A dream… realized

Well, so much for my posting every other day for the month of December. You have to admit though, I did post more often.

But, since Christmas, which was wonderful by the way… I haven’t knit a stitch. You see, one of my long time dreams came true.

About 15 or so years ago I went over to my sister’s for dinner.  She had guests, a friend she used to work with and her husband. They were in town for the Strawberry Festival, with their harps. Her husband is a harp builder. He brought one in after dinner to show us. I fell in love. Since that day, I have kept the literature on Rees harps, and have had their site bookmarked on my computer, and dreamt of the day I would have a harp of my own.

But, years kept slipping by, we put our time, effort, and money into raising kids and getting them all into college…. but I would still hop onto that bookmark and look at the harps, and promise myself – someday.

Well, the hubby made “someday” happen this Christmas.

I can’t believe “someday” is here… and this beautiful little harp is mine. I love it. I’m teaching myself to play it. I will spend the rest of my life learning. I am SO thankful for my classical piano background – it’s sure coming in handy… but I’m surprised what a challenge this is. I’m SO in love with it.

I’ll knit too, I promise.

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Ahhhhhh….

I’m ready.

The fudge is made…

…and the peanut brittle

…the almond roca

…and even the peppermint marshmallows (mmmm, melting in hot chocolate – to DIE for!)

They’ve all been packaged and delivered to our friends.

All the gifts are bought and wrapped.  I’m ready.  I can relax.

So, tonight it’s just me, a movie, and the Ice Queen

… and maybe some hot chocolate!

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The Beautiful People

We received one of my yearly Christmas card favorites today. This is one from a friend I’ve known since we were both tiny babies, so our parents tell… but unfortunately I haven’t seen her in 20+ years, except through Christmas cards.  It’s sad that we’ve let time and space let us get so out of touch.  Anyway, every year, they get better looking!  They look like a magazine cover…. we jokingly call them “the beautiful people.” My friend, her husband, her four gorgeous kids, one with a gorgeous spouse, and the two gorgeous grandchildren. It’s a little unreal how good looking they ALL are!

So… when I sat my three kids down for the yearly Christmas photo shoot…. I showed them “the beautiful people” – you know, just for a little inspiration.

Here’s my kid’s interpretation… they actually begged me to use this one for our card!

I explained there was no way I could send this to all our friends and relatives, much less to my friend and her “beautiful family.” I mean, really, besides the obvious…. Layla’s “parts” are in full view – hardly ladylike. You’d never see that on the beautiful family’s card.

So, we’re going with this one…

My beautiful people, my blessings. I wouldn’t trade them for anything – they are beautiful indeed.

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Maybe Matchy-Matchy’s not such a bad idea…

Wait, wait, before we get started with today’s topic…. Layla says “Hi.”

She’s obviously been doubling up on her cute pills.

Anyway…. today’s topic – for some reason I always thought that knitting a matching scarf, hat and mitten set was lame. I don’t really know why. Stores all over sell these items in sets all the time and I don’t think “ewwww.” Maybe it’s the thought of knitting a set of matching gloves, hat, and scarf. Booooooorrrrring. Maybe it’s because here in So Cal I never have the need to wear all said three items at the same time. It’s not that cold, and I don’t ski. I don’t know, but I DO know it’s time to rethink this issue.

Because… tonight we’re going Christmas Caroling with our church, and it’s gonna be cold, and I’m gonna want all three…. and with all the hats, gloves, wristwarmers, and scarves I’ve knit over the past couple of years… this is the best combo I could come up with.

Hmmm, at least they’re all kinda-sorta in the blue-ish family. Maybe instead of knitting a whole new “set” I should just pick one of the above and knit it some things to go with it that at least complement each other. Yeah – that’s it… .next year I’ll be caroling in style. Next year I’ll have an ensemble.

Not that style’s what it’s all about. This….

…is what it’s all about.

Blessings to you, my friends.

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Well, my posting every other day thingie kind of hit the skids last week, didn’t it?!  Wow, Christmastime is busy!  Christmas shopping to do, Christmas baking to do, Christmas movies to watch, Christmas parties to go to…, then just boring ol’ stuff like trips to the dentist…

Anyhoo, I’m back and you’ve been waiting patiently, I’m sure, to see how the yarn dying turned out.  Pretty, huh?  Actually this is twice-dyed… the first was too bright so we over-dyed it with more blue.  I actually took pictures of the first finished yarn, but those pictures are stuck in some part of my camera I can’t figure out… so you only get the final results.  I’m thinking this might be perfect for a Hanami shawl.  The colors look Japanese to me for some reason.

So, check this out…

I’m sliding head long down that slippery slope of multiple WIP’s.  Ever since seeing Ice Queen I’ve been thinking of nothing else…. And, really, who can’t justify just ONE ball of yarn for a project.  Total no-brainer.

Seriously, I’m living under some sort of delusion.  Who do I think I am and where do I think I’m gonna wear this?  To Vons?  When do I play dress up anymore?   As much as I hate to admit it, I even been known to wear jeans to church.   I’m going to have to seriously glam up if I think I can pull this off.

However, that’s not the point is it?  I’m having fun with my mohair and beads, and delusions of Grace Kelly-like glamour.  Good enough for me :o)

This week I have two more Christmas parties and Christmas caroling this weekend, and more Christmas baking,  but I PROMISE to be back soon, but not until after tomorrow’s Christmas cookie exchange!

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Kaity saw a tutorial for crock pot dying, and during tonight’s dinner, crock pot macaroni, she was reminded of it. So, after dinner we stowed the leftovers, washed the crock pot, and got busy!

Ingredients: KnitPicks Bare laceweight, various food coloring, hot water, vinegar…. we picked blue, purple, and green, and decided not to use too much vinegar because I wanted muted colors.

Hot wet wool and vinegar… p-u. Anyway, as I write this, it’s “cooking” on high for an hour.

You’ll have to wait until my next post to see how it turns out :o) Dying yarn is always a mystery with us. We never know what we’ll end up with.

Wondering how Layla is doing? She’s just awesome, thank you very much. Look at this innocent face…

Don’t let her fool you…. her toys would tell you otherwise!
Ya gotta love her, though. Just don’t leave anything you care about where she can get a hold of it!

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The Stockings Were Hung…

…ok, not by the chimney with care, because we use the fireplace too often, so they’re hung on the banister. Now, we like to decorate, but admitedly the outside decorations are rather simple. So, while the girls and I were out this evening we thought we’d drive around the ‘hood a bit and check out the neighbors.

Here’s my favorite…. all those lights on the roof make me think of Clark Griswold and our favorite Christmas movie.

Now, this is the girl’s favorite… those are not birds on the roof, they’re seals. And they’re wagging their little lit-up tails. I’m not sure of the significance of Christmas seals…. but ya gotta love them just the same.

And, here’s one more for good measure. Their Santa moves and sings “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.” We know, because we stopped to listen… he was demanding figgy pudding :o)

Since I still don’t have my Cobblestone pattern, I pulled out this old WIP…. Moss Stitch Scarf from a little IK special add-in pattern booklet. It’s actually been cold here lately, and it’s supposed to rain this weekend… so I’ve been feeling the scarves. This one is a short, neckwarmer style with a keyhole.

All that’s left is the tree, and then we’ll be truly decorated… and we’ll be getting that this weekend! Yea! It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

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Holiday Weekend

So…. here I am, two days later as promised, with LOTS of pictures!  I love this one, snapped while sitting in the parking lot waiting for the girls to get back with our Starbucks…. typical California Christmas.  Palm trees, blue skies, holiday decorations, overpriced yummy coffee :o)

Yesterday, we worked on our holiday puzzle,

There was a spirited discussion about exterior holiday illumination,

Layla tried her festive look,

The Advent calendar was filled,

We went to the town Christmas parade and saw my dad…

and my favorite Search and Rescue volunteer,

We made snowflakes for the window,

And I finished a boot sock! 

Yes, it’s only one sock, but we’ve been busy with the Christmas spirit..,

and besides, I have to pace myself if I’m going to post again in 2 days!  Until then, be merry and bright!

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