When I was a kid, I loved cartoons. I thought the Bugs Bunny Road Runner show on Saturday mornings was the greatest thing going. I loved Schoolhouse Rock and still know the preamble to the Constitution because of it. Okay, so I have to sing it, but I still know it.

But adult cartoons? Other than Wait Til Your Father Gets Home (does anyone remember this show besides me?) I’ve never been one to enjoy adult cartoons. I’ve never watched Family Guy and I think The Simpsons are just plain dumb.

However. South Park? I love South Park. It’s quirky and raunchy and sacreligious. They aren’t afraid of political commentary and revel in celebrity satires. They kill Kenny in every episode and Cartman just plain cracks me up. Bottom line? The show makes me laugh.

So, when I saw the opportunity to make my very own South Park Carole at this website, I couldn’t resist.

The resemblance is striking, really. Right down to the beer in my her hand.

Happy New Year to all of you from South Park Carole!

Sunday is January 1st and I’m itching to start something new. It’s that whole start of the new year, start of a new project thing. Apparently, I’m not the only one. This desire to knit something new for the new year is all over blogland. You know me, the proverbial lemming. Besides, I’m ready to have something on the needles besides socks and mittens.

So, I’ve got 2 different shawls I want to knit and I need to pick one. There’s the Flower Basket Shawl or there’s the Diamond Fantasy Shawl. I’ve got yarn for both. My buddy Jess is on board with me and is willing to start either one, too. So, I turn this over to you all, my faithful readers.

Would you mind voting? I didn’t think so. Thanks!

Pssst. Hey! Over here!! Look what I got yesterday.

You want some? C’mon, you know you do. You can get it here now.

Now, just so you don’t think it’s all about stash acquisition around here, I have been knitting. Look at this mitten!

I bought this kit from Nordic Fiber Arts at the suggestion of Kathy. This is my first attempt at 2 color knitting and I’m really loving it. I can’t seem to put the thing down. I tell myself, one more row and then I’ll stop, but then I keep going so I can see what happens next. I’m finding it very entertaining and, while I’m not sure what that says about me, at least I’m having a good time.

Right? Right.

I had a great Christmas, and, from what I’ve been reading in blogland, so did many others. Our time on Christmas Eve with our family and friends was laid-back and fun. We had great food and lots of laughs and champagne punch. Christmas morning was spent opening gifts with the kids and I am a lucky knitter, indeed. Unlike some others who didn’t receive any knitted related gifts, I scored. Dale got me a spinning stool and a WooLee Winder plus 3 knitting/spinning books. And, while I didn’t get any yarn, I did get a gift certificate to kpixie from my dear friend, Wendy.

Christmas afternoon we went to my brother-in-law’s house for dinner. We had a delicious meal of roast pork and scalloped potatoes and other goodies. We played Catch Phrase and had a Yankee Swap. But, the highlight of the day for me was this:

Yup, Jen and Barry had gifted her niece with a learn to knit kit and I got the privilege of teaching 10-year-old Emily how to knit. It was such fun! She took to it very quickly and spent the rest of the day carrying the knitting around with her and telling everyone how much fun knitting is! Woo and also hoo.

Another knitter is born. Now that’s a Christmas gift!

Edited to add: Emily is actually 7, not 10. An even younger knitter than I thought!

Let it be Christmas everywhere
Let heavenly music fill the air
Let every heart sing
Let every bell ring
The story of hope and joy and peace

And let it be Christmas everywhere
Let heavenly music fill the air
Let anger and fear and hate disappear
Let there be love that lasts through the year
And let it be Christmas, Christmas everywhere

Indulge me, please, for those words are from the chorus of my favorite Christmas song. It’s Alan Jackson’s, Let It Be Christmas, and it’s quite special to Dale and I for a lot of reasons.
I wish you all a holiday full of happiness and blessings in whatever form you want them to appear.

And now, let it be Christmas.

It’s all cooking, all the time over here at Carole Knits. This week we’ve made Ginger Cookies, Peanut Butter Balls, Fudge, Cranberry Pistachio Bark, Spritz, and Polish Teacakes aka Thumbprint Cookies.

Here we have the Ginger Cookies. Yummm.

And here we have Dale and Hannah rolling 6 pounds worth of Swedish Meatballs. Even more yummmmm.

Tomorrow night, Christmas Eve, will find us gathered with family and friends at our house. We will have some traditional Swedish foods, like the meatballs and sill and wasa crackers, plus other Christmas-type goodies. It’s low key and relaxing and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Those are my favorite cookies in the whole world. They’re called Polish Tea Cakes (although my friend, Chrissie, who’s more Polish than anyone I know, says no one in her family has ever made them) and they are simply the best. My mother got the recipe from a dear friend about 30 years ago and she made them every Christmas. Now I make them every Christmas and I’m sharing the recipe with my blog readers.

Polish Tea Cakes
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
2 egg whites
2 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
finely chopped pecans
raspberry preserves

Cream butter and sugar until light. Add egg yolks and mix well. Add flour, salt and vanilla. Mix and roll dough in small balls, dip in unbeaten egg white and roll in finely choppped nuts. Place on butter baking sheet and press down center of each ball with a thimble.
Bake at 325 for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and press down center again with thimble. Return to oven for about 5 more minutes. Remove from oven and fill indentation with preserves while still warm.

In case you think there’s nothing going on but cookie baking over here, let me show you my latest productions from the spinning wheel.

First we have merino in a teal blue. There’s about 270 yards there.

Next we have blue faced leicester in shades of green and brown. There’s about 310 yards there.

Both are somewhere between DK weight and worsted weight. Any ideas on what I should knit with this stuff?

My Better Pal sent me my first package last week and it arrived yesterday. I know everybody says this but, really MY Better Pal is the BEST!

That there is the loot. And, I’m a dope and I didn’t take a picture before I unwrapped everything because I’m a little kid when it comes to presents and I got way too excited and there was newspaper and tissue paper and wrapping paper all over the kitchen. Ahem. I’ll describe it for you so you can picture how cute it was – the red yarn (alpaca, dude) was twisted up and wrapped in green tissue paper, with part of the red peeking out. There were 2 double pointed needles stuck through the middle of the whole thing and it was placed inside the martini glass. It was a yarn olive. How cool (and clever!) is that?!? Really, really awesome. And blue cheese stuffed olives – which I love and have only been able to find at The Cheesecake Factory – and Knit Lit the Third and a complete set of double points. Sigh.

Clearly, my pal has been reading the blog and paying attention to what I really love. I love you, Pallie. You ARE the best!

Christmas Elf Name My Christmas Elf Name is Get your Christmas Elf Name at JokesUnlimited.com

Have YOU gotten your Christmas elf name yet? Dude, it’s only 5 days ’til Christmas. What’re you waiting for?

Yesterday our Civil War group, the 18th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, attended a local farm Christmas celebration. We set up a few tents and fly, had a fire, coffee and snacks and just all around enjoyed a fun day of Christmas, Civil War Style.

I promised pictures of myself in the paletot, so here ya go.

I’m knitting, of course. And maybe laughing, too.

Here’s Dale, pontificating for the local cable television crew.

And this is our fly, all decked out for the holiday.

It was a great afternoon, even if it was pretty cold. The fire and wool clothes mostly kept us warm, although my feet were cold, even in my wool socks. But spending time with our buddies, laughing and just enjoying the chance to be together in the off-season, was a great way to spend the Sunday before Christmas.