Fall and Fibers

It seems like summer is almost over, the light is shifting to the south, the days are getting shorter, and it SNOWED! Early, it seems, and not very much, but in between our 80F days we had two days of near freezing temperatures and a little flurry.

Having a camper has extended our camping season. When it dips down into chilly temperatures at night at 10,000' in elevation we can hangout somewhere warmer than around the (legal this year!) campfire. Last weekend we headed to the back side of Pike's Peak and camped at a State Park full of great hiking trails. The view from our campsite was breathtaking. We had some unsettled weather and watching the peak change with the clouds and light was mesmerizing.

The garden and yard are slowing down, tomatoes are almost done producing and with the shorter days and near freeze last week most of our veggie plants are shutting down. That means more time for knitting! FFM loves home made stuff. This spring he picked out some blue chenille yarn that I thought would make great snuggley mittens.

 And on the way back from an earlier camping trip we had a lunch stop that included a parking spot right in front of a yarn store having a sidewalk sale. I picked up some soft red yarn with reflective tape wound into it for half price. The request this time, a soft fuzzy hat with flaps and a pom pom on top.

This weekend was the 3rd Annual Yarn Along the Rockies yarn crawl. I picked up some good additions to my stash and will have to get knitting more!

Ringing in the New Year Family Style

FFM and I planned to spend NYE in Beaver Creek watching fireworks and hanging out at the resort's family festival. Travis opted to save his vacation time and came back into town at the beginning of the week so we were Dad-less for the Tuesday/Wednesday celebration. The 31st rolled around and we both decided we were tired of being Dad-less so after ski school we headed into town for family NYE.

That also gave us a few days before school started to hang out with local pals, watch movies, and be totally lazy.

Making chalk art in a surprise snow.

Me, "Don't you want to come in?"
Kiddos, "No way!"

 FFM has been asking for years if I would teach him how to knit. Cold, snowy, lazy days seemed like the perfect time. He picked it up really fast and was making rows of nice, even stitches in no time. He ambitously choose to knit a small blanket, and I think once he realized how long it was going to take to make something big enough to cover Gray Kitty he lost steam and gave up.  He has since switched back to rainbow loom bracelet making and our house is again covered in tiny rubber bands.

Still Alive and Kicking

Things are slowly getting back to normal here.  I'm still uber-tired and am in bed before 9pm every night, but I'm weaning myself off of the daily nap(s).  Last week I started driving again, like everything else it makes me tired. While FFM enjoyed riding to and from school with his buddies he's happy to have Mom back in the saddle again.  I still can't bend down to reach things on the floor and I will have to sit lounged back in my chair like a guy for another four weeks, but I can walk reasonably well, if not fast.  The nerves on the outside of my thigh are repairing themselves from the trauma of surgery so my leg feels like it raw and on fire most of the time, but it doesn't hurt to put weight on it.  It's not stable enough to hop around on, but I can take short walks in the neighborhood without too much trouble.

Other than putting my leg up and watching entire seasons of TV shows from the DVR and reading endless books I haven't done much of anything the past couple of weeks.  FFM is in class plays next week and he started getting nervous when he realized I hadn't started his Big Billy Goat Gruff costume. He's had enough on his mind lately so I started on it right away.

Since my excursions are limited, I looked around the house to see what we already had.  I used the same concept from his lion costume that we did a couple years ago.  Luckily I am very well stocked in yarn and we had a spare headband from St. Patrick's Day that I could cannibalize.

 I knit a tube and attached two ears to it.  Then I cut about a zillion 7" strips of various colors/textures of yarn and used a crochet hook to pull them through the knitting on the headband. I used about half a zillion twisted brown pipe cleaners to make the horns and a knitted triangle "pocket" for the chinny chin chin. If you're on Ravelry, find the pattern here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/lion-mane-with-ears

FFM is in two plays (I think most of the kids are) and his second role is narrator for The Gingerbread Man.  Luckily this role requires no costume, but FFM dug out a sparkly gold top hat from his dress up bin to liven things up.

Keeping up with the Season

I finished my last knitted gift this evening. I had a brainstorm that I'd handmake all of the teacher gifts this year. Then I added one or two more...the last one finished will be gifted tomorrow at a family get together. Nothing like cutting it close, I think it must be the knitter way this time of year. I had a good time knitting this gifting season, I learned a new technique and scored some divine wool on sale. There are two more pieces that didn't make the picture because they're already wrapped up.

I haven't been enthusiastic about baking this month. I think I'm still full from Thanksgiving. I plunged into the baking scene anyway to make sure we had treats for all our neighbors. I remembered a new cookbook I got this year that specializes in high altitude baking. A trickle of inspiration struck when I found a new sugar cookie recipe. Then I got a request for gingerbread cookies, so I started baking. I still want to try these eggnog cookies and F learned about Spritz and subsequently filed another cookie request. After those I'm done, no more cookies!

1st go at new sugar cookie recipe. Decor by F.

It's not all work around here. We are making good use of our symphony membership and attended the annual Colorado Christmas performance. Our seats are on an aisle very close to the stage and F was utterly transfixed as the Colorado Children's Chorale entered the theater right next to him. Like last year he really wanted to be up there singing with the kids. Maybe when he's seven (the required minimum age) he'll get past the steps and actually onto the stage under the bright lights.