Someone left their refridgerator door open!!

Brrr...it's cold outside....but this is Texas, it was 75 yesterday and 27 today. Here's what's outside my door:

Some of it is ice, but it is pretty anyway. We had actual snow around lunchtime when Kerry and I were off to lunch. Yep, UNT was open until 3pm...at least I got outta class tonight!!

So, what is good to do when your stuck at home? KNIT!!! I have spent my snowy hours at home knitting...and trying to turn the heater on without setting off the smoke detector.

And now, for your amusement, for one and all, I provide you with a laugh I came across on the knittyboards:

How To Felt with Acrylic Yarn by Gail
List of Materials Needed:
1. Some acrylic yarn. Make sure it doesn’t have any natural fiber content in it whatsoever. That would be bad.

2. An oversized stock pot. The one you attempted to use to Brine your turkey before you accidentally killed all your relatives will serve you well here. Plus, it’ll hide the evidence.

3. A blow torch.

4. An oven. Preferably one that you don’t plan on using much in the future.

5. A welding shield.

6. Some tongs.

7. Some leather gloves. Not the nice ones - the heat shielding kind.

Step 1:
Knit something out of that acrylic. Make it bigger than you want the final results to be.
Step 2:
Drinking some alcohol is probably a good idea here.
Step 3:
Turn on the oven as high as it will go. Throw your knitted acrylic garment into the oversized stock pot, and stick that in the oven. It is a matter of great debate on whether or not you should add water - water will probably slow the felting process, but may keep the yarn from melting to the bottom of the pot. Maybe you should add some canola oil or something.
Step 4:
Open a window. Take the batteries out of the fire alarm.
Step 5:
Check on your garment. If all is going well, it will become soft and melty. With the gloves and tongs, coax it into the shape you want. You may also want to stir it around to make sure that it isn’t sticking.
Step 6:
Once your garment has shrunk down and appears to be the correct shape, remove the stockpot from the oven. Throw a bunch of water into it. You might want to put on the welders shield now. Then, with the tongs, remove the item from the pot, and arrange it charmingly. You should no longer be able to see individual stitches. You may find that your garment is a bit inflexible - that is to be expected.
Step 7:
Once your garment has cooled, you can use the blow torch and tongs to make any last minute adjustments, such as creating holes in your slippers for the feet.
Step 8:
Enjoy your fabulous felted acrylic garment!

Ahh...the official post-Thanksgiving post...lets start at the beginning, shall we?

First, I finished my four pair of Fetching for my mother's coworkers. A nice pic is uploaded on the left! With those done, it is on to the Christmas knitting!! Of course, it can't be discussed too much! But the knittyheads know what I am making and for who! :-P

So, wonderful traditional Thanksgiving was going wonderful. The Dallas Cowboys won on Thursday, which was wonderful. Maybe I haven't been paying attention for a while, but it seemed like a surprise to me THAT they won...then I watched them play. 'Nuff said..

Then began Black Friday, which I certainly didn't go out in. I stayed in and grazed on leftovers...

...hmmm....leftovers.....Sorry, back to business. Wonderfulness all around, nice plate of leftovers, friends and family, so let's add some football!

...the downfall of the joyfulness....We tend to be a UT family. A tradition that I can remember from WAAAY back is watching the UT vs. A&M game on Friday afternoon, while munching on leftovers. Rooting for UT, as we do, is usually quite nice because we tend to win...except for this year. We lost 12-7 because our QB wasn't 100% and, I will admit (sorry Lewis), that A&M played a great game. You would think that regaining the feeling in your throwing arm just last week would mean that you still weren't 100%. Thus endith the rant....and yes, the Texas flag is at half-mast.

Now that Thanksgiving is over, it's time for CHRISTMAS!!! And Santa brought me my first gift!!

Yummy roving sent by my lovely Aunt and Uncle who are in the wool biz. This was just something she had stashed, but I am working on trying to find out exactly what kind it is...it is quite yummy!

My friend Kerry, of the Kerry Bag, was quite the buzy bee and since she is, sadly, blogless, I will toot her horn! She finished her bag in record time...I hadn't even taught her to cast-off yet...she had bog panels still on needles when I came by! We then cranked out some i-cord for handles using a wonderful thing for the i-cord haters out there...Embellish-Knit. I will admit, you have to have a little patience with it at the start, but even if I only got it to work for this project, it was worth it (~$8 with 50% off coupon). I should mention that for this bag you need two straps of i-cord measuring 46" a piece. That's 92" of i-cord people. And we finished it while watching a movie.

Guess what I got in the mail today.......YARN!!! and BOOKS!!


On the lovely knittyboards, I am participating in what could be described as a non-denominational, non-holiday Secret Santa kinda thing. Some of you know about the person that I have been spoiling, but today I got spoiled!! Click here for more about the contents, but it is all yummy!! I got yarn to dye, a book about dyeing, a skein of Koigu (which I have been wanting to try FOREVER!), a spinning book and even some fat quarters to quilt with! Thanks so much Winter SP!!!!

Please welcome Ms. Elizabeth Zeta Enlow!!

She was born Friday night and is of course the cutest girl ever!! She also happens to be the recipeint of Gift #1 (aka Elizabeth's Set) over in my projects list.

I hope that everyone has a great weekend!!

P.S. Three pairs of Fetching done, one to go!!

I have issues...no, wait, I have the whole subscription....

Well, you might have noticed the new digs around here. Just wanted a change...no biggie, right? So, I copy all of the customizations I made into Word and reformatted. Went over the the word doc to recopy all of my stuff...no, wait, where did all of the HTML code go? Yeah, apparently I didn't copy all of it, just the unimportant part!!

Alright, no biggie, I can redo it...it's only 11:00pm. Remember the first rule in composition: Constantly hit the save button. Why don't I listen.... After 90 minutes worth of work, which almost puts me done, I try to access a link in ANOTHER FREAKING WINDOW and it decides to open up the link in my blogger window, clearing out all of the changes I made.

I know, I know....I can only blame myself...but at least I didn't wash my hair with lotion (sorry, Ms. Harlot!)

So, I will eventually have everything back up (RingSurf police, please don't put me in Ring jail!!) and I will have some updates, including new pictures!

Now, it is 12:45am...I am off to get a beer out of the fridge and see if I can quit cursing blogger, itunes, and internet explorer and get some sleep.

'Night

Alright, here is the random post for the week!

1. FIRST NAME? Jennifer
2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Nope
3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? For once, I don't remember....
4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? I like it fine...it's other people who can't read it. Hence, why I type everything.
5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCHMEAT? Cajun Turkey Breast
6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? I think so....
7. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? This is as close I as I have gotten....but I have tried
8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes.
9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Probably yes.
10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Cheerios...with the occasional Froot Loops
11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? No, but my shoes don't have laces.
12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Most of the time.
13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? Mint Chocolate Chip
14. SHOE SIZE? 8.5 double wide
15. RED OR PINK? Red
16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? My inability to focus.
17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My family.
18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? Nope.
19. WHAT COLOR PANTS, SHIRT AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? Jeans, maroon shirt, and socks (shoes off for the night!)
20. LAST THING YOU ATE? Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Sandwhich.
21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? The fan on my computer??
22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Kiwi green
23. FAVORITE SMELL? Lavender...outside....a good cup of tea or coffee
24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? My mom
25. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE YOU ARE ATTRACTED TO? I dunno......maybe that's why I am single!! :-P
26. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON you stole THIS from? I can't remember who I stole this from, but sure--it was a knit blogger and I love you all
27. FAVORITE DRINK? Shiner Bock, or Dt. Dr. Pepper during the day
28. FAVORITE SPORT? Football and swimming (yeah, I know)
29. EYE COLOR? blue. the shade changes depending on what I wear
30. HAT SIZE? Regular? I dunno, you think I have a tape measure just because I am a knitter? They all get stolen by the elves who hide my left filp-flop (long story)
31. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? No, but once I am away from the organic chemicals for a while, maybe I will try contacts again.
32. FAVORITE FOOD? Potato chips and peanut butter (seperately, except for Fritos...hmm...Fritos and PB....hey, you should already now I am wierd.
33. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Happy endings, I guess.
35. SUMMER OR WINTER? Winter
36. HUGS OR KISSES? Yes
37. FAVORITE DESSERT? Key Lime Cheescake with Raspberry Topping.
38. WHO IS MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Not planning on anyone responding.
39. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? See #38
40. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING? Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon, #4 in a series of 6 and counting (GREAT books)
41. WHAT’S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? Fake wood...oh, wait, that's the desk
42. WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST NIGHT ON TV? Galaxy Quest and 7th Heaven on Tivo.
43. FAVORITE SOUNDS? Rain...laughter...an SnB group
44. ROLLING STONE OR BEATLES? Beatles
45. THE FURTHEST YOU’VE BEEN FROM HOME? I think D.C. is the farthest
46. WHAT’S YOUR SPECIAL TALENT? I can be both girly girl and severe tomboy all in the same step...oh, and I knit :-P
47. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Sweetwater, Texas
48. WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Nobody. I copied from one of my great friendly knitbloggers!!

I FINALLY got to dye my yarn! This was the yarn that I first spun out of silk hankies and dyed with Kool-aid:

Yarn: Spindle handspun - silk hankies

Dye: Kool-aid Lemon-Lime and Iced Blue Raspberry Lemonade

Method: Microwave!!

Okay, the picture is terrible. I promise the colors are brighter. It turned out pretty good. The green seemed to bind much better than the blue for some reason. Can't wait to knit it up!!

Knitting Quote of the Week
"Blast!! I am doing it wrong....eh, I'll just keep going..."
...and now the story. I began to teach my friend Kerry to knit socks. We began with Fuzzy Feet, which are felted slippers. You knit a big-a$$ sock, and then felt it. With that explained, let me initiates one of the cardinal rules of knitting:
"Friends don't let friends knit drunk"
Now, no one was drunk, per se, but we had been sampling the Sam Adams Seasonal Beers Collection. We will just leave it at that...but I do recommend them! Ok, so maybe it was funnier at the time...but, trust me, it was a visual thing.

Ok, so on to knitting!! Many people have noticed that Gift #1 is finished. Yes, the picture has been taken, but no it hasn't been given yet. I will post afterwards. :-P

I did get my Christmas shopping done this weekend!! Take a look:

What's that? It looks like a bunch of yarn? Well, it is...I said my Christmas SHOPPING was done...not my Christmas KNITTING!! I promise, everything will be photographed and posted in due time.

We had a wonderful thunderstorm last night with losts of rain and thunder and lightning...which was nice until the power went out. My roommate and I fumbled around for candles and got the living room quite nicely lit. What did I do for the hour the power was out? What do you think? Yep, I will proudly and geekily admit that I knitted by candlelight. It was quite relaxing knitting while surrounded by candlelight and the scents of apples and cinnamon, pumpkin spice, green apple, fresh comfort, lavender, and strawberry daiquiri. It was interesting...

I took my first steps into the dyeing world tonight. I finally dyed my first handspun with green and blue. It looks a little pale, but we will see once it dries. I will post pics once it does.

Happy knitting!!

It has been a LONG week...and what is a good thing to get after a long week? Not one box of yarn, but TWO!! And on the day I (finally) finish my first synthesis for Dr. R. It was a good thing to come home to. Well, here are my goodies.

(Click here for description) This was from Knit Picks, my first order, actually. I had gotten links to it from the KnittyBoard and couldn't believe the prices. I was thinking, surely, it must be bad to be that inexpensive. However, everyone RAVED about it. So, I gave it a try and boy was I wrong. This yarn is wonderful! I got a little laceweight and some sock yarn. The Gloss is a little thicker than I thought, but quite soft.

I am sure there are a few out there wondering why I would have gotten a yarn with the color name "Crayons". Let me explain: (1) it was on sale!! :-P (2) I came across a KP pattern for some fair isle socks that I fell in love with. I love fair isle/insarsia but I like it even more if I only have two strands of yarn to worry about! There were several different combos for this sock online, but this is the only on e they still had the yarn for...and I HAD to have those socks!!


Speaking of socks...a lovely knittyhead enabler made all of us aware of a special her LYS was having...8 skeins/4 pairs of Lorna's Laces Shepard Sock yarn for $46. Okay, for you non-knitters out there, a skein of this stuff usually runs $10-12/skein...for IMO, the best sock yarn out there. So, along with every onther KH on the board, I placed my order and this is what I got: (Click here for details) Yummy, yummy....and, as the knitty sock knitters motto...

"Sock Yarn Doesn't Count As Stash!!"