Christmas hasn't really come yet...

for our family, that is. I mean Santa came and all, but I don't recall much since I was "praying to the porcelain gods" quite early on Christmas morning-and no, it wasn't from too much egg nog!! I wish!!

My oldest daughter got croup on the Thursday before Christmas and kept a fever of 102 through until the day before Christmas Eve-when my youngest took it from her and has since had a fever. Both have unbelievably bad coughs and congestion and b/c I felt so bad for them, through all of my comforting and consoling, I managed to get it as well. Oh, did I mention that this also came with a weird sort of pink eye too? The nurse practioner swears that this doesn't require antibiotics b/c it is just from all of the congestion, but if you were to see my daughter's eyes, you'd rush her over there for some tobromacyn for sure!! So far, hubby, who has been a saint through all of this, has been spared, but since our luck isn't the best, we're thinking he'll get it right before New Year's....b/c of course, we're planning to have our BFF's over. Nice...

Now for knitting! Well, this sickness and loss of the usual Christmas visiting/plans has made way for a lot of sitting and knitting. I've been sitting around so much that my tush is sore! I've managed to stop cursing the retrofit sweater that was supposed to be THE GIFT of all gifts for the DH, and I picked up the needles to finallly finish the shopping tunic that I started in April and put into hibernation. Here it is... This is THE SWEATER that broke my holiday knitting spirit! Notice the LACK of stitch definition-that is b/c, oh yes, it is felted!! Can it be saved?? We'll see....(more notes on Ravelry on my projects page about this bad boy-I just can't bring myself to type it all out again) and...the project that brought back my knitting mojo:

This is the Shopping Tunic from Wenlan Chia-Twinkle's Big City Knits. I started and completed this in three days!! I call that an instant cure for my broken Holiday knitting spirit! Also, a good-close second cure....my Christmas gifts from DH!! I was also spoiled rotten by my darling husband who gave me all things knitting for Christmas. He really took to the theme, gifting me knitpicks options circs set, a ravelry t-shirt, the new KNIT TWO novel by Kate Jacobs, KNITTING by Anne Bartlett, a cabled knitted mug from Starbucks, hand balms and creams, two skeins of really nice red variegated bamboo yarn from Jill Deal, Inc in Milford, and a really cute pair of cable-knit clogs from American Eagle Outfitters ( a store I never normally shop at-but these clogs are soooo cute!). Oh and a recycled knitting needle bracelet from Sassafras Creations-I love this bracelet!! She makes such beautiful things!!! Check it out!!

Ok for some pics...

This is my Christmas loot! Oh-forgot to mention the way-cool game called Mancala that hubby and I are addicted to! Love it! When we're all better, we're going to lug it over to the coffee shop for coffee and gaming...

This is the bracelet from Sassafras Creations on Etsy-I LOVE IT!!!

Misc. catchup since I haven't blogged in awhile (due to broken holiday knitting spirit-it is all connected for me...)

These are my special White Chocolate Cranberry Almond cookies-I made the first batch for the Scranton sit-n-knit group and since have made two more batches for Christmas cookie gifting! Amber of Ambersambry posted a game of tag where you show a pretty picture of something on your blog and then show what you cropped out. Finally, I'm getting around to playing this tag! See what a ridiculous amount of free-time-due-to-sickness can do for my blog?? haha!

This is what the kitchen really looked like:

And again, with my beautiful winterberries for my dining room centerpiece (I love these-they're my favorite part of winter!)

What the scene really looked like:

Thank goodness for cropping!!

This time of year has also brought about some good creative juice to my hubby as well. Before he realized that we were all sicker than dogs and therefore, we would NOT be having any company whatsoever, he made an ice wreath, something he hasn't done for years.....here is a pic of it during the "freezing" process...

He sort of gave up on it though-and it is still in the freezing process on our front porch-he will probably keep it there until we're all better and we have company....here's hoping!

Well, I hope all of you had a wonderful, germ free holiday! And I hope we all have a Happy, Healthy 2009~~ Happy Knitting!

Last minute dash to finish the....

sweater for hubby for Christmas! We've got a snow day today, so I'm hoping to bang out a serious amount of knitting for this darn thing-amongst the other things to do today, like catch up on laundry, play with playdough, polly pockets, wrap teacher gifts, etc....we'll see how it goes. I've got to finish the 2nd sleeve, block it, sew it all up and then put in the dreaded....zipper. Anyone on Ravelry? The pattern I chose (or hubby chose) is the Retrofit cardigan-really nice pattern!! Love it! Well written and the designer, a guy, is very helpful. I've messaged him a few times and even though he and his wife just welcomed home twins (!) he still managed to message me back-both times!!

Onto other news...
Went to Anthology in Scranton on Monday night for sit-n-knit and again, had a blast! Had some yummy treats, good glass of wine and knit through the 1st sleeve with great company. Amber brought more samples of her terrific soap-I am in love with the poppyseed and herb, and the cedar and something (can't remember what else is in it)-they smell unbelievable!! Check her out for sure for those last-minute stocking gifts. She's a local gal so if you're in to buying local, buy from her!!

I brought some mini zucchini quiches and they were a hit, I'm so glad to say! I promised to post the recipe here on the blog, so here it is:

Zucchini Quiche
Ingredients:
3 C. shredded zucchini
1C. bisquick mix (I use the reduced fat one)
1/2 c. chopped onion
1/2 c. grated cheese (I used a mix of parmiggiano reggiano/pecorino romano/parmesan from Wegmans)
1 TBSP parsely
1/2 tsp. salt
dash of pepper
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 c. olive oil
4 eggs

Directions:
Mix all ingredients, except for Bisquick-then add Bisquick. Mix well. Grease pan (square, quiche pan, just about anything will do-I used a mini-muffin pan). Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown. For bigger pans, this may take up to 55 minutes-my mini muffin pans took around 25 minutes. Can be served hot or cold.

Hope you enjoy!

Abby Caddaby!

Well, today is my daughter's 3rd birthday. I can't believe it. If I think about it, I can put myself right back to the day we went to the hospital because I was having contractions. It was supposed to snow, I was nervous and truthfully, tired of being pregnant. I wanted her out. I didn't want her to have a birthday so close to Christmas b/c I didn't want her to ever feel "gipped" from getting combined Christmas/birthday gifts. So, off we went. They checked me out and told me that while I did have contractions, I wasn't nearly dilated enough. Unless I progressed soon, I was going to be sent home. So-hubby and I did sprints around the hospital, until I progressed!! Checked in and slept overnight. She was born the following afternoon and was the easiest labor ever. I can clearly remember trading wisecracks with hubby and the doctor in between pushes....

And now she's 3!! She came into our room this morning holding up three little fingers saying, "Mommy, Daddy, I'm thlee, I'm thlee!!" So cute! We had m&M pancakes for breakfast, scooted off the the Highlights Open House in Honesdale for some crafty festivities and refreshments, bought some books, went out to lunch at Patisserie Du Jour on Main St. and then headed home for naps (for everyone!). So far, a wonderful day!!

I just finished her cake-Abby Caddaby! I think she came out well. Hopefully, the "thlee" year old will think so too!

Christmas Countdown...

Well, I did it. Scrounged around my parents' yard for pinecones, sprayed them with some silver paint that we had in the basement and hot-glued to a grapevine wreath....added a bow lying around (also in the basement!) and voila! This year's wreath for the front door!! This beauty cost me less than $5 bucks!! Love it!!



I'm noticing that my style is becoming more and more modern. This doesn't concern me, but I am noticing it. Especially since we moved and I had to decorate a new home, my tastes have definitely changed. I'm liking clean lines and less-complicated things more and more, although I do admit-I love color! The more the merrier. I guess that's good for my knitting!



Speaking of knitting-although I thought I'd try this year to not make myself nuts with knitting presents, I believe that this is yet another year where I'm going to go down to the wire to finish everything....recently added to my previous list of projects:

More beaded bracelets...will I get tired of making these? Probably not, b/c they are so simple and really don't require a lot of time...

a few crocheted washcloths made of this great linen yarn I have had sitting in my stash-will go great with the soaps I recently bought from anothe etsy seller ambersambry.

Her soaps are just wonderful and I'm sure my friend will love them! Need to bang out those washcloths by next weekend...and of course, I'm still working on hubby's sweater-once that is done, I'll feel much better.



Just completed three days of babysitting the cutest kids-one, who is a 6 month old and one who is my daughter's age (5). They were angels during all 3 days, but boy, am I wiped. Today, I'm hoping to hang out and knit, straighten up the house, knit.....put laundry away, knit....and put together my soon-to-be 3 year old's Elmo Restaurant. Yep-I got it for her, as per her request, but thanks to good bargain hunting, I paid about 1/2 the retail price. Here's hoping it's easy to put together...



Tonight it's Santa shopping at the Toysrus in Dickson City! I love this night! Hubby doesn't nearly love it as much as I do and I'm thinking that he won't especially this year b/c both girls have asked for the same things: dollies and dolly beds, bottles, changing tables, etc. I'm going to have a ball!! WhoHOOO! Reliving childhood memories of baby dolls is so fun for me....

Wonder if I'll be able to knit up a few baby doll blankets before 12/25???

Hunt for our Christmas tree...at Roba Farms

We had such a great day yesterday...didn't start off to well, but it sure did end well!!

I had forgotten to print off directions for my mother, but had asked hubby to write down the address so that my mother could type it into her garmen. He didn't. When they got to the house, of course, she requested it and in a rather snotty way (which is her way) she added why she would need it-treating me like a child of course. Burned me up immediately-adding to it too, was the fact that hubby was insistent that they could just follow us the 45 minutes up I-81N, never minding that they could possibly lose us and get lost. SO-I marched inside and printed off directions, like I should've in the first place....

Anywhoo-once we were on the road, I broke out my knitting and knit away....knitting always calms me down. Rather nice drive-gave me about 40 minutes of uninterruped knitting and the girls napped the whole way there. Hubby had downloaded great Christmas music so this made things very festive. We had never been to Robas' before, usually going to Beck's like I said in previous post, but since my father wasn't with us this year (he had double knee replacements and is immobile right now due to infection), we thought we'd try this out-staying more local. Boy, am I glad that we did...http://www.robafarms.com/ is a wonderful place!! We first went to the Lakeland farm, where we took a tractor ride to the trees-for-cutting area. It was simply beautiful! Take a look:

These pics are good-but really don't do it justice! The place is wonderful! They provide the saws and wagons and all of the trees are tagged (!) by color for size, and also identified by type and price. How nice, right?? Makes picking one very easy! We picked a fraser fur, 7-8 feet tall, and hubby cut it down very nicely. They even have these machines that shake the tree to get the loose needles off and then one to tie it all up. They carried it over to the wagon part of the tractor ride and we hopped back on for the ride back to our cars to pay. They also drilled a hole in the bottom to make putting it in the tree stand easier and also gave us a free tree bag! Perfect!!

We paid and then went over to the other Roba farm about 8 miles away b/c Santa and the reindeer are there-REAL REINDEER!! I'm not kidding!! Santa was terrific-really nice and great with the girls, and the reindeer were something else!! We walked around for a bit and fed some farm animals and then topped off the day with some hot cocoa and cider donuts....what could be better, right? Perfect!

All in all, it was a wonderful way to start off the holiday season! I also mailed out my Christmas cards (most of them) so I feel like I'm de-stressing with each thing I cross of my "to-do" list. I have only a few more things to get for Christmas, but have a whole lot of knitting to do still.....that is weighing heavy on my mind....I have to:

1. Finish hubby's sweater-did the back, and most of the right front. Still have the sleeves, left front, blocking, seaming and the zipper on this bad boy.

2. Knit up the comfy raglan sweater for my best friend Sherri-I really want to do this but I think I may run out of time...

3. A few beaded bracelets for the shop and for last-minute gifts..

4. My sis's hat and mittens-she wants these for Christmas too...yikes

We'll see....here's hoping, right??

Yarny Girl is Born!!

Finally, I decided to commit to this blogging thing-since I'm constantly thinking of knitting, yarn and all things yarny-I thought that maybe this would help me organize my brain...we'll see....

Today we are going to cut down our Christmas tree! Every year we do this-at Beck's Farm in Hope, NJ. However, this year we decided to stay more local at Roba's Farm in Dalton, PA. It is a first for all of us. Hoping all will be great! How bad can it be right?? Anywhoo-hubby's driving so I am guaranteed atleast 45 minutes to and fro the farm of car-knitting-one of my fav. things. It is such a good distraction for me b/c I hate to be on the highways out here-too many trucks. So I will happily click away and not be bothered by a thing....

I am working on the retrofit cardigan for hubby-really crossing my fingers that this will be done by Christmas. Oh boy-I'm going to be knitting my fingers off! Between this, a sweater for my BFF that has not even been started yet, last-minute gifts for my sis, the librarian, and the bus driver (fingerless mitts??), I am busy. BUT-christmas shopping is almost completely done, cards have been mailed and decorating starts tomorrow, so am I really in that bad shape?? I don't think so...

Ok-if I'm going to make it to chop the tree, I've got to get in the shower....will type more later!