Twas the day After Thanksgiving....

Thanksgiving is now over. Funny how quickly the holidays come and go. This Thanksgiving isn’t going to go down as one of the most memorable in history, but it was wonderful all the same. The traditional fire in the fireplace was going, as was the football game on TV. We were particularly lucky this year to have snow.


As is tradition in our house, an over-abundance of food was cooked. My mom has a knack for making much more food than could possibly be eaten by seven people. I think one of the main reasons for this is the fact that she didn’t want anyone going home empty handed. Indeed I think that was an impossibility due to the fact that we not only had one turkey….. we had two.

That’s 26 pounds of turkey…..for seven people…..one of whom is vegetarian…..

Such are the holidays in my house. Another tradition has always been to put up the Christmas tree and decorations the day after thanksgiving.

Ah, there she is, old faithful, all tucked away. That is the 10-foot artificial tree we’ve had since I was ten. She has given us 13 years of service, dutifully allowing herself to be made and unmade year after year. Putting up with the cats who seem to be fascinated to no end by climbing through her branches. This year will be no different. In fact, she may see more climbing action due to the fact that there are now two new cats, still in kitten phase.

And then there are the various other Christmas decorations we’ve had packed away in the garage since last year…

And you thought your family had a lot of decorations. I’ll be sure to post pictures once there all up to show you just how festive a house can become!

As for knitting, I finished my Debbie Bliss cashmerino, cabled sweater in time to wear on Thanksgiving day. You should have seen me sewing in ends a couple hours before we were due to eat! I can tell you if there is anything I truly dislike about knitting, it’s sewing in ends. I, unlike most people I know, love to piece the sweater together. There’s just some underlying satisfaction I get from seeing those seams come together so perfectly. But the ends…..those I dread. But, I sucked it up and did them anyway and I was left with a wonderfully finished sweater….


If you’re wondering about the mittens….well….I frogged them. I wasn’t very satisfied with the way they were turning out and there was just something about them I didn’t like so….I ripped them out. It hurt, I know, but it had to be done. Today I’m going to be trying them again, in different colors and I think a different pattern. We’ll see if I like those better!

Weekend Update with ErLeCa

Allergy update: I am feeling much better! I am in love with this nose squirty stuff. I'm still a little stuffed up at times but man, the majority of the time I have been able to breathe! It's a lovely, lovely feeling. Unfortunately I have to stop using it on Friday because I have to be off all antihistamines, allergy meds, etc, seven days before my skin test.....bummer.

It has been an eventful yet relaxing weekend. I went to see The Incredibles Friday night. Excellent movie. I highly recommend it. Not only was it a great movie, but it had a great short film before it started. You know how Pixar always makes a short before all of it's movies. (My personal favorite is the one with the old man playing chess with himself!) This particular short involved a sheep and, if that wasn't already playing to the fiberholic in me, it also revovled around his beautiful fleece. I won't ruin the story for you, you'll just have to go see it.

Oh the knitting front, I will begin by saying I am the biggest hypocrite there is when it comes to knitting a particular item. We'll get to that in a sec. First, I have finished all the pieces of my wonderful, drool inducing, fibery goodness, Debbie Bliss cashmerino sweater. I started sewing it together last night.

I tried it on (because I'm that big of a dork that I have to try it on when only one side is sewn) and the sleeve is a tad bit tight so I think some blocking is in order. Other than that I LOVE IT! However, I'm slightly concerned about the amount of yarn I have left. I'm thinking the collar might not be as high as I want it to be. We'll have to see when I get there!

Now, on to why I'm the biggest hypocrite in the world. In a previous post I said I wasn't going to make any more mittens. Now I've made a liar of myself. But it's for a good cause. (I'm sure that's what all liars say, but I feel completely justified) My grandmom, who is 83 and still kicking, just found out that she has a heart arrythmia. This is the first major medical problem that she's had, which I'd say is pretty outstanding for an 83 year old who drives a Firebird. I kid you not, she has a Firebird in fire engine red. The real toping on the cake would be if it was a convertible, unfortunately she doesn't live that far on the edge! The women in my family are very long-lived. My great grandmother lived to be 95. And now my grandmom is getting up there, but I tell you she certainly doesn't act her age which I think is the secret to why she's so healthy! Anyway, I thought it would be really nice to make her a pair of mittens.

I wasn't sure I'd like the combination of light blue and black, but it's actually turning out really nice. I like how the light blue looks something like snowflakes. Now all you mitten addicts out there get to have another fix before I hang up my mitten needles for more than a few weeks! At this point, I can't guarantee I won't make another pair. Inspiration might strike and I may not be able to help myself.

By the way, I bought the best knitting book in the world this weekend: Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I've already made something out of it, but unfortunately I can't show you because it's a present for someone. Oh I'm so sneaky.

Hope everyone has a happy Day-Before-the-last-day-of-work-this-week day!

My Adventures in Allergy Town

First off, thank you to everyone for your well wishes on my allergies. I have to say, I have a brighter outlook on it. No longer do I feel there's nothing that can be done. No longer do I feel that breathing through my nose is an impossibility. Granted, breathing through my nose is still a distant memory of the past, but I feel it may yet be part of my future. And it's a glorious future, full of tissue-free days, breathable nights and frollicing in meadows. So maybe not the frollicing part, but you get my point. I won't be a mouth-breather anymore and you have no idea how happy that makes me!

I went to the allergist today for my consultation. Not only did I find hope in not having to suffer through allergies, but I also found fellow knitters. If I wasn't involved in knitting I'd probably think it was an epidemic. Hell, make that a pandemic! I was sitting in the waiting room..... waiting (duh) when the nurse called me in. The first thing out of her mouth was "you're a knitter!" I must say, she was very excited. That's a nice change from those who say "you're a knitter, isn't that granny?" or similar idiotic phrases. What struck me as funny was we talked more about knitting than we did about my allergies. It's a good thing the doctor who evaluated me couldn't have cared less about the state of my knitting or I may be no further in ridding myself of this curse.

After the nurse took a look through my pattern book, then the finished pieces of my sweater and then the sweater I was wearing which I happen to have made (I was asked in a comment if I wear my sweaters often and the answer is yes, every day that's cold enough) she left me to myself until the doctor arrived.

Thus began my consultation. First came 20 questions. 20 very hard to understand questions from a man who originated from difficulttounderstandsville and had the bushiest eyebrows I've ever seen. Ok, so maybe he actually originated from some eastern european nation but he would definitely benefit from a pair of scissors strategically used over those caterpillars he calls eyebrows.

Once that was over I was handed what basically amounts to a very large piece of paper which was supposed to double as a "gown". Whoever thought of these must be laughing at this point. Fannies across the nation are hanging out because the proper use of these
monstrosities requires you to put them on with the opening in back. Many a joke has been made in movies and television shows alluding to this fact and now I have become part of that joke by the sheer fact that I was wearing one.

On to the physical examination! This basically consisted of the checking of breathing, reflexes and my nose & throat. Apparently I have sluggish reflexes because it took him a couple of tries before my knee finally jerked. Personally I don't think he was hitting the right spot but that seems to be a common problem among men. Ok, get those minds out of the gutter! Then came the checking of the nose and throat. I already know this would not be a profession I would do well in. The thought of looking up someones nose just doesn't appeal to me. Especially noses that are malfunctioning and working overtime to produce some of the nasties stuff mankind has ever come across. Nope, it's certainly not for me.

Thus concluded my consultation. I was given samples of some sort of nose spray. My basic thought is I'm trying to stop things from coming out of my nose, putting stuff up there seems counterproductive to me, but they're the experts. Once I shed myself of the paper tent and re-dressed I headed out to the front desk only to be bombared by nurses who wanted to see my knitting. Apparently the nurse I first met was not the only knitter. I felt somewhat like a celebrity...... a very minor, z-list celebrity, but that just made my visit that much better.

I'm due back in a couple of weeks for the (insert scary music here) skin test so hopefully we can identify the culprit. Till then, I will be knitting and enjoying my Thanksgiving break, which as I mentioned before is only a week (less than actually) away!

I'm Not Jinxed!

I broke the curse! I said I was going to chorale and I went! Though I have to admit I almost didn't go. My allergies were terrible yesterday. If you've never experience allergies where you can't breath all day long and you end up using about 50 tissues in the course of 8 hours, well, you're one lucky person. I kid you not, my tissue box was almost full when I started work yesterday and now it's half empty! I won't get into details because basically it's gross and none of you want to hear about it. Ok, so I can't resist, if I didn't have those tissues I'd probably look like this.

I have to admit when I almost decided to not go last night I thought "but now the blogging jinx will really come true!" I realize that there is no such thing as a blogging jinx and the fact that I was motivated to go because I thought that if I didn't I would just be perpetuating a blogging jinx that won't go away, is, well, let's face it.... ridiculous and not a little humorous. So if you can imagine, there I was singing, completely stuffed up and probably sounding quite horrible all because I was stubborn and wanted to get rid of a make-believe jinx. I'm sure my over-abundant sense of responsibility had something to do with it as well but I choose not to take that into account at this point.

My stubbornness is partially responsible for me feeling as horrid I did yesterday. I kept convincing myself that these allergies will go away. 'I'll feel better tomorrow' was a common re-occuring thought. I kept thinking that after the frost comes I'll feel better. Hmmm, let's think back, it's snowed already, I'd say that's a hard frost. Well, it's time to face reality sweetheart. It's time for me to say to myself "Erin, you have a problem. Maybe you should get your stubborn butt into the allergist's so you can finally breath again." So I broke down yesterday and called them. I'm dreading the skin test, but what has be done, has to be done. I'm a big girl, I can take it! And you better believe I'll be sitting in that office knitting because who knows how long I'm going to have to be there for!

On a lighter and much happier note, next week is Thanksgiving! I only have a three day work week! I'm trying to decide which I'm most happy about: Stuffing my face with Thanksgiving goodness, or having a four-day weekend.... hmmm, that's a tough one.

Someday Binghamton.... someday.

So my plans to go down to Binghamton have been thwarted yet again! Apprently whatever higher power there is, it doesn't want me to go down there any time soon. We were going to do this big family thing with my brother and my parents but my mom ended up coming down with a cold so we thought we'd better let her rest. I'm thinking next time I have plans to go down there I'm not going to write about them here until I've actually done them. (I think there's some sort of weird blogging jinx where if you write about a future event it won't come true, especially a future event involving Binghamton..... creepy)

So what did I do instead? Well, I knit (that's a given) on the front of my oh-so-yummy Debbie Bliss Cashmerino sweater. I'm to the armhole shapings now. I did laundry, not nearly as glamorous as knitting on oh-so-yummy sweaters, but it was a necessity. I moved things out of my room because we have the carpet steamer guys coming today. This is all in an attempt to rid my room of whatever allergens are making me crazy. I watched TV. Pretty much there wasn't anything good on so I flipped the channels and randomly landed on a horrid reality TV show that I will never watch again. Luckily it was one of those reality shows that's a one episode at a time kind and not the suck-you-in-and-not-let-you-stop-watching-it-till-it's-over kind. And (to the delight of many of my readers) I took pictures!

Yes that is one of the kittens chewing on a knitting needle. I can assure you that as soon as this picture was taken I shooed him away. I'm glad he's so interested in my work, but seriously, leaving little puncture marks in my needles in not ok.

They're not always little monsters either. See.......

They can be sweet little angels too. The first one is Ramses laying on one of my sweaters. The second is Pippin, laying on my lap while I was knitting. Luckily I happened to have my camera nearby so I didn't miss the moment.

Tonight I have Chorale practice. Barring some disaster I'm pretty sure I'm going to make it. (call this testing my blogging jinx!)

Weekend Activities

This weekend didn't exactly turn out how I had planned, but I really don't have anything to complain about. Saturday I went to the coffeeshop to knit with my meetup ladies. Ahhh, I love that. We had a really great time. I finished the mitten linings while I was there. So I've turned out yet another pair of mittens. (I'm thinking that's all for awhile, though I could be completely wrong, who knows? I may find someone else who's just dying for a pair!) I'll have pictures for you soon.
I went home and was waiting for the people who I was going to go to the concert with to call, but they never did. To be perfectly honest, I'm not at all disappointed. In fact, I'm sort of glad they didn't call. I really wasn't in the mood to drive all the way down there and back that night. What I really wanted to do was sit and knit. (Plus my allergies were getting me down so I wasn't feeling up for it that way either) So I sat and watched movies and knit (of course). I started the front of the Debbie Bliss sweater I was working on. I'm about halfway through with that. I love how quickly it goes. I really can't believe it. I wonder if I'm going to have a hard time going back to sweaters on normal needle sizes. I think I might resent the fact that after working on them for several hours they only grow a couple of centimeters. I know that's how it's gonna be on my mom's sweater which I may start soon. It's on size 3's. Am I crazy?!?!? Yeah, crazy for going from an 11 to a 3. That would pretty much send anyone to the looney bin.
Sunday was actually great too. I went to see the new Bridget Jones movie. Seriously funny. If you liked the first one you'll love the second one. It was campy in parts, but that just made it better. There were also a lot of really good previews for new movies. Isn't it bad when you're watching previews and you want to see the preview more than the movie you actually went to see? Or you forget which movie you went to see because there were so many previews? Yeah, that's about what it was like yesterday.
It looks like I'm going down to Binghamton tonight. My brother wants us to go down for another one of those trivia nights he goes to. Should be fun. We'll see if I can answer any questions this time!
I promise I'll upload some pictures soon! I would hate for you all to get bored cause there's nothing to look at!

No knitting here....

Let me apologize in advance that there are no pictures in this post. Call me a slacker, call me what you will, but I just don't think you all want to see the makings of mitten linings.....again..... So instead, I will talk about my last couple of days. Mainly they were spent sitting on the couch, watching my favorite TV shows of which I only have two. LOSTand Survivor. Apparently I like shows on islands. Who knew? Anyway, I was never a big Survivor fan, but like all reality shows, there you are, minding your own business, flipping through channels and nothing good is on so you think, why not, there's nothing better on. You didn't intend to watch it, but now that you have, you're just sunk. They've hooked you and now they're reeling you in. Damn television producers and their reality TV. LOST is my other favorite show. I feel like I've talked about it already so I won't get into it now.

Something interesting happened to me on the way to work the other day. I was driving along and wasn't really paying any attention to the cars in front of me until I looked at the license plate of one of them. You know what it said? GOT2KNIT. Now I was both ecstatic and disappointed at the same time. Ecstatic because it was really cool to see a license plate like that and disappointed because now that one is taken. What was really funny was when I looked into the car to see if it was anyone I knew. I can most assuredly say no. It was an old guy, who may or may not knit. I really don't know, but it wasn't what I was expecting to see.

My weekend is pretty full. Tomorrow morning I'm going to the knitting meetup with all of those ladies (can't wait because I missed last weekend) . Tomorrow night I am going down to Binghamton to see an acapella group sing. I know one of the guys in it from high school. He was in 8th grade when I was a senior! So now he's singing in this group at his college and me and his parents are going down to see their concert. How do I know his parents you ask. Well, for one, I live in a really small town and everyone knows everyone, and two, they're in the chorale that I sing in and we carpool, so last Tuesday they asked me if I wanted to go with them to this concert. It sounds like it'll be fun and besides, I'm not doing anything else Saturday night.
The rest of the weekend will be spent cleaning because I finally can't handle these indoor allergies I have so I will be cleaning like a maniac. Hope it works..... there's no way I'm getting rid of my pets!

Thanks for the laugh!

I know exactly what you're thinking...

'Wait a minute, didn't you post just the first one on your last blog entry?'

Why yes, yes I did.

'How is it that you can finish two mittens in a week?'

Funny you should ask. I never would have been able to do it without a interesting little power outage we had today. So there I was, minding my own business, doing my work when my computer, the lights and everything else turned off. Guess how long the power was out for? Oh, just about four hours.....did anyone tell us we could go home? Nope. So after my coworker and I finished all the filing there was to do we sat in our office and knit....in the dark....while the building became increasingly colder from lack of electricity to run the heater. Ah, you gotta love the company I work for. They'd rather pay us for sitting on our asses, doing nothing that benefits them in the off chance that the power just might come back on in time for us to do some work than send us home and not pay us..... Hmmm, it says something about their budgeting department doesn't it? Oh yeah, I forgot we don't have a budgeting department! (Can you tell I would have rather gone home today?)

Anyway, there you have it, two finished mittens. Ok, so they're not finished, they don't have linings, they haven't been blocked and the ends haven't been woven in, but they're mostly finished. (I was going to make a stupid Princess Bride reference here about 'dead' and 'mostly dead' but I'll spare you!)

So I read the funniest description of my mittens today. Michelle posted a comment that said my mittens remind her of little cakes. Mitten cakes to be exact. They look so good you could eat 'em. I almost peed my pants. Seriously, I haven't got a clue as to why I found this to be so amusing, but I really did. Even thinking about it now makes me laugh. Mitten cakes......teeheee..... I know I'm going to be that person who starts laughing about it because it popped into my mind at a completely inappropriate time. Does that ever happen to you? You think of something that made you laugh hours, days, maybe weeks before and it makes you laugh again? (And inevitably the people who are around you give you looks because they think you're insane for laughing at nothing in particular!) Oh yeah, that'll be me!


Mitten cakes..........HA!

SNOW!!!!!

When I woke up this morning I found a surprise waiting for me outside. Yep, that's snow..... It's begun. I drove through two lake effect bands on my way to work. *sigh* I don't like driving through it, but I do like snow. This really wasn't anything more than a dusting, but it definitely was pretty to watch it come down.

So I'm almost finished with the first mitten. I decided to go for a plain look on the band. It's just k1, p1 rib and I think I'm going to put a stripe in it. I really wasn't feeling the more fancy cuffs.

Sorry this post isn't more exciting. I'm still pretty worn out from the weekend!

Quickie

Just a quick update for you. Thank you to everyone concerning my finger. It's doing well, doesn't hurt (thank god!) I don't really like to look at it though. I don't think you've ever seen anyone change a bandaid as fast as I do!

Not a lot of knitting went on this weekend because I drove about three and a half hours out to Albany (Lake George to be specific) for a wedding reception. One of my roommate's from college got married..... I can't believe it. Anyway, I had an excellent time. It really was just one big college reunion. Me and two of my other roommates drove out there. We met up with a ton of other people we knew in college which was fabulous. I can tell you, I was hurting the next day, not because of drinking mind you (I only had three drinks in 6 or 7 hours) but because I danced so much! I'm telling you they had the best band I've ever seen at a wedding. They didn't play any cheezy music, just oldies but goodies and even a couple of newer songs. It was great. While they were taking their brakes they used their little iPod to play some great dance songs. The photographers were great too. I only know this because they went around taking a bunch of candid shots of everyone talking, or dancing, etc with their excellent digital cameras then put them up on a screen in a slide show. It was so awesome. I'm telling you that's exactly what I want for my wedding (which won't be anytime soon seeing as how I'm not with anyone!).

All-in-all I had an excellent time. It really made me miss the times I shared with all of my friends from college. We spent most of the evening remenicing (did I spell that right?) of all the things that went on at school, the good and the bad! It was bittersweet. But, I'm not sad, I have new memories to make!

I'll probably post a couple of pictures (not wedding reception pictures but general knitting, etc pictures) tonight, so stay tuned!

The Tale of the Eventful Day

Today has been....eventful. That would definitely be the word to describe it. It seems I can now add another thing to the list of stupid things I've done. It's a really good one too, even the doctor laughed about it. Yes, before you ask, it did involve a trip to the doctors office. This morning I was opening a can of cat food......(this pause is to allow you to imagine all the things one can do with a can of cat food which later involves a doctor) my hand slipped and I cut my finger on the metal disc of death. Why do they even make lids like that? I swear they are a hazard and they should be outlawed!

Anyway, this oh so smart thing happened at around 7 in the morning..... four hours, three stitches and one tetanus shot later, I am a new woman.......with an incredibly huge bandage wrapped not only around the offending finger, but also around the wrist which only accentuates my clumsy mistake. But I'm not bitter. Things like this happen right? I only wish it could have been a bit more glamorous, for instance, my incredibly wonderful (yet, sadly imaginary) boyfriend decided to propose and when he was trying to slip the ring on my finger unfortunately it was a size too small so in his zeal to try to make the ring fit, the incredibly huge diamond cut my finger....the cut's on my pinkie, it's possible! No, no, instead when I relate the story it has to be.....I cut my finger on a can of cat food.... It's alright to laugh, I do! Seriously, you have to laugh about things like this!

So, as you can imagine knitting is somewhat off a challenge! However, I did finish the back of my sweater!

That surely brightened my mood, even if it was incredibly awkward to hold the needles and yarn with this huge mass of a bandaged finger! I imagine watching this sort of thing must be awfully funny. My pinkie is stuck in this permanent position of sheer snobbery (imagine holding a tea cup with the pinkie lifted.....yep, that's how it looks) And trying to negotiate the needle around the yarn and vice versa was something of a challenge..... So what did I do?

I started another pair of mittens of course!

Remember me saying my mom wanted me to make a pair for her friend for Christmas? Well, here's the beginning of that. She finally got around to buying the yarn so, sadly, I have to put down my "heaven in a skein" project to work on some mittens....actually it's not that sad, it just means I get to go back to my dreamy yarn once I'm finished with these mittens. (And as you all know, I love mittens so really, there's nothing to be sad about!)

And with that I leave you and hope your day was less *eventful* than mine.

Random Musings....

Basically I am disappointed about the election outcome, but I don't want to go into it here. This is my blog for happy stuff. Not for depressing election stuff.

Chorale practice last night was fun. We really didn't get a lot done because it was sectional rehearsals and the woman leading wasn't all that great at keeping us focused. Anything was better than sitting at home watching the election results. We have our concert in 5 weeks. I can't believe it. Where the heck has time gone? Did I turn my head or close my eyes and all of a sudden time decided to pass me by? It felt like August was yesterday and already fall is over. Is it over for anyone else? We have snow in the forcast for next week....SNOW! I suppose it's right, it generally snows here in November. I just feels like time has flown.

In knitting related news, I will probably be finished with the back of my sweater tonight. Shock is pretty much my feeling on it. I can't believe I'm almost finished with the back and I really haven't worked on it very much! I'm having a love/hate relationship with it now. I love that it's going fast, but I hate that it will be over soon.

In random news, the third Ratchet and Clank game for PS2 has come out! It's called Up Your Arsenal! How awesome is that? I am in love with these games. My love for them began when I beat the first game. I quickly moved on to the second game (Going Commando) and beat it after non-stop playing for a month! I was ecstatic when I found out there was going to be a third and have less-than-patiently been waiting for it to come out. I know it's strange, I am a knitter who is obsessed with video games. I must say that these are conflicting interests because there's only so much time in a day and I can only be doing one or the other. If there ever came to be a way where I could play video games and knit at the same time I would be all over that!

I'm not planning on buying it until after Christmas because I'm afraid I won't get my Christmas knitting done. *sigh* I really want to buy it, but I have to be strong! Wish me luck!

Happy November Everyone!

I'd first off like to say thank you to everyone who's visited my blog and left comments (that also goes for those of you who've visited and haven't left comments!) I really appreciate that you've stopped by! I'd also like to answer a couple of questions that some of you have asked and forgive me if I've already answered them for you on your blog. Well, the questions centered around the mittens (go figure, that's all I've made recently!) First, the mitten pattern(s) can be found in the Magnificent Mittens book by Anna Zilboorg. This book came out a few years ago. I've had it since it came out and I've made lots of mittens from it (duh). Second, was a question about the lining. Basically you are making two mittens. You first make the outer mitten, then you fold over the cuff so that the inside of the cuff is facing out, then you pick up stitches and basically make a second mitten to fit inside the first. This can be done to any mitten and let me tell you it really helps on those super cold days! You're hands hardly know it's 20 degrees below zero! If anyone has any other questions about them let me know, I'd be happy to answer! Thanks again.

Ok, so call me crazy, but the minute I finished the mittens I cast on for a new project. Did I mention I had a lot of time on my hands this weekend? I've worked on it for a total of about 4 hours and this is what I have so far:

I know, it shocked me too! It seems like I'm flying on this project but it's all in my perception I think. In truth, I'm working on size 11 needles. Almost anything you worked on before size 11's seems like it took a lifetime compared to the speed at which you can work on this size. I almost don't want it to go so quickly because I really want to savor this yarn. It's Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Chunky! It's heaven in a skein! I definitely splurged on this one and let me tell you it is the most I've ever spent on a single project and that's with getting 30% off the yarn! Expensive, but sooooo worth it. If you've ever touched this stuff you'll know what I'm talking about. Anyway, the pattern is a Rowan pattern out of book 32 I think. I've loved this pattern forever but I just didn't really like the yarn they used for it...too tweedy. Then Cashmerino Chunky came into my life and well.... the rest is history.

P.S. For those of you who were wonder what the answer is to the trivia question I posed last week: Jimmy Hoffa's middle name was Riddle. Weird huh?

Picture Day

It's picture day here on Skein Street. Aren't you excited? I went a little nuts with the digital camera this weekend so bare with me. First off I finished my brother's mittens. I'm not just going to show you a finished picture of them, oh no, I'm going to do much more than that!
Here is the second mitten, pre-lining. This is how it looks right after it's been blocked.

And then of course comes the lining.

Notice the little kitten foot in the corner. Someone was curious about the bright seafoam green thing on the floor.
After the lining is finish..... You have finished mittens.

Don't be fooled here. This did take me almost all weekend to finish. These pictures are very deceiving! There were definitely several hours (I'm thinking somewhere in the vicinity of about 3) between the blocking of the mitten and the finished product.
Now here's a picture, just to give you an idea of just how large my brother's hands are.

Keep in mind, I really don't have small hands. Ok, they're small but my fingers are very long, so you can imagine just how long my brothers fingers are. Why you'd want to imagine that, I really don't know, I just thought it was an interesting picture!

I wasn't just working on mittens you know. I felt obligated to finish the teddy bear that I was working on a week ago. He was almost finished after all so what's another hour to completely finish him off?

He may look a little bit scrunched, but that's because he's sitting down. I was trying to be artisty and pose him for the photo. Not only that but I was trying to pick a nice backdrop for the scene. I'm such a geek. Anyway, he's finished. He's cute, he's ready for his new owner. Who is that you ask? Well, I just haven't decided yet. We'll just have to wait and see.

Ok, so the teddy is cute, but I have a picture that is the embodiment of cuteness.

Now who can resist two kittens curled up sleeping together? I know I can't. I think I may have become slightly obsessed with taking pictures of these kittens. Let me see, I count that I took about ten pictures of them this weekend. Ten pictures doesn't sounds so bad, but the fact of the matter is, they're all of them curled up together. Some of them are on different chairs, some are with them in different positions of cuteness, but they're all basically of them sleeping. Perhaps that also has something to do with the fact that this is the only time that I can get them to sit still for a picture! When they're not sleeping they're running all over the house, sliding into walls, knocking over plants and causing general mayhem.

I hope you've enjoyed this picture day! I'm sure there will be another in the near future and I promise to save you from kitten pictures next time!

I'm loving the USPS

I'll be the first to tell you I'm not one to write two posts in one day. It's an overload on my blog-writing abilities. Too much of it might suck my creative juices dry and then where would we be? However, something arrived in the mail today that I just had to show you!
This was waiting for me when I walked in the door....

I know that this is almost too exciting for words. An unopened box of yarn! Yes, my order from elann.com has come! I have to say that I am truly shocked at how quickly it got here. I ordered it on Monday! The USPS can work miracles! Now imagine this, my mom called me at work to tell me that it was here. Oh lord, how was I supposed to get any work done now? Just knowing that fibery goodness was waiting for me at home was enough to make my brain go numb. So I had to work through about three hours with thoughts of angora running through my mind. And then there was the half hour drive home. I kept my lead foot in check the entire way, though it was itching to slam the accelerator down to the floor. Screw the cop that catches me, you don't mess with a fiberholic when there's new yarn at home!
So I've kept you in suspence long enough....

My angora!!!!!!

Isn't it great? Ok, so maybe the color is borderline sixty's seafoam and I would never wear it out in public, but you have to admit that it's great. It will be lining many mittens (go figure) so I didn't exactly care about the color. (sidenote: green is my favorite color..... just not this green)

This will probably be my last yarn purchase for awhile. I have a stash that is threatening to take over my closet and it must be dealt with. I have to show it who's boss, if I don't it will just walk all over me!

All Things Trivial

So I've finished one of the mittens for my brother. I contribute this solely to the fact that I went to trivia night on Monday at a cafe close to where my brother lives. It's quite an interesting group that goes to trivia night. One group's name was 'The Zillionaires' mostly made up of Dungeons and Dragons players, probably still in there teens or early twenties, desperately trying to grow facial hair. Nothing wrong with that, mind you, I'm simply describing how they appeared to me. Then there was 'The Unusual Suspects', diehard trivia night fans as evident by the fact that one of them had been in the hospital the week before but that wasn't going to stop him from coming. Apparently they win almost every night. And because my brother and his friends really like to hear the host of trivia night say it, our wonderful name was 'Would You Please Stop Touching Me.' Very creative.

Well, trivia night lasted for several hours and while that was going on I worked on his mittens. Bringing these mittens actually turned out to be a very good thing because I was able to have DB try them on. Apparently DB's hands are quite a bit bigger than the author of this book thought mens hands were. I had to add about five or six more rows to the length. Had I not brought them I can just picture it on Christmas day, he tries them on..... and they're about an inch or two short. Thanks for all the hard work, sis, but these just don't fit.

But this....

will fit just fine.

Sorry for this picture being so dark. I even brightened it before I uploaded it! When both of them are finished I promise I'll post a brighter picture.

So I discovered the best website there is for discount yarn. elann.com
Oh it's fabulous. Not that I need any yarn right now but I did need angora for these mittens. I found the best price for angora that I've ever seen just about anywhere! And I, like a child on christmas day, will rip into that package when it arrives!

I will leave you with a trivia question that was asked on Monday night. It will be answered in a following post. If you think you know the answer post a comment!

What was Jimmy Hoffa's middle name?

Mitten Obsession....Very Sad

Well, here is a picture of the (almost) completed teddy bear that I had originally planned on giving to my brother until I realized that I have made or bought him the most Christmas presents out of my entire family. I'm beginning to think that I'm making him all these presents because in truth I really just want to knit and I need someone to knit for..... 'Who should I knit this for?' I ask myself.....'DB! He doesn't have any of these' When the fact of the matter is I just wanted to knit....mittens for instance. I'm obsessed with mittens and I'll show you why in a second.

All this bear needs is a couple of eyes, a nose and a lot of stuffing. They really have the cutest buttons (not that I find buttons particularly cute). They have buttons that are shaped like teddy bear noses and the very best part is you don't have to sew them on! They're sort of snap on buttons. It's great. I loath sewing buttons anyway so this really is the best invention.

Now, on to why I'm just a tad bit obsessive with this mitten thing. I really have no idea why but all I want to do is make mittens..... lots and lots of mittens. Is it perhaps that I'm dreading the fact that winter is coming and I can't stand the thought of chilly fingers? Probably not concidering they're not my chilly fingers I'm worried about (I made myself a pair of these mittens a couple years ago!) No, it has nothing to do with that I fear. In fact I think it's something more sinister. I think it's because I'm obsessed with fair isle projects that go quickly. (Perhaps not quickly.... I think it's the illusion of speed because all I do is knit on them. I almost literally don't do anything else.)

Example? I started these mittens on Saturday afternoon. Probably around 4 o'clock. By Sunday afternoon, they looked like this:

Is that a thumb already?!?!? Yes, *sigh* it is. Is this a sickness that I have? I really don't know because I just can't think of a cure to this particular sickness. And the worst part is, my mother has asked me to make a pair for her friend for Christmas and I'm truly excited about it. I dread thinking about when that is over....who do I make mittens for then? (My extended family comes to mind.....hmmm, seventeen of them on one side alone...... I feel mitten burnout coming on....)

Here is a bit of an update for the weekend. I finished the mittens and started a teddy which I think I told you about in my last post. Here are the mittens:

I like how the closeup shows the actual color of the dark yarn. In all the other photos it just looks black but it's actually purple, green and a brownish color. Very cool.

The bear I'm pretty much finished with but I only have a picture of him headless.

Ramses didn't seem to mind that he had no head. In fact I think he was quite enjoying it. I will say one thing about this bear. I am just not a fan of novelty yarn at this point. If you drop a stitch in this pattern you pretty much have to kiss your work goodbye. Nothing you can do but frog. Luckily I didn't have to do that but I just wasn't enjoying the yarn. It doesn't slide very easily on the needle...aggravating....grrr. Alright, I'll now stop complaining about novelty yarn.

My dog wanted to join in while I was taking these picture so I just have to include a cute picture of her.

I don't know about you, but I have never seen a happier dog!

Does anyone have a tissue?

You may wonder why I haven't posted for a few days... well, aside from the fact that I have been incredibly busy with all sorts of things (practices, meetup, classes, etc.) I found out yesterday that I have a sinus infection and probably have had it for awhile and didn't know it. This is my first sinus infection ever! Isn't that exciting?!? (Note the sarcasm....) So, needless to say, I haven't been feeling my best. Who knew it wasn't normal to feel like you have a head cold for three to four weeks straight? I was also unaware that I could go through an entire box of tissue in one week. Hmmmm, perhaps that should have been an indication.

I wanted to post pictures of my now-finished mittens (yaayyy!) and perhaps post a picture of my newest project, a teddy bear made out of novelty yarn, but the minute I got home all I wanted to do was go to bed! Thankfully, it is the weekend in, oh let's see, two hours! Plus, I'm so doped up on medicine that I should be feeling well enough to take a few pictures. Not that I like taking all this medicine. I'm the type of person who will live with it until it becomes obvious that I just can't handle it anymore i.e. when I wake up one morning and find that I'm incredibly dizzy and the room is spinning....maybe it's just about time to see the doctor.

On a side note, there is an alpaca show at the fairgrounds this weekend. Depending on how I feel I just might make an appearance. If I don't end up buying anything (HA! like that's gonna happen!), at least I get to see the alpacas and listen to them make they're noises. My friend discribed it as 'the noise that ET makes' Well, I just might be surrounded by hundreds of ET's this weekend, we'll have to see.

Fifty Dollars?

My mittens are so nearly finished! I haven't had an incredible amount of time to work on them, as indicated by the fact that the liner only takes about an hour to do and I started it on Monday! I do have a bit of a confession... I spent most of monday night spinning! I knew this would happen! I knew I would neglect my knitting!

I will say this though, spinning is a lot of fun, but I'm still totally in love with knitting. I think knitting will always be what I prefer. Sure I'll be tempted away now and then, but it will always welcome me back.

Last night I knit about ten rows of the liner while I was waiting for Chorale practice to start. I swear it's as if these ladies have never seen anyone knit before. This, I found, works to my advantage. One said lady asked me if I would be willing to make a pair for her. Name the price she said. Hmmmm, well, lets see. Now I have to think of a price for a pair of mittens. Materials alone could cost me about $25, especially if she wants it lined in angora! I may find some bargains online so I could get the cost down a little bit. Fifty dollars immediatly springs to my mind as the good amount to charge. They are, after all, hand made.

Is it wrong to feel guilty about charging that much? I think there is something ingrained in our heads that makes us feel guilty about getting money for something we love to do. I don't feel burdened to knit something for someone (like most jobs can make a person feel) and I'm getting paid for it! Blasphamy!

I think I'm going to have to think on this one.... and do a little research. See what kind of prices I can get on certain yarns for these mittens. Definitely something to ponder.

Rhinebeck!!!!

I made the trek to Rhinebeck this past Saturday! Being a fiber festival virgin I only had a slight idea of what to expect. It surpassed even my wildest dreams! We arrived at just before 11am on Saturday morning. My heart was aflutter as we neared the gate. What should my eyes first see but a sign saying children under $8 were free!

What a wondrous place indeed if children are given price tags!

When we entered it was a wonderland for fiberholics. Barn after barn of items to tempt even the most frugal of fiberholics. I took my time, I wandered and absorbed the atmosphere. It was wonderful. I tried to be smart. I gave myself a budget knowing that I really couldn't go crazy with my money. So I went through all the barns, all the tents, all the buildings, everything, before I decided on my purchases. As a knitter, you would think that I would have walked away from that festival with miles of yarn for projects unknown, but no, this was not the case. I did not buy an inch of yarn. Instead, I doomed myself to make purchases for another hobby! But I ask you, how can you resist when this is staring you in the face:

Roving, beautifully dyed. The promise of gorgeous yarns echo from it's fibers! The temptation became even more great when I was given a demonstration of drop spindling.

How could I resist this wonderful craft? How could I resist the idea of spinning my very own yarn? So I walked away from Rhinebeck with many bunches of dyed roving and a gorgeous drop spindle. My excitement to try spinning for the very first time was through the roof, unfortunately I had a three hour car ride between me and my first spin. Once home, I rushed through the door and immediately sat down to try it. My very first attempt was with a merino/tencel blend:

I actually don't think that it came out too badly. I'm now thinking of things I can knit with this amount! Probably a hat.
I moved on to try my hand at just merino wool in the most gorgeous green you've ever seen. (I wasn't intending to rhyme that, these things just happen)

In an attempt not to neglect my first love, I worked on the mittens and finished both of them. (After all, I had to pass the time in the car somehow and I needed to vent my excitement!) Sunday I started making the liner for the mittens out of left over gray alpaca from the apalca sweater I wore to Rhinebeck..... coincidence?

This is the work-in-progress picture but I actually finished the liner of one mitten. It only took me about an hour.... I decided to knit the liner right off of the cuff to save myself sewing it in later.

All-in-all, I had a fabulous weekend. And I must say I think my time in Rhinebeck was amazing, this rainbow we saw while leaving says it all.....

You appear to be a Knitting Goddess.
You are constantly giving and are unconcerned with
reward, you simply want others to love knitting
as much as you do. If someone wants to knit
miles of novelty yarns, you are there for them.
If someone wants to learn short row shaping,
you can help. There are no taboos in knitting,
only opportunities to grow. Everyone should
have friend like you around if they want to
learn to knit, and there's a good chance that
your passion has rubbed off on a few others.
http://marniemaclean.com


What Kind of Knitter Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

I only have one question..... Is Rhinebeck ready for a knitting Goddess like me?

Mostly Mittens

Two more days till Rhinebeck! Seeing as how today is half over it's technically less than that! Soooo very excited!

I finished one of the fairisle mittens last night while I was watching the debate. (Note to self: Don't knit while watching debates; too great a risk of throwing whatever is in your hands at the TV) Lucky for me I was almost finished so I only watched the first ten minutes. I don't think I could have sat there, staring at the fake grin the president was wearing, for very much longer. Apparently, the president's advisors thought the twelve-year-old disgruntled look didn't work for him in the first debate so instead they had him adopt the creepy-old-man grin.
Anyway, here is the first mitten:

The first picture is the front (are there "fronts" to mittens? Hmmmm.....) the second one is the back. Can you see the thumb in the second picture? Did you notice the thumb? Did ya, did ya? I love invisible thumb mittens.... sooo much fun. I started the second one today during my lunch break (wishing my lunch break was longer than 30 minutes......) and I can't wait to get home to work on it.

Kitten update: I gave in last night and brought both of them into my room with me. I just couldn't stand the thought of them sleeping alone in that big, cold room. Or maybe I couldn't stand the thought of sleeping alone in my room without them? I woke up in the middle of the night and saw the cutest thing in the world. They were both curled up next to each other, on my pillow with my arm wrapped around both of them. I'm thinking I have a bit of that subconscious maternal instinct going on there. Seriously cute. It almost makes the licking of the face tolerable. Thankfully Ramses kept his tounge to himself through most of the night. (taken out of context, that sentence is somewhat humorous)

Well, we'll see how it goes tonight while I tried to knit with the kids in the room (yes I've taken to calling them 'the kids'..... oh God, you don't think I'm going to become one of those people who treat their animals as if they're their actual children do you?!?! I just made fun of those people in a previous post!)

Forgive Me Knitting Goddess, For I Have Sinned

Ok, so I have a bit of a confession to make. Many of the finished projects that I've finished recently.....well.....technically.....they aren't finished. I know, I know! Strike me down, oh knitting Goddess! In terms of the actual knitting, they are finished, but heaven help me, I haven't woven in ends! I haven't woven in ends on the past three projects! My brother's socks, the SSCP, the hallowig. All of them have strings dangling from their little bodies, beckoning me to go to them, darning needle in hand, and remove the offending strings. And I would do this, I would!... if it weren't for the temptation of starting a new project. Oh, I was in love with each of them as I worked on them, and they loved me, but as I neared the end the thought of something new became too great and my will to finish grew weaker until finally, I tossed them aside. In my mind they were finished and I tried to convince myself that this was the truth, but alas.... They are not finished! Don't let the pictures fool you! I'm ashamed to say I tucked the ends in so that you would not see them. But the knitting Goddess knows all! She knows I didn't actually finish! Thankfully the Goddess is not a spiteful Goddess. She is forgiving and knows I did this in a moment of weakness.

( <---- Switch Topics Here) Rhinebeck is nearly here. I can't believe how excited I am about this festival. It seems everyone who's anyone in the blogging world will be there. I am now faced with a dilemma. What do I wear? I haven't been planning on this. I haven't decided to knit a sweater to wear specifically for Rhinebeck. I only have what I've already made. Of what I've already made, nothing is what I would call my "show off" piece. Not being a very "showy" person or one who likes to wear "showy" clothes, I'm at a bit of a loss. I think I'll perhaps choose my ribbed alpaca sweater. It's warm, it's comfortable and seeing as how they're calling for rain, I'd need a sweater like that. And as a bit of an accent I think I'm going to wear my cabled scarf. Of course, I could totally change my mind and go with something completely different!

By the way, I did get an excellent night's sleep last night. The kittens were kept in the downstairs living room. I have to admit I felt a bit guilty leaving them in there alone, with no one but each other to cuddle with. I'll probably go back to letting them sleep with me tonight because, as much as I need my sleep, I totally missed them! Isn't that always the way?

Definitely a Tuesday....

Feeling slightly listless at this point. What happened to my wonderful weekend? Why is today feeling like the exact opposite of my weekend? Perhaps it's a couple of different things.

1. I know that Rhinebeck is only four days away and being anywhere but there is just not where I want to be. (Imagining being around hundreds of kindred fiberholics.....)
2. Maybe it's because a certain Maine Coon kitten feels it is his duty to sandpaper my face every hour, on the hour, while I'm trying to sleep. And if he can't seem to get to my face (because smothering my face in the pillow seemed like a good way to divert his licking) he would find another body part to lick, for instance, my arms, my fingers, the back of my head, etc. Not only that but he seemed to think my fingers were wonderful playthings, and biting at them was even more fun! He could have been a bit more like his fellow playmate who's taken to sleeping under the covers with me at night. But he actually sleeps! He doesn't try to remove what's left of my face with his tounge!
3. Perhaps it's because I got a phone call from the director of the Chorale I'm in calling to see if I'd like to be in the Chamber Singers (they are a small choir within the Chorale who do extra concerts for fundraising, etc.) While I was honored to be accepted, I was at the same time seeing my free time slip away.....*sigh* So instead of having to be there at 7:30 tonight I have to be there at 6:30 giving me roughly 15 minutes to change my clothes and eat dinner..... This will be the norm for Tuesdays and who knows on the days when we have extra concerts.

Of course, all of this is not as bad as it seems. The kittens are just going to have to go in another room because I seriously need an entire night's sleep. It doesn't look like the Chamber Singers have too many extra concerts at this point so I might just dodge the bullet there. And Rhinbeck is only four days away! That in itself is exciting enough, compared to it being a month away!

Now news from my knitting world....

I have almost finished my first mitten. It's actually inspiring me to make mittens for everyone. I swear I'm just a madwoman on a knitting rampage! I'm really enjoying this project. I love the way it looks. The absolute best part: Only two ends to sew in!

Fun Quiz

I am a hybrid of: Progressive Girl Girl Next Door Click on the pictures below to read more: Take the 'What Kind of Girl Are You?' quiz at CookingToHookup.com

Fall Weekends...Very Productive

Fall is finally here. This weekend was absolutely amazing! It was chilly enough that I just wanted to curl up, wrap myself in blankets with a nice cup of spiced apple cider and knit. Doesn't that sound fall-y? When winter comes the only thing that will change about that description is it will be hot cocoa instead of spiced apple cider and I'll probably add "and be sitting by the fire." Ahhhh.... so cozy. I was so taken by the fall feeling that I just felt compelled to take a picture of my front yard and show you just how fall it was:

Ok, so maybe the picture isn't exactly conveying the sense of fall that I got this weekend but you can see that the leaves are just starting to change.

Something else made this weekend absolutely wonderful and that was this Saturday's knitting meetup. I absolutely loved it. These ladies that I knit with (including my mom!) are so fabulous. They are so motivating because it's always motivating to be with people who are enthusiastic about the same things you're enthusiastic about. I left smiling... that's always a good way to leave.

I was very close to finishing my Hallowig at the meetup (I finished SSCP on friday night!) but ended up finishing it on Saturday afternoon when I got home.

Isn't it fun? I tried it on and I look totally goofy in it but, hey, it's for halloween. You're supposed to look goofy aren't you? You know what the funniest part is? I don't even have a halloween party to wear it to! I just made it because it's fun! And on to the next project! I started the fairisle mittens for a relative of mine. (I actually don't know who they're going to be for because my dad's side of the family draws names as to who gets what and I haven't got a clue who's name I have because I wasn't there last year. My parents drew for me and now the list that they wrote who drew who is mysteriously missing) Solution? Make them for a woman's size and switch with someone in my family if I ended up drawing one of my uncles!

I love these patterns because they go really fast and they look incredibly intricate. I took this picture last night before I watched a movie. After the movie I had this one finished down to the thumb! It's great. I'm making it out of some alpaca I found in my stash! I actually have enough to make two pairs and I'm beginning to want a pair like this for myself! Does that ever happen to you? Do you ever make a present and while you're working on it you discover that you really love it and want one for yourself?

Ok so here I feel obligated to write a little something about the kittens because I know I haven't bored you enough with them! If you aren't interested in reading about them, now is the time for you to stop reading! So we've put the kittens together. Where you ask? Oh, where else but in my bedroom? Have you ever tried sleeping when two kittens are jumping around playing with each other? Not only are they playing with each other but the lump they keep jumping on and over is your tired body hidden under covers? And they really find it exciting when that lump moves just a little bit.... it's just another thing to pounce on! During the day this is really cute... at night when I'm trying to sleep.... not so cute. At times they are calm, these are good times. Really adorable times too. I was sitting knitting (can't believe they actually let me knit without attacking my yarn!) and Ramses had one of his little paws over Pippin while they were sleeping next to each other! So cute. It was like they were spooning.... little baby kitty spooning! Unfortunately my camera was over on my desk and I couldn't get it without disturbing them! So instead I will give you this picture where they are enjoying sleeping around my legs while I was knitting.
Notice the Red Heart... I believe I was just about to finish the Hallowig!

Ramses the Great

So, the new kitten has come to town.... It is remarkable how different he is from my kitten. He loves the dog (Pippin despises the dog, perhaps this is because he's never seen a dog in his entire life..... the breeders were cat people apparently.) The new kitten is jumping and playing on everything and is desperate to leave the bathroom that we're keeping him in (Pippin was shaking with fear the entire first day we had him.) Completely different personalities. It's amazing. I happen to think that the funniest part about it is the new kitten is the same size as Pippin and is two months younger than Pippin. That's what you get when you buy a kitten that's destined to weigh 22 pounds! (Maine Coon by the way)

So this is Ramses. Oh, he's cute now....just wait till he grows up!

He's gonna be a monster!

Ok, onto all things knitting! So I am soooo, sooo, soo close to being finished with my super secret christmas present! In fact, it really only requires a little sewing up now. Isn't that exciting? I didn't get a chance to knit any more of my hallowig but that's alright. I did however take a picture of it! I am loving it. For some reason I feel totally creative and that it's unique and brilliant but I must say a part of me doesn't believe it!

There have to be other people who thought of this. It's the first thing that came to my mind when I saw the picture! Anyway, I will probably end up finishing it this weekend, which is very exciting because then I can work on my next project. I'm telling you, I am insane. All I want to do is knit and start a new project. The minute I start a project I want to finish it as quickly as I can so I can start my next one. Don't you think eventually I am going to run out of new projects? That would be absolutely catastrophic. I don't think it will ever happen though. I, as I'm sure other fellow knitters are, am always on the lookout for that next great project!

Just so my cutie pie doesn't feel unloved I feel obligated to included of picture of him:

This is my Pippin. Aren't his spots great? He's my little leopard..... who likes to bite.... nibble I should say but sometimes it's a bite. I like to think it's because he loves me and wants to play...... I'm just fooling myself aren't I?

Of Hallowigs and Kittens

I started the hallowig last night. Ok, ok, I know what you're thinking.... "you can't do that! you haven't finished the super secret christmas project!!!" (or maybe that's just my conscience in the back of my mind) I know, I know. I just couldn't help myself. Besides, I wasn't able to work on the SSCP last night anyway. ( I really am almost finished and it won't take me too much longer)

Back to the hallowig. I am soooo excited about this project, it is so much fun. Yeah, it's out of Red Heart. Yeah, I absolutely hate Red Heart, but for this I will make an exception. After all it's not a sweater that I'll be wearing, it's a HALLOWIG!!!!! Very exciting. I really wanted to take a picture of it last night and post it but I just ran out of time (excuses, I know) But I will definitely do it tonight. I'm making it out of black Red Heart and I put gold plastic beads on the bottom so that it really looks like a Cleopatra wig. I didn't think it would turn out as well as it did, I'm pleasantly suprised. I just love it. Now if only I could knit a Cleopatra type gown......hmmmm.... Ok, I'm back in reality now. There's no way that would get finished by Halloween. And I'd probably have to make it out of Red Heart..... Red Heart is like an annoying relative.... you can only take it in small doses.....very small doses.

As I mentioned in an earlier post we were planning on getting another kitten. Well, today'sthe day! I'm going to go pick him up this afternoon after work. I don't know what we're thinking. Two kittens in the house at once! Yikes. I suppose this is us thinking we're adventurous and we can totally handle it. Of course when it really comes down to it, it's like having two baby's in the house. Believe me, my kitten has been waking me up in the middle of the night because he wants to play.....ummm, I'm sleeping, I really don't want to play right now. I'm imagining two kitten climbing and jumping all over me while I sleep, or worse still interupting me while I'm trying to finish SSCP! I don't think we're going to have the other kitten in my room with me too....at least, I hope we're not. He's mom's cat. Let her have him in her room while she's trying to sleep! You know, I'm making it out to be this huge burden but in actuality I am absolutely in love with my kitten. (I was going to say smitten with my kitten.... you see why I didn't right?) He is hysterical, he loves attention and I love giving it, he's a big ol' snuggle bug and that suits me just fine. I wouldn't give him up for anything.

So, hopefully I'll have some time to knit tonight. Hallowig here I come......oops, I mean SSCP...... darn conscience.

KNIT ALONGS!!!!

So I joined the hallowig knit along. I'm quite excited because I have a really good idea for it that I'm fairly excited about! I'll probably go out and buy the materials for it tonight (that does not necessarily mean I'll be starting it tonight!) I still have to finish super secret christmas present number 1! I would just like to say I'm sorry about keeping you in suspense but I just can't post it.

Last night at chorale practice (did I mention I was in a chorale?) I brought along my super secret christmas project and I must say it generated a lot of interest. Everyone wanted to know what I was knitting, which I gladly told them (they don't know who the super secret project is for so they won't tell that person..... I'm always thinking you know!...) What suprised me was that most of the people who were interested were women who were much older than me and none of them knew or indicated knowing how to knit. Very interesting. I suppose that puts to rest the old idea that knitters are, well, old. There are knitters of all ages...and sexes I might add... so the next time someone comes up to me and says aren't you too young to be knitting? Isn't that granny? I can point out how very wrong they are.

I did however, have a girl who was around my age ask me if I was crocheting?........ Hmmm...... that does a little something to my theory there doesn't it?

The Dreaded Toe!!!

Here's a closeup on the disaster toe. What do you think? Does it look absolutely horrible? I kind of think it blends in pretty well. Sure it kind of looks slightly 'army' but like I said before, he won't care. He especially won't care when I put a $20 bill in this sock. Then he can go out and buy himself a nice pair of socks that are all one color!

So while I was working on my super secret christmas present last night, my new kitten felt it was his job to interupt me every five seconds because I wasn't paying attention to him. What a catastrophe that I knit and not play with him!!!!! Needless to say there was very little knitting done last night. So.... no new projects to show you.....bummer. I'm assuming here that you realize my super secret christmas present is one that can be finished rather quickly..... So hopefully you'll be seeing something new fairly soon. That is, of course, if my kitten will allow it.

The end of the Socks....

Well, the verdict is in. I've finished the socks for my brother. Unfortunately I ran out of yarn. Even after I took them out once. Do you ever get to that point where you want to pull your hair out because what you thought would work didn't? Well, this is where the creative/innovative side of me came out because I absolutely refused to rip out and redo these socks for the third time. What did I do you ask? I simply used some left over yarn from another pair of socks and finished off the toe. Granted this will only be for one of the socks because, again, I refuse to rip. Besides, if my brother wears these like I think he will, the toes will be hidden in his boots anyway. He won't care...... At least I think he won't care. Well, I'll post the picture tonight and you let me know whether it's absolutely dreadful or not.

So I've started my next project but it is super top secret because of Christmas. In fact, most of my upcoming projects are super top secret, but I will try to finish them as soon as possible so I can work on something that everyone can see!

Hoping, hoping, hoping, hoping.....

Well, I finished the first sock.... started the second and now I'm praying that I'll have enough to finish the second one. I know you've all been in this situation, well, most of you at least. Help me out here and send a prayer to the knitting god that I will have enough to finish this second sock!!!