Holiday Reflections

I'm back from my Christmas vacation & since DH's Christmas wish was for me to stay away from the computer during vacation, I honored his request (obviously). So although Christmas vacation was great, I'm extremely behind in posting AND reading blogs, so bear with me.

Words cannot express how grateful I am to 'lil sis for allowing DH & I to spend Christmas with her family in Utah. My 8-yr old neice gave up her bedroom & bathroom for us, my sister made FABULOUS food, and my brother-in-law even "enhanced" my phone for me!

Christmas day was filled with lots of goodies & presents, but the highlights (of course) were my knitting gifts. DH hooked me up with a few books I've been requesting as well as the KnitPicks Knitting Needle Case , Chart Keeper, and View Sizer.



My 'lil sis really made my day though when she gave me my first ever skeins of Malabrigo worsted! The colorway is a variegated named Stonechat & I'm currently working on the Shifting Sands scarf pattern by Grumperina. The yarn has been a dream to knit with, and I can't help touching it & admiring the color changes. The pattern is a 4 row repeat that is very simple to memorize, so it was perfect for knitting in the car on our vacation road trip.


The few days following Christmas were spent in Southern Idaho with my mom, dad, and middle sisters family. We only got to spend one day skiing, but great memories were made and thankfully there's a ski resort near our home that we'll hopefully be able to be at very soon!

It was nice to spend the holidays with my family on our road trip adventure from California to Nevada, Utah & Idaho, but I must admit I'm a bit relieved that the holidays are over & things can get back to normal ... whatever "normal" is!

LYS Redemption

This will probably be my last post before Christmas. I'm SOOO overwhelmed with all that's left to do & we're supposed to be leaving on the first leg of our Christmas journey right now!

Yesterday, I went to my LYS (the one I've bitched about that's closest to my house), to purchase some SOAK wash. I thought I'd just run in, grab the SOAK & get out of there before any of their rudeness rubs off on me. As I walked into the store I was greeted with the most friendly voice at the counter. Hmmm... haven't seen this woman here before. I said "hello" back to her & proceeded to the yarn section of the store (they also sell fabrics for quilters). I just KNEW the rest of the time I was going to be ignored & so I quickly scanned the area for the wash. I then also remembered that I wanted to purchase some Noro Silk Garden Lite for the Argosy scarf I'd seen on Knitty. I quickly located some Noro yarn & started looking through it when the friendly woman from the counter approached me & asked if she could help me. I glanced around ... was I in the right store? Is this the Twilight Zone or is this an episode of Punk'd? I told her what I wanted/needed & she found one skein for me, but then recommended a different yarn that may work up just as nice.

The moment I saw the yarn & then fondled the yarn, I was in love!! She was being so helpful I started asking where the sock yarn was & where the SOAK was & on & on. I KNEW she must be a fellow knitter & upon further discussion I learned that the other 2 ladies that had been so rude to me during my previous two visits only had knowledge of the fabric/quilt section of the store. AHA!! It all makes sense now and at that moment I was glad I didn't quilt because those ladies aren't nice, but the knitting lady was a DREAM! So .. I'm not boycotting my LYS anymore. I'm not thrilled that they carry a large selection of Non-Consumer Friendly Yarn, but I don't have to buy it.

On the left side of the photo are 2 skeins of Trendsetter Tonalita in colorway#2355 and the two skeins on the right are Rowan Tapestry colorway #172. I'm taking the Rowan with me on Christmas vacation so maybe I'll have a completed Argosy scarf to show you when I return!

By the way, I think I forgot to mention that I won prizes from Knit Unto Others! For two weeks I got to knit some wonderful charity projects, but then .. I end up being one of the lucky few that won prizes! My prizes were from one of the Knit Unto Other co-hosts, Margene from Zeneedle. The silk/tapestry bag is by Lantern Moon & is the PERFECT color for me & will be excellent for carrying around a sock project. The ladybug tape measure is so adorable & definitely a much-needed item. If you're reading this Margene, thanks again!

Hell Hat & Happy Holiday

Thank you all for your input on the We Call Them Pirates hat, or what I like to call the "hell hat". Although I find color stranding a cool new thing, it definitely sucks up a lot more yarn than I thought it would. In case you're wondering, after reading all of your comments & whining a little bit to DH, I decided to frog the hat and go down a needle size.

• The good news: Everything but the hat lining is complete and I had enough yarn (I even have about 2 yards left)

• The bad news: It won't fit my son-in-laws head, so I'll be starting another one of these someday in the future for him.
  

Since I'm still knitting DH's Christmas gift, I'll probably take the hat with my on Christmas vacation & finish it then.



Today, I tried to work on Christmas cards. I realize I should have done this WEEKS ago, but ... well, I have no excuse so I won't even try to make one up. The only way I successfully get cards completed for any occassion, is because I use card kits from theCardCo. Without them, I probably wouldn't ever get handmade cards completed. This snowman card is based on the design included in the kit, but I changed it to suit my own taste & needs.

Sunday we attended a holiday party at my step-daughters moms house. We were there about 8 hours just enjoying each others company, eating great food & opening presents. This was our first year spending Christmas all together (since none of us had reconciled until January of last year), and as I sat there in front of the tree watching people open presents, my heart told me that I was home. Even though I don't have children of my own, my stepdaughter is only 9 years younger than me, and at 37 I have two grandchildren, I know in my heart that this is exactly where I'm supposed to be.

I'm Stranded!

I'm such a joiner! After seeing it on Lara's blog, I just felt the need to be a part of Stranded: the Colorwork Challenge.

For this KAL, I'll be knitting two stranded projects. First up, We Call Them Pirates hat by Adrian Bizilia from Hello Yarn in KnitPicks Andean Silk cream & pitch. Since the pirate hat must be given to my SIL on Sunday, it takes priority. My second project is the Fake Isle Hat by Amy King in MagKnits which I'll be knitting in Noro Kureyon #40 and Brown Sheep Worsted Onyx.

The yarn for the pirate hat arrived on Tuesday afternoon so I quickly swatched, got the exact gauge & that evening I rushed to start the project. Around row 4 or 5, I decided it looked a little bit big, so I got out my tape measure & discovered (to my horror) that my gauge was no longer "on". Maybe it's due to the stranding, but I knew this hat would be too big! Should I frog it completely or switch to smaller needles & keep going? What would you have done (keep in mind that's 500-600 stitches)? I opted to keep going.

Everything was going along well, especially since this is my first true stranding project, until I looked at the dwindling skeins of yarn & though, "I may not have enough yarn to finish!" I kept knitting in spite of that though, but when I started the decrease rows, I knew I didn't have enough yarn. Why did I keep knitting? Where were the magical yarn fairies that save you from yourself & magically add yarn to the end of the skein so that all the hard work wouldn't be in vain? For future reference .. magical yarn fairies don't exist .. at least not at my house.

Currently my hat looks like this:

And here is how much yarn is left with 410 stitches to knit!

In my situtation, what would you do? Frog & reknit it in a tighter gauge (and start with the correct needle size) OR.. order more yarn knowing that it won't arrive in time to give your gift to the recipient on Sunday? Is this a sign that my SIL wouldn't like the hat anyway & I should go with plan B?

Projects & LYS

Just in case you didn't know (although I firmly believe I'm usually the last to know), the Winter Knitty is available. I carefully looked at & contemplated each design & ended up LOVING two of them, liking a few of them & really wondering ??? about the rest. I've even already started one of the projects, Venezia. Of course mine does't look anywhere near as beautiful as the ones in Knitty, but since I've only made 2 so far, maybe practice makes perfect on something like this.

I'm using 32 gauge wire instead of the 34 gauge that the pattern calls for. My local craft store didn't have the 34 gauge & I thought the 32 would work, but now in hindsight, I think you must need the 34 gauge so that it keeps its shape (since mine seems to collapse). All in all I really enjoyed the project but I think I may venture out for that 34 gauge wire to see if it makes a difference in the finished object. Especially since I need more than two of these for the gift I'm making.

The second item I fell in love with was Argosy. It looks fine in the Hempathy, but when I saw it in the Noro Silk Garden, I just knew that it was something I had to knit. I don't have any Noro in my stash though, so this new love necessitated a shopping trip. I've previously vowed never to return to the LYS about a mile from my home, so I checked around a found that there was a LYS about 6 miles away.

Upon entering Sit 'n Knit I was greeted by a small dog and since I'm a "dog person" this was a good sign to me. My immediate thought was that the store was quite large! There are two very long & large wooden table & chair sets set up in two different sections of the store & one of them was occupied by a woman learning to knit & the other was completely filled with women sitting around just knitting various projects. The store owner greeted me & asked me to let her know if I needed any assistance. Wow! Real human contact .. this was a first for me.

My initial impression .. warm & cozy & I could SO knit here! But ... as I looked closer at all the bins of yarn along each wall, I noticed the over abundance of novelty yarns. Okay, okay, she was probably one of those shop owners who got sucked in the novelty yarn craze & is now left with a bunch of the stuff, but for heavens sake put that crap on sale & make room for the good stuff!

Upon further inspection of the yarn selection I KNEW this was the store for me, because I believe they need my help. The majority of yarn was either Berroco or Plymouth. I know it's decent yarn (I've knit with some lovely Berroco yarn before), but I was expecting more than 12 skeins of Debbie Bliss & 8 skeins of Noro (not the type I was looking for though) & I was definitely expecting more than one skein of sock yarn! I always seem to have trouble finding sock yarn .. is this because I live in Southern California & we don't wear socks? I knew then & there that it is my mission to spend some good quality knitting time at this LYS knitting beautiful items from yarns that they don't, but could carry. Is that wrong?

About the almost-finished hat. This is an exact copy of a hat my little brother (who is now 27) had when he was about 2 years old. He now has his own son & requested awhile ago for me to knit his son a hat that looks like his old beloved hat that he lost when he was 5 years old. Thank goodness my LYS had a similar type of yarn I was looking for. Unfortunately I didn't realize until after I left the store that this yarn has been reported as a non-consumer friendly yarn! (always my luck). I guess I could've returned it, but it's my first time at the store, the yarn is machine washable & the colors are perfect, so I'm going to keep it & vow never to do it again.

Yummy-ness

All the yummy yarn that keeps showing up on my doorstep is starting to make my head spin a little bit. Just look at this yummy-ness!


This is "Noblesse" from Cherry Blossom Fibers. Her Etsy site says that more yarn will be coming on December 11th, so I guess I better give DH my credit cards now! The yarn has a beautiful sheen to it & is oh so soft! I just wanted to cuddle it! I wonder what sock pattern will be worthy of it?

I'm finishing up a second hat for the Soaring Eagles Project. I decided that I'd keep charity knitting through today & then tomorrow would be one big mailing at the post office. In the past I completely avoided the post office in December, but last year while waiting around awhile I started people-watching. Nothing helps pass the time quicker than when you stop focusing on how long you have to wait, to guessing what's inside all the boxes cradled in peoples arms & then hearing the p.o. workers discuss where each box is shipping to.

I just couldn't resist sharing this photo of our Grandkids. I know it's a bit grainy (it's a photo of a photo), but that's because I'm not smart enough to figure out how to use my scanner correctly. I can scan the photo, but it won't save the photo in its original size. Maybe I should get out the instruction book? For Christmas, we're getting a whole mess of photos from my step-daughter. Now every room in my house will have these two cuties!!

Charity Needs Help!

I haven't been knitting what I thought I'd be knitting. I'm knitting one more item for charity.

I was reading through my blog subscriptions & while reading Cathy's blog , I discovered that the Soaring Eagles Project is short 100 items. Well after much pattern & yarn searching, I've knit a hat.


Pattern: Basic 2x2 rib knit hat
Yarn: KnitPicks Swish Superwash, colorways Dark Navy & Coast Grey
Needles: Clover bamboo size 7 US circular & dpn's
Notes: The yarn was heavenly to knit with but after being used to knitting on two circular needles & not having 2 of them in a size 7, I was resigned to use dpn's. No offense to those of you who use dpns but no thank you! I'll make sure I add another set of the KnitPicks Options sizes 5-8 US tips to my next order!

DH & I took our grandsons to Disneyland on Sunday. Here's just a few of my favorite photos of us with the boys:



And here's my favorite photo of DH with Pluto. Our grandsons are TERRIFIED of the characters and even though Grandpa had his photo taken with one, they wanted no part of it!



Many special memories were made & I have about 100 photos to prove it!

Charity Knitting Completed

I'm making it just under the gun on this one. All of my Knit Unto Others projects are blocked & ready for their close-ups! Unfortunately, they didn't get blocked in time for daylight photos, so please bear with these ones.

Charity: Christmas Knits to help One At A Time Ministries
Pattern: Lion Brand Ski/Toboggan Hat
Yarn: Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick, colorway: cranberry
Needles: Clover Bamboo size 13US straights
Model: GrandSon #2
Notes: The pattern says to cast on 40 stitches, but that's incorrect, you only need to cast on 39 stitches! I also opted to not add the fun fur pom-pom to the top of the hat. Methinks this was a splendid idea!

Charity: Christmas Knits to Help One At A Time Ministries
Pattern: Lion Brand Button Scarf
Yarn: Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick colorway: Cranberry
Needles: Clover Bamboo size 13US straights
Finished Dimensions: 60"x7"
Model: Kitchen Paper Towel Holder
Notes: I cast on 15 stitches instead of 20 & did the pattern repeat twice on each row instead of 3 times. I also left off the button accessory the pattern recommended.

Charity: The Red Scarf Project
Pattern: My So Called Scarf
Yarn: Patons Shetland Chunky Tweeds, colorway: Deep Red
Needles: Clover Bamboo size 10.5US circular
Finished Dimensions: 65"x5.5"
Model: ME!
Notes: I loved the pattern & actually even enjoyed knitting with this yarn. It wasn't Manos or Malabrigo, but it was still quite lovely.

Charity: Comforting Jenn
Pattern: My So Called Scarf (modified to a square shape)
Yarn: Lion Cotton, colorway: Rose
Needles: Clover Bamboo size 10.5US circular
Finished Dimensions: 8"x8"
Notes: I didn't take notes, but I believe I cast on 42 stitches & knitted for 40 rows. I wish I would've cast on a few more stitches though so I wouldn't have had to stretch it so much when blocking. I probably would knit this again for a blanket square, but next time I won't use cotton. It just isn't "giving" enough.

So there you have it. My 4 charity knitting projects are complete & although I'm thrilled that I'll be mailing them soon, I'm sad that I'll never see the recipients face when they receive it.

Santa's Elves

In honor of today being the 1st of December, I saw this cute item at Fiber Dreams & I just had to share it with you.

Christmas Elf Name My Christmas Elf Name is Get your Christmas Elf Name at JokesUnlimited.com

I found it especially cute since my Great-Grandparents last name was Snook. Oh how I miss my great-grandmother. If I could visit with one person for the day who had passed away it would be her. I know I should probably say some famous person, but I can't think of a better day than sitting in my great-grandmother's home with a cup of tea & asking her all the questions I never thought of when she was alive.

I'm in process of blocking all of my charity knitting projects. They've been finished but I'm such a slacker when it comes to blocking. Since I have to complete & submit all my charity knitting to Knit Unto Others by Dec 2nd, I'm in a mad rush! I only have one carpeted room in my home (master bedroom) and DH is probably not going to be too thrilled to find most of the carpeting covered in our beach towels (the only thing long enough to block the scarves) and my knitting. Thank goodness I have a good steamer so that everything will be dry & photo-worthy tomorrow!

CCC

I'm not enjoying knitting the Curiously Clever Clogs. In fact, I'm renaming the pattern to Curiously Complicated Clogs. Actually, it's my own fault they are complicated. I've only been knitting a year & this pattern's difficulty level is a 3 out of 4. Just when I thought I was doing well, I realized that I forgot to knit all the wraps for the short row shaping on the clogs. So, my project went from this:










To This:










I haven't given up on them though. I spent $7 for the pattern & I'm going to knit them until they are complete. No matter how long it takes!

You must check out Lynda's Starsky. WOW!! I honestly didn't like the look of the pattern when I first saw it on Knitty, but after seeing Lynda's, I now have to add it to my must knit list!

Remember a few posts ago that I said I was going to my LYS to buy some SOAK? Well, I'm never going to my LYS again! When I walked into the store the other day, it was empty other than the 2 employees or owners or whomever they were behind the counter. One of them said "hi" when I walked in, but after 15 minutes of looking through their yarn (I couldn't find any sock yarn to save my life) & feeling ignored, I went over to their counter & asked where the SOAK was. They looked at me dumbfounded. I said again that I was looking for the SOAK wash talked about in the newsletter I received a few weeks ago. One of the women reached under the counter & pulled out several of the trial sizes of SOAK & said "this?". I replied yes & she says "oh, it's not in yet." I wait for her to offer to give me or sell me one of the many she's holding in her hand, but she places them back under the counter. I ask when it will be in & she states that she doesn't know. I stand there for a moment looking at her & when she doesn't say anything further I say thank you & walk out of the store & vow to never return. What the hell happened to customer service? When you go to your LYS do the women there talk to you or ask you if you need help finding anything? Am I expecting too much?

Please go to FlutterCraft's blog & donate a dollar or two to her Salvation Army Kettle. Or you can follow THIS link. I love dropping my change in the bucket this time of year, but what I love even more, is if you donate through Flutter's kettle online, you can print out a receipt for the tax man! She has a kettle goal of $100 so let's help her EXCEED it!

28 days

I'm starting to panic. Christmas is in 28 days & I just realized that I've only purchased 2 gifts so far.

I'm wondering, do you purchase gifts for your mailman, gardener, hair stylist, etc? If so, what do you normally purchase and/or how do you determine how much to give? I was thinking of gift certificates but from where? How much should I give? Why is this giving me stress?

Contrary to what my blog has shown lately, I HAVE been knitting. Unfortunately, this project is taking FOREVER! It's the Forbes Forest Scarf from Interweave Knit's Scarf Style. I'm using KnitPicks Merino Style yarn & although I like the yarn, I'm bored to tears with the scarf. After seeing several photos of it, I thought I was going to ooh & aah the entire time I was knitting it, but now that I'm halfway through .. I just want it done! It seems to be sucking up all of my knitting time & I can't wait to finish blocking my other projects so that I can start something else!

I received my confirmation receipt from Stitches West 2006 that I have successfully been admitted to my class. I wanted to take more than one, but at those prices, it would've cut into my yarn spending money, so I figure, one is better than none! My class is called Pattern Customization: Your Yarn, Your Gauge by Gwen Bortner. This will be my first knitting class EVER. In fact, I've never even knit with anyone except myself. DH won't let me go without him and I have NO IDEA what he's going to do while I'm in class, but I'm SURE he'll tag along at the convention center rolling his eyes at the prices of all the yarn I buy. Is anyone else planning on attending? Have you ever brought your significant other to an event like this? Any recommendations?

Comforting Jenn

I can't believe I forgot to post a note about this! I first read about it on Karen's blog (thank you), and after reading Jenn's story, I couldn't help but participate.


Please go read Jenn's story on Cathy's blog.
Believe me, it's worth your time!

Black Undies

HELP! I'm being held captive by my MIL (mother-in-law) & now I only have time for blogging at "o-dark-thirty" when she FINALLY goes to bed!! Why is it that older people only sleep for 4 hours every night?

My day began with trying to prepare her a breakfast she would like butof course I don't have the "right" kind of oatmeal, so she just settled for toast. The highlight of my morning however, was a trip to get her hearing aids cleaned. I know that's always on the top of everyone list of things to do with their MIL. Next was the search for a purse that was lightweight & inexpensive. Since I know her, I knew that SEARS would be the perfect store for that quest, but even I was shocked when she told me that $36 was too much money for a purse (pocketbook, handbag, or whatever the hell else she calls it). Doesn't she realize this is an item she uses EVERY day and it's okay to spend a few dollars on it? Then if all of that weren't enough, we ended up in the "intimate apparel" section where I got to select silky black granny underwear for her in her size! I thought at the time nothing could be worse, but just a few minutes ago she walked into my office in nothing but her sweatshirt & her new undies. Where's my knitting needles? I need to poke out my eyes!!!

Is it just me, or when you get mentioned on someone's blog, do you jump for joy a bit? I was doing my usual reading of my favorite blogs & The Giving Flower made mention of my Sugar-Free Cocoa Socks. Her post was more or less about being crafty and staying fit.

Lil sis wants me to join in her torture of being a runner (since our theory is there's no such thing as a "fat" runner), so she just started a program called The Couch to 5K Running Plan. Well, since I'm initimately acquainted with "the couch (sofa)", this program may be just for me! Day one is a brisk five-minute warmup walk, then alternate 60 seconds of jogging and 90 seconds of walking for a total of 20 minutes. I'm taking both dogs with me. They'll either love it and want to keep going or hate me & drag our sorry butts home.

Obituary & Reality Check

'What will your obituary say?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Thanks Lainie. I couldn't resist posting my obituary either. If we were older though would this be funny?

I was reading through my bloglines & clicked on So Much Yarn, So Little Time since I saw she'd updated. She just test-knitted the cutest Kimono Sweater. Did you click on it? Isn't it cute? Now, click on the Tatami pattern link & look at the price.

Is my monitor broken or does that say $12.00?
Is it just me, or is this a lot of money for one pattern?
Am I being cheap?

Feel free to tell my your honest opinions. Sometimes I need a reality check.

Got Gauge?

I hate to swatch (which obviously includes knitting, washing, blocking and measuring). Actually, let me be more clear. I HATE TO SWATCH!! Normally, I don't swatch but every once in awhile if I DO swatch, I rarely go through the washing, blocking & measuring portion. I usually just knit it & measure it.

However, I purchased KnitPicks newer yarn "Swish Superwash" and had read on Brooklyn Tweed's blog that even though it's listed as superwash, it shrinks. So since I considered making some sweaters for my grandsons for Christmas & wanted them to fit (if not be a bit roomy), I decided to do a REAL swatch.

Keep in mind, these are MY test results.

Needles: US size 6 (4.00mm) KnitPicks Options
Yarn: KnitPicks Swish Superwash
Gauge Before Washing: 19 sts / 26 rows
Gauge After Washing: 20 sts / 29 rows

Yes it shrunk, not considerably, but doesn't superwash imply it WON'T shrink?

I was listening to the Lime & Violet podcast & my recommendation when listening to their "yarn p*rn" section .. FREEZE YOUR CREDIT CARDS IN A LARGE BLOCK OF ICE. They referred me to Fearless Fibers & after viewing the colorways, I couldn't resist Sublime. So ... I bought it. Can you believe that you can buy 550 yards of HAND DYED superwash merino wool for only $14.50? If she charged what it were worth I probably wouldn't have purchased it. This yarn is BUTTA!! Seriously!! In fact, hurry & go purchase some before she realizes that she should raise her prices!!

Style

I just found out from the Scarf Style/Wrap Style KAL blog, (which I don't even belong to) that in February 2007, Interweave Press will be releasing their 3rd in the "style" series books. This one is named Lace Style.

I loved Scarf Style so much that I sincerely hope this book is more like that one and less like Wrap Style (which should have been named "Cape Style" in my opinion).

Speaking of style, I feel like I'm a little bit more "in style". DH & I received our new cell phones from our new wireless carrier. I will admit that a few years ago you wouldn't have caught me DEAD with a pink cell phone, but I think knitting has changed all my views on color. In fact, I think there's a LOT more color in my wardrobe now than ever! I used to be all about the black wardrobe (it's slimming don't you know), but now I figure that no matter what your size, color just makes you feel happier! I wonder if this is just me though.

Yesterday's highlights

The highlight of the day Tuesday was voting. I felt proud to be an American and proud to know that even my one little vote (combined with a bunch of other votes), could make a major difference. Today I realized that not everything went my way, but most of them did!


Late last night, I was reading Nicole the Knitting Goddess & at the end of her blog post, she listed me as the "Blog Of The Day". Since this is National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo), she's been posting one blog each day & she picked me!! WOW! I feel like I'm back in high school & just got an invite to hang out with the popular (cool) kids.

My LYS sent me an email that next week they will be carrying SOAK. I've read wonderful reviews about this & even heard that Scout will be carrying it in her store. I just want to go smell them & buy a small size to try! I do have a few things that need washed, so it's perfect timing. Also, if they carry the travel sizes, I'll probably stock up on a few to include with any hand-knitted gifts this year.

I was at Carole's blog & she mentioned a great project called Knit Unto Others. Check it out! There's going to be prizes!!


Is anyone signing up for the STR Rockin' Socks Club 2007? I pre-registered to participate, but I'm unsure I can come up with the $210 on January 1st. Mabye Santa Claus better skip the gifts & just give me cash.

DH's Surprise

I am such a sucker for contests when people are giving away free yarn! Are people really this generous, or are they trying to get rid of stash yarn they don't like anymore? Or both?

The latest contest I discovered is being hosted by Chappysmom. All you need to do is take a picture of your November 2006 calendar & post it on your blog & then leave her a comment.

TA DA!!

My mom & dad put together a family calendar each year with all the birthdays & anniversaries in it, and it just happens that DH & I are the "theme" for Novembers calendar page. It's always nerve-racking though to be around when my parents are snapping photos because you never know which photos they'll choose for the family calendar. They did pretty good in 2006 but my fingers are crossed for the 2007 calendar!

I am knitting. Really I am. When DH isn't around, I'm working on his Christmas present which is 60% complete & when he is around, I've been working on the Here & There Cable Scarf. I'm using the KnitPicks Swish Superwash in Dark Navy and this yarn is really nice to work with. This scarf pattern is definitely not a quick knit & does use quite a bit of yarn (700+ yards so far), but it's a good project to knit while listening to your favorite podcasts. I'm determined to get the D$%+ thing done soon though so I can start on something new.


I forget to tell you all about DH's little surprise for me 2 weeks ago. He told me he was stopping to get a haircut (which was much needed). When he came home, I couldn't look at him for the first hour. He promised it was temporary, but everytime I looked at him, I felt like I was seeing a stranger.



Does he look younger? Yes. Do I feel like I'm having an affair? Yes.