Random thoughts

Since I'm procrastinating about doing what I'm supposed to be doing, and since Blogger decided to work for me tonight, I thought I'd share a couple of pictures.

First, here's what I've been knitting. A Christmas gift for my best friend down the road, out of Paton's SWS. I didn't blog about it because hey, that would spoil the surprise! (Always a last minute person, I gave it to her with a note "it needs another day of drying time".)



Here's the baby sweater that I was working on. I finished it about an hour after the deadline. (Too late, too bad, so sad. Other presents were given, so it's all good.) The body seems out of proportion with the arms, so I might cast on the bottom and knit downwards.




Next is another pair of CIC chain link socks. They have more chain links on them because I was afraid that I'd run out of yarn.



Here's a couple of knitter-ly birthday gifts that I received:

a 1000 piece puzzle called "Knitter's Stash". This makes me a bit afraid. But hey, with all the different colors, it might not be as hard as I think.



Here's the 2007 Pattern-a-day calendar from my best friend down the road. It hasn't been opened yet--I'm going to try to just look at one pattern per day. (I didn't take a picture, but you'll have to trust me that it's still sealed.)



A special shout out to my twin cousin Ruth whose birthday is the same day as mine!

Happy Birthday! Don't worry, we don't look nearly as old as everyone else our age. (And you will always be older than me!)

Glitch fixed

While knitting this latest set of handwarmers, I noticed a glitch in the pattern.


I checked the pattern a whole bunch of times, but there was still this error:

Left hand: Finish thumb:
Round 15: K1 and leave on needle, BO 11(13,15) sts in purl, K 5(6,7), [yo, SKP] 5 times, K to end.

The pattern has been fixed, but here's the error in case you just want to pencil in the changes.

Along that note.....

I've noticed a dramatic upsurge in the number of views per day. If you're reading this, and found my blog through a posting of my pattern, could you please post on that list about the error? (I don't know if that happened or not, but it's a possibility.) Thanks a bunch!

CIC socks

A pair of CIC socks from the 6 Sox KAL gang. These are using the toddler chain link pattern using Paton's classic merino and size 4 dpns. Quite fun!

Denial

Lest you think I haven't been knitting, I want to reassure you that that's mostly what I've been doing.

Not Christmas shopping, or cleaning house, or cooking supper. That will have to change after 2 college-aged kids come home this week. My DH has more than one reason to rejoice in their arrivals. He usually says, about once a day (around suppertime), "thanks SO MUCH, son (or daughter), for coming home.

Sigh. I REALLY need to go grocery shopping. But instead, I knit.



Here's most of a baby sweater, minus the sleeves. Needs to be done by Friday, so there should be plenty of time. Unless, of course, I plan on grocery shopping, cleaning house, Christmas shopping. Oh yeah, and work and do the social studies presentation that's due Thursday...err....assist DD#2 with her SS presentation. And then there's always the pesky "what's for supper" problem. Otherwise, plenty of time.

I'm deep into denial.

In the meantime, here's another pair of diamond handwarmers, just because.

Has this ever happened to you?

Have you ever lost something, maybe not even realizing that it was lost, only to have it show up a year or two later?

Was it missed? Was there much rejoicing when it was found?

Or....

Was it like my recently found object when I thought,

What is this??????

DD#2 was wearing my felted clogs that I made 2 years ago and have worn constantly. She likes to skate around the kitchen floor (if I can figure out how she can do that and clean the floor at the same time, then I'm good to go!) The other day she came up to me and asked what this pin was. It was sticking out of the inside layer of the sole.

Doing a little pulling, I extracted this safety pin that I had used as a stitch marker when I had made them 2 years ago! I had felted them with the pin in between the sole layers, never noticing it, and it was only now working it's way out!



And somehow, amidst the pulling and extracting, I committed myself to making DD her own clogs.

How does this happen?

Projects

Hey, Heather E.! I hear you have a project that's not quite turning out and looks vaguely like this:



(Actually, I do too, since those are my afghan strips.... :)

Give me a call, or email me. I don't promise I can fix it, but maybe I can get you back on the right track. (Or I might be able to tie the yarn into really tight knots. It'll most likely be one or the other.)

------------------

Is it a bad idea to start a new sweater for me when the teal cardie isn't done and it's in the midst of December? How about if the idea's only in my head and I'll lose it if I don't start soon? How about if I already have all the yarn and don't have to spend any money? (Have I justified myself enough yet?)

Now, if you agree that I can start my sweater, can I use the my new set of knitting needles that I strongly suspect (since I ordered them) that I'm getting for Christmas?

Oh....the temptation......

Mittens for Akkol

The December CIC challenge is Mittens for Akkol. Mittens for Akkol supports an orphanage in Kazakhstan. We're knitting mittens for kids from toddlers up to 16 yrs. old. Check out the cute button that Suzann made!



Thanks Suzann!

I'm hoping to get to these later on in the month (once Christmas knitting is done. HA!)

Ik kan u horen!

Before I discuss today's painstakingly loaded pictures (have I mentioned how I feel about Blogger lately? Not lovin' it so much), I have something to say....

Those who live near or far and think I can't hear you laughing--I SOOOOOOOOO can.

To the one in Texas: "Hey, ya'll. I can hear ya'll laughing. Don't tell me that you muffled your sound with your winter coat, when I doubt that you even have a winter coat, ya'll!"

(Of course, that may not be correct--hasn't there been bad weather there recently? There's been bad weather all over recently--as I can attest. Not because I've experienced it, but because I've been trying to change DS#1's plane reservation in the midst of it. Feeling a bit guilty that I'm tying up the phone lines while stranded passengers are trying to get through--and Somebody must be getting through, since it certainly wasn't me. But needing to get the plane changed so that he's not either a) stranded in FLA over Christmas or b) misses his last final exam that I need to change the reservation for. Finally got through and got it changed, but let me just say...that's one Expensive Final Exam! Where was I.....)

To the one in the Netherlands:
Ik kan u horen!
(Which I hope means "I can hear you!". I'm putting all my trust in an online language traslator since I don't speak a word of Dutch.)
Controle uit Valeria blog.
(Check out Valeria's blog. She promises to post pictures soon. Right, Valeria? Oh, and if she sees flying penguins near Amsterdam--she's going to send them back. And stop drinking wine. Hmmm...)

Niets houdt van een weinig druk.
(Nothing like a bit of pressure.)
(Please tell me I didn't say that your feet were smelly.)

To the ones who live down my street:
Well...nothing. I haven't heard you laughing yet. That may be because you know I'm not above arriving at your house with some afghan strips and demand that you sew them together.... Just sayin'.

(If anyone wondering about my afghan the answer is no. I haven't touched it since. Surprised?)


On to the pictures.....

If you notice the date of this post, it is Dec. 2. I actually took this picture on Dec. 1.



You can notice the following items about the picture:
1. My Christmas tree is up. On Dec. 1 I put the tree up. Applause, please. (This is a big feat. It's up almost 2 weeks earlier than normal. It may be because I bought it in October and it's been sitting in the middle of my family room since.) The lights are already attached, and the branches fold down like an umbrella. The wonders of modern technology.

2. It is in my newly painted dining room. Those driving past will have to look into my windows, through the living room and into the dining room, but trust me, it's up. The walls are painted Ginger Peach (yellow) with the woodwork a pleasing green.

3. My carpet has been ripped up and the plywood floor looks oh-so-lovely. The boxes of wood flooring sit in the middle of my living room (which is why the tree is in the dining room.)

4. At this point I'm thinking it'll be like this until after Christmas because of the water leak under the sliding glass doors. That needs to be fixed before I do the floors. In the meantime? A mess.


My second picture is bags of wool. (This is as close to knitting content as this post will get.)



My dad went to an auction-of-sorts and got this for me. 100% wool from Ireland (we think). The same color in two weights. How great is it when even my dad sees wool yarn and thinks of me!