HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Welcome on in 2014. I'm glad to see you.

Last year was so full of trials and tribulations, sickness and sadness for my little family that I was glad to see it end. Out with the old. In with the new.

Let's start with knitting. Surprise, surprise, I'm on topic! When I was searching for my Kotcha-Kotcha (row counter) to get started on the knitting project in my Christmas Eve Box, I remembered it was in one of my sock knitting totes. Lo and behold the other thing in that tote was not one of my basic socks in progress as I expected, but my first attempt at the Turkish Bed Socks! Yes, I had already started a pair. I think it was right after I came to my senses and frogged the two toe-up on one circular some time around Labor Day. No wonder I couldn't find the one orphan skein of Koigu in my Koigu Stash. I was already knitting with it.

Confession time: I stooped and bought an orphan skein from eBay to make up the kit for my Christmas Eve Box. shame.shame.shame Please don't remember how much Koigu I have from the old days at Maryland Sheep and Wool Festivals. I have it all divided and weighed out for making pairs of socks. I didn't want to bust any bundles. shame.shame.shame

Anyway, here is how much I had accomplished:

And here is how much I have accomplished to date:

If it looks the same it is because it is. I have not taken the first additional stitch yet although I take it everywhere I go including upstairs to bed and back downstairs in the morning. But can you see I had already turned the heel? Whoop-de-doooo!

Okay, My New Year's Eve: I did a repeat of Christmas dinner, using leftovers, right down to dessert and champagne. Spouse and I clinked glasses and gave toasts to a better year to come. I was in sequins, my Ugg-like black boots with glitz. There were no noise-makers or ball dropping at the count down because it was New Year's Eve afternoon. Yes, afternoon celebrations are our time of day. At midnight we woke up long enough to again wish each other a "Happy New Year!" with enthusiasm . . . and then went back to sleep.  y.a.w.n. It has become a tradition.

Bona Fide Knitter
getting ready to knit

Merry Christmas

I hope your day was wonderful, full of the spirit, family, friends and whatever you love. My day was nice and perfectly suited to me. I cooked a full turkey dinner with all the usual accrutremonts, served   two plates with dessert and champagne on the side and it was lovely.

The high point of my Christmas gifts was my Christmas Eve Box. Remember, I mentioned it before? I also made a box for the spouse. Here they are:

For the spouse I included things he likes at the moment which was not an easy task. I had to think small . . .

First is a sleep shirt in lieu of pajamas. He likes PJ tops. The long pants bottoms not so much. Thus, the sleep shirt. Longer than a PJ top and maintains some modesty. 

Then a one year subscription to Esquire magazine.

Next: Okay, if you must, chewing gum in three throwback iconic flavors. And diet soda for the non-coffee/tea/hot chocolate drinker.

And then the fun stuff: two decks of cards--one Pinochle, one standard.

And underneath, the Cheez-Its he's currently addicted to.

On the bottom is an electronic game called FlashPad.

Fun on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

My Box

The dark red pajama top has coordinating dotted pants.

Tucked in the neck is my current favorite CD and the DVD. It's Andrea Bocelli's concert in Portofino, Italy. Love it!

  There are hot chocolate K-cups for the Keurig coffee maker: Milk Chocolate and Dark Chocolate and just in case, one for Chai Tea. And microwave popcorn to eat while watching a movie. There's my Roku streaming device remote control in the box. I watched Love Actually. And the new knitting project making the final cut is . . . . . . Turkish Bed Socks! The yarn is Koigu, a favorite of mine for knitting socks. I kept you in suspense, but I'm sure some guessed it would be the socks instead of a hat. After all, my other blog is The Sock Lady. 

One small confession: The things for my Christmas Eve Box continued to increase after the lid was closed. I also got the electronic game FlashPad. 

And a new cookbook.

Christmas Day is over. I am H O M E bathed in the ambience of candlelight and having a final reflection on the day. And remembering a Christmas Day past . . .

Bona Fide Knitter

Snow, Snow, Snow, NO!

Hey everybody! It has snowed here three times in a week! Is this an indication of the winter we are going to have? Is Mother Nature out for vindication after not mustering up any snow last winter?

I didn't think of taking pictures of the winter wonderland until a day after the last snow/ice storm.

View of backyard
with a little electronic enhancement

without enhancement

Right outside my front door I found some interesting footprints. What are they?

At first I thought the mailman had taken a tumble and those were his handprints.

On closer inspection they are definitely animal prints. And they are neither dog nor cat prints. I'm glad I didn't walk out and frighten whatever it was. I would have been the frightened one!

During this transitional season I've spent some time knitting Beach Socks 2013. At the rate I'm going, I might get them done before it's time to start Beach Socks 2014. I've spent more time making donuts and most of the time missing my Bichon babies. Oh gee, don't get me started on that.

I want to bake, but I don't want to eat the carbs or calories of baked goods. What to do? Don't bake! But I couldn't resist making my favorite apple cake. Actually it's my only apple cake. It's the only one I make. I adore it!

I've always loved a well made Jewish apple cake. I tried many recipes, but none measured up to slices I used to get from a cafeteria downtown, The Colonnade, no longer in existence, and from a neighborhood Jewish bakery I've lost track of. There was even a tolerable one sold at my neighborhood Acme Super Market. And then there wasn't. One day while searching for something to watch on a TV-not-hooked-up-to cable, I stumbled upon the Y Arts channel and Deborah Dal Fovo making her Nonna's Homemade Italian Apple Cake. I could hardly wait to make one. I've written about it before. It's not Jewish. It's Italian and it is THE apple cake! Just the way I like it: enough apples, moist, not too sweet and pretty to look at as well. Always a feast for the eyes and the tummy. Yum, yum, delicious!

It calls for just a few ingredients. Buy five Golden Delicious apples. I'm sure you have the rest of the ingredients on hand. A spring form pan, a couple of bowls, a wire whisk, peel, core, slice and arrange, bake in a 350 degree oven, and the best apple cake ever will be yours each time you bake one. And you will make it again and again. Easy, peasy, delicioso. Trust me.

When it's hot out of the oven my figural measuring cup set and measuring spoon set check it out.

Plated, Golden and Delicious

Cut

Can you see the moistness? Can you see the apple slices inside?

Perfection!

I have completed my Christmas Eve box. I can just lift the lid and save the box for next year. No ribbon, not bow, no tag . . . yet. I still have over a week to go. Something else might need to go inside. As for the tag, I won't need one. I know whose box it is.

I had to do some editing of the contents before I put the lid on. There were three knitting projects vying for a place in the box: (1) a free Ravelry download of a slouchy beret Springtime in Philadelphia,  (2) American Girl Doll Beret and (3) Turkish Bed Socks. How much can a person do on Christmas Eve while looking at a movie, eating popcorn and drinking hot chocolate?  I changed my mind many times, but the final decision has been made. Which one, you ask? You will find out after it is a fait accompli. Stay tuned.

Still a
Bona Fide Knitter

Veterans Day

I hate to miss a holiday post. I'm sorry to be so late in the day with this one. All year I thank, donate to and say prayers for all the men and women who have served and those currently serving the United States of America in the armed forces.

In their honor I was determined to start and finish the little knitting project that should have only taken about an hour. It took me about an hour of actual knitting and about an hour of frogging and knitting again over a period of a few days, grabbing knitting time when I could.  I'd start, get halfway through and forget what I was doing. I'd start again and begin talking and or get interrupted and could not remember what I was doing. I could not look at it and tell what to do next or what I had done wrong on the row below or how to fix it. Holey moley I'd lost my knitting know how! And believe me,"holey" was the operative word when I went wrong. The perfectionist in me made me ripit, ripit, ripit. I thought I'd turn into a frog!

On Veterans Day I started and made it to the end. Yaaaaay!!! I'm pleased with it and it goes with the coat I had in mind when I picked the yarn colorway. And I would make another if I wanted to invest in another hank of the yarn. It's a little pricey. Maybe when it goes on clearance . . .

Yarn: Link by Berroco, 1 hank (200 grams)

Colorway:  #3241 Earthen

Pattern:  Wink (included on the band of the hank)

Needles:  Size 35 (19.00 mm)

Heeeeere's Wink:

A good representation of the colors in daylight

With the coat

With the coat reversed

What happened to the flash? This is what can happen when phone pictures 

are taken after dark.

Anyway, it was fun to do once I got my knitting bona fides back. Now I need to gather some photography bona fides. Maybe I'll stop with the iPad and iPhone go back to using a CAMERA. I think I'll go off now and see what other colorways are still available and possibly at a reduced price. I could add it to my Christmas Eve Box. Does "Christmas Eve Box" pique your interest? More about that in another post.

I am happy to say I am still a

Bona Fide Knitter