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Dear Jan,

The last 36 hours have been just lovely.  Wednesday evening included a group effort to beat the house into decent enough shape that we could have guests for Thanksgiving dinner.  Fortunately, the guests were Becky, Michael, and Claire, so decent enough translated to not having to have the books back in the bookcases or the pictures hung on the walls.  It did mean bringing more furniture up  from downstairs, rolling out the new rugs, and getting most of the layer of remodeling dust off of everything.  We did it, and it feels so good to have the house sorted out.

Here are a couple of shots to give you an idea of how the remodel changed the character of the place.  The dining room shot shows the impact on how much light is coming into the house now.  It is such a warm, bright feeling now, instead of the cold, white tile and no windows of before

I did spend a good part of the evening starting the food prep for Thursday.  I brined my 18 pound free range turkey (it was the only size available!), I roasted chestnuts (brought back memories of buying chestnuts on the street in Korea), sauteed onions and celery for the stuffing, made cranberry sauce.  And then, I actually had the energy to finish the ribbing on the prodigal socks - surprise!  a finished object, twice in less than a week.

These were done with home dyed Knit Picks bare washable fingering weight merino, a gussetted toe-up pattern with a cuff pattern of eye of partridge, highly effective in this multi-color yarn.

I cooked up a storm Thursday morning, of course.  (Guess what, birch flooring is so much easier on your legs than ceramic tile.  More to be thankful for.)  The menu:

• Relish tray (Becky and Mike provided this - dilled Brussels sprouts, garlic and bleu cheese stuffed olives, pepperoncini)
• Black olives big enough to wear on your fingers (which we did)
• Nuts (cashews, peanuts)
• Free range turkey
• Corn bread stuffing (vegetarian)
• Chestnut stuffing (in the bird)
• Mashed potatoes (from CSA share)
• Roasted Brussels sprouts (CSA)
• Creamed squash (CSA)
• Green bean casserole
• Baby peas (no pollutants like butter or mushrooms added, per Claire’s request)
• Fordhook lima beans ( plenty of butter, per Wilson’s request)
• Creamed pearl onions (brings back memories of W’s grandma)
• Canned jellied cranberry sauce (tradition - but no one ate any, maybe this is a tradition that can end)
• Pomegranate orange whole berry cranberry sauce (yum - the new tradition?)
• Pecan pie (Becky bakes a tremendous pecan pie.  You should try to score a piece sometime.)
• Pumpkin pie (also Becky)
• Whipped cream (I’m crediting Claire for this, based on her enthusiastic application of it)
• Vanilla bean ice cream
• French vanilla ice cream (hey, we had to experiment.  I think we get credit for holding ourselves to two variables - the store also had double vanilla and light vanilla.
• A really nice riesling - nutty, not too sweet - from Fetzer vineyards
• Plum wine, the kind with the plums in the bottom of the bottle (man, those things taste higher in alcohol than the wine)

Dinner was so nice.  Good, old friends around a table, enjoying food and each other.  Of course, we missed everyone who wasn’t with us, especially Karen and Max, who are off on the west coast with their respective fiances.

We took our traditional post-meal hike.  Wilson, Becky, and Judit were natty in their black and white accessories.  We saw a very brave muskrat and a whitetail that was pretty skittish.  I guess it has been deer season recently, not muskrat season, so I can’t really blame the deer for being suspicious.

We wrapped the evening with a game of Apples to Apples, a partial viewing of The Incredibles (partial because there was napping and we had to finally admit we just couldn’t stay up any longer), and hugs and well wishes at the door to see B, M, and C off.

I can’t help but feel a shadow of guilt at our fortune, especially in light of the news from Mumbai.  Yet life is to be consecrated in laughter and in tears, and the juxtaposition of the two adds to the mystery.  And deepens my gratitude to that mystery that I have been able to experience so much in my life.

Peace and love to you,

Ellen

Hi, Jan,

Karen is in town for a residency interview, and we grabbed the chance to do some wedding hair experimentation.  I don’t want to spoil anything by showing the full ‘dos, but here is a teaser of both.  I assume you can tell mine from the gray highlights.  I guess leaving half of Karen’s face in the photo probably clinches it.

Jenny didn’t get her hair done, but she had a big day, participating in the march for gay marriage rights in downtown Minneapolis.  Both ladies are now out at a friend’s birthday party.  As a nod to knitting content - Karen is wearing the cowl I knit for her last holiday.

More later,

Love,

Ellen

Hi, Jan,

While you are rocking on Vanessa’s sweater, I am making steady but slow progress on DITF.  I have knit about 4.5 inches since last post - not that slouchy when you consider that is about 50 rows.  I can see progress, but I also see a long way to go.

My holiday cactus is coming into bloom.  Here is one of the first blossoms - lots of fat buds to come.  Thanksgiving is so late this year, I wonder if any will last until then.

A busy week ahead - we’ll see how much further the sweater comes.  Good luck on yours.

love,

Ellen

Dear Jan,

No, I don’t mean DITF is a wrap, just that I’m keeping it all wrapped up.  I’m inordinately pleased with the solution I’ve developed to keeping a sweater that is taking about 5 dog years to knit clean while in progress, at the same time that I am getting the rolling balls of yarn (one for each front) under control.

Basically, I swaddled it!  I folded up the parts that aren’t undergoing active knitting and tied one end of a bandana around them, topped it with the balls of yarn with the ends strategically oriented for easy pulling out of more yardage, folded up the bottom of the bandana, flipped the package over,  and  tied the other  end.  I can pick up my whole project in one hand without tangling balls, and it packs easily in my knitting bag.

I think maybe I’m looking too hard for things to feel accomplished about with this sweater. 

Love,

Ellen

Hi, Jan,

It’s not the election I’m talking about.  With any luck, just a few hours after I click “publish” on this post that will be history.  What I’m talking about is the incredible weather we’ve been having.  We broke a record high yesterday, and it was freakish on Sunday.  With the return to standard time, the warm temps combined with early darkness really messed up my biological clock. Wilson got thoroughly sick of me asking him if the time was really the right time.  I got a few garden shots before darkness - nice memories of this extremely luxurious fall we’ve had.

The other thing that is, as you know, lasting a long time is the knitting that is Deep Into the Forest.  I truly am  making progress, but it is slow.  Here is the front, about 80% of the way to the armhole.  And also the collar, which in a fit of wanting to see progress I sewed down.  I really love it - it lets me imagine how the finished sweater may look.

A lovely knitting group last night -  I won’t take you through all the shots, but I thought it worth showing this one of Annie with her lap full of sock machine socks.  And this one of Frankie, who is such a sweetie and is a good visual aid for how I’m feeling after this long election.

Just a few hours more…

Love,

Ellen