Sometimes Monday…  12.30.19

Sometimes Monday… 12.30.19

…feels like a Friday! Yes, Steve has Tuesday and Wednesday off again this week.

Sometimes Monday can also feel like spring! Yes, it is a wildly windy and rainy 60°F!

Sometimes Monday means putting away Christmas!

Sometimes Monday is for debating – which camp do you fall into? (FYI, I am in the minority camp)

Sometimes Monday is for thinking about goals! I am contemplating my reading and making goals for 2020 (is anyone contemplating 20 in 2020?)

What does your Monday look like?

Gemütlichkeit for Friday | 12.27.19

Gemütlichkeit for Friday | 12.27.19

Aging is an extraordinary process where you become the person you should have always been. — David Bowie

First… a little music for this post because yes, today is my birthday…

And while this song is a great pick-me-up I must confess that I have been struggling greatly with the idea of this birthday… and this is quite the confession from a person who never cared one iota about how old I was. 30 was not hard and 40 even less so. And I don’t even remember the big 5-0 so how come 59 is giving me fits? Good thing I have an entire year to get comfortable with the idea – that and those words of wisdom from David Bowie which I am counting on to guide me in the process!

59 year-old me… yes, wrapped in my Regan

However, birthdays be damned! It’s the Season of Selfish Knitting and of course I have some ideas with which to tempt you!!

Coorie is so lovely… the perfect winter companion!

Skeindeer’s Sweater Hug is also a winner!

And, Sarah’s Yofi hat and cowl are both lovely and look so cozy warm!

That’s all I have for today – have a good weekend and I will see you all back here next week!

Also!! Honoré has graciously agreed to host us for our monthly word updates in 2020!

 

Welcome Winter

Welcome Winter

I saw this poem on Saturday and have been pondering Wendell Berry’s words ever since:

To Know the Dark
To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.
To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,
and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,
and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.

This winter season may you find that the dark blooms and sings for you as well!

Photo by Egor Kamelev from Pexels

Gemütlichkeit for Friday | 12.27.19

Gemütlichkeit for Friday | 12.20.19

Christmas is a season not only of rejoicing but of reflection. — Winston Churchill

As I write this post, I am watching the gentle fall of snowflakes out my “office” window. Occasionally, the wind swirls them as if my neighborhood is a huge snow globe and as the wind subsides, the flakes swirl lazily until they return to gently float from the grey sky. I am wearing a warm, woolly sweater and I have hand knit socks on my feet while I sip a steaming hot cup of coffee. Life is indeed so very good – I have way more than I need. We do not have money struggles and our big debate is how we should “cut the cable cord” next year – we are fortunate beyond belief.

I have my Christmas gifts wrapped and under the tree. I have done all the baking I intend on doing this year. And, I am really looking forward to Steve being home a couple of extra days for the next two weeks – thanks to the holidays!

AND!! I have selected my word for next year – or rather, I think it selected me!

I am fortunate to return to my “regular knitting because I finished my holiday making with time to spare! Yes, I have settled back into my Evening Dew Cardigan! Each row brings me closer to needing my second ball of mohair silk, which I carefully wound yesterday. There is something quite reflective about hand winding a skein of yarn – you can’t rush it, there is no pause to go do something else – it requires your presence as you wind the yarn into a ball.

Perhaps one of these patterns will inspire you to to wind up some yarn and do some “selfish” knitting for yourself over the coming days! Added bonus, these things are **free** – at least for the next few days!

Isabell Kraemer’s Leni dropped this week and it is a gift from her to us through December 31! From Isabell: “Let me shout out a big THANK YOU for your love, your ongoing support, your trust, your understanding, your patience…for being by my side on this journey…hope you enjoy this little hat pattern!

Kelbourne Woolens December Hat – a free pattern knit up with their Germantown yarn which includes some intricate cabling!

Elizabeth Elliott’s Improvised Stripey Hat a pattern she has worked out for any gauge – designed to use up yarn scraps!

That is all I have for this week – I hope that your weekend is full of wonderful reflection! Happy Hanukkah to my friends who will begin celebrating on Sunday!

Currently | 12.16.19

Currently | 12.16.19

I have so enjoyed reading the flurry of “Current Updates” in the blogisphere, I thought I would join in and share a little slice of my world as 2019 winds down. I was surprised to see that I had not done one of these updates since June! It makes me smile to see where I was on the first day of summer – especially since we will welcome winter on Saturday! Okay, maybe someone will be up to welcome it at 11:19 PM EST but I promise you, I will be tucked into my cozy, warm bed!

Contemplating:

My word for next year! Focus has been so very good that part of me wants to “stay in the zone” for 2020, but I think I can drill into it a bit – take what I have learned through focus and apply it specifically into areas of my life that focus has shown to have issues. I am thinking about purpose/purposeful and intention/intentional.

Watching:

Un Village Français, courtesy of my library. I am just in season one, but it is fascinating to watch life just after German occupation in 1941 in the village of Villeneuve. I know I say this all the time, but I truly adore my library and the vast number of options I have to watch, read, and listen!

Reading:

Speaking of reading, I do not know where the recommendation came from – but I am reading One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow by Olivia Hawker. I love when a book sucks you in from the very first paragraph! I am about 1/3 of the way in and enjoying it tremendously – it might even be causing me to stay up just a wee bit later to read “just one more chapter”!

Savoring:

These December days – we are halfway through the month, with the best half yet to come! And, I am spending them enjoying all the subtleties of the season! The lights, the music, and especially those moments of unexpected good will in curious places – like the grocery store!

Knitting:

Yes, we got a dusting of snow overnight! WOO!!

Crazily, I have some delusion that I can finish a pair of mittens to match this headband that I knit over the weekend. Yes – I translated the pattern and figured out how to double-knit – now I am feverishly knitting a pair of matching mittens. If I can get these done today – I can make one more trip to the post office tomorrow and they *might* make it to Michigan in time for Christmas! If all that fails – then I can add them to whatever we send Vivi for Valentine’s Day!

Planning:

Some selfish making in January! All this gift knitting will be done, and I have plans to do some sewing – including a Day of Pinning and Cutting Out All The Things in the week between Christmas and New Year!

There you have what’s current in my life! What about you? What’s your favorite current thing?

Photo by Tim Mossholder from Pexels

Gemütlichkeit for Friday | 12.27.19

Gemütlichkeit for Friday | 12.13.19

Winter is not a season, it’s a celebration. – Anamika Mishra

That is most certainly true…at least at my house in December! I do so love December – even the greyest of days are soothed by the lights on our tree. And that theory was put to the test this week as we had several days of grey, wet skies. The December’s of my childhood were full of grey, snowy days courtesy of the Lake Effect Snow Machine that is Lake Michigan! It’s a true fact that grey, snowy days are brighter than grey, rainy days – also snowy days often brought snow days with a day off from school! I remember celebrating snow days and sledding and making angels in the snow. Simple pleasures that are no longer part of my life, but perhaps they should be! This week the best I could do would be to make “mud angels” in our very soggy back yard thanks to all the rain we have had. Somehow mud angels do not carry the same joyful celebration that snow angels do, and I am so hoping for a white Christmas (which is a rare thing in Pittsburgh!)

Yet, even with this lack of wintry weather, there are things to celebrate. My almost daily walks in the neighborhood are marked by the warmth of the neighbors I meet on those walks! There are lots of dog walkers in my neighborhood, but two are stand outs! Allie – a very friendly Golden Retriever, always runs to greet me with such great joy! Then there is Lady Clementine, a Bull Mastiff, named for Winston Churchill’s wife…I am not kidding you (and honestly, I really wish I was their next-door neighbor!) Anyways, Lady Clementine reminds me of an incredibly oversized Pug and her greetings include some wonderfully wet, sloppy kisses! These neighbors and their dogs make walking – even in the coldest weather – a thing to celebrate!

Is it just me, or does the dry skin arrive earlier and earlier every year? A couple of weeks ago, I treated myself to a little nail repair kit from OPI, which included a bottle of OPI nail and cuticle oil. I have one question… why has no one told me about this product before now?!? I am pretty sure this might be a wonder product! In addition to moisturizing cuticles it also *prolongs* the life of a simple manicure! I am on day 8 of a regular polish (regular as in I do my nails at home) with nary a chip or any peeling! This makes my nails extra celebratory! Ha!

Reading is a constant thing of joy in my life. I do not know what life would be without books (and I never, ever want to know!) But, December is the month of Book Celebration with all the book lists that are everywhere you look! Maureen Corrigan shares her 2019 Favorites that she deems are ‘unputdownable reads!’ There are quite a few new-to-me titles that made it to my read soon list!

Now, how about some celebratory knitting?

Did you all see Jennifer Steingass’s latest design: Brightfeather? Anything with mohair silk is a celebration to knit as well as to wear! The pattern currently has an automatic 30% discount….so what are you waiting for! (FYI, I have one completed mohair silk sweater and it is simply divine to wear!)

If color work does not make you celebrate, this little sweater with lacework is really lovely!

Amy Christoffers piqued my interest earlier this week with this announcement and I have spent a good bit of time checking Ravelry to see if the pattern was available yet! And it finally dropped late yesterday afternoon. The Pheasant Pullover is gorgeous! I love the deep color work! **AND** it is on sale through Monday!

I have been consuming lots of tea in the past two months, enough that I am contemplating a tea pot. A pot of tea is a quiet celebration – one that wafts its steamy aroma about you – one that reminds you to sit down and savor – one that encourages you to linger in that savoring just a bit longer! But, how to keep that pot of tea warm? Why a Tea Cozy, of course! This was trending on Ravelry yesterday. And this also caught my eye! There will absolutely be some tea cozy in my future knitting plans!

Finally, celebration eats!

Carole, this is for you! I found some “slicing brie” at TJ’s and knew I had seen a recipe on Pinterest that included slicing brie and puff pastry, which I almost always have in my freezer! The original recipe included cranberries and pancetta, but bacon and raspberries were great substitutions! I used frozen raspberries from my garden – and less sugar (I used half what the recipe called for) since raspberries are sweeter than cranberries. I also added the juice from a half a lemon. Raspberries need a little help in the pectin department and that little bit of lemon juice helped thicken the “jam” nicely. This was so yummy as were the leftovers which I reheated for about 20 seconds in the microwave.

That is all I have for this week! I hope your weekend has some celebratory moments!

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