On the eve of January 31.

I can't believe 2010 is already here, and we are 26 hours from February. It is cold outside, as it should be. There was absolutely nothing in this house with which to make our supper. . .until I started daydreaming. That course of thought turned into Chicken Picadillo Empanadas. They were truly outstanding. I will definitely make them again! It is great to find something you can make that takes a ton of ingredients, but all of those ingredients happen to be in your home, already.

Here is a photo of one recently completed knitted item. I have finished three pairs of these slippers, and I still have two more pairs to go. . . but I am taking a break for a while. I finished this small sweater for Jackson David Price, who joined the party just last week. (The sweater, an Elizabeth Zimmerman Baby Surprise Jacket, was finished in December. The slippers were finished in January).

Finally, here is a picture of little cousin Wynn, wearing the pink meathead I knitted for her birthday this summer. I finished the twins' hats during the major heatwave in July - when we had over forty days of triple digit weather, and all of the grass died. I was daydreaming about snow

Things I found on Monday.

OK, I am daydreaming about shopping and knitting for myself and others and found some lovely things online, waaaaayyy too close to Christmas to actually acquire them for myself, and way too close to Christmas to start and finish for others (if knitted) but I wanted to share photos.

Exhibit A: These handknit slippers are amazing! I plan to make about forty pairs in 2010 and give them to everyone I know until I burn out on them. I can't wait to knit a pair - I hear it takes no time, at all - and I'm planning on gifting a pair to a friend who is out of the country until after New Year's!

Exhibit B: Oh. My. Word. Have you seen this AMAZING knitted throw at anthropologie? It looks like a big, clean sheepie just laid down on your couch and you cuddled right up. I would luuuurrrve to own this darn thing. The photo doesn't do it justice. Hurrry! Go to the Anthro website and check it out for yourself in all of its glory. and PS: It is on sale right now. I am sad that it will never be in my home, but it wouldn't really go with our things here in Austin, Texas, anyway. We need a GIANT KNITTED SWEATER approximately one night each year.

And, since we are already discussing anthropologie, here is another item that I think is amazing: the anthro bird nest Christmas tree topper. Since we have a tree that is all silver and white, I think this would look so cool on top, but let us consider, for a moment, the SHOCKING price of this little whatzit: $389. I'm sorry. What? Is the cardboard made of recycled giant sequoias??? Is the tinsel platinum? ? ? ?Even with the price, I love it - but it is one of those things that you could probably make on your own - a variation of it, anyway. So here is a photo, to immortalize it - that way, years down the road, I can make one:

Finally: I love this stationery. I love all things french bulldog - to a ridonkulous level. I want kitchy frenchie stuff all over my home and I know I cannot do that because all of a sudden, I would turn into one of those people who wears t-shirts with glitter and a photo of my dog on the front. I get it. But I love this stationery, anyway. You can buy it at iomoi.com - which is a lovely place to purchase paper items. . . if you are not shopping at Hayden Avery, of course.

A Great Day.

Today was great. The Longhorns won, the weather was perfect, and I did something I really wanted to do: I took a class taught by Jared Flood - you can find a link to his blog on the right. It was fantastic. He is a great teacher, I learned so very much, and I really look forward to employing some new skills. The class was focused on lacemaking, and the project we worked on was a lace sampler, teaching a few different lace patterns combined with several general knitting tips.

This photo is seriously awful - the yarn is not really that dark, but in the evening light, it is hard to see it. I also haven't entirely completed the project. The main body of the knitting is complete, but I am searching for a lace edge pattern to add to it. Finally, I will need to block the knitted item to truly show all of the intricate stitching. Blocking involves wetting a knitted item in cold water, then pressing most of the water out of the item, and finally stretching the item. I will post a photo when it is entirely completed.
I am also working on a scarf for Steven's sister, seen here in burnt orange to the right. I love this yarn - alpaca and merino - and the color and pattern are also pretty great. This is my first exposure to knitting cables, and I love it. I will definitely be knitting something for myself in both this yarn and the cabled pattern sometime soon.

Finally: here is a photo of the photo provided to me graciously by Elizabeth, of the twins wrapped in their handknit merino baby blankets. I have been meaning to post this one for ages.

It really is winter.

It is Sunday afternoon, it is fifty seven degrees and it is wet, wet, wet outside. In some parts of the world, this is summer. Here, it feels like winter!!!! Lucie is wearing her hoodie in the house. I have on jeans and a sweater. We have a fire going in our fireplace. It is lovely. I have found that our fireplace does not, in fact, put out much heat, at all, but I love it anyway. Because we cleaned out our backyard earlier in the summer, we had a ton of extra firewood. I believe we will probably have to bring in a bunch of wood to the garage to let it dry - if it really is a wet, cold winter, we are going to need some dry firewood.

All of this fantasizing about winter makes me crave soup. Again. But soup reminds me in general, of eating, and pretty much when I think about eating, I always crave a hamburger. I'm about to go spend a couple of hours at the gym to pre-burn off all of the calories I want to eat for dinner tonight. I want a burger and fries from someplace amazing. Now, how to convice Mr. Weller that this is what he wants, too?

I have lost just south of 17 pounds so far. I am starting to feel more like a girl and less like a combo sloth-hippopotamus.

Things we accomplished this weekend.

See friends, check. See family, check. Love dog, check. Eat soup, check. Obtain more soup, check.

That is a total of FOUR different kinds of homemade soup consumed in one week. This count doesn't include the Chicken Posole from Fete Accompli or the can of soup I ate one day at lunch last week. That is a land speed record for me on soup eating - I don't even like soup that much!

I started decorating our house for Halloween. It will be full throttle this year because we are hosting our dinner group in October! I am very excited - I always put out a few decorations but when you aren't hosting a party and you have no trick or treaters, no one gets to see your efforts but you and your mister.

I bought a pile of fabric remnants at Fanny's the other day - each piece was about fifty cents. I am embroidering them and adding borders and trim to make decorative tea towels for all of the holidays. . super cute! I will post a photo of the Halloween one when it is completed, hopefully tonight!

It is under seventy degrees. Pretend like it is winter!

It is so funny to me that we all run around, craving soup, wearing sweaters, etc. when it is like 65 degrees outside. I know we actually dipped into the fifties last night - with the rain and the cool temperatures, it actually does feel like Autumn. . . I also know that may not stick around too long so I am taking advantage of it, too.

I have been trying to be better about finishing leftovers in our fridge (not as a personal goal, but mostly this is about keeping the fridge cleaner. .) I peeked in there this morning and took note that there are THREE different kinds of soup in there! Last Friday, I went to lunch at Fete Accompli - and the smart shop girl asked me if I would like to sample their soup of the day - Chicken Posole. It was soooo delicious, I ordered a cup of soup with a half sandwich, and then left there with another generous quart container of the soup for us to eat over the weekend. There is a little left in the fridge.

There is also some (way too old) vegetable soup that needs to go, but I am a little fearful about pouring it out - I am thinking I will freeze it and then pop that ice block out in the yard for the deer. . . Finally, there is a two quart container of butternut squash soup that I made Tuesday night. I love butternut squash soup, but this is so very thick, I have a hard time with it. .. I will probably thin it with some skim milk for dinner tonight.

Tomorrow night, the Wellers will be attending a dinner at a friend's house that has a menu made up of 'soul food' options. The host actually said it was a 'slightly trashy' feast. I am taking a good old Texas sheet cake to complement the menu. mmmmm.

little victories!

I have lost a total of 14.6 pounds on Weight Watchers so far. I am so proud of myself. (flipping hair and spinning on my heels.)