Wassail Anyone?

Wow  it  has  been  forever  since  I have  Blogged !   But  I  maybe   doing  more of  it  since  I have    had  to  downgrade  my  podcast  account   and   apparently  I  talk  too  much  LOL!   But  don't  worry  I  will  return   next  year  with    the  podcast!   But  until then  I  thought  I  would   bring  you  some   great  Yule  recipes and  a  little  history.    Wassail  anyone.......

Wassail's   was   originally  an  apple  orchard   fertility   ritual    the    name   wassail   came  from  a  the  Anglo -Saxons  which  translates  to   hail  or  salute . The   ritual    was  a matter of   saluting the   trees  and  what   would  happen  is  that  they  would  be   sprinkled  with  a mixture of    eggs  and   apples  to  which  wine  or  ale  would  be  added. By  consecrating  them   this   way  it  was  believed     to   increase  the    apples  that   grew  the  next   harvest.

       
                                              Crock pot  Wassail                                
                                                (drinkable)
                                makes  10  servings 

                       8 cups  apple  cider  or  juice
                     2  cups  cranberry   juice
                    1/4  cup   sugar 
                   1 teaspoon  all spice
                   3  sticks   cinnamon
                   1  orange 
                   25-30  whole cloves 

Turn  the  crock pot  to  high   and  mix  the  apple  cider  and  cranberry  juice  together    stir  in  the   sugar  and   all  spice  then  add  the    cinnamon sticks   stud  the   orange  with   the  cloves    toss  that  in    cover  the  pot  and   cook  for  1  hour .Change  the  setting  to  low  and  let    it   simmer  for   3  more  hours  then    enjoy!

    This   can  easily  be  turned  in  the   ritual  wassail  of  old    just  let  it   cool     blend  in  some  egg    and  wine   and     go  outside  and   start  your   ritual 


  Wassail  not   your  thing   well  how  about  some  nice     Hot  Buttered   Rum?





                                                   Hot  Buttered Rum
                                                 makes   6  Servings 
                                         1  quart  apple  juice 
                                       1/4  cup  (1/2 stick )  of  butter 
                                       1/4 cup   extra  dark   corn  syrup 
                                                      Nutmeg
                                      1  ounce  dark  Rum  (optional)
                                        Cinnamon  sticks

                                            pour  juice   into  a  pot   ass  butter  and   syrup   stirring  constantly    while  until  the   butter  melts   and   the  mixture  is   steaming   hot      DO  NOT  let  this  come  to  a  boil!    Pour   into large  mugs  sprinkle  with  nutmeg    add  Rum  if  desired     serve  with   cinnamon  sticks 

Curl up   by  the  tree or  a  fireplace  with  some  knitting  and    enjoy!

Happy Holidays !

I am Ready!

So I was out today not only to pick up my mother's birthday cake but to get paint as well as rubber mallet (suggested by the ashford spinners group) for my spinning wheel which arrives in 3 days! but then I got to thinking (cause this is me ya know) what if I needed a screwdriver? then I looked down and saw a pack of allen wrenches well what if I need those? and so.My tiny shopping list turned into this ........ I am ready!



I also added to my stash last week as you can I have stepped out of my zone and gotten reds and pinks. The skein on the bottom left is monkeypal in peppermint ice cream which is 420 yards and a merino nylon blend, The top skein is Spud and Chloe in red hot and its 248 yards of wool and silk, and I last but certainly not least the bottom right is ..............Bugga in tomato frog 450 yards. I have to say that I really didn't understand the hype about Bugga but omg its like butter.


And finally this book has been released and I have gotten it! The Book is called KnitWit 20 fun projects for beginners and seasoned knitters
While I love all the patterns in this book and want to make them all, these three stand out as my favorite

Really I have no clue how that got there...honest ...........it is October after all l ;)

The Big Announcement

As many of you know I have made the decision to leave Labyrinth house publishing to pursue the rest of my career with with a new publishing company. Since I feel that I have not been given the same treatment as the other writers the company employs. I have heard many rumor as to why the company has not promoted my book as it has others but until the full truth is known that is what they will be rumors.

In the meantime I have decided to move on My new blog will be found here AlexandraRose.ning.com as well as updates on Welcome to Silver Rose and all my future books. It will also be home to my video cast out this month!




On a Happier note I did finish spinning the sea wool
Which came to total of 392 yards! I think that is the most I have ever spun. I just may get those handspun socks I've been wanting!




And there it is the first sock from the frogged bakersfield yarn that everyone thought would make a great sock. And of course you were all right this yarn was destined to be socks and has knitted up lovely I am still knitting on the second sock (which I started yesterday). I think this pattern is wonderful and will also be great for my handspun.

Just Catching Up!

A few months ago my laptop which was 5 years old died taking my entire life with it (sad isn't it?) so when I bought a new this is what I got a Dell mini isn't it cute!


And small! I use my little Wedge bag to measure it

My next to the last Loopy Sock kit came in and I love love love this one ! The yarn is yummy and the patterns are now in my must knit pile and I love the lotion bar!
Lastly down the street from me there is this house and since they took the porch off its been bugging me . Yes there are a lot of houses like these where I live and when I say a lot I mean one on every,but there is just something about this one that I love. I think its because its has that haunted look to it and I don't mean the ghost kind I mean it looks like it has history of some sort, anyway the day I took this picture they were cutting down the overgrown dead tree in front of it.


And when I saw that my first thought was because they were going to tear it down so I asked if one of the guys were the owner one of them was and I asked to take the picture he asked why and I told him " because I just love the house for some reason" I think he thought I was nuts but he let me take one then told me to come back in 6 months because they were remolding the entire building (I guess he didn't think I was too crazy after all!) I seriously can't wait to see what they do to it and maybe get a peek inside !



Just a reminder that Saturday is the Big Day I'll be at Borders in Monroeville Pa From 2-4pm if your in the area stop by and say hi!

Book Signing !

Its here! In cause you haven't heard or picked up your copy yet. My first Book Welcome to Silver Rose is available where ever books are sold.





Saturday September 18th I'll be at the Borders bookstore in Monroeville Pennsylvania for my very first book signing!

I'll be there from 2-4 pm
hanging out and signing books


I hope to see you all there !

Sock obsessed !

So I have finally done it! I have made a wearable pair of socks! and maybe it took me seven months to do it since it was my purse knitting , but there they are!

And they fit!
Of course I did have a set back (or several) and the major one happened with the second sock,I was almost done when I decided I didn't like the heel and ended up frogging it . That did not end well for me as you can see.


I thought I was going to run out of yarn. But as you can see by the above pictures I didn't. and below is what I have left.



Those being done (finally!) I caught the cast on bug and not just any cast on bug I have the need to cast on more socks!
Those will be plain vanilla socks



And I blogged about this yarn not too long ago and thanks to everyone who commented these will become anklet socks! (and my new purse knitting )



Since I have thought of nothing but socks for the past 2 weeks I started flipping threw my sock books and landed on this . These are from Wendyknits toe -up socks for everybody aren't they pretty? The first thing I thought of after saying " I have to knit those" of course was I don't have any yarn! (which is untrue of course), the second thing that came to mind was I don't do cables and yet these make me want to learn. I think I'm becoming sock obsessed.

Tarot card review

Okay so awhile back I got the Madame Endora's fortune cards. I wanted to work with them a little before jumping right in and writing about them . So upon opening the box which holds 48 cards you will see a mix of fairies, Celtic, and Egyptian style cards which for me it has a little of everything I like!


Normally I never do any of the spreads in that are in the book, I go by the 3 card spread (I know I'm lazy!) but there is one called the seekers fan (shown below) which I found interesting and so I use that for this deck.


Once turned over to read the spread looks like this

What I love most about the cards is that they can be read one of two ways from the book which gives more detail about the card's meaning or you can just read the bottom of the card for a quick reading which would give you good cause to meditate on. This deck is in my top 5 favorites and I would recommend to anyone .




Okay so remember the Bakersfield shawl? well since it didn't turn out they way I had hoped and after blocking it twice the yarn still curled up so I figured I had two choices I could

A) throw it out

or

B) try to unravel it and save the yarn to make something else

As you can see the yarn wound back up with out any trouble. Now to figure out what I am going to do with it ! Anyone have any ideas?

Nothing Much Monday

So Saturday I got great mail from Piddeloop she has the most amazing bags! Which were put to work as soon as I opened the envelope

I finally spun up the first skein? of roving I ever bought its 8oz of wool and seashell. I have spun the first 4oz's which turned out to be 168 yards , I started in on the second I am really excited I am thinking a shawl or a neck warmer.......maybe socks!

Speaking of hand spun I have finally finished my hand spun mitts that Ravelry tells me I started in April! But they are done and I have leftovers!

And I finished this little guy over the weekend I'm still not sure if I am going to keep him or he is going to be another drop for the toy society (that would make 3)

Yarn and the sleeping Basset

So not too long ago TLE came out with their own line of solid yarns and of I had to buy its yarn after all ;). So I cast on the Pettine shawl

What I like: it has a stiffness to it that doesn't let it curl all except for the scalloped bottom

What I dislike:it until you start working with (at least to me ) it feels a little rough which I am sure will change once its been soaked and blocked , after knitting with it for awhile it does start to soften up !


Over all I would by this again!



Finally I organized my stash! and Of course I did not think I all that............... Does this qualify me for hoarders?

There was a yarn avalanche that happened right after I took this which proves my point My yarn does attack people (mainly me!)

And Lastly Daisy who had surgery 2 weeks ago has recovered with the help of much spoiling,Including a care package sent by Lucy Dog and Jen which she loves you both forever for it !
Her stitches came out yesterday and of course after getting fussed over by everyone . Daisy did what she does best

That makes 2!

I did it drop number 2 for the Toy Society!! I left in a buggy when I went to Wal-Mart on Tuesday I hope the little guy finds a good home

and I know my embroidery skills still suck
I have been a spinning machine lately I've spun up all this with in 3 days a total of94 yards combined

I have been trying to crochet which is well .......I took pictures and you what they say

I wasn't even t round 3 before I to rip back and as you can that didn't go well , I am however trying it a new way and it seems to be going better * knock on wood*

My week wrapped up

I've been spinning more than I have been knitting lately. I am hoping to spin about 200 yards ( I am really happy I bought that extra 2 oz it might be a different color but it can be for the trim) for a hand spun shawl pattern I found.

Tuesday as some of you may or may not know the new Julia Quinn book was released!! I didn't start reading it til late Wednesday and Finished it last night. Ten things I love about you picks up where What happens in London left off with Sebastian Grey who is in line to inherit an earldom and Annabel Winslow who needs to marry. Think you know how the story goes? sometimes you would be surprised what happens with the turn of a page! As always Julia Quinn creates hero's and heroine's who not only can a) take your breath away. b) make you laugh (sometimes cry) . c) make you fall in love. That is 3 things I love about this and books like it ( in case you were counting ;) . I will admit That not even I could have figure out that Sebastian Grey was really well.......... you know...... don't you?


I am still working on the second draft of my second book, I know I know the first one isn't even out yet and I am already on to the next one! Anyway whenever I get stuck I knit depending on how long I get stuck depends on my knitting . I have 2 Types

1. very easy (mindless) to the point that I could watch t.v hold a conversation and may be even do some research. This would be a toy, fingerless mitts, or a hat ( I will neither confirm or deny the existence of hat being cast on during V) but the rest are ONT

2. Difficult (okay not really) but enough so that I cant focus on anyone or anything else for awhile. This would include socks, shawls and maybe a sweater ( no I haven't cast on a sweater.............yet but I have thought about it ......a few times )


Now these might not be every one's cup of tea but they work for me and many of the things I have mentioned (minus the sweater) are still wips

But I wanted more of a challenge lately so I went ahead and bought a crochet pattern and I am going to learn to crochet . I have crochet books what's the difference you ask? why not just learn from them ? I don't know really, the pattern had been sitting in my Rav queue for a little over a year. So like when I learned to knit I got everything and took a leap. So far I only have ring :/

But by the end of 2010 I will have learned to crochet ....... I hope





And finally there you see it I do in fact embroider...... only when I am seriously bored. And in case you were wondering its pre- stamped butterfly quilt block one of a set , I've been working on that for a year. I do not have the patience to sit and work on this that long ......makes you wonder how I ever suck with knitting doesn't it?

Wollmeise for the First time !

After not spinning in *forever* okay maybe like a week but then again 5 minuets is forever in my time. I have decided to spin this 20z of 50%silk and 50% alpaca with my new spindle.


I am also working another drop for the toy society. My next project will be an angelbear .




Lastly I have started to knit with Wollmeise this is the first time I have ever knit with it and I love it! Its very soft and knits up beautifully the skein I'm using was Christmas gift from my friend Ruth :)




Don't you just love the cupcake bag too? I got it from Piddleloop's shop


Also stay tuned for special prizes that I have in store for everyone

Til next time!







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