Here is a beautiful December sunset as viewed from my deck. It’s appropriate for this, the last day of 2009, I think.  Dale and I are staying in this evening. We’ll probably be watching episodes of True Blood or playing cards. We’ll definitely be  eating delicious things like stuffed mushrooms and king crab legs. Hopefully we’ll be awake to see the ball drop but I imagine we’ll be tucking each other in by 12:02. We just aren’t as young and exciting as we used to be!

We hope you all have a safe and festive evening, whatever you decide to do.

Happy New Year and see you in 2010!

I actually have finished knits to show you. There’s the merletto mitts and the Bella’s mittens and a newly finished pair of socks. I have a problem, though, as I don’t have photos of any of that stuff. I mistakenly gifted the merletto mitts without taking photos, the Bella’s mittens are available but the model/photographer/daylight combination is a problem, and as for the new socks, well, I don’t really have a good excuse for not photographing those. It just hasn’t happened.

I have, however, photographed my Flyingdales sweater-in-progress. Finally, right? I’ve been working on this thing in fits and spurts since August and this is the first time I’ve taken pictures of it. Pitiful, I know.

And here’s another thing that’s pitiful – the fact that this sweater isn’t finished! I love the pattern and I’ve wanted  navy blue cardigan for ages and yet I keep putting it down and not picking it up again for weeks. I’m inspired now, though, and I’m working like mad to see if I can’t get it done before the end of the year. I’ve only got a sleeve, a collar and some button bands to go.

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can . . .

No official Ten on Tuesday topic for this week means that I’m making up my own again. As it seems appropriate to review the year, here’s a list of My 10 Favorite Hand Knits of 2009. I’m not going to write about each one but I am linking to the blog post for each project – feel free to go back and read the details if you like.

1. Dale’s Selbu Mittens

2. Bird in Hand Mittens

3. Everyday Cardigan

4. Diamond’s Are Forever Vest

5. Trellis

6. Northern Lights Shawl

7. Baby Chalice Blanket

8. Bristow Sweater

9. Light As A Feather Shawl

10. Hug for a Friend Shawl

My Christmas festivities went pretty much as I predicted they would. On Christmas Eve we had a house full of family and friends and it was wonderful. I never saw 6 pounds of Swedish meatballs and 3 dozen deviled eggs disappear so fast in all my life! If only they had eaten all the cookies, too!

Christmas Day was relaxing and lazy, a far different experience from when we had small kids at home. These days we don’t even start opening until 11 or later and that’s fine with me. We all played with the Wii a bit and then headed for Dale’s brother’s house for a delicious Christmas dinner and more Wii playing. Seeing my 83 year old father-in-law flying an airplane in the Wii Resorts game was a terrific addition to the day!

I really did stay in my pajamas all day on Saturday. We had talked about going to the movies but I was just feeling too relaxed and too lazy so it was TV and Wii and leftovers. Ahhh.

And then on Sunday (don’t you love when Christmas fall on a Friday) we hung around, played some more with the Wii and then went to see the movie The Blind Side. It was fantastic! Excellent social commentary, great acting from Sandra Bullock and really shouldn’t be missed. It was a great way end to our Christmas weekend.

Now it’s Monday and that means back to work but at least it’s another short week. Yippee!

It’s Eye Candy Friday on Thursday, my friends.

Today I will be cooking and prepping for a house full of family and friends tonight, Christmas Eve. Tomorrow we’ll open gifts with our children and then go to Dale’s brother’s house for Christmas dinner.  On Saturday, I may not even get out of my pajamas!

Merry Christmas to all!

Okay, not really wordless, but just about. What with all the shopping, cooking, baking, wrapping and last minute knitting, time for blogging is scarce. So today, a photo of a selection of our gingerbread cookies.

Yummy.

This week on Ten on Tuesday we’re talking about 10 New Year’s Resolutions. I’m going to do it and I’m going to do it with a positive spin. It’s all in the wording, kids.

1. Enjoy exercising. I’m committed to walking with a co-worker, I might as well have a good time and enjoy being outdoors as much as I can.

2. Eat smaller portions. Okay, this could be construed as a negative thing but I’m looking at the positive side of not feeling overly full and bloated after dinner every night.

3. Learn to count. (those of you here early in the day will understand this one)

4. Spend more time with my spinning wheels. This uses up fiber which means I can buy more fiber. Hooray.

5. Finally tackle homemade pasta. I’m filing this under “just do it.” And I’m betting that it will actually be fun.

6. Pay off thebig-ass new TV we bought for Christmas.

7. Be happier. Sometimes I think I’m afraid to be happy because that will make something bad happen. I’m working on letting this go but it’s not easy.

8. Be fearless with my knitting. Trying new techniques is definitely a positive resolution.

9. Start Project 365 on flickr. I started last year but I didn’t post my first photo until January 5th and it bugged me that I didn’t start right on the first. That made it easy for me to give up but this year I’m trying again and I’m going to stick with it!

10. Have lots of fun. This is the best resolution of all!

As you may have heard, we had a major snow event in my neck of the woods this weekend. It started snowing late Saturday night and kept up until mid-afternoon on Sunday. All told, I think we got about 18+ inches. That’s a lot of snow, especially when it isn’t even officially winter yet.

But I’m not going to talk about the snow. Instead, I’m going to talk about Candlelight Carols at Trinity Church in Boston.

Dale and I went in Saturday afternoon for the free concert and it was fabulous. We didn’t get there early enough to get great seats downstairs (although we would have if the train we had been on hadn’t broken down and we hadn’t had to get off and wait for another train) but we did get very good seats in the balcony. The church was beautifully decorated and the show started right on time with beautiful carols and harp music. The readings included both passages from the  Bible and secular ones and the whole thing was just wonderful. I loved singing “O Come All Ye Faithful” with such a huge number of people and I loved that the church vibrated when the organist really opened up on all the pipes.

But the most special moment of the afternoon came when the lights dimmed and the choir all held candles -  when the trees and wreaths all lit up in white lights – when a hush fell over the entire (huge) congregation as the choir sang “Silent Night.”

That’s when it finally felt like Christmas.

And there’s just no better feeling in the world.

Apparently I have a thing for taking pictures of bows this year. No snow on this one, though, since it’s inside at the library.  That’s just as well since, baby, it’s cold outside!

Have a great weekend and stay warm.

It’s all about mittens and mitts here at Carole Knits – just like it is over at Martha’s place.

There are Bella’s Mittens. These are for a certain Twilight fan who is quite near and dear to my heart. She loves pink, too. The yarn is Malabrigo Chunky and it’s not easy to knit that on size 8 needles, let me tell you. I have to practically stand on my head to manipulate the cables! But they will be warm and that’s the key because my girl’s hands are always cold.

There are also Merletto Mitts. These are for a dear friend who isn’t expecting a thing. I’m using some ShibuiKnits that you may recognize because once upon a time it was a toe up sock.  Yeah, I frogged that toe up sock. The toe up part was just fine but the pattern itself was too big and I let it go. This is a much better use for the yarn anyway.

Once the Bella’s Mittens and Merletto Mitts are done I plan to cast on a pair of Susie’s Reading Mitts for another dear friend. This one is expecting something, though, so I need to get crackin.

I feel it prudent to now remind everyone that I don’t knit for Christmas. Really, I never do. So what the hell has gotten into me?