Hidden in plain sight

Behold, my new fabric storage system. Yes, I finally abandoned my mismatched collection of make-do plastic drawers and tubs in favor of a more elegant solution, the Granemo cabinet. Say what you will about IKEA, I have had nothing but the best of luck with the pieces I've purchased. Tory brought this particular lovely to my attention a year or so ago, but I convinced myself that it was too big and I would never need that much space. It turns out that not only can you never be too rich or too thin, you can also never have too much shelf space for fabric.

I was so inspired by the fresh look of my former sewing room, soon to be our sewing/music room (once we hang someone's Springsteen portrait), that I spent a couple of hours arranging my fabric by color. It was a revealing process; I had no idea how much I favor red and blue. And I've always thought I loved purple but I have fewer than six pieces of fabric from the violet end of the color spectrum. I feel like I should have learned something about myself from this process, but it hasn't come to me yet.

As an unexpected bonus, to get the cabinet through the door to the room we had to move the futon that was previously on the wall now occupied by the cabinet and it completely opened up the room. It feels twice as big and is so much prettier, I could stay down there all day. In fact, I just finished a couple of patchwork pillows that I'll show as soon as I manage to photograph them and have an Easy Lap Quilt waiting to be quilted with my new walking foot (there has been much shopping, but that's a whole other story).

The observant among you will notice that I hung one of the cabinet doors upside down. Although it is perfectly functional, it is driving me crazy and I see a return trip to IKEA in my future for some additional hardware so that I can fix it. So close, and yet, so far...

Christmas 2008 recap

I woke my house full of sleepy heads with the scent of baking waffles, and then we ate them with creme fraiche and cherry butter. For this batch I used the Really Great Food Company gluten-free pancake mix with an extra splash of vanilla. The cherry butter was a new find, I also mixed it with a little chocolate ganache and used it as the filling for a chocolate cake and it was spectacular.

Of course, there were presents. They were all opened for us by my mother-in-law who took child-like delight in ripping into the packaging. Ahem. She did hand over the gifts to the intended recipients and none of the rest of us had to risk a paper cut or broken nail.

I received this fabulous handbag from my loving husband who even let me go to the store with him to pick it out.

Also for me, a long-coveted cake stand which was put to use immediately for the birthday cake for my husband that is part of our Christmas tradition. You'd think that having a Christmas birthday would have been a burden on him as a child, but to the contrary, he grew up thinking that Christmas was all about him, tree, presents and all. Typical only-child syndrome, I suspect.

Then we all put on our assorted new finery and went out. First to feed a friend's chinchillas and then on to Coolidge Corner hoping to find somewhere to have coffee. I was surprised that the only businesses open seemed to be the Starbucks, JP Licks, a couple of falafel places and, of course, the theatre. Maybe everyone was in Florida? We did find our coffee and a warm place to sit so it all worked out.

After we got home I baked Apricot Dream Bars to fulfill my husband's annual birthday wish to have the house smell like cookies all day long.

Once they were out of the oven I put Baka to work stirring the wild mushroom risotto and sent the birthday boy outside to grill filet mignon for our Christmas/birthday lunch. We ate a lot, rested, and then had cake. It was a very good day. 

32 things

When I recently stumbled across 37 things to do before I turn 38 from hulaseventy I instantly knew how I was going to approach 2009. So this year, the year in which I turn 32, I want to:

1. try one new recipe each week
2. redecorate the living room
3. redecorate the kitchen
4. decorate my workspace
5. take a cheese making class
6. organize my recipe file
7. read a Jane Austen novel (or two or three)
8. figure out make-up
9. visit Kripalu three times
10. launch small j
11. go on a picnic
12. have dinner at No. 9 Park
13. make 2 crochet projects
14. take a picture a day
15. pick strawberries
16. buy fresh flowers every month
17. design 4 projects with Creative Suite
18. make my perfect skirt pattern
19. visit Eric Carle museum
20. take the Ben & Jerry's tour
21. get a backup system for the computer
22. have dinner in the North End
23. spend a weekend at the beach in Maine
24. visit ICA-Boston
25. take a hike in a state park
26. make the weekender & Sofia bags
27. have brunch at Gaslight & shop SOWA Open Market
28. buy a fabulous pair of boots
29. take a vacation to a warm destination
30. spend a long weekend in a new-to-me city
31. shop Brimfield
32. update the 'do

What's on your wish list for 2009?

Eco baby

Remember the baby waiting? Little Keldan finally arrived and I got to meet him when I was in Canada over Thanksgiving. He is just gorgeous and you can already tell that he has his mom's adorable Icelandic nose.

Even though I'd already sent gifts to welcome him, I knew I couldn't show up empty handed. How else was I going to distract the new parents so that I could hold the baby? I decided to make a pinwheel baby blanket using the Blue Sky Alpaca organic cotton. I'm not sure where the pattern originated, but instructions have been floating around the internet for quite some time. This was such a fun and simple project and I love that the pattern can be adapted to any yarn/gauge. For this blanket I used 5.5 mm needles and the blanket turned out to be so soft and cosy, just perfect for warming a winter baby. I used three skeins of the main color (bone) and just over one skein for the ruffle (nut). The finished blanket was about a meter in diameter, but truth be told I didn't actually measure it.

The ruffle was the source of a bit of angst but resulted in a couple of very cool random encounters. Once the blanket was about as big as I wanted it to be I changed colors, knit one round and then doubled the stitch count by knitting into the front and back of every stitch. It got big very quickly and I had to go out and buy two extra 29" circular needles to hold them all. 

After increasing, I knit in seed stitch for about 5 rounds and then bound off. It wasn't quite finished by the time I left on my trip so I took it on the plane with me. I happened to sit next to a woman who was a knitter and admired the blanket. I gave her my pattern print-out and in return she told me about Addi knitting needles which are my new addiction.

Two days before I was supposed to visit wee Keldan and his parents I realized that I wasn't going to have enough yarn to finish the ruffle. A few panicked phone calls later I ended up in Three Bags Full which was the only semi-local shop I could find that sold the Blue Sky Alpaca yarn. Holy, holy, what an amazing shop! I think I'd be in there every weekend if I lived in Vancouver. When I explained that I was visiting from Boston they told me about the It's a Purl, Man podcast and the Common Cod Fiber Guild, neither of which I was aware of. I can't believe I had to go all the way across the continent to find out what's happening in my own back yard. Of course, I left with a bag full of yummy new wool and an Addi Turbo circular needle (thanks for the early Christmas present, Mom). But the best thing about Three Bags Full is that they have a heavy duty ball winder and will convert all your purchases skeins into tidy balls of yarn at no added charge. Seriously, all yarn shops should offer this service; it's a huge time saver, not to mention quite entertaining to watch.

Good company

This year, actually for the first time ever, we have company for the holidays. My husband's mother & grandmother arrived ten days ago and are staying until the middle of January. I will admit that I was a little apprehensive before their arrival, wondering how we would all amuse each other while cooped up inside our tiny house for so long.

It turns out there was no need to worry. I arrived home from work on Friday in advance of the massive blizzard to find that they had already cleaned the house from top to bottom and done laundry so that we would have a weekend free from household chores. And the two feet of snow that has steadily accumulated was no match for my shovel-wielding mother-in-law who "needed some exercise". Grandma does get a little restless in the afternoons, but it just so happens that she loves to iron and since we do not, our ironing basket did runneth over. Not anymore; even the linens are now neatly pressed and folded.

We have fully converted to the Balkan custom of eating our main meal at midday and then having something light in the evenings. And the food, the food has been amazing. So far my mother-in-law has made sarma, dolma (using collard greens), my favorite eggplant and roasted pepper salad, spinach and eggs, bean soup with smoked pork ribs and fresh mushroom soup. So very, very good. Today was my turn to cook and I prepared mussels steamed with garlic, shallots, white wine and tarragon, a salad of mesclun greens, red onion, Granny Smith apples, blue cheese and fresh garlic bread. Because I mentioned last night that I had a craving for them, Grandma also made pommes frites, which we so didn't need but were all gone in the blink of an eye. The best part is that as soon as the dishes are done from the last meal, we start planning the next one.

So far, best Christmas ever.

Trimmed!

The tree has been assembled and decorated and I love it this year. It's in a different corner of the living room and it works so much better. Plus, I added some new ornaments this year, including a few glass snowflakes and a pretty little glass bird that I picked up the last time I was in Canada.

 This little glass church has been a regular on my tree for years; I love the way it sparkles and glows.

Speaking of trees, I picked up a set of three bottle brush decorations from the end of season sale at Garnet Hill last year. Now my little reindeer has somewhere to hang out.

Months ago I picked up supplies to make holiday cards at Paper Source. Well, last night I finally got to work with my embossing powder and, fueled by a delicious Manhattan, came up with two designs. The red and white one is my favorite but the silver snowflakes place a pretty close second. Today we sat down and wrote notes to our nearest and dearest and they are sitting by the door, stamped and ready to mail. Now, for all those handmade gifts yet to be finished started...

These booties were made for wriggling

Behold, installments #3 and #4 in the "after dinner knitting so that I can justify not painting the basement" series of baby booties using this pattern from Knitting for Baby. See here and here for earlier work. I was delighted that each pair required exactly one skein of this yummy Italian cotton. I never know what to do with those few yards of leftover yarn from a project other than save it to use instead of ribbon when wrapping gifts.

These are already warming the toes of a certain newborn. I experimented with a braided cord instead of the knitted i-cord and really like how it turned out. Just a little daintier, in my opinion.

These are on deck, waiting for the next new arrival. I've already selected yarn for my next two pair. It's an addiction, I tell you.