A Techie Holiday

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday with family and friends!

The Engineer and I took a road trip up to Massachusetts for Christmas.

We enjoyed our visit and had a very nice Christmas celebration. 

I must say that Santa was very good to me… I received a new iPhone 5s to replace my antique Blackberry Curve.  I say antique because in tech terms a phone that has been well used (and loved) for just a few days shy of 6 years is antique.  I have been perfectly content with that phone all these years but recently it has been showing it’s age.  The lights under the keyboard had begun to flicker on occasion, the camera stopped working a couple months ago and the roller ball has been temperamental more and more these days.

For months we’ve been discussing what to get for replacement phones – it’s a big decision because we don’t change phones often or easily.  Although we have loved this phone we have not been happy with what we’ve seen come out of Blackberry over the past couple years.  I knew that Apple usually introduces a new phone in the fall so we waited to see what new features the next generation of phones would bring.  We were quite happy to see the addition of a fingerprint scanner as part of the phones security.  We had also considered the Samsung Galaxy 4 but in the end  decided that they are larger than we wanted to handle.

I think we will be happy with the iPhones and expect to get many years of service out of them.  We added the LifeProof Nuud cases to protect Santa’s investment.  Our daughter in SC has used a Lifeproof Case on her phones for many years.  It has survived many a sandy trip to the beach, babies drooling on it, and toddlers dropping it.  I have no plans to hand my phone off to any kids but I won’t have to worry about touching it with wet hands while in the kitchen, taking it along while gardening or shoveling snow, and I can drop it and not worry.  The LifeProof case it is water, dirt, snow and shock proof.

My other Techie gift was a Fit-Bit Force fitness tracker.  I almost got myself a Flex earlier this summer but decided to wait and do more research and ask Santa for it.  I’m glad I waited as the Force seems to be a bit of an upgrade from the Flex.  This ought to help me out with my “Word” for the New Year… Move!

Last but not least is a new case for my laptop – it’s a knitting bag with a padded laptop sleeve!  Nifty!

I hope Santa was good to you this year!

To Resolve or Not… That is the Question

I don’t think I have ever met a resolution I could keep. 

I am consistently inconsistent… and I know that about me.  Over the years it has been my position that it didn’t make sense to set a goal that I know I am not going to meet?  I don’t need to set myself up for failure.

Recently I’ve seen several blog posts written about adopting one word for the new year.

One word to focus on… no guidelines, no restrictions, no must do list, no don’t do list.  Just one word… oh hell yeah I can do that!

So here it is…

Move

Not Move more

Not Move fast

Not Move everyday

Not even Move X number of times a week

Just Move… I can do that!

On The Needles… 12/20 and Happy Holidays!

Why didn’t I start these little things earlier?  I’ve decided that they will be the perfect thing to stitch on all through the summer when you really don’t want to knit anything hot.  And quick?  Oh my yes – probably more so once you get the hang of it and DON’T KNIT SO TIGHT!  Goodness… it’s worsted weight yarn (acrylic cheap) and a number 1 needle… only 1’s I had handy are double pointed stainless steel but I think I have a small SS circular around someplace.  These Christmas Tree Lights are designed to be knitted flat and then seamed.  Below the blue is in progress – that is as wide as it gets, far left red has had the red side stitched up and I will finish the stitching after I stuff it.  The white one is just folded and the other red one I tried to lay out – they don’t lay very flat as they are knitted to have a curve.  One note - if you want to make these too… don’t stitch tight.  If you do it makes it almost impossible to work from one needle as everything is so scrunched up.

I made another one of these BUN Hats – this time in a worsted weight 80/20 Acrylic/Wool blend held double (per instructions).

 

After wearing the first one (made from 100% wool) on Sunday for 3 hours clearing the driveway… and this one for about 2 hours the other night again clearing the driveway I can honestly say I like the 100% wool one better.  I was warmer and didn’t get sweaty feeling in it.

Check out what others are knitting over at Judy L’s Patchwork Times blog.

I don’t know if I’ll get back here before Christmas so let me take a moment to say I hope everyone has a Merry Merry Christmas and a Happy Healthy New Year!

Not Much Knitting…

I’ve tried to avoid the painting I’m suppose to be doing in our bedroom… but it’s got to get done so I’ve been doing it.

And while the paint dries I’ve done a little knitting…

This is another pair of the Montgomery Fingerless Mitts – same as the ones I showed last week only done in a Plymouth Baby Alpaca Grande Hues yarn.  I didn’t realize until after I had started that the yarn transition from dark to light… and back again.  Oh well – they are what they are!

I’ve got a few more inches done on the Morning Bells Shawl 

To see what others are knitting on… head over the Judy L’s Patchwork Times.

Oh and here’s one of the ways we got rid of Thanksgiving Leftovers.

I called this Turkey Dinner Leftover Salad…

To the regular lettuce, tomatoes, and red peppers – I added turkey, crumbled stuffing, and I made the salad dressing out of the cranberry orange relish mixed with mayo and some lemon white balsamic vinegar.  Goodness that was good dressing… we both loved it and it’s so pretty!  We had this salad for lunch several days –  it was delicious.