Finished Object Friday: Hohoho

Oye. You'd think this would be it, eh? The final one. Well, its not. I actually finished 3 other items, but they need one more felting before they are presentable. I STILL have to sew together my sister's sweater and whip up another lace frame. Have I mentioned that piecing together sweaters is about my least favorite knitting related activity EVER. Seriously, I've had the pieces completely knitted for over a month and still they wait! This also needs some sewing (Little A still loves the ribbon on her blankies, so I have to do that this morning...haha...at work!) but since the knitting is done, I think it counts for finished. Please excuse the fact the the colors harken to the Great Barbie/Care Bear Blender Massacre of 1986.

This is based on that blue swirl blanket that is pictured in MDK and they send you to a site for the pattern? You know the one? Yeah, I saw it and tried it and haven't looked at the picture since. If it's not a complete rip-off (i.e....if I did it wrong!) I'll post the pattern that I made up to achieve the swirly happiness. Better find that book!

Next, I tried the hat pattern that Kat posted in response to my pleading for hat help. It came out REALLY good. I was nervous about felting crochet, but it worked out very nicely. Though you can't tell...it just looks like a very nervous animal curled up on terror on my bed:

I shall attempt to get a better picture. I promise. I really like it though and will probably make myself one in a girlier color.

As mentioned, I also finished my dad's fuzzy feet, two of Chris' bag and a gift that I can't post a picture of. (Wait was that a bad sentence? A dangling something? I never got that one....)

In good mail news, Lisa very generously sent me some more yarny bits for no other reason than her general wonderful-ness! (Ok, I stopped even trying for real words and good sentences.)

And some coffee that smells so good I almost started chewing the beans. Has anyone ever tried to make their own chocolate covered espresso beans? It seems easy and cheap....anyone...anyone?

And that's that. Christmas is a knockin' so this chicky's gotta get rockin'.

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you all have beautiful, peaceful holidays filled with love and laughter!

Knitter HELP!

I'm looking for a felted knit pattern for a hat along this style:




I feel like I saw one recently, but now have NO idea where. You'd think it's really hard to click "add to favorites" wouldn't you? Ack! Does anyone have any ideas?

My sincere apologies....

To my arse.

I know you did not need this sort of treatment. I know that you had already grown well passed your uh...."potential" and that you did not need further prodding to increase in size.

I know that sugar cookies would've been a better choice as they are not as quick to attack you as the buttery shortbread covered in dark chocolate.

I'm sorry that I blindly ignored the ill effects directed toward you of these festive little nuggets of yumminess. I'm sorry that I was not more attentive to your pleading.

And as if this all wasn't trying enough for you, dear arse, in the end, I was the epitome of cruelty...

and I apologize from the depths of my cookie filled tummy. I know my day of reckoning will soon be upon me as you and my jeans plot to work yourself away in hollow resolutions. Please understand, I am very, very sorry.

But I'm sure a cookie will make me feel better.

Finished Object Friday: Giving and Receiving

Even though I did get an attack of Christmas paralysis this week, I did manage to finish up on several things. Several more to go, but hey....this post officially knocks 4 items off my list! Not too shabby....

First, you all saw the first....now you can see it with its matey:


For my mom. It is a relief to be done with my mom, I'm tellin' yuh.

Next, I got this headband earmuff thing at a store for Little A and used the leftovers from her scarf to cover the muffs and match it all up. This was a nice project....mainly because it took 1/2 hour!

She's been asking for earmuffs, so I was happy to oblige so very easily!

Next, the LAST of the convertible mitts, or glittens, as TB calls them:


Wow, am I over those mitts. Which sucks because I really want a pair myself, but I just don't know if I have it in me to knit ANOTHER pair. But nephews....off the list!

And lastly:

My model in this picture is Little A's athletic cat Buttons, the gift itself is the kitty hat. It's for my new niece (I'm pretty sure I still get to call her my niece even though she's of the ex's side of the family, right??) I'm sorry about the poopoo picture, but I had thoroughly had it by the time I got to this one last night. It's an adaptation of this pattern, for a baby head.

What's left? Oye. I still need to finish a blanket for Little A, piece together a sweater for my sister, knit a few of Chris' bag for a tike and a friend, 1 more fuzzy foot for my dad, one more lace frame, and get together a few other TINY random gifts. 10 days til Christmas? Hmmmmm....Thank god Heide sent me such good coffee to help me through this!

Speaking of getting wonderful things in the mail....

I mentioned that I won a prize over a Chris' B-day contest, right??? Yup, I sure did, and what a surprise because I'm not a big winner usually! My prize was a beautiful 800+ yards of laceweight hand dyed by Chris herself.


Isn't it beautiful??? I feel an autumn leaves shawl headed my way REALLY soon! But guess what? That wasn't it! Her box was a treasure trove of goodies:

The chocolate? Delicious! The tape measure? Appropriated by Little A. The sheepy pez dispenser? Appropriated by Little A! The mix CD's? Excellent! I absolutely LOVE the coffee mix! The pink yarn? Destined for mittered greatness! Thank you so much Chris! It was such a fun surprise to receive, and geeez, how generous are to be sending off such excellent boxes for your OWN birthday! I think she's got some damn good karma stored up for the coming year, don't you guys think?

The funniest thing about this box, I showed every last item to N (because he was the only one home at the time and I had to show it to someone!) and he just was so confused. I was hoping he would catch a hint...since he claims he has such a hard time gifting to me..."See, all of these things make me happy....HINT HINT!" I'm not really sure the message made it through.

So, by now, you all know that the swap/yarn gods have smiled on me in the past couple of months. And so of course, I have another beautiful thing to show you! Remember my secret pal? Remember how she already sent me a wonderful package? Welp, I got home yesterday to this:

Do you know what that beautiful yarn is????? That, my dear friends, is the coveted Koigu. In a beautiful colorway (that of course I forgot to write down before work...blame the kitty ears!) I have Koigu!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There was joy, there was petting, there was fondling. I confess. There was so much petting and fondling that Little A asked if I was mistaking the yarn for a new pet. Uh, duh Little A! Of course I am! And I will feed me my new pet that delicious chocolate! Thank you Secret Pal!

I have to say, I wish I knew who my secret pal is. After now having done a non-secret swap, I really think I prefer it. One of the best parts of that swap was getting connected with Heide, and based on our few emails (I think my pal may be as insanely busy or even more so than me!), it really seems like my SP is a lovely person and I wish I had a better opportunity to keep up with her right now. Maybe I'm just impatient? I don't know, but my SP's been so kind, I just wish I knew her a little better. So thank you SP, and uh...feel free to bare your identity if you want to! ;)

Things that make you say WTF?

Since I typically get pretty consistent search terms related to spells or convertible gloves or other knitted things I've recently posted, I stopped checking them with any regularity. But today I checked and well....maybe you guys can figure this one out for me:

crazy knit knitting pattern a poop poo drop cream hat

I just don't know. What were they looking for? I'm perplexed...intrigued....And a little worried because really, I think I should be concerned that the word "poop" in conjuction with "knitting" led them here....Eeeck!

Somebody....anybody?

Somebody is sleepy. Somebody has no camera batteries. Somebody didn't get a picture of (most likely) Little A's last believing visit with Santa because of the lack of batteries. Somebody is so over Santa, it really didn't bother her that much, but somebody felt stupid all the same. Somebody wishes her daughter had a better teacher this year. Somebody is grinchy enough that she doesn't want to give the teacher a gift. Somebody can't seem to come up with a post because she first needs to post pictures of the awesome box of goodies that Chris sent her. Somebody has thought of other wordier posts, but somebody is too caffeine deprived to cohere them into something sensible. Somebody MIGHT finish her Christmas knitting. Somebody might end up with carpal tunnel as a result. Somebody keeps seeing patterns that she swears are going to be the first thing that she casts on when done with Christmas knitting. Somebody wonders how many projects she can cast on at the exact same moment so that they can all have their proper glory as first? Somebody needs to get more coffee so somebody is signing off.

Finished Object Friday: Not exactly what I intended...

But its something!

I should really have more for this finished object Friday, being that I've only got two left before Christmas. But I had a couple of migraines and a wicked emotional week. These two things made me a lame knitter for a day or two. Additionally, I got a little distracted at my lovely LYS, The Island Yarn Co, by some sale Artful Yarns, Cartoon. I had been thinking of trying some thrummed mittens and when I saw this, I finally got the thrumming urge. If you live in the area, you should check out the sale...50% off! And if you are making thrummed mittens, she'll give you the pencil roving for free, so that means you can make a pair of thrummed mittens for $10. Yup, TEN freaking dollars. Pretty good deal when you see that the kits are usually between $30-$40! So here's what I was obsessing about yesterday instead of finishing other projects:



In the interest of not totally screwing myself, these are going to be for my mom. She walks sometimes in the winter in upstate NY, so I imagine they will be well received.

I also had a little knitting gig, also from Island Yarn, to make some fingerless gloves. So although they are not gifts, here is a shitty picture of some nice woolen fingerless gloves:


I also finished off a scarf for my upstairs neighbor/friend/N's cousin:


It's not really something I NEEDED to do, but I like her and I don't think anyone really does anything fantastic for her for Christmas even though she's always helping everyone else, so that's how it came to be. I bought some Cascade 220 at a yard sale for 25 CENTS over the summer and finally got around to dyeing it. I was pretty pleased with how it came out. The stitch pattern is a mock cable pattern that I picked up over at the LYS (yes, today's blog should be entitled All Island Yarn All the Time....do you think maybe I've been spending too much time there?) Here's an attempt at a close up, but I'm not sure how well you can really see the stitch.

And at last, the obligatory decorating the tree picture:



She's so darn sweet! And she's got back to back parties this weekend so she is a happy happy girl.

Dreamy lunches

Yesterday, I had a conversation with my sister that made me very suspicious that my mom is trying to covertly plan on having all my brothers and sisters and I descend upon her house at Christmas. My mother is a lovely person. But about this issue, she is very nuts (or ignorant or something!) There are 5 of us, some with spouses or other appendages, some without. The group, as a whole, should have to enter through a metal detector because although we get along ok in little groups here or there, as a whole? The shit tends to hit the fan and we tend to become very, very, very angry. And I'm really not jazzed about the possibility of getting tricked into spending my Christmas this way.

Last night, I had a dream that there were enemies/terrorists of some sort in our house (actually in my grandma's house where this gathering of "all the kids" has happened most recently...like 15 years ago). At first my mom seemed to be in serious trouble or danger. Some shady character pulled up in front of the house and asked to speak to my mom. I told her and she went out willingly. I helped her down the creaky and treacherous front porch stairs where she went to whisper into the tinted windows. She came back into the house and revealed herself to be some kind of CIA official, in charge of everything and requested that the spies reveal themselves before she reveal them.

Nope, no issues here. Why do you ask?

Don't the holidays just make you all warm and fuzzy?

I made some super yummy dinner last night, featured as leftovers in today's lunches:


Mine is broccoli, cauliflower, carrot and veggie chicken tempura, clementine, onigiri star, roasted chick-Peas and a mint ghiradelli square. Little A wasn't down with the tempura, which completely shocked me. I could even imagine veggie hating kids eating it, so who knows! So her lunch looked like this:

2 onigiri stars, roasted chickpeas, a now'nlater, a clementine and raspberries. She saw it before hand and was highly approving of the combo.

Since the tempura batter was really yummy, I thought I'd post the recipe if you want to try it.

Peanut-y Tempura

2 eggs (separated)

1 tsp soy sauce

1 TBSP peanut butter

1/4 cup flour

1/4 milk

Mix the two egg yolks, peanut butter, soy sauce, milk, and flour. Set aside. Whip the egg whites until they form soft peaks and fold into the other mixture. Ready for battering and frying.

A fresh look at Rudolph

The other night, Little A and I bought the Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer DVD. I always seem to miss this one and as it is the height of nostalgia for me, I decided we should have it. The DVD had the obligatory "special features" which we always have to check out.

It turns out that a year after it was released, "Why Am I Such a Misfit", was replaced by a song called "Fame & Fortune". I was curious to see if the song would stir any memories, so we watched the clip. It was a pretty horrible song and must've been put in because someone complained about the misfits heading nowhere in life.

But it did have its silver lining.

Toward the end, Little A turns to me and says, "Are they saying 'Pain and Torture'?"

"Yes honey, they are happily singing and dancing around the North Pole to the words 'Pain and Torture'." We spent the rest of the evening breaking into that festive, cheerful tune, "Pain and Torture" whenever it seemed necessary. Which was a lot.

Not Just A Finished Object Friday: Getting Lucky

Today, is my 200th post, and although you may be used to a slight (heehee) undertone of negativity on this blog, we will have none of that today! Because yuh know what? I am freaking lucky. (No, I did NOT read that in some cheezo affirmation book, in case you were wondering.) I just am actually really lucky. The first thing I am lucky for?

How did you guess? This little girl is just about the best that one could hope for. She's sweet, loving, smart, creative, healthy, and so much more and I am truly lucky to have a daughter like her. Her grammy is also the lucky recipient of this gift. It's a knitted frame from Handknit Holidays by Melanie Fallick. Question for you knitters...I'm thinking that I should put a black paper behind the lace, what do you think?

You're lucky too because you get to see yet another picture of these:

Those convertible mits never get old, do they? I've started making the fingers a different color, basically to mildly entertain myself. Just one more pair to go and while you may not think you are that lucky to have seen those gloves, just think, I could've, instead, showed you the picture that Little A's dad took of the placenta when she was born. See, you ARE lucky!

What's that you say? You'd like more evidence of luck? Ok then. About a month ago, I signed up for the Knitter's Coffee Swap. It's wasn't meant to be a secret swap and so the pairs knew each other. I was lucky enough to get paired with Heide, who, after no more than 5 minutes on her blog, I knew was a kindred spirit. We had a few weeks to get to know each other while we put together our packages of elixir of life coffee and knitting goodies. Yesterday, I mailed Heide's package at about 2:30, ran home to find the mailman walking up the driveway with my package from her. I cannot even tell you how wonderful the package was (though I will show you in a minute). Every item was so thoughtful, so clearly picked out with insight and care that I was completely touched. I stood in my kitchen pulling out the items, uttering "oh my god" as each beautiful item emerged from the big box, until the upstairs neighbors clearly must've thought I was having a seriously religious experience. Thank you so much Heide!!

Here's how it all started:

Magical. And inside were words so kind I nearly started blubbering on our kitty.

Next, I spied:
The provisions! And damn fine provisions they be. The coffee smelled heavenly and I can't wait to wake up to that smell tomorrow morning, on my first non-early day of the entire fall. The cup is perfect. Always running here and there, I've found that I never have a travel mug ready to go with me. And this one is really nice...it makes me feel "together", and I'm sure you didn't think that was possible! And Organic Espresso Chocolate????? Need I say more? Oh my god! (It's starting again...watch out...I may have to replace this title with "Orgasmic Swap".)

Next, I caught of glimmer of beauty, dug deep in the box and found:



That's 2 balls of knitpicks essentials....yes, essential to the sock knitter! In the color of at least 50% of my wardrobe. Those socks may be for me! And that's THREE hanks of Manos there. And I hope that you can see how beautiful the colors are. I couldn't have chosen a more perfect colorway if I had picked it out myself. It sat next to me all night, as I patted it and admired it and used all my willpower to not throw the Christmas knitting in the bin and cast on something...anything with the beautiful Manos! (And if you wondering, since I had to use all my willpower for that....I had very little leftover for the chocolate. It's a good thing I took that picture soon after the package arrived!)

And as if that wasn't enough, there were more goodies to be had:



These are cranberry votives that smell so good they made my eyes roll back in my head (you know that kind of good smell, right?) and the cutest sheepy ornament. He went right on the wall above where I usually knit, but will have to be relocated as that location made kitty a little too curious about the new sheepy arrival.

And the thing that really was the cherry on the top of this incredible package? In only a few short weeks of getting to know each other, I realized that Heide knows me. For without any request or any prodding, she knew that this would totally make the whole package completely perfect:Yup, she included a gift for my sweet Little A. And Little A loved it and says "Thank you!" after about three million "Wow! Cool!"-s. Thank you sooooooo* much again Heide! You totally have out done yourself! And I hope you love the package coming your way, but there's no way it will quite measure up to what you put together!

And one more lucky thing? I will be damn lucky if blogger actually lets me upload all of these pictures!

*I had a friend in Junior High who would write me notes of a very emphatic nature and her o's on her soooooo's would literally take up pages upon pages. I'm tempted to send Heide such a letter, but I don't think my feeble typing-not-writing hand can, any longer, handle such rigor. But its deserved, I tell you! Reeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaallly! ;)

Ok, fine!

Linky poo. And the ping.