It's Hard Fun to Grow a Christmas Tree

It's hard fun to grow a Christmas tree.  Start with a stand and a trunk. Sort out the branches.  Put on a layer. Wrap the lights in and out, from the trunk to the end, in serpentine fashion.

 Add more layers, wrap more lights, continue up and up...

 Until it's all done.

Top off with angel which was a gift from DD1 the first year she lived away from home.

Now add glass ornaments, some very sentimental old ornaments,

Some new ornaments,

Many gifts from former students:

Some hand-made ornaments,

And some memoirs:  trip to Hawaii in 1980, and our Pork Producing days:

Add  many, many more ornaments, string gold beads, and "It's Light-up Time!!!

Our tree has 2500 tips on the tree, and about 1200 mini-lights.   I love
Christmas trees!!

I guess I should have put tree-growing in The Garden Blog, so, since I have done some cooking there, why don't you pop over there to see some of the Christmas goodies that I've baked so far (but am far from finished).

Winter Wonderland

Snowpiles made by Kubota Man.

 Beautiful, jeweled hoarfrost.

 Half the feed for the lawn-mowers with hooves.

 We are in real winter.

Happy to announce that the new countertops are installed.  The edges came unfinished (see picture above), so most of the week was spent with Danish oil, getting the edges to come close to the oak cupboards.  They are not as golden, but that is a factor of oxidation and light exposure over time.

On Nov. 11 we had a memorial service for all the deceased members of my chapter (I am president) of the Catholic Women's League.  That is I on the far left.

I am really getting there on the Christmas knitting.  DGD2's Newfoundland Mitts.

And matching scarf.  I did the striping totally randomly--it is just about 6 feet long.  The peacock yarn is the leftovers from a sweater which I made for her dad the first Christmas that her parents were married.

Remember the beaded cowl?  Same daughter, a cat lover, is getting these mitts.

My shorter list consists of:  mittens and socks for DD2, an ear-flap hat and fingerless, long gloves for DGD1, long fingerless gloves in illusion knitting for DGD3, a hat and socks for Kubota Man Jr., and a hat for DSIL.  Hoping to be done around the end of the month.

And last, but not least, I received my evaluation of the Master Knitter Level 1--I have two swatches to re-submit and two pieces of writing.  That's much better than I anticipated.  As soon as the Christmas knitting is done, I will work hard on Richard's new projects.  That man is so patient.  After New Year's it will be Master Knitter Level 2 and some knitting for myself, as well as more knitting for Richard, the Patient one.

And now some food for thought:  Ain't it true?

 Pop into the other side for a good Squash Soup recipe.

Till next time:  keep safe, stay healthy. LIVE, LAUGH, LOVE.

Whiter and nicer than a Hurricane

We have had a nice bit of snow, clean and bright.  Good thing, there is no more competition with outdoors for my knitting, baking and reno time.

I just got word that the new countertops are coming in next Wednesday.  Count the cupboards and drawers and know why I'm not looking forward to clearing out all the lower cupboards.

Good thing, though, when I'm done returning (and sorting and getting rid of some stuff), the lower half of my pre-Christmas cleaning will be done.

I'm thrilled at how much traffic has been visiting my blogs here and there.  Now if only I could persuade some of my visitors to leave a little message. 

I am posting a great soup recipe There.

Christmas Knitting Update 2

I'm so happy that the Christmas knits are such quick knits and are turning out as well as I expected.

DD1's Jeweled Cowl--exactly two 50g balls of sock yarn and 714 beads.  I will make this pattern again.  Definitely one on the agenda for me, but a bit longer so it's a bit more slouchy around the neck when wrapped twice.

DGD4's beanie.  This took only about 3 hours, and 70g worsted weight yarn.  She chose the pattern and yarn from my stash--her favorite colors.  Her Christmas socks will also be in pastels.

I also must brag about talented DD3--these are Halloween Cake pops that she made for a fundraiser at her school.

Now that we have snow, it is much easier to knit and do things indoors since there is no competition for my time.

Richard loved his Aran Sweater, and now I have a list of hats, scarf and gloves to knit for him.  He loves Aran work and Briggs and Little Yarns.

Tomorrow I will bake pies and several zucchini recipes (brought up a huge zucchini).  And I will go and start DD1's mitts as soon as I leave the computer.
Till next time.

Cross this Off my Christmas Knitting List

DD3's warm, snug, cozy lined hat is finished.  Only took my knitting time from yesterday and today (besides canning 14 more quarts of tomatoes (49 quarts in all so far).  It is worsted weight Sayelle for the Aran layer and  stocking stitch with sock yarn for the lining.  It will be really snug--and easy care.  I hope to have the lined mitts finished for Friday, when I go to the city, so I can bring them to her.  She is taking the Dental Assistant program at NAIT, and prefers to take the bus rather than worry about parking, so she requested the lined set as an early Christmas Present, for those cold waits at the bus stop.  I might just make her a jewelled cowl to match so she isn't without a knit gift at Christmas time (must add that to the list in the previous post),

 The lining side:

 Guess who?  Obviously not my lovely young daughter.

Now I must get to work on the mittens.

Post Thanksgiving Post

I had plans to show you our entire Thanksgiving menu, but that moment has passed, so I'll just show you what  I think might be a teeny bit interesting from those pictures.  These are sour cabbage leaves, which with a bit of sleight of hand, and a lot of onions and a big pot of deliciously seasoned rice...............

 becomes a roaster full of lovely cabbage rolls.  No matter how many I make, there are never any left over.

 These are the meatballs which will be baked and then glazed with the best Cranberry-tomato sauce--once again, no matter how many I make there are never any left (actually, I stole 14 meatballs for Kubota Man and me to have another meal).  Now if some of my faithful readers would leave me comments to that effect, I  might share the recipe.

I finally finished the Aran Sweater.  This sweater was chosen by Richard.  He borrowed the book from the library, then modified the neck to a V-neck, and I executed his directions.  If you are a Ravelry member, you can read the details Here.

Now I should be working on my Christmas knitting, since I asked my kids and granddaughters what I should knit this year by way of accessories.  But first I wanted to make some headway on DD2's Black Cabled Hoodie.  I'm hoping to finish it next week:  back and one front is done, am making great progress on the hood and one sleeve is started.

I also started this cardigan called "Seaweed Cardigan", which I shouldn't have because I'll be putting myself into a bind with the Christmas knitting.  So now it's officially hibernating for a while.

I did finish this Illusion Knit Scarf for DGD3.  Interesting knitting.  When you look at the scarf head-on it looks just like black and green striped scarf.  But at an angle, a picture appears.

My Christmas knitting list:
DD1--anything I want to make as long as it's rich, jewel colorsFinished jeweled cowl,
DD2--Black mitts
DD3--Black Gray mitts and hat (which I will line with a layer knit in sock yarn for warmth while she waits for the bus)  Hat finished Oct. 22 Mittens finished Oct 25.
        --add jewelled cowl to her list.
Kubota Man Jr--Cabled hat
DGD1--scarf and hat she designed herself and gave me sketches
DGD2--mitts in peacock blue and white, scarf in peacock blue and white
DGD4--socks in pastel colors, have added a slouchy tam to her list--she picked colors and style. Socks and Hat both done.

Kubota Man has to be patient again for his sweater.

I have about another month to wait for the results of the Master Knitter Program Level 1.

This is a peek at my cold storage room.  If you want to know more about that space, you'll have to visit my Garden Blog.

Till next time--I'll try not to keep you waiting so long.