Happy Boxing Day!

So we survived Christmas - huzzah! Got up (reasonably) early, lazed around a bit, went to the folks' place for about 11:00, did presents, watched Da Vinci Code, had dinner, got ill, came home. Yeah, got ill. Too many sweets before dinner and my IBS kicked up - oops! So a quiet night at home last night and taking it easy today, although we are expected back at Mom & Dad's for the traditional Boxing Day club sandwiches at lunchtime.

It snowed overnight! Everything is white and pretty, I just hope the main roads have been cleared. Oh - almost forgot - presents! (Yeah, the mind is on vacation - 2 consecutive days off from working, oh my!). I received from my Mom & Dad 12 balls of Patons Rumor in Hibiscus Heather, which will become a Wednesday's Cardigan for me to wear at the office this summer (too much A/C). From my sister and her family, the new Trivial Pursuit 80's Canadian Edition. From my other sister, a very cool rechargeable floodlight-style flashlight. From my grandparents, money (woohoo!) - Peter and I are going to treat ourselves to a couple of nice dinners out. A few other gifts too, but those are the "big" ones. Peter and I agreed to not exchange gifts this year, what with money and time both being a little tight. I did "Alvin" myself though (an Alvin being a present "from me to me!"), with a set of 10 largish glass jars that have locking lids, so I can start organizing my spice cabinet.

Got in a bit of knitting on a new Fleece Artist shawl for Yumi - gorgeous fire colours, I hope to finish it quickly because it's the perfect thing for the 'bleak midwinter' that will soon be upon us. That's travel/visiting knitting. And I'm getting back at Peter's sweater today also - it's been neglected too long now. I want to finish the front so I can get started on the back and do another of those fun bands of cabling!

But first, breakfast and clothes and back in the car to Kanata again. You know, for New Year's I'm not going ANYWHERE that involves getting in the car. I love my car but I swear I spend half my life driving places. It's good to have a break occasionally! Have a great Boxing Day all!

FO - socks (just in time)

This afternoon, before running off to an 8-hour shift at the store, I finished up my second pink/grey Shetland Chunky sock. Tonight, after the 8-hour shift, I came out of the store to find my car encased in a good (well, bad actually) 1/2" of ice from the freezing rain that had started about 2 minutes after I got to work. Chiseling it out was a big bag of no fun, but when I got home, skated/slid into the house, and changed from my cold wet sneakers/thin socks into these toasty thick puppies, it was so nice!

Those are my nice dry warm feet. The socks are from Patons' book "Cool Weather Accessories", modified a teeny bit. Their sock calls for a 1x1 rib at the top in a contrast colour then 2x2 rib down the leg, contrast heel and toe. For these I just started the 2x2 at the top and carried all the way down, since it was a marl yarn anyway. They fit a little more snugly at the top this way than the first pair I made with the 1x1 rib at the top. I also made the foot length just enough and fiddled the toe decrease a bit so the toes are snug also. The leg length, in case you're wondering, is 9 1/2". These cover that part of the calf/ankle where you get a gap between your PJ's and your slippers. :)

These are fun to knit once you get the first pair out of the way (my first pair of socks EVER was this pattern, knit up for Peter early this year). I have a few small oddballs of Shetland Chunky floating around in stash, so I may make a couple pair with solid leg/foot and variegated heel/toe/cuff, just for kicks (so to speak).

Tomorrow is Christmas-Eve-Eve, and I have to do baking and then work. Which means probably not working on another WIP until Christmas Day, because Christmas Eve I have to do baking and then work. But I might grab something small just for breaktime at the store. I needs my knittin'!

Christmas time is here...

At last. This evening we had the Yogi Bear Christmas, Rudolph, Charlie Brown Christmas, Garfield Christmas, and now Flintstones Christmas. And we set up our village:
Complete with Paul Bunyan Santa and a very large guardian angel. Behind it (sorry about the flash glare) is a picture that Peter's brother Gary painted of a train at the station - that will hang on our dining room wall, as soon as we get the picture wire attached to the frame. Figure by Spring. :)



And then we set up our tree, and Sandy & Dan came over to help decorate it. Isn't it pretty?
We were able to use all the "special" ornaments from Peter's mom and my collection, and filled in with some plain coloured glass balls and a whack of glittery icicles from my mom. It looks great, I think, and really made a special evening. I feel Christmassy now. Which is good, because tomorrow I have to inventory the pantry and make up my grocery list for baking. Here's the list of "to-bake":

1. Gingersnaps
2. Egg Tarts
3. Butter Tarts
4. Mincemeat Tarts
5. Suet pudding

The only really time-consuming ones are the gingersnaps and the suet pudding - tarts are easy. But I don't know what I need, so tomorrow I'm making my list and checking it twice. And then doing at least another 2 inches on my scarf. It's still mild but supposed to slip to minus two by Christmas Eve!

Do they know it's Christmas?

I heard that song on the radio today, and as always, it made me cry - had to pull the car over. Bob Geldof started a wonderful movement of world generosity some 20+ years ago, and it still continues today, in many forms. For the knitterly, it's Knitters Without Borders. Once again inspired by the Harlot, I've done my bit today, in honour of Peter's mother. What would have been her Christmas gift, is now gifted to this very worthwhile cause. Go see Stephanie's post today for the details of how you too, can help. It's Christmas.

All wrapped up

I wrapped my Christmas presents tonight - took about 15 minutes. Which, for me, is not nearly enough wrapping time - I like wrapping presents, I love giving presents. But this year, money is tight and I'm being good. Dammit. Nevertheless, all the presents are wrapped except those which have yet to be bought... ouch. See, my sister in Frederiction has two kids. My neice was easy - girly sparkly crafty stuff. My nephew, video games. Or rather, a gift card towards the purchase of video games. The problem being, the store where I need to get the gift card is in the Mall From Hell, in which I will not venture during the month of December. And my sister, herself? Also a gift card, but not yet purchased. So I will call her, explain the situation (because mailing now is TOO LATE and courier costs more than the gifts), and send prezzies after New Year. Which is a cheat, but it's been a rough month.

Knitting!

My striped scarf is now over 40" long. I'm loving it but have fumblethumbs tonight so only knit about an inch and a half. Would like to finish this by the end of the weekend, but so many house-chores to do - like find my dining room table. Actually, the whole dining room is rather buried. It's a "non-urgent area" so we've been dumping stuff in there all week. Now I want to decorate for Christmas, and I want to put my village on the dining room table, and the table is covered in plants and hiding behind a MASSIVE painting of a steam engine. Peter's brother painted it, it's gorgeous, and it needs to get on the dining room wall ASAP. However, I first need to move the china cabinet that is currently on that wall because it's too tall to hang the painting over. Which means moving the plant stand. Which means moving the OTHER plant stand. Etc. You get the drift. Tomorrow, I will find and make beautiful the dining room. Then I will go back to work at Michaels, which, honestly, I've missed the past week or so. I need my retail gang, they make me feel smart and useful. But first, the dining room.

And you know what? I have this weird urge to knit mittens for kids. I saw a post on Freecycle tonight that someone wanted warm mitts/etc. for a toddler. But I've never knit mitts, and really don't want to start any new projects now... and yet I feel guilty that there's some poor kid with cold little fingers. *sigh* Not fair, having a hair-trigger guilt response. Maybe I could whip off a quick pair over the weekend? Time to look for quick kids' mitt patterns, I guess.

Two FO's today

This morning I was sick, sick, sick. All the everything finally caught up to me, I guess, and I just took the day to sit quietly, catch up on computer stuff, watch a movie, do some knitting. Finished off my re-knit Tosca Toque - 64 stitches on 6mm needles, k2p2 rib. The original one was about double the diameter (I had BIG hair last winter), and there was a green stripe at the top - this one didn't get that far. It fits very snugly over my ears and is (I think) going to be windproof - not a lot of stretch to it, so not a lot of places for the cold to get in! Here it is, oddly lit (my camera flash makes everything wash out, so I have to improvise with lamps and things. sometimes good, sometimes not so much).

I also finished the Christmas dishcloth that Peter's mom had started. Look, you really can't tell where she left off and I started. This was in your standard Bernat Handicrafter cotton, no idea how many stitches, but it's got a six-row garter stitch top and bottom and a three-stitch garter stitch border around the stockinette middle. Pretty. I like how it has kind of a semi-plaid/argyle look to it. I'll be using it to display some of the Christmas knickknacks, once we find them - probably next weekend we'll set up for Christmas. Two weeks from today!

And tonight, there's a CSI: Miami marathon on A&E. I have a pile of WIPs in the living room (I shoved them all in a box to move and of course my notions bag was at the BOTTOM of the box, so everything had to come out so I could sew in ends. D'oh!), so I think I'll assess them in order of "how long will it take to finish this?" and start working through them. I'd like to finish all the small stuff so I can get back at Peter's sweater (no progress since the last picture), but maybe I should keep a couple of them for "travel knitting" when I get back to work. I don't know. I DO know that I found a lovely lace scarf pattern online today that might just work up nicely in the Great Big Sea Silk. But it has a chart, and I've never worked a knitting chart before. Certainly will need more brainpower than I have tonight. Right now I need to find something 'safe' (IBS sucks, have I mentioned that?) for dinner. BRAT - bananas, rice, applesauce, toast. I hate BRAT. But I love having FO's. So I guess today's coming out even?

Moving (more) day and my? cats

So it's Saturday, and in a little less than an hour (thank you, Inigo Montoya) we will have several strong backs and pairs of willing hands to help move the rest of our big stuff (and whatever little stuff we can) from house a (old house) to house b (Peter's old-moving-back-in and my new, house). I really detest moving, having done way too much of it in the past. And with everything that's been happening lately, this morning I just want to hang out in my penguin pajamas (yay for Mark's Work Wearhouse!) and vegitate. Not an option. But before we pitch into moving (more) stuff, I want to tell you about my cats.

Actually, "the girls" were Peter's mom's cats; Mush (pronounced 'moosh'), who is older than god but still kicking strong, and Squeeky, who was a rescued kitten about three years ago, if I remember right. But now, well, they kind of come with the house. Now I am not a cat person, never really. Love kittens but when they get big they get that "cattitude" that annoys me. Plus, as a knitter, I worry about what they might do to my yarn. Reasonable, yes?

Well, since we've moved in (a few days, feels like a year, gods I'm tired), Squeeky has decided that I need to rest more. Whenever I sit down, she's on my lap, and insisting on being petted for at least 10 minutes. So I have to take a break, because it would be mean to displace kitty, yes? Yes. And yesterday when I started trying to pick out my carefully sewn-up crown of my Tosca hat (which needs to be frogged and reknit - I have smaller hair than I did last winter), she nuzzled up to me and put a paw on my wrist. NOT THE YARN! She is a good kitty. Mush just shows up for food and then hides out in the bathroom vanity cabinet (she likes the heat from the hot-water supply line, I guess). But Squeeky is making me feel a whole lot more "at home". And it means a lot. So now I am a knitter with cats. But Peter's still responsible for the litter box!

Current OTN: started a Feather & Fan scarf with the Great Big Sea silk, but the colours that looked like autumn leaves in the skein look more like sourball candy in the ball and when knit up. Not sure about that, it may need to go in the bins to 'season' awhile. So the christmas dishcloth, and the to-be-frogged-and-reknit Tosca hat. Peter's sweater is waiting in the wings for some semblance of order to be restored (no way am I screwing that up in this chaos!).

But now, time to put on pants and get on with the day.

Memory knitting, and a special surprise

So, we've been packing and unpacking and moving and re-moving things to try and consolidate two houses into one, and of course "for now" my yarn bins are in a closet and my needles are in the other house and my current scarf is not giving me any joy. Total knit aggravation. Tried to take the edge off by playing computer games instead as we got the computer room somewhat functional, but not working. Damn.

Then Peter says, "There's a set of double-points in the living room". And I think, and before saying something snarky about how that does me nae good without yarn (DUH!), I remember there's also a half-knit Christmas dishcloth on the needles in the living room. Peter's mom had started and restarted it a number of times before she settled on a pattern she liked (stockinette with a garter stitch border), and it's a little less than half done. So I grabbed it, and started knitting. And I felt really connected with her, and the crazy thing is, our gauge is almost identical - you can't really tell where she left off and I began.

So I'm going to finish it, a couple of rows here and there between moving stuff, and that's going to be one unbreakable connection to her. I won't wash any dishes with it, but it might go under one of her Christmas knickknacks on a table. It's certainly pretty enough.

Now, before this happened, yesterday we went to the funeral home to make arrangements for Peter's mom. And I was pretty upset afterwards, and we came home and I said, we should pick up the mail. And there was my gift-swap gift, an utterly stunning shawl from Alison Hyde! I was, as the ladies say, "gobsmacked." My thanks to her, and her further stunning story of how I came to receive that shawl, are all in a post in KnitTalk, which you can find here.

Quite a day. And now, unfortunately, break time is over and I have to go move more stuff. But Peter's on his way home with a Starbucks mocha for me (Double-tall hazelnut soy no whip mocha - I had to write him a note!), and then we'll have some lunch before moving on to the next thing. We're getting there. Tonight we have good friends coming over (and bringing our favourite pizza, god bless them!), for a quiet relaxed evening before the big move tomorrow - and thanks again, we have a number of willing strong bodies to help us with that, so it should go pretty smoothly.

Oh, one more thing - thanks to everyone who's sent supportive emails and "comment hugs" - they really do mean the world to me and Peter. This whole experience has been so overwhelming, but equally overwhelming is the love that's come out of it. We are blessed.

Feeling festive yet? A holiday Meme

Got this from my poor snowed-upon pal on the Sunshine Coast (HA!), Teresa:

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Can't have dairy, so Soy Nog. With Kahlua. :)

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? He wraps them. But I think Santa is going to be good and practise some restraint this year!

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? Coloured on house, white on tree. Easier to hang ornaments that way. If you have coloured lights on the tree you have to hang complementary-coloured ornaments next to them, and it takes away the spontaneity.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? Yeah, but it's plastic. Still gets me kisses though.

5. When do you put your decorations up? Whenever we can. This year's all messed up because we're moving right before Christmas. I have been known to do a real tree on Christmas Eve.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Our traditional turkey dinner with my non-traditional spiked homemade cranberry sauce. HINT: Grand Marnier. Makes Sauce Good.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child: This is lame LAME, but it would be my two older sisters and I dancing around my grandparents' living room on Christmas eve wearing matching mint-green feetie pajamas (the feet and trim were white). We were yelling "FEETSIE PAJAMAS! FEETSIE PAJAMAS!" I probably would have been around 4 or 5, because I can't imagine my eldest sister wearing Feetsie Pajamas past the age of 9. Although I bet she'd dig them now, she's always cold. :)

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? Probably when we were real small, and my folks had a pack of rowdy teenagers over from the YMCA on Christmas Eve to assemble/wrap presents and set up the tree after we went to bed. They were LOUD.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Usually just one - usually PJs or slippers or something like that.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? When done correctly, it's: a) lights. b) ornaments. c) garland. d) tinsel. But I am soon to be in a 2-cat household, so we may have to omit the tinsel.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Love it. Even when I have to clean it off my car. What I dread are stupid people who forget how to drive in it from one winter to the next!

12. Can you ice skate? Yes, badly. Don't like it. Cold, hard, hurts feet. See you at the hot chocolate shack.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? Yikes - so many to choose from! Football (who is not a football, he is a bear *shaped* like a football), is probably the one I've had longest that I still remember. The Christmas tree ornaments Peter spent weeks and weeks turning for me on the lathe. Yes, definitely those.

14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Traditions - remembering old ones, making new ones. Being a kid again for a day, or at least part of one.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Pumpkin Pie with whipped cream. Seconded by my grandmother's suet pudding, which she doesn't make anymore and I really should get the recipe for so I could surprise my mom with it some year.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Well, we don't do it anymore, but it was always gathering around to listen to Dad read "the night before Christmas". We have a Hallmark Pop-Up Book edition of it, and being the youngest, I got to do all the pop-up stuff. Of course, when we got to be teenagers, we heard the Charlie Farquharson version and started ad-libbing it into Dad's reading - merriment ensued. As adults it's kind of gone away, although one year we were all imbibing festive beverages on Christmas Eve and it got REALLY rowdy. I think that was when Dad stopped - you shouldn't mix booze and pop-up books, even in fun. :)

17. What tops your tree? Our family tree has a light-up plastic angel that Mom & Dad bought their first married Christmas together. Her base is broken so she's always "drunk", leaning to one side. The tree isn't right if the angel isn't drunk! I have a pretty gold/gauze dress porcelain angel that I bought for my own tree about 10 years ago, but she usually sits on the mantlepiece or a shelf. She's waiting for her own tree again.

18. Which do you prefer giving or Receiving? Giving. I love presents, yes, but if I had my way everyone would open their presents from me, first. Then I can relax. :)

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? "Snoopy's Christmas", by the Royal Guardsmen. Actually, the whole Snoopy's Christmas album.

20. Candy Canes! Yuck or yum? Yum, in moderation. Usually two will do me for the season.

In other news, tomorrow is my sister Beth's birthday. She's 29. Again. And, honestly, still the pretty one. :)

Weird stuff on email

No knitting content today - well, ok, I finished a LB Homespun shawl for my neighbour, but that's not exciting. It's a really yuck (to me) shade of green. Now it's done, but I have two balls left over (no jokes, please!). They may go along to my secret-giftee along with the kool-aid scarf.

Now, weirdness. I've recently set up a new email account on a web-based service that I shall not name here (spam-suckers, die!). And so far, spam-free. But the site has advertising. And today, out of the corner of my eye, I saw an ad for "Breastfeeding Bands" - some kind of bracelet thingy that you can wear to help remember which side you nursed on last, for how long, etc. Which is scary, because I right now know at least five VERY pregnant ladies. But I am SO not one of them! And really, of all the weird stuff on the internet, that's gotta be top 10 for me. So, had to share with y'all.

And while I'm ranting, (ok, I'm going to start ranting...) why the holy Hades is it that one CANNOT buy a copy of ANY Erma Bombeck book in ANY of the Chapters or affiliated stores in the Ottawa area? Ok, granted, the lady (god rest her) has been dead for some time. Yeah, so's Shakespeare, and you've got his friggin' books. And granted, most of her books were written in the glorious gawdawful 70s when the phrase "stay at home mom" was a redundancy. But godDAMNit! They're timeless, funny, wonderful books and I REALLY wanted to get a copy of "Motherhood: The Second Oldest Profession" for one of my very pregnant co-worker ladies. Not happening. Pissed me off.

And there I will stop, because frankly kiddies, it's been a pretty rough month and December's not looking much better. There will be upheaval and annoyance and more stress and less sleep than November had (which was too damn much and not near enough, respectively). All I can say is thank heavens for my knitting, otherwise I'd be smoking and drinking again - which would probably kill me inside a month. Now, the fact that I'll be knitting from stash for the foreseeable future is a consolation (actually, a challenge! There, how's that for positive spin?), because to be honest, my stash is LOVELY. Every time I open a bin, I get happy surprises because I've forgotten what treasures I have in there. It's like unpacking Christmas ornaments... no, wait, let's not get into that. Christmas is, to be blunt, F'd up this year. (ok, not so blunt, but I try to stay PG on here!). Yeah, my dream Christmas is right out the plasti-filmed window. Screw it. I've got my knitting.

And now, a sigh of relief...

Just got an email from the gift swap organizer. I've been reassigned to a swap-ee who is somewhat north-er than the nice Texas lady, so the original Kool-Aid-One-Row-Harlot Scarf will work. YAY! Now I have to finish it. Fortunately it is portable and I even have three "at home" evenings this week, so I could quite possibly have it in the mail within the week. And I get to keep the Great Big Sea Silk. Double Yay!

Oh crap, time to go to work. Again. But you know what? A month from now is Boxing Day.

scary, non?

Who said I wasn't knitting for Christmas? - EDIT, scroll to end

Somehow I completely spaced on having signed up for the KnitTalk gift exchange. Until I got the email from Margo-Lynn today. Oh. Crap. Now, I love the gift exchange, last year went exceedingly well. This year, I've got a lady from Texas. Which means that the Kool-Aid home-dyed pink One-Row Harlot Scarf is way too hot. Not to mention, half-finished. Hrm. That would be the upper scarf in the pictures. The lower scarf is actually a skein waiting to become a scarf, in Handmaiden Great Big Sea Silk. Which, honestly, is far more appropriate for Texan temperatures. And the colours are gorgeous. And it's likely to knit up quickly (heavy-worsted-ish weight), but I need a quick easy pattern. Dare I go for another One-Row Harlot Scarf in the yummy yarn? I've got the pattern down, I could probably whip it up in a week or two (assuming no new crises arise). Or, do I just send the lovely lady the yarn and let her make something fabulous herself? I'm torn.

Opinions please? I'll take "votes" until Sunday night, then I have to make a decision. For right now, I have to go move my laundry around and check on the nice chicken I'm making for dinner. How do I know it's a nice chicken? I don't. But I have a bottle of wine handy just in case it's not.

EDIT - Hubby says I'm not to give away the Handmaiden yarn. *sigh* He's a good hubby. So now I'm stash-diving. I do have some lovely variegated alpaca - at a loose gauge it would make a nice drapey scarf, not too warm. Stay tuned!