this morning...is:

To everything there is a season....

Last year after Thanksgiving, as I tossed all the turkey decorations in the Thanksgiving bin (not dreaming that the turkey bin would be  the one casualty of our scary basement flood in the spring....killing off about half a dozen of my prized antique turkey candy containers...see, I wasn't kidding about being down several items in the household inventory!) I had decided that I really didn't need to do all this 'decorating'.  Time to simplify.  (see inspiration #1 above).

That lasted about a week, I guess.

and last year (on sale) I purchased this cute little turkey rug THAT I FOUND YESTERDAY!!! buried in some Christmas decorations, since I'm thinking about the next decorating 'season'...the 'season', like Thanksgiving, that I was going to minimalize this year in the decorating department and maximize in the spiritual department.  (For those of you who don't celebrate Thanksgiving, in the US...Thanksgiving is less than a week away, and my house has been decorated for a month.   Fred won't even be able to  dirty that rug in a week...it's his 'clean your paws before coming inside' rug.)

I refuse to rush the holidays (there is a TIME for every season, right?)...and won't do Christmas decorating until the turkey is picked clean Thursday evening, but I've obviously been thinking about it. More than just a little.   At least I found the turkey rug before Dec 1.  I bought a Christmas tree.  It's living outside, so that doesn't count as decorating, right?

Someone else, though, is totally obsessed and moving forward...

although I'm going to guess, he'll be right at my feet as I pick that turkey clean.

choosing the next project.....

Mitten Garland Advent Calendar...mitten #1.  

It all started with what was to be a major 'pattern purge'.  You know, toss all the duplicates, the printed patterns that are also in my Ravelry library, the patterns that fall in the 'what-was-I-thinking-when-I-bought-that' category.  Two entire shelves of my cupboard are taken up with patterns (and that doesn't include pattern BOOKS).  That's prime real estate in my world.

My first mistake was starting with the 'Christmas' folder.  Yep.  Oh!  Look!  A squirrel!!!  and I'm off and running. 'Purging project' is discarded...and I'm stash-diving....looking for red and white fingering weight yarn.  Red is a rather 'rare' colour in this household....white, not so rare, but one that gets used up quickly.  It took me almost as much time to locate some yarn as it would most likely take to knit this little mitt.  

I found a teeny bit of red.  This is a teeny project.  Check.  I never did find any fingering weight white/ivory...but came up with what looks like maybe a teeny ball of light dk or sport.  Close enough.

It's lumpy and bumpy with the different weights of yarn, but still pretty cute.  The thumb was very fiddly....I hate fiddly, but it was only a few rounds and you can stick out a few rounds of most anything, right?

The problem....this cute, tiny little mitten is #1 of the ADVENT series.  23 more mittens to go?

I don't think so.

I'm out of yarn.

 

Next project?

I think I'll go purge some more patterns.

the stockings aren't hung any more....by FreddyDog

Me and Mom and Dad always open our stockings together Christmas morning.  I always get to pick first...just in case I want to trade.  (I never do, but I have that option.)

I'm sniffing out some Twizzlers in this one, so this is my Dad's.  He always gets Twizzlers in his stocking.  Twizzlers are OK.  Not my favorite.  I think I'll pass on this one.  Mom's stocking doesn't smell at all.  Not a good sign in my world.

Oh, yes.  This is the one.  OH!  It's MINE!  (It's the one with the little nibble out of the toe.  I did that when I was a pup.  I made the hole a bit bigger last year. That was a mistake.)

Now, to get the stuff OUT!OF!THERE! 

THIS!IS!WHAT!SMELLED!SO!GOOD!!!!

 

I!PICK!THIS!ONE!AS!MY!FAVORITE!!!!!

 

I chased it around the house and under the rug and OH!IT'S!SO!WONDERFUL!!!I!THINK!IT'S!BETTER!THAN!A!BALLBAND!!!!!

LOOK!AT!ALL!THIS!GREAT!STUFF!!!!  Well, in all honesty, only most of it is great stuff.  You see that flat dog?  Sandy must have forgotten that I'm deaf.  Squeakers and crinkles don't do much for me in my old age.  I think I'm going to regift this to Marley.  I hate her, but I know she'll like this, and after all, it IS Christmas and she's my niece or cousin or sister or something that makes us related in doggie-world.

It really has been a very wonderful Christmas this year.  And I'm giving gifts, too. (Good ones.  Not that flat dog.) I give everyone the same thing.  I actually give these gifts every day, because for me every day is a wonderful day to be alive.  I give my undying loyalty, friendship, enthusiasm, and love---all given unconditionally....and I'd like to share them all with all of you....the special people who read what I have to say here.  

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

I!LOVE!YOU!!!  (Pretend you have been slobbery-licked.)

 

Now.....back to business....

 Love,

FreddyDog

 

Dear Sandy Claws....a thank you letter

Dear Sandy Claws (or is it Paws?  I always get sort of mixed up....),

 

Freddy here.  I know this is the busiest part of the year for you and I know that everyone is hounding you (hee hee...that's a doggie pun, get it?) about wanting this or that or whatever.  Not me.  I'm writing my thank you note. (Remember one year I forgot about my thank you note until I was writing out my Christmas list?  That was when I was a mere pup.  I've matured. Really, I have.)

You came through for me big time this year and brought me the one and only thing I really really REALLY wanted for Christmas....and you brought it early.

I'm so very, very happy.  

 

My family is home!!!

Even though I don't look it in this picture, I'm deliriously happy.  (Mommy just woke me up.)  Daddy is taking the picture....we're all together.  And life just doesn't get any better than this.

Thanks, Sandy.  You're the best!!!

 

Love and slobbery kisses,

Your friend,

FreddyDog

 

 

So from my family to yours, we all want to wish you a very, very, very Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays or Winter Solstice or whatever you happen to be celebrating....and the best upcoming New Year....ever.

 

P.S.  For those knitters who read this....yes.  That IS Bressay that Mommy is wearing.  (And I've been so very extra careful not to snag my nails in it when I'm snuggling. )

can't see the forest for the trees....

 

 

Home again.  Home again.

I've just spent the most magical week touring the Christmas markets of Austria and Germany along the Danube...marred only by the tragic events in Berlin as we returned home.  My heart goes out to all effected by this horrendous act of terrorism.    

I'll share some of the trip with you when I've had a chance to wade through the photos (unless, of course, you'd like to see all 500+ pictures now??  No?  OK.)  

This book was in the stack of mail waiting for me;  I really want to knit just about everything in it.  To keep from having a major cast on party, I'm calling it a Christmas present....and refraining from casting on until next week.  (and you really believe that, don't you?)

Until then, I'm knitting a forest, with plans of stringing the trees on an I-cord and making a winter garland.  I thought briefly about decorating the trees, but that simply makes it too seasonal in a season that is nearing its end.  It will hang where my generic garland now hangs...

Back to lumbering.....

 

Dear Sandy Claws....pt 4 or 5 or whatever

 

FreddyDog here.

HELP!!!!  (please, please, pretty please!)

My world is about to come to an end.  Things are spiraling out of control and I desperately need your help. NOW!!! Life with extra Christmas doggie cookies (no people cookies, though---remember the oven is locked.  Can you do anything about that, by the way?)  and snuggles by the fire----over.  Done.  Finished.  Fini.  

I just discovered.....

The suitcases are out.

 

I can barely stand to even think about it, let alone LOOK!at!them!.

I've been blindsided on this one, probably since I can't hear any more.  Maybe I should have been a wee bit suspicious after I found a big map of the Danube that I thought I'd nibble on and it got swished away from me.....really really fast.   Or that stack of books on the Hapsburgs that Mommy said were not her cup of tea (silly, they are BOOKS, not tea!) but still kept on reading (sort of).  

It's C*h*r*i*s*t*m*a*s*!!!!  Who goes on vacation at Christmas time?  Oh, sure----family vacations, but vacation-vacations-that-most-likely-don't-include-me???  I'm devastated.  And sad beyond belief.

So, you know all those cookies and toys and bones and people-food and chocolate-that-I'm-not-allowed-but-still-ask-for???  I don't want any of that stuff.  It's not important.  The only thing really important is my mom  family.

 

So, here's the deal.  I'm going to be the best boy in the whole wide world and you don't even have to send elves to check up on me. I'm going to be PERFECT. Promise.  

And, in return, you can bring me my Christmas present any time...preferably, a bit early (get me and my present out of the way of the crazy Christmas Eve rush).  Because, you see, all I want this year for Christmas is ...

my family......

home.....

with me.

please.

 

Your very sad friend,

FreddyDog
 

 

ho-ho-ho.....

ho-ho-holiday bumps....

This week is officially 'Cookie Week'.  I love making holiday cookies, even though a whole lot of our favorites don't look at all like holiday cookies.  (If I made the shortbreads and spritz and decadent chocolate ones that we all !!!LOVE!!! [love, love, love!!!!] more often than once a year, we'd be in serious trouble with the scale.)  So, once a year it is....I go through pounds of butter and sacks of sugar and flour.  

I bought it all last week. 

When my oven still worked.

In anticipation of this glorious traditional family Christmas marathon....I decided to clean the oven.  Not only did it never make it to the 'clean' cycle, but after the door magically 'locked' the way it's supposed to....it refused to unlock....the way it's NOT supposed to.  

There are many many many wonderful reasons to live in a small town, but appliance repair is not one of them.  Our repairman is scheduled to come between 9 and 10 am on December 18th.  (I have a Viking oven...this guy is the only one in town who does repairs on it!) 

So, to get myself out of the holiday baking funk...I've been casting on a whole lot of stars...

and sprinkling them around town.

I cast on a Madalynn cowl; I knit this pattern several years ago and it's been my go-to-favorite-cowl.  I have an extremely knit-worthy friend who will now get this for Christmas instead of her birthday in August.  And then, Taproot came.....and I!HAD!TO!CAST!ON!THE!KNUSA!SHAWL!!!; just last week I ripped apart a sweater--- the yarn I rescued will be perfect for it---and I don't believe in coincidences.   This was destiny.

I really didn't have time to make cookies this week anyway!

# # # # # # # # # # #

Reading:  Taproot, of course.  I have every issue of this magazine and I know every time one arrives, I say it's the best one yet.  This issue?  THE BEST ONE YET....!!!!  Really.

Listening:  The Year of Living Danishly: uncovering the secrets of the world's happiest country.  I now know what all the hype and hygge is about.  Love it.

Just finished:  Fredrik Backman's  (Man Called Ove) And Every Morning the Road Home Gets Longer and Longer  This little novella is simply a gem.  A single sitting-memoir about the relationship between Backman's son and Backman's dad as his dad sinks deeper and deeper into dementia.  So far, this might be my 'book of the year'.