Well, my Divinity left much to be desired. Everyone talks about how hard it is to make Divinity. Since I made it once before with absolutely no trouble, I've pretty much poo-pooed all this talk. Apparently, the Divinity gods did not like my attitude and decided to teach me a lesson. After 45 minutes of waiting for the boiling sugar to come up to temperature, I finally decide my thermometer must be wrong and proceeded with the recipe. Well, lets just say I have a lovely batch of sweetened floor tiles rather than nice fluffy candy.I more or less redeemed myself with a batch of cocoa fudge. But the thermometer didn't seem to be work properly with that process either. Guess I better pick up a new candy thermometer when I'm out.
We went to dad's Christmas cantata at church last night. The program was called Journey of Promises. It was a great concert. They had a live ensemble to accompany them this year instead of prerecorded music. They really added the extra umph. You just can't beat live instruments at a Christmas concert. The bell choir didn't perform this year, which was a little disappointing, but a wonderful night all the same.
Here is Quinn, enjoying the cat bed I knitted for her last month. As you can see, it's way too small, doesn't really cradle her so much as just gives her a warm pad to lay on. But she seems to love it none the less. I have it sitting on the end of my ironing board so she can watch the birds through the window.
And speaking of the birds... here are a few of the feathered friends we've had the last few days. I figured this would be a good way to practice with my new camera.
The blue jays are HUGE this year. Here's one of them snatching a peanut. Every morning about 7:00 they sit in my pear tree and screech until I put some peanuts out for them.
This little guy is new to my yard this year. I believe it's a chickadee (will have to get a bird book if I'm going to post pictures and sound like I know what I'm talking about!) We have two of them and they are the cutest little things.
My sister in law and I saw The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lion , The Witch, & The Wardrobe yesterday while my husband and his mother did his Christmas shopping for me. The movie was stunning. Even better than I had anticipated. The animal characters were so well rendered, it was hard to fathom they weren't actually real. I was impressed with the movie makers for keeping the violent scenes (such as the war) brutal enough to convey the message with out any blood and gore. I had read the series long ago, borrowed from the church library. But going into the theater, I remembered little of the story or it's religious significance. It wasn't until a little later on, when I was trying to explain Aslan's sacrifice to SIL did it hit me full on how this movie reflects Christian values. I was thoroughly blown away by the movie. Highly recommended. I'm going to reread the series as soon as I can get my hands on them!
Check it out...
That's right, folks. Lisa got herself a REAL, fully functional, lots to learn, non-POC digital camera! Woo-hoo. I will need to spend some time reading the book to figure out all the features and how to get some really great pictures. But these aren't bad for a start. Here's what Chuck & I did tonight whilst it snowed (again!)
Yummy Christmas cookies. We're trying to stick to a lo-fat diet and these are actually no-fat (recipe here). The colored sugar was Chuck's idea, but a darn good one at that. The are delicious, much like macaroons, and very cheery looking. We also attempted some fat-free oatmeal chocolate macaroons, but they didn't turn out, wouldn't hold together. We decided the resulting coated oatmeal would make a yummy, albeit sweet granola. If I can get ahold of my Grannie's divinity recipes, we hope to make a batch this weekend.
Finally, knitting. I finished these oh-so-toasty mittens for me.
They turned out too big, so I hand felted them in the bathroom sink (my hands are still aching). I didn't want to machine felt them for fear they would shrink too much and I wouldn't be able to get them on. As it turns out, they are now perfect. I have the Port Orford sweater started. Only a few inches knit on the back so nothing much to show yet.
More snow today. 8 inches worth. This does not bode well when winter is still 2 weeks away! I had planned to take today off from work and get my Christmas Bread made. Turned out to be a great day for baking.
Christmas Bread has been a tradition since I was in middle school. In home-ec class, we learned to make a bread called Swedish Tea Ring. Over the years, it has evolved into Christmas Bread because I make it every year for Christmas. It's really quite simple, but wonderfully delicious. You make a batch of your favorite sweet dough (the bread machine comes in hand for this part). After the first rise, you roll the dough out to a nice size rectangle (you want it about 1/4 - 1/2 inch thick). Then brush a little (or a lot) of melted butter over the dough. Sprinkle liberally with sugar and cinnamon (some years I sprinkle on brown sugar too). Next sprinkle on any or all of the following (really, anything goes here): marischino cherries, chocolate chips, diced apples, raisins, chopped nuts. Roll up like you are making cinnamon rolls starting on one of the long sides and pinch the seam closed. Transfer the rolled dough to a cookie sheet, making sure the seamed side is done, and forming the dough into a ring. Pinch the two ends together and kind of squeeze the filling to get it as even as possible. Use a sharp knife to cut slashes around the top of the ring. Don't cut down too far, just enough so the filling shows through (the original recipe had you slice all the way through around the outside of the ring and then turn the slices so the cut side was showing. This works fine if you use just sugar & cinnamon, but with all the goop I put in, it leaks and sticks to the pan!) Bake at 350 for about 1/2 an hour or until done. These freeze really well, so you can make them well before Christmas and just heat them up Christmas morning. We like to make a powdered sugar glaze to put over the top. Yummy!
We had our first snowfall this past weekend. Can't believe it's starting already. I really don't like snow. It's fine for laying on the grass and frosting the trees, but it can just stay the heck off the sidewalks and streets. They are calling for more snow on Friday which means the grocery store will be packed when we go tomorrow. And heaven help us find a loaf of bread!
On the plus side, the snow does make it feel more Christmas-ie. I have finished all my Christmas knitting and nearly all my shopping. Just a few odds and ends to finish up this weekend. I started knitting myself a pair of mittens with KnitPicks Merino in Fog and Shimmer in a blue color (can't remember the name). They are thick and warm and I'm sure will be much needed this winter. I finished the left mitten (except the thumb) and am about half way done with the right. I took a break today and cast on the Orford Port sweater from Oat Couture using some wool/cotton/silk yarn I got off of Ebay. After spending the last month knitting (mostly) for others, it's nice to be knitting for me again.
Saturday was fun. Chuck and I left early and had a chance to walk through the flea market outside of E-town. It was a beautiful morning to walk around, not too cold, but cold enough that it wasn't crowded. I, of course, wore my Gryffindor scarf since we were headed to the movie afterwards. One of the sellers recognized it right away and asked if I had been to the movie. I told her we were going after we finished up there. She had seen it Friday night and said it was great.
I had preordered our tickets, but we still got to the theater early. We were glad we did because it was still hard to find seats. The movie was really good. I would rate it my 2nd favorite HP movie. (Prisoner of Azkaban still reigns as my favorite.) Lovers of the book will be disappointed that they couldn't fit more of the story in. The movie felt rushed with the amount of story they did manage to cram in. The movie was completly Harry-centric. If it didn't deal directly with Harry, it wasn't in the movie. There was very little one on one character interaction. Mostly one action sequence after another. There were plenty of funny moments...Fred & George were a riot (as they are in the book), the bathtub scene with Moaning Myrtle was hilarious. Moody, although in appearence nothing like what I expected, nailed it personality-wise. The special effects were awesome (as they have been in all 3 previous movies). The dragon, scuttling across the roof, outstanding! Voldemort was plenty creepy. The death-eaters were barely given any screen time. Priori-incantatum and what follows were heart wrenching (very well played Daniel Radcliff). Thankfully, Dumbledore was not the blustery, angry wizard the previews showed him as. All in all, 4 out of 5 stars. Probably won't go see it in the theater again, but will get the DVD as soon as it's released. According to HPANA, it's already set for release on April 4. And it is said to include 15 minutes additional footage and (finally!) directors commentary. OOTP is supposed to start filming after the first of the year. They've got their work cut out for them again. Hopefully they do a better job adapting the movie to the screen.
I was all set to post pictures of my knitting, but seems I still can't get pictures to post here. I reported the problem to Blogger when it first happened, what was that like 2 weeks ago? Oh well, it's just been one of those days.
I was reading Goblet of Fire at lunch when suddenly it didn't make sense. Took a minute to realize, there's a printing error in my book! It jumps from page 210 to page 179. Pages 211 through 242 are missing. How frustrating! It's bad enough I've got 500 pages to read in 4 days (something tells me this just aint gonna happen), but to have 30 pages missing too...there may just be a curse upon me. I was so happy when I got this copy too. A first edition in unread, pristine condition. Now I wish the person had read it (I refuse to believe the person sold the book knowing thsese pages were missing). Now I've got to locate another good copy to complete my collection. Thankfully mom still had my paperback copies, so I was able to read the missing pages and move on.
Finished dad's hat. I'm a little disappointed with it though. The stripes are too high. If I make the pattern again, I'll work the stripes sooner. I think it will work though. The size came out right and the colors work really well. If I ever get this picture thing working, I'll be sure to put pictures up.
Only 5 days until I get to see Goblet of Fire. I'm afraid to say I'm not nearly as far along in the book as I had hoped to be. I spent all my day off on Friday rearranging my craft room to make room for a filing cabinet (oh but it's so nice and organized now!) Then we were away all day Saturday so I didn't get any reading in then either. Sunday I read quite a bit since I strained my back raking leaves and didn't feel up to doing much.
I got a good bit of knitting done too. Finished my chulu. It turned out somewhat too big, but I ran a seam up the back and it fits well now. Looks great. Chuck thinks it looks goofy, but I love it. Should be cold enough by the end of the week to wear it too!
The yarn I needed for dad's hat didn't come until today, so I knit on my shawl over the weekend. Oh how I love the shawl. I think I'm only working on it in bits so I can enjoy knitting on it longer!
The sock, well, the sock has found a new home. With the addition of the new file cabinet, I now have a discreet location to store my less appealing WIPs. I KNEW that tiny, skinny yarn would get the better of me. I'm about halfway down the heel flap. I'm not giving up, mind you, just taking a break. There are only two items in the drawer of shame. The sock and a stack of log cabin quilt blocks. I need to make about 5 maybe 6 more blocks to have enough for a top. It's been about 3 years since I worked on it. The strips are all cut, just have to do it.
I started working on a pair of slippers in KnitPicks Sierra using this pattern from Crystal Palace Yarns. I won't be putting the fuzzy stuff around the cuff though. Just plain blue and green footies. The yarn is so soft and cushy and warm. And (and this is the best part) it's fast knitting. I've stopped to finish dad's hat since the yarn came today, but I don't expect these slippers to take long at all to finish.
