squeeking under the wire

with Y and Z .

the shrine of holy handspun yarn.

z is the late great frank zappa. oh man, he was too cool. willie the pimp was my favorite zappa.

hope everyone has a happy safe new year!

home from the holidays

best holiday wishes to all!

we had a fabulous christmas - drove up to jacksonville to visit my son and daughter-in-law. this spring they will be stationed in pensacola, and i will really miss jacksonville, especially the avondale area.

the day before we left i got a second wind, and dd and i baked up a storm.

my aunt millie's hazelnut crescents.

fudge filled toffee kisses, or as my ddil calls them - cookies on crack :->

apricot kolache, my czech grandmother's recipe.

magic cookie bars .

christmas morning time for presents!

look at what my friend terri made for me! a lovely smooth wooden swift. is she unbelievably talented or what! the swift spins as smooth as buttah :-) i love you terri!

bart likes his mountain colors bearfoot socks.

dd loves her new mittens and river scarf.

but i think she loves natalie the best!

tom is dapper in his new rowanspun aran sweater. it's rosemary's middle sweater from the green mountain spinnery book.

natalie put together a heartfelt collage for tom. it has a photo of tom and bart from bart's college graduation, a thank you poem, and a drawing of the P3-Orion, the plane bart flies, and the F4-Phantom, the plane tom flew when he was in the navy.
tom said he had to wipe the tears from his eyes, but being a manly man, he didn't want to blubber in public ;-)

tom is obsessed with osho the man constantly surprises me, luckily santa brought him plenty of osho books.

and a nice post osho nap.

my ddil, natalie, is a girl who really appreciates a handknit present. no wonder i love her so much!

koigu socks, toe up, picot edge.

seaweed scarf and mittens in sea ivory.

looking gorgeous in rogue! knit with jamieson's soft shetland in dragonfly discontinued color.

is there a girl in the world who wouldn't be thrilled to open a little blue box on christmas morning?

then dd totally surprised me.

look at this mother daughter book. she took photos of the two of us, from her babyhood through today, and added poems and quotes about mothers and daughters. the last page is a letter she wrote just for me.

they do not call me sap-mother for nothing. i could not stop crying, and i cried more with every page i turned. by the end there wasn't a dry eye in the house!

am i the luckiest mom in the world, or what!

my grand-dogs, aisling and earl.

my drug of choice

emergen-C, how i love thee.

tom gave me his cold. gee thanks. i hope it's gone by christmas.

rogue is sewn and washed and blocking on the floor. no photographic evidence as i have no camera here. i hope it fits ddil!

and the bestest news, my baby boy is back home :-)

my thoughts and prayers are with the family of our soldiers and sailors overseas.

the stocking were hung

by the gas fireplace with care.
in another lifetime i was addicted to needlepoint.

this not being home for christmas stuff is nice but weird. the nice is that i don't have to cook or clean, and i get to sleep in a luxurious hotel.


the weird is that i don't have to cook, and why bother to get a tree when we won't be home? really it's more the fear of crazy kitty wreaking havoc with the decorations.



i thought all the christmas knitting was done, except for sewing up rogue.


but as i was writing my christmas cards, hmm, my uncle richard would probly love a pair of lorna's laces superwash socks.



hopefully they'll be done in time for monday's mail. better get knitting.
and now, what you've all been waiting for -the parade of christmas gifties.



six scarves a laying.

trellis from interweave knits spring 2006, by evelyn clark. knitpicks shadow, in vineyard. i love this yarn! what a wonderful gift you can knit for $2.49 :-)

a second trellis (can you tell i enjoyed knitting this pattern?). this one is knit with knitpicks alpaca cloud in moss. not bad for $3.49!

elizabeth I lace scarf, by jolene treace, also knit with knitpicks shadow in vineyard. the lady i knit this for is not a frilly gal, so i thought this pattern would be better for her than trellis.



sharon miller's bronte from a yorkshire fable. knit with rowan yorkshire tweed 4 ply, sadly discontinued. mittens knit with yorkshire tweed aran, also sadly discontinued.


river, another sharon miller design, rowan magazine #38, knit with alchemy yarns haiku, color vermillion. this yarn is too scrumptous for words.


alice st*rmore's seaweed scarf, knit with sea ivory . there was a ton of leftover 3 ply sea ivory from my inishmore, so i knit matching mittens.

terri, avert your eyes!

















three pair of mittens go with the scarves.


an adorable booga bag, complete with tiny change purse (my design), knit with kureyon. and a scary snake scarf from morehouse merino. for my basket teacher's grand-daughters.


eight pair a socking. that should take care of tom, bart, natalie and dd ;-)


last but not least, today is my birthday! happy birthday to me!

which reindeer are you?

a few years ago, i played matchmaker with tom's oldest best friend and a great gal friend. it took me a couple of years to get them in the same place at the same time.

it was love at first sight, after they met the hardly spent a day apart!

tom and i were best man and matron of honor at their wedding a few months later. true love :-)

i retired from matchmaking. i mean, how could i ever top that?

You Are Cupid

A total romantic, you're always crushing on a new reindeer. Why You're Naughty: You've caused so much drama, all the reindeers aren't speaking to each other. Why You're Nice: You have a knack for playing matchmaker. You even hooked Rudolph up!

Which of Santa's Reindeer Are You?

x is for

x-chromosome, which i am glad i have, i love being a girl :-)

I got tagged by steph-

“THE RULES:Each player of this game starts with the ‘6 weird things about you.’ People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave a comment that says ‘you are tagged’ in their comments and tell them to read your blog.”

1. i hate it when the light switches don't line up. we have one by the back door with 4 switches, and they must all be in the same postion for off/on, or it drives me nuts.

2. pictures hung unevely drive me crazy.

3. like anmiryam, at one point in time i was obsessed with english history. the only course i enjoyed at the hell hole i attended for 2 years of college was medieval history. i can still name the 3 major battles of the 100 years war.

4. my favorite books are english mysteries, and only written by women authors.

5. i think of the gilmore girls as real people.

6. tom and i have our own secret language.

i tag angela, rosemary, denise, cathy, christine, dee ann.

today i did something really really stupid. it was raining, and i needed something from the car in the driveway. to avoid getting too soaked i went through the garage. in my bare feet.

running back into the house, as soon as i hit the slick garage floor, whoosh, out my feet went from under me.

wack, my butt and head hit the concrete. tonight every bone in my body is sore :-(

cookies coming up!

viennese coffee balls-

2 cups crushed shortbread cookies (food processor)
1 1/4 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 cup finely chopped nuts (i used pecans)
2 tbl unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp instant coffee crystals or instant expresso powder
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
4 to 5 tbls brewed expresso or strong coffee (i used half coffee and half captain morgan spiced rum)
1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar for rolling

1. combine dry indgedients, add liquid, using just enough to moisten.
2. form mixture into 1 to i 1/4 inch balls. roll balls generously into powdered sugar. let stand about one hour. before serving, roll again in powdered sugar, if desired.
makes about 30.

fudge filled toffee kisses-

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
3/4 cup english toffee bits or almond brickle chips
2/3 cup chopped pecans
2/3 cup flaked coconut
additional sugar
additional pecan halves for decoration

1. in a large bowl, cream butter and sugars. beat in the oil, egg and vanilla. combine the flours, salt, baking soda and cream of tartar; gradually add to the creamed mixture. stir in the toffee bits, pecans and coconut. cut in half, cover and refrigerate 1 hour.
2. shape dough into 1 inch balls; roll in sugar. place 2 in. apart on ungreased cookie sheet. using the end of a wooden spoon, make an indentation in the center of each.
3. bake at 350 degrees for 12-14 minutes or until lightly browned, cool on racks.

filling-

1 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips, melted
3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

in a heavy saucepan, melt ingredients together, stirring constantly, do not burn!!! when the mixture is thickened, turn off heat. plop a small spoonful onto each cookie, and top each with a pecan half. the fudge hardens enough to stack the cookies without them sticking together. makes about 5 dozen.

the original recipe from taste of home (karen barto) had you just stir the melted chocolate, condensed milk and vanilla together and put it on the cookies before baking. of course i didn't read that part until after i had baked the cookies. it worked out perfectly fine my way also ;)
these are some of the best cookies i have ever tasted in my life, enjoy!!!!

i changed to the beta blogger, and can't find any way to thank some of the comments by email. if you haven't heard from me, that's why. thanks!