Wednesday, February 4, 2009

The Betty

Dear Mom,
If Wendy has too many more snow days, we may have to check her into Betty Ford.
Love,
Kim

Surviving Snow Days

Dear Mom,
Today is ANOTHER snow day. The girls made their valentine's day cards.
The teenager made chocolate chip cookies.
I made coffee liqueur. And drank it.
Coffee Liqueur
2 cups water
1 1/4 cups white sugar
2 Tbsp. freshly ground coffee
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups vodka (let's face it; I used the entire bottle!)
Mix everything except vodka in a saucepan and heat to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and cool completely. Strain out the coffee grounds. Add vodka. Pour finished liqueur into a bottle and store in a cool place.

Love, Wendy




Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket...

Dear Mom,

February deserves a knitting project all its own, and yesterday I cast on for this: http://www.flintknits.com/patterns/ladysweater.pdf The February Lady Sweater. It is based on the February Baby Sweater, a design by the Immortal Knitting Genius, Elizabeth Zimmermann. I tell you, when I discovered Elizabeth Zimmermann, it changed my knitting life.

I am using yarn I found on the trip to Asheville, NC that My Hero and I took to celebrate our 25th Anniversary. It is Christopher Sheep Farms 2-ply and I bought it at EarthGuild. http://www.earthguild.com/


As I cast on and started knitting, the daydreams began. Seems I knit little stories into things as I knit them. Not all of the stories are even close to being real. Like the one where I am at the beach and my kids are playing together, nicely, just at the edge of the surf; we are all wearing handknits, sand is not sticking to anything, and I am not worried about the ocean breeze blowing my skirt against my legs because they are skinny.... But anyway, this particular sweater's story started with possibilities for buttons and what I might wear with this pretty cornflower color and lace design. I imagined a crisp white shirt with a stand up collar, and ruffles at the edge of the collar and down the fronts beside the button bands.
Today, after yet another 9th grade scheduling meeting, I took myself off to find some new jeans. Not only did I find TWO! pairs of jeans on sale that fit, are a size smaller, appear to be flattering (could be the magic dressing room mirrors, now that I think about it) and were on sale, but there!, there!! on the clearance rack!!!, an additional 60% off, and in my size!!!!!...... the white blouse I imagined.
Come to think of it, I probably shouldn't buy that lottery ticket. I might have used up all my good luck for the day.
Love,
Kim