I know it’s not like Minnesota or anything, but it snowed last night!

It’s just a little dusting, but it looks like our world had a sprinkling of powdered sugar.

The chickens seem to be taking it in stride:

It didn’t stay on the ground in their little pen at all, but their water was frozen this morning, poor thirsty chucks!

I heard that garden gnomes like snow:

He doesn’t seem to be minding the cold, although his cheeks are sure rosy.

And one last one, just because I think it’s pretty:

I love snow.

Yvonne and I now have an annual Christmas swap tradition. This is our second year, and I love that we do this. It started out just being about magazines, since I can supply her with her Martha fix, and she can send me beautiful European magazines that I can’t get here, like this one.

But now we add all kinds of treats, and how amazing are all these good things? Sometimes it’s spooky how much she gets my taste, and we’ve never even met in real life. First of all, egg cups! I didn’t even think that I must have some egg cups ready for when the chickens start laying, but that is just brilliant, and of course they are the prettiest egg cups ever.

Then she made me all these nice things that I actually really need, like a needlebook. I’ve been wanting to make myself a needlebook forever, and just haven’t gotten to it. I have all my packages of needles in a plastic bag. This is so much more efficient and elegant. And she also made a knitting needle roll, and I think that is even some very special Cath Kidston fabric, which I just love. Especially with those red knitting needles in there. There’s even a matching drawstring bag full of treats like stroopwafels (oh how I love stropwafels!) and kruidnoten and some other sugary treats. She even included Cath Kidston tissues, not that I’ll ever be able to blow my nose with them, they’re so cute. Of course I just love the fuzzy pink stocking too! The little blueberries are just the cutest!

I can’t thank Yvonne enough, and like she said to me in a recent e-mail, this is a damn fine tradition! :o) I look forward to many more years of Christmas goodiness!

I went ahead with the scarf gift, and was knitting feverishly until late last night and then again for an hour this morning before work:

Luckily the recipient is a very small person, so I stopped once I knitted about 46 inches. I used the pattern for Misty Garden from the Scarf Style book. The yarn is Trendsetter Muse, a mohair/acrylic blend which is super soft and fluffy, just like a cloud. The pattern is a really easy 4 row repeat, so it was good, mindless knitting. I think it was well received, and the yarn has lots of subtle color in it, so it will go with just about anything. I like it better than a $20 gift card :o)

In between my feverish knitting and making meatballs for our potluck at work today (recipe: 2 bags frozen party meatballs from Trader Joe’s, 1 bottle Soy Vay Island Teriyaki sauce, also from TJ’s, dump all (er, both) ingredients into a crock pot, turn it on under your desk when you arrive at work in the morning, thus torturing everyone sitting near you with that delicious aroma, and serve 3 hours later, when they’re all hot and bubbly), I’ve been doing some reading lately. I’m generally a pretty fast reader, but my latest book, Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell has taken the better part of two weeks to read. It’s challenging, in a very good way. I’m not quite done, but I keep thinking about it. Here is my review so far:
 
Cloud Atlas is really 5 novellas, split into two sections each, surrounding a sixth novella in the middle of the book. What makes the book so amazing is that each story is told in a completely different voice and all are very different styles. Some of the reviews on Amazon compare it to a Russian Nesting Doll, which is sort of apt, but not completely. In one interview I read with the author, he described the structure as if holding up a mirror. One reason I’ve taken so long with this book is the abrupt changing of styles. Each story is so fascinating and well-written, and the first halves of each novella have ended with suspenseful, cliff-hanger scenes so that I keep wanting to skip ahead. It’s just all so clever, without being pretentious. I wish I could explain it better. It’s very original and I highly recommend it, if you’re up for something a little more challenging. I’ve already requested another of his books from my library, so it should be ready and waiting for me when I’m done.

Have you read anything lately that you highly recommend? I’m always looking for good books to read! I’ll have to list some of my other recommendations, if anyone is interested.

Oh, I almost forgot, someone bought my little snowman. I can’t even tell you how excited I get when I see those e-mails from etsy and paypal. It’s always just a little unbelievable to me that someone really will pay actual money to buy something I made. I’m off to do a happy dance now! :o)

I’ve been making things in my usual ADD fashion, a little of this and a little of that. I did some more needle felting:

I’ve been inspired by my chickens lately. I also have some Blythe clothes cut out and I’m watching some eBay auctions for Barbie clothes hangers. Christmas decorations are going up a bit at a time.

I need to finish a scarf by Thursday for a gift exchange at work. I’m a little nervous about the scarf, we drew names among most of the women in my department, and I don’t know the person I have at all. I really like giving handmade gifts, but I know that not everyone appreciates them. I think the scarf is going to be very pretty, but am I being selfish in doing what I like, rather than what I know the recipient likes? Because I really have no idea what she would like. I did a little asking around, but I didn’t get any really clear ideas for a gift. Maybe I need to post a picture of the scarf to get more honest opinions. I’ll do that tomorrow :o) I can always scrap the scarf idea and get a gift card or something, I just hate giving that sort of anonymous, all-purpose gift. Am I weird?

And, finally, the last member of my immediate family has started a blog. My third brother lives in Portland where he’s a Radiologist and has a beautiful wife and three of the cutest kids you ever saw in your life. I’m not just saying that because we’re related, really it’s quite amazing that I share any of the same genetics with all these good-looking people. 

Does anyone else find themselves inexplicably obssessing over random things or ideas? Because I do that all the time. There were the bento boxes (which I still use every week to bring my lunch to work) and of course there are the chickens (which are thriving quite nicely and who I visit every day) and now it is this slightly creepy yet oddly cute Blythe doll:

I can see that I am going to have to work on my Blythe photography skills. Here she is appreciating paint-by-numbers art. She arrived wearing only underwear, so I had to quickly make her a little dress. It’s a bit of Liberty fabric I had, along with some vintage rick-rack and a sparkly vintage button. I think she may also need a little white slip. Mr. Lucy is a little worried that I am going to become one of those ‘weird ladies that plays with dolls’ (his exact words, not mine), but I quickly assured him that one of the reasons that I got her was that I have four nieces, and wouldn’t it be fun to have lots of clothes and one of those suitcases with the rod for hanging clothes and little compartments for shoes that I could bring along whenever visiting them? They would love it, I’m sure! And of course I will love making her all those clothes and that suitcase. Now, where to find some doll sized hangers…?  I’ll be adding some Blythe links to the sidebar, just to reassure myself that I’m not the only obssessive one out there.

Did you ever wonder how to properly eat your very long soba noodles? My niece showed me how while they were visiting this past week. In fact, we went to Mitsuwa twice while they were here, because she liked the noodles so much (it had nothing to do with the fact that we loved the sushi and the bookstore and all the other fun little things you can get there). There’s no sound in the movie, but you get the idea.

This is mostly for my parents, who are not able to see their grandchildren for a year:
Download miminoodle.MOV
Requires Quicktime to view.

Oh boy! I’m a finalist in the Happy Place contest at curbly. If you’re a member, a vote would be for me would be great. I totally understand if you don’t want to join just to vote though. Of course, curbly is fun, so you might actually want to join, and then also vote to thank me for introducing you to such a fun site. :o)