Christmas Roundup

A posting about presents given and received.

As I said before, everyone loved their gifts. I already showed the two scarfs for my aunt and uncle (see auntie scarf posted several days ago). My mom's gift:

was well received..she put it on like she was a pirate (back on her head with her bangs showing...rather amusing). My dad put his socks on immediately and wore them all day.

Those are on my feet, hence the baggy-ness.
The aunt and uncle also wore their scarves...The uncle was excited to have a scarf for when he rakes the baseball field at 5am in March in Cleveland. He'll be toasty now at least.

As for me, I got several books, Stitch 'n bitch and Stitch 'n Bitch Nation, a knitter's answer book, a 365 pattern 2008 calendar, stupid sock monsters (hurray), giftcards to bookstores (yay) and a gift card to Ren. Yarns from the bf's parents (again, hurray).

So merry slightly belated christmas to all...we had a bit of snow, but it vanished before we had to drive anywhere, thankfully. was very pretty to open presents by though.

On the needles...new hat with sparkles...in the queue...sweater socks, scarf socks

OH, and most importantly...i am not a lurker. hurray!

Top 10 Reasons not to wait until the last minute

So, being the genius that I am, I realized on Saturday ( 3 days before Christmas) I decide that everyone except my uncle was getting a handknit present, he needed one as well. So I decided to make him a scarf of his college colors (he's head baseball coach at Notre Dame College). Anyhow, it turned out well, and he likes it a lot, I just need to plan ahead a little better...so, the top 10 reasons not to decide to knit something 3 days before christmas, even if it's just a scarf and it's just garter stitch.

1. your boyfriend goes to bed before you because he's too tired to stay up
2. the dog chooses bed over a movie on the couch
3. the jammies you get every year on christmas eve from santa gets opened too late for anyone to see them.
4. 1:30 comes around and you are still vertical with your eyes open
5. you're so keyed up from getting everything done, the knitting, the label making, that it takes another hour for you to fall asleep
6. you wonder what would happen if zombies would attack the house, where would you hide, how would you fight back...would they really eat your brains?
7. you begin to hate the garter stitch. it is the devil and you wish it would die
8. you were forced to go with an acrylic yarn, because your LYS doesn't have a) the right colors (bright blue, yellow, and white) in anything that's b) not outrageously priced. I'm not a fan of the local LYS...i'm still partial to renaissance yarns. and the people weren't super helpful. and their return policy sucks a little.
9. i don't like acrylic yarn. at least this particular acrylic...and i went to joanns to see what they had...wasn't impressed.
10. you make mistakes like this.

Do ya see what's wrong with it? look at the top...little backwards no? i was doing really well on making the new yarn join only show up on one side until the clock hit about 1am. hopefully, he won't notice. The scarf, other than my little mishap, turned out pretty well.

More on the christmas fun later...it was a very yarn related holiday...and everyone lurved their gifts.

Christmas Present Update

I finished my dad's xmas gift...pictures posted on ravelry. They turned out really well. I tried a new bind-off, which i also like, and was super easy.

In other news, I finally got around to doing the Wool Monkey labels. I really like the way they turned out. A lot. And they make me feel clever.

I still need to buy yarn for one more gift...which will hopefully happen tomorrow, and finish up my stalker's present...or start it, actually. I'm also teaching a class in procrastination. I'll put the time schedule up later.

Another one almost bites the dust

I am less than an inch from finishing my father's xmas present. When I do, I will post the finished product on ravelry, and will show all the presents after the recipients have received them. So i should only have 1 gift left to make, and it's not knitted, but oh no, i decided that since everyone except my uncle (he and his wife will be in town, i'm a little excited) was getting something handknit...he should too. Which means a trip to the yarn store (oh boo) and a mad rush to get things finished. I'm picking something pretty easy, but it has a couple colors, just to keep things exciting.

In non-knitting news, this is the first christmas for my puppy. He's the one wearing the eyeball scarf. and helping me wind yarn. He's about 9 months (pound puppy) and while he weighs 60lbs and seems full grown, definitely still gets into mischief. I came home after being gone a mere 1.5 hours, and found the house smelling particularly tree-like...yet from the kitchen the tree didn't look like it had moved or lost anything. The dining room rug, on the other hand, had been redecorated with santa parts. Because nothing says christmas like regurgitated santa. And i discovered that, while the tree had not been knocked over, it had been dragged across the living room in what i'm sure was a flavorful game of tug of war, where the tree won. I'm just glad i decided to just put lights on it...all the ornaments are tucked away in boxes where the mutt can't get to them. We had words. He'll now look at me innocently while taking a sidelong bite of branch. Rascally Riley.

Another one down

Another christmas present down. Mom's gift will be posted after christmas and can currently be seen on ravelry. So there's only two fabric projects left. and i was reminded that i need to make a stained glass suncatcher by christmas for the BF's brother. Shouldn't take long, I just need to make sure i have the glass to do it.

13 days left. plenty of time.

Fun with a Nostepinne

So i practice with my nostepinne using a not too large ball of scrap yarn. and this is what i got on my first try.



Now, it may look good, but it took me about 25 minutes to ball it. which isn't exactly an efficient use of time, although it passed the time spent in a boring work meeting. snooze-ville. in an hour, i only made 2 balls (using the same yarn). i would let it fall to the floor while i worked, and the dog became interested.

Mom, it's moving. Don't let it get away.

Don't worry, I caught it for you.

Such a good boy, helping his mother out.

In other news, I have finished both the boyfriend scarf and the auntie scarf.

Two projects down, three to go. I've restarted mom's present...and still need to wind the yarn on dad's. 15 days til christmas.

Xmas to do list

It's the 4th of December, which means, by my superior math skills, there are 20 days left until Christmas. And here is my knitting Christmas list

• Mom gift
• Dad gift
• BF scarf (not a gift, which makes me wonder why it's getting done first)
• Aunt scarf (should be quick as it's knitted with HUGE yarn)
• Other gift that shall not be named (not knitted, but made, and i better get off my arse and start it)
  

Plus i found this cute pattern (pdf) for mini mittens to be used as present ribbons. Good use of leftover yarn. If I were optimistic (or completely mad), i would attempt to put these on presents. Yeah, not gonna happen. Maybe after christmas is over i'll make a bunch and stick with the gift wrap to be prepared for next year.

Now that i've stopped laughing at myself, an update on the scarf that will not end. The 4th and final skein was started last evening and I made decent progress on it while watching TinMan on SciFi (new take on the wizard of oz....rather entertaining). The skein still looks skein-like, only flatter, so i have a bit to go. It looks as though it'll be long enough though, which i was concerned about, and after blocking there shouldn't be a problem. I'm hoping to finish it up tonight. Hoping.

Look, someone saved alpacas from the foot of rain (article).

Ravelry

Just so's ya know...i finally added stuff to my ravelry notebook...most of the projects i've done, some things in my queue...don't have tons of photos yet, but i'm working on it.

I think i forgot to mention that i bought myself a nostepinne...we'll see if i can figure out how to use it.

Booties of the Baby

So last weekend, during my, let's get tons done (but end up frogging everything), baby booties were born.

They were super quick, taking no more than an hour each, and were great fun and practically instant gratification. The pattern (found on ravelry) called for the creation of a button hole and to have the button sewn on as you would an adults pair of mary janes, but given that kids kick and are difficult to dress i decided to make a button loop out of elastic and sew the button to the strap.

These will be a christmas gift for the baby of the couple who's party I'm going to next weekend. She was the recipient of my first baby blanket as well. Apparently more of my friends need to start spawning so that i can torture other parents with hand knit baby gifts.

As for this weekend, given that it's sunday night, not much got done. I started the third skein of four of the boyfriend's scarf that will never end. I really like the pattern (Shifting Sands by Grumperina), but it's not quite interesting enough to hold my interest for a bajillion rows (i'm bored), yet not uncomplicated enough that i can actively watch tv or read a book (which i can do, with stockinette in the round...you just knit forever). But I bought myself a little present to go with the lego swift...a nostepinne. Which i need to practice on so i can get kinda cakes when i wind yarn...and i'll get to use the swift and tweak it if necessary.

It's now december, and I have to finish the scarf (which isn't even an xmas present), mom's gift, dad's gift, a scarf for my aunt. All by christmas. Plus about 12 skeins of sock yarn that are begging (knitmeknitme) to become beautiful socks. Do i really have to go to work?