St. Nicholas Food Festival

Today’s cold, grey, and rainy and I’m going just a tiny bit stir crazy being coped up inside. So, I’m remembering Saturday’s adventure up to the Russian food festival at St. Nickolas Church in Brookside, AL. There was sausage, sauerkraut, stuffed grape leaves, meat pastries, and much more that I can’t remember the names of. It was all amazing food and worth the 45 minute drive. Just the baked goods alone would have been worth the trip.  

I was going to say that it’s a good thing I can only get Pecan Kolach once a year but that’s not exactly true. You see, I got the church’s cookbook which just happens to have a recipe for Pecan Kolach and lots of other tasty stuff. It does not, however, have a recipe for anise cookies which were another favorite. Anyone have a tried and true recipe?

Another souvenir, these small hand painted owl ornaments. Can’t wait to hang them up.

A tiny bit of awesome

Seriously, he’s only 3.5” tall but he makes up for it with buckets loads of awesome.Mere hours after finishing the Giant Blanket of Doom(really need a shorter name for that) I wanted to cast on for something small, quick, and entirely for me. The latest Knitty was still fresh in my mind with the Kiwi my favorite pattern of the bunch. I couldn’t resist. A late night plus a few more hours and he was finished in all his bug-eyed glory. Now that his glamor shots are done, he sits on my desk and makes me laugh.

This isn’t a simple a pattern as it seems. There are short rows that you actually have to pay attention to and a lot of stitches to pick up. Also, those three toed feet threw me for a loop the first time I tried to  knit them. The finished object is totally worth it though and, to be honest, the fact that I was knitting with doubled fingering weight yarn on 2.5 mm needles (whose tips keep breaking off) probably didn’t help. Plus, I used a different short row method. Still, totally worth it. All details and mods exist on the Ravelry page.

After all that I still had to make another. I love how I can make two knitted kiwis the same way and have them be completely different. Their eyes give them such different personalities. That is if knitted toys can have personalities. Eh, something to ponder.  

O Christmas Tree

Pattern: Holiday Bird Ornament

Yarn: Worsted

Needle: US 4 (3.5 mm)

@rav

My default Christmas gift is the Christmas ornament and I look for the for the perfect pattern all year. The Holiday Bird Ornament from The Purl Bee was this year’s choice by a landslide. Digging through and matching up my scrap yarn was almost as much fun as the knitting. By the time I was finished, I had a kaleidoscope of red, green, blue, purple, yellow, and white.

Most of them have migrated to their new nests but these two stayed with me. Fair Isle has been preying on my mind lately and I couldn’t resist mixing it with this pattern. The birds were great practice because of their small size but large stitches. Had I known how well they’d turn out I would have made more to give.

Since Fair Isle wasn’t finished with me and I had a little extra time before the 25th, I knit up this cute mini stocking in honor of the first Christmas in the new house. Now I want one for 2010, 2011, and beyond. Since 2010 will be my third year making ornaments, knitting them will officially be my own holiday tradition. I can’t wait.