Uli's Creative Corner

Well, here is my Christmas in review.  I wanted to write about Christmas before Christmas or right on Christmas Eve or Day but it wasn't to be.  Geez........ when everyone is home, I get no time to blog or sit here and just be idle at the computer.  So here's a quickie about how it all went down:

Of course, there was Rudolph:

And little girls around the tree:

At Oma's house when we still had power (more on that later)

At our house on Christmas morning

These were the knitted gifts that were unwrapped on Christmas Eve:

Sivia Harding's Angel Pear's Scarf for my Mom (a hit)

Socks for my Dad (another hit)

On Christmas Eve, Santa (aka the husband) brought me the Knitpicks needle set.  Yahoo......... he knew just what I wanted.  I started knitting with them already but unfortunately, I seem to have a bit of trouble with both of the 32" chords that came with the set.  I just can't seem to tighten down the needle nice and flush on one of the ends.  It just won't go in all the way and one is worse than the other.  One of them I could live with, the other isn't workable. 

The big deal on Christmas Eve that made our Christmas just a bit strange is the fact that we lost power at my Mom and Dad's house right about half an hour before dinner was finished cooking.  We opened our gifts by candle light and then we decided to go out for dinner, except most places were already closed, in the process of closing or had very little time remaining for us to order, get and eat our food.   We ended up at Boston Pizza which is just a basic, fairly family oriented restaurant that serves pizza and other stuff.  My Mom and Dad shared a pizza, Little Miss had a pizza, I had Quesadilla and Evan had a Philly Cheesesteak type sandwich.  It was a weird Christmas dinner.  Once we came back, we started our things to head back home and just as we were ready to leave, the power returned.  This wasn't the first time that we opened our gifts by candle light and for some reason, I have a feeling it won't be the last.

Fast forward to Christmas Day.  We were expecting 7 adults for dinner.  My Mom and Dad, Evan's Mom and Dad and Evan's grandma.  I had lots of cooking to do.  Here are a few new recipes I tried this year.  A brined turkey.  I used a recipe in December's Chatelaine magazine.  I couldn't find it on line but it was yummy.  The brine was prepared with garlic, bay leaves, ginger, salt, sugar, pepper corns, lemons and oranges (and I'm sure a few other spices that I'm forgetting).  We brined the turkey in a cooler over night and cooked it the next day.  It turned out yummy and juicy.  The other recipe that was a hit was a Cranberry Cream Cloud Pie also from Chatelaine magazine.  I can only say.... yummm......  I also tried a crockpot stuffing recipe and it turned out very well, too.  I had to doctor it a bit.  I can't find the link right now but it was an on line recipe so if you're interested, I'll look it up and send you the link.  Just let me know.

The handmade gifts on Christmas Day were, Avast from the fall Knitty.  I still don't have a picture because unfortunately, I had to give it unfinished.  I wrapped it up with the zipper inside and I still have to finish it.  I think it was well received though and once I finish it, I really hope that Evan will wear it, even if just once in a while.  Tomorrow, I'll try to put the zipper in and then maybe, I can get a picture of it.

The other gift was this scarf for my MIL:

This is a Heartstrings patter and is knit sideways.  It turned out very well.  I'm turning into a bad blogger because I'm running out of blogging time so I can't add the links right now.  I can come back later and do it or you can let me know if you want more details ie. pattern source or pattern name and I'll be more than glad to help you out.

The other knitted giftie on Christmas Day was a beaded bookmark (also a Heartstrings pattern) for my husband's grandmother.  She's 88 years old and still loves to read so I thought that woould be a lovely gift.  I was going to knit another one for my MIL but I just couldn't stand the fiddly work a second time.  Okay, I lvoe beading and I love certain types of beaded knitting - actually I'm quite hooked on them but these bookmarks, maybe not quite so my cup of tea.  But here is my finished one:

And here's the last handmade thing for Christmas......... it was in JR's stocking:

Little Miss decided that Santa would bring JR a green hat for Christmas.......... yikes.......... with about a day to spare and me being so busy trying to get the cardigan and the scarf finished.  So, not to spoil the little ones' Christmas, I took off to the fabric store in search of green fleece and I found some.  I turned it into a quick hat and it proved to be just the right thing to do.  Little Miss couldn't believe her eyes when she saw the green hat sticking out of JR's stocking.  Luckily, she didn't make the connection that JR and her already have hats that look just the same.  I'm glad, even though it was extra work that I didn't need at the time, that I did this extra little effort.

I have a new pair of earrings created and listed on Etsy:

Love the simple pink hoops.

The rest of Christmas week, I've been out shopping (with money I got for Christmas) to replenish my wardrobe for going back to work.  I have to buy all new pieces because nothing fits me and I'm happy to say that even though it's not a ton of weight, I am smaller going to back to work after this pregnancy than before I got pregnant.  And, even though I hate New Year's resolutions, Evan and I get to go on a 3-day cruise next September, so my resolution this year is to reach a certain weight goal (I'll keep that to myself) by the time we go on this short cruise.  Stay tuned for that.

Now I have to go prepare dinner as friends are coming over tonight.  Our New Year's will be nice and quiet just as we like it.

Up next............. I'll be chatting with you about another addiction that fits into my learning to make jeselry.  That is chain mail or chain maille.......... stay tuned.

I have a post in my head.  I've been thinking about it all day and I've got some great pictures to go with it but it's just not happening.  It's well after midnight and we're still wrapping gifts.  We do a big bulk of our celebrating and gift opening on Christmas Eve at Oma and Opa's house and we're leaving to go there fairly early tomorrow.  So all has to be in order and since we're not returning until probably late in the evening, we have to get Christmas Day stuff put together, too.

So......... the post that's occupying my brain will come but not until Christmas Day or even Boxing Day.

That's why I'll leave you at least with Merry Christmas wishes.  May your days be merry and bright and your knitting needles continue clicking.

Oh, just look at this picture story and you can see what I mean - focus on the hair:

About 2 or 3 weeks ago...... there was long hair, lots of fringe and long little wings behind the ears and bangs falling into the eyes and everyone called him a girl, blue clothes or not.

And the yesterday, this happened..........................

And the boy emerged from under all that hair........ sniff, sniff............. he looks so different.  Like a boy and not my little baby.  But oh, still so cute.  I think he won't be mistaken for a girl any more.  What do you think?

Almost halfway done on Angel Pearls' - for Mom.

Working on the finishing for the big mystery project.  I think I'll fall short on the blocking/zipper sewing in.

Busy week this week....... yikes.

MIL scarf is blocking this afternoon.

Go check out the best Christmas card I will probably receive this year......... ie. the one that just made me laugh and lighten up when everything seemed to get a bit stressful:

This card is just too much fun for any fun Knitter.  They are available from Unravelled.  Just creative and fun.

Mystery project is growing.  I'm getting down to the wire but I think I can, I think I can..............

Off to get my hair cut this afternoon.  And of course Little Miss will be all prettied up and maybe JR will have his first little trim........... to make him look like a "real" boy......... yeah right - he'll still be a cutie pie in my eyes.  :-)

I have a new pair of earrings for sale over at Sparkles & Fuzz on Etsy.  There's a new pair of mittens that I just listed, too but I suspect that the majority of my reader community consists of like spirited knitters who can very easily create their own pair of mittens.

Wow, I had 7 comments last post.  Cool.  I don't write for comments but it's nice to see them once in a while especially when I see the number of subscribers drop on bloglines.  It's a weird mental thing........ isn't it?  I do write here to keep track of things for myself but also because it's fun to have met a bunch of neat people who share the same interests as me.  I guess my knitting has side stepped a bit to the increasing demands of my little kids and the beads have kind of invaded my knitting space.  But hey........ there's no reason I can't do both and then some quilting, too.......... while still being a good Mommy.  Or at least that's what I'm making myself believe.

Christmas is coming at us at lightning speed and I'm still knitting but here's Branching Out for my sister-in-law.  It's made with Blue Sky Alpaca Alpaca and Silk yarn.  This yarn was a total luxury to work with and I hope it will be a luxury to wear.  I added some glass beads to the cast on edges for that extra little something.....

As far as my gift knitting goes, I've almost got Dad's second sock finished.  I'm working on the yoke of the mystery project and making progress - the finishing, especially blocking and then putting in a zipper is what might cause me to be not able to finish it in time.  Angel Pearls scarf for my Mom is growing, too.  I didn't get a good picture this morning but I'm on repeat 4 of 11 (and I might stop short at 10 repeats because my Mom is itty bitty short).

A few more beading projects.  The earrings are for my sister-in-law and the bracelet and earring set is for my hairdresser.  The earrings use Swarovski pearls, some silver rope spacers and a little swarovski bicone crystal.  The bracelet and earrings focal point are the little star/snowflake spacers all mixed up with Swarovski crystals in various shades of blue.  That combination makes me think of winter and snow.

And last but not least, my little angel at her first ever Christmas concert.  She looks a bit scared there but when she got into it, she really got into it.................

I'm without Little Miss this morning (that's probably why I got a chance to post) as she got in her head that she had to have a mid-week sleepover at her Oma and Opa's house.  I did a lot of driving to make that happen yesterday but my Mom and Dad are bringing her back some time this morning just before school.  As much trouble as it was, it's nice that she wants to spend time with her grandparents so I will bend over backwards for her to make that happen.

More knitting to do...........

I really don't know where the time goes these days.  I seem to be here and there but I seem to not be focused on any one thing.  Christmas is approaching rapidly and although I'm doing okay on my knitted gifts, I'm feeling some pressure.  Two gifts worry me, one of them being the big surprise gift and the other being the Angel Pearls scarf.  I put it aside to do all the other, easier gifts first and now, I'm still not finished the others and haven't made any progress on that lovely scarf that it is.  So, I am getting just a tad little bit worried.  It seems with my wonderful kiddos around, I don't get many moments during the day and very little time in the evening.  The hype of Christmas settled in with Erika when we started decorating the home this weekend.  We also had a visit with Santa.  Little Miss was forever shy..... look at these pics......... and later when we looked at the pics on the camera, she comes out and says: "he really didn't look like the real Santa"........ will she stop believing too soon?

This was at a function of a local German club that my parents socialize at and they have an annual Christmas party and we go every year.  It was a nice afternoon with Christmas songs and lovely cookies.  Unfortunately, I had a small accident in that I spilled very hot coffee right out of a thermos on my left hand.  I now can believe why McDonald's has been sued for someone scalding their hand due to spilled coffee.  I was so sore and so worried I wouldn't be able to knit.  Well, I perservered and now it's feeling much better already. 

See how much fun JR has with the Christmas tree...... that little boy is sooooo much trouble. :-)  Into everything:

If you remember, last year I mentioned an advent calendar exchange I was part of on one of my German sock knitting lists I belong to.  This was a fun exchange but due to the much too slow postal system, my caldar didn't arrive until after Christmas.  I wasn't upset.  I ate my goodies and was looking forward to filling it this year and putting it all up on display.  And this is what it looks like.  I love it.

(yes, we're missing one stocking........ it hasn't been stitched yet and our stocking holder spells J-O-Y..... we need an extra letter)

I finished one of Dad's Christmas socks and am working on the heel of sock #2.  I love how "manly" this particular Regia yarn is working out.  I also got a perfect stripe match around the heel so that the pattern continues down the leg in a flawless manner.  I also managed to match up sock #2 perfectly so I'm pleased.

I created some beaded gifts as well.  Two bracelets using Swarovski crystals and Swarovski butterfly crystals for both of my nieces.  The older one loves purple so she gets the purple bracelet.  And the younger niece loves yellow so she gets one in yellows and oranges.

And last, but not least, I knit 2 more wire bracelets.... 2 more because I had beads and wire left.  The last one hopefully will be just the right size for my sister-in-law.  I have a few slightly better pictures than last time so I want to show them, especially the detail shot.  My technique has vastly improved.  I love these and definitely want to make more with different beads, maybe crystals and maybe some gemstone chips or small gemstone beads.  We'll see what I can come up with........ first I need more wire.

Isn't it so pretty?

JR is up................ my day as busy Mom is officiall starting.  I often get asked how I manage to do it all and I'm not sure.  It's just one of those things and I personally feel I never get enough done and I admire all the other Moms who seem to manage to do it all.... isn't it strange how that works?

Have a great day!!!