This last weekend Jesse and I headed up to the cabin for a bit of a “before the madness of the season hits us” pow-wow. We did some Christmas shopping, had a very nice dinner with my brother and his fiancée, relaxed, and worked out our plan for the season. Saturday the ground was still green and I was complaining about how I felt we were never going to have winter (I like winter. I especially like SNOW in winter.) and then I woke up to this above pretty picture on Sunday. It’s just not Christmas to me without snow.
Knitting: socks, scarves, mittens. Because this time of year isn’t busy enough with holiday stress or the kitchen remodel plans we’re making, I thought it would be a good idea to start some last minute handmade gifts.
Watching: I watched a few episodes of The Crown based on Marian’s recommendation and I’ll add my recommendation to that as well. I didn’t watch anything this weekend though I did spend a lot of time listening to The Hamilton Mixtape. I preordered awhile ago and have been loving the early releases. Now that the whole thing is out I can’t stop raving about it. I’ve become positively obsessed (in part because Jesse and I ordered tickets to see it in NYC for our 15th wedding anniversary and I don’t know how I’m going to wait until August).
Reading: Nothing. I’ll resume that again after Christmas.
Cooking: This week I’ll be making a few “fancy retro” dishes for a Mad-Men-esque themed Christmas celebration. So I’ve been scoping out recipes here, here, here. I’m so excited; I may have even bought a dress for the occasion.
What’s new and exciting in your world? Making, reading, watching or listening to anything you’d like to share?
What a gorgeous photo, Kate! Must have been lovely to wake up to that scene 🙂 . We’ve got frost on the ground and rooftops this morning, but no snow yet.
So glad you’re enjoying The Crown! I’m trying my best just to listen to the radio these days (evenings, really) as I find it way too hard to watch anything while knitting. I did, though, watch the movie The Book Thief this weekend. My husband’s away (for an unusually long stretch) and there are some evenings (after my son goes to bed) that are just way too quiet, and on those nights the radio just doesn’t seem to cut it.
I bought yarn for a hat for my 11-year-old (Minnesota Wild colours for my hockey boy, which he helped choose) as well as yarn for the smitten. (Ravelry pattern here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/smitten-5 ). I’m going to use 2 strands of DK (or is it worsted?) together, rather than using a bulky weight, and adjust my stitch number according to the gauge I get with a US 10 needle size. My 18-year-old son has just requested hand-knit mittens (which was a shocker to me; he hasn’t wanted my knit mittens for years now) so that’s YET ANOTHER thing to knit!! (I’m trying to remind myself that it’s a good thing to be wanted 😉 .) The only thing I really want to get done as a Christmas present is the smitten, though, and I do think I can manage that. (But I will have to *somehow* try to dissuade my daughter from attempting to SEW a smitten out of polar fleece in the few days when she’s home, pre-Christmas; she believes I have no time to knit her a smitten and apparently wants one so badly that she’s determined to take matters into her own hands. I have no idea how to dissuade her without spoiling the surprise 🙁 .)
I enjoyed looking through those retro recipes you linked to. Funnily enough, my daughter just sent me a link to a woman who was doing a 70s dinner … moulded gelatin dishes galore and a hot dog creation that made me reflect that I am hugely grateful to no longer be living in that time!
Thank you so much for sharing the smitten pattern! I can’t wait to give it a try. Hopefully I can keep it a secret and get it done by February. (And hopefully you can some how dissuade your daughter from sewing her own! What a stinker!! I wish I could help you with the subterfuge but I’m terrible at that.) I love that your son is a Minnesota Wild fan. Lots of them around here!!
Do you have favorite radio programs? Maybe I could find them on podcast? I’ve been listening to the Hamilton Broadway Cast recording (after a week of listening to the Mixtape pretty much nonstop) and Jesse is getting annoyed with me. It really is brilliant though.
One of my favourites right now is the show Ideas, on CBC radio. (Past episodes are here: http://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/pastepisodes ). It’s an eclectic mix of topics they cover and I really enjoy the host’s voice. (Funny how that can make such a difference!)
Thank you. Hopefully, I’ll get a chance to look it up. And YES! Their voices really can make all the difference.
Love the idea behind a Mad Man-esque Christmas celebration! How fun!
I wish I had more time for reading this month. I am 3 books short of my yearly goal, and I keep finding everything else to do instead of reading! :-/
I’m quite a bit shy of my goal this year and I think that actually makes it easier to miss than if I were only 3 books away!! Hopefully you can schedule yourself some downtime reading.