A million years ago, my aunt gifted me a roll of fabric, which was filled with small round things.  The fabric was soft flannel and the roll was intended to be nuked in the microwave for a couple minutes and then draped around the neck.  I used this for many years; it was incredibly relaxing to have this weighted warmth over the neck and shoulders.  Eventually, it wore out and I never got another.

My mother pointed out that “oaty” is not a real word and I countered that English is a living language.  I think we reached detente.  Or maybe it was an impasse.  Definitely one of those…

I’m not a big drinker.  In fact, it’s not uncommon for me to go years without imbibing any alcohol.  But if I am going to indulge, it’s going to be hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps.  This is so indescribably delicious that when I went on a Caribbean cruise with my friend Jane a number of years ago, this is what I had every evening while she was enjoying more traditional tropical delights such as Planter’s Punch and piña coladas.  As you might imagine, I still come in for a fair bit of mockery over drinking something warm while vacationing in the tropics.

A couple weeks ago, while my friend Jane and I were having dinner at our friend Bea’s house, I happened upon an intriguing book.  Honestly, Bea’s whole house is jam-packed full of interesting books, but I hadn’t seen this one before.  It’s Rebel With A Clause by Ellen Jovin. I picked up the book, flipped it open enough to register that it had been signed by the author, and then started reading the introduction.  Aloud.  Jane tolerated this only briefly before giving me the look that suggested I’d better stop, if I know what’s good for me.  I do occasionally know what’s good for me, so I stopped.  But I did ask Bea about the book.

This week’s project was inspired by Two Strands, which is the name of a YouTube channel to which I am subscribed.  This particular maker also gave me the idea for my Quilt-As-You-Go project. She’s got some great ideas.

I know nothing about origami.  Okay, that’s not completely true. I know it’s a paper craft of Japanese origin where elegant papers are precisely folded and bent to form amazing and sometimes fantastical shapes. 

I like baked sweets.  Cake. Cookies.  Brownies.  Sweet bread.  Cinnamon rolls.  I particularly love cinnamon rolls, but unless one makes them one’s self, you can never really be sure what you’re going to get.  I would say about 50% of all cinnamon rolls that I’ve bought at various bakeries have been very disappointing.

Bungee fitness?  Is that a real thing?  Turns out, it is!  I saw some YouTube videos and it looked like such fun that I put some classes on my Christmas list.  And my family got me three classes at the local studio.

I know I’ve written about Jenny Schwartz before (okay, more than once), but her work is just so good!  In my last blog post about her work, I mentioned a new series she was working on (The Caldryn Parliament) but that I was waiting until the third book came out, so that I could read them all together and not be left in suspense.  The third book has in fact come out, so I’m ready to review the series.  However, I note that the author plans three more books in the series, so I might be premature.  Nevertheless, I shall forge onward.

It occurred to me the other day that I’m in danger of becoming like one of those doll ladies.  You know the ones…they keep an entire room to house their collection of creepy dolls.  And any guest who spends a night in their house has to worry about the dolls coming to life in the night and stabbing someone in their sleep.  No?  Just me?  Okay, whatever. 

How often should you wash your hair?  If you ask the interwebs this question, you’ll get lots of different answers (mostly based on “hair type”) which all boil down to “as often as you need to.”  The different answers mostly agree that washing too often strips the hair of protective oil and makes it more dry and brittle, but washing too seldom allows for buildup on the scalp that can also be damaging to the hair.

I’d like to say that I became a fan of author Robert Galbraith before it became public knowledge that the author’s real name was J.K. Rowling, but that would be a lie.  Shortly after that knowledge hit the interwebs, I gave her first detective story a try.  It’s not my normal fiction fare, but I figured I couldn’t go wrong with J.K. Rowling.

A collection of random stuff. Merry Christmas!

When I began this post of my favorite knitting patterns, I started with a HUGE list, and had to narrow it down quite a lot.  I have opted not to include any patterns that I’ve already written about, no matter how much I adore them.  (“Oh, magic hat, I love you so…”)  So below you will find my curated list of a few favorites.

I was so delighted with my Thanksgiving Menus article that I thought I’d do the same for Christmas, and publish it early enough in December that it might actually be useful.  So with no further ado and in no particular order…

I have a confession:  I don’t really decorate for Christmas.  I don’t really have a good excuse for this…I have a number of Christmas trees growing on my property, and I have an old steamer trunk full of Christmas decorations, among them the ceramic nativity scene my grandmother hand-painted fifty years ago.  And I have a hand-knitted Christmas tree.  That one, I did myself.

As with many surnames derived from traditional occupations (Smith, Cooper, Baker, Taylor), Chandler originated with those who made candles.  Therefore, chandlery would be either the making of candles or a store which sold candles and other general goods.  Chandelier also derives from this base, as the original fixtures held a multitude of candles above an open space.  See?  You learn so much on this blog.  You’re welcome.

Thanksgiving meals are pretty much a set menu in my family.  There might be a few variations here and there, but largely, it’s turkey, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, biscuits, salad, and pumpkin pie.  But Christmas dinner is a whole different ballgame. We’ve had turkey again.  We’ve had ham.  A couple years, my mother floated the idea of a traditional Christmas goose, but even she had to admit that just because something was traditional didn’t mean it tasted good.  And we’ve had prime rib.

A number of years ago, I decided to knit a double-layer hat for a friend who was going on what I considered to be an ill-advised hike at altitude late in fall. The Pacific Crest Trail, to be specific.  My friend encountered such heavy snow as to approach white-out conditions, and narrowly managed to avoid losing a few digits to frostbite.  But the hat was a winner.  It’s a double layer of stockinette stitch; not really double-knitting as such, since the two layers are knit separately.  But, like double-knitting, the end result is two layers of knitting.

My mother recently pointed out to me how convenient it would be if all my Thanksgiving recipes on the blog were in one place.   A compilation frankly hadn’t occurred to me, so I thanked her for the idea.  She then added that it would also be quite nice if I didn’t wait until the week before Thanksgiving to publish such a compilation; doing it earlier and giving people time to plan for the big holiday feast would be much more useful.  So here we are.  Happy Halloween, and here’s a collection of my Thanksgiving dinner recipes.