My New Favorite Sweater

A few weeks ago I was fortunate enough to be a test knitter for Anne Hanson's newest sweater design; Blümchen

I love my finished Blümchen.  Not only does it fit perfectly but it was such a fun and very easy knit that Im currently shopping for yarn for a second one!

If you are looking for a well fitting and flattering sweater this is the way to go.  I used Knitting Notions Classic SuperwashMerino in Pumkin Spice. 

The finished sweater may give the impression that it was difficult or challenging to knit, but I promise it was quite easy.  The lace pattern is easy to remember and I knit the majority of it while watching tv with Andy in the evenings.  I even brought it to our knit group and worked on it while catching up with the girls.

The Finished Product

As promised and better late than never - a drum roll please - our Turkey!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving

Andy and I started our own Thanksgiving tradition a few years ago and have really enjoyed it.  Andy takes the week of Thanksgiving off for a staycation.  We watch movies at home, usually go to see a movie in the theater and work on some projects around the house.  It's relaxing and fun and we both enjoy the time away from everyday stress.  One of the best things about our Turkey Staycation is that we have our Thanksgiving dinner early in the week and get to enjoy it for the time we are home together.  It's less cooking over all for me too heh.

Today is our feast and the turkey is in the oven. I will post pictures of the finished product later. 

This is the best and easiest way to make a mouthwatering, moist, people knocking down your door (you know who you are) to get more turkey:

Thaw, rinse and pat dry the turkey you wish to cook.  Take a knife and very gently separate the skin from the breast and body.  Place pats of unsalted butter under the skin with the following:

fresh sage

fresh rosemary

dried bay leaves

Then rub the top of the turkey with unsalted butter

In the cavity of the turkey:

fresh cracked pepper

ground sea salt

a few sprigs of parsley

2 - 3 green onions

minced garlic

2 small stalks of celery

In the turkey pan lay a couple of carrots, stalks of celery and a cut up onion and then place the turkey on top of these.  This will help to make very savory drippings for the gravy.

Cover lightly with foil and bake at 325F  for the proper time for the weight of your bird.  Baste occasionally.

Im quite squeamish and toss all the "stuff" that comes inside the turkey.  We won't discuss this anymore as Im starting to gag at the thought!

Where have you been?

When your vacation to Orlando starts with 12" of rain over three days some people might throw in the towel, pack up and head back home.  This is Andy on our first day there.  He ran out and got two umbrellas and rain ponchos for close to million  US dollars at one of the Universal gift shops.  The poncho's didn't work super well so that night we headed off to Bass Pro and picked up some real waterproof jackets and pants. 

The sun came out the next afternoon, but we stayed dry that morning and during Halloween Horror Nights which was totally awesome.  If you have never been and enjoy being scared out of your mind this is the place to go!  One of the haunted houses was of a winter graveyard complete with a snow machine that sprinkled snow down on us as we went through it.  No pictures of anything there sadly, but lot's of great memories.

JAWS!

Im really glad we don't fish for anything this big!

My most favorite part of our trip was feeding the baby roo's at Busch Gardens Tampa.  I spent an hour in with them and Andy went back to the front to get more food.  Notice the large puddles in the background.  Did I mention that it rained so hard that the waterparks were closed?  Why close waterparks in the rain?  Don't you get wet there anyway?  Ok onto something more fun!

Andy and I got to meet this lovely Owl and her trainer who let us pat her.  She's been in captivity since she was an owlet because of an injured wing. She seemed quite happy and was interested in everything going on.

A dolphin at Sea World.  We went there on one of the wet day's figuring that dolphins, whales and sharks are already wet.

Happy Hour in Jurassic Park.  It starts at 3:00 and we were there almost every day.  Our favorite bar tender who is originally from Wales was there.  We met him last year and it was nice to see him again.

CityWalk which is at the entrance to Universal and Islands of Adventure

We had some fantastic food there at The Latin Quarter.  We tried several restaurants: Bubba Gump, Emril's, and a few in the parks but liked The Latin Quarter the best and went back three times.  That says a lot since we are both particular about food!

Montpelier!

Hay, what did you do this weekend?

Andy and I went to the Montpelier Fall Fiber Festival in Montpelier Station, VA.  It's a lovely drive through rolling hills and countryside that we enjoy.  The leaves are just starting to turn here so there was a bit of color here and there.

Montpelier is by far our favorite festival.  It's really low key and everyone is laid back and happy.  You can find fibers and yarns that are hard to come by and lot's of unique ones as well. 

I entered my Holden Shawl in the Handspun Hand Knits Wearable division and it received second place.  This was really exciting and quite an honor.  One of the ladies working at the fiber arts display said that there were twice as many entries as there had been in past years. 

This is Judith modeling her hand dyed shawl.  Can you guess what she used for dye?  I never would have figured it out.  She went to a workshop where she learned how to dye with mushrooms.  Every color in this stunning shawl came from a mushroom.  I have to tell you that this was a hot topic in the car on the way home!

What would a fiber festival be without sheep?  This little gal is one of Heidi Passino's Shetland Sheep.  If we had land for animals we would have several sheep from Heidi.

This is a needle felted wall hanging that was entered in the fiber art's competition.  I love how the artist incorporated locks on the body of the sheep.

A wrap with hand spun angora yarn and emu feathers

The picture of this rug hooking doesn't do it justice, it was just fantastic in person!

This is a 6' tall hand felted wall hanging.  It was outside of one of the vendors tents.

Andy spotted this lovely arrangement in the fiber arts tent.  We have a little wheel like this and I think it would be great to use for a floral arrangement.

 

What Dreams May Come

I had a really horrific health scare late in the summer that required a biopsy.  There were sleepless nights for my husband and I before and after and quite frankly a lot of worry. 

A couple of nights before the biopsy I had a vivid dream where Anne Hanson told me that if I joined her Fall in Full Colors club my breast would be fine. 

Now, Im not into reading into your dreams or fortune telling or anything like that.  But I figured, what the hell.  It's yarn and patterns by one of my favorite designers, how could I go wrong?

Well, Im not saying that the Fall in Full Colors club has magical healing powers, but my biopsy turned out just fine. 

The last time Andy and I were out on the boat the leaves were just starting to turn a beautiful yellowish green.  With the backdrop of the Blue Ridge Mountains the colors were spectacular!  I was thinking that it would be great to find yarn in these colors:

Since I work for Kristi I knew the September shipment would be Shalimar Breathless.  But I had no idea of the color.  There was such a happy dance when this arrived:

Fantastic, yes?

The pattern to go with it is for Hazeline a stunning shawl.  I can't wait to get started on it and will be winding the yarn today.  I have one cuff left to finish on the Vodka Gimlet that Im doing in Honey Worsted Black Truffle and then will get to cast on for the Hazeline.  Im proud of myself for showing restraint and not casting on until the Gimlet is finished. 

Love Notes

Andy surprised me last night while we were watching The Big Bang Theory.  It's the sweet thoughtful things that he does out of the blue that really mean so much. 

Next month is our sixth wedding anniversary.  As each year blends smoothly into the next I realise that I can't imagine having a better friend to spend them with.