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Friday, December 21, 2007
Well, the clock keeps ticking and time is winding down. Having a family birthday just a few days before Christmas adds to the fun of the season, but also severely bites into Christmas crafting time, so here I am, down the wire again, and still not done. There’s still a chance I might make it, but it depends on how much sleep I can manage to acquire in the next night or two…I don’t like feeling hung, just because of lack of sleep, and it definitely limits productivity, not to mention the ole’ Christmas spirit. One bathrobe done, the other halfway. One tutu up to the armholes…still the armhole bit to knit and a big pink bow to sew on. One Constantinople glove done (except for darning in the ends), but technically it doesn’t count, because the set doesn’t have to be gifted until Boxing Day. 
There’s also still the washing of clothes and spa treatment for two very special presents, and all of this has to take place after 9 pm each night. This does leave me some time during the day, but it’s amazing how that just fritters by with a little baking here and there and lots of increased visitors to the shop. I had hoped to get a couple of submission proposals settled up and ready before I’m technically on holidays, but it looks as though that’s not happening…obviously I’ll either be doing a tad of work on my “time off”, or else I’ll really be busting in the New Year. Of course the New Year also means inventory and cleaning up bookwork for the year, so…I think I need to lie down now. My eldest did get one of her long-standing projects off the needles, though…her second knitting project! This was to be a scarf, but our yarn was running out and so was the love for the idea of it all, so it became an awesome headband. And she specifically asked if I would please blog it, so voila: 
She wore it around town today and got lots of compliments. All in all, I think it’s shaping up for a great holiday, if I just keep things in perspective (which can be hard to do when you’re running low in the sleep department)…the tree is up, with some of the least fuss ever!!!! (And no near divorce this year over getting the tree into the stand.) Lots of baking is done. Lots of wrapping is done. And the shop will be closed with some good leeway time until Christmas Day, so I’m sure it will all come together. Speaking of the shop closing, I hope you’ve seen my notice for being closed Dec. 23-Jan. 3. I might be checking messages somewhat during this period, but please allow for a leisurely response. I’d like to thank everyone for your support over the year, and I wish you and yours a very lovely holiday and Happy New Year!!! Let’s rejoin later with some photos of finished objects, which will have been rousted out of hiding places and wrapping paper to daylight again! Cheers! |
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Friday, December 14, 2007 Of course, you know the minute you start thinking you’re ahead of the game that things start to slip. Next thing you know, it’s ten days to Christmas, and things aren’t looking quite as organized as you’d like! We did manage to get the boxes packed that had to be shipped to revelers afar, but there’s much more still to be done. House needs to be cleaned and rearranged in preparation for a Christmas tree and decorating this weekend. Some major sewing (at least in this novice’s opinion) still needs to be done. There are some knitting projects that still have to be completed, and most of the baking. The trouble with kids getting older is that all the work on their presents now has to be done when they’re in bed. I loved it when they were small and never paid attention to what I was working on. Ah, well. Of course I always add more to my plan when I start thinking I’ll have extra time, so that it ends up being that I’m behind. Great logic, eh? Anyway, I don’t have much to show you at the moment. Things that are finished are tucked away (hope I’ll remember where it all is for present wrapping!!) and other things that are “in the throes” are also tucked away so no one sees things in progress. We did manage to get a batch of fudge made yesterday, and perhaps we can get lebkuchen or something made today. Time to start getting the food gifts ready for all of my husband’s co-workers, too. Speaking of Christmas food, I’ll tell you about my find at the little local grocery store last night (and you’ll realize how little it really takes to amuse me to no end). We went in after our weekly library haul to grab some water and yogurt, and I saw an end display that caught my eye since the packaging was all red and quite retro-looking. I’d never heard of the brand, so I starting looking at it, and found it was all from “Purity Factories Ltd.” in Newfoundland. Now, we never see anything here from Newfoundland (except Screech in the “liquor barn”, as we affectionately term it), so I started looking at everything on the display…”Jam Jams”, “Cream Crisps”, “Milk Lunch Rounds”, and then I saw it…”Hard Bread” and “Salt Fish”. You just don’t know how excited I get about traditional foods…from any culture or country…and I’ve always wanted to try Fish and Brewis! But apart from going up to the National Historic Site where I used to work as an interpreter and stealing the decades old hard tack from the general store (it was a fur trading post), where in the world was I going to get the stuff anywhere around here? Occasionally the same little store where I found all the Purity stuff has salt cod in their meat section, but I’ve never seen hard tack. So I pounced on it…and all the instructions I need, recipe-wise, are plastered all over the packages for the Hard Bread and Salt Fish. Yeehaw! Then I looked further and found Molasses Kisses (taffy) and Climax Mix (hard candy), and grabbed a box of Cream Crisps to accompany all the cheeses and snackies at Christmas time. I couldn’t help it. Gotta love Canadiana, and I truly believe in supporting fellow Canadian workers. I have no idea why this store has all the Purity stuff in…maybe some Newfies living around here asked for it??? Or do Newfoundlanders despise this brand? Who knows? But we’re going to set aside a night for Fish and Brewis and revel in being Canadian. (Oh, and the candy is already almost gone. Love it.) Oh, the Winter issue of Interweave Crochet is here, with my “Hot Cross Slouch Beret” inside. 
This is a great hat, with no finishing (unless you consider sewing on an optional decorative button as “finishing”), and is definitely a quick enough project that you could do a couple before Christmas! If you’d like a copy of the magazine, let me know soon…I only have a couple of copies left. I also guess I should mention that I’m on Ravelry, if you want to check me out there. I’ve been on since the end of October, but I’m just now getting around to loading up pictures (other than what were already on there from folks working on my stuff from magazines and things) and patterns. Being on dial-up is a major pain where that’s concerned. But it’s fun to see what others are doing. If you’re on Ravelry, come say “hi”…my user name is thewoollenearth, but you can also find me by searching for my patterns under Jennifer L. Appleby or The Woollen Earth. If you have a favorite spot to visit on Ravelry, let me know so I can, too! Or if anyone’s interested in setting up a knit-along or group around 1 or more of my patterns (Wink Felted Elf Slippers or Felted Mukluks and Moccasins come to mind), let me know if I can help! Gotta go check on a project that’s felting… Thursday, December 06, 2007 It’s been very chilly and quite snowy around here this last week, and it’s funny how no one seems to mind as long as winter hits BEFORE Christmas. It’s after the merriment of the holidays that winter seems to drag on, and on, and on. But for now, we love the snow and hoarfrost that transform everything on our little mountain into winter wonderland, and savor the temperatures that necessitate knitting by the fire’s flame. And I’ve been busy… 
Not all of these are Christmas presents; the Olaf hat is a store sample to replace the Thor hat I knit and then sold. I have other presents on the needles, but it’s much more exciting to see finished products. I’ve also been doing some sewing, with a couple of pairs of pink pants and a pair of shorts done and in the cupboard, and a couple of bathrobes and MAYBE 2 little shirts on the drawing board. We won’t really get into the full swing of decorating until we get the tree in another week or so, but I did dig out our stockings to hang in the shop: 
Two of them were knit using the “Christmas Stocking” pattern from Briggs and Little as a guide (and using Briggs and Little Tuffy for the yarn), and the other two are takes on my Rustic Christmas Stocking pattern, with one-of-a-kind charts for each little one, plus embellishments (and using Briggs and Little Atlantic for faster knitting). We also got busy and made a Santa Candy Dish. This was a particular favorite Christmas item of mine as a child: a candy dish made by my mom from a brandy snifter with a Santa face and a red felt hat for a lid, filled with old-fashioned Christmas hard candy. We went to a thrift shop to find a single snifter, bought a couple of sheets of felt, dug out the bag of cotton balls and my trusty glue gun and went to work. After maybe 15 minutes of crafting, we had our keepsake: 
The trouble is finding any good hard candy to put in him. Doesn’t anyone make a decent cut rock or ribbon or plain old Christmas hard candy anymore? Can we get Washburn’s or Sevigny’s up here? I miss the cinnamon and clove flavors and the cut rock pieces with their beautiful centre shapes of trees and roses and things. He’s got some candy in him, but it ain’t the good stuff, believe me. Sigh. It’s time to make some inroads on baking, though. We’ve made two things: cream cheese mints and our version of Speculaas (doesn’t use the special rolling pin, as we don’t have one)…but both of them are almost gone. Hmmm. Something wrong with that strategy. Isn’t the point of Christmas baking to amass a few varieties to enjoy over the holiday itself? We were also sent some handmade “turtles” and “peanut butter cups”, which are divine (and in no way taste like their commercial counterparts), and a coffee can full of fresh walnuts (shelled even!!) from my in-laws. Yum, yum. Some still remain, but not for long, I’m sure. All in all, I think we’re off to a good start, and I certainly can’t help but be reminded of how much time is left…the first thing to do each morning is open the door of each Advent Calendar! (We have the lovely picture ones from Germany and England…none of that yucky “fake” chocolate all spaced perfectly evenly behind identically-shaped doors for us! We like to search for a well-hidden door, one of many different sizes, in a marvellous picture. Thank goodness for a bookstore that carries them most years, and for the years they don’t, ours are always saved at the bottom of the Christmas decoration box to reflatten the doors for another year’s use.) And now I’m off for a cappuccino and some knitting… Saturday, December 01, 2007 Plenty of white stuff falling around here. The flakes were so big and crispy yesterday that we could clearly see each individual snowflake’s amazing design…jumbled one upon the other in a fluffy mass of easy-to-shovel glory. And just in time for both the snow and the minus 18 degree (Celcius) temperature this morning: Brand new Woollen Earth leaflet ready, JA35 POWDER Big Cable and Rib Hat and Scarf. 
A “one-size-fits-most” adult hat, with a large cable in front and back, and wide ribbing in between…instructions to knit either in the round OR flat on 2 needles. The scarf is worked with the big cable down the centre, ribbing on either side, and edged in garter stitch. Kit will include pattern, plus one skein Noro Kureyon and one skein Garnstudio Vivaldi Mohair. Hat is knit with a strand each of Kureyon and Vivaldi held together, and the scarf is knit out of the remaining Vivaldi. Both garments are knit on 7 mm needles, making for quick knitting! The pattern is super easy, with a stunning result…a soft, lofty, warm, stylish hat, and a light-as-a-feather, absolutely gorgeous scarf! Knitting the mohair on such large needles gives the scarf a lacy effect without a single yarnover. Scarf finishes at about 7.5” wide and 68” long, lightly blocked. There are a multitude of color options available…pick and “choose your own adventure”! (Kit price is $26.50 CDN.) GARNSTUDIO “VIVALDI” MOHAIR 43% Mohair, 27% Acrylic, 30% Polyester Tension: 19 sts and 26 rows = 4” on 4.0 mm needles 50 g / 280 metres 
#21 Army is shown in photo of pattern. NORO “KUREYON” 100% Wool Tension: approx. 18 sts = 4” on 5.0 mm needles 50g / 100 metres *NOTE: The Kureyon is exceptionally hard to scan in and show all its colors…it doesn’t repeat a color in a skein. Please ask if you have any other questions about a shade. 
Shades, top to bottom (Each skein is shown twice; once from end view and once from side view): 128 (Harvest Tones…orange, burgundy, greens), 147 (Blues/Greens), 153 (Bright Multi---purples, pinks, greens, turquoise), 146 (Desert Neutrals…browns, corals, greens…shown in photo of hat). The pattern is also available separately…all my leaflets are $5.99 CDN each. I did develop this design specifically with the kit in mind, but since I always get asked if I just have the pattern, I figured I might as well add it to my leaflet line.  This is a fabulous project to knit up in plenty of time for the holidays, or give a kit to your favorite knitter as a gift! A coordinating handmade birch and clay scarf stick pin would be the perfect finishing touch! (These are $7.99 CDN each.) 
The hats also make wonderful additions to your local Santas Anonymous (or other charity) box. Please call (toll-free 1-866-690-WOOL) or email to request more information or to order. The kits and pattern are available for immediate shipping, although it may take me a little while to get the pattern and kit info up on their proper pages on this site. Have a great weekend! |
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THE WOOLLEN EARTH, PO Box 2530, Vanderhoof BC V0J 3A0 Canada Phone: (250) 690-7777 1-866-690-9665(WOOL) Email: |