Recovering from Thanksgiving dinner

The grands and their parents joined us for Thanksgiving dinner last week. We had a traditional dinner with a few twists. Since none of us really likes a real turkey, I roasted a boneless breast with a dry rub and it was delicious, if I may say so myself. Amanda sent along some photos she took of the boys. This is one of my favorites. It makes me smile just looking at those cuties.

My apologies to Elaine this week because I forgot to post a photo of the two beautiful shawls she knitted and placed into our inventory two weeks ago. She used a cotton yarn that is soft and squishy. I can see these will be well worn.

Kathleen finished this cardigan using a blended yarn of acrylic, viscose, nylon, and angora. By next Tuesday you will probably see a matching hat and another sweater.

Barbara decided to go stash diving and came up with two full skeins of Lamb's Pride wool and enough scraps to make a nice warm cap.

We had a full house tonight.

Maureen worked on a pair of slipper socks for a Christmas gift.

Carole added some length to a pair of fingerless mitts. Later on she switched to her sailboats baby blanket.

And Beth worked on a cardigan sweater for a special little girl.

I finished a couple of more Christmas gifts which you will get to see after the holidays since they are all wrapped already. I felt ambitious yesterday and knocked off a whole lot of wrapping. A few more knitting projects and some actual shopping and I think I'll be ready for Christmas.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I prepared the Spinach-Parmesan Balls on Saturday and put them in the freezer so all I have to do is bake them at the last minute. Last night I made my grandmother's recipe for Escarole Soup. I made the cranberry and orange relish too so all I have to do today is prepare the turkey and stuffing and pop those in the oven, add the potato wedges partway through the roasting and to top it all off my son made his delicious Apple Orchard Cheesecake. No, we're not having pumpkin pie. Believe me, this cheesecake beats it by a mile!

Here's a wish to everyone for a happy, healthy, prosperous Thanksgiving! May God bless your family with a peaceful holiday.

Busy Little Knitters

I've been busy making Christmas gifts for my family. While I can't really say who these are for, there is no reason I can't show them to you.

The Shawl Collared Cowl was made using Caron Spa yarn, a blend of bamboo and acrylic. Very soft!

This cowl was made from Cascade Venezia, a merino and silk blend. Also very soft.

100% Baby Alpaca mittens are REALLY soft.

And remind me not to knit socks for BIG feet anymore! LOL! I started these on Oct. 2 and didn't finish until the 29th. Ok, I did work on other projects in between, but still.....

Kathleen dipped into her magic bag yesterday and pulled out all sorts of goodies.

She admitted that she forgot to work in the first buttonhole of this sweater (it was really the fault of the poorly written instructions) so she decided to go with velcro and adorn the neckline with these sweet rosebud buttons instead.

This is Kathleen's favorite hoodie to knit.

Another favorite pattern of Kathleen's is the Baby Sophisticate jacket.

And this sweet set is made with a cotton and tencel yarn that drapes beautifully.
Elaine came to visit this week. We sure have missed her for the past few months. But life had other plans for her. It was good to get to sit and knit with her.
She modeled this lovely cowl that she knitted.
Carole worked on a baby blanket that has sailboats in the embossed design.
Maureen finished her Baby Sophisticate and checked out a pattern for her next project.
I've got seven more items I need to knit before Christmas so I better get moving!

On Veterans Day We Chicks Say Thank You

Beth and I took our delivery to the women's veterans shelter today and met four lovely women who are the very first residents of the facility. Dell greeted us warmly at the door and invited us in to join them with a snack and something to drink.

Kathy gave us the grand tour and showed us around their new home. This four season room was built entirely by women. The new furniture was just delivered this morning so it hasn't been arranged yet but when it's finished they will have a cozy spot to watch TV by the fire. That's Kathy pointing out the pot belly stove in the corner.

The residents have all their meals together as a family in this beautifully decorated dining room or.....

in their warm country kitchen. That's Dell on the right and Kathy on the left. Kathy found some things in her favorite color, purple and Dell seemed drawn to the brightly colored hat and scarf.

Mary, in the middle, and Maggie on the far right are the other two residents. So for now they have just these four ladies but they are expecting more soon. The house can accomodate 12 and it seems like a warm and loving place for these women to get back on track.

On behalf of all of us Chicks I would like to thank these women for their dedication and sacrifices they have made in their lives to protect the rest of us and our freedoms.

God bless you!

Catching Up and Halloween Dinosaurs

Maureen got that last skein of yarn she needed last week so she could finish the first sleeve on the Baby Sophisticate sweater.

Beth was nice enough to accept the challenge to finish knitting a sweater that someone else started but didn't live long enough to finish. It has her mumbling under her breath so I would say it's not going as smoothly as she had hoped.

The dinosaurs, I mean grandsons visited this past weekend so they could attend a local Halloween party that is Moose's favorite. Their mom made their costumes (it's great to be the kid of a fashion designer!) and Moose won "Most Creative Costume" at the party. He makes a fierce T-Rex!

Isn't this the cutest stegosaurus you ever saw?!

Because of the surprise snowstorm over the weekend, we had very few trick-or-treaters. Now I have a bowl full of Snickers and M&M's calling my name. I think I'll go for a walk so I can ignore them.