Lumberjack Hats All Around!

Every year I attempt to make each of my family members and close friends a holiday gift. My attempts at mass craftage have been mostly successful over the last few years (starting early is the key to holiday knitting, crocheting and sewing, in my humble opinion). This year was no exception as I bestowed upon each valued recipient their own version of my Lumberjack Hat from the January/February 2009 issue of Crochet Today magazine...


My family is not exactly camera shy.

Needless to say the hats were a hit and so versatile too...


Thank you to my sister, Steph, and SO, Jason, for hamming it up in their hats.

After crocheting a pile of these warm wonders, I decided that I should also make one for myself as well...



Mine matches The BoBo's (the nick my daughter bestowed upon my niece, Zoe)...



All in all, a successful round of Christmas crocheting to be sure! Oh, and finished just in time to begin the cycle again...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

I spent last weekend immersed in activity. Saturday, LittleLinoleum and I drove to South Pasadena so that she could work her weekend shift at Abuelita's Knitting and Needlepoint. Needless to say, I don't generally have any knitting and crochet students this time of year due to crazy holiday schedules, but simply dropping Lena off at work, going home and returning to retrieve her is pretty much out of the question due to distance and traffic. So, I use my student-free waiting time at the store to work on knitting and crochet projects, while chatting it up with the customers and Samantha (store proprietor). It's a nice way to spend the day and I'd like to believe that LadyLinoleum Jr. will look back fondly upon our Saturdays together.

I spent Saturday evening behind the spinning wheel while in front of the tube watching Christmas flicks (Little Women and It's a Wonderful Life), gas log blazing, lights twinkling on the tree(s), the hubs and I making the most of our quiet evening at home.

Sunday morning was all about a bit of baking on the kitchen front and a little assembly on the fiber front. From the kitchen emerged popovers, of which I forgot to snap a photo, and from my living room based textile mill half of new diamond shawl woven from some of my crazy handspun took shape. Pictures to come of the shawl. It's a wild one to be sure, lots of metallics embedded in the yarn. I'm quite happy with the results!

Then it was back to the kitchen for another round of making eats. This time I tried my hand at homemade marshmallows!



I never fancied myself a concoctor of confections, but marshmallows were surprisingly easy with Alton Brown as my guide. (Love that guy!) In fact, making 'mallows is nothing more than creating a syrup, whipping the syrupy mixture up with some gelatin until the final product is thick and sticky, yet airy. It's pretty fast and relatively simple if I do say so myself.


Marshmallow sugary syrupy base.


Curing mallows in a pie pan.

The most difficult aspect of the recipe process is trying to get the 'mallow mix from the stand mixer bowl into its final resting place, the pan. Wow, sti-cky! I won the battle however, and the mallows look superb. Tonight, I plan to coat my masterful marshmallowy goodness with chocolate. Mmmmm!

The hubs and I rounded out our Sunday with friends at our annual outing to Merry Tuba Christmas! (LittleLinoleum is currently too cool to attend this much loved *by the rest of us* tradition.) Sans child, we began the evening with a fabulous friends-filled dinner at Far Niente, then headed over to the Alex Theater to partake in a bit of musical majesty that only 150 tubas playing Christmas (and Hanukkah) carols can provide.



It was awesome. Incidentally, this year marked my fifth Tuba Christmas and, thankfully, the event always manages to kick my hibernating Christmas spirit into gear.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Three New Patterns!

Ready for some winter holiday crochet?

Me either, but what follows are my latest and greatest patterns for Crochet Today mag.

Check out this darling little pet bed...



Pretty in pink sleep mask...



And some cheery holiday cushions...



I am partial to the snowflake pillow meself. Uh, now that I've forgotten about the painful process of sewing down said flake to the front of the pillow that is. Oh yeah, not exactly a fast procedure. However, the result is one stunning fluffy square!

Hopefully I will be able to make some of these things for my family and friends. My "To Crochet" list is getting mighty long...

Anyway peeps, enjoy!!

December's Blurry Flurry

December was a blur to be sure. In fact the last few weeks were so filled with activity that I didn't even have time to breath, let alone blog.

So, how about we play a bit of catch up, eh? Oh, and let's set our little catch-up session to a bit of music.

Sound good?

Okay, here's my December...events, travels, gifties, eating, drinking, making merriment...dancing around...

Sing it with me peeps!

...A partridge in a pear tree!

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

An Ashford Knitters Loom!



Yep, about three weeks before the sparkling 25th day of the month, I encountered the hubs splayed out on the living room floor watching some sporting event on the tube and inquired as to his plans for my Christmas pressie. He looked at me with an expression that can only be categorized as blanc de blanc and answered, "I dunno." So as is my way, ever the organized visionary, I explained to him that I knew of the perfect pressie for moi and would be happy to facilitate his acquisition of said holiday magic. Needless to say he agreed and handed me his credit card. A week and a half later my lovely Ashford Knitters Loom arrived at our mailbox!

Hey, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

Two wonderfully woolly scarves!







The first example of scarfdom was created for me by my yarn-lovin' buddy, Ellen. Ellen's got a thang for Noro, which she used to crochet this beauty. Stunning eh?

The second example of scarfdom was created for me by my beautiful daughter. She even needle felted a little flower to adorn this lovely turquoise wonder. Stunning times two.

I love both of these scarves so much. Thanks girls!

On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

A ginormous Christmas tree!



We encountered this tree in San Francisco's Palace Hotel while simultaneously consuming copious amounts of breakfast buffet fare a few weeks ago.

On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

Handfuls of homemade cookies!


Sugar cookies ready for the oven.


Oatmeal infused rancher cookies.


Always a crowd-pleaser, a plethora of ginger snaps.


German sour cream twists, my favorite cookies since girlhood.

The first weekend of December was spent with my sister, Stephanie, and our mother baking cookies from recipes found in my maternal grandmother's recipe box. Plentiful bounty resulted from this drawing of the three.

On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

An all expenses paid cruise to Alcatraz!


A view from the ship.


I took this shot at the beginning of out tour. We took the night tour by the way. So cool!


My daughter's cell. LOL

I am a native Californian and unbelievable as it may seem this was my first trip to The Rock. I definitely recommend taking this excursion should you ever find yourself in the Bay Area.

On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

Time to design two new patterns for Crochet Today magazine!

Barely enough time, but I tackled the challenge of designing two projects during December anyway.

Yes, this would be further confirmation that I'm nuts.

On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

Lots and lots of ballerina crotch!



Note to self...never ever sit in the front row of theater while attending a performance of the Nutcracker.

Um, yeah.

Did you know that ballerinas wear ruffled panties?

Sorry, I got nuthin' on the toe shoe front.

On the eighth day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

The San Francisco skyline at night!



How beautiful is that?

On the ninth day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

Perfect pecan and pumpkin pies!



Yes, I baked a lot this month.

On the tenth day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

A smile on my surly daughter's face!



Them smiles are hard to come by when one is inhabiting the teen years.

On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

The Raiders losing to the Colts!



I know. So what else is new?

On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

The blessing of being able to share this holiday season with family and friends!

It just doesn't get much better than that!!

Happy New Year Everyone!