So much ______________________, so little time!

Fill that particular blank with either:
a.  knitting
b.  reading
c.  sleeping
and you'd have a summary of my week!  There just aren't enough hours in the day to get it all done and yet I so want to! 

Knitting:  I've got a deadline of Tuesday morning to finish a design for upcoming Cast On! magazine (the knitting is just about there and then I have to write it up and get it packed to mail).  I've finished another design for Spring Gate (which I'll give her when she comes next Friday to brush up her knitting skills) -- that gives me a few days to write-up THAT pattern.  So, on the knitting front, it's not like I'm doing nothing (and have even booked a Friday two weeks from now to teach two dear friends to knit ... they also homeschool their kids so we'll make it into a family affair!)  I do have a backlog of three designs for Knit Picks I've got to finish and get out ... so I'm definitely swamped (but THAT is a good thing).



(see http://www.book-games.com/featured-book-games/agatha-christie-peril-at-end-house.html for this cool game)



Reading:   I'm doing pretty well on this front, too.  I finished a couple of books for review (see this review of Fr. Groeschel's book and a Christian chick-lit) and the Chesterton book mentioned in this yarn-along post has been finished and the review just needs typing up.  Whew!  The problem is I went to the library the other day .... and serendipitously found a fabulous book, one that I didn't had been published (in 2009, no less -- I must live under a rock), and that I'm SOOOOO excited to read .. but NO TIME!  I just want to curl up and read Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks: Fifty Years of Mysteries in the Making, by Christie scholar John Curran.  This a book that discusses Christie's 72 notebooks filled with her writing notes ... plot changes ... development of her stories!  How cool is that????? I've loved Christie books since I was little ... have read all 66 crime novels and 150 short stories (and read them all more than once).  I am a writer-wannabe (have long had an idea for a mystery tied to, what else, knitting!) and this is a treasure trove of info for all writers.  I'm so excited ... and I saw on Amazon that this hard-cover is a "bargain" book so it's my very own copy is winging it's way to my doorstep as we speak (gotta love Amazon!).  So it's ok ... I have to keep telling myself this ... that I don't have time to read it this weekend, as I'll soon have my very own copy (and then I can make notes in the margins ... dog-ear the pages ... and study this book to my heart's content!).

Sleep:  Max is getting better about sleeping thru the night.  But the kids, in their innocence (bless their hearts), taught Mr. Max to leap the baby gate keeping him in the boys' room till I'm ready to take him out.  So yesterday and today, Mr. Max got me up early to go potty -- a good thing in its way but does cut into the sleep factor!  This too shall pass ... this too shall pass ... [my new mantra!]

So, what word(s) would you be using to fill in the title blank?

Yarn Along .... two of my favorite things ... knitting and reading!

~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? Take a single photo and share it either on your blog or on Flickr. Leave a link below to share your photo with the rest of us! ~ from Ginny's blog, small things

This is only my second time posting for Ginny's yarn-along ... shame on me!  It's not that I haven't been knitting ... it's not that I haven't been reading ... it's just that I've been so busy knitting and reading, I haven't had time to post.

So, I apologize.

on my needles:  finishing another cashmere design for Spring Gate Farm ... a cap (which is done) and a coordinating scarf which only has about seven more inches (than I must start the tam for Cast On!).  I'll have this design posted on my site by the end of the week.  If you'd like to see my other original hand-knit designs, check out my knitting blog, By Hand, With Heart!

on my reading table:  re-reading Sweater Design in Plain English ... love, love, love this book! A "second edition" is coming out in April that of which I'm hoping to get a review copy so I can see if it's worth it to buy ... I'll keep you posted!  I'm also reading Defiant Joy: The Remarkable Life and Impact of GK Chesterton that I'll be reviewing later this month.  Our read-aloud, which we started on Friday, is Lost in Peter's Tomb ... a book we've had knocking around for a while so decided to read-aloud.  It's really an interesting read that fits in with our "explorer" unit we'd put on hold during Advent/Christmas.  The story is a mystery set in Rome with siblings and their aunt helping the Pope discover who is getting into the Vatican and why!

Thanks, Ginny, for starting this yarn-along ... it's always fun to see what others are doing!
 

October ... what a whirlwind!

Today is the first day this month that we're home by 11:30 a.m. and NOT GOING OUT ANYWHERE!  What a wonderful feeling to be home all together (well, dh won't be home till dinner), working together and separately, eating together, being together. 

Things really started heating up with busy-ness back on October 16th when the boys and dh went to a UVA home game ... it was a slaughter, but fun for the guys to do the "real life" college football (especially since the tickets we got from our neighbor included great seating and a parking pass!).  BTW, the tough-love look on BamBam is due to mom taking a picture ... he just wanted to leave!

The next day, tech week (aka, hell week) started with a vengeance:  25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is a wonderful musical but tech week is always tough ... especially for this stage manager!  Lego Maniac has a bit part and the stage-managing isn't really hard, just takes time away from family.  But, you'll be happy to know I have been able to fit in knitting while ensuring props are where they are supposed to be ... mics are on ... and helping actors don various costuming effects.  A great cast and wonderful director make my job fairly easy and rewarding.

Later last week, Thursday was a prime example of the down-side of tech week:  dh teaches ccd, String Bean had embroidery club and Lego Maniac and I had to be at the theater -- all at the same time!  Thanks to God's providence, we do have a second car so (altho we ate dinner rushed, we did eat together) and the two younger stayed with dh while LM and I headed to practice.  Not ideal, but does work!

Friday, Oct 22nd will live in infamy as the day I started a new venture with my knitting: three hours of talking with the owner of Spring Gate Farm, a cashmere goat rancher down in Barboursville!  Seems she was looking for a designer to create unique designs for her cashmere yarns ... and I'm it!  She left me with about 15 skeins of the gorgeous, luxurious yarn and a head-ful of ideas of eactly what to design.  You'll be hearing more about this on my knitting blog, By Hand, With Heart! 

Saturday, brought the Mary's Shelter Craft Bazaar that we've been working on since August.  String Bean and I headed over at 7:30 to help set-up ... I left around 11 to pickup Lego Maniac (who was serving a Confirmation Mass) and then do the grocery shopping ... back to get String Bean when she finished (about 3) ... heat up some game-day food to watch LSU play Auburn ... than off to do the musical ....

Sunday brought 7:30 a.m. Mass (Lego Maniac served) where we heard that we gathered over $3400 in monies from our craft fund-raiser!  Not bad for 4 hours of selling handmade baked goods, hand-crafted items (including many made by our kids) and other items.  After a family brunch at Panera (our favorite bagel and treats place) LM and I went to the matinee of Spelling Bee and home for dinner and playing with Max (who really misses us when we're at the play!) till an early (we're talking 8:30 p.m.) bedtime for this cowboy!

On October 25th, we were graced with a visit from dh's sister and bil on their way home from a Clemson alumni event (he's a dean down there).  A four hour visit was just not enough ... but at least we had some good quality time with our favorite relatives.  They hadn't been to "the farm" since we moved in June 2009, so it was fun to show them how much we've done (and how much we still have to do).  That evening, BamBam had his first fencing scrimmage -- he placed  a very respectable third ... fencing against kids who have been fencing much longer than his five months!  Lego Maniac fences tomorrow in HIS first scrimmage ... but I won't be there since pick-up rehearsal starts up and then we kick off performances for this weekend (ending just before Halloween activities Sunday evening!).

Always fun to be busy ... but I'm loving the pace of today ... slow and steady ... surrounded by my family ... with dinner prepping and an evening of relaxation and family movie viewing (Sound of Music ... thanks to Netflix)!

Knitting ... this just might be my favorite ever!

Knit Picks just posted my 7th (!) design ....

cool, huh?

The cable "hides" the button holes ... while the buttons are linked behind the scenes....

What do you think?????

Knit Picks: Independent Designer's Program

Completely Cozy & Reversible Scarf for Him! 

My first, and hopefully not my last, pattern in the IDP at Knit Picks ... this is a great chance for small hand-knit designers like me to get their patterns published/out there to knitters everywhere.  Check it out and let me know what you think!  Looking doesn't cost a penny .... and downloading is $1.99.

CHRISTMAS!

It usually takes so long to get to the day of finally celebrating Christ's birth!  Maybe because of the snow earlier this week (that threw all our plans katywampus) or because Kotch is home and helping so much or just because I'm getting older: for whatever reason, Christmas came "early" this year!

And, boy did we have fun:

Up for Midnight Mass at our parish ....

treats left out for Santa in case he came while we were gone ...

gift opening when we got home (and found that Santa had left the family a Wii ... incl a charger base ... smart Santa ... and a Nancy Drew game) 

with gifts from college-aged sister who spoils her siblings:

and hand-knit gifts for each of my loved ones (the boys are wearing the vests I made them):

hats and scarves for the girls ...

 

and wool slipper-socks for the guys (dh also got a cozy hat to keep his hair-challenged head warm in our chilly 65-degree house).

We finally all were abed by 3:00 a.m.  Dh and LegoManiac were up for 9:00 Mass (LM served) and then we attempted taking a family Christmas picture:

The girls got tired of the boys' attitudes and decided to have a picture with Big Z in lieu of their two brothers ...

then we made Almond Kringle (recipe to follow)

and roasted chesnuts (just because we could ...):

and playing Wii and making Miis for all the family ... fun!

A very blessed and happy Christmas to one and all and prayers for a holy, healthy and happy 2010

from our house to yours ...

 

Here's the recipe for the Almond Kringle:

Almond Kringle (from the Solo Foods website)

(NOTE:  I halved the recipe to make just one cake; my changes for one are below but you can click the link to get the recipe for doing two)

1 tbls dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tbls granulated sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1/2 can Solo almond filling (or about 1 cup of almond paste; the filling is so easy to use, but some folks are purists -- I'm NOT!)

Optional:  powdered sugar icing = powdered sugar + water

Sprinkle yeast over warm water and stir to dissolve. Let stand 5 to 10 minutes or until foamy. Combine flour, granulated sugar, and salt in large bowl and stir until blended. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Beat eggs and milk until blended. Add to dry ingredients with yeast mixture and stir just until all particles are moistened. (Dough will be sticky) Cover bowl with plastic wrap and overwrap with aluminum foil. Refrigerate overnight. (dough will rise very slightly)  [this is one thing I really like about this recipe is that I can START it in the evening and cook it hot for breakfast/brunch]

Grease one baking sheets and set aside.

Remove dough from refrigerator. Sprinkle 1 piece of dough with flour and knead gently 10 to 12 strokes on lightly floured surface. Roll out to 18 x 12-inch rectangle. Spread almond filling in 3-inch strip lengthwise down center of dough. Fold 1 long side of dough over filling and fold other side over. Pinch edge and ends to seal.  Place, seam side down, on prepared baking sheet.Cover with towel and set aside in warm, draft-free place to rise until light, about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375° F.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from baking sheet and cool on wire rack.

Finish:  ice with powdered sugar mixed with just enough water to drizzle (once cooled) or dust with powdered sugar.   Serve warm.