Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a good Christmas this year. We have had a great time. I gave and received some wonderful gifts, have eaten some wonderful food, spent time with family and friends and for the most part really enjoyed relaxing and being kind of lazy.

I hope 2009 starts off great for everyone!

Pink and Grey Scarf--SOLD

This scarf is made from pink variegated bamboo and a gray "ribbon" that is made up of merino, viscose and polyamide. The result is a soft, silky, yet very warm scarf. The pattern is a rose path diamond twill. Fringe is twisted. The scarf measures 6x68 and sells for $60.

A Sassy Purse for a Sassy Girl

Elizabeth's purse is the same pattern as the others I've made. It's pearl cotton with some specialty yarns (merino tape, bamboo and soy silk in this case). I made it a little smaller for her because she tends to try to carry everything she can in a purse and I didn't think a homemade purse could withstand the test. At any rate, I hope she loves it! Merry Christmas!

Piano Lesson

I went to meet my new piano teacher yesterday--her name is Jan Mesrobian. I liked her. She teaches a little differently than my other teachers did, but that's to be expected as I'm an adult now and she's a different person and all.

I'm going to enjoy it, though, and am really looking forward to getting started. Maybe I can figure out how to put some sound-bits on here and you can hear me play sometime!

Book Review--Wicked by Gregory Maguire

Wicked by Gregory Maguire is a great book. A really great book. I saw the play last year in Chicago and really enjoyed it. The book, which I read before seeing the play and then again this past month, is SO much better. It felt to me like the play "disney-ized" Maguire's story a little more than necessary. It's still a great musical, but not really the story presented in the book.

I really enjoyed this book the second time through. I'm surprised at how little I remembered from my first reading, but I thoroughly enjoyed it this time around. Maguire takes the Wonderful Wizard of Oz story and rewrites it from the perspective of the Wicked Witch of the West. Her life is chronicled from her conception to her death. She is a very lovable and interesting character.

The main thesis of the book is asking the questions "what is good and evil?" and "who gets to determine what is defined as good and evil?" For me, the analogy presented in the book is of Nazi Germany during the rise of Hitler. I haven't found any articles about it, but David agrees with my perception.

I re-read Wicked for the purpose of reading the next two books in the series: Son of a Witch and Lion Among Men.

Happy Anniversary to Me and David!

Today is our 18th anniversary! I feel as if yesterday we were walking down the aisle and David was crying and I was trying VERY hard not to laugh. How fun it's been!

A Brown Purse

This brown cotton purse was commissioned by my friend Erin for her daughter Jordan. It's mostly brown cotton with highlights in green cotton and a lighter brown variegated soy silk. I think it turned out really nicely. Plus, I'm getting the hang of sewng these little bags together.

A New Piano AND a Big Surprise, all in one day!

So, yesterday was a big day--so big in fact that I had a really hard time going to sleep. At any rate, I've been saving up for some time to buy a new electronic piano keyboard and finally had almost enough and went and bought one yesterday. I love it. I've been practicing, and my hands are actully sore. I can't believe I went for 20 years without playing.

Then yesterday David also gave me my big surprise. It's an anniversary gift that he's been sneaking around for a while getting everything done on it and it's really sweet and wonderful. It's a pencil and charcoal drawing made from a picture taken of us when we were in Salzburg, Austria this summer. I think it's a really good likeness and will enjoy keeping it around forever.

Red Shawl

This shawl is for my friend, Erin's, mother. It's made from a slightly darker and shinier red tencel and a red bamboo. The pattern is called M&O. The pattern creates a very nice, overall, lacy pattern. I think this shawl looks rich. It feels very silky and wonderful, too. I think this would be a wonderful shawl for a party or church.

4 Towels for Tony

Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas and thanks for being my guinea pig!

These are 4, 100% cotton towels woven in a diamond twill pattern. Each towel is different. The experimental part of these towels was that I used a special yarn called "taffy" that is "slubbed" which means it has thick and thin portions to it. I did not find the effect to really be worth the cost of the yarn, but Tony will have to tell me whether it "makes" the towels for him.

These are really pretty. The colors are great and are, in my opinion, perfect "Tony" colors! Enjoy!