100th Post and a FO

So this is it, my 100th post! I wish I'd realized this sooner. With a bit of planning, it could have been more impressive. As is... well, you'll have to make do with a picture in which I look crazy, but which shows off my So-Called Scarf to great advantage. I've received so many compliments on this!


Details:
Pattern: My So-Called Scarf
Yarn: Manos del Uruguay in Mulled Wine, 2 skeins
Needles: US 11

Thanks for all the good wishes and advice, I'm assembling my travel knitting as we speak. Updates on the progress of my yarn selection to follow, but so far, it's mostly socks, and yarn for a second Lotus Blossom Tank, this one for my sister in the new SWTC bamboo, which is so much softer than the old stuff!
I also bought a bunch of knitting magazines, 1 new knitting book, 1 new spinning book (which looks awesome), and size 0 and 1 DPNs. I hope they let me take those on the plane!

I'm going home!

I just got off the phone with the airline and I'm going home to Germany on April 3! It's so exciting because I haven't been there for almost 6 years now and because I haven't seen my sister since my wedding almost 4 years ago. Now I'm frantically looking around the house for something to knit. Something I can take on 9 hour flights and something I can knit while jetlagged and something I can knit while I'm there. I know I'll buy yarn when I get there, but I'm not going on a 6 week trip without bringing some extra knitting, just in case.

Now if only I can get rid of this nasty cold before I go...

Stitch markers and Manos

I got stitch markers! I won them on knitten kitten's blog, and they're fabulous! Look at them, aren't they pretty?
And yes, that's a crochet hook. My knitting is on size 11 needles and the markers won't fit. Not that I need 'em for that particular project.


Speaking of project, here it is, My so-called scarf in Manos, color: mulled wine. I love this yarn. It is beautiful, the colors are stunning, it's squishy, it's a joy to knit with. I only started this morning, but this is knitting up very quickly, and I think I'll make a hat to go with it.

Sorry for the sideways image. Too lazy to flip it.

Yarn sale: the damage

A Stitch Above in Providence is closing forever, and I went to their going out of business sale. I feel sort of guilty because I'd never been there before, and there's something vulture-like about a bunch of sale hungry people descending on a dying business. But such qualms aside, I'm ecstatic about the amount of stuff I got.


I got a bunch of yarn: 4 skeins in SWTC Bamboo, 2 skeins of Tofutsies, 2 skeins of sock yarn (Artyarns?), 3 skeins of Manos, and 4 skeins of Karaoke, in 2 different yet similar greys. I also got a thrummed mitten kit in a beautiful bright purple, the pattern for Fibertrends felted clogs, and Folk Knitting in Estonia. Now I'm on a yarn diet till the end of the year -- or till I get a job that pays well. Whichever comes first!

Spinning and knitting

I finally got around to dyeing and skeining the rest of my handspun. On the whole, I think my spinning has improved quite a bit since the first skein (the one on top, shown for comparison). It's more even and there aren't as many overtwisted parts. See, no white spots!


I've finished the sock pal socks, and now I have nothing on the needles! It's a scary feeling, must cast on, and quickly!

Right now, I'm swatching for 3 different things. The first is a super-secret, hush-hush SP project and shall not be revealed.

The second is a slip stitch sweater for my sweetie. This is a picture of the yarn, which he picked out himself.


I took him to Sheep's Clothing in Rhinebeck and had him fondle the fiber. Why? Because I'm married to a yarn snob. Neither of us knew this until he touched the WoolEase blanket I was knitting for the in-laws and made a face like he'd stuck his hand into something unpleasant. So now, no knitting happens until the yarn is sweetie-approved. I don't want to bust my behind knitting and knitting just to get a yuck face, you know?

The third project is a sweater for my dad in a gorgeous burgundy alpaca. I had a pattern in mind, but after swatching, I'm not so sure. The gauge was dead on, but I hated the loose fabric it made. Eileen, who has more experience knitting with alpaca than I do, pointed out that it has no memory, so now, I'll have to find a sweater knit at a finer gauge, with a stitch pattern that'll help the alpaca hold its shape.

My SP rocks!

My SP is the greatest! I got more of those amazing toffees I've been talking about for weeks now. Ever since the last package, those toffees have haunted my dreams, and I even rationed out the last couple so they'd last longer. Now I have more!

But I didn't just get toffees. There's also green tea (yum!), the latest issue of knitsimple (love that magazine but don't subscribe to it so I didn't have it), stitch markers (I keep losing 'em, so they're always welcome), stitch holders, and... YARN!


Yarn. Beautifully soft, and you can see for yourselves just how pretty it is. The lighter blues and purples, and then, the amazingly vivid, fuchsia-and-black yarn! Yes, it's vivid, it's weird, and I love it.

Thank you, BlueHen!

Pal socks, STR yarn... socks!

The pal socks are done. My first real socks on size 0 needles. One is a bit wider than the other because my gauge changed from sock to sock, but I'm sending them unblocked for ease of size adjustment.


Here's another shot. Jespere, I hope they fit!


And now, a picture of the Socks that Rock club yarn. I'm so excited. Look at those colors! It isn't something I would have picked out for myself, but now that I'm actually holding the yarn in my hands, I love the colors. It's soft and luscious and we'll see how it knits up.

New Mac!

I am back! One of the big computer chain stores is closing all stores in our state and I got a brand-new Mac on sale. This is my first Mac ever, so we're still getting used to each other. As in, I'm not even sure how to burn a file onto CD. But I'm learning, I'm knitting, and tomorrow, I'll put up some pictures.

One of the downsides of this sudden transition is that I lost all of my bookmarks. So if I regularly visit your blog but you don't hear from me in a couple of days, drop me a line. Don't be shy. I haven't lost interest, I just haven't found you again.

I broke it!

I broke my computer. I stepped on the monitor part of my laptop, and now it looks like glass superimposed over scorched paper. I can't believe I did this! Everything is on that laptop!

I hope they can fix it. Really. I can't believe I did this!

Rockin' Socks!

My first Socks that Rock package has arrived! I love the yarn, the pattern looks like it'll make a cozy sock, and I can't wait to start. But first: sock pal socks. Must not get distracted.
The lady at my LYS saw my finished sock and the amount of yarn I have left. She thinks it'll be enough, but I'm not sure because my row gauge is off and I have more rows per inch than the pattern calls for. The fabric looks beautiful, the fit is perfect, but oh, how I hope the yarn lasts.

Here's the irrational question of the day: am I the only knitter who somehow believes she won't run out of yarn if she knits faster? I know it doesn't make any sense, but I catch myself doing it anyway!

One down

I finished the first sock for my sock pal Jespere. I hope they fit!


I'm also hoping that I won't run out of yarn.

Here are some more thoughts on ML: At first, I thought it was awkward, but the longer I do it, the more I love it. No gaps. Anywhere. No losing DPNs. The only thing that gets lost are stitch markers, but that's why I use the cheapest kind when I'm on the go.
Now that I've knit an entire sock, I also have to say that ML is incredible for those last 8 or so stitches, which are incredibly frustrating on DPNs. 2 on each needle? I usually do that in my lap. No problems this time around!

Bad feeling

I'm worried. The first sock pal sock is nearly finished, but I may have used more than half the yarn. To make matters worse, I wound the ball around the little paper band that contains a few minor bits of information, such as the name of the colorway and the dye lot. Aaaargh!

I hope I don't run out of yarn.

Sock and Squirrel

I'm over the blahs! After frogging twice, I've made some progress on my sock pal socks. I'm using the CTH yarn because you couldn't see the cables in the LL. This is a crummy picture, but the sock is beautiful, if I say so myself!


At first, I wasn't sure about ML, but I'm getting the hang of it. and I love it.

And now, look what I saw through my kitchen window yesterday morning: this cute squirrel sitting on our neighbor's back porch. He would sit there, then stretch his little body all the way, with his feet on the porch and his little hands on the feeder, which would swing back and stretch him even further. I had a hard time taking pictures because he'd stretch, grab, sit back, stuff his face, then stretch again. Fast.


Here is the little guy in action. He stretched much further than this!

Frog Pond

This is so depressing. I was almost done with one sock pal sock when I realized the following facts:
1. I'd dropped part of a cable near the cuff.
2. In the Amethyst Stripe yarn, the cables are pretty much invisible.

So I frogged. The socks are 'due' soon, but I just couldn't see myself sending out something I wouldn't be happy to receive in the mail. Tonight, I'll rest, tomorrow, I'll swatch in the other purple to evaluate how things will look, then make up my mind. Ugh!

I got Valentine's Day!

In a box, from Libi! She sent me a wonderful box of chocolates, and this:


A hand-knit lace scarf! I'm simply blown away. The picture isn't the best because I took it myself, with only the bathroom mirror for reference. But it's lovely. In an orange that actually looks good on me (unlike the overgrown bangs...). It's soft. It's long. It's cushy. I can't stop petting it.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I feel loved. A lot.

A Mystery Package

The mystery: Who is BlueHen?

I have no idea, but she sends awesome packages! She's my upstream knitty SP for round 8 of, and... look at all that yarn! I was floored when I saw the sheer amount of yarnyness. That's a beautiful skein of deep brown Alpaca, 2 skeins of wonderful blue yarn, and karaoke, which I've always wanted to try but never got around to buying. The colors are so vivid, exactly the kind of thing I would have picked out for myself!


Also in the picture: some chocolate-covered toffees that probably won't make it through the night, some tea with cardamon (yum!), and heart-shaped pasta for Valentine's Day.

Thanks for the amazing package, BlueHen -- whoever you may be!

The ML Experience

I'm using Magic Loop to knit my sock pal's socks -- one at a time, because it's my first time using this technique. My impressions so far:
It's easy. If you really know how a sock works, you don't have any trouble figuring out which needle to use when or which needle to pull out.
It's handy because you only have one long needle, not 5 out of which 1 invariably gets lost.
It's supposedly better for the join because you don't have gaps between needles. So far, I'm still getting gaps between needles, and worse than with DPNs. But maybe that'll get better with experience.
Once I figured out how to make the cable hang down instead of sticking up and getting in the way, things got a lot easier.
This is still a bit slow for me, but the longer I do it, the faster I'll get. Practice, practice, practice!
Next up: pictures of socks. I really need to hurry up to get them done in time for the deadline!

Blah

I've been feeling too blah to knit much of anything. This is making me feel particularly bad because I should be working on the socks for my sock pal. She deserves wonderful socks, and it isn't her fault that I'm feeling blah.
On the bright side, I got gauge! Don't know what happened, but I've gone from being a tight knitter to being a loose knitter. At least some of the time. With these socks, I had to go down a needle size. Now I'm using size 0 Addi Turbos. Yes, I'm doing Magic Loop! This is exciting. Not only are these my very first 'real' size 0 needle socks, they are also my very first ML project ever. I guess I'm ambitious.

The other interesting thing I have discovered is that when I feel too blah to do any knitting, I get the urge to spin. For some reason, spinning is even more soothing than knitting. Perhaps because it doesn't require me to concentrate on a pattern. All I have to do is sit there, spin the spindle, and let the yarn slip through my fingers. It's very restful.

Now I want a wheel.

First yarn

Ladies and gents, I present to you, hand-spun, Kool-Aid dyed and skeined, my very first yarn! Roving and drink mix were kindly provided by AKknitter, my SP from the fall/spooky SP round on knitty.


I've learned a lot from this skein. There's some roving left, but I couldn't wait to see the finished results. Yes, the dye job is uneven, but now I know to set the twist before dyeing. Scrunched-up parts don't soak up dye. Duh!
This little skein actually had to be soaked twice. The first time around, I forgot that you need to add weight to the bottom to set the twist. I got it wet again and put a large towel through the bottom. Et voila, she is done!

Midwest Moonlight (Red Scarf Project)

Unisex. Ahem. Well, the geometric lace pattern is kind of unisex, right? I can see a guy wearing this scarf, but then again, I've also seen the occasional guy who looked darn good in a man skirt. So maybe I'm not the best judge of what a regular guy would wear.

But I'm sending this scarf anyway!

Closeup of it blocking (the even squares on the side will revert back to being tilted once I take out the blocking wires):


Pattern Details:
Pattern: Midwest Moonlight from Scarf Style
Yar: Caron Simply Soft
Needles: US #8
Dimensions: Length was about 62" unblocked, it's probably grown an inch or two since. Sorry, I
feel too lazy to crawl around and measure the width!

Talk about procrastiknitting! I'm sending this off tomorrow morning. I hope it gets in by the 31st.

And now, I have nothing on the needles. Time to start Jespere's socks and Mr. Batty's sweater!

Saturday Spinning

I was going to go to the gym today. Just a couple of minutes of spinning first... ahem. About an hour is more like it. The 'top layer' and the yarn near the whorl are my latest attempt. The thick, slubby part is the stuff I produced during earlier attempts.


Clearly, this is a very diverse yarn. It goes all the way from slubby super bulky to fairly even fingering weight with the occasional little slub. What can I do with this? Any suggestions? I want to turn it into something other than a hank of handspun that just sits there!

Oh, and all of you fleece/wheel/spinning enablers: I guess I'm officially addicted to this. Once I get better at hand spinning, it'll be time for a wheel of my own!

Tomorrow: finished red scarf. It's a little late. I'll have to mail it myself.

Spinning interlude

I had a plan: finish my red scarf on Tuesday at a local SnB, then get started on Jespere's socks and the husband's sweater. It didn't happen. Why?

One of the ladies at the SnB brought in her portable spinning wheel! It was my first time ever trying to use a wheel, and I spent over 2 hours learning how to get it to go in the right direction (not at all easy), how fast to draft and treadle, and what to do when the wheel sucked all the yarn through the little gizmo with the hole in it (I'm sure it has a name, but I don't know what it is).
It was amazing. When I wasn't overthinking it, I actually managed to just sit and spin for a few minutes at a time! Then, of course, I'd notice, and there went the yarn. But I can tell it's addictive.

So today and tomorrow, I'll be knitting the red scarf like a crazy person. It's getting dropped off sometime tomorrow or Saturday, and then on to socks.

And dreams of owning a spinning wheel. That was fun!

Pr0n for Jespere

Le yarn est arrivee!

Now that there are options, which yarn will it be?

1. Cherry Tree Hill Supersock, a purple variegate with bits of... not sure what that color is, but it looks nice.


2. Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in a blue-ish colorway with a small part that has a greenish tinge.


3. Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in a lighter and darker pastel purple.


The colors in the pictures are pretty close to nature. Yay for sock yarn choices! Let me know which one you like, I'll start swatching right away!

WIP: Red Scarf Project scarf

Right now, this is the only thing I have on the needles. It's a scarf for the Red Scarf Project, and I'm hoping that it'll be done by tonight. It's a simple lace pattern, Midwest Moonlight from Scarf Style. I'm using Caron Simply Soft, which is very soft and has such a pretty sheen for a cheap yarn. I think Simply Soft is my new cheap yarn love!

FO: Samantha

This week, I'm having trouble with the knitty blog stalking theme because we're supposed to take a picture of our WIP's. The problem? They're all getting done!
Here is Samantha, the baby sweater dress I finished knitting in October. We've had a rocky relationship because seaming is not difficult, but hemming is a pain in the backside. I sewed on the last button just as our friend, the baby's father, was coming through the door. It's now on its way to baby Lilly.

Front of sweater:


Back of sweater:


Closeup of front with adorable flower buttons (the middle of each button is green). They were picked out with the help of several knittyheads when we took the big trip to WEBS last year.


Pattern: Samantha by Kate Gilbert (the old version, she has revised the pattern since)
Yarn: Aurora 4 in color 16, about 3.5 skeins
Size: A bit larger than the 12 month size
Needles: I don't quite remember, but I think they were US #4. I did go down a needle size for the hems on the sleeves but forgot to for the hems on the bottom.

The curling and unevenness is due to the fact that I hurried when I was taking pictures and didn't have time to lay everything out completely flat. The seams don't actually flare. I'm very happy with the outcome, and Lilly's dad liked it too.

Lace Blanket of Doom

It's done, the Lace Blanket of Doom! It's blocking upstairs. This wouldn't be possible without the blockers the husband bought me for Christmas.


And a closeup:


Pattern: Lace Leaf Throw by Fibertrends
Yarn: Lionbrand WoolEase Bulky
Needles: US 11, 32" Addi Turbo circs
Dimensions: h= 56", w= 64"

I thought it would never end, but now it's done!

It's starting to look like yarn!

Thanks to the wonderful advice I have received at knitty.com, here's my spinning improvement. We just got back from a 3 day trip, and I thought I'd give this another try. It's my second spinning attempt. I'm so happy because...
It's starting to look like yarn!

Here it is, all wound up on my spindle. The tufts are the much thicker, much more irregular results of my first spinning attempt, not entirely hidden by the much thinner layer of new... yarn! I still can't get over the fact that I just made something that is beginning to look like yarn.

Next: Pictures of my knitting WIPs for the knitty blog stalkers. Maybe even a FO, the Lace Blanket of Doom is nearing completion.

I made yarn!!!!

Ahem. Sorry. Just had to say it one more time.

Wiped out + Spinning HELP!

I was going to post pictures of the 8/10 finished blankie and of my Red Scarf Project scarf. But I went to the gym today, and it totally wiped me out. Getting back in shape after Lyme disease AND Parvo virus is hard. It's like starting from way below zero. But I'm going to do this. I'm going to be fit in time for one of this year's breast cancer walks.

Edit: Instead of eating and sleeping, I decided to try spinning for the very first time. After having a brain fart and dumping nearly an entire clove of chopped garlic directly into my pasta without sauteeing it first (thereby completely clearing my sinuses, killing any germs in my stomach, and acquiring rancid garlic breath), I should have known better. Instead, I produced this:

Somebody please help me! I don't expect my first handspun to be perfect, but this?
Why is it so tufty? Why are there over-twisted kinks at the bottom, near the hook (this is a top whorl spindle) that won't travel up the roving? What am I doing wrong?
Help!

Knitting, knitting, knitting

I've been knitting like a crazy fool! The Lace Blanket of Doom is almost done, I expect it will be finished before Friday. The sleeves of the baby sweater still need hemming. I did one, messed up the hem, will have to redo. Then, it'll be ready to block and seam... Maybe it'll get done while the recipient is still a baby? Let's hope for the best!
I also just started a red scarf for the red scarf project.
That's a lot of knitting.


My sock yarn still hasn't come in. I hope the nice e-Bay lady sent it out, I can hardly wait! One of the skeins is rainbow-colored yarn for my horrible bobble socks.

First FO of 2007: Turbulence

First FO of the new year: Turbulence from Knitting Nature. Another first: my first set in sleeves. They fit! I was nervous because I had to fudge things a bit because somehow, I was a couple of stitches off somewhere. But they're in. They don't bulge or pucker. And, best of all, the sweater is almost falling off my shoulders. This means that it should fit my sister just fine.

This is me wearing it.

The yarn is really difficult to photograph. Berrocco Softwist is very beautiful. It's a light wool with a strand of something shiny spun throughout. Unfortunately, the shine also reflects the light from my flash. Here's a picture with flash:

And here's one without. Didn't help much, did it?

Pattern details: Turbulence U-neck sweater from Knitting Nature by Nora Gaughan.
Needles: US4 for the ribbing, US6 for the stockinette and cables
Size: Small (36 inch bust)

Why this sweater: In her introduction to the pattern, Nora writes that the cables imitate the way river water flows around stones. Last year, my sister managed to overcome a great many obstacles, including a learning disability, and become a physical therapist. It seemed very appropriate that she should have this sweater.
As I was knitting and putting the pieces together, I thought about life with my sister in general. It is, I think, fair to say that it's always been very turbulent -- there's always something going on, there are always people around her, she's always doing something. We are very different that way. I'm an introvert, she's an extrovert. Even when we were growing up, no toy was any good unless there were other children to share it with. I was happy being by myself, but she was always off with someone, doing something, getting herself in trouble while somehow still believing that "somehow, it'll all turn out OK."
She loves people, and they love her in return. She loves a good party, but she has dedicated her life to making those who are in pain feel better. She has grown a lot, from a wild party girl to a (still occasionally wild) responsible adult.

Life with my sister may be turbulent, but it's never boring.

New Year's Resolutions

Not all of these are knitting-related.

1. I will finish my cross-stitch UFO. It has been sitting there for 7 years, that's enough.

2. I will try Fair Isle knitting. This one is left over from last year. What can I say, I'm a coward when it comes to colorwork.

3. Start holiday gifts in time to actually finish.

4. Knit more socks.

5. Knit a lace garment that has shaping in the lace part, not just the stockinette section.

6. Learn to crochet properly. By that, I mean learn to crochet something other than a dishcloth.

7. Get in shape. Not moving makes my inflammatory arthritis worse. Also, I need to get in shape so I can

8. do the breast cancer walk. It's in May, so I better get cracking.

9. Stop being a coward when it comes to applying for jobs. I mean, why?

10. Eat healthy. Junk food makes the hormones unhappy. Unhappy hormones make me unhappy. It's not a good thing.

And here's one that needs to get done before the New Year: Finish at least one of my knitting UFOs! 2 of them need assembling. At least one of them should be finishable by tomorrow!

Happy New Year, and I'll post pictures of the new FO if I succeed with that last bit!

Egg Nog!

Today, I've been feeling well enough to make Egg Nog. The end product is most yummy and not Salmonella-inducing, as the eggs are cooked for a good 7 minutes or so. Also, milk can be substituted for the alcohol if kids are present -- or if you just don't drink alcohol.

Here's a picture of the ingredients:


Heat 3 cups of whole milk in a heavy saucepan until it's just barely boiling. In the meantime, whisk together 7 eggs and 3/4 cup of sugar in a large bowl. The recipe says to then pour the milk into the eggs, but if you do that, you're likely to get scrambled eggs and milk, yuck.
So instead, I carefully whisk in milk by the 1/4 cup, pouring slowly with a cup measure and whisking vigorously all the while. The slow rise in temperature keeps things from curdling. No scrambled egg nog, yay!
After the first 3/4 cup or whole cup of milk whisked into the eggs, you can slowly pour in the rest of the milk -- while whisking!

Then, pour the milk/egg/sugar mixture back into the pot and cook on medium low until a thermometer registers 170 degrees (F, not Centigrade!). Pour custard-like mixture into a clean bowl. The recipe says to pour through a fine-meshed sieve, but I've never had to do that. It turns out perfectly smooth every time.

Add 1 teaspoon vanilla, 2 cups of heavy cream, 1/4 cup cognac and 1/4 cup of bourbon or brandy. The original recipe calls for 1/3 cup of both kinds of liquor, for a total of 2/3 of a cup of booze. I like to taste something besides booze. And I don't want to end up under the table after just 1 glass of egg nog!

Here's what the end result looks like:


Yum!

Let cool on the counter, then cover and refrigerate. It tastes even better the next day, after the booze has had some time to mellow.

Enjoy!

Christmas cold

My nose is stuffed up, my ears are stuffed up, and my voice went away. Guess who won't be singing in the choir for Christmas? I know it's the intent that counts, but I just don't see myself croaking out a festive tune.

The blanket is 3/8 done. My sister's sweater is still unseamed. Samantha's hem still needs hemming. But tomorrow, I'm going to get cracking.
Also coming up: pictures of me making egg nog. Yum, egg nog!

Blankie & Christmas Tree

Because this is a knitting blog, I'll start with the blankie. As you can see, there's no way it's getting done by Christmas. Like all lace, it looks awful on the needles, but I like the way it's coming out -- and I'm surprised by the softness of the new WoolEase Bulky. This year's WoolEase is so much softer than last year's. The advances in acrylic are amazing. It's no longer yucky!

Pattern info: Leaf Lace Throw by Fibertrends
Yarn: WoolEase Bulky in Fisherman (why did they call an off-white Fisherman? Who knows!)

And this week, we're doing Christmas decorations for blog stalking. Here's our Christmas tree in all its glory. Mr. Batty had to put up the angel because I tried, and she looked all crooked, like she'd consumed the entire bowl of egg nog all by herself.

Here's a closeup of some of my favorite ornaments. Yes, that's an orange bat ornament on the left. Did you honestly think I had no bat ornaments? Slightly to the right is the cup with the 2 mice cuddling -- it's the Christmas ornament the ladies' group at our last church gave us before we got married. To the right of that, not all that visible, is an ornament with two manatees. I love manatees, they look like big, snuggly cuddlecritters. Even though they're wet. It's the faces, they're the cutest.

And here's a closeup of my purple bat ornament. It has another bat that holds the bow together, some black fluff, and two black roses hanging off the ribbon.


Have a happy, batty Christmas/Hannukah/Kwanza/Pagan holiday of choice/Festivus, everyone!

Gargamel Feet

What does Gargamel wear when he goes smurf-hunting?


Fuzzy Feet!

These are Fuzzy Feet, knit in some color of Cascade 220 on US11 needles. They also have suede soles, but I'm not taking pictures of those because they're embarrassing. Do you have any idea how hard it is to attach a 2-part sole to medieval footwear? It's hard.

My sweetie likes his new slippers, they're warm and the soles make them non-slippery. He does, however, make smurf-hunting jokes. For a good reason, even the color is pretty darn accurate (if a little dark).

Blog-stalking questionnaire

NAME: Batty
1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Both!
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? We just put them under the tree, unless they get wrapped at the store. But we try to keep the environment happy, so we minimize our packaging material consumption as much as possible.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? I like them both. White is more festive, colored is more joyful.
4. Do you hang mistletoe? Nope.
5. When do you put your decorations up? It takes me a while to take down the Halloween bats. Halloween stuff is all over the house, and this year, it's lingering. As soon as we manage to put it away, the Christmas stuff goes up.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? No fair excluding dessert! It's the best part of every meal!
7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child: Baking cookies with my mother. I love cookies, I love my mother, and I love watching the snow. It was perfect.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I don't remember when I learned the truth, but I do remember one department store having a particularly good Santa. He told me I'd been good in general, but that there was a problem with the mess in my room. You know, with one shoe under the bed, the other in my closet. I was in awe. He had to be real. How else could he know about the shoes?
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? We open them Christmas day.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? We don't have too many ornaments yet, but we try to get a new one every year. My favorite is a cup with two mice hugging that says 'first Christmas' on it. The ladies from our church's evening group threw me a surprise bridal shower after choir practice one day, and they gave me this ornament. It was such a sweet gesture.
11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Love to cuddle and watch the snow. Hate driving to work when it's coming down!
12. Can you ice skate? No. I've tried, but... no.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? We weren't big into gifts. But probably something Barbie.
14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Turning inward in expectation of something joyful. Our family doesn't go nuts over gifts, so there's no pushing, rushing, or desperately trying to meet deadlines (except for the blanket I'm knitting for my in-laws...). The religious background is extremely important to me, as is an opportunity to spend time with my family.
15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Cheesecake! This year, I'm probably making pumpkin cheesecake instead of pumpkin pie.
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? We leave our decorations up until Orthodox Christmas in January. One of the benefits of being a 2 denomination household!
17. What tops your tree? An angel that is notoriously difficult to get onto the tree.
18. Which do you prefer giving or Receiving? Giving. What a wonderful excuse to knit for people!
19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? The first noel, though the lyrics crack me up every time. Which is bad, because I'm in the church choir.
20. Candy Canes... Yuck! I don't like mint too much, and chocolate and mint is even worse.

Putting it all together

Tonight, I'm putting together my sister's birthday sweater. Pictures coming up!

Tomorrow, I'm frogging the mistake in the lace blanket for my father in law and his wife. Pictures of that, sad as it is, also coming up. 23 days till Christmas. About 10 days till it has to be mailed out. Am I insane?

Then, I'm going to finish that baby sweater. I swear, if I don't do it soon, the kid's going to be graduating college before it's done!

Turbulence

My sister's birthday sweater is blocking upstairs. Her birthday was yesterday, so it's going to be late, but I really like the way it turned out. The yarn (Berroco Softwist) has a simmery strand spun into it, which really catches the light in the cable pattern. Unfortunately, it also makes the whole thing difficult to photograph.

Here's the whole sweater laid out to block:


And here's a closeup of the cable pattern:


It's very hard to photograph, and it looks much, much better in real life. But this is the best I can do with the lighting conditions and with my cheapo digital camera.

In other news: I have to redo some of the hems on Samantha. I thought I could live with the imperfection, but it's annoying me every time I look at it. Just blocking out the sweater took 2 hours, and I'm done with annoying stuff for today.

Instead of mucking about with hems, I'm starting the Christmas blanket for my in-laws. It's a lace pattern knit in bulky acrylic... I hope my hands survive this, and I hope it blocks at least a little!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Turkey Day!

We've finished cooking and stuffing ourselves. The leftovers are in the fridge, and I am happily ensconced in my comfy chair. Now for some knitting, and life will be perfect.

One question, though: Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong with my pie crust? It turns out either way too crumbly to work (why? why? why?), or, if I add too much water to counteract the crumbliness, shell-like and not at all airy and flaky.
If you have the solution to my pie crust problem, please help. I'm baffled.

Pumpkins

My sweetie took me to see pumpkins. It was great! A huge field of pumpkins, all carved. We drove to Lookout Farms in Wellesley. There, we got on a little train-like thing they use to take people into the orchards, where...
Pumpkins. Everywhere! We were surrounded by them. They even hired some artists to do some of the carving.

See for yourselves!


It's really well done. Feels like a maze, looks like a maze, but there's really only one way to go.

There was actually water coming out of the top of the pumpkin pile! I didn't get a picture of the dragon with pumpkin eyes, but the landscaping was phenomenal. So worth the price of admission.

Spooooooky!

I know, I know, Halloween is long over. But I never properly thanked my Spooky SP, the amazing AKKnitter, for the wonderful (and thoughtful!) goodies she sent me. This green package was Cthulhu-themed, complete with instructions for a dark ritual to summon the Great Old One. She was wonderful to send me a ritual that really worked...
As you can tell, because I didn't get eaten.


Here's me wearing the socks. See, they fit perfectly -- and I don't remember ever giving her my foot measurements! Methinks it's time to get out the tinfoil hat again.
On second thought, why don't I not. After all, getting comfy, warm socks in Cthulhu green is worth the loss of a little privacy.


This is an amazing package, right? Well, it wasn't the only one! Here is the OTHER package she sent. Look at these bat stitch markers! Aren't they the cutest? Complete with Jack Skellington row marker!

And check out this spooky haul. The cutest bat bags, beady candy cake-decorating thingies in bat shapes, and... BAT SPRINKLES! For cookies! Now I can battyfy my cookies, they'll taste twice as good.
There's yarn... I'd never actually knit with Noro Kureyon, so this will be a first. The colors are gorgeous. Then there are these vintage patterns. Some of them are really cute and pretty, others make you laugh out loud. What a great gift.
Then there's the Wool of Bat jar. It doesn't get any more perfect. And a little pumpkin carving kit, and candy corn candles.

I have been completely spoiled, and I apologize for the delay in showing off all this wonderful stuff. Thank you so much. It's obvious a lot of thought went into these packages, and I appreciate every little bit of it.

Dead batteries

Sigh. I still haven't posted pictures of my spooky SP's incredibly generous gifts. My husband took me to this amazing pumpkin event at a nearby farm, I took some pictures, but can't download them. The batteries in my camera are dead and I've been too broke to buy new ones!
Has anyone else ever had a negative balance on their account because they just really couldn't afford that last trip to the yarn store? Maybe I do have a problem.

On the bright side: Samanta is done, at least the knitting part. I was trying to put it together and then seam, but that didn't work because all the loose ends from the provisional CO made it impossible to see what's what. Now, I'm hemming first, then putting it together. If I'm really careful, everything should come out even.

The hem is flaring. I can't just pull elastic through it because the dress buttons up the front and fits like a cardi. The elastic would pull the halves apart.

It will block out. I know it will.
I know I'm probably kidding myself.