FitBit'n

 I know. I know. No posts in December until December 30, but suddenly another post today.

I want to get this one posted before I forget about it altogether.

For my birthday in November, my nephew and his wife gave me a FitBit. I'd happened to mention to them in October that I thought I might enjoy having one, and luckily they took my comment to heart.

I love it. I love the fact that it motivates me in so many unexpected ways. I love that it has made me aware of how much sitting I was doing during the course of an average day, although I'd always considered myself to be quite active.

The "Today" in the top photo is just that, today, December 31. I went to my thrice-weekly exercise class from 7:30 to 9:00 a.m., walked for almost an hour, then did the aerobic/weights video for 30 minutes. Mondays and Fridays are easy FitBit days for me, because I easily have 6,000-8,000 of my daily 10,000 steps taken care of during the exercise routine. I have only 700 steps to get to 10,000 today, and that's going to be easy.

Here is my FitBit record from yesterday, December 30. I exceeded my 10,000-step goal, but that's because I went to the mall to walk for 30 minutes before doing the errands that needed to get done. So I was about 4,000 steps, maybe 5,000 steps into my goal by mall-walking, then I got groceries and did some other shopping.

I don't always reach my 10,000-step goal. Some days I manage to accumulate only 7,000-8,000 steps, but I tell myself that's all right. Even at that, I'm getting more daily exercise than I had been getting, so that's a good thing.

You can see in the top chart that I've achieved 60 active minutes today, compared with 31 active minutes yesterday. Credit for that goes to the aerobic exercise videos, I'm sure, although partial credit goes to my being a fairly fast walker. I've always enjoyed walking at a good clip.

So my resolve for 2015 is to keep active with my FitBit!

Whoa!

 

I guess if I intend to write a blog post at all in December, I'd better get to it.

I don't know how this month has slipped by me so stealthily. One minute it was just after Thanksgiving; the next, it was almost New Year's.

We had little snow for Christmas, as you can see from the top photo. We had, instead, heavy rain, which took away our snow, and plenty of wild turkeys. I consider snow to be ESSENTIAL for Christmas Day, so you can imagine how happy I was when the weather turned on us.

In the midst of the Christmas preparations, I managed to knit an Easy but Looks Difficult scarf for the Stamp Out Cancer project. All scarves are to be knit or crocheted in pink and white. I've started my second one now and will use the remaining white and pink yarns for it.

I did a little decorating for Christmas, but I didn't go at it with quite the frenzy I've been known for in the past.

Now it's time to pack all of this away and get the house back in order. I always feel better once the house is relatively orderly again.

Here's the Bubble Bread I made for Christmas dinner. Below it is my annual Christmas tiramisu.

I used some of my dough ornaments, snowflakes and stars, to make napkin rings for the Christmas dinner table.

My centerpiece was a giant vase filled with freshly-cut holly and fresh cranberries, submerged or floating in water, with a candle in the center. I thought it was simple yet snazzy. Best of all, it was easy.

Now I'm trying to wrap my brain around the thought of 2015 being at our doorstep.

Best wishes for health and happiness in the new year!

Massive update

Things seem to be a little hectic around here lately.

Last Wednesday-into-early Thursday (Thanksgiving) we got our first significant snowfall of the season. Southern Maine, where I live, got about 12" of snow. Luckily for us, we lost our power for only 1 and 1/2 hours. Some areas of Downeast Maine were still without power yesterday. That must've really messed up many Thanksgiving dinner plans, which is a shame.

The storm was a pretty one, though, as are all snow storms in my book! If I were the one doing the plowing, the snowblowing, and the shoveling, I'm sure I'd change my tune.

The four new lambs are done and, at this moment, making their journey to Georgia. I hope I haven't dressed them too warmly for the Southern climate. I'm afraid I was thinking of them as Maine lambs when I knit them and their attire.

I can't seem to get this photo (NOT taken by me but credited to the photographer in the lower right corner), to move below the photo of the lambs in their shipment carton.

But anyway, isn't this a gorgeous photo of Nubble Light House in York, Maine? On my Bucket List is exactly this: to see Nubble Light during the Christmas season some year.

(I originally typed "Holiday Season" but corrected it to Christmas Season because, darn it, I get tired of being politically correct.)


 Last Monday night I suddenly developed a sudden itchiness all over my body. By Tuesday it was worse; by Wednesday morning I was almost out of my mind.



Ken took me to the emergency room at So. Maine Medical Center and, lo and behold, I was allergic to a sulfa antibiotic which I'd stopped taking (once the prescription was finished) a few days earlier. I'm back to relative normal now.

When Ken hasn't been plowing snow, shoveling snow, moving the outlet for the new kitchen stove we're about to welcome, repairing the washing machine (because I got the pump terribly plugged while felting some knitted bowls), he's been painting our front hallway. As you can see, this is no easy task. He painted the ceiling yesterday and is painting the walls today. Next will be the living room, but that can't wait until after Christmas.

Yesterday I knit an owl. It's supposed to be an owl, anyway. I fear it closely resembles a penguin. It's a gift for a friend who loves owls, so I hope she'll see it as just that. The pattern is, once again, from Fuzzy Mitten. For weeks, literally, I've been trying to find a good owl knitting pattern on the web, only to realize a couple of days ago that I already had a good owl knitting pattern in my packet of purchased Fuzzy Mitten critter patterns!

That's what's been going on around here.

Knitting update

I haven't done a knitting update recently, so here it is...

I've shared the knitted owl puffs with you already. Now a pair of socks has joined them. The socks are for me. I swore I wouldn't buy any more sock yarn until I'd used up the stash I have on hand, but then I went to AC Moore and this pretty striped yarn kept whispering my name. What could I do but  put it into my shopping cart? I always use the Yankee Knitter sock pattern. It's well-written and results in a nice sock.

The yarn is Kroy Sox by Paton's. I do love that sock yarn: 75% wool, 25% nylon.

The "Wisp" scarf or shawl on the left is for a dear friend; the "Easy but Looks Difficult" scarf on the right is for...I'm not sure whom. Both knitting patterns are free on Ravelry. The yarn I got at the Maine Fiber Frolic this past June. It's by Dirty Water Dyeworks. Strange name but lovely fingering weight yarn. (I just discovered the owner of DWD has a great knitting blog. You might want to check it out.)

More knitted critters! I wasn't planning to be knitting more animals so close to Christmas, but I received a request for four lambs, so there you have it.

As you can see, one is still as naked as a jaybird, but her peach cardigan is well underway.

These lambs will be on their way to Georgia in a few days.

That's my knitting update, in case anyone who's a knitter reads my blog.

More owls

Unlike the owls in my last post, these owls are of the salt dough variety.

Violet spent a weekend with us recently, and our project this time was salt dough ornaments.

I mixed the flour, salt, and water, divided the dough in half, and the two of us kneaded our halves to the consistency of bread dough. (You can find the recipe I used by clicking on "flour, salt, water" above)

Then we rolled out the dough and used cookie cutters for the shapes.

Supposedly the dough will dry in a warm oven (200° or so) after a few hours.

I guess I cut the ornaments too thick, because my half of them took about five days to dry, most of that time beside our wood stove.

Violet took her half home with her. She probably has them all painted by now.

Once they were finally dry, I applied 3-4 coats of Mod Podge to seal them nicely. They are now hard as rocks and should last for years. I think I'll use most of mine as name tags on Christmas gifts and as place names for my Christmas dinner table. I'll use a permanent marker to hand write names on each ornament.

Have you ever explored Pinterest? I love that website. It's chock full of creative ideas. Whether it's cooking, bread baking, gardening, family history, photography, jewelry making, knitting,...the list is endless,...Pinterest has clever ideas to share with you. Once you get to the website by clicking "Pinterest" above, type into the search bar the topic you're interested in. Better do this only when you have time to spare, though, because you'll become captured by all the clever ideas and you might not come up for air for several hours!

That's where I found the idea for these salt dough owls.

I mixed another batch of flour, salt, and water, did the usual kneading, rolled out the dough and cut it into circles. Here's where the magic happens: By using the edge of a pen's cap to create the "feathers," then by folding the dough, you are left with an owl staring up at you. Almost staring, that is, since you now need to add the eyes. Again, the trusty pen cap for the outer circle of the eye, a toothpick to make the inner dot of the eye, and voila! But don't forget to use a straw to make a hole in the top of the owl's head so you can hang the ornament on your tree.

My next salt dough adventure will involve making "star fish." I love the look of dried starf ish used as window ornaments, but the really nice ones are very expensive. I found directions on Pinterest for making salt dough star fish, though. No one will know the difference!

Owl be darned

Before we get to the owls, a word or two about my Christmas, or maybe they're Thanksgiving, cacti.

They're in bloom already, which is my first concern. Why? Do they know something I don't?

This is actually a photo of two cacti, a hot pink and a white-ish pink.

My second concern, which isn't so much a concern as a puzzle, is that the cactus in the top photo was actually hot pink when I bought it at Sam's Club a few years ago. I remember distinctly that it was hot pink because, while I loved its price, I didn't so much care for the color of the blossoms. Now it blooms red, so I'm happy.

Now the owls. I've been knitting quick little Owl Puffs lately. I like to give little gifts at Christmas to some young children we know, so this year they're getting Owl Puffs. One owl is already winging his way (get it?) to Washington, DC, to a little girl who became a big sister last week. I'm hoping the owl will ease the trauma of no longer being an only child.

The Owl Puffs pattern is free on Ravelry.

Now for my sock. I spotted this wool/nylon yarn at AC Moore a couple of days ago and had to have it. I'm on a self-imposed buy-no-more-yarn diet, true, but sometimes I have to break my own rules. This was one of those times. I love this colorful yarn, and I love wearing wool socks in the winter. Toasty-warm toes, you betcha.

Off to the fair

Ken and I went to Fryeburg Fair recently. This is one of Maine's bigger fairs, and it's always an interesting mixture of agriculture, entertainment, arts and crafts, and food.

Ken goes for the large farm equipment; I go for the needle crafts. We both go for the food.

 Various grange chapters display excellent hand work.

This wall quilt received a blue ribbon, and it was made by my friend Carol. She is an excellent quilter and knitter. I wasn't surprised to see she'd won a blue ribbon.

The animals are always fun to check out. They remind me of going to Skowhegan State Fair when I was a kid.

The Fiber Barn at Fryeburg Fair is my main interest. This year it didn't seem to be quite as abuzz with activity as it has in past years. Still, I enjoyed ogling the yarns and knitted items.

I'm proud to say I managed to walk away without a single purchase. I have enough yarn in my stash to last this lifetime, if not another lifetime after this one.

So that was our day at the fair. That, and french fries and burgers for lunch.

Knitted and felted clogs

I finished a pair of knitted and felted clog slippers today. Hallelujah.

I say "hallelujah" because although I've made three or four pairs of these slippers in the past, I seemed to have a brain freeze while making this pair.

To be more specific, I had one of the slippers almost completed but couldn't seem to get the stitch count to come out correctly. Assuming I'd messed up somewhere, I raveled out the whole darned slipper and knit it again, only to again have trouble with the stitch count.

I was on the verge of throwing in the towel, declaring I was no longer capable of knitting this pattern, and finding a friendlier item to knit, when suddenly a light went off: I realized I'd been misreading one step of the directions. That first slipper I'd knit and raveled? It was correct; there was no need to have raveled it.

So in essence I've knit three slippers in order to get one pair.

This pattern is actually very clever. It results in a pair of warm, cozy slippers that actually do look like clogs.

I made a pair for myself a few years ago and wore them out. Although the sole is a double-layer of knitting, it can't hold up to constant wear around the house.

I made a pair for a niece, too, and she loved hers as much as I loved mine, but they, too wore out after awhile.

I'm hoping to extend the life of this pair by whip-stitching rubberized shelf-lining patches to the bottom of each slipper. I've read that this works in protecting the sole from wear. We shall see.

Before tossing the slippers into the washing machine to felt them, they are huge. I'm not exaggerating. This pair was probably a size 13, minimum. I've got them felted down to a size 6, I think. Size 6 is what the recipient of them wears, anyway, so I hope these fit.

I've also shaved them. That's right, shaved them. This particular wool yarn was very fuzzy after being felted. Perhaps you can see the difference between this photo and the last photo, pre- and post-shaving.

The pattern is by Fiber Trends; the yarn I used is by Knit One, Crochet, too. When I've made these slippers previously, I've used good, old Paton's Classic Wool yarn. It's a wonderful yarn for felting.

Anyway, these clogs will go into a bureau drawer upstairs for safe keeping. Then they'll be given as a gift at Christmas.

The last scenic tour of our trip: The Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Another must-see for me on our road trip from Maine to Oregon was The Badlands National Park of South Dakota. We'd been near the Badlands on previous trips but had not taken the time to enter the park.


The Badlands cover 244, 000 acres and are co-owned by the US and the Oglala Sioux tribe. Consequently, 50% of all entrance fees to the park are shared by these two.

 The rugged landscape is something I'd never seen the likes of before.


Nor had I ever seen bison roaming, prairie dogs watching tourists, and pronghorn (or bighorn) sheep casually lounging on the sides of cliffs.

I found the colorful yellow and pink striations especially beautiful.

We spent a few hours in the park, then we began our trek back to Maine. It would take four days to get there.