7 Quick Takes (Vol 196)

How the heck did 2013 come sneaking in?!? And if you suffer from triskaidekaphobia then this is going to be a really bad year for you. This week 7 Quick Takes is being hosted over at Moxie Wife SO when you are done starting your new year off right with my well reasoned and insightful blather you will need to click on the picture above to be whisked, at the speed of my rapidly approaching sugar detox rampage, over to Moxie Wife.

Let’s ring in the New Year with blather!

1.
Shoe Queen and I finally made it over to the theater yesterday to get in a showing of Les Miserables. I will tell you right off the bat that I was never an absolute fan of the stage musical.

Stop yelling at me!!!!

That being said, the movie was very, very good. It was a bit too long, judging by how much I shifted in my seat. The music was excellent, which I expected. There were a great many very close up shots of people singing their hearts out which meant we say a lot of tongues and teeth and the occasional saliva. If there is any justice in Hollywood then Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman will both win Oscars for their performances.

And Russell Crowe should not pick any more roles that require him to both sing AND act. Because he cannot do them together with any proficiency. I would term his performance as WOODEN.

2.
Chez Knit is a total and complete mess. And that just drives me right to Crazytown. We have been go, go, go and party, party, party and people, people, people for close to five weeks. The clean sheets for all the beds are still sitting in a basket in the upstairs hallway. The Christmas decorations are still up, although the lights are now off. My floors and carpets have completely forgotten what it is like to be vacuumed and washed. And there are clean dishes that are in piles on the counter just waiting to be put away.

Good grief!!!!

Guess what I will be doing today.

Or next week for SURE!

3.
Obviously if you have been hanging around my crazy life for any length of time you know that 4 days a week (usually) I am out the door at 6:45a to walk with some friends. We do two miles, either around the local lake or around the local outlet mall (if the weather is truly inclement). We walk rain or shine, dead of night or really hot or really cold. Well all except yesterday when it was 2F when I got up. There is just no way to make that kind of walk fun.

But in all the years that we have been walking together I have never had a pair of boots that were good for walking in. Oh I have boots, fake Uggs if truth be told. And they are great and warm but not suited for walking at a 4 mph pace. So even in the most coldest and snowiest of weather I have been wearing two pair of wool socks and my tennis shoes. And if there is lots of ice and snow my YakTrax for traction. Even well knit, warm wool socks cannot make your toes stay warm in bitter weather when you are wearing tennis shoes and walking in the cold and snow.

But Wednesday things came to a head. It was cold….11F….when I arrived at the lake. And the paths had not been plowed although they were a bit packed down. And I didn’t have boots, only tennis shoes and Trax. And not quite half way around the lake I called it quits because my feet were SO FROZEN that they hurt to walk on.

WIMP!

So Wednesday afternoon I bought a cheap pair of boots at Wally Mart, a pair from the men’s section actually that are proportioned so that I can get my feet in them with two pair of wool socks on and still feel comfortable.

And today…..nice and toasty feet all the way around the lake.

AHHHHHHHHHHHH.

4.
I am still thinking that I am crazy for taking on a 365 Photo Project. I am the person who doesn’t do New Years Resolutions because I know I am not going to keep them.

And I am trying to be thoughtful about this particular project because I want to be intentional about my photography.

Who know, it may just be a year full of pictures of birds. Don’t get me wrong, I love birds and I am fascinated by them. But I am not sure that is really branching out and stretching myself photographically.

I think I am also going to give myself permission to use the iphone camera occasionally for the photo of the day, depending on the subject. Does it also count if the photo that I put up is one that I took recently but just hadn’t downloaded til that day?

I think it does! My project, my rules.

I am also working on a personal photo project that I am sure I will show you at some point in time……maybe……if you haven’t already run screaming into the night.

Please don’t leave me.

5.
One of the hardest things HHBL and I are going to have to do this first month of 2013 is break the sugar habit that has developed since Thanksgiving and in the weeks after that. It has been COOKIES, COOKIES all the time around here. And there might have been some cake, and coconut candy thrown in there. Also at least one incident of Death by Chocolate. And then there was that “Chocolate Bomb” cake that we had for dessert when we went out to dinner with LaurenLeap and The Tech Guy.

And I might have had a cookie already this morning. But it was a small one and so lonely as all the rest of his cookie mates had already been consumed. And cookies are so good with morning coffee…..

It is going to be a really LONG month.

6.
Last week Shoe Queen’s friends surprised she and Slim Jim with an impromptu breakfast cooked in the kitchen here at Chez Knit.

Well done Allie, Abby and Elyse!

7.
You know, I did make one resolution this year come to think of it. In the past several years I have slacked off in my journaling. I played around with my journaling habit several years ago, switching things up a bit, and I find that wasn’t a good idea as it sort of created havoc and then I didn’t journal for a bit and then a bit more. And for me journaling serves a purpose beyond just putting down what I did. It is a cathartic outlet for feelings and thoughts. For prayers, for ticket stubs stuck in the pages.

And after a mini emotional melt down last weekend… I realized that I really needed to get back to the journaling.

And so I have gone back to typing it out on the computer and then printing the entry out and putting it in the journal. Yes that seems “clunky” I am sure but it works for me. I can type much quicker than I can write long hand. And it also gives me the ability to add and edit as the day goes on. I actually have a Word doc that is set up with the correct margins and font that I like and it just sits open in my system tray for the day. Then once a week I print it out and put it in the journal. This is the way that I had been journaling for many years and it worked well for me. I am not sure why I decided to change things up but I won’t do THAT again.

Day 3–Socksapalooza

Canon 450D; Tamron 18-270mm @ 50mm; ISO 1600; f5.6; 1/15 sec; VC on

I bet you didn’t think you would come here today and see a photo of socks, laid out on the floor to dry. No one ever said that my photography was boring.

One of the reasons that I picked up knitting again after a 30+ year absence was because I felt the need, nah the obsession with learning to knit socks. I do not know why. I do not question the urge. I just went with it.

Today was sock washing day. Yes, some of these can be washed in the machine but I think that if I am going to spend 30+ hours on a knitting project then I am going to wash them by hand. We are bonded, my wool socks and I. I take care of them and they make sure that my feet are warm and my toes are toasty.

And on a day like today, when the temperature when I arose from my bed was a bone chilling 3F, I am glad for wool socks.

2012: A Knitting Review

You can give a big sigh of relief as I think this is the last “review” post that I am going to do. It will be time to look ahead and cast on something big for 2013.

Eggs and Bacon!!! I actually crocheted two of these scarves this year. This isn’t technically “knitting” but it is playing with fiber.

This year was actually a slow one as far as knitting socks is concerned. I believe I only did six pair!! And I forgot to take pictures of one of the pair.

Fibonacci

Fruit Stripes!

Basic Trekkers

Left Overs

Spiraling Down

There was some baby knitting going on over the course of the year. None of these are for MY grandchildren mind you because I don’t HAVE any of those yet. Can you imagine what I am going to be like, knitting wise, when I do.

I also fed my obsession with knitting lace. Really I could knit lace every day and be very, very happy. I am not sure why but I find it the most relaxing of all the knitting I do. I am not sure why but there it is.

Traveling Woman

No Bonnie You Can’t Have It!

Putting the Dane in Danish

There were also various scarves and cowls that were produced….but only in the colder months of the year. Who wants to knit a scarf when it is blazing hot outside!!

There were various hats and mittens that appeared at intervals. Remember, your head is the place where you lose the most heat in the winter time!!

 Yes, in case you were wondering, this hat turned out a “tad” big. It was for TSiL but I took it back and will wear it myself and knit him another one that is a bit smaller.

The camera needed a strap so I knit one. Why not. The only thing wrong with it is that it is made of wool and on a really hot day it isn’t all that comfortable to have around your neck.

And then there were a few Christmas stockings. I also did one for Slim Jim but I did it in a hurry and it isn’t my best work so I am going to re-do it when I have time. I didn’t take a picture of it because it makes me crazy when the knitting isn’t up to what I want.

Competitive over achiever? Who me?

Nah!

So I think that is just about everything that I knit this year. Maybe. OR at least it is everything that I remember knitting. Thank goodness for Ravelry or I wouldn’t remember any of this or what year that it actually goes in.

Day 2: Ice Formations

Canon 450D; Tamron 18-270mm @ 270mm; ISO 400; f6.3; 1/800 sec; VC on

The “McGyvered” bird feed that sits on the deck in the winter time has a squirrel baffle on it. The baffle is bent and beat up but very effective at deterring the little furry beasts. And when we go through periods of snow-sun-thaw-freeze it can produce some very interesting ice formations that do not stay long and constantly change.

Semi-Wordless Wednesday

It is Wednesday right? Holidays always mess me up!

Ummmmmmm, can we just all agree that the early teen age years are incredibly awkward.

I just have no idea what to say about those shorts that I have on…..and yes they were shorts. I remember them. And I remember that I loved them with a bright and burning passion.

They were corduroy.

Help me.

365 Project–Day 1

The Blue Bird of Happiness Is A Big Fat Bully

Canon 450D; Tamron 18-270mm @ 270mm; ISO 100; f6.3; 1/160sec; VC off

I have been toying for a while with the thought of doing a 365 photo project. But I have been reluctant because it seemed such a big commitment. However I am going to give it a go and we will see what happens. The purpose of this project really is to help me to slow down and be thoughtful in my photography. I have been reviewing all the photos that I took in 2012 and I have to say that I take too many of them. I find myself falling into the trap that digital photography sets, the one where you take a boat load of pictures and hope that some come out rather than slowing down and taking shots that count, as you would if you were working with film and had a finite amount of shots that you could take. As HHBL would tell you, I am not always a patient person.

I KNOW that is a surprise.

This is not “in lieu” of my regular posting but in addition to it so that just makes me, in the end, an idiot. I am sure that there will be times when I don’t get the photo up on the exact day that it was taken but I will endeavor to keep as current as possible. I am going to put them up as a regular blog post PLUS I will put the pictures up on the page that is titled “365 is A Big Photo Number” just so that they are all in one place. The blog posts will have commentary, the photos on the 365 page will just have the day and the title, if there is a title.

I am hoping that with this project I will continue to grow in my skills.

Or not but just have fun.

Today’s photo is the Blue Bird of happiness who is really a big bully when it comes to the suet feeder.

A 2012 Accounting in Reading

I actually started out making this a blog post about both my reading AND my knitting for the year 2012 but then I decided to do two blog posts. That way come Thursday when I am scratching my head thinking about what I want to write about we can cover knitting. Wednesday being “Semi-Wordless Wednesday” the knitting post will be Thursday for those who are excited about yarn.

And who wouldn’t be excited about yarn?

SWEET! Now on to the books (and audiobooks I think)

I had set myself the goal of reading 80 books this year. And I hit that goal exactly. 80 books.

It isn’t the highest number I have ever read in a year, that was 125 books, but I am not complaining. How did I manage to read 125 books in a year? Did I do nothing else that year? Did I read only Harlequin romances? I have no idea. I could figure it out by sorting the database in a certain way…..but I am not going to do that. Call it New Years Day laziness.

Where were we? Oh yes, books in 2012!

The books are broken into:
Biography – 2
Fiction – 47
Non-Fiction – 31
Audiobooks - 47+

Here are a few of my favorites in the Fiction category for the year:
- The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth: I also watched the movie of this. The book is much, much better. Very suspenseful and interesting to read in this day and age when we rely so heavily on the internet and having knowledge instantly at our finger tips.

- Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James: The only thing I have to say about this is that I read this so that you don’t have to. You can thank me later….and don’t bother to read it. If you need to read a romance novel pick something that is well written. This is not. And I know my romance novels.

- In The Kingdom of Men by Kim Barnes: This was good, if a tad slow at times.

- Bones Are Forever by Kathy Reichs: the latest in the Temperance Brennan series. If you watch “Bones” but have never read the books, put down the remote and get to the library.

Here are a few of my favorites in the Non-Fiction category for the year:
- In Cold Blood by Truman Capote: I think everyone SAYS they have read this book but they really haven’t. It was completely riveting. And in light of the fact that the Florida authorities have now had the bodies of the killers dug up so that DNA testing can be done on them in relation to a cold murder case my reading of the book seems timely.

- Wild by Cheryl Strayed: I wasn’t sure that I would like this book. I was wrong. I loved it. But then I love books about self discovery.

Don’t Let Me Go by David W. Pierce: This book had been sitting on my shelves for a while. Another book of self discovery in a way. A father bonding with his daughter as she grows into adulthood. Loved it.

Grant’s Final Victory by Charles Bracelen Flood: A wonderful book. And of course I now need to read Grant’s memoirs again. But that will be in 2013

And then there were the audiobooks:
I listened to 47+ audiobooks in 2012. The “plus” is because I didn’t start keeping track of the books until well into the year so I have had to reconstruct as best I can. This is what I have remembered. I will try to do better in 2013.
- I listened through the ENTIRE “In Death” series on audio. That is A LOT of murder and mayhem involving Lieutenant Eve Dallas, her husband the hunky Roark and all the other cast of characters. And I want to start back at the beginning. These I actually enjoy better in audiobook form than reading them.

- The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins: I LOVED this one.

- all of the Harry Potter books

- My Life Among the Serial Killers by Helen Morrison

-Star Trek : Nemesis

There are more but these were my favorites.

Well! Now I can reset the Excel spreadsheets for 2013. For some reason that always makes me happy.

Yes, I know I am odd. Deal with it.