Although it was only two small projects, I’m proud to say that I’ve finished my Christmas Knitting!
"Pfffft!"
Henry even helped!
I had to put my Shredded Wheat Scarf on hold while I knitted the Christmas gifts, but as soon as I was done, I felt a strong desire to start something new. Something that’s been floating around in my brain since it first started getting cold around here…
Uh oh.
I can’t believe I’m doing this. I’m Christmas knitting. I swore off knitting Christmas gifts after my first Christmas as a knitter, when I bought so much yarn and had planned a hand-knit for almost every member of the family. Of course I failed miserably, not even taking into consideration the amount of time it takes- especially for a newbie knitter.
But there I was, trying to figure out what on earth I was going to get my parents for Christmas (even though my mom said that they didn’t need me to get them anything). She did mention that my dad would wear a snowcap and that every time she knits a pair of handwarmers for herself she ends up giving them away. What’s a knitter to do? Of course I want to knit something for my parents.
So my scarf is on hold while I crank out a couple of gifts. Here’s a peek at my dad’s snowcap-in-progress.
Nothing too flashy or showy- that’s not his style. I’m probably pushing it with the stripes. I’m using the same pattern I used for the R2D2 hat, but changing the stripes up a little and definitely not doing the duplicate stitching.
And I have to show off my new nephew in his February Baby Sweater:
Doesn't it look like he's trying to say "Wool"?
My sister said that this is the first time he hasn’t cried when she dressed him. I’m so proud.
So I finished the first ball of Brooks Farm Four Play (270 yards!) on my Shredded Wheat scarf last night. Then, I started to think I could squeeze out a pair of mittens from the second ball, as well as finishing off the scarf.
But if I made the scarf to just any old length, I couldn’t guarantee to have enough to make a pair of mittens. So I decided that I could do the mittens first, then use all the leftover yarn to finish off the scarf since scarf length isn’t as crucial as having enough yarn to finish off that last inch of your second mitt.
So I scoured the ‘net and found a pattern for flip-top-mitts and cast on this morning. Now that I’m almost done with the cuff of the first one, I’m having second thoughts.
I just don’t know how well 50% wool/50% silk mitts will hold up. My fingerless dashings are made with a pretty hearty wool and they are already starting to pill. Maybe I should just finish off the scarf and make a hat with the remaining yarn. (Though I don’t know how much I like matchy-matchy hat and scarves…)
Thoughts? I really want to do some knitting tonight, but I just can’t make up my mind!
Well, I had my first Thanksgiving away from home. I don’t know what to think- it was Thanksgiving, but not Thanksgiving. We did have some new traditions to enjoy, like watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade from a friend’s office on Broadway and 57th Street.
I roasted my first Turkey yesterday, too. It was juicy and tasted like Turkey, so I’m calling it a success. We had all sorts of friends over and it was a really nice day.
I guess I’m just really feeling the distance because there’s a new little person that I haven’t been able to meet yet:
This is little Levi Spencer, my new nephew. Can’t wait to see him modeling the February Baby Sweater that I knitted for him. (Ahem…. Kasi, that means you need to send me some more pics!)
Oh, and Henry wanted to tell you guys that he started his own blog…
http://ahoundstail.wordpress.com
Sigh…
It’s a hard life being this cute. To tell you the truth, sometimes it really gets me down…
It is exhausting trying to maintain this high level of cuteness at all times….
Sometimes I just wanna be me…
And then I remember just how fabulous I am!
Injuries first:
A week ago today we started out the morning with a few bloody marys. There is a dog-friendly place around the corner that has a great DIY bloody mary bar as well as fun board games, so we all decided to stop in for a stretch. I had my first experience playing Apples to Apples, and I highly recommend it. After we had our fill of vodka drinks, we headed home for a bit to enjoy the rest of our day. I took Henry by the leash and decided to take him for a bit of a run. We sped off and then circled back to the group. Henry decided to circle right in front of me and the leash tripped me. Joey and Aaron had been standing outside wondering what the heck I was doing, so they got to see the whole thing as it happened: my right knee took the brunt of the fall, then I fell onto my right side and slid a few feet while Henry was still running. I just lay there on the cement for a minute and listened to Joey and Aaron freaking out about what had just happened. They ran over to me and helped me up and I just bent over in a large amount of pain, but also laughing really hard cause I knew how silly it had looked. I ended up with road rash on my hip and my shoulder, a bruise on my left ankle, right elbow and right knee. The knee bruise was the worst. I was limping for two days and it is still tender to the touch a week later:
DB Strikes Again!
Then on Friday, Joey was walking around on Bedford Avenue looking at something across the street, and walked right into a road sign. It hit him right on the ear and he was kind of stunned for a second then he just kept on walking, hoping nobody saw what just happened. A few minutes later he felt something dripping down his ear and it was blood. I don’t have a picture of it, but it got him right on the upper edge of his ear. It actually took a small chunk of cartilage off!
Okay, now that I’ve grossed you out, on to breakfast cereals: When I was little, we used to always have a box of Kellogg’s Shredded Wheat on hand. I liked the frosted kind but you had to eat it quickly before the milk disintegrated all of the frosting. Otherwise, you were left with soggy, wheaty, mush. I started a new scarf the other night and the yarn color is reminding me of frosted shredded wheat cereal:
Frosted Whole-Grain Goodness
Hanging out with Chewie, of course!
Quite a while ago, my friend Josh was perusing his Google Reader and came across a post about a knitted R2D2 Beanie that was all the rage among a certain genre of folks. My friend, being a male born in the late-seventies couldn’t resist, and forwarded a link to the pattern to his knitting friend (me). I promised to knit him one, and then waited 10 months or so before I finally decided to bite the bullet and kick this thing out.
Thoughts? Well, I’m not very pleased with the duplicate stitching. This pattern requires you to do quite a bit of it. My inner perfectionist-knitter has a small problem with the way the color underneath peeks out here and there, but I’m sure any non-knitter could care less. (Stranded knitting was also an option which I tried the first go-around. I kept those strands extremely loose, but they weren’t loose enough to stretch over my head and I knew they wouldn’t stretch enough to fit over Josh’s 23 1/2″ noggin.)
I am pretty pleased with the KnitPicks Swish Superwash yarn I used. This is my first time working with it and it was perfect for this project: soft and machine washable. Exactly what a guy needs.
Would I knit this hat again? No way. Not because of the pattern or anything, but just cause it was a pain in the ass. Only for Josh.
First things first: I am so happy that I get to snuggle with this cute face again:
Henry thoroughly enjoys the golden beanbag.
This photo took 14 tries.
Bee-boo-bop-beep!
Yes, they are done. As soon as I wove in the very last end I threw them over to where Joey was sitting on the couch, causing him to look up with an expression that said, “They’re done? I can have them now?” and he immediately put them on. 
I went about my business getting ready for bed and he came and found me, gave me a big hug and said, “Thanks, they are the best socks I’ve ever had.”
I quite agree.
(And no, Joey does not have the shaven, girly legs you see in the photos. He is in Texas right now recording an album and picking up my Henry dog. I had to bend in all sorts of awkward poses in order to take these grainy, camera-phone shots for you. You should have seen it- it was like a yoga class gone horribly wrong.)
Love Is All You Knit 