Somehow I knew as soon as I said I had a hard time starting my Holiday knits I’d start them, and I was right. I now have two hats done (and blocking) and two scarves in progress. I knit many of this year’s gifts from my stash and it’s prompted an idea. I think I’ll be proclaiming 2010 the year of the gift knit. I have so much yarn and so many knitted objects. I’d like to share the warmth a bit by knitting up my stash (especially the odds and ends) and giving it away.
We’re expecting family here tonight and I expect they’ll keep me busy for a few days so don’t know when I’ll be posting again. Merry Holidays, Happy Everything. Hope this time of year is quiet and beautiful for you and that it yields lots of time for reflecting on the past and contemplating the future.
I’m having a hard time focusing myself enough to make Christmas gifts. I’m kind of out of touch with how much (or how little) time I have. In fact I can’t even fathom it, so I haven’t even started some of the holiday knitting I wanted to yet. Instead I’ve been thinking about how to spend my post-Holiday holiday in NYC and what my resolutions will be. I guess these are good things to think about, but there’s a huge disconnect between then and now. So I’ve started on a knitting project that seems to be for someone I wasn’t even planning on exchanging gifts with. I guess it just turned out that way.
There seems to be a lot of ‘00 flashback stuff going on lately. I guess it makes sense since we’re so big on defining decades. I seem to have inadvertently done my own little flashback on the reading front by picking up Wicked again, which I read for the first time back in 2001.
- homemade cookies involving molasses and various spices
- fancy holiday parties with puffy skirts and fur stoles
- snow!
- mulled wine
- handmade gift shopping (and making)
- less and less light outside
- perfume that smells like plums, caramel and oranges (but not all at the same time)
I can now say with confidence that after 20 cm of snow and temperatures of -6C that winter is finally here in Montreal and honestly, I couldn’t be happier. It snowed all day Wednesday and it was really the first day that my shoulder started to feel normal again. I don’t think it’s a coincidence.
These last few days of snow have afforded me lots of cozy knitting (and Little House on the Prairie watching) time. I’ve also been baking more cookies (it’s now official that we’ll have a steady stream of those until the new year) and today I finally for some shopping done. Call me crazy, but going downtown and being in the midst of the vast, wild and crowded “underground city” only served to make me happier and more excited about the holidays.
This weekend I have more shopping to do, some hot drinks to partake of and of course some knitting to finish.
Well, the lowdown is that the neck still hurts but that it may be on the mend. Verdict’s still out on that. I spent the better part of Sunday in a waiting room, just so a doctor could tell me (among other things) to wear a scarf and hat when I go outside. Seriously?
I don’t think he knew who he was talking to.
In other news, I’ve gotten a bit off track with holiday preparations, shopping and card making (this is the one I’m really bummed about) but I’m trying to get back into things. I really wanted to make my cards this year, going a step further than I did last year.
Holiday knitting is going slowly too. I want to blame my prescriptions meds which make me groggy and unfocused, but it may just be me.
I have been doing some holiday things though. Last weekend I had a little baking party with a friend where we made Pfeffernussen and mint and cinnamon truffles and then retired to the couch with homemade pizzas to watch a holiday classic.
The plan for the rest of this week is more music, more card planning, more knitting.
Posting momentum has been a bit lacking here this week. It seems as soon as I was finished with all school related activities my body decided to rebel and I’ve been dealing with weird shoulder pain ever since. It’s been really distracting, since I can still do things, I just have this persisting and annoying pain accompanying it.
I’ve been trying to take it easy, while keeping busy enough to forget that I’m in pain. This involves knitting a bit, but mostly watching movies (Vicky Cristina Barcelona), finishing books (The Robber Bride), visiting friends I haven’t seen in a while, taking half hour walks (oddly, my shoulder hurts the least when I’m standing up) and enjoying the glow of Christmas lights from my couch. I’ve also been taking lots of naps, since the pain interrupts my sleep at night. It’s actually been a really relaxing way to end a busy few months, though I could do without the annoying pain that was involved.
Meanwhile, I’m trying to decide which one of my shots to add to the Flickr Best of 2009. I’ve made a little set of some of my favorites. Which one do you like best?
So, every family member who has sent me a wishlist this year has put something on it that could potentially be knit. What they didn’t include was measurements and shoe sizes. I guess maybe non-knitters don’t realize that I’d need to know that in order to make, for example, socks or slippers that fit their feet. Well, guess who’s not getting knitwear this year?
In other news, I am thinking of knitting some presents this year, namely some berets for my teenage cousins. I’m pondering one of the Brooklyn Tweed patterns. And now that I’ve finished my last project (still have to print it hand it in though) I’ll have a lot more time for knitting!
Well, I made it through the whole month of November without missing one day of posting.
I’m not sure if I’ll keep posting daily all through December, or if I’ll go back to my regular schedule of every two or three days, but I do have some posts already planned for next month. December is a really introspective time and it’ll be useful to me to share some of my musings.
I’m posting this from my bed where I’m right in the middle of reading a book. I have a 2009 reading post coming up soon, but I want to say now that I’ve recently decided to go through all my books and either read the ones I’ve never read or get rid of them. By this time next year I plan to have made decisions about everything currently on my bookshelves, though I’m not limiting myself to what books I’m allowed to buy next year, so I may end up with more than I have now.
Check out my ‘to read’ list on Library Thing to see what’s up on the chopping block.
I just finished hosting a last minute cupcake party where 100 or so cupcakes were baked. I chose to make these red velvet ones (minus the FULL BOTTLE of food coloring) with cream cheese icing. They totally hit the spot. I’d been craving cream cheese icing ever since a certain red velvet cake-based perfume showed up on my doorstep a while ago.
SO yummy.
I’m awfully busy this weekend.
Meanwhile they’re forecasting snow for tomorrow. What do you guys think?
I’m ready.
