Reasons to celebrate:

I have my first pair of completed socks for the new year.  Only thing is that I didn't start them this year.   Turns out I started these over six months ago.  Yes, six months to knit a pair of socks.  You don't know how much that troubles me, given my sock yarn stash.  I blame the dark yarn.  Oh so beautiful, but so so dark and knit on itty bitty sock needles.

But back to reasons for celebration.  I had a Kitchener stitch breakthrough.  After years of having to look up the instructions for the stitch each and every time, my brain decided it was time to commit this bad-boy to memory.  Don't know why my brain decided this time, since it had been six months since I last used the stitch.  Best not to question, just going to go with it.

And since it took so long to knit this last pair, I'll most certainly be motivated to knit the next pair much faster.   Right?  Right?

Another reason for celebration?  They're just plain pretty...

Pattern:  Blackberry Brambles by Irishgirlieknits
Yarn:  Wollmeise, Twin, Wild Thing, Poison Nr. 5

Evangelical spinning...

I'm having the best time with my new spinning wheel.  It's hard for me to keep it to myself because I'm so excited about my new discovery.  

My non-fibery friends look bewildered, but then again, they have the same reaction to my excitement for knitting.  My knitting only friends are either excited along with me and want to hear (and see) all about it or they want to stay the heck away from me, fearing that they'll catch the bug too.  My spinning friends all welcome me to the club.  And DH?  He likes that I'm so wonderfully smitten with my new hobby.  I think he doesn't realize yet that it's possible to have a fiber stash much like my yarn stash.  Shhhh...

This pile of fluff, or if you want to get technical, Blue Face Leicester Top, turned into...

...this!

It's still so amazing to me that I can make yarn.  I've obviously got a ways to go with my spinning technique, but I'm loving the imperfect thick and thin and kinkiness of my very first handspun.  I'm waiting for it to tell me what it wants to become.

Aromatic Lamb-Shank Stew with Couscous

I love it when a man cooks.

DH prefers cooking outdoors with a grill and a smoker, but he does have an indoor cooking repertoire.  He's been known to make killer chocolate souffles, deliciously fluffy buttermilk pancakes (thanks to a sockdoc recipe), amazing latkes and Cincinnati chili--the last two his mother's recipes.

He also does stews very well.  On one of the recent--and too many of late--cold, wet and rainy evenings, he made Nigella Lawson's aromatic lamb-shank stew with lentils served atop couscous.  It was the perfect comfort meal.

The only downside is having to clean up after him in the kitchen.  :)

Where have you been all my life?

After months (maybe years, there is that Sleeping Beauty thing) of trying to resist the lure of the wheel, I broke down.  Now I'm wondering why I didn't try  spinning sooner.

The feeling of the fiber slipping between my fingers.  It's meditative, peaceful, tactile, satisfying, addictive...I could go on...and on...

I'm a newbie with lots more to learn.  I can't wait!

What's for dinner?

I usually have a bag of frozen Trader Joe's turkey meatballs in the freezer for when I don't feel like cooking a meal from scratch. The TJ meatballs are pretty tasty and best of all, DH really likes them.  But nothing compares to homemade.

I made Smitten Kitchen's baked chicken meatballs (substituting ground turkey thigh meat for the ground chicken).  DH and I now have a new favorite.  And those TJ ones we liked so much...well...they will never be the same.

The meatballs go well with this tomato sauce too.