Thanksgiving Recap

All in all I’d say we had a pretty nice holiday – we spent most of the official day itself out at our various families’ homes not overeating since there wasn’t that much for us to really eat. I did have a little too much wine at my family’s house but other than that not much damage done. As I mentioned in my last post we had our own thanksgiving this weekend at home and I really had a nice time. I spent most of the day in the kitchen cooking but it was mostly fun cooking – no real rush (except for hungry people) – relaxing and nice. The movie afterward was good as well and every bit as sweet and moving as I remembered – I definitely recommend it. The food all turned out well except for the pumpkin pie – I didn’t puree it in the food processor like the recipe said and it was a bit stringy. The soy and seitan “turkey” was a big hit with everyone – even the kids seemed to really like it with one of them even going back for seconds. I thought the stuffing was the best – I had added some soy sausage to the onion and celery mixture and used a combination of homemade corn bread and whole wheat bread that I thought was wonderful. I probably liked the stuffing the best because it was what I was missing the most at the various houses we went to – even the stuffing with no chunks of meat in it was made with chicken broth so I was completely out of luck. Hubby and I decided that this is something we’d like to do every year – have a day just for our little family where we can establish a few of our own traditions – the good food is just a perk! I do think that next year my cooking needs to be a little more organized – several things should be made ahead like the soy and seitan turkey – it took forever! I think if I planned better and made that and the pie the night before would cut the cooking time on the day itself down considerably. I spent about four hours this weekend all told on the day itself – I’d like to cut it down to about two if I could and spend more time with the family.

  In other news I picked up a new knitting project this morning. I have been looking at Ann Budd’s “On Your Toes” toe up socks using the Eastern cast on method because I have a yen for some comfy knee socks. Now that the weather has gotten chilly I have pulled out all the hand knit socks I have but I noticed that knee socks are something I’ve never bothered to knit. Not because I don’t think I’d have the patience but because I never really run across knee sock patterns when I’m looking for new socks to knit. Since I wear skirts most of the year the shorter socks are just not cutting it when the wind blows around my ankles. I’ve had some brown sheep sport weight yarn in a lovely grey languishing in my knitting chest for a couple of years now and I thought this pattern would really fit the bill. I actually checked my gauge over the weekend to find how I liked it knit up – this is something I never do for socks – I don’t really know why since I religiously check gauge on most everything else but I usually don’t bother on socks. This morning after figuring out my gauge and foot measurements I cast on for the first sock. I am not really sure how I feel about the new (to me) cast on method. I thought it was a bit fiddly but very clever. I flubbed it a couple of time but managed to get it accomplished eventually. After working several of the initial increases to form the toe I can tell the original cast on stitches seem a little loose. I’ve tried to tighten them up a bit using the tail but it doesn’t seem to make much difference. It’s not very noticeable but is something I’m going to try to improve. I made it through most of the toe increases and should start the main portion of the foot this evening. Will post photos of that later.

Comments

[The Purloined Letter]

Ooh, with the wind blowing up my skirts recently, I've been making the same plan to knit some knee socks. What a great pattern!