O Christmas tree

Last year, Max and I went to Disney World for Christmas. It was one of the best Christmases ever! We splurge and bought quite a few Christmas ornaments. I was so excited to be able to hang them on the tree for the first time this year. Many of them are from the Germany pavilion in Epcot.







My favorite is Cinderella's carriage.

White mittens

Over Thanksgiving, I cast on my fourth pair of mittens and the smallest ones yet!




I love knitting things for children. Everything is so tiny - (nearly) instant gratification. For these I used Lion Brand Woolease and the House Mittens pattern from Charmed Knits.

In other news...
We put up our Christmas tree and decorated the house for Christmas over the weekend.



Max and I bought some new LED icicle lights that are really pretty... and will hopefully last a long time (or at least longer than my giant globe of 250 lights that only lasted one year).

Ulric Voyer

Ulric Voyer is my great grandfather on my father's side. He wrote the opera Intendant Bigot. My great uncles have been working with the Éditions du Nouveau Théâtre Musical to publish the four arias of the Intendant Bigot:

• Ronde de l’Ours-Noir
• Quel sublime décor
  
• Dans un petit village
  
• Dans l’abandon, les noirs regrets

These musical scores are available for purchase from the Society of the Friends and Descendants of Ulric Voyer.

Purple mittens

I finished these mittens the other night - my third pair and the best yet! I'm really happy the way they turned out. The House Mittens pattern is really great and works well with Red Heart Soft yarn.





Less than a month until Christmas!

Thanksgiving

On of my favorite traditions for Thanksgiving Day is watching the parade - especially since it gives me a few hours to knit and drink tea. Here's the purple mittens with green stripes that I finished last week, my second pair of mittens.



The weather was gorgeous yesterday. Temperatures went up to the high 70s and it was sunny. Max and I went for a walk just before noon. Most of the leaves have finally turned colours and haven't fallen from most trees. There were many other people out, either with their dogs, going for a run, or playing with their kids in the leaves. It was weird that it was so warm but really nice to be out for a walk. Very fallsy.



We made some of the dishes on Wednesday: the bread, the cranberry relish, and the dessert.



Here's the rest of our spread...

We had apple cider, peas and mushrooms, gravy, sausage-chestnut stuffing, mashed potatoes, bread, cranberry relish, and turkey. As you can imagine, with only the two of us, the bulk of the meal is leftover. We ate our fill and saved room for dessert.



This morning we woke up insanely early and did a little shopping at AC Moore, Bed Bath & Beyond, Best Buy, Victoria's Secret, the Apple Store, and some window shopping in a few other places.

Red mittens

So I finished knitting my first pair of mittens. Ugh. For my first pair of mittens, they're not bad. I guess. But do they look good? Well, when I showed a co-worker she said they looked home made. Yeah. . . that's the look I'm going for.

I wore them for a couple of days and they're certainly very warm. But they're also really big and, honestly, ugly. I'm going to frog them and use the yarn to make another pair - using the Koolhaas Mittens variation that yarnpaperscissors came up with so they'll match my red hat exactly.

Next I'll tell you about my second pair of mittens using the Plaid Mittens pattern. Eventually I'll catch up to the present to tell you about what I'm actually knitting now.

Thanksgiving prep
I made the crust for the tart last night and left the kitchen pretty clean at the end of the night too. Which is good because there's more to do today... prepping the turkey, making the focaccia, finishing the tart, and rounds of clean-up in between to make the next thing. Plus calling or texting friends to wish them a happy thanksgiving!

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Last night, my friend Missy came over for dinner. It was her birthday last Sunday. Since it was Max's birthday on Saturday, she brought over apple pie for dessert - his favorite. For dinner we made oven roasted salmon and couscous with red bell pepper, toasted pine nuts, raisins, and sauteed mushrooms. Delicious and relatively healthy. We opened a bottle of German Riesling and talked for a couple of hours. A nice break for Max and he didn't feel too guilty since he got some of his homework done before Missy came over.

Tonight I think I have to start the Thanksgiving preparation. According to Max's project plan, steps 1-4 for the Caramel Cranberry Nut Tart. I'll have to check what that is when I get home!

Max's birthday weekend

Max's birthday was on Saturday. He's 29! I got him two tickets to a NHL game and Super Mario Galaxy. We had alot of fun playing all weekend. There's even a 2nd player mode that you can help collect the star bits. That's what I did, in between knitting a pair of mittens. We also went to see Beowulf in 3D. Very cool.

On Sunday we went out for lunch with our good friend Slavomir to Legal Seafood. Everything was delicious and we were there for 2 hours talking and having a good time.

Max's lunch
Crab cake appetizer
Halibut and crab special with mashed potatoes
Key Lime Pie (that he had with 4 shots of espresso)

Nicole's lunch
New England Clam Chowder (with oyster crackers)
Deep-fried scallops with broccoli (and polenta, not pictured)
Vanilla cappuccino (yum!)
Pumpkin cheesecake with whipped cream (super yum!)

Slavomir's lunch
Oysters
Lobster roll with mushroom ravioli
Cheesecake

There were some phone calls and some emails from friends and family wishing Max a happy birthday that also contributed to a really good weekend. It was the first weekend he has taken off from his school work since August and that made a huge difference as well.

Inspiring doors

budapest_orange-blue_buildings_01
Originally uploaded by wvs

These doors are very inspiring. I think they would be great patterns for knitting. If only I can wrap my head around the patterns and recreate it.

New curtains

When it comes to decorating our house, it takes forever for us to agree - especially when it's something big like picking a colour to paint a room, choosing curtains, or furniture.

Last year in November, we repainted our living room and I love the new colour. This year, we bought a new dresser and bedside tables, Max refinished the kitchen table and chairs - and finally picked out curtains that we both like (more his choice than mine since curtains are girly to begin with). They're from Pottery Barn.



Maybe next year we'll finally get a new couch.

Viking Turid

I rarely receive questions so when I get one, it's just too good to ignore.

Shannon asks, "Could I possibly, PLEASE, pay for a copy of the Viking
Turid pattern?"

Well, although I did start knitting that pattern, I never did knit the Viking Turid. I gave up actually and frogged what I had knitted. And since I was using a library book for the pattern, I don't actually have the pattern. This is the book I was using. Maybe your library has a copy? There's also a copy on sale on eBay.

Hope that helps!

Red hat, red mittens

I finished my red Koolhaas hat over the weekend and I'm keeping it for myself. It's soft and warm. The decreases aren't exactly right, but close enough. When I showed my friend Erin, she said it looked fine to her. That's good enough for me!



And, I'm making myself some mittens to match. They're a bit big, but more fitted than the fleece ones I bought two years ago. The pattern is Target Wave Mittens from Knitting by Nature but the instructions I'm using are from an issue of Interweave Knits. Here's the first one finished:



I'm working on the second one now.

Baby wrangling

I spent Sunday afternoon with a friend and her 6-month old. It was fun for me and my friend was able to get a lot done - laundry, lunch and dinner for the rest of the week, and even eat without being interrupted. Ahh... the things we take for granted. :) In exchange, I took home a shoulder full of baby drool and big smile. I woke up this morning with really sore arms. What a work out! I was so tired when I left, and that was only five hours... Not that it is all hard work. Helps when you have a good baby that doesn't cry too much and likes to play! Every time I go visit, the baby is even bigger and more active than the last time I was there. And while 23lbs doesn't sound like along, think endurance training. :)

New Haircut

The last time I got my hair cut was in May, so I was long overdue. What do you think?



Can you tell that I cut off 4 inches?

Koolhaas hats

Not one but two.



The green one is on hold because I have run out of yarn upon completing the 4th repeat. Doh! Just not enough to do the decreases. And since I like the colour, I want to keep it and not play around with another colour. So I will have to wait until I can buy more to finish it.



The red one is heavenly... I am knitting with a cashmere blend and it is so soft and lovely. This one might be for me.

And I'm already contemplating a third, in blue and white. Blue for the purl stitches and white for the knit stitches, like a snowflake in the winter sky.

Did I mention that I love this pattern?

Erin & Brookline

This weekend Max and I took our kitties to the vet for their annual check-ups. I didn't realise it but they're getting old! Erin, at top, is already 7 years old. Brookline is already 6 years old.



They're good kitties and still run around the house chasing each other so I forget sometimes that they're getting older every day just like me. For the most part they had a clean bill of health. Erin has a little gingivitises (which might account for the recent increase in drooling and slobbering) and needs to get her teeth cleaned. Brookline has a little stomach issue but luckily that can be treated with a Pepcid AC tablet.

Koolhaas hat

I love this pattern! It is coming along swimmingly. The chart is easy to read and the pattern is easy to follow. Best of all, it looks fantastic.



I used size 6 needles on the k2p2 ribbing and then switched to size 7 for the rest. The yarn is Red Heart Soft. The soft halo obscures the stitches a bit but not too much. I've almost run out of yarn so I need to decide if I'm going to switch to another colour or buy another ball of yarn.

Cool weather cooking

Despite another long week at work, once rested up, I felt like cooking and baking. On Saturday I made a big pot of chili - Max's favorite. Most of it is already gone but we saved some for dinner tonight for Chili Mac.



On Sunday I made Yogurt-Braised Chicken with cashews, raisins, and red pepper for dinner. Max made the rice to go along with it. I also baked the Apple Cranberry Crisp from the December Bon Appétit. That's for dessert tonight!



I was very tired when I was done last night (especially after cleaning up) but it was a good tired. And with Daylight Savings Time ending yesterday, it felt like I got to sleep in an extra hour this morning.

Ribbon scarf

Matches the blue hat with stars. The pattern is Ribbon Scarf from Handknit Holidays. The first few rows were great and easy to knit. By the end, each row took 20-35 minutes to completed. I used my Boye circular needle set and had two of the cables connected so it was long enough to hold all the stitches - especially since I was knitting the longer scarf. The yellow is meant to "twinkle" out between the blue... like stars.