Cocoa Swap Questionaire

Cocoa:
1. What is your favorite way to drink cocoa? Prepared with milk? Water? from home made recipe or store bought?, In a tea cup, or big mug?
The best hot cocoa I've ever had was hot chocolate in Spain, served with a churro. It's a project to melt the chocolate and milk to make yourself, so at home I usually have instant made with mostly hot water and a bit of milk. When I'm lucky, I have flavored specialty cocoa.

2. Marshmallows or whipped cream?
Either. I prefer whipped cream, but I usually settle for a spoon marshmallow fluff.


Yarn/Knitting/Crochet:
1. What is your favorite type of yarn? In what colors?
I really love alpaca and cashmere blends. I don't have a brand preference, but I love deep cool colors, especially purples and earthy mixes.

2. Do you knit or crochet (or both)?
I knit. I'd love to learn to crochet someday, but I'm still in the process of learning different knitting techniques.

3. What are your favorite type of needles, would you like to try something new?
I really like wooden needles. Birch, cherry, bamboo, they're alot more comfortable to knit with in the winter when my home is cold :) I would love to try bamboo in small dpn sock knitting sizes.

4. Do you have a healthy supply of notions?
I've had enough for beginning knitting so far, but I'm sure I could use more :)

5. What one thing do you keep thinking you need to buy for your knitting habit (outside of yarn)?
I could use a row counter.

6. What is your favorite 'quick knit/crochet' pattern (quick gratification)
Dishcloths. Useful, quick (even for a slow knitter like me), and a great way to learn new stitch patterns.


Miscellaneous
1. What is your favorite thing to do in the Winter?
Snuggle on the couch with a cup of something hot, a blanket, and some knitting or a good book.

2. What is your favorite animal?
I love ponies. I have distinct memories of being obsessed with horses in preschool. My parents didn't let me ride horses until I was in high school, so the obsession has become firmly ingrained.

3. Do you get the 'winter blahs'?
Definitely. Winter tends to be a bit sunshine deficient, so by the time February rolls around, I am more than looking forward to spring.

4. What is your favorite way to beat the blahs?
Spending time outside despite the frigid temperatures, and making soups and and comfort foods.

5. What is the thing you are most looking forward to this spring?
My bulbs coming up! Spring flowers coming up through the snow are one of the most hopeful images I can think of.

6. What are your favorite treat?
I love sweets. I run so I can burn energy to not feel as guilty eating sweets...

7. What is your favorite board game?
Probably Scrabble, but Settlers of Cattan is a close second.

8. Do you have any children (furry or human)?
I have needy, fluffy, white ball of named Myha who loves to meow when she feels lonely and a black geriatric attack Netherland dwarf rabbit named Ishmael. I didn't even know rabbits could growl before Ishmael :)

9. Do you have any allergies or special considerations you partner should know about?
Nope, I can eat and knit with anything.

The live action pinball game is over

For ten days starting before Christmas until New Year's, my husband and I have played the role of pinballs in a central New England pinball game. We drove over 1000 miles over the course of those days through Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. We attended 1 bachelorette party (Matt was not allowed), 3 family Christmas parties, one wedding, and had dinner with three different sets of friends all over Massachusetts. We got back home to Vermont to one frantically unloved kitty (Myha does not believe that people who come to feed her count as quality kitty love time) and one grouchy rabbit. Whew!

I had brought a rather ambitious collection of things to knit with us and I picked up my needles only a few times and only made progess on Matt's scarf, which he finally inferred that he was not impressed with the pattern. So now I am on the lookout for Celtic knots scarf patterns.

And despite already having a more than modest list of things to knit, WEBS was having an excellent sale and I acquired more yarn, most of which I have only vague plans for.

Though I never usually enjoy going back to work after a break, I am enjoying the return to a regular schedule. Matt must be rubbing off on me. I must do something about that...like sign up for the Vermont Ciity Marathon...

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas

Everywhere you look.

And this is days after the storm. You can't really see in the picture but there's a 7 foot drift in front of the cars. It's like Christmas weather before Christmas.

It's been an amazing December for ski resort season pass holders in VT. It's really too bad I have had this pesky grad school application hanging over my head so that I have not been able to enjoy it. But despite not being able to do much skiing (or snow plowing, in my case) Being surrounded by snow just put me in the Christmas spirit. As does managing to have all but avoided shopping at the box top stores. This past weekend, we had a most gorgeous blizzard. Any excuse to avoid Christmas shopping with crowds of angry, pushy people is quite lovely, and so much more so with some knitting and coffee and a nice view of the storm. I was not as excited on Monday morning, when I was plowed in, but the 2 1/2 foot snow drifts I had to dig my car out of are still enjoyable in December.

Gift Number 1:
Though this coffee cozy looks decent from this angle, it's got a HUGE seam on the other side. I'm considering cutting the seam, sewing without a seam and felting it together. The yarn is some random rough wool scraps I was given years ago, so I think it would felt well, and that would get rid of the unseemly seam (hehe) that I couldn't even bear to take a picture of.

Gift Number 2:

I really love the way the snowflakes came out. I ended up going with silver paint instead of plain old white, and I think it makes up for the imperfections of my micro-painting skills :)

My Hand Dyed Yarn Swap Package

My hand dyed yarn package came in the other day and look how pretty! It also came with swedish fish, but those didn't last long enough to make it into the picture. Hattie dyed it for me and called the colorway grapevine. It's fingering weight superwash, so I can knit the prettiest socks ever.

You can't really tell from the pictures, but the colors are green and deep purple with some browns and sky blues thrown in there. It's gorgeous. The picture below shows the different colors, albeit darker and less vivid than they actually appear, the light is not so amazing in the computer room...

I don't think she possibly could have realized how perfect the yarn matches this year. My wedding was purple and green, with purple bridesmaid dresses and the hall decorated in green. And we've frequented more vineyards this year between the trip to San Francisco this spring and taking visitors to local VT vineyards this summer than I have in all my former years combined :)

Coffee Swap Package

I actually received this package a few weeks ago, but between losing my camera battery charger and a massive final paper for class, I just haven't had the time to post about it.

Joy sent me yummy biscotti cookies (half gone already), a cute ceramic travel mug, and a skein of lamb's pride worsted and directions for making felted roses. She also sent a 2008 postcard calendar, two different kinds of coffee: Starbucks Sumatra which is nice and strong and an Artisan Coffee Roasters Jamaican Butter Rum, which tasted as good as it sounds! The card is even adorable; it's paper cut to look like a boutique window. Thanks Joy!

Sneezing Panda

No knitting picures today, but here's my favorite youtube video. I watch it when I'm having a bad day, nothing cheers me up better....except perhaps, chocolate :)

All boring words

I received my coffeeswap package last friday and have been trying depserately to find my digital camera battery so I can take pictures, but, alas, it seems to have gone the way of my sunglasses...and all my missing socks :) So maybe I'll be brave and try husband's camera in the next few days...after I finish the 20 page paper that's due this thursday. I cast on for a scarf Christams present for Matt, and in between writing and researching the paper and reading Book Five of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series...which Matt was not supposed to let me start until this paper and my physical therapy grad school application were both done. I've managed to make some progress in all directions, except Christmas knitting :)