The month has admittedly gotten away from me and before any hate mail starts rolling in I figure I'd post something!! My first seed catalog came in the mail already, not my favorite but a glimpse of what's to come none the less. As with each season we learned even more than last. More potatoes topping the list. We're definitely still eating them from the fall harvest and will be for a while but the bakers were our favorite and they are woefully in short supply. The blues did well but were uninspiring and the fingerlings while 'gourmet' left a funny metallic taste in our mouths and won't be repeated. The winter squash an heirloom buttercup, is fantastic with about 15 harvested we should be good till next winter! It's hard not to like something baked with butter and brown sugar but the kids have found a way. Only one type of cucumber will be planted, some fairly interesting experiments in cross pollination left us a little confused. Currant tomatoes will be banned forever, they produced well and long but harvesting the little buggers was way more effort than I wanted to exude and most just rotted on the vine. I think we'll be utilizing bird netting next year as the girls feasted more than I did on many of our crops. Brussels sprouts are still standing sentinel, the last vestige of a fruitful season, the few frosts we've had have sweetened them up nicely, hoping for a full bowl roasted off for Thanksgiving. Arriving in all it's glory next week, my folks making the trek through the gorge to hang out and eat the bounty. The menu currently featuring a brined turkey, roasted garlic mashed potatoes (hopefully enough from the garden), brussel sprouts and roasted squash from the garden. I'll be making the french bread on Tuesday to stale for stuffing, made an amazing stock from a dearly departed friend to supplement the anticipated lack of usable broth from the brined turkey. Contemplating popovers instead of rolls but my success rate is probably 50/50 so not sure I want to risk it. Mom is bringing green bean casserole, funny fruit salad thingy and of course pie, because I would never attempt to match let alone out do my moms crust. So it begins, the holiday season officially kicking off. No, I won't be shopping on black Friday. I'll be snuggled in my bed as the stores fill, visions of caramely monkey bread floating through my head. That's the only thing that awaits me on Friday morning, along with a steaming cup of coffee, I'll dive into the next Christmas gift sitting on my needles. No honking or pushing. No parking a half mile from the entrance only to discover what I was after is no longer there. No crazy traffic or angry clerks. No wide eyed bewilderment at the loot being wheeled cart after cart to the layaway center, screaming children in tow. Coffee, cream and sweet fresh bread, I plan on giving this season all the respect it deserves, a calm reverence for what it's all really about.

Knit One, Purl Two: Part Deux

I actually had to go back in time to see when I first posted about wanting to take up knitting and laughed when I saw it was one year ago. October 3rd I had posted on the sirens call of the clacking needles, while tightly woven, fuzzy strands emerged as if by magic into a creation I could call my own. What I didn't write about was the holes, the dropped stitches, the yarn ripped off needles over and over again. I didn't write about screaming obscenities at YouTube videos meant to show me 'simple' cast on's and mysterious increases. Nor did I write about the cathartic effect it has had on my mental state, turning anxiousness into focused repetition. It technically started in October of last year, by the end of Winter, or more accurately, the end of December, I had managed two pretty sorry scarves and a hat for Eric that the pom-pom promptly fell off of. I find it hysterical now to see patterns for wavy scarves, I did that on my first one, random increases and decreases my elusive nemesis. I admittedly, relegated it all to the closet to be picked up again when my patience was a bit more refined. Which takes us once again to another October. A weekend getaway with some friends and the need for a project. I find myself once more pulling out the needles and some yarn and packing them in the overnight bag. I completed my project, a skirt for Elaina, relatively quickly and the clincher was, it fit! I made another and then a hat. Then another hat, then I tried felting and more hats started rolling off the assembly. A pilgrimage was made to a real yarn store and there is now no turning back. Most are presents, which I have found in itself oddly enriching. When I make something for a friend or family member, I know going into it the project is for them. The yarn and pattern are chosen specifically for them of course but even more important is the time it takes. Whether an afternoon or an entire week, the time spent on the item is also spent thinking about that person. Good points and bad, relationships are sorted out, gone over and ultimately knit together with contemplative time alone between the strands emerging and I. Most projects I sadly can't show yet because they are presents and Christmas still looms. This year I hope it to be less commercial and more personal. It was thought to be cheaper but after that trip to the yarn store have discovered otherwise. So with meditative resolve we enter the holiday season, I will do all I can to squelch the frantic-ness that takes over my being. Knitting a little bit of peace into the season.