Bring on the pr0n!!!

Yes, it is that time! After Kid-N-Ewe a few weeks ago, have I got something to show you!
This is some YUMMY merino roving that I got from Lynn's Texas Fibers in the colorway Thistle. I walked by this roving several times, petting it each time. I finally decided that if it was there the next time I came by, I would get it. You see what happened.

This is a braid of 100% Superwash merino from Lone Star Arts in the Mixed Berry Cobbler colorway. This stuff is SO SQUISHY!!!! I just want squeeze it....so....squishy...... One of the gals of LSA, Amanda, was the one who had handy dandy Ravelry nametags. Several of us met up and we got to meet in person. Always nice!As pretty as these are, I couldn't quite get the color right on the camera. Just think BRIGHTER!! These are dyed mohair locks from Kai Mohair. She had the coolest set-up. Basically, she had about 20-25 bins with locks dyed different colors. You paid by the ounce and got to mix however many and much you wanted. She called it her "salad bar" of mohair.

I hope you enjoyed your pr0n today. Do I need to pick anyone up off the floor?

It's the most wonderful time.......

.....of the year!!!

Yeah, I have been singing that all day 'cause I've been putting up Christmas decorations! Yes, I am one of those. I LOVE me some Christmas! I love the music, the decorations, seeing family, and all of the goodwill toward men going on. Maybe it's me, but everyone tends to seem just a bit nicer this time of year. And I like it!

It's always nice pulling out the decorations. For me, I think alot stems from the fact that I am a BIG day-after-Christmas shopper. I usually horde in on the Christmas stuff and then stow it away for next year. So when I pull out the decorations, it's like early Christmas when I see what I got the year before. It has dropped off a bit, since I don't have a big tree (I had one in my old apartment - this one....well....there's barely room for yarn, folks), but I still go to Dillards and look for new pieces for my Nativity. Several years ago, my grandmother got her children a "starter" Fontanini nativity (Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus). Over the years, they got other pieces, like angels, Wise men, and livestock. The Christmas before I went to grad school, I found a set at the after-Christmas sale and began to collect different pieces. I have Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, The Wise Men, Glorious Angel, and livestock. Which livestock you ask?

Sheep, of course!

Did everyone make it?

Are we all here? Did we survive the holiday? From what I see, it seems everyone had a pretty good Thanksgiving. Hopefully, we have gone through most of the leftovers. For those of you who still have pounds of it left, I am happy to take it off your hands. For me, there is no such thing as too much leftover holiday food.

A few years ago, I did Thanksgiving in my apartment for me, my parents, my bother, and my paternal grandparents (that's 6 people). My parents had just moved to Oklahoma and DFW was about half-way between their house and my grandparent's. It was a little snug in the apartment, but it went quite smoothly. Let me add a sidenote here: Every other Thankgiving I have attended (that I can remember) has been a collaborative effort amongst many kitchens, some having double-ovens, which I highly recommend. Mine was done with a total of one oven, one stove, and one creatively used microwave. To pull this off requires much preparation and timing.

Yes, I got up at 4am to put the turkey on....and then promptly went back to bed. You don't really need to watch a turkey cook, right? Plus, I have a VERY sensitive/good smoke detector, so we were all good. Dishes were prepared in accordance with the available cooking medium, i.e. if you steam green beans, it leaves the oven free for the stuffing. They are better steamed anyways (which is healthier) and then tossed with bacon (which is not).

One of the most notable things I learned that Thanksgiving is something I wish to share, so no one else makes this mistake. When cooking a turkey, it makes the turkey taste REALLY good if you half a lemon and stick it in the turkey. Super tasty!!! However, if you make gravy from the drippings of said turkey, it tastes like lemon-rind gravy. Very much NOT tasty.

On the knitting front, yes, I got pictures taken this weekend, but am still ransoming them from my parents. In due time, in due time.....

I also have a new "dealer", as my dad calls him. You see, I have this uncle, who, you know, happens to be in the wool biz. No lie.....We have chatted and when my aunt learned I was spinning, she sent me some "stuff" she had in her closet. This was some lovely merino (we think) roving that she had LYING AROUND!!! And now, my uncle has begun to bring me a pound or two when ever we meet up. It tends to go something like this:

Hotel lobby morning after cousin's wedding
Me: Morning!
Uncle: Hey Jen....um, would you mind coming by the room later. I have some stuff for you.
Me: Really? What kind of stuff?
Uncle: (eyes shift nervously at my dad) You know, just some stuff I had around.
Me: Oh, *wink wink* Sure! I'll come by later.
Dad: God, it's like he's your dealer.

I love my family.

Turkey, turkey, turkey......

I hope everyone's Turkey Day is going well so far. Right now, it's 10am and I still ain't dressed!! I'm in the queue though....

It will be interesting for me this year cause this is the first year that I have two dinners on the same day. Ugh....

I wish everyone a very happy Turkey Day and no one burn their house down frying a turkey......hmm.....fried turkey........

Did you miss me?

Well.....did you? Yeah, I took a bit of a hiatus from the blog for a bit, but I am determined to be back to normal, posting more. I just never thought about how hard it is to have a knitting blog, with no immediate camera access. Not to worry, though....over Thanksgiving, I plan to steal/borrow my parent's camera and take some shots. But in the meantime, I steal from other folks!!

One of the big knitting events that happened over the past month is that I got to go Kid-N-Ewe with some of my Chicks.

Thanks to Liz for allowing me to steal the pic!

That's me with my fellow Chicks, but by the end of the day we were known as Sheeple. The sheep ears are the official uniform for our SnB, but this was my first outing in them. We all had a great time and got to meet several Ravelers (...Raveleriers........I dunno....). I always find it cool to meet people in real life whom you only "know" on the internet.

Allright, I gotta say. This was my first big fiber festival. Ya'll there was so much fibery goodness!!! Even as I say that, words are not enough.

Brooks Farm goodness.......aka yarn pron exhibit

We were there an hour and Tasha had to sit me down with a Frito Pie so that I could come down from my "yarn high". Several of us, me included, believe we would never last at Rhinebeck. I think it would put me in a yarn coma. Talk about sensory overload!

I did get a bit of fiber (no yarn....fiber gets you more bang for you buck!) and plan on taking pictures this weekend, so I will have some fiber pron next week.

Sidenote: For the Non-fiber folk, I didn't make a typo above. I meant to type pron. Many fiber folks talk about it normally, in terms of really nice yarn/fiber/needles, etc. However, if you type it correctly on a blog, you get nasty spam. Therefore, we use pron. Thus endth the lesson.

I also had another first over the past few weeks. My mom, who is not a knitter or any other fibery person (aka a Muggle) went into a yarn shop, all by herself, and bought yarn! And came out with something appropriate to what she wanted! I think I finally convinced her that if you go into a yarn shop and tell them what you (or what you want your daughter) to make, they WILL be helpful and get you what you require. I have been to this shop only once and loved it and I am grateful that they were so nice and accommodating to my mother. If you are ever in Tulsa, OK, please take a stop by Loops on Utica Square.

And last, but not least, a big congratulations to my cousin and his new wife who got married this weekend. I was the "House Party", which meant I got to stand over the picture they were using as a guest book. Folks signed the mat surrounding the picture. Check me out at my post!Yep....my ride was going about 2 hours early, so....I brought a sock. Hey.....I didn't knit during the wedding, I promise! Not during the reception either, cause, well, let's just say knitting under the influence is ill advised, but knitting on a Potmatomus sock while under the influence is just asking for it.

They are currently in Hawaii, lounging by the ocean, drinking umbrella drinks....shopping for yarn for his cousin....