You are currently browsing the monthly archive for December, 2007.
The Year of the Wool – that’s what Ev referred to 2007 as recently. I can’t think of a more apt description. So much of our life was focused on fiber this year. It has been a wonderful year. Yes, there has been some ups and downs but overall, 2007 was fantastic and fibery!
The biggest thing this year, that made it so wooly, was the official launch of The Painted Sheep. What an amazing thing! 2007 was the year that I made my dream of having a fiber-based business a reality. To think, this time last year The Painted Sheep was still in the planning stages – all the basics laid out, with the details to come over the next couple of months and then our opening in April. We’ve been going full steam ahead ever since! I’ve worked hard and played hard. There were unexpected challenges, both positive and negative, along with hard-fought victories and important lessons. I’ve had the time of my life and learned a ton. I look forward to what the little adventure I call The Painted Sheep will bring in 2008.
My knitting and spinning continued to be a huge part of my life this year, though I felt like I struggled to find time to do as much as I wanted with the new demands of running a business. I didn’t keep count of my projects other than my Christmas presents and those in Ravelry – I know that I finished at least 22 knitting projects. That’s what I can come up with off the top of my head. Unfortunately, there’s still a few that were started in 2007 (and before) that continue to sit on the needles. They’ll wait for next year. My spinning – never enough time and I can say that I spun sadly little this year – mostly around guild meeting times. Definitely a goal for next year – more spinning time. More knitting time too!
There were more fibery travels in 2007 too. My annual trip to Harrisville was a highlight of the year. Then there were the festivals – CT Sheep and Wool, Rhinebeck, the Wool Arts Tour and the Fiber Twist. Our travels around CT meant visiting a few new local yarn shops too. Lots more of this planned for next year!
Of course, there were plenty of non-fibery things from the last year. Ev and I got to spend a lot of time together, which we both enjoyed. Lots of family time, which I treasure. I think I will remember this year as the one that we truly re-focused our thinking about money, which has made such a positive impact on our lives, helping us to focus on the things that really matter to us. We’ve had some struggles, most of which are now resolved. I do think that the struggles we’ve had this year have made us stronger and brought us together, as they often do. And really, the good far outweighed the bad in 2007. It really has been an amazing, wool-filled and wonderous year!
I have one final FO for 2007: 
Seems only fitting that my final finished knitting project for the year is one from The Painted Sheep. These are my Monkeys, done in Painted Sock Too in Berrylicious. I finished them tonight. What a perfect way to wrap up 2007’s knitting!
I’m off to spend the rest of the evening happily at home. Ev and I have a tradition of making cioppino (seafood stew), having decadent dessert and drinking wonderful wine on New Year’s Eve. The fridge is packed with amazing seafood, I made creme brulee earlier and there’s a bottle of Beaujolais Nouveau waiting for us. Whatever you do, have a happy and safe New Year’s Eve!
Christmas was wonderful. The whole family was together, enjoying each others’ company. We laughed and talked and ate and exchanged gifts and then ate some more (I’m still full!). Really, it couldn’t have been much more perfect.
For me, the highlight of the day was giving out all of those knitted gifts. Now I can reveal what I’ve been working on for all of those months! For the men (Dad, my 2 brothers and Everett), I did a hat (the Ringwood Hat from the Fall 2007 Spin Off) and fingerless mitts (adapted from The Knitter’s Handy Book of Patterns). All were done in various shades of Cascade’s Ecological Wool. The women (Mom and 2 sisters-in law and of course I “tested” the pattern for myself a while back) got hats (the cabled hat from Misti International) and scarves (the Misti Chunky Ribs and Ruffles Scarf). All of those were knitted in different colors of Misti Alpaca Chunky. I did the Wonderful Wallaby for my nephew and the Children’s Neckdown Bolero (Knitting Pure and Simple) for my niece. All were very well received. I have no doubt that they will be worn and appreciated all winter. It makes me endlessly happy to know that I’ll be keeping them warm for the next few months. My older brother, Jason’s, reaction was really sweet – he wouldn’t take his hat off for the longest time. It didn’t take much to get them to pose for this family picture in their knitted goodies.
Left to right: Dad, Mom, older brother Jason and his wife Kelly, sister-in law Shelley and younger brother Terry, Everett and me. Only my niece and nephew are missing – both were napping. All the new toys Santa brought had them just exhausted!
There were other knitted goodies throughout the day too. I knitted off and on while we spent time together – and finished one of my Monkey socks. There were knitted gifts too – from Everett and from my parents. I’m so happy with my gifts:
I have knitting and reading to do. I love all three books – hopefully this weekend I’ll have some time to really dive into them. Everett got me a sock yarn sampler from Knit Picks – enough for 6 pairs! It looks like great yarn, all with generous yardage for my big feet! Great colors too – it’ll add a little variety to my stash. Everett also stuffed my stocking with little things for my knitting bag – stitch markers, point protectors and even some crochet hooks (I’m finally taking a crochet class this winter). Lots of knit-y gifts to play with!
Ev and I exchanged gifts on Christmas morning, especially enjoying it. For so many years, we lived far away – Christmas meant traveling to CT and never having Christmas morning in our own house. We always had “Christmas morning” a few days early, before we headed to CT. This Christmas was our third here in CT. We still appreciate being able to wake up on Christmas morning in our own house and open gifts in our jammies, with our favorite coffee mugs and a herd of kitties around us. More happy memories made!
I unfortunately had to head back to work today – though I am only working 2 days this week. I am very much looking forward to another long weekend. Have a great week!
Hope you all have the happiest of days! Merry Christmas!!!
Today I spent the day baking bread for Christmas. This is my grandmother’s recipe for sweet heart bread or babka. In my family, its known simply as “Grammy’s Bread”. My Grammy (Dad’s mother) baked it for every occasion – it is an integral part of my childhood memories. Grammy died several years ago. Over the last couple of years, I have taken over the tradition of baking Grammy’s bread. It is something I love to do. Grammy was very special to me – baking this bread makes me feel connected to her and my family. A tradition I am proud to carry on. I made 6 loaves today – enough for tomorrow’s celebration and a loaf each for ourselves, my parents and each of my brothers’ families to enjoy after Christmas. Of course, Everett and I couldn’t wait until tomorrow – we’re already enjoying ours. My bread never quite tastes like I remember Grammy’s tasting – but today’s certainly came close.
I hope that you are enjoying some holiday traditions of your own. Have a wonderful Christmas Eve!
My Christmas knitting is done! I finished early this morning – a whole 48 hours before Christmas morning. I did a total of 16 projects for 9 family members. Details and pictures to come, after they’ve been handed out on Christmas morning. I have never done this much knitting for a holiday, or honestly started and finished this early! I’ve been knitting for Christmas since early spring, so finishing this last gift was a long time coming. I can’t wait for Christmas – its going to be great to see everyone with their knitted gifts.
Knitting all of these gifts has been wonderful. Everett and I decided a while ago that we wanted to focus on what’s really important about the season – spending time with the ones we love and enjoying the magic of it all. We wanted to take the focus off giving gifts that are just a “thing” to give because its Christmas and put it on giving meaningful or practical gifts. We cut our Christmas budget by 75%, even for each other. A lot of this goes along with some decisions we made earlier this year about spending less and focusing more on what is really important to us. As a result, we have much less focus on “things”. Our Christmas giving goes along with that. This year, I got to enjoy knitting for my family. Much, much better than wandering the mall trying to figure what to buy for people. Our shopping for each other was both fun and practical. We tried to focus on some of those little “wish list” things that we wanted but wouldn’t buy for ourselves at this point. We promised to spend much less on gifts and focus on spending time together doing festive and fun things – that’s the real gift this season. Knitting gifts that are from my heart was a perfect way to keep my focus on what’s important this season.
Over the last couple of weekends, we have been able to finally spend some quality time together. A lot of our time has been home – cooking together, watching movies or just relaxing. Yesterday we spent a wonderful day together. We did end up breaking the “things” rule in a big way – we purchased a new TV – a gift from my in-laws. We’ve known for a while that we needed to replace our TV, as much as we cringed at the idea of actually spending money on one! So, we hit the sales early in the morning and brought home a fancy-pants flat panel thing. After that we headed for the shoreline. First stop was in Madison. I received a gift certificate from Madison Wools from my boss, so I used it toward yarn for the Tilted Duster – some Briggs and Little Heritage in a beautiful heathery brown. Then we headed to Mystic, one of our favorite places. This is the best time of year to wander around town, as its quiet and very pretty at Christmastime. We had a great afternoon wandering the village. Of course, there was a stop at Mystic River Yarns – I found a great little silk DellaQ pouch to replace my tool kit. We ended our afternoon with dinner at S & P Oyster House, which overlooks the Mystic River. It was blissful. Another great way to enjoy the season.
I’ll spend the rest of the time between now and the holiday wrapping gifts, baking bread (6 loaves on tap for Christmas Eve!) and relaxing with Ev. Hope you are all enjoying the season as much as we are!
I just finished the second to last Christmas gift. Horray! Only 1 left – another quick knit for Ev – and 5 days to complete it. Should be done in plenty of time. I’ll cast it on tomorrow morning so that I have some mindless knitting for a meeting. I’m not stressing about finishing the knitting in time. I keep reminding myself how much I’ve accomplished this season. I added it all up this morning – for all 7 adults in the immediate family, I’ve knitted two items, then a sweater each for my niece and nephew. I’ve knitted a lot for this Christmas – 5 days and 1 project to go shouldn’t be a problem.
Now, I wish I could say that I’m not stressing about everything else that needs to happen between now and then – several work projects to complete in the next two days, all the gifts to wrap, the 6-8 loaves of bread I’ll be baking on Christmas Eve – all with a promise to Everett that we’d do something fun and Christmas-y this weekend. That last knitted gift will likely be my sanity saver! That and the prospect of finally pulling out my long on hold Monkeys just as soon as the last gift is bound off!
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