Purls Beyond Price

A Plethora of Pie

For years I have been the designated piemaker for our family's holiday gatherings. This year I went beyond the traditional pumpkin and baked a Pear Frangipane Tart and a Brandied Apple Pie as well. I haven't baked much lately, and I really enjoyed throwing flour all over the kitchen and breathing in the scent of sweet things baking in the oven. I'm looking even more forward to digging into these delectables tomorrow! (Well, technically later today. How is it I'm up past 2am for the third night in a row?)

We're hosting the Thanksgiving meal this year. With eleven people we will just barely fit around the dining room table. Mom's coming over at 5:30am to help me get the turkey in the oven. The big meal will be in the early afternoon, so we can get to bed at a reasonable hour. I have to be at work before dawn on Friday for Pajama Jammie Jam.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. Eat, drink, be merry.

Jadis

The new Twist Collective was published yesterday, and in it is my pattern, Jadis. I am thrilled with the beautiful photographs that Genvieve de la Plante took.

When Kate Gilbert chose the piece to go in the Winter White story I immediately thought of Jadis, the white witch from the Chronicles of Narnia series.

Now that the cat is finally out of the bag, I want to knit one for myself. But what yarn to choose? BMFA Woobu? Frog Tree Meriboo? Lorna's Green Line? So many choices!

Photography © Geneviève de la Plante
 

Virtue?

Your result for The Best Thing About You Test...

Passion

   

Passion is an intense emotion that compels feeling, enthusiasm, or desire for anything, and that often requires action. Get that? Requires action.  It's very likely you submit to your deepest needs and live life with a flair few others achieve, but many envy.  All 7 virtues are a part of you, but your passion runs deepest.

Passionate types:  artists, writers, composers, athletes, and heroine addicts.

Your raw relative scores follow.  0% is low, and 100% is perfect, nearly impossible.  Note that I pitted the virtues against each other, so in some way these are relative scores. It's impossible to score high on all of them, and a low score on one is just relatively low compared to the other virtues.

        YOUR VIRTUES

        50% Compassion

        22% Intelligence

        38% Humility

        44% Honesty

        13% Discipline

        43% Courage

        75% Passion

Take The Best Thing About You Test at HelloQuizzy

Halloween Revelry

Every year we attend Britta's famous Halloween Party. This year, due to other commitments, we didn't make it there until kind of late. We had a fabulous costume idea, but there was just no time to pull all the elements together, so we went with a last minute theme. Anyone who knows the Monty Python Lumberjack Song will recognize elements from the song in our costumes. Unfortunately, there was no time to bake scones.

For those of you unfamiliar and wondering why the heck Kevin is dressed up in my clothes, check out the lyrics. Thanks to Robin for the last minute costume idea and the loan of the flannel shirt.

Ellie's costume was found at Gymboree. I couldn't resist the sweet little fairy dress.

It was great to hang out with friends late in the evening. The costumes are always fantastic. Robin was a stick of dynamite. Charles was a frighteningly good Joker (in full face makeup). Wendy, Dave and little Jacks came as the Charlie Brown gang. Altos as idioms crack me up.

Thanks, Britta, for another wonderful Halloween!

As If I Needed a Reason

Now is the time to donate. Let your support be known.

Image courtesy of Looky, Daddy. There are more, but this is my favorite. I will be proudly casting a whopping big No On 8 ballot come election day, no doubt about it.

Prime

Today is my 37th birthday. It's not a benchmark year, but it does seem kind of cool to be a prime number.

I <3 Neil Gaiman

Two mommies, two babies, and a daddy piled in the minivan this evening to see Neil Gaiman and hear him read from his latest book, The Graveyard Book. Apart from the stereo wailing of Ellie and her little friend Amailah whenever the car slowed for a stoplight, it was an easy and delightful evening. Neil is witty and charming. There was a special preview of the upcoming film version of Coraline. We bought autographed copies of the book (he's not presently signing on the tour, as he broke a finger while in China), and were pleased to run into friends like Abigail and Amy & Steve. Thank you, Meg, for insisting that we go. Kevin, Ellie, and I all enjoyed it immensely. Now I can't wait to read the book!

Radical

I needed a change. Not a huge one, but something decidedly different. For months my hair has been growing out from the last dye job. It was flat and boring. Last night after work, Kaye dyed it for me. We started by bleaching big chunks.

Then we added Manic Panic hair color: 1 jar of Vampire Red, 1 jar of Purple Haze, and about a third of a jar of Ultra Violet. It was a bit of a hodge podge mixture, as I had planned to mix 2 jars of Purple Haze with 1 of Vampire Red, but picked up the wrong jar at the store. C'est la vie. Kaye dabbed it all on with a brush, worked it in with her fingers, then wrapped my head up in plastic. It sat for 40 minutes or so and took forever to rinse out. It took so long that I had a cramp in my neck from bending into the sink. The result is a very bright burgundy, brighter on top where we lightened the hair beforehand.  It's a bit different than the plummy purple I had intended, but I rather like it.

Those Precious Moments

They happen so quickly, those milestone moments. This morning Ellie crawled for the first time. Granted, it's the commando crawl, with her belly on the floor. It's like the baby version of doing "the Worm". It's both exciting and sobering to watch her growing so fast, my sweet baby girl. Next week she will be nine months old. I don't know how to make the time move more slowly. I want to savor each and every beautiful moment of her babyhood.

(P.S. Lots to show you. A finished FLS, a couple of new projects, but I've been lazy about photos and took the day off today to spend some much needed family time with Ellie and Kevin. More later.)

Entering a New Era

September 22 is an enormously important day. The day my first child was born. Today she is officially a teenager. It is unfathomable to me that thirteen years have passed since I first gazed upon her beautiful face. I could wax philosophical and sentimental, but really, today I'd rather just enjoy spending time with her. The time is fleeting, you see. Before I know it she'll be grown and leaving me. I plan to cherish the time whilst I can.