Happy Thanksgiving!

What was on the menu?



Good Eats Roast Turkey with our Ayrshire Farm Heritage Turkey




Wild Mushroom and White Wine Gravy

Cranberry Orange Relish



Garlic and Rosemary Focaccia



Sage Sausage and Chestnut Stuffing

Mashed Potatoes

Holiday Sweet Potatoes



Caramel Cranberry Nut Tart



Pecan pie



Pumpkin pie



Gobble, gobble!

A perfect fit

And the points cover her ears. Worked out perfectly! :)

Lavender hat

The colour is totally off in these pictures. The yarn is Red Heart Soft in lavender, looks more like this but at this time of year it's getting hard to get a good photo. The pattern is Toasty Topper without the scarf. I made it for a little girl I haven't seen in years. She and her Mom are staying over with us tonight, on their way from Boston to Tennessee for Thanksgiving. It fits tightly on my head so it should last for awhile on hers.

Christmasy

The other night I felt like knitting something on big needles, something sparkly, and maybe something for Christmas that would decorate the juniper tree outside our house - once Thanksgiving is over that is!



I knit this up in one evening. Very gratifying.

Gearing up

It's been cold and all I want to eat is hot, carb laden foods. Yum. Here's a sampling of what I've made in the past month.

Wild mushroom risotto with parsnip and radish gratin



Acorn squash soup with roasted garlic



Orange pancakes



Blueberry scones



Pumpkin bread



Hungry?

The joys of a paper bag

TGIF

Today is less sucky than yesterday. I am thankful for that.

Anne stamps

My Mom sent these to me in Max's birthday card. I love Anne of Green Gables. Maybe I'll frame them.

Happy Birthday Max!

The Green Forest

Nikki posted a childhood cartoon that she found on YouTube on her blog so I thought I would look for one of mine.

The Green Forest

Max laughed out loud as I watched it. It's just the intro, not an actual episode but it definitely gives you an idea of what it's about. I grew up in Canada and this is clear evidence.

Hot rice pad

I made it myself. Only took a modicum of sewing - thank goodness or else it would not have happened. :)

Step 1: Take one clean, holey sock and cut off the part with the hole. (In my case, part of the foot near the toe.)

Step 2: Sew up the part that was cut and turn sock inside out so the nice seam faces out.



Step 3: Fill with rice. I used broken rice (because we still have a most of a big bag that we bought by accident and it's only good for congee, which I only make for Max and Marvin because I don't like to eat it).

Step 4: Sew up the other side of the sock. Make certain that it is securely sealed. I sewed two rows to make sure.



Step 5: Place rice pad in the microwave for 1 minute. Check to see if it is hot enough. If not, nuke for another minute.



Step 6: Knit a machine washable removable cover to fit over the pad. This hasn't been done yet but I can tell you that I used the hot pad several times last night on my neck and it feels wonderful.

Working ahead

A sneak preview... there are more pictures here (for those of you with access to Ravelry).

I can't show you the rest until December, after it has been gifted since I know the recipient reads my blog. Gorgeous colour, right? I love it. Looks fabulous with red. All Max could say is that it's hairy. Well of course it is! It's Lane Borgosesia Mohair.

p.s. Happy Birthday Missy!

Pink buttons

I'm almost done! What do you think? Totally girly, right? I sewed on the 7 buttons last night, just need to weave in the ends tonight. Always down to the wire... the shower is tomorrow! :)

Also, I've started on my Christmas presents. A sneak preview tomorrow.

TGIF

It's been a tough, busy week with not enough sleep and lots of stress. Things are starting to look up - it's Friday! But that's not all... there were other moments that helped get me through:

• - Tuesday's results. Enough said.
  
• - Yesterday's baby shower. Lots of oohing and aahing and oowing. My handknits garnered lots of appreciation and that's always nice.
• - Fall foliage. It's not as beautiful here as it would be in Canada or Boston but it's still pretty.
• - Neck rubs. Thanks Max.
• - Erin and Brookline. And The Itty Bitty Kitty Committe . Love those cute kitty faces.
• - Good news and friends who share it. Thanks Nikki and congrats.
• - Perspective. I think there are a lot of American students who would love to pay Canadian tuition rates.
  

A little sparkle

Over the weekend...



A close-up:



And done tonight, with buttons:



It's funny and lumpy but with the matching hat, I think it will be a hit nonetheless. If I had more time, I would redo it but the shower is tomorrow! :)

Election Day

Did you vote? Well, maybe you're not American, so that's fine. But if you are a registered American voter, get out there today and vote. Need some incentive?

• Free ice cream from Ben & Jerry's (from 5pm-8pm). Limit one per customer.
  
• Free star-shaped donut with red, white, and blue sprinkles from Krispy Kreme when you show them your “I voted” sticker.
• Free coffee from Starbucks. Limit one per customer.
• $5 off of flowers at Stems

If you live in North Carolina, here's some more incentives. It doesn't stop there... a quick search turned up this article as well.

Updated to add: Max was only in line for a minute or two. And he got his sticker!

Final CSA week

Twenty-one weeks of fresh organic produce and eggs. This week we got green beans, tomatoes, Zucchini, potatoes, eggplant, acorn squash, and the biggest baby boy choy I've ever seen. Fabulous. Would I do it again? Yes but with some provisions. No eggs. A dozen eggs each week is alot for two people to eat. Right now we have almost 4 dozen eggs in our fridge. Not to mention all the egg whites in our freezer. Also, I would really like to be able to choose what we're going to get. While I don't mind experimenting a little once in awhile, it felt like we were doing that almost every other week - and sometimes more often!

Election Day
I can't vote but to all my American readers, if you haven't already sent in your absentee ballot, make sure you get out there and vote tomorrow. I'll be crossing my fingers and hoping for the best!