Tag Archives: christmas

Christmas aloha

Posted on December 23, 2021 | 18 comments

It’s been a minute or two, hasn’t it? I came home from Minnesota on a Friday, did a book signing and taught on the weekend, and left for Hawaii on Monday…two and a half weeks ago?!

We had planned for the kids to be with us, but after traveling at Thanksgiving and then learning of the omicron variant, they decided to opt out this year. That left us with the usual 3 BR condo, and lots of room to spread out. We worked *and* played.

Not a bad place to knit! I decided that I wanted the Dotty Bed Socks to have the dot pattern on the top of the instep, instead of an all striped instep, but some of my test knitters loved that wrap around stripe. Which do you like?

Knitter’s choice! Instructions for both insteps will be in the pattern. I’ll publish it next week, or the week after, along with the Slip Away Cowl. If you’re interested in a combo deal, make sure you’re subscribed to my newsletter!

Now I’m home, and scrambling to catch up. (More aloha pictures at the end of this post.) I put up new Christmas lights on the house on Tuesday. I still need to put the knitted fairy lights on my wreath, hopefully today.

The tiny tree is up, and both Biscuit…

…and Calvin have investigated. One of my Korknisse was missing, but I found him under the piano, and all is well.

I just made a batch of Irish Cream for gifts. The recipe is in this post, and the picture is a re-run because it’s biz (Bisquee?) as usual around here! Onto the next thing! But I’ll leave you with a little more aloha…

Mele Kalikimaka to you!

18 Comments

Posted in cat, Knit, pattern design, travel

Tagged Aloha, birds, christmas, hawaii, honu

In the kitchen for Christmas gifts

Posted on December 23, 2019 | 2 comments

I’m back from vacation, so I’m in the kitchen today, making some quick gifts. I last posted this recipe in 2017, but it’s still just as quick, easy, and delicious.

DIY Irish Cream, adapted from Smitten Kitchen. This comes together in 5 minutes, and makes three of these cute 8 ounce bottles. (You get 30 oz of liquid, but I barely filled three of these 1/4 liter (8 oz) bottles the first time I made this. No worries; just adjust your expectations accordingly.)

1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup (235 ml) heavy cream
1 (14-ounce or 415 ml) can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
9 oz Jameson’s Irish whiskey (original recipe calls for a cup, but 9 oz fills the bottles just a little better, and yum)

In a small bowl, whisk cocoa powder and a spoonful of cream into a paste. Add more cream a splash at a time until the paste is liquid enough that you can whisk in the rest of the cream. Transfer to a pitcher, and whisk in condensed milk, whiskey and vanilla. Bottle for gifts. Keep refrigerated for up to two weeks. Seriously, how long do you think this will last? Give it a good shake before using; the cocoa wants to sink, and the cream wants to rise to the top. Of course!

A little more work, but I’m also making Pear Vanilla Caramel Sauce, from Marisa at Food in Jars. I made some last year, and it was fabulous. I’ll add a bit of bourbon to give it some warmth and depth. I like this recipe because it’s canned, so I can ship some back to my aunt and uncle! They send me a box of beautiful pears every Christmas, and I love finding new things to do with them. Previously, I’ve done cranberry pear jam, and lots of pear tarts with puff pastry.

I got brave and put up our tiny tree and menorah, but I hedged my bets with Calvin. I wasn’t sure if he could be trusted with decorations.

Apparently not. So the truly fragile ornaments will stay in their boxes!

Our Christmas stockings are up and waiting to be filled.

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to you!

2 Comments

Posted in recipe

Tagged christmas, Christmas stockings, Hanukkah, irish cream

Knitting away: Kilter Hat, Christmas, Hanukkah, Addi Giveaway

Posted on December 6, 2016 | 1 comment

December is always such a busy month! Our pop-up show/shop was a great success. I sold all but one of my knit pieces, and am happy to know that they’re going to be well loved out in the world.

One piece was my Kilter Hat, which looks great on my friend Sharyn.

I put it on my Facebook page, and now I’m knitting one as a gift for Mom (DH’s mom) at her request in Malabrigo Rios. I’m not usually a deadline gift knitter, but I really want this to be in her hands before she heads to Antarctica later this month. I got this much done at knit nite last night. Knit like the wind!

The color is Coco, which makes me giggle, because that was Biscuit’s name, between Trix and BellaTrix.

I also finished my Super Cabled Christmas Stocking on Thursday and sold it along with its red sibling on Friday. Quick work!

Knit night last night was fun, and Biscuit participated fully. Note that she has a chair, and I’m sitting on the floor.

I haven’t decorated my house for the holidays yet. I’m wary of putting up my usual mini-tree because I keep catching Biscuit on the piano. I wonder how she’ll behave with menorah candles? This is my usual setup:

And will she pull down the stocking holders from the mantel? One of these moose weights could knock her out.

Guess we’ll find out…

Addi Turbo giveaway: The winner according to Random.org is commenter number 1, Anne Westbrook. Anne, I’m sending you an email to get your snailmail addy…for your Addi! Congratulations.

Onward!

1 Comment

Posted in cat, giveaways, Knit

Tagged Addi, christmas, Hanukkah, kilter hat

Merry Christmas!

Posted on December 25, 2014 | 6 comments

My last Christmas stocking made it home in time for the holiday. The red one is the Super Cabled Christmas Stocking in Knit Picks The Big Cozy.

We started the day with the (adult) kids, serving up a mimosa brunch with waffle iron hash browns and brisket scrambled eggs (leftover brisket from Tuesday’s end of Hanukkah celebration).

Prime rib is in the oven, and extended family is due at 5 p.m. Hope you’re having a peaceful day, whether or not you celebrate Christmas! Did you receive any crafty gifts? My friend Carole gave me an Ott light, which will be very helpful for beadwork. It’s going to Crafty Moms weekend with me, for sure.

Merry merry!

6 Comments

Posted in foodies!, Knit

Tagged christmas, Christmas stockings, waffle iron hash browns

More Christmas stockings

Posted on December 21, 2014 | 5 comments

Thanks for sharing your Christmas stocking traditions with me! It sounds like many people use the Christmas stocking to hold off the main event gift opening until after coffee and mimosas civilize us. Very wise.

This is Anne‘s Christmas stocking that she knit for her granddaughter Sophie. Gorgeous! This is Sophie of Sophie’s Rose, the shawl Anne commissioned me to design in her honor. Thanks for sharing your picture, Anne!

I forgot about my other set of Christmas stockings. I wrote this pattern for a class I taught at church. It’s a perfect tiny stocking, complete with heel turn. If you want to learn to knit a sock on dpns, this is a good learning tool. And you only have to make one.

But they’re like potato chips, you just want more. The pattern is free, here: Christmas mini-stockings

Speaking of cute and free, I’ve been making more of these.

I gave away last year’s batch, and felt that I needed some more. Free pattern here, Korknisse by Manne. A nice little diversion from some gift knitting…

Are you ready for Christmas, those of you who celebrate? We’re also gearing up for our annual Hanukkah dinner party, which will be on Tuesday. We’ll be lighting ALL the candles. Happy merry GO!

5 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged christmas, christmas knitting, Christmas stockings, Hanukkah

Arm Knitting?

Posted on December 16, 2013 | 13 comments

I guess it’s a thing. You use your arms as knitting needles. Really big gauge, suitable for a chunky accessory. Check out the video here, and then let me know if you think it’s worth trying. I’m not convinced yet…

I’m being pretty slow about getting ready for Christmas, but here’s the next little step. This is the poinsettia tree at my church; we’ve been using the frame for the past three years or so. I always help set it up. I think we may need to scoot it back a little bit; the light isn’t falling quite right on it. I’m probably the only person who is that particular about it, though.

You can see the first two advent candle banners on the right side of the picture. When it’s all up, it will look like this.

We made these last year, and I love them. If you want to know more about the technique (salt and dye on silk), you can read about it here. It’s really fun, but you don’t really know how it’s going to turn out until it does. Hard for a control freak like me, but a good lesson in letting go!

Are you knitting/making gifts this year? I have one thing I want to make for a friend, but it won’t get done before Christmas. I’m planning on the box of yarn with a card explaining what it’s going to be method. Have you ever done that? I’m thinking it counts!

13 Comments

Posted in Knit, Other craftiness

Tagged arm knitting, christmas, dye, gift knitting, salt, silk

Merry Christmas!

Posted on December 25, 2012 | 3 comments

I finished my Silver and Gold KAL project. It wasn’t the lovely silvery yarn from Knitted Wit. I decided to knit another Hoppy Blonde Webfoot for a UO Duck fan, instead. Gold! And I finished a couple days go. It’s blocked and wrapped, and waiting to be gifted. No picture, though; it was dark when I wrapped.

I also gave my Madelinetosh Pashmina Filigree to a dear friend. Two knit gifts, and only one on deadline. Perfect.

If you participated in the KAL and would like to enter the drawing for a yarny prize, please contact me by Dec. 31 to let me know. I saw the pattern sales go out, but haven’t heard from you! It’s been a busy month, I know.

We started our Christmas Day with mimosas and Cinnamon Roll Waffles. After seeing this on the web, we had to try it. They were pretty tasty!

Wishing you a peaceful day. How are you spending it? We’ll be having 14 at dinner tonight. Prime rib is in the oven and smells heavenly already…Mookie can’t wait!

3 Comments

Posted in foodies!, Knit

Tagged christmas, kal

Keeping it organized…

Posted on December 22, 2012 | 7 comments

FO pic! Here’s my sister with her Webfoot Scarf, hot off the needles.

Christmas was great, lots of family and friends. The kids gave me a Cuisinart ice cream maker, so tonight we had bourbon vanilla ice cream profiteroles with chocolate truffle sauce and bourbon caramel sauce. It was beyond delicious.

Coming down to the end of 2012. It’s been a good year, lots of travel and knitting. Sometimes both at the same time! I’m looking forward to what happens next for PDXKnitterati. I have a few deadlines to meet, design-wise. How do you keep yourself organized? I like lots of lists. And for my knitting, there’s this:

A different silk taffeta bag for each design project. All the bags go into my favorite around the house basket, Bindi by Lantern Moon. I think it’s been discontinued, but I love the size of this.

What’s next on your knitting radar? Do you have a selfish project lined up for January after gift knitting through December? I’m having a pattern sale on Ravelry; all of my patterns there are 20% off through January 5. The coupon code to enter is MeMeMe as in, it’s all about ME (which really means you). Thank you for reading and knitting!

7 Comments

Posted in foodies!, Knit

Tagged baskets, christmas, ice cream, Knit, organization, pattern sale, profiteroles

It’s beginning to smell a lot like brisket…

Posted on December 6, 2010 | 11 comments

Sorry, but that always sings in my head when I’m cooking for Hanukkah dinner. We had it on Saturday, and it was a lovely gathering. Mmmm, brisket and latkes.

We celebrate Hanukkah and Christmas at our house, so there’s a little of everything going on. I haven’t had a big Christmas tree in several years. DH and the kids don’t care if we have one, so we don’t! I like my little music tree on top of the piano; I put up my favorite ornaments and I’m done. I guess I’m a minimalist at heart.

The stockings are up in their usual knitterly glory.

I like streamlining my decorating so I have more time for fun with friends and family, and for knitting. But not gift knitting; I abhor deadlines. That doesn’t mean there are no knitted gifts, just no gifts on deadline! The first knitted gift has gone out in the mail…(a Pippi hat, if you must know).

Yesterday I had a discussion group for new parents about keeping and making holiday traditions. I started with a story about CollegeGrad. He was 3 or 4 when we started talking about the Christmas story. One day he came to me, talking about how much he loved Little Baby Jesus. Yesss! He understood the Christmas story! Well, maybe yes, and maybe no. He was actually talking about little baby cheeses, which were one of his favorite things to eat. Indeed. I brought some of this cheese to class as a prop and a snack. Becky (fellow Day Old Pastry) decided she would use the wax wrappers to make a real Baby Cheeses creche.

The story has come full circle…

How’s your holiday preparation going?

11 Comments

Posted in Day Old Pastries, Knit

Tagged Baby Cheeses, christmas, Hanukkah, holidays

Winter = hand knits

Posted on December 5, 2008 | 13 comments

I’m at home today while contractors install insulation under the floor of my living room and dining room. That means a day of putting up Christmas and Hanukkah decorations and baking for an event on Sunday.

I’ve decorated the wreath on the front porch:

You can find my free pattern for these ornaments here. I always put mini candy canes in the stockings for the kids that walk by on their way to school.

The stockings are hung:

And the tree is up, too.

Yes, this is all the tree I can manage. A few favorite ornaments, and I’m done. Mookie likes to chew on real trees, and then she gets sick. Who needs that?

Oh, btw, Mookie wants to go to Paris.

She takes after me. C’est vrai. J’adore Paris!

You Belong in Paris

You enjoy all that life has to offer, and you can appreciate the fine tastes and sites of Paris.

You’re the perfect person to wander the streets of Paris aimlessly, enjoying architecture and a crepe.

What European City Do You Belong In?

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Did any of you happen to catch the convergence of Venus, Jupiter, and the moon? They were at their closest this last Monday. I was flying home on Sunday night and saw it out the window of the plane. Some unknown (to me) town was underneath.