Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from Mr. P and I!

Pretty Packages Tied up with String...

Some Christmas Eve eye-candy...

     

Another Present Revealed

Mr. P and I have given out some of our Christmas gifts already so you're getting an early present reveal...

Remember this post?  When I was so excited to get wool roving?  Well, here is what became of it:

It's felted soap!  If you'd like to try it, follow this tutorial from Miranda (yes, I realize that I get all of my ideas from her).  So easy and so quick.    

  



Our Tree

Since Mr. P and I are going to be here for Christmas, we decided to not go all out in tree decorating department.  We pulled out my old artificial tree from my single days, added lights, red garland, and about 5 ornaments.  Then we strung some popcorn to add a little something different.  Here are some pics:

 

Popping corn the old-fashioned way

The tree, finished.  Sort of.  I kind of ran out of steam and only made two
garlands of popcorn. 
And yes, that is a card in the tree. 

     

Santa Baby

This is our new niece Riley who was born in November.  She is stinkin' cute, especially as Santa.  This was her Christmas present that I knit for her.  It looks cute here.  But in real life, if you don't fold the top of the hat over, it starts to look a bit strange.  I invented the hat as I went along.  Not such a good idea.  I decreased too much too soon and then knit a really long top piece.  This will definitely be amended if there is a Santa Hat number 2!! 

   



Quick Chick and Noodle

This is what was for dinner the other night.  Well, actually two other nights, plus a lunch for Mr. P.  We are big on the leftovers here.  (Actually, Mr. P could eat them endlessly, me not so much, which works out great since I'm the one cooking!)

Wow, it doesn't look so appetizing there

I made this chicken noodle soup using Rachael Ray's recipe.  It is in her first "30 Minute Meals" cookbook, or you can find a similar version on foodnetwork.com here.  It was quite yummy and warming for a snowy night.  I served it with, yup you guessed it, Artisan Bread.  "Delish", as Rach would say.  

Main differences between the book recipe and the online one:   no parsnip, no bay leaves, no dill in book.  Although I think the addition of them would be great!  I used 3 chicken breasts diced which was quite a lot.  Mr. P liked all the meat, I would have liked a bit more broth.  Either way it smelled and tasted great! 

More Handmade Christmas

Guess what came in the mail yesterday?  

Actually, this picture doesn't do the colors justice.  They are so vibrant and the wool is soooo soft!  This is actually a better picture.

So, what might I be doing with this beautiful wool?  Why another handmade Christmas present, of course!  And, it actually has nothing to do with knitting.  Even you non-knitters out there could do this project.  However, I must leave you in the lurch as this is meant for a present, I can't give you the details yet.  But I promise you it is awesome, and that you will be able to make it and give it as a present in the future.  Even if it's not Christmas...and even if it's not the winter time.  

Stay tuned...


Oooo...I just can't wait to reveal all of the Christmas presents after the holidays!  I have been making more and more progress and am excited to share them with you! 

Christmas Knitting

Here's a sneak preview of what's on my Christmas knitting needles.  I can't exactly reveal the details yet, but I will post pics after they are given as presents.  I can say, though, that each one is super fun to knit!!
   

   



It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

I made this super easy ribbon tree last year

Snow Day

This is what it looks like outside of my window...



These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

Seems as though this is the popular thing to blog about for the moment, so thought I'd join on the bandwagon.

1. New off-white, full zip, $10 "FestiFleece" from Old Navy
2. Big fat snowflakes that lightly cover the ground
3. Pre-Christmas frenzy holiday parties
4. Our new goldfish, Ralphie
5. The Christmas mix CD I made last year including Michael Buble, Oakridge Boys and Lawrence Welk (to name a few)
6. Pretzels and Nutella
7. My Christmas knitting projects (more info to come)
8. Christmas carol sing-along at church
9. Burt's Bees Pomegranate chapstick
10. Creed, by Rich Mullins
11. Adoramus Te (wish I could share the version that was sung, but I can't seem to find it)

Speaking of Nieces...

Yesterday's post was about Mr. P and I's newest niece...and her new booties.  In order to be fair, today's post will be about our other niece.  She just turned one this week.  We got to Skype with her on Sunday which is just so much fun! 
Have you discovered the wonderfulness that is Skype?  Don't you love how we have turned it into a verb?

Well, since this little girl was celebrating the big...O-N-E.... she needed a special celebration banner. 

To create this banner I used a 3" scalloped-edge punch.  After punching, I layed out the circles to decide my order, then sewed them together on my machine. 

**I made one similar to this for our other niece's baby shower and learned this lesson--be sure to sew only 1/4 of the way down the circle.  Otherwise, the circles have a tendency to flip and then all the hard work you did to get just the right punch will be lost because the circles will flip front to back all willy-nilly. 

After I sewed the banner together, I wrote on it in black sharpie CELEBRATE. 

I absolutely love making these banners.  They are quite versatile and you can be creative by changing the papers, lettering, punch shape, etc. 

Have you made these banners before?  Who would you make one for?  Are you as in love with "punches" as I am? 





T-Bar Booties

Boy oh boy did I have fun knitting these little booties.  Especially since they were for a new little niece of mine. 

And they look pretty cute on her 10 perfect toes as well!

Knitting Details

Pattern: Cotton Bootees from Easy Baby Knits

Yarn: Berrocco Comfort Dk