Saturday, December 27, 2008

Year End Project-y Goodness

So I am rapidly approaching the end of the year and I don't think I will make my 52 "things" before that time. It was really exciting and encouraging at the beginning of the year and I might try for the the thing-a-day again in early spring but will need to plan it out a bit.

That is not to say I have not been busy. For Thanksgiving this year I was tasked with making pies. I made 2 apple and 2 pumpkin pies. They turned out okay. They needed to be baked a little longer I think but it was a good experience. I even had enough pumpkin filling to make little pumpkin "custards" so that one of the gluten intolerant guests could enjoy dessert as well.

I also tried a chocolate nut pie. It was a different take on a pecan pie. Essentially using mixed nuts. I only really liked the effect when I got a mouth full of peanuts. I like other kinds of nuts but not many and the flavors of them were significantly enhanced in the pie. If I make it again I will just use peanuts I think. Though it was tasty and rich.

While at Bards N' Cooks I managed to turn the heel on my bulky boot socks but to date I have yet to finish one complete pair of socks. Mostly I have been working on the baby sweater for my co-worker. I have all the individual pieces done so now all I have to do is assemble and make the collar. Wish me luck.

It seems my knitting queue has kind of exploded. I need to make a mobius scarf for A along with some typing gloves. I have another friend who just found out she is having a baby and would like to make something for her. And I have socks to finish and some projects for myself I would like to do. I guess I need to become a faster knitter.

For the holidays I had good intentions of making a bunch of homemade gifts but the month sort of got away from me. I ended up getting a good part of the baking done that I wanted to however. I made extremely tiny snickerdoodles, fruit puffs (dried fruit cookies), lots of ginger cookies, some pecan tortes that I am not sure how I feel about, chewy peanut butter chocolate bars, and some candy cane bars that I am rather disappointed in.

I also made a beaded necklace for my grandmother for the holidays. I wasn't pleased with how it turned out. I couldn't seem to find any inspiration with the beads and so I think that hobby has become one I am no longer interested in. I think I might use up my beads and make a bunch of bracelets, etc for gifts for folks and then back my tools away. It is kind of expensive and I find the knitting far more relaxing though not as sparkly.

So all in all I think I can say I did what...maybe 45 projects this year. Not bad. Sadly not my goal but fairly productive.

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