So I have been promising pictures for a while and finally, finally, I can post them!  First off:

Ever wonder what you can do with all your excess deer fat after butchering?  Only me?  Thats OK cause I made candles!  No, they dont smell like deer, roasts or bacon, in fact, they dont smell to people at all.  They do smell to dogs and cats though so the candles have to live on the top shelf.  When they burn they burn long and strong and still dont smell.  I will be making more of these next year, they were easy and just so darn cool.

I have pictures of the elusive Sisu Deer  and I swear that that picture is too cute to skip and watching deer  that were enthralled with J on a very snowy day when he went deer counting (None were hunted, just counted) and he and S counted 35 deer on the beach!

I  have the traditional Christmas posed picture that I still cant figure out how to flip even though in iPhoto its the right way up…Grrrr.   But that other dog is Koira, my friend who blogs at Brightonwoman’s dog, who J and I were dog sitting while they had a Christmas down south.  Sisu is getting so big and that beautiful sweater was a gift from J who really hit it out of the park with that one!  Its so soft and warm and the colour is perfect.

Of course I will show you the Rogue!  All in all, I do love it.  I dont notice the 3/4sleeves after 5 mins because I normally push my sleeves to that point anyway!  Yarn is Lisa Souza Superwash in the Black-purple colourway and wow, I do love, love it.  More will be made using her yarns.  I wish that it had worked out right but once again I have been thwarted by my swimmers shoulders and longer arms.  My measurements are right on the sweater for the size that I made but sadly, I didnt think that there would be a difference between ME and the pattern.  Considering that its my 2nd sweater, I am still a newbie as far as sweaters go but I have big and better plans for sweaters this year!!

More on my knitting goals on the next post…with pictures, I promise!!

TO: Everyone on Earth

I wish you Peace.  However you define it, however you are searching for it, I wish Peace for you.  In this morning there may be a lot of hustle and bustle but I pray that you take a moment, sit and savor the feeling that this is a new day because something amazing happened the day before.  There are many people in a rush to tear down their lights and tree, put away all the decorations and presents and even worse, rush out to stores to buy whatever they think is missing from their wishlist haul.  This makes me so sad when I think of people really missing the joy of the entire season, the peace that can descend in those quite moments beside the tree in the still post-Christmas morning.  The peace that comes from knowing that something so special happened yesterday that our lives and faith would be changed forever.  Heck, even the way we count years

And if you think a virgin birth is something far out, wait until you see what happens at Easter.

I’m in the final push to get handicrafts made for Christmas gifts and I am so happy to be knitting.  There is so stress for me in this…I am figuring that they will be 3 Kings Day gifts more because of the lack of planes than lack of finished objects.  In my house, the Christmas tree would always stay up until then.  Dont ask about the Christmas lights outside   Those will remain for a few months at least because really, what is more cheery in the pitch black of 3pm than Christmas lights shining back at you when you come home?  I think I inherited that “leave them up” gene from my Mum.  The lights make me feel so happy and just that little bit of happy glow shining back at you.  It helps me keep the Spirit of Christmas for that much longer and when we are in the bleakness of the winter, even though we are now on the upswing of light, it will make that feeling sweet.

So I’ve been trying to get up some new pictures for what seems like a dogs age.  I want to show off my knitting and some beautiful pictures that J and I took the other day when we went deer counting but I cant.  Every time I try “the connection was reset” because we have been having some really rather crap-tastic weather here in Pelican.  Very cold and today we have freezing rain!  It was a darn good thing that we had a ferry when we did or else the towns Christmas gifts would still be sitting in Juneau.  Granted, there are still some there but C’est la vive and thats what we get for living here   You wouldnt believe the number of people who complain about the “bad” plane service and honestly, its the people who have lived here the longest that are the worst.  You would think that by their words the plane service doesnt care about them and wants them to suffer cruelly.  The truth is that there is little anyone can do about the weather and 99.9% of them wouldnt get on a plane if it was forced to come in because they would fear for their lives.  So what are they whinging about?  Boredom and the fact that I am an easy target to complain to about it.  Instead of planning ahead, fully knowing the weather here and lack of planes in the winter, they went ahead and waited until the last moment to buy Christmas gifts and groceries and now whine about their children not getting things for Christmas.  Now, two things bother me about this complaint:  1)  I’m the only new person in town who hasnt been here for at least 3 winters and I’ve gotten all my big Christmas gifts and am waiting on one last box from MI and my Mum to stuff stockings a bit more.  We (J and I) can fully wait for that whenever because its already wrapped and it will be fun to open whenever we get it!  2)  Am I missing something here?  When did Christmas become about THINGS anyway?  No one has kids who are small enough to believe in Santa and others are either too small or too big for really understanding the commercialism.  I think the real plus is that each and every child here has been born and raised here for all of their years and fully understand about bad weather and lack of planes.  So now they know that they arent getting any more planes, can they finally be taught about the reason for the season?

Rant over and onto the knitting…I am so glad that I am done with hats.  I have pictures of the last one that I knit as well as a picture of E in the hat that he bought but, again, my connection is being pissy.  I have been splitting my time between slippers and my Rogue with the Rogue being the focus of my knitting days (between non-flying planes).  I really want to be able to wear it on Christmas Eve to the Christmas party  at the Cafe. The couple who owns the Cafe go all out and lay a huge feast for Christmas Eve and invite the whole town.  It goes for hours and its loads of fun, or so I’ve been told.  Since I’ve been working on this sweater since, what?  August?  September?, I figure that its time for it to be done and worn!  I really want to finish it up and I think that as soon as I finish the hood, the sleeves will be a snap.  Hopefully.   So I have to finish the hood tonight, sleeve 1 tomorrow, sleeve 2 the next day so I can seam, wash and block and have it to be worn on the 24th.  Pray for me.

The older I get the more I think that Christmas, the commercial version, is for kids.  Gift giving is difficult when you start thinking about family members that you haven’t seen in over a year or three.  Sometimes, even the people you live with are difficult to buy for because their either A) buy it for themselves or B) wouldnt consider something practical as a “nice gift”.  Though I dont mind the buying it for yourself, thats what J does and we agree that thats OK for us as is a gift certificate for said favourite place, I disagree with the idea that a gift needs to be something romantic and super special.  Really want a Dyson vacuum?  Ask your friends/family/partner to chip in together to get it.  It may not be romantic or a generally thought “good gift” but hey, if you use it on a regular basis then it works as a good gift for you.  Its an expensive gift and though its not as shiny and traditionally special as diamonds, it is a darn special gift, IMO.

I like yarn and fiber (OK, so thats a mass understatement but stick with me here).  J gets completely freaked out when I tell him about what I would like/really want, even if I give him the URL, exact colourway and weight of the yarn…heck, even if I sit right there with him and point it out on my own(!), and doesnt want to get the wrong thing so he leaves any and all knitting/spinning item buying to me   Hopefully he will give me a gift cert to Knitpicks or to Woolybaabaa so that I can get the yarn that I want for future projects.  J likes to buy for himself at the moment he knows that he needs something.  Because of this, he generally has everything that he needs or wants.  If I want to get him something it has to be creative or I have to tell him not to buy something for himself.  The latter can ruin the surprise but often he forgets by the time he gets it so it all even out in the end.

Family members are equally difficult to buy for and this year I am making gifts and doing something that I have done in small ways for quite a few years:  A donation to Heifer International

I cant say enough about this program and organization.  They give animals, along with the proper training and education to raise healthy, happy animals, to people in need.  You can donate money to buy a whole water buffalo or shares of one, hives of honey bees, ducks, geese, chickens, sheep, goats, or (wonder of wonders!) a heifer.  If you are particularly generous, you can buy a gift ark which contains:

“Two cows bring milk and income to a Russian village. Two sheep help families in Arizona produce wool. Two camels help families in Tanzania earn income by transporting agricultural and industrial materials. Two oxen pull plows and carts in Uganda. Two water buffalo help Cambodian families increase rice production through animal draft power. And that’s just the first five sets of animals … your ark provides 15 pairs of animals to change lives.”   Of course, not everyone was planning on huge gifts but there are plenty of animal shares that you can give for as little as $10.

What kind of gift to others does a fiber enthusiast choose?  Why, a Knitting Basket of course!  It contains 4 animals, 2 sheep and 2 llamas and will be of great help to those who need the wool to create their income or simply to cloth themselves.  And with the reproduction of these animals, the gift keeps on giving, not to mention the ever growing wool!  My family first gave this gift to our Uncles and Aunts after my Nana died in 1999 because we wanted to remember her with our gift.  She was a prolific knitter and I know that she would be happy to have such a gift given in her name and to have a granddaughter that knits as I do.  My gift to family is little knitted and fishing things but my gift to others in their stead is much greater.  Wont you consider giving to Heifer International this Christmas and giving a gift that is truly needed and wanted?  I hope you do.  Though we may never know the recipient, I know that I can feel the glad tidings and thankfulness all the way from here.