The Nutcracker…and the snow…and the mice

 Or is it the snow, the mice, and the nutcracker?

Anyhoo, the weathermen got it right this time: For the past several days they promised Maine a good snowstorm, and by golly, we got it. At left is a photo taken early this morning, when the snow was still coming down. Ken says we got 12-14". I hope that guarantees us a White Christmas. It seems as if it should, given the amount of snow and the cold temperatures. I don't think we've seen temperatures above 15° since early last week.

What better way to spend a snowy day than to knit mice? These will be filled with catnip and given as gifts to several cat-owner friends. The pattern is quick and easy. Once knitted, I gave the mice a thorough thrashing in the washing machine, to felt them. Now they're drying and will be ready to fill in the morning.

The nutcracker. Ken spotted this guy at Sam's Club several years ago. The price tag was $300, which was a bit much, I thought, for a mere holiday decoration. So the day after Christmas that year, Ken made a beeline for Sam's, found the nutcrackers reduced to half price, and brought this one home with him. (I took this photo last week, before we had much snow, by the way.) The nutcracker weighs a lot. We used to store him upstairs in a closet, but before long we decided he was just too heavy to carry downstairs each December, even with two of us sharing the load. Now he stands in Ken's walk-in closet for eleven months each year. I've learned to ignore him for the most part, but when Ken first put him in his closet, I'd walk by and think a strange man was standing there. Just about gave me numerous heart attacks! This year I toyed with the idea of finding a second nutcracker to stand on the other side of the front door. A search online yielded mates for this one, but to the tune of $799 each. Our nutcracker doesn't need a companion that badly.

Back to today's storm. Here's Ken walking Molly this afternoon. Walking in deep snow is hard enough for humans, but it's especially difficult for a dog with legs 10" legs walking in snow that's 12-14" deep. Molly hasn't minded spending most of the day inside by the wood stove.

Actually, I haven't minded spending most of the day inside by the wood stove!

A whole bunch of not much

Are you serious? It's almost December already?

I vowed to post several blog entries in November. Epic failuree, obviously, but if I post this today, that'll give me a grand total of two entries for the month.

I made some hedgehogs. I needed a little gift to give two children, friends of friends' kids, on Christmas Eve, so I decided it would be knitted hedgehogs. I found the pattern here.  They were quick and easy, which suited me just fine. As you can see, I got a little carried away and actually made five of the little rascals. The extra three will go to other children .

Behind the hedgehogs are some knitted and felted gift card holders. I found that pattern here. I use a similar small purse to keep all my credit cards/discount cards in, in my handbag. It's much easier to pull out all the cards at once and shuffle through them to find the one I need, rather than to store them in my wallet and take ages to try to locate the sought-after card. Perhaps the recipients of these gift card holders will use them all year for the same purpose.

My so-called Christmas cacti all bloomed very early this year, like in early November. I enjoyed them but wished they'd held off a few weeks so they could have added some color to the Christmas season.

A friend asked me to knit a lamb for her great-grand daughter. Here's the result. I used my favorite pattern for knitted lambs.

In October/November I swept the dust off my sewing machine and whipped up some small zippered bags, or wristlets, to sell for my sorority. They're a breeze to make and should come in handy for a multitude of purposes. A friend, an upholsterer, gives me her old fabric sample books, so that's the fabric I used for these. Also in the photo are two Wonder Wallets, also a sales item for my sorority. These little wallets have sold like hot cakes. I wish I'd kept a record of how many I've made in the past four-five years. I bet I've made at least 150. Just when I say I will absolutely NOT make any more, someone requests one or two and I, being weak, oblige them. But I really, really hope I won't be making any more.

Almost two weeks ago I came up with the brilliant idea of knitting an afghan.What drove me to this, I don't know. Anyway, I'm working on it daily and the darned thing is barely growing at all. I measured it this morning, and it's now 20 inches long, which means I'm only one-third of the way there. Mercy. I hope I have the stamina to stick with it and finish it. I rather like the design, to be honest. I do enjoy knitting cables.

This is what we've received for snow so far. Rather disgusting, really. I mean, this is MAINE, for crying out loud, and this is what we've had for snow in November. I hope December starts looking like winter around here.

Our great niece Violet came for a two-night sleepover at Thanksgiving. She attempted to draw a portrait of Molly while here. Things were going well until Molly suddenly had had enough, got up, and walked off, leaving the budding artist with a pencil and paper but no model.

 I had a hankering for lemon meringue pie for Thanksgiving, and a hankering to make a meringue others only dream about. I searched Allrecipes.com, and there was my answer: Never, Ever Fail Meringue. The secret is the cornstarch, I suspect.

If I had any self-respect, I wouldn't let you see the mess my kitchen was in a couple of weeks ago. I've since tidied it up, honest. I wanted to show this to you because that large box beside the fridge? Yeah, that one. It arrived from Amazon one day. I thought, "Wow, they sent my entire order in this one box!

Wrong. The box contained one order only: six Stella Artois beer glasses. Six glasses in a box large enough to accommodate, easily, one average human.

Now you see why I haven't been posting in November. I've had little or nothing to write about!

Recent knitting

It's time I gave an update on my recent knitting. My needles are kept busy most of the time. There's nothing I like better each morning, after reading the newspaper and checking Knitting Paradise and emails, and playing a few games of Words with Friends, than sitting and knitting for 30-60 minutes with a cup or two of coffee.

First is the second Brynna that I swore I'd never knit. I had such a hard time figuring out the pattern for the white Brynna that I knit this past summer and said, "Never again."

Trouble is, that first Brynna is for a friend, and I do love the design so much, so I decided to tackle a Brynna for Yours Truly. This one was much easier to knit because I'd learned from the first one. I didn't realize until a few minutes ago that I've never photographed the completed Brynna #2. All I have is this photo of the first half of it! This photo gives you a good idea of how unique the pattern design is, though: You knit one half of the sweater, add stitches up the entire middle back, then tackle the other half. Then you had a wide edging to the entire front and, finally, a peplum effect to the bottom. I used Cascade's Ultra Pima 100% cotton for both Brynnas and loved working with that yarn. It gives such a nice drape to the garment.

In October I spent much of my knitting time creating these little critters. They're a request from a niece in Georgia, so I'll be mailing them to her before long. I love the Fuzzy Mitten designs and have knit several of her animals: lamb, penguin, mouse, polar bear, puppy….It's fun to clothe them in knits once they're finished. It'll be kind of hard to part with these four mice and two polar bears because they seem to be mighty comfortable right where they are, in my living room1

Lately I've been knitting some hats for charity. This hat and mitten set, which I finished this morning, will go to a local Christmas toy and clothing drive. The hat is "That Favorite Hat," which is a quick and easy pattern knit with two strands of worsted yarn; the mittens are from the first knitting pattern for mittens that I actually have success with. I've tried knitting mittens in the past and have always been disappointed with the results. Both patterns are free.

And finally, two hats for a friend to donate to her church. The hats will be taken by missionaries to people residing high in the mountains of China. I actually gave her ten hats, but I forgot to take photos of the other eight. Shoot. I wanted to be sure to contribute to this drive because Ken and I have such good memories of our trips to China 2005-2006.

The hat on the head model is called "The Bob Hat." It's a quick, easy knit, and I like the way the bottom edge creates ear covers and a longer rib at the back of the neck. The pattern is free on Ravelry.

The second hat is called the "Cable and Seed Hat," by Susan Macurdy for Cottage Knits. I got the pattern free when I bought yarn for my first hat in this design. The design calls for a rolled edge, but I changed that to a K2/P2 edge for a snugger fit.

So that's how I've been keeping myself out of trouble lately. I've been trying like crazy to use up some of my yarn stash on many of these knits. The stash has taken over my study, and I'm embarrassed to let anyone see it. If I don't get it under control, it'll soon take over the house.

Here it is November 2, and my flowers on the kitchen porch are still untouched by frost. Unbelievable.

"You can't make old friends"

In the fall of 1970, I began teaching at Gorham High. I had two years of teaching under my belt, but switching schools, in addition to being a bride of only two weeks, made the transition to a new school very difficult for me. I remember going to school in tears a few mornings as well as returning home at the end of the day in tears.

My lifesaver that first year was David. David was also a new teacher at Gorham, also with two previous years of experience, but his previous two years were in Kentucky, while mine were in Maine.

David and I became quick friends. We shared our struggles as we tried to fit in with  a new faculty and a new student body.

David had left a girl back home to come to Maine. Her name was Norma. The summer after his first year at Gorham, David returned to Kentucky, married Norma, and brought her to Maine.

David and Norma became our (Ken's and my) closest friends. We spent many weekends together exploring southern Maine. Norma and I, both new brides, shared with each other the challenges of being wives, cooks, housekeepers, and workers outside of the home.

Dave and Norma stayed in Maine until June 1973, when they decided to return to their homestate, Kentucky.

I was devastated to see them go. I've always taken goodbyes hard, but parting with such good, solid friends was difficult. Luckily Ken and I had just purchased our first home, so I had that distraction to keep me occupied.

We have kept in touch with Dave and Norma over the years. They made two trips to Maine in the 80's; we visited them once in the 80's.

Although we hadn't seen them in person since the 80's, we've maintained our frequent phone calls, letters, and now, email.

David and Norma came to Maine for a visit last month.

I was nervous to be spending time with them again. Would we still find things to talk about? Had any of us changed?

My fears were put to rest the minute they appeared in our driveway. They were the same; we were the same. It was just that forty-something years had passed since we'd first met.

We started gabbing immediately and didn't stop to draw breaths until they left.  What a wonderful experience to see two long-time friends again.

A new knitter...and some new needles

We have a new knitter in the family. Violet's great-grammy would be so proud of this seven-year-old.

When Violet visited us one weekend in late August, I showed her how to do the knit stitch only. That seemed to be enough for a learner to tackle before moving on to more complicated maneuvers with knitting needles.

Well, she went home and devoted herself to mastering the knit stitch. Her mom gave her lots of support by purchasing additional needles for her and by, herself, learning to cast-on for Violet's benefit.

Violet visited us again last weekend, bringing along her knitting needles and yarn. We sat down for another lesson. This time I showed her how to purl, knit two together, do a yarn over, and cast off. She loved seeing an actual pattern emerging as she knit one row, purled the next, knit 2 together followed by a yarn-over across the next row, and purled the fourth row. I also showed her how to read a very simple knitting pattern and how to keep track, with a pencil, of the rows being completed.

She caught on immediately. In fact, when she got up early Saturday morning, she immediately tackled her current project. I said to her, "Violet, Are you knitting?"

"No," she replied, "I'm purling."

Such a stickler for details!

She worked steadily on this four-row repeat the entire weekend.

Later on Saturday the three of us decided to go to the Montsweag Flea Market for one last visit before it closes for the season.

I wasn't terribly excited to go, because I find the Sunday vendors to be more interesting than the Saturday vendors, but I agreed to go, and Violet was excited to tag along with us.

Lo and behold, I struck it rich: a set of Boye Interchangeable Needles, new in their case, for $4. I couldn't believe it. I almost felt guilty taking them home for a mere $4. Boye Interchangeables retail for anywhere between $60 and $90.

Once we got home, Violet immediately looked through my yarn stash, selected a partial skein of purple yarn, helped herself to my new purple size 4 Boye Interchangeables, and asked me to cast on 25 stitches for her. She said she'll work on this new project the next time she visits us.

I didn't have the heart to tell her one chooses one's needles by their size, not by their color. That lesson will hold off for awhile.

Hiking Jockey Cap

In late August our great niece, Violet, came for a two-night sleepover, as she does regularly, and Ken suggested the three of us should hike Jockey Cap in Fryeburg during her visit.

Violet was up for the challenge, as she always is with outdoor activities. That girl loves nature and every living thing in it.

So we left home early in the morning and got to Jockey Cap about an hour later.

Jockey Cap isn't a mountain, it's a huge boulder with 600-ft elevation.

The climb is easy and quick. 

Except that Violet, as I said, loves all of nature's creatures, even the tiniest of them, so we stopped several times to watch crawly things in our path. Do you see the crawly thing here?

As we were about to continue our hike, Violet cautioned me with, "Don't step on it!"

Here Ken and Violet are almost at the summit. As you can see, we chose a clear, warm day for the hike, so the view was spectacular.

Here Uncle Ken lifts Violet to look at the map which identifies the various mountain peaks along the Maine-New Hampshire border.

It was a great little hike with our favorite seven-year-old.

Sex and bell peppers

(I knew the title of this post would grab your attention:)

Supposedly, green peppers with three "lobes" on the bottom are female, whereas those with four lobes are male.

Did you know that? I learned it just this summer and was reminded of it as I picked some peppers from my garden this morning.

But perhaps this "male-female" claim is a bunch of hogwash. I suspect it is.

Check out this site: http://showmeoz.wordpress.com/2013/07/30/the-bell-pepper-sex-scandal/

And then there are those like the four on the left with one bump. Male? Gender neutral?

Bottom line: I love green peppers and can't wait to include this morning's harvest in my fall cooking. I'll dice them, spread them on a cookie sheet and freeze them, then remove them from the cookie sheet and return them to the freezer in freezer bags. That way, the diced pieces aren't frozen together into unmanageable lumps.

Slow learner

It occurs to me this morning that if I'm going to have more than one blog post for the entire month of August, I'd better get crackin'.

I've been intending to whine about this Brynna cardigan project for a few weeks now. Here goes.

When I spotted the Brynna on Ravelry in late June, I knew I had to make it for my good friend, Lynn. This cardigan is so Lynn. It's lacy-looking and feminine and would be excellent for many of the social events in Lynn's life. And Lynn has social events in her life like nobody else I know.

I promptly went to the Chic Knits site, purchased the pattern, downloaded it, and made a bee-line for Rosemary's Yarn Shop in Windham. Rosemary's is one of the most complete yarn shops within a reasonable driving distance for me, and Rosemary herself knows all there is to know about knitting. I knew she could advise me on a perfect yarn for this project.

I was right. Rosemary advised me to purchase some Cascade Ultra Pima because it's the right weight for the cardigan and it has excellent drape. A pretty sweater isn't pretty if it doesn't have good "drape." I had envisioned a soft baby blue for the yarn, because baby blue is Lynn's color if ever a person had her own color, but there wasn't enough blue for the project. I chose white as the second option. Lynn looks good in white, too.

Soon I was casting on stitches and picturing the cardigan all but finished in no time.

I was wrong. About the "finished in no time," I mean. I started the sweater on July 1, and by July 15 I was still trying to get beyond the "Cast on" step. (This sweater has the most unusual design I've ever encountered, and I'm someone who has survived the strange design of the Baby Surprise Jacket, for crying out loud.)

 As I said above, my first hurdle appeared at the "Cast on 90 stitches" point. Try as I might, once the 90 stitches sat on my needle, I could NOT get the pattern repeats to come out right. I read the instructions

time and again, I raveled and cast on again, I put a stitch marker after every 12 stitches, to indicate where the repeats began and ended,...and I got nowhere. I was left with one extra stitch on the needle over and over again.

My sister said why not ditch the project and move on to something else. I said, "I paid $6 for this ^&$@# pattern and I'm going to learn how to knit it!" I neglected to tell her I'd also paid $60 for the yarn.

Out of desperation, I contacted four members of Ravelry who'd made this sweater and, apparently, survived it. Each kindly wrote back promptly and offered insight.

But I still wasn't "getting it."

As I final, desperate call for help, I e-mailed the designer herself. She promptly and graciously responded and finally, after two weeks of treading water, I was off and knitting.

Then I came to the confusing "Fold item wrong side facing and do a 3-needle bind-off of the first 44 stitches on each needle." What????

I contacted the designer again, saying I simply couldn't visualize this step. She generously sent me a diagram of what the folding and binding-off should look like.

I proceeded with nary a hitch, or at least nary a major one, from that point on. Finally, in early August, I finished the Brynna cardigan. I was amazed at how well it came out, given all the tears, teeth gnashing, sweat, and curses involved in the creation of it.

What is so weird about this cardigan's design is that the left half, front, back, and sleeve, is knitted in its entirely before you pick up stitches along the center of the back and then knit the right half, front, back and sleeve.

What's even weirder is that I'm now knitting Brynna #2, in a soft sage green, for myself. I don't have the social life that Lynn has, but I know a pretty cardigan when I see one, and I want one of these hanging in my closet.

Anniversary cruise on the Maine coast

Our 43rd wedding anniversary was Thursday, August 15, so we decided to celebrate it by taking a little boat cruise from Portland up the coast to Bailey Island. It's a trip we'd been wanting to take, and Thursday gave us perfect weather to be out on the water.

We arrived at Casco Bay Lines bright and early in order to make sure we got tickets for that particular day's trip. After tucking the tickets into our pockets, we took a little foot tour of the Old Port area. It was interesting to see the waterfront come alive to retailers, although the fishermen and lobstermen had been up for hours.

This is Portland's United States Custom House. I think it's a beautiful building.

Casco Bay Lines' boats take on passengers from various gates here. Most of the boats are also car ferries, taking residents out to their homes in Casco Bay or taking summer visitors to their rentals.

Our boat tour left the dock at 10:00 a.m. sharp. Here we are pulling away from Portland Harbor.

As we left Portland behind, we could see the famous Portland Head Light, the most photographed lighthouse in the world. I've seldom seen it from this angle.

I wouldn't mind owning a sailboat such as this and spending my summers on the water!

This is Robert E. Peary's summer home on Eagle Island. Peary is the Peary of North Pole fame. He grew up in Portland and attended Bowdoin College in Brunswick. The island to the left of this one is where he trained his dogs for their North Pole trek.

Two hours after leaving Portland, after a beautiful trip around numerous islands and after dodging hundreds of colorful lobster buoys, we arrived at Bailey Island. This osprey nest greeted us.

We and the other passengers are about to disembark. The people lined up on the wharf are waiting for us to leave the vessel so they can take a two-hour cruise around the nearby islands while we have lunch.

This is our little boat, the "Island Romance."

Rather than eating at the closest restaurant, Cook's, Ken and I decided to walk a short distance to Morse's Cribstone Grill. We were glad we did. We ate at a table on this long walkway.

I ordered a lobster roll, sweet potato fries, and cole slaw. Absolutely delicious.

Here we are, our tummies full, about to head back to the boat.

First, though, we decided to take a walk on the famous Cribstone Bridge. According to Ken, this is the only cribstone bridge in the world. It's made of granite slabs, spaced so the tide can ebb and flow through it. The bridge connects Orr's and Bailey Islands.

There's our little boat again, as seen from the Cribstone Bridge.

It was now time to board the boat and head back to Portland Harbor. We took a slightly different route on the way back and saw more islands with lovely summer homes.

We arrived back in port feeling exhausted from a full day on the ocean. It was a good exhaustion, though, the kind that only a day breathing salt air can create. The Bailey Island Cruise was a perfect way to celebrate forty-three years of marriage.