Mmmmmm... Leftovers

There's still some dressing and rolls in the fridge, and my pants are still a little tight. I'm sad Thanksgiving is over. It's always fun to sit around with your family and eat all kinds of good stuff. And this year, somehow, I didn't have to bring any food!

After our early Thanksgiving lunch I went home to drink hot chocolate and watch football and knit with a friend. It's now officially Christmas / December birthday / Hanukkah gift crunchtime, and I am writing and re-writing lists and even made a spreadsheet to see if I can maintain sanity.

I LOVE this time of year! I might seem stressed out and slightly overwhelmed with all of the knitting to be done, but it is so much fun! I've got some pretty things done so far:
(and this is a spoiler alert for sis, dad, nephews, and Carrie)


I've started Dad's second sock with a fair isle border, sis's scarf is looking beautiful (but you can't really tell in the picture). The nephews' hats look great, although I'm still trying to figure out if earflaps will be added. The pale greenish thing in the middle is a crocheted washcloth out of Crystal Palace Cotton Chenille. I bought 3 skeins for 3 washcloths, and think that I can squeeze out a bath mitt from the leftovers.


I'm head over heels in love with Misti Alpaca's Handpaint Chunky Alpaca yarn. It's starting to really cool off here, and every girl needs a new hat for winter. The picture is blurry and fuzzy (kinda like I feel right now when I've only had half a cup of coffee) but the hat is gorgeous. I brought it in to work with me on Saturday and all of a sudden we only have 3 hanks left. The sad part is that I dreamed about chunky alpaca yarn last night - my friend was knitting a hat out of Cascade's Baby Alpaca Chunky, and it was way too big so I was helping him with decreases and it was the prettiest shade of light blue-grey. Wonder if I'll dream about Alchemy Silk Purse tonight...

Prime Time Monday Night

It's Monday Night Football time!!!!!

The Titans are playing the Broncos in Denver tonight, kickoff is in 3 minutes so I'd better hurry. It'll be a close game, and I'm so sad to hear that Albert Haynesworth is still too injured to play. Also, Travis Henry (an ex-Titan who now plays for Denver) is out of the game too, and I was really excited to see our defense give him a good challenge. Oh well. It'll still be a good game.

My pick: Titans 20, Broncos 14.

I've been knitting a lot lately, and have had a ball designing Christmas and Birthday presents. I'm also doing some knitting for hire at the moment, which is keeping me very very busy. I've got 2 scarves on the needles (actually, on the same needle). I fell in love with the design of my sis's Alchemy silk scarf, so I'm using the same pattern for mine, so why not knit them at once? Dad's socks are coming along well, but I'm really psyched about the boys' fair isle hats. I'm toying with double knitting earflaps and have had a lot of fun playing with that.

Here comes kickoff! Time for hot chocolate, knitting, and most important of all, FOOTBALL!!!!!

GO TITANS!!!

Happy Happy Happy Happy

Wow. In the past 2 days I have been completely overwhelmed - in the best way possible. As my Nanee would say, I am so incredibly blessed. I have the BEST friends and BEST family on the planet!

Thursday night I left work to go on a birthday date with a cute boy (my birthday's the 16th) and walked through his door to a big surprise party! Most of my friends are out of town this weekend, which really sucks because it's my birthday and I have a couple extra days off. So the boy organized a huge birthday party one day early with all of my closest friends and a huge, amazing dinner (they even got my mom to cook my favorite food). It was EXACTLY what I wanted. We ate and drank and danced all night - just perfect.

Friday I sat around and played with my birthday present to myself - a gorgeous skein of Alchemy Yarn's Silk Purse in the color "San Francisco Sky" - pictures later.

The next party was with the family. We ate another amazing meal, topped off with chocolate mousse cake. Yum. After dinner I had to step outside for a moment and when I came back in my family looked like this:


They were wearing just about everything I have made them in the last 8 years or so. They were all wearing hand knitted socks, belts, scarves, hats, nephew Hoss was wearing a poncho that I made his mom, everyone was wearing jewelry that I've made for mom and sis (even the guys), dad was in pajama pants - you get the idea. They wanted to thank me for all of the strange little things I do for them, and again, I was completely overwhelmed.

I even snagged a pic of Buddha Bear in his first birthday sweater.


The color is perfect - his blue eyes look electric next to that sweater.

I am so so so so so so so so so thankful for my wonderful friends who pulled off the best surprise ever! I am equally thankful for my family who have been so supportive of everything I do! I am so very blessed!

NFL Week 10

Guess where I went today? Here's a hint:


Carrie has season tickets, and took me to the game! Woo Hoo! But we lost and that sucked. My throat hurts from screaming and my hands hurt from clapping but it was a really fun time. Carrie rocks!

The only thing that really made me mad (besides the way we played) was Princess Frostilocks (he's the one on the right).


I love to play Mullet Watch. This is Music City where mullets are everywhere and you keep thinking that it couldn't get worse, but it does. I wish this picture showed the white blond frosted tips in their full glory. He had a bleach blond soul patch on his chin, and the wife-beater tank was hanging out of the neck of his shirt. He talked on his phone throughout the game and I was waiting for him to tell me to hush while I was screaming at our defense. It just made me scream louder.

This was the only second of the game that his arm was not around his woman (and her hair was almost as bad as his). When he put his arm around her he blocked access to my drink holder and I must have said "Excuse me" about a million times. If he messed with my hot chocolate one more time I would have gone on a frosted-mullet-bashing tirade, but kept my cool and was kinda worried that his girlfriend would scratch me to death with her scary press-on-nails.

I had to take a picture - that's for you, Sassy. She's my hairdresser/ best friend/ cousin/ knitting buddy and appreciates a bad mullet more than anyone I know. I normally don't make fun of people this much, but this guy needs to be in the Mullet Hall of Fame and he really pissed me off.

So we're 6 -3, still have a good chance at the playoffs, but the Titans had better get their %#*! together if they're going to win any more games. I still love you, Vince, and I really do believe in you, but right now my favorites are Keith Bullock and Kyle Vanden Bosch. I really like the way Keith sports the bright red gloves. The man's got style. And Vanden Bosch had a few really nice plays today.

Next week we're playing the Denver Broncos on Monday Night Football! I do love Jay Cutler, but we'll be kickin some Bronco butt.

And Betty S. - thank you so much - I had the BEST coffee this morning and am enjoying another wonderful cup right now!

Friday Night Plans

I'm trying to knit myself into a good mood. I've been a little off since the root canal and am still trying to work my way back to the normally happy-go-lucky esp. So, here's the plan.

Step 1: Make incredibly rich mint hot chocolate.

Step 2: Find a knitting project that makes me happy.

This one is tough. I'm designing all of my knitted Christmas presents this year and the patterns will (hopefully soon) be for sale at TBY. There's a book that I really really want but am waiting for it to come in, so some of the designs have to wait a bit.

I've designed something really cool for my sweet best friend, but swatched through an entire ball of Wool Bam Boo before I found the right design and still hold a grudge for that. I have yarn for hats for the nephews, but need the book to finish the design. I started Dad's socks on Sunday, but it gave me trouble (actually, I was unprepared and forgot my supplies and it's all my fault) and again, I'm holding a slight grudge there too. I need something relatively easy that will make me happy.

I think I'll pick up that darn sleeve from my Tangled Yoke Cardigan. It's easy, there's not too much left, and I just might be able to join the whole thing together and start the yoke tonight, which is the most exciting part.

Step 3: Ignore the laundry piled in the corner and sink full of dirty dishes. That's easy enough.

Step 4: Watch Men in Trees and then last night's Grey's Anatomy online.

That's a nice recipe for a good mood. Now it's pajama time.

Knitting Update, with Pictures!

The Clapotis is done! It was pretty wide after blocking, but has shrunk up a little from wear. It's soft, gorgeous, and makes me feel like a million bucks. Just what the doctor ordered. I LOVED working with Schaefer's Lola - it's a superwash wool that's perfect for winter socks - it knits up to 6-7 sts per inch, so they're not like your usual fingering weight socks. I think I need new socks now.


Speaking of socks, this took me about 4 hours yesterday. I ran home and grabbed an extra circular and tapestry needle and wove in my ends, joined the hem, and knitted just a little bit, but had to put this one down for a break.


So I picked up the Tangled Yoke Cardigan. This is my second sleeve, and after this I get to join the front/back and sleeves and start the yoke. That's the super cool part of this pattern, and I'm so excited to see how it goes. This is my first Eunny Jang pattern, from the Fall 07 Interweave Knits, and I'll work on this today while I wait for the winter issue to come in the mail.


These are my dragon socks. It's Colinette's Jitterbug, in the color Toscana, and they're my first toe-up. I started them a while back and took a break and then lost them. Turns out they were in my t-shirt drawer shoved in the back with those shirts that I never wear anymore but can't quite get rid of. I've always loved the Dragon Skin pattern from Barbara Walker's Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns, and the stitch count was perfect. The picture is a little fuzzy, but these socks are awesome and I can't wait to do the heel.


Before I started the Jitterbug socks, these were my dragon socks. It's the Pomatomus sock pattern from Knitty and I am so freaking proud of these socks because it's a crazy pattern done in twisted rib. The yarn is beautiful - my first ever Koigu project. They were so pretty that I ordered 2 more colorways and they're sitting in my stash because I am supremely pissed at this yarn.

I've worn these socks 3 times. I blocked them well and have hand washed them, 3 times, in my sink in the perfect temperature water with the best fiber washes out there, and they look like crap. It's hard to tell from the bad picture, but they're pilled and fuzzy and the pattern is already getting lost. It's not like I'm running marathons in these socks or running around without shoes on sharp gravel. I take very good care of them and they have let me down.

I expect some pilling and wear from my handknit items, but I have 2-year-old socks out of crappy yarns that look a whole lot better than these.

Koigu is so pretty and everyone loves it, and I love the colors. I've talked to a bunch of people who have used Koigu and while a few have had similar issues, most people say it holds up well. I'm asking you, is this just a bum skein or should I expect this from the yarn in my stash?

I loved the Pomatomus pattern so much that I'm getting some new yarn to make them again so I can wear them all the time.

It's time to go see the nephews and do some laundry. I'm also super duper excited about a little errand today - I'm going to the new Whole Foods in Green Hills! Mom went on opening day and went on about how cool it is, and I'm one of those crazies who LOVES grocery shopping.

Football Pajamas Day!

Every once in a while, I get a luxuriously lazy day to relax. And I have really needed it. So, Happy Football Pajamas Day to me!

So far I've eaten blueberry raspberry pancakes and watched the Titans game. It wasn't pretty, but we beat the Carolina Panthers 20-7. It's still frustrating to watch because I know we can play so much better. But a win's a win, and I'll take it.

It's also been a day of knitting. I'm designing some socks, and had to rip out a lot. They involve a provisional cast on, a nice hem, and a bit of fair isle. But I'm not at home, and didn't have a crochet hook for the cast on so I improvised and made a chain with a knitting needle. I knitted the hem, turning row and fair isle section, and got ready to join the hem. To do this, I rip out the crochet chain and put the live stitches on an extra needle, then knit the sock stitches together with the cast on stitches. But there is no extra circular needle in sight, so I painstakingly put the live stitches on a piece of picture framing wire and started to join. But I forgot a crucial step - the ends need to be woven in first because once the hem is joined, you can't even get to the tails. There's no crochet hook or even sewing needle in sight, so I blog.

I also don't have my camera cord so there will be no pictures in this post of my gorgeous clapotis scarf. It was dry by yesterday morning so I wore it to work all day and then wore it to the bonfire cookout. That thing was around my neck from 7:30 am (it looks great with my bathrobe) to about 1:00 this morning. I love it dearly.

Now it's time to watch the Colts play the Patriots and maybe go for an afternoon drive. In my pajamas. With syrup spilled on them. It's Football Pajamas Day and I'm happy!

Waiting...

It's blocking. The Clapotis scarf out of Schaefer's Lola. It's so hard to wait when your finished product looks so darn pretty.

I picked up my halfway done abandoned fall sweater project, the Tangled Yoke Cardigan, and am slowly knitting through the sleeves, but all I can think about is my scarf.