December 31, 2007

End of the year stuff

Don't ya love blog friends? My blog friend Gypsy had a contest about your best holiday. I submitted my story about the year we had 2 little kittens who tore our christmas tree apart every night and my husband's quest to keep them away. In the end the kittens won. Random selection sent me this ..... You can see more of Gypsy's yarn in her esty shop. Lovely stuff. Gypsy's daughter got married on the 22nd so there should be some great wedding pics on her blog soon. Happy bride and the mother of the bride did nothing to harm the groom's family so I'd say that's successful.
I was playing with some new toys and made some soap for the grandkids. Crappy first attempt because I didn't read any of the directions. I was too excited to read. Next batch will be much better .... don't think it could be much worse. lol
So we finished our Christmas ham and decided to put the little left and the bone on the bird feeder for the crows. I didn't notice a single crow today but there was this Joey cat bird hanging around.
Working away on D3's shawl. Really nice.
Lovely yarn.
I think we'll be starting off 2008 with a contest. Details tomorrow. Have a safe and happy new year's celebration.

December 26, 2007

How was your holiday?

I finished my socks for Lucy christmas eve. These are Opal Neon. They are super bright and happy socks.

And of course with the left over sock yarn these baby socks materialized from nowhere.

My sister in law does some wonderful stuff with scrapbooking. She had made all the favors for my neice's wedding shower and wedding. These were some of the things she made for Christmas. Each ornament was filled with candy (notice past tense about the candy) and each one was more beautiful than the last.
So for the last 13 yrs I've been tooling around town in a 1993 Ford Taurus station wagon. I love that car. Unfortunately after 13 yrs the old ford was worn out. Leaking oil, coolant, etc. The time had come to replace my beloved wagon.


This is my new baby. Quite a difference from the old car but I'm getting to love this one. My only concern in buying another car? "Is there room for 3 car seats in the backseat so I can tote my grandkids around?" The sales guy looked at me like I was nuts but seriously that was my only concern.

December 20, 2007

Thank you Corinne

Usually I'm a good swap buddy but I have to admit I was the worst swap buddy ever for the Coffee Swap exchange. For some reason I got the mail dates incorrectly set in my brain and missed the mailing date. As soon as I did I emailed my buddy to let her know and it turned out that she was in the same boat.

So Corinne mailed off her package and has probably been wondering WHAT THE HELL!!! Well the mailman delivered this to my neighbor in error and she just got back from a 2 week vacation. Her brother was picking up everything and just moved it into the house without looking at the label. Soooooo here's what I found last night.
Charlie says: Ok there's candy, vanilla almond biscotti, coffee and a mug from starbucks, some of the silly string that Diane yells at me every time I bite it, and really pretty stitch markers that would be great to swat around the living room if only I could get them off the safety pin.
What no tuna!?!? Catnip?!?! This is an outrage. And outrage I tell ya.
Hummmm maybe I'll just chew on the box for a while .........

Thank you Corinne.

December 16, 2007

Snowy Sunday

Another storm in CT. This one is currently snow but will be changing over to sleet and freezing rain. Oh doesn't that sound like fun. At least the kids and I got a cord of firewood stacked before it started. Last year we stacked 2 cords when it was 5 degrees outside so yesterday's 24 degrees seemed like a heat wave.
If only I could figure out how to stop casting on baby socks. They are so addicting. Instant completed project.
These took a little longer. Probably for my mom.
So I finished the flame on fire shawl a while back but I just wasn't happy with it at all. Never got around to blocking it and then last week I pulled it out and started something else.

The pattern is by Alison Hyde and is called Marnie. Beautiful pattern and a good match for the yarn. I was going to make it for my neice but there's not way it'll be done in time. I've got Ray's beautiful yarn just calling out to me.

So I couldn't resist casting on this shawl for my daughter from my latest yarn purchase. D3 saw it and can't wait!

The grands were over yesterday. Little Missy A was all snug in her sweater. She and N fell in love with this old flashlight thing. It doesn't work any more but they loved makeing it collapse and expand.

December 14, 2007

3 posts in one day!?!?! $78.00

I guess I was a llittle behind. I transferred to another department a short time ago. My new boss is a doll. Actually all my bosses have been wonderful so this boss is the most recent wonderful boss I've worked for.

Using her own money she sent everyone on her teams a little holiday gift. My set is hanging in my kitchen adding a little holiday cheer.
The only upside to being homebound sick is internet shopping. I've been reading Ray's blog for quite a while and have been eyeballing his yarn for just as long. So here we have my latest yarn purchase. $78.00 and possibly the last money spend on yarn for 2007. I'll wait until 2008 and total everything. Should be interesting. Anyways .....

We have a pound cone of brown sheep fingering weight yarn in a nice purple. I'm thinking either a shawl for D1. 880 yrds of merino lace weight yarn in a color called Honeydew. I don't have plans for it just yet but the range of colors just can't be captured by my camera. Whatever I make has to be very special. And some really nice fingering weight yarn dyed Spring Green. This will be a feather and fan shawl for D3. She's been using the one I entered in the fair but I think she needs a younger fresher color more fitting for a 19 yr old free spirit. And last but certainly not least I bought some superwash sock yarn in the colors of Mickey Mouse. This will either be socks for me (since I'm a nut for Mickey Mouse) or socks for my sister in law who is a Disney nut.
Joey says: Is it possible for me to be any less interested in your yarn? I think not.
I had the little men over last weekend. We did quite a bit of running around and playing. This was N when his mommy can to pick him up Saturday night.

With his newest Gram-mades on his feet and all his treasures on the couch next to him, he was all set for a rest. I went to bed around 9 pm right after they left.

ISE5

I finished my scarf for ISE5. It's lovely alpaca in a pattern from some knitting bible I have. I think the pattern is a great match for the yarn.
My only problem with the scarf is that I'm so use to blocking wool that the edges of the alpaca aren't as crisp as I would like. I think it's just the nature of the yarn.
This is my package from my ISE5 buddy Melanie. I couldn't locate her blog thru the group but boy what a great pal! The scarf is beautiful (and was put to use yesterday). I love the pattern.
Included in the package was some yarn, candy canes (which N and W will put on my tree .... ok will put what doesn't end up in their little tummies on the tree) and some white chocolate with strawberries. Usuallly I'm a very sharing person but I've hidden the chocolate in the back of the fridge and I as not sharing.
Lovely, lovely scarf. Thanks Melanie.

Finished stuff

Still sick and every time I think I'm feeling better I'm just not. Thank God I work at home because I don't think I could manage a commute anywhere to work. No energy at all. However since I'm not dead I've been knitting.

These are socks for W. The light blue ones match the first pair I made him; the ones he grabbed, put on his feet, and ran off with before I got a chance to take a picture. I love how the striped ones match. Totally unplanned but funny how it worked out.
Another pair of left over socks for D1. She saw them already but won't get them until christmas.
Since they live in the woods my daughter has been a little afraid during hunting season. I happened to have a super saver skein of red heart viberant orange (it was on sale 3 yrs ago for 50 cents) so I made hats for N and W.
And I finally got around to blocking my brown shawl that will show no dirt and will not be washed until it smells. I'm not a brown type person so I really don't care for it all that much but it sure is nice to wear while working.