2026 New Years Resolutions?

It being the New Year and all, I should probably try to figure out some goals for the year. Yep, they're going to look a lot like last year, but hey, I'll spell them out anyways. 

I'm also feeling a little out of sorts; when I travel I lose momentum and can't get back into a rhythm. And travelling isn't as much fun as it was, it makes me a little anxious. These are mindset issues, and I must fix them.

Two things that will take up a lot of time in 2026;  learning German and getting in shape for that bike trip in June. I'm on it!!!

I'm also been cooking pretty much nonstop since December 18th. It's been fun but I've had enough and am ready to going to go back to cooking a couple of times a week.  But I will be resurrecting some sort of cooking challenge; maybe one where I pick the cookbook?

As for the studio...

The Easy Stuff:

• There's a blue sweater that just needs buttons. I can't celebrate it's one year anniversary unfinished.
• I'm in three classes: a basketry class, another Alabama Channin class (embroidery), and another Molly Hashimoto class (block printing).  All three classes produce samples/products. These will happen.
  
• 4 napkins still need hemming.

Some Things that Need to be Done.

• 

  This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius Poncho

  I'm partly through warping for 2 baby blankets, one of which is for a baby that has just arrived.
• I'm working on the Age of Aquarius Poncho, great for TV and travel knitting. I suppose it doesn't 
  "need to be done" but I need an idiot project.
• The bistro table for the pool deck must be done. I have a design, I have a substrate. Now I just need to get to it.
• I need some cards in my stationary stock. 

Other Things in Progress:

• I've carved 2 blocks and need to do test prints.
• I'm working on the Dissent sweater, nearly done with the yoke.
• That headband from the knitting cruise...

Other Things:

• More prints. Although I have 2 almost ready to test print, and will do 2 in Molly's class, so that puts me in a good position. I'm also thinking about holiday cards.
• Another rice bag, then I can get rid of the box of parts. The pieces are quilted and waiting for embellishment.
• Another little gnome, then I can get rid of the rest of the class yarn and get rid of the box all the bits and pieces are stored in.
• Doubleweave pillows; pattern is drafted, yarn is on the shelf waiting.
• Quilt the pink hawaiian baby quilt
• Finish one of the unfinished quilts. (Niemeyer?)
• Stepping stones.
• Stranded mittens.
• I bought some yarn for sweaters; one from a indie dyer in Budapest, and the other for a Julie Weisenberger sweater. I may cast one on at the retreat in Feb knowing that it'll take awhile for me to get to the idiot knitting.... 
• I'd like to weave a couple of throw blankets.

===================

I'll continue to include the UFO LIST from way back just to keep me honest... I added a few things.

Knitting: 

1. Anna Zilboorg Sweater- I need to fish it out and make a plan 
2. A Capella- frog and return the yarn to the yarn pool 
3. Sunset and Sand- needs frogging! 
4. The jacket with the embroidery that needs rework. If I recall correctly there's an issue with the collar, and the sleeves, and I'm not sure what else...

Weaving:

1. This is super easy, since it's either on the loom or not...  
2. There are have three ikat warps (two from Indonesia, and one from a friend) that need weaving. 
3. There are a number of warps I pulled for a dyeing class then got sick and missed it.

Quilting (Can the list really still be this long?):

1. Fan blocks: I've been dithering about what to do with them for 25 years or so.
2. The first Judy Niemeyer quilt (straighter pieces): I may need to figure out setting strips but otherwise I think I photoed a layout and I should be ready to finish the top.
3. The second Judy Niemeyer class (curved pieces): I stopped while piecing the top together but I did photo the layout; so I need to remember what I was doing and do it.
4. Judy Niemeyer place mat kit: it's in the bookshelf, waiting to be made.
5. Chili pepper quilt: Ick. Maybe donate?
6. Around the Twist quilt: It's done except I think a couple of the corners need sewing? This'll probably go to donation
7. One or two Hawaiians? (small) that need quilting One blue, one pink Where is the blue hawaiian?
8. A cute but fussy quilt that I started in pinks and blues but I'm not sure I'm precise enough to finish
9. I pieced a baby sized black and white drunkards path 35 years ago? Maybe more? It needs borders then quilting..

Sewing:

1. I bought a jacket sewing class
2. I'd like to do some Alabama Channin type embroidery on garments.

Spinning:

• Ugh. I need to eval. Spin all the stuff?

Mosaic:

Something 3d? Using Paltiya?

Q4'25 finished list 13/36

The "ugly duckling" towels

1) The Poppy table top. I think this table has been well celebrated, no need to continue here 

2) Postcards with the 6K year old pot motiv.

3-7) 5 towels, 4 of which now live happily somewhere else. Here's a photo of the two I liked the best. The light blue is actually a grey (but reads blue next to the other colors) and the bright green is mustard. I tried them together but didn't think the colors would look good together; I thought the mustard would overwhelm and the grey would wash out, but for some reason I tried it anyways. Super glad I did. 

Chemo cap to a Hungarian cancer center

8) Napkins, quantity 2/6. Why am I counting these as one item, but the towels separately? Not sure, it just felt right. Someday I'll hem the other 4.

9) Hat for me (there's no photo yet but the hat debuted in Europe and was quite warm).

10) Hat for charity; I knit the Hurricane hat in a worsted weight cotton. To be frank I was disappointed that they were only able to collect 40 hats (and some folks did more than one!) from the 120 of us on board.

11) Baby Sweater in a useless wool.

12) A wreath. Do I count that? Since it's not persistent?

13) A tiny weaving in a tapestry class offered by K.D. 

Did I add that right? 36 items this year?

I was going to rush to finish these items that are "almost" done, then decided not to rush just to mark them off the list.

• A sweater that needs buttons.
• 4 napkins that need hemming.
• A headband that needs finishing. 

I do have some ideas of what I want to work on in 2026; but also need to figure out how to keep momentum with all the travelling I'll be doing. More on that later.

Christmas Cooking!

 

I haven't been in the studio much, other than to carve a block, hem a couple of napkins and prep the design for the next table... I've been cooking instead. Here's the list since the 18th or so...

• Beef and pork ragu from Marcella Hazan's cookbook (double batch; we had it over pasta twice and I froze the rest). (With a Castello Di Ama Chianti)
• Lamb tagine (with 1991 Xavier Vignon Châteauneuf-du-Pape)

Sourdough sandwich bread

Sourdough discard crackers

Peanut brittle

Carmelized onion quiche, pieced together from a few recipes on the internet, with a nice Schmalz Wachauer Riesling. A+ for the wine pairing.

Cinnamon rolls https://www.ambitiouskitchen.com/best-cinnamon-rolls/. (these are not Mom style rolls... they're the soft pull apart ones. I may have found a recipe for Mom's style https://www.onesarcasticbaker.com/schnecken/). These were great with coffee

Lasagna (home made noodles) with the ragu from earlier on this list. Homemade noodles apparently don't need to be prebaked and have a silky wonderful texture. Why would you ever buy them dried? Wine was a Castello di Ama Chianti, older than the last. 

Chocolate marshmallows from this recipe. I mixed up some of the black cocoa powder K. gave me and it didn't taste good; dumped that and went with regular cocoa powder. The recipe calls for a 9x9 pan but the marshmallows are about 1.5 inches thick! I had to cut them down.  Next time I'd use a flatter pan.  https://www.theflavorbender.com/homemade-chocolate-marshmallows-recipe/

Chicken, sausage, and shrimp gumbo from a Paul Prudhome recipe with cornbread from a Love and Lemons recipe.  We had this with a French white burgundy.

At this point I was a little tired of cooking. Plus the freezer is getting full. So I took a break:  an evening out in the city at Lers Ros (Thai) and some jazz, and the night out with my knitting buddies. 

I didn't mention DH's chocolate disaster... apparently when you get a little water into the chocolate you're tempering, it can seize which is a technical word for it gets a very nasty texture... It's still in the fridge, awaiting my decision on whether or not it can be saved. I'll see if I can use the wisdom of the internet to beat it back into smooth glossiness by adding a bit of cream and heat; if that works, it'll become pots du creme. I'm also planning on making tamales with a red chile pork filling for New Years... more on that later. 

DH also convinced me (after watching me search for a recipe) that I need a recipe log... Here it is!

The cat photo? They've been fighting over this pillow, and had just come to an uneasy truce. A bit later they curled up together and looked very cute indeed.

ETA: The pots du creme were not particularly successful... although tasty, they did not have the creamy texture I was looking for.  For New Years I made a Rustic Tamale from Rick Bayless's cookbook, with red chile pork inside and a tomatillo-chipotle salsa. Rick calls for masa para tamales, then has you beat in lard... Sadly I did not read the masa ingredients, as it already contained lard so the dish was edible but super fatty; we threw out the leftovers. To use up the banana leaves and masa, I made some black bean tamales (no additional lard) and they were darn tasty.  Thus ends the December cooking frenzy! The freezer is pretty full :)

GSC Winter 25, Budapest

Hungarian Parliament

Dear Future Self, You need to stay on top of travel updates, or you forget too much.

Anyways, we passed Bratislava just after dinner after leaving Vienna... Lovely fortifications right on the river...

Everyone on deck to see the sights

Our tour directors suggested we see Budapest just after dawn (about 8AM) as we approached by boat... On the left bank was the Parliament building and on the right bank, the old castle and the Hapsburg Imperial complex.

Later that day I did my last tour; we went up to the Castle Hill; viewed some of the imperial administration buildings and dwellings, including Sissi's riding arena; ended up on the Fisherman's Bastion next to the cathedral overlooking the river and Pest (the flatter side), and visited the Christmas Market there. There were a lot of spicy grey and black ravens, and in fact, the raven (with a ring in it's beak) plays some part in the cathedral... In the afternoon I visited the marketplace and bought some paprika.

We defend the homeland with weapons
and money.  Subscribe to a war loan

P left in the very early morning, and at a more reasonable hour, I was off the boat for good and exploring... I was gobsmacked by the buildings. So many Art Nouveau style buildings!!! I spent the morning at the National Museum, which was pretty good; I really enjoyed the early 1900's posters. The pre-history collection was good, but the basement containing the Roman era stuff was closed for renovation.  I then wandered over to the Musuem of Applied Arts which is a Art Nouveau style building and is supposed to house a lot of things from that era; it was "wrapped" for renovation and closed. I walked back through the Christmas Markets. The street food was a little different; really long sausages again, and I saw more than one vendor selling little cabbage rolls. 

2nd largest Synagogue in the world

In my wandering, I found an interesting motiv on a building, and a plaque. Thank you Google Translate!!! I found Radio Budapest, where the 1956 rebellion started. Atlas Obscura has a good article on it...

The next day I went to the Dohany Street Synagogue and took their free tour. Wow! It was built in 1859, designed by Catholic architects who didn't get the memo... So there's pulpits (never been used as far as our guide knew); the bima in the front, not the center, and behind the ark there's an huge organ. Apparently the synagogue technically ends at the back of the ark so the organ, while in the building, is technically outside the synagogue. And if someone happened to be playing it on the sabbath, who was going to argue? Liszt was one of the organists.  Directly next to the Synagogue was a stunning temple dedicated to the Jewish heroes from WWI.  

Ceiling of the heroes temple

In the afternoon, I walked up Castle Hill to see the National Gallery. Inside was a special exhibit of painting by Lajos Tihanyi... He never achieved success as an artist and I wonder how much that had to do with him being unwilling to part with his work? I captured several of those to show DH, they're in Photos. I didn't look at the early ecclesiastical work but focused mostly on the collection of painting since 1850 or so; it's a great collection.

And that's about it for Budapest. If I go again, I would find an architecture tour aimed at the end of the Belle Epoque through the Art Nouveau Period. And probably find a phone with a better camera.

Just some random building

Photos are here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/E3facX1MQA3Tihhm8

I'm not sure how I feel about river cruises... My friend J says she and A look at them as an overview, then decide which places they may want to go back to. I don't really feel that I got to know any places well enough to tell if they're worth another visit. Passau? Regensburg? Would I have wanted to see more of Nürnberg? I don't think I've given them a fair chance. Would I want to eliminate towns on river tours as places to visit? Based on the bus traffic?

If I look at the number of photos I took in Nürnberg and Budapest, I think I was a lot more engaged when I wandered by myself than with a tour. But I learned a lot from the tours. So... yeah. Not sure :)

GSC Winter 25: Regensburg, Passau, Melk, Wien

Regensburg Roman tower

 I'm lumping these places together as I saw them all as part of the AMA tour. I'd hoped we'd have a day in each port, and move from port to port each night; that would have given me time to explore the city a bit. We did sail a lot at night, but most of our port calls were relatively short, giving time for the AMA tour, a quick dash through the Markt then back to the boat.  I'll just note what particularly struck me in these places...

There was a sizable Roman fort in Regensburg with well built walls that were incorporated into the later medieval wall.  This was an old Roman tower by one of the gates... the garrison held about 6000 people!

The bridge over the Danube was very old and very beautiful... 

Artists quarter in Passau

Three rivers come together in Passau at the Dreiflusseck... When the Inn is snowfed from the Alps it often flows much faster than the Danube, effectively damning it with water. When this happens, the area of town by the river floods profoundly! This area is home to a lot of artists who have their ateliers in the ground floor and live on the floor above; when a flood is coming, they can move everything to up to their living quarters.

I didn't take many photos in Melk... they were the process of taking all the books out of the library for renovation. The chapel is lovely and well documented by others. I am certainly coming to realize that my favorite type of church architecture is Gothic.

We stopped in Linz briefly to pick up the group who had spent the day in Salzburg but it was cold and dark and rainy and the Markt was closed anyways so I went to bed. 

Normally one would not dream of Vienna not having it's own page but... I took a tour of "Imperial Vienna" which was a drive around the Ringstrasse followed by a walking tour which completely ignored the beautiful Michaelertor, and allowed us 20 minutes of free time at Stephensplatz. What's sad to me is that folks will take this cruise and say they've seen Vienna.  I'm trying not to be judgy but this type of travel does not suit me. We did walk by the Spanish Riding School where I missed a photo of 3 Lipps going to workout; the lead one was showing off; I did see this one posing in his stall.

Lippazaner in his stall

I took the tour to Schönbrunn which was really a bus to the Christkindlmarkt (we saw St Nick!!!) and did not include a garden or Schloss tour. This was not my favorite market. I tried the Uhudler (Glühwein from Burgenland) which was WAY too sweet and not to my taste. 

Our plan is to visit Austria next fall, so I felt okay about not spending the day doing something useful. 

Regensburg: https://photos.app.goo.gl/9n2P4WWsyPSUdUur5

Passau: https://photos.app.goo.gl/eHUQCCA9fU2oW6TR8

Melk: https://photos.app.goo.gl/neo1yZhog6jqjnsb8

Vienna: https://photos.app.goo.gl/oa5yCJCJbRZoNaxC8

GSC, WInter 25, Nürnberg

I arrived in Nuremberg yesterday from Frankfurt; my DB train was only 35 minutes late!!! Apparently that’s really good.  And the announcements were unintelligible so I feel like my experience was complete. I was so tired from not sleeping that I walked around like a zombie for a couple hours, ate some food, then fell asleep. At 1AM, I woke up (that’s my current problem) but opened the window; I was asleep a bit later and feel much better today. The open window was key.

When DH and I travel, we have a plan, and he keeps me moving. When I travel alone, I often have a list but no plan… I assume I’ll do what ever I feel like doing. The problem with that is when I’m zombie tired, then I don’t want to do anything. So… A plan. 

Sebalduskirche, inside

Today after a fine breakfast at the Karl August, I wandered around the old town and saw:

Sebalduskirche, all dressed up Advent. I did see it the night before when I did my zombie walk, but it nice to see it in the daylight (sunset at 4:20). I had watched them decorating the altar.

Lorenzkirche

Kaiserberg: I love fortifications! But all the normal signs were not present. I wonder if it had been destroyed in WWII bombing and not rebuilt?

Albrecht Drurer house: I saw it from the outside but didn’t go in

Tiergärtnertor: this was pretty interesting, but would not photo well. What was interesting to me was that the gate exited parallel to the wall and moat. 

The wall, and some huge ass tower… I don’t know exactly what the tower was. I’d started walking along the wall, figuring maybe I’d walk the entire perimeter *6-7KM) but when I got to the tower, I decided I was cold and I abandoned to go see the Lorenzkirche. 

Two knit shops: I asked about local wool, and was informed that there are a lot of German brands, and they can’t carry everything, so why was I asking. I thanked them very much and left.

Frauenkirche: I actually saw this the night before, in the dark, as they were getting ready for the Market opening. Lovely church. 

The Market opening was nice to see. First they turned off all the lights; then lit the front of the church. A  children’s choir sung, there was a small brass band, the Christmas trees were lit and the Christkindl read the traditional poem before the lights were turned on again. I had a bad angle to the stage so there might have been other things going on… It took awhile for the sizable crowd to disperse.  (The crowd had its advantages… I was a lot warmer when I was stuck in the middle of a sea of bodies). I’ll check the online video footage of it later to see if I missed anything.

The Market stalls were open in the afternoon, so I was able to walk through… I bought some super warm mittens!!! I was delighted to see that the offerings were different (and better) than what I saw in Frankfurt; I was afraid they’d be the same from city to city.

On Saturday, I checked out and went to find the Germanisches Museum… On my way I dropped back into a booth at the Christkindlesmarkt where I’d seen this darn cute little ornaments… I decided to buy them because there was no one at the Markt! Not so when I walked back, it was super super crowded.

I brought some home...

The Germanisches Museum was good… they claim to cover 60000 years of germanic history. I was delighted to see the Stone Age, Bronze Age, Chacolithic, and Iron Age artifacts. Yes, there were spindle whorls and damn small ones, too; those are made for very fine threads. My favorite artifact was the bull from Hallstatt. A lot of the collection on display was ecclesiastical stuff from the Middle Ages which is not my thing. The 20th century collections were interesting. 

My tour on the first day of the cruise took us out and around the city... then out to where the Nazi parade grounds and the courthouse where the WWII trials were. Seeing this from the bus was fine. The court is still in use and you can tour it only when there's not a trial being conducted. 

We then went to the castle where I learned some interesting things about the fortifications, and how to tell which parts of the wall were rebuilt and which were original (if there was a hole in the middle of the stone, it was original). The stone masons would put the holes in the blocks so that they could be lifted with calipers on a pulley system.

Nürnberg photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/EmWfuVrJcxJNcygFA

GSC, WInter 25, More Frankfurt

 The weather was lovely today and I just felt like walking. After coffee near Willi Brandt Platz with it’s giant Euro, I found Faber & Castell’s flagship store and bought a couple of pencils and a sketch pad plus a cool eraser and sharpener, plus a small sketch pad, then popped into the bookstore nearby and picked up some German short stories (intermediate level of course).

I just read about the verb genießen in one of my German blogs. Apparently it’s not used in the same sense that we over use enjoy; the blogger had other suggestions (Das gefällt mir oder hat Spaß gemacht) but when I bought host chestnuts and commented on the sunny weather, the vendor told me it was a great day to enjoy being outdoors. AND she used the verb genießen, and that, according to the blog, is the appropriate use.  So much to learn.

I went in search of the Dom and finally found it. It was destroyed by fire in the 1800’s, and rebuilt, then a good deal of the church was destroyed and most of the surrounding area was leveled during WWII. It was rebuilt yet again, in the same gothic style. It’s a well lit, happy, airy cathedral with modern pale pastel stained glass windows. 

One of the rebuilt streets parallel to the river between the Rômerplatz and the Dom (Saalgasse) was a sheer and unexpected delight; each of the buildings was a little different, modern in feel yet with a nod to the past… I photoed some of the buildings. 

The next stop was lunch in Sachsenhausen… then the Liebieghaus Sculpture Museum. The main theme of the ground floor galleries were animal bronzes by August Gaul.  Apparently there was a Berlin Secession Movement similar to the Vienna Secession… The museum has a deep collection of ancient statuary as well as European historical art, and the Gaul pieces were located here and there amongst the older works highlighting various themes… It was really good. His bronze lioness brought tears to my eyes although I can’t tell you why I found her so moving.  In the basement was a huge collection of ivory carvings… after my initial distaste, I started to admire the material and the skilled carving. I think I would look carefully at the exhibition before returning, since such a large part of the collection is not in my sweet spot, but I’m super glad I dropped by.

I did go out a bit tonight; there was a Pokémon meetup… Slightly more organized than the ones I did with P&W in RWC. Basically, after giving folks time to finish one raid, the host would yell out a nearby location and the 40 or so participants would then move to the next location, then back on her signal. The other notable difference was that level of cigarette smoke despite the presence of a couple of young children. The meet up was located between the giant Euro and the Opera House, which was playing music to the plaza. Was there a performance? Between 6 and 7 PM? Hmmmm… A somewhat surreal experience but I got to hear (and try to decipher) a lot of accents.

Things to do in Frankfurt:

The Städel Museum

The sculpture museum down the street if so inclined

A quick visit to the Römerberg, including a walk down Saalgasse and a trip to the cathedral.

The archeology museum.

I missed 

a number of contemporary art museums

the design museum

and a trip to nearby Darmstadt.

There are a number of other museums (history) that might have proved interesting too, but I think you'd need to focus on a period.