Sunday, November 29, 2009

Knitting Progress

A five-day weekend gave me some time to make progress on my Christmas knitting - but also to decide I really needed to make a Red Scarf. I've made one the last three years, but had decided to take this year off -- except Norma says they really need more scarves, so.....

Grey Red Scarf

This year's scarf is grey, not red (any unisex color is accepted), and is sort of based on this scarf - but done in worsted weight (Lion Brand Wool-Ease, which, I have to say, for a big-box store, mostly-acrylic yarn, isn't half bad) with some ribbing added.

Over the weekend, I also finished another dishcloth for Mom

Another dishcloth for Mom

and almost finished a Christmas gift (which you'll see later).

I will show you this: Mitten #1 for my niece -- it's Jared Flood's Grove mitten. The color is quite pink (this picture really doesn't do it justice).

Mitten #1

The other major accomplishment over the weekend was, of course, eating lots with about 25 relatives. I guess you can tell what was important - I managed to take pictures of all the food, but the only relatives pictured are the ones that were standing around the food.

Thanksgiving

You'll notice that the first assortment of food right after the plates and plastic-ware is the desserts!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving

Also - there was an abundance of noodles and mashed potatoes! Yum!

Thursday, November 19, 2009

One CP Down....

Edited to add: Did you know there are two sizes of size 6 needles? I have 2 sets of size 6 DPNs, and one set is marked 4.0 mm (which is what the pattern calls for) and the other set is marked 4.25 mm. I knew about the two size 1s (well, 1 and 1 1/2), of course, but I didn't realize other sizes had variations, too. And I'm really glad my needles AND the pattern all indicated the metric size!

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That would be one "Christmas Project" and actually, it still needs blocking.

Christmas Project 1

And that's all you're getting until after it's gifted!

Christmas Project 2 is on the needles.

Christmas Project 2
It's kind of funny how my camera focused on the keyboard, not on the knitting...

Be assured that not all the Christmas knitting is pink!

Actually, Christmas Project 3 has been started, but I put it aside, because I'll need something to work on over Thanksgiving that's NOT a gift for the people I'm seeing then.

Christmas Project 4 needs some designing on my part - I should get to that soon, too. Luckily Christmas Project 5 will be a fast one, but I don't have the yarn yet.

Probably because I've got lots of Christmas knitting to do, I suddenly really want to finish some of my WIPs, particularly the Bougainvillea socks. sigh....

Bougainvillea sock

This might be because my handknit sock supply is suddenly looking pretty bad. I probably need to learn to darn, too.

Sunday, November 08, 2009

Long time, no blog....

I'm constantly thinking about blogging, but nothing seems really bloggable.

For example: today was a gorgeous day - temperature in the low 70s and sunny. But around 4:30, you could tell it was already starting to get dark. I swear it's getting dark earlier this year.

Also: Christmas knitting has commenced, but I'm always worried about blogging about it. So far, it's all from stash, but I think I will have to break down and buy yarn for one project.

Christmas knitting

I really should have blogged about Halloween:

I made apple cider donuts to take to work on Halloween. They were really yummy, although I didn't think they were all that apple-y.

Donuts for Halloween

We were well-protected at work on Halloween by librarian superheroes Squirrel Girl, Clark Kent/Superman, and Thor,

Hardin superheroes


and by a Plague Doctor.

Plague Doctor

No picture of me - my costume was "librarian on Friday" -- jeans and clogs!

And look -- Harley and Dolly are best buds now! It's really cute how they cuddle and groom each other, especially since Dolly is an extra-small kitty and Harley is an extra-large. Harley really is about 3 times bigger than Dolly!

Harley and Dolly

So - that pretty much catches you up on my life. Well, except for the four new tires on my car. You'd think I'd have a picture of something that cost $600, but I don't....