Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Happy happy...

...holidays to all of you out there. I am proud to report that I finished the scarf for my mom:

modeled fetchingly by a plaster bust of Dante Alighieri

closeup, duh.

My mom absolutely loved it and hinted that she would like a dressier, lightweight scarf. Her birthday is in May, so I guess I know what I'll be gifting her with. Anyone out there have an easy and portable lace wrap pattern to suggest? I was thinking along the lines of feather and fan, but I'm open to similarly easy pattern suggestions. I need to be able to memorize the pattern to work it on the bus, and I am not a great memorizer.

Our Christmas was wonderful and we were both spoiled by our friends and families. Here's our holiday photo from this year, our first one with an actual tree:

mmm...glowy

On the right of the photo, you'll notice a red felted stocking, which is accompanied by a green one:

lovely

These stockings were gifted to Mark and I by the incredibly talented, incredibly generous Jane, along with some Penzey's Mint Hot Chocolate mix (because she knows how I do love the mint and the chocolate!). Jane came all the way from her home (with her lovely children- ho ho ho!) to the December 21st knit night just to give me these stockings that she knit because she remembered being a newlywed and not having any stockings for her first Christmas with her husband. Jane, thank you. This is truly one of the most thoughtful gifts that I have ever received, and Mark and I were so touched that you would think of us both.

Speaking of the knit night, I got to meet the very sweet SJ from Knit/Wit after corresponding via blog and email. I apologize for being a little distracted- when I got to knitting, my sister-in-law called to tell me that my mom was in the hospital, and I spent the next couple of hours trying to contact someone and figure out why and how she was doing. Turns out, she had a problem with her blood pressure, and all is fine now, thank goodness (one of many things to be thankful for). Thank you to Lori for keeping me sane while I was trying to figure out what was going on. Had she not been there, I'd have been a basket case.

At the risk of sounding too mushy, I hope that everyone out there has as much to be thankful for this holiday season as I do. Happy happy to you all!

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

No lie.

It is so freakishly cold today in our office that I am wearing legwarmers under my trousers for warmth:

welcome to the splendor of my cube

No, I didn't make these- they're cute crocheted Hue legwarmers that I purchased from Kaufmann's a few weeks back.

So, guess it's been a while since I updated, but I swear I am still knitting. Here's proof:



That's my modified Irish Hiking Scarf in Lamb's Pride Bulky that's destined to be a Christmas gift for my mum. I haven't started anything else new and I doubt I will have a chance to until after the holiday as house maintenence has been keeping us pretty busy as of late. Our most recent discovery is that we have mice in our (detached) garage, and they'd built nests on the engines in both our cars. I had a feeling that we had mice in the garage, but I was against setting traps until now. Hopefully they haven't chewed through any wires in the car (though we were alerted to the presence of the nests when checking for the source of a gasoline smell last night, so they may have done some damage to the fuel line on one or both of our cars).

Since I posted last, I had a birthday, and I've officially now gone 30 times around the sun. The husband threw me a surprise party to celebrate (complete with pasties made by a real Cornishman!), which was very sweet and very fun. Lovely friends, including Lori, gave me some new yarn to enhance the stash, and my parents bought me a serger, which was super-generous, and something I cannot wait to use. I am so lucky to have good friends and family who spoil me for my birthday! We put up a Christmas tree - our first one - and it is very pretty and makes the whole living room smell great. I wish we could have that smell all winter. As for Christmas shopping...I'm not really on the ball with that, unfortunately. I've finished Mark aside from some little stocking-stuffers, and I've done Lori's, but that's really it. I have a plan though, so I am not too worried. Yet.

Monday, December 05, 2005

new knitty!

The new issue of knitty is up, and if you haven't seen it you should check it out- it has loads of cute patterns. The only thing that's really catching my eye though is the tubey pattern, which I am currently sitting here coveting.