Between the picture of the cardinal the other day and my neighbor’s shed today I’m guessing you can surmise that we had some snow last week. It’s long gone now but it was pretty while it lasted.

I hope you find something pretty to look at this weekend!

Now that I’ve finally shown you my last finished project for 2011 I can proceed with my annual yearly knitting recap. Let’s start with my favorite part – a mosaic of everything I knit last year.

There are 22 items pictured there. That’s down 9 from last year. Yikes. It’s all good, though, because I knit:

• 12 pairs of socks
• 4 shawls
• 3 hats
• 1 baby blanket
• 1 pair of mitts
• 1 sweater

Those of you who are big movie buffs like I am probably have movies on your mind since the Oscar nominations will be announced this morning. This is something I look forward to a lot and I will be generating a list of must-see movies once those nominations are made public. In the meantime, though, I’m going to tell you the 10 Movies I Want to See Right Now – even though it will likely change by the time many of you are reading this post – because that is today’s Ten On Tuesday topic.

1. Iron Lady. I love Meryl Streep and I just know her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher will be amazing. Honestly, I could watch Meryl Streep paint a room and I would find it entertaining.
2. Red Tails. The story of the Tuskegee Airmen is a fantastic one and I’m always interested in seeing something about them.
3. War Horse. I don’t generally like movies about horses because they are always sad but I’ve heard some Oscar buzz about this one and that’s why I’m putting it on my list. If it doesn’t get any nominations I will not be going to see it.
4. The Descendants. I put George Clooney in the same category as Meryl Streep, frankly.
5. Hugo. Martin Scorcese directed it. Need I say more?
6. The Artist. It’s highly favored for a Best Picture nomination
7. Midnight in Paris. Another favorite for an Oscar nomination and the cast includes Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdams. I’m not always a big fan of Woody Allen but this seems like a good one.
8. One for the Money. I know it will probably stink but I love the Stephanie Plum books and I think casting Sherri Shepherd as Lula is perfect so I do want to see the movie. I wouldn’t have chosen Katherine Heigl for the lead but it ought to at least be good for some laughs.
9. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Not until after I read the book, though.
10. Gone with the Wind. I know it’s weird to list this one and I’ve seen it many, many times but Dale and I just finished listening to the book and now I’m really jonesing to watch the movie again.

At last I have photos of Hannah’s finished Vivian Sweater. The knitting was finished back in November but I didn’t get the zipper put in until 2 weeks ago and then it took another week or so to coordinate me+Hannah+daylight+favorable weather. What a long fezzle! I think it was worth the wait, though, and I hope you all will think so, too.

I told Hannah when I finished it that this was the hardest thing I’ve ever knit and it’s true.

I’ve knit sweaters before and I’ve knit cables before but the combination of multiple charts, directions, decreases, increases, left cables, right cables, large cables, left large cables, right large cables, seed stitch and shaping all in ONE pattern made this a challenge. Let’s just say there was a lot of flipping paper around while following those directions and charts.

Just because it was hard doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it, though. It’s an extremely detailed and well written pattern and Hannah and I are both thrilled with the finished sweater. It fits her perfectly and the style is really flattering on her slim figure.

The sleeves are ridiculously long but they are also tight so they stay put and the effect seems to work well.

I bought the yarn, Valley Yarns Berkshire Bulky, on my first trip to WEBS and it was a pleasure to use. It was reasonably priced, I got gauge, and the color was just what Hannah envisioned for this project – a classic, natural colored cabled sweater. It’s got a bit of a halo to it and it’s very warm, perfect for walking to and from class.

The zipper could have been a tricky business but I chickened out and had Lois do it for me. She made it look so easy! She simply pinned it in place and stitched it on the machine. The bulky yarn worked perfectly to hide the machine stitches and I think it took her about 15 minutes to get it done. I would have fussed and fumed over it and really didn’t want to risk ruining the sweater at that stage in the process. The bonus is that Lois got to participate in the project for Hannah and that made her happy.

Hannah and I had hoped to coordinate our photo shoot for the beach but her work schedule and our busy weekends just didn’t allow for that to happen. Instead we wandered into the backyard last Thursday afternoon and captured these photos. The light was a little flat and it was very cold but Hannah was toasty in her new sweater.

Our trees and my father-in-law’s shed aren’t as picturesque as the beach would have been but you know, done is better than perfect and I’m so happy that this whole thing is now officially done!

Wear it well, my dear Hannah, wear it well.

Today’s Eye Candy Friday is brought to you by my new knowledge of Photoshop and my new love of textures. I can see how this could easily become addicting! I can also see how it could become really easy to take this too far and I think it’s going to be important to know, as my mother used to say, when to say when. Some pictures are truly just fine straight out of the camera, after all. This tulip, however, looked a lot like every other tulip picture I had taken until I added a texture background to it. Now it looks all vintage-y and cool. Shut up, vintagey- is too a word.

And that’s all for me this week. Have an awesome weekend!

If you are knitting a pair of  Through the Loops Mystery Socks for 2012 and you haven’t worked your way through all three of the already released clues, you may want to look away now because I’m about to show you my socks and I don’t want to ruin the surprise for you.

Everyone that is still here wants to see these, right?

Here they are. I’ve got the cuff, leg, heel flap and heel turn done on both socks and I love this pattern. Sure, it’s kind of a pain in the ass to knit with all those twisted stitches and bobbles. And it’s definitely not one I would choose on my own because of all those twisted stitches and bobbles and the paying-attention-to-the-pattern that comes with knitting them but I am loving the way they look.

The texture is amazing and the design is lovely.

As for the yarn, it’s Woolen Rabbit’s Pearl Sock in the color Pussywillow. It’s a tricky color to capture but I think it’s most accurate in the 3rd photo. You should recognize it from this post. And also this post. Those Gentlemen’s Socks just didn’t do it for me so they were frogged and the yarn has been repurposed for these mystery socks.

I think I made an excellent choice.

Winter arrived with a vengeance last weekend here in Massachusetts. We didn’t get any snow but the temps dropped into the single digits and when it does that I want to hibernate in my cozy house. I’m never at a loss for things to do inside and so today’s Ten on Tuesday topic is 10 Things To Do Inside When It’s Too Cold To Go Outside.

1. Knit. Of course this had to be listed first but the truly great thing about knitting is that you can do it anywhere – inside when it’s cold, outside when it’s warm, it’s the ultimate portable craft.
2. Spin. Like knitting, spinning can be done outside but there’s something truly awesome about spinning with soft wool when it’s cold outside.
3. Build a fire. We have a wood stove so there’s always a fire going here but I remember how comforting it was to build a fire in the fireplace in my old house when the temperatures plummeted.
4. Read. This is best done by that fire.
5. Play video games. On Sunday Dale and I played the Wii for a good portion of the afternoon. The physical games like bowling and tennis were a great alternative when we felt like we had been sitting on the couch for too long.
6. Play cards or a board game. It’s fun, it makes you laugh, and there’s something so cozy about playing games on a cold winter night.
7. Bake cookies. Moving around, gathering ingredients, mixing the batter and all of that will warm you up. The hot oven will warm the kitchen and the yummy cookies will warm your insides.
8. Organize/clean something. My kitchen pantry is calling my name. So far I’m ignoring it but if it’s cold again next weekend I will tackle this.
9. Eat things that will warm your insides. Spicy chili, buffalo chicken dip, a hot bowl of soup – you get the idea.
10. Snuggle by the wood stove. This can also need to another rather pleasant indoor activity. Just sayin.

I’m taking the Skinny Minny Photoshop Elements Class from Kim Klassen and what you see above is my homework from day 2. It was pretty simple, really — take an image and add some text. The photo is of Savery Avenue in Carver and I have walked there a couple of times since the start of 2012. The pine trees are very tall and there’s a feeling of peace and serenity along this road. I thought for a long time about what word I wanted to use to describe the photo and finally settled on hush. I think it truly describes the feeling that comes over me when I look down that long road or up into those tall trees. I am small and it is quiet and still, almost a sanctuary.

It’s the perfect place for a walk with a friend.