I was a good girl this year!

Well, sort of.....but I apparently fooled Santa!

I had a good holiday - short, but good. I could only get off Christmas Eve and Christmas, so it was a quick 5 hour trip to West Texas. I did half to work the day AFTER Christmas (at 5-freakin'-30AM), but it was surprisingly not very busy. I guess bookstores aren't on the top of everyone's "day-after-Christmas-sale" list. I am happy to report that I did make it through my first Christmas in retail without losing my Christmas spirit or killing/maiming any customers.

So, on to the goodies!!

My lovely grad-school-friend-turned-knitter-friend, Kerry, got me a very colorful set of stuff from Knit PicksThese are the Knit Picks Harmony Socks Set. These are so freakin' pretty and pointy. I can't wait to use them!!! Hmmm....maybe on my Mom's socks....work on that resolution.

Call it selfish, but I also got myself a Christmas present....and a very geeky one at that...but it's pretty!!This is a ring called "Claire's Ring." It is designed after a ring in a book series that I read called "Outlander" by Diana Gabaldon. This is one of two series of books that I can read over and over and not get tired of them (the other would be Harry Potter). If you enjoy reading, I highly recommend at least giving it a try. It is a bit adult oriented (i.e. it does have sex in it), but not like super-romance novels. This is the way I see it - in romances, everything in the book leads up to the sex. In these books, the sex is just part of the story, not the POINT of the story. If you do take these on, here's the order: Outlander, Dragonfly in Autumn, Voyager, Drums of Autumn, Fiery Cross, A Breath of Snow and Ashes, ....plus more to come! (The next one is called "An Echo in the Bone" and she's hoping to finish it in 2008.) Like I said, geeky but pretty.

As stated before, Santa was very nice to me this year - he brought me everything I asked for. This included a new DVD player (mine has been kaput for over two months), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix DVD, Christmas PJs (a Christmas standard), and, the chief provider for this posting, and many more to come......a new camera!!!!

Mine got solely dependent of being plugged into the wall and that just wouldn't do. SO I let Santa know what I wanted, specs and whatnot, and he did an AWESOME job! The pictures my new camera takes are just awesome. Check it out!Usually the trees around my apartment go from green to brown to ground, but today they were actually Fall-ish looking so I took my new camera out for a spin. If you are interested, it's a Canon PowerShot A570 IS and it is probably the easiest camera I have ever used that gave me such great pictures.

Next time.....a WiP and FO Parade!

Merry Christmas!!!

I hope everyone is having a great holiday and I'll see you next year!!

Really?

88%DRUNKARD

Find Ultrasound schools near you

It's almost here!!!

Yep, Christmas is officially a week away and I am excited!!! And I am happy I am still loving Christmas. This is my first Christmas working in retail and I was afraid I would really start to hate Christmas. I am happy to say that this is not the case and I think it has a lot to do with where I work and who I work with. I am sure that if I worked at Wally World, then...well....let's just say there isn't enough tinsel in world to save THAT Christmas spirit.

And if case you need a little "Christmas Cheer", use the following recipe"
1. Make one cup apple cider in you favorite fashion (I am a fan of the Alpine Cider mix)
2. Add 1-2 oz. of Crown Royal.
3. Repeat as necessary

This is also a great cure for the winter chill. Trust me.

Anyhoo, as Christmas comes approaches, so does the new year. Yeah, wrap your brain around that. There was a point last week when I couldn't remember whether it was 2006 or 2007. Seriously. I had to look it up.

With the new year comes the "resolutions". One of my fellow Chickies, Dawn (who also now has a podcast, and I am mentioned a few times, actually), had challenged us to make some knitting resolutions. She's got a nice Mr. Linky, if you care to join. Mine are taken with a small grain of salt. Call it "things I would like to do in 2008".

1. Finish my Central Park Hoodie. Yep, that was the project I casted on for myself after I finished the stocking. It is going along smoothly and is one of the best knits I have been knitting. It is just mindless enough and just complicated enough. It is everything everyone says it is. There is a reason it is so popular. In case you didn't grab the issue of knitscene, they are selling the CPH pattern, with new plus sizing(!) on the Knitting Daily website.

2. Knit my Mom's socks. My poor momma has been neglected. Last Christmas (that would be 2006), my mom picked out her own yarn for some socks (Lorna's in Black Purl). We even got a pattern picked out (Knitty's Clessidra) and I even cast on. Then things got dicey. They might not be Clessidras, but I vow that my momma will have a pair of socks next year.

3. Knit hats. We are taking a family ski trip in February and I am hoping that my parents and I will be going down the slopes in hand-knit hats. My brother already has one, so he has no excuse. In Texas, especially with the VAST amounts of hair I have, hats are usually not an issue. I would really hope that I can get us there in hand-knitted hats. My Dad is probably getting a Koolhaus Hat and I am thinking a Tam-like hat for me and my mom. Can't have hair squish-age.

4. Blog more. Yep, I said it. In case you don't know, I have a HORRIBLE short term memory. I think of 5 million things to blog about every day, but forget them the moment I have time to sit down and blog. Definition of irony, anyone? I am going to try and make a conscious effort to blog more and share more of my "insight".

So, there we go. My knitting goals for the year. You wouldn't think it would be much, but they are my resolutions and I like 'em.

Since I am working until Christmas Eve, then traveling, then working some more, I am going to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, and Happy Festivus to all. I hope that everyone travels safely, along with your families. I wish everyone well in their Christmas knitting and I would hope that you would support Leigh in the Knitting Wars.

Happy Holidays! Love to all, Jennifer

Praise the LAWD!!!

Sorry, still very excited about finishing the stocking.....that and the fact that I ACTUALLY have an FO.

Several weeks ago, I got an email from my (now) cousin's mother-in-law. Apparently, all of her nieces and nephews had hand-knitting Christmas stockings, made by a lovely lady where they used to live. Well, there was a new addition to the cousins and this lovely lady has since passed away. Hoping that little Katherine (now almost three months, I think) wouldn't be without a stocking, she asked if I could figure out a pattern from an existing stocking and make her one. Sure, I said. It's just a big sock....shouldn't be too hard. She brought me a sample and it looked relatively simple, with a little intarsia thrown in to break up the monotony.

Ever sense that moment before the Knitting Goddess comes by to smack you upside the head?

Yeah, so I didn't quite think about intarsia...in...the...round. Think about it folks....and there are big blocks of color. The whole slip-stitch-float-in-the-back thing wasn't gonna work. But it had been done...I had the proof in the sample in my hands. So I studied....and studied....and studied. That's when I saw it - a seam! But only on the intarsia panel. When she started the panel, she un-joined the sock and began to knit flat, then joined it back up at the end of the panel, then the panel is seamed up.

So here it is, in all of it's glory - the stocking!


Pattern: My own-ish - I uninvented the pattern from a sample stocking that was provided
Yarns: Red Heart Super Saver in Paddy Green, Brown Sheep NatureSpun Sport (held double) in Aran, Patons Brilliant (held double) in White Twinkle (silver), Moda Dea Dream in Waterlilly (fuzzy pink), plus various bits in my stash
Needles: US8, plus a EmbellishKnit for the I-cord (Hey, I HATE I-CORD)

Now that it's done, I did enjoy the knit. I did greatly celebrate its completion. Course the only way of celebrating one Tuesday night at 10:30 is with a bottle of wine...and blast it to the world, via a blog. It was nice. I am planning on writing the pattern up, if anyone is interested.

It....is......DONE!!!!

Holy crap, ya'll.......I have had a project going that I don't think I have talked about here. My cousin's wife's cousin needed a knitted Christmas stocking (story for a later date) and I started about.....well, a while ago. There was acrylic.....and intarsia......in the round........but IT IS DONE!!!!

I'm off to find a drink......pictures to follow......of the stocking, not me drinking......unless things get out of hand.......we'll see.......

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........