I tried to have it on Saturday, but nobody else wanted it.
We joined in to be part of over 9,000 for an attempt at breaking a world record for people caroling together in one place.
Well.......
We were several thousand people short of breaking any record.
There was plenty of holiday spririt and the city is abuzz with spirit and protest.
The photo above is the only photo I took with my camera.
It was a test shot, but then my camera battery died.
I had just charged it.
Add it to the list.
I wouldn't mind so much, but it was my heavy SLR with a longer lens that I was lugging around Boston with me and I couldn't even take a picture with it.
See? I am actually remembering to take the camera in case there is blog fodder.
I'm actually thinking about the blog.
It only took a month of daily posting for me to remember it and plan.
Anyway, the caroling was a lot of fun!
I can now say that I have sung with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus (pictured above).
Pete learned the lyrics to some popular carols.
Where has he been his whole life?
Then we had lunch with Pete's brother and his brother's girlfriend.
I ate some of Pete's bacon, it was so good.
I miss bacon almost the most.
That's it! It was a low key, laid back kind of weekend.
Laundry, a run, knitting, sushi, (Oh yeah. I mentioned that, didn't I.) football, thinking about quilting........
A lot of thinking about quilting.
Maybe this week there will be quilting.
Happy Carolers!
2011. Fifty-eight. $2.50. My weekends are not generally very exciting. I hope yours was everything you needed it to be. Weekending along with Amanda.
Lots of family coming and going all day long. It feels chaotic, but somehow controlled.
I didn't overeat at the meal, but my gluten-free, vegan pumpkin pie went down well and often.
So did some other pies.
I look forward to sitting and knitting at the end of the day and when I finally get to sit I am too tired to lift my knitting.
No Black Friday shopping.
They could be giving it away.......
Friday afternoon is spent at Cyndi's with extended family and if I thought my house was chaotic, this puts it all in perspective.
It's an awesome chaos.
Started the holiday movie/show watching with Elf and Love Actually.
I love both of those films.
Saturday is spent knitting and going for a run.
Saturday night is Sushi Night at Cyndi's again. So.Much.Fun.
Sunday is knitting and football and I get my crafty side on and create my Advent Wreath.
Wishing I had remembered to take one photo of anything I did.
Knitting progress. I didn't knit as much as I might have liked over the weekend. It looks like NaKniSweMo won't be happening for me. There has been progress since this photo was taken and in my mind I can totally finish this in time! A sleeve and a half plus the shawl collar and wide button band? No problem! If I don't sleep and quit my jobs.
Along with my Christmas music coming out for the season, my collection of mugs followed along. The first one I pulled out was my favorite, the other side depicts Santa's sleigh flying across the sky. Doesn't Santa look adorable?
There is also amaryllis progress. THAT is not the amaryllis that I have been showing so far this fall. I purchased that one yesterday when I got the greens for my Advent Wreath (no I didn't hike through the woods for them, and for what I needed it is crazy that I purchased them at my local garden center, but that's just how this year rolled.
The amaryllis that I have been showing is on time-out in the garage. I thought we had fruit flies and I couldn't figure out where they were coming from and then Pete noticed them on the amaryllis soil. Turns out they were fungus gnats (EEWWWWW!) and until I have time to get some insecticide and clean off the top layer of soil and cover with rocks that amaryllis lives in the garage to keep the gnats from spreading to my two other amaryllises. Thank goodness it is warmish.
Here is a better photo of my Advent Wreath. The wreath form, the greens, some floral wire and a hot glue gun was all it took. My girls even commented on how talented I am. They really did! Something along the lines of wondering if there is anything I can't do when it comes to being crafty. Awww. Again, I was totally surprised at the outcome. It isn't perfect, but it is perfectly me.
Because the cables are just so pretty. I have mixed feelings about moving onto the sleeves. On the one hand I am closer to the end, on the other I am finished knitting those cables and they were fun. This is really one of those projects that I will be happy and sad that I am finishing. The yarn and design are perfect together and I am enjoying every second of the knitting.
Now for the Christmas song of the day. This one is only here as a nod to my childhood. Pure nostalgia. Funny, it is the same song, but on my cd there is a clip-clopping (like an actual horse) with the percussion and as kids we would do that click-clock thing with our tongues. With exaggerated mouth movements. I don't hear it as well in this audio.
2011. Forty-nine. $3.00. So, you should really listen to this one as well. Still the Tijuana Brass playing Tijuana Christmas. I love it, so dated, so kitchy, so fun! I mean, my head just bobs and nods through the whole thing. I LOVE IT!!!!! Total nostalgia for me.
Unusual: Party on Friday and dinner with friends (OUT at a restaurant) on Saturday.
The food and drink caught up with me.
Home all day on Sunday.
Some of you may know that some food sensitivities or allergies have either caught up with me or developed out of nowhere over the last three years or so.
Stick to the foods that are okay and I feel pretty good.
Cheating can be okay if I only cheat infrequently.
I have a problem with that.
One cheat leads down a road that can last several weeks and leaves me feeling lousy.
Once I start, though, I cannot seem to stop myself.
This weekend is the culmination of a binge and it is now time to get my act together.
Anyway, that subject bores me.
Other than that, the weekend was so much fun!
And the food and drink tasted so good.
The rest of my weekend can be summed up as, well, OBSESSIVE personality disorder.
Not quite Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, but Obsessive for sure.
I just diagnosed myself.
See, I'm about to make a quilt and long story short, wanted a particular fabric that I have 1/2 yard of and need more.
Five quilt shops: no luck,
Internet search: no luck,
Ebay: no.luck.
The search started on Wednesday, but I had no information, only the description of the fabric.
YOU do a search for "batik blue green" and see how far you get.
I would have driven the two hours up to Center Harbor yesterday to take a look there, but....see above: The food and drink caught up with me.
So I thought I'd go today.
It's one of those things where you've been told by everybody that you can't get that fabric anymore, but if you don't go look it will always eat at the back of your mind.
Well, it will eat at mine anyway.
Plus, if I am told I can't get it, I take that as a challenge, not a hint to make another plan.
As the morning wore on (and I was knitting and thinking about leaving) I decided to try ebay again.
Guess what!?
I found a fat quarter bundle with the fabric in it!
You know what that means!
I have a fabric company name!
I head to their website and by a fluke of link clicking I get a stock number for the exact fabric I'm looking for!
A quick internet search with the correct information: Hoffman 885 504 Montego gets me all the results I need.
Phew! You have no idea how focused I was on this one thing for the last five days!
Or maybe you do.
2011. Forty-two. $3.55. This post would be so much better if it included a photo of the fabrics that are going into my quilt, wouldn't it? You'll have to settle for this:
2011. Seventeen. $10.38. I even started spinning them. It was a batty weekend. I'm weekending along with Amanda and it is Blue Monday, usually hosted by Smiling Sally, but her granddaugthers are pinch-hitting and asking for our prayers, their Grandma needs them after surgery that didn't go as well as hoped for. Send good, blue vibes her way.
We hosted a small Easter gathering. (Yes, there were men there, but while we were smiling for the camera they were where men should be, in the kitchen cleaning up.)
Gillian is on her way back to NYC, and I'll miss her a ton, but lucky for me she has started a blog, Greener Bean! Now I can keep up with her and her explorations and discoveries on having a healthier lifestyle. You can read about it, too. This weekend saw all of my healthy eating go straight out the window, and not in a "holiday" way. More a stress way. And either way, it never feels good. I'm usually good about not indulging because I hate the way it feels after. Not one bite of food tastes good enough to feel all bloated and tired and gross after, not one bite. It is back to green smoothies and sticking to foods that support me and encourage feeling good starting now.
Hmmm, what's missing? Oh! The fluff of unspun fiber that is usually underneath bobbins or spindles for the photo. That's because there isn't any left. On to the rest of the plying!
Have you heard of this great idea? A quick Monday morning recap of the weekend in list or photo form or whatever you want. Poetry? Haiku? Headline format? It's great to have a jumping off focus when blogging regularly. A few years ago I committed to blogging every day for a year and during that time I used specific themes for different days so that each week I wouldn't have to come up with an entire idea for a blog post, just something to fit the focus for that day. Blue Monday used to be the jumping off point for the beginning of the week and this post fits that as well. Having committed to blogging at least 135 days this year, having some theme days will certainly keep me going.
So this is an idea swiped from Margene who got the idea from Carole who points back to the originator, the author of The Habit of Being.
Currently free of any contractual or commitment knitting, my fiber pursuits were relaxed and somewhat self-indulgent.
Friday saw the drop spindles come out from hiding and instead of packing my wheel up to go to spinning group, I lugged (ha! because there is so much lugging with drop spindles!) them with me and actually used them!
I had brought knitting as well and really thought that I would do that, but suddenly became inspired to spin some fiber that has long been in the works.
I'm very close to the end, then more plying and then KNITTING!
I hope I'm creating some sustained momentum.
Saturday saw me at my favorite quilt shop and lunching with Kim.
Margene said it, weekends spent with grrrlfriends......
Then there was swatching and thinking about swatching.
This is a post in itself, but I've decided that the swatch gets a bad rap in general, being accused of lying and all that.
I am of the opinion that the swatches are tellers of truth and that the knitters are lying to the swatches, but more about that on another day.
On to the swatches!
Madelinetosh Tosh Sock in Baltic. Wish I could capture the color better, it is gorgeous.
Candelia (ravelry link) is the pattern I am swatching that yarn for, a great little sweater for spring and cool summer nights.
