yummmm

brussel sprouts -- steamed, then olive oil, a little salt and a tiny bit of sugar -- carmelizing magic.
the kids love 'em!

christmas already????

thing one (9) and thing two (6) are about to be displaced as the youngest (by FAR) on my husband's side of the family. a baby shower and a soon-to-be-greatgrandma whose blindness prevents her from knitting any more stockings for family babies have inspired me to start xmas early.

so it is almost finished, largely because my secrecy cover was blown by my own big mouth, talking about it to another big mouth; frantic weekend knitting so as not to disappoint soon-to-be-greatgrandma in whose name this will be given.


darn it! if i do not finish in time for the shower next week, that will be another good-intention-paver on my well-tiled road to hell.

hoping that when i block it, it won't bleed. it's lamb's pride, so nice, but...

ho-ho-ho! merry intarsia magic-loop sorta fair-isle mighta miscounted some rows while knitting backwards!

i like it

so here's what i did to poorly imitate mrs. lear's harvest wreath -- but it looks great from far away, which is where most people will see it.


i did not have much time to put into it (4 kids in house, school holiday) so used gourds, minipumpkins left over from halloween decorations plus a few veggies (turnips, radishes, red onion) i either had or could grab at the grocery store.



i like how it looks! not quite as lush as mrs. lear's, but it has its own charm...

plus it was so satisfying to do something lovely for my messy house.

i hate getting political, but

obama did win, and having grown up in md. in the 60's, and my jr. high having been the segregated black high school 2 years before i got there, i am overwhelmed/overjoyed that we have an inspiring president-elect, no matter his color. in addition, my quaker heritage (of which i am quite proud, having great-great-grandfolks who facilitated the underground railroad), i believe, ties me more closely to the pride felt by my fellow citizens, who have endured racism's ugliness and brutality; and makes me emotional by proxy about the historic nature of this election's results and the struggle it has taken to get to this point.
but i am more elated that it seems we have someone who will govern by consensus instead of by "mandate", by inspiration instead of by command -- hoping that the monumental challenges he faces will somehow allow him to put america back where it belongs in the eyes of the world. we should never be a pariah or a bully, always the beacon of liberty and opportunity my other grandparents saw when they left estonia 80 years ago to make their lives here. this was a tough one for me, until mccain made a significant choice. up to that point i thought he might represent all of us; instead, i saw that the strongest of all men caved to political pressure, and stopped being himself. sad.
what a challenge our new president faces, and how surprisingly resentful and seething are our friends, the kind, thoughtful, bright, articulate, deeply faithful folks who believed that this new president was not the person to lead our nation forward.
may this election lead to comfort for all stakeholders.

look at this

this amazing wreath -- i'm going to try to do my own version...

pictures to follow -- if it's even mildly comparable ;-)

i want to paint this

i know it's time to talk about knitting, and there's been some, but how great is this:
for a painting? or a quilt? whoa.