Working on Christmas

Do you think that when people originally planned to celebrate Christmas as a holiday that they expected all of us to work so hard at it? I don't think it was what they planned at all! They just thought it would be a nice time for families to get together. I have gone a bit overboard. I am not only knitting many, many gifts, I also have some other projects I'm working on. Here is my current list:
1. TJ's socks (these are more than halfway done. One sock is done and the other about halfway up the foot. They are toe-up obviously.)
2. Richard's Socks (The yarn is bought for these but they aren't started as they are waiting for the needles from TJ's socks.)
3. Teri's socks (These are started but are top and one is about halfway down the leg.)
4. Mike's Felted Clogs (These are nearly finished. I have one sole and sewing up to do on these. They are hideous to me but they are John Deere colors so he should love them.)
5. Gunner's Felted Clogs (These are for a two-year old so they should be fairly simple to do.)
6. Brianna's Felted Clogs (These are for my ten-year old niece and I haven't decided if they should be knit or not. We'll see where the time constraints lie.)
7. Emma's Felted Clogs (These are for my two-year old niece and again, I haven't decided if I will actually make them or not.)

Non-knitting but just as important projects:
1. Delia's blanket. This just needs to be quilted and it will be done.
2. Julia's purse. This is quite a project. When I sew purses, I design them too so I need to figure out how it's going to look and then execute it too. This should be interesting.
3. Shelly's Dragon Picture. This is for my step-sister. She bought a house this year and I noticed she has a small area with a bunch of dragon figurines so I am going to draw, color and frame a picture for her to hang above them.

I still have a wee bit of shopping left to do but I'm pretty sure that it will have to wait until hubby's bonus check comes in. We'll see I guess. If I can squeeze the budget tight enough, I might be able to finish sooner.
I have no pictures of any of this stuff so you will just have to wait. Meanwhile, I will be celebrating my 28th birthday tomorrow so I will be busy not knitting probably.

Also, great news. My cousin, who is the mother of the ever-cute Gunner, just gave birth to her second baby last night. She was 7 lbs. 15 oz. and 19 1/2 inches long. Her name is Hayden Elizabeth. I am so, so, so excited to go see her!!! I have to make something for her too. (I promised my cousin not to start anything because of the magical quality of knitting and she had some health issues with Gunner so she didn't want to have the baby early. I promised and have therefore only planned a few things. Now I have to finish Christmas projects first though. BLAST!!)

More Finished Things

I just love getting to post things that are done. I finished another pair of felted clogs

These are New Denim Patons Classic Wool Merino on the bottom and Denim Marl Patons Classic Wool Merino on the top. These are meant for my father-in-law and now all the gifts for him are done!

I have since finished another pair of these but I am getting kinda sick of showing you the same things so I think I will forego posting them and just move on.

While brainstorming ideas for gifts for my three female cousins for Christmas, since we all always exchange a small gift, I came up with the idea for this Christmas ornament. I think it's really cute.

It's pretty small too. Here's my hand for scale.

It's knit with Knit Picks Palette in White and Ivy. I am thinking about making 3 or possibly 4 more. Maybe making it a yearly tradition where I make a different style each year with the year on it? We'll see if I get that ambitious though.

Since I have this parade of finished things, I do of course have something new. Here it is;

These are intended to be socks for my brother-on-law that will replace the unfinished socks from earlier this year. The others were scratchy and stiff. These will be better. These are Knit Picks Essential in Terrain Twist and despite the picture, they are actually on the needles.

I'm getting closer and closer.

Does anyone else have an unrealistic goal for the next 41 days?

We Loves the noggin around here.

So lately I have been on this hat kick. It all started with my idea for a hat for my brother for Christmas.

It's a flame hat. Since it's double knitted, it also looks like this;

if you turn it inside out. So it's reversible. I think it turned out pretty well and it means I can cross another thing off my list for Christmas knitting.

Then I wanted a hat for myself so I started digging through magazines. I ended up knitting the Tweed Beret from Interweave Knits. I think it was the summer 06 issue but I will have to check. I have unfortunately lost the picture of that hat so I will have to take another one.

The need for hats was apparently rampant in the knitting universe because the Yarn Harlot was knitting a hat too. The Unoriginal Hat. I just happened to have some yarn in the stash that I knew would work well so I knit this one afternoon;

It's knit out of Lion Brand Landscapes yarn in Rose Garden. It's a little over one skein. I think it turned out really cute and it's snug on my head but I like it a lot. It was super quick too so I am thinking about making several for extra gifts for those people whom I don't know what to give for Christmas. We'll see though.

In other news; Judy asked for the pattern for my Father-in-law's socks so here goes:

Materials: 1 skein Zitron Trekking XXL Sock yarn (about 450 yards)

Size US 2 needles Set of 5 dpns.

Leg: Cast on 72 stitches and divide onto 4 needles as follows; needle 1: 20, needle 2: 16, needle 3: 20 needle 4: 16. It is broken up that way so that it will work out easier in the ribbed pattern.

Knit in K3, P1 rib for about 6 inches. On my own socks I go seven inches but the foot is longer as they are men's size 10 and I didn't want to run out of yarn so I made the leg just a bit shorter.

Heel Flap: Working with half of the stitches; 36 (they can all be moved onto one needle if it is easier that way) work the following 2 rows back and forth approximately 18 times or until the heel flap is square;

Row 1: (RS) *Slip 1, Knit 1, repeat from * across.

Row 2: (WS) Slip 1, purl across.

Heel Turn: Working with the same 36 stitches from the heel flap, work the following rows back and forth.

Row 1: (RS) Slip 1, k 20, ssk, k1, turn.

Row 2: slip 1, p 8, p2tog, p1, turn.

Row 3: slip 1, k 9, ssk, k1, turn.

Row 4: slip 1, p 10, p2tog, p1, turn.

Row 5: slip 1, k 11, ssk, k1, turn.

Row 6: slip 1, p 12, p2tog, p1, turn.

Row 7: slip 1, k 13, ssk, k1, turn.

Row 8: slip 1, p 14, p2tog, p1, turn.

Row 9: slip 1, k 15, ssk, k1, turn.

Row 10: slip 1, p 16, p2tog, p1, turn.

Row 11: slip 1, k 17, ssk, k1, turn.

Row 12: slip 1, p 18, p2tog, p1, turn.

Row 13: slip 1, k 19, ssk, k1.

This brings you to the end of the heel turn. You should now have 22 stitches on your needle. Pick up and knit approximately 18 stitches down the side of the heel flap (Use your best judgement. I usually end up with more like 20 because I don't like holes in the sides and I tend to make them with less than 20.)

Gusset Decreases: You should now be back to the front of the sock, where it is worked in ribbing. This is needle 1 and should have 20 stitches on it. Work them in k3, p1 rib. Work needle 2 in knit 3, p1 rib also. Now pick up and knit approximately 18 stitches on the other side of the heel flap. (It's up to you but I find it works best if you pick up the same number of stitches on both sides of the heel flap.)

Take the stitches from the heel turn and divide them evenly onto the two needles that hold the picked up stitches from the sides of the heel flap. There should be 11 added to each needle.

Work the following 2 rounds until you have 72 stitches again. They should be divided up as follows: Needle 1: 20, Needle 2: 16, Needle 3: 18, Needle 4: 18.

Round 1: Needles 1 & 2: *Knit 3, p1, repeat from * across.

Needle 3: K1, ssk, knit to end of needle.

Needle 4: Knit to last 3 stitches, k2tog, k 1.

Round 2: Needles 1 & 2: *Knit 3, p1, repeat from * across.

Needles 3& 4: Knit all stitches.

Foot: Now work the following round until foot measures between 1 1/2 to 2 inches shorter than total length of foot.

Needles 1 & 2: *Knit 3, p1, repeat from * across.

Needles 3 & 4: Knit all stitches.

Toe: At this point we will be changing to stockinette stitch to work the toe decreases so you will want to slip two stitches from needle 1 onto needle 2 so all needles begin with 18 stitches. Work the following 2 rounds until you have 4 stitches remaining on each needle.

Round 1:

Needle 1: Knit to last 3 stitches, k2tog, k1.

Needle 2: K 1, ssk, knit to end of needle.

Needle 3: Knit to last 3 stitches, k2tog, k 1.

Needle 4: K 1, ssk, knit to end of needle.

Round 2: Knit to end of round.

Once you have a total of 16 stitches left (4 on each needle) close the toe with kitchener stitch or some other seam.

Repeat for the second sock and;

Voila! you have another Christmas gift finished. Please note that this pattern was pulled out of my head so if you have a problem please ask. I may have written something wrong.

Completing Things

I spent some time riding in a car this weekend and while it allowed me some knitting time, it wasn't a ton. I did manage to finish something though.

Are we sick of these yet? I sure am! These are a pair of felted clogs knit for my brother-in-law for Christmas. I don't remember why I wanted to knit so many of these this year. I must have gone completely crazy.

I have been working on these too;

These are a pair of socks for my father-in-law for Christmas. They are moving along and look pretty good so far. I am still thinking that I can get everything done in time for Christmas. Especially since I have been working on it so long already. Unfortunately I seem to be letting time slip by me.

Since today is the Fifth of November though, I'm going to go watch this and knit. That should move things along, huh?

Dyeing Adventure

The following is the account of kalkette's dyeing adventure. Plus a dinner recipe. We've got it all over here at Chez Kalkette. Some time ago a dinner-making kalkette noticed that the color of beets is the color that is the favorite of kalkette's mom. Kalkette's mom has put up with many things from kalkette over the years and it was determined that she deserved a nice gift for Christmas of her favorite color. Kalkette decided to try her hand at dyeing for her mom. This is the result. The plan was to make this I thought it would be beautiful in a nice magenta/fuschia color. So, I took a lesson from here and got started. I skeined up a ball of Patons Classic Wool Merino and soaked it with 3/4 cup vinegar:

It's supposed to soak overnight but I soaked it from the morning until it was time to start dinner. About the same amount of time.

I then took one bunch of beets and removed the stems and peeled them.

Then I julienned them and put them in a large (microwave safe) bowl.

Trust me, they are way more fuschia than this picture. Then I covered them with just enough water to completely cover them;

I put this bowl in the microwave for about 10 minutes, checked them and then another 10 minutes. This was to leach the color into the water and also to cook the beets. They are much denser than the other ingredients and I didn't want them coming out raw.

While it was cooking I peeled and julienned a sweet potato.

Now I took out the wok and added a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil. (Please note that olive oil is not recommended for super hot cooking as it has a lower smoke point than other oils. I use it for the health and because my stove doesn't get super duper hot but if you are going to use an electric wok or an open flame or something hotter, then use another kind of oil.) I put the sweet potato in the wok and stir fryed it.

I added another tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and added this:

It's a bag of fresh veggies. Carrots, red cabbage and broccoli. They are raw and ready to be made into a broccoli slaw but I use them as a stir fry. Yum yum.

By the time you add the broccoli slaw mix, the beets should be done. I took out a metal colander and a large pot and set them up like this

I set it in the sink but I wanted to reserve the water for the yarn dyeing. Now add the beets to the stir fry and fry them up. This is more for texture than anything. This will make the other veggies turn sort of magenta too. That's okay. They still taste wonderful. I like to serve mine with some brown rice and a little soy sauce. It makes about 6 servings.

Now drain the yarn and squeeze out the extra water. Put the yarn in the bowl and pour the water over it. Add 1/2 cup vinegar. If there isn't enough liquid to cover the yarn, add more water. Otherwise, place the yarn in the microwave and microwave until the bowl is hot and almost boiling.

I microwaved it for ten minutes and the water was steaming so I knew it was quite hot. Then I left the yarn to sit in the microwave for 15 minutes (with the door closed to keep the heat in). You may want to reheat it at some point during this time. It depends. You want it to remain as hot as possible for that length of time, without boiling as that can felt the yarn. Once that time has passed, remove it from the microwave and allow it to cool. Then rinse it well and remove as much water as possible.

Here is the yarn ready to be hung to dry.

I hung the skeined yarn in the laundry room sink to dry and the following day I had this:

It didn't turn out at all the color that I wanted so I'm not sure what to do with it and it is very lightly variegated between a darker red and a lighter red. It was a very fun adventure though and I had a blast. :)

Back to the Christmas knitting, we have less than 8 weeks now you know. Anyone panicked yet?

Catching up

So, I had this intention of getting several blog posts in this week and somehow the whole week got away from me so here is the conglomeration of three short blog posts into one bigger blog post.

1. The birthday socks

These are the socks I was knitting for my brother Chris for his birthday. They were finished on time and gifted to him. He really liked them. Unfortunately this picture does not do them any type of justice. It is Trekking XXL sock yarn and it a strand of black or dark blue plied with a strand of changing color. It goes subtly from red to blue to orange and other colors. They are absolutely beautiful. I almost wish I had knit some for myself. I was a little bit concerned about the colors being too girly for him but he really liked them.

2. Dad's Christmas Felted clogs

Again, this is an AWFUL picture. Almost not worth even posting. But I wanted some proof that I am working on my Christmas project list. I have also started my brother-in-law's clogs and I should finish those next week. These are done and put to the side for Christmas though. Yum.

3. The sadness that is hubby's socks

Less than 72 hours after the Earl Grey/Brown socks were completed and given to hubby he was wearing them and this is what I see. A hole! I could have cried. Now normally, I am not one to fix a pair of socks but I think these things are cursed. I had so much frustration with them. I (in my own stupidity not by any fault of the pattern) messed up the pattern and had to tink back and fix. Then I would do it again, then I dropped a stitch. I finally finish the beasts and this is what happens?!?! What is wrong with the world?

I will be fixing these because I cannot stand the thought of working that hard on a pair of socks to have them ruined in less than 3 days.

Sigh, off to do more Christmas projects because I'm not ready to face the fixing.

Pouting

So, while all those lucky knitters and spinners are either on their way to or are getting ready to be on their way to the fabulous (or so I have heard) New England Sheep and Wool Festival also known as Rhinebeck, I sit here at home.

I should be happy. I have finished the Earl Grey/Brown socks

Observe

The beautiful Earl Grey/Brown socks shown here on the feet of our reluctant model.

Meanwhile, the birthday deadline for my brother's socks fast approaches (Sunday) and I have a whole sock and the very end of the toe to knit.

Enough blogging. Get thee to work woman.

Whooee. I have been gone for awhile, sorry. I haven't been doing a whole lot of knitting. I had to (okay I was asked nicely and wanted to) go down to my mom's last weekend to help her friend's daughter who I am very close to; with a scrapbooking project. Did I mention I do a little scrapbooking? Plus I am working on quilt so I have been sewing on that lately too. I am not by any means an experienced quilter but I have always wanted to learn so I got this kit that is the Quilt Block of the Month. I bought the previous year's so I actually have all the blocks and it gives you hints and tips as you go along. It has all the fabric and it is already cut to the right sizes and tells you exactly how to sew it together. It is really helping me to learn. I have 5 of the squares sewn and so I have to finish the other 7 and decide how I am going to make it bigger. (It is for a full size bed and we have that now but we want to get a queen size so I want the quilt that big.)
So, excuses, excuses, I have been busy. Meanwhile, I did finish my Earl Grey/Brown socks and will post pictures as soon as I can get hubby to hold still long enough for him to model them (they are for him.) Meanwhile, I will be sitting under a quilt watching TV and knitting socks for my brother's birthday now.
It's been grey and drizzly here for over a week and I am SICK of it! It is especially brisk today so I am going to relax and knit.
Have a great day everyone.

Absence

I have no idea if that word is spelled right. It doesn't really look right and I don't feel like checking on it.
I have gotten very little knitting done because I went down to my mom's house last Wednesday and didn't come home until Friday, at which time, I came home with my two nieces for the weekend. This meant almost no knitting got done at all. I went down to my mom's house because a neighbor of my in-laws was kind enough to allow us to come out to his house and pick apples off his apple tree. We had a TON of apples and had to do something with them so we canned apple pie filling. It was a fun time and a lot of work. We finally got done on Friday and my brother stopped by and had fresh apple crisp with us. Then about ten minutes after he left, my grandpa and grandma stopped by. I left straight from my parents' house to go get my nieces and we had them until Sunday afternoon. It was a grand weekend and now I am trying to get caught up. I spent all day yesterday doing the laundry and now it is at reasonable levels and now today I need to get the dishes caught up. The men in this house just go kind of feral when you leave for a few days. You should have seen the state of our bed when I got home. The sheet and mattress pad were almost completely off the bed!
Oh well, back to getting things done and hopefully some knitting. (It's starting to get chilly outside and we haven't touched the furnace yet, but I think it may be time soon. This weekend it was actually hot though. We went to a local family farm with the girls to see animals and stuff and everyone was sweaty and hot when we left. Now it's starting to feel like October.)

New Stuff

So, as you may have noticed, I have finished stuff lately. A sweater, a shawl and a pair of felted clog slippers for my mother-in-law for Christmas. What does that mean?
It means I can start some new stuff.
Please excuse the exceptionally bad pictures. The air has been gray and dismal for a week so I am having a hard time getting decent pictures.

Here are the felted clogs I started for my dad for Christmas

This picture is really just the sole of the first one and the yarn that will be used for the top. I was almost done with the top and realized that I wasn't going to have enough so now, this green/black swirl yarn will be knit with a strand of black (the pattern calls for double stranded yarn) but that meant frogging the whole top.

Also, these are on the needles

You cannot see anything in this picture but it's Trekking XXL sock yarn that's a black or deep, deep blue and it's plied with a strand of changing color. It goes from red to kinda orange and on. It is absolutely beautiful and keeps me from going absolutely nuts knitting something that's boring because the color changes keep me totally interested.


I swear I am making progress on my earl grey/brown socks but the solid brown color means that it's so boring, I can only work a few rounds before I am completely nuts and need to work on something else. I did finish one whole sock and am past the heel turn and gusset decreases on the second but my husband has size 13 feet so it will be awhile til they are done.


One more thing. Remember the mystery pink thing? Well, it has sadly been frogged. Here is a picture prefrogging

You can't really tell anything about it but it is pink. What I did was make the diamond pattern from the 365 days of knitting patterns calendar (can you tell that I just got it this last year and am finding all kinds of great patterns in it?) and made it increase on each side. I had two skeins of the same exact yarn that were in the stash. They are old, they came from my grandma and I knew I couldn't get more so I started with one stitch and increased to the almost end of the one skein and then modified it and decreased supposedly with enough yarn to finish the diamond shape. Get it, a big diamond made of little diamonds. The plan was that I would then use another color to make a border around it. I ran out of yarn with about 50 stitches left on the needle. I couldn't believe it. I was so sick of it and I so wanted to be done. I had been working on it for weeks almost solely to get it done. I was in denial and tried to find some yarn that was similar. I couldn't find anything anywhere and so, finally, I admitted defeat and frogged it. Sad but true. Oh well, back to the grind. I'm pretty sure I will survive.

Knitting News?!

Well, I have been on a project finishing roll apparently. I finished the Felted Clogs slippers I was making for my mother-in-law. They will be gifted (unfelted) for Christmas so she can felt them to fit her feet. Only about 12 pairs more planned for Christmas. Plus I started a pair of socks for my brother's birthday which is coming up later this month. Other than that, I haven't been doing a lot of knitting and nothing interesting at all.
I tried to start that sweater I was telling you about but I can't seem to get gauge and so, I set it aside for awhile to avoid throwing all the yarn and needles out the window and saying good riddance. I'm pretty sure that it will not be finished in time for the intended recipient's birthday. Oh well, he will be two, I don't think he'll notice if it's late.

Sweater bliss

Well, last night while watching Heroes I finally finished my Sienna Cardigan

I am in love with it!

All that was left was to sew on the buttons so it was about time that I finished it. It's really soft and nice. The only thing I changed about the pattern (aside from the yarn used) was that I added ribbing to the end of the sleeves.

I also finished and blocked my Fir Cone Wrap

It's beautiful.

It did shrink a little, but it's still pretty much the length of my wingspan. (That's about 64")

It's made of JoAnn Sensations Dolcetto yarn. It's purple/pink colorway and it's very pretty. I washed it in the washer and then pinned it out to block it. Like I said, it did shrink a bit in the washer, but it's still nice.

I made up the pattern. It's based off of the Fir Cone Lace Pattern in the 365 Knitting Patterns calendar. I also knit each point individually so they would match the pattern and then crocheted an edge around it to help keep it flat.

These pictures don't do justice to the color (especially since it's another grey icky day today) but trust me, it's nice.

Tomorrow, I'll tell you about the little sweater I'm knitting

Sigh, am I ever going to feel better?

So, this day and the few previous days have been totally wretched. It's not like they are so bad that I can't survive but I have had this icky little cold for awhile now and since I don't seem to be too able to get a decent night's sleep, I can't seem to shake it. I have finally opted for taking some lovely cold medicine (which I usually try to avoid to allow my bodies natural cold-fighting abilities to kick int) that knocks me out for a good 8 hours. The flip side is that it gives me super duper weird dreams. I would just like to say thank you to a certain TV station for playing Resident Evil Apocalypse or some such last week instead of Law & Order which I watched and then had a really weird zombie dream last night. Gah! Glad I was able to wake up from that!!!
Meanwhile, my throat hurts like the dickens and nothing seems to help it and I have been knitting a bit but not a ton. I do have a happy little swatch getting cleaned right now and the full idea of what it's for will be revealed in the fullness of time since the deadline swiftly approaches for this project.
If you stop by from Ravelry hey. Welcome and make yourself at home. :)
I will post pictures of a finished object (waiting to be blocked and possibly that sweater I have been promising soon if the sky would not be grey and cloudy so I could take decent pictures!)

Avast Mateys!

Arrgh, today be talk like a pirate day and while I not be knitting pirated things, I be knitting and that be piratey in my book. I be drinking rum (or wine) with dinner and I be going over to Ravelry since I got my invitation there. My name be kalkette there too. Say ye hello if ye see me.
Not much else piratey to tell. Get ye scurvy dogs up to the deck and start swabbing.
I promise pictures soon.

Breathing

Well, despite the exceptionally icky day previously and the fact that the cold I thought was on it's way out is taking me down slowly again, I am doing okay. Mostly planning Christmas knitting and not getting much done at all. I still totally think I can get all the knitting done though. We'll see. Meanwhile, I will just be sitting here drinking tea and wishing I hadn't made plans to go out to dinner tonight because I'm so totally not up to it, but I am also totally looking forward to a chance to get out of the house (aside from taking hubby to the doctor this morning because we thought he had pink eye)

One, two, three, four...

Counting to ten isn't going to be enough. I may have to count to a million.
If you were looking for knitting, I'm sorry, but today you aren't getting it. I am normally not someone who gets upset about little things but today, today I am so angry I can barely see straight.
Let's start from the beginning. The day started fine with getting up and spending a few minutes snuggling with hubby on the couch watching TV until he had to get ready for work. (Two days a week he works an evening shift so this was one of those days) When he got up to get ready, I went into the kitchen to make myself some coffee. Disaster struck! I use an unusual coffee pot. It's handmade pottery and is a carafe with a lid and also a funnel. In the funnel, you put a cone filter and then the grounds and pour boiling water over it. It makes fabulous coffee and while, we do have a regular coffeemaker, this is better because it makes just the two cups that I drink. Usually, I use my hot pot to heat the water and pour it in slowly a bit at a time. Today, it was going really nice and quick and I poured all the water in, only to discover that it had ripped a hole in the bottom of the filter and leaked all the coffee grounds into the pot.
Mess ensued. While trying to refilter the coffee to get the grounds out, I managed to spill about a half a cup all over the kitchen counter. I should have known to just stay home and go lie in bed knitting because that was an excellent indication of how the rest of my day was going to go.
But no, I am apparently, a glutton for punishment because I decided to run some errands. Yup, that's right, might as well tattoo idiot across my forehead. I went to the yarn store and the grocery store for just a few things. I finally remembered to pick up the pictures that I ordered online and discovered that you HAVE to pay for them at the photo counter. So, even though I have a cart full of other stuff, I have to pay twice. Stupid, stupid store. Then, (it's a rather large supermarket) while I was in the back, trying to find Fat Free Half and Half which they are apparently out of and have decided to fill the spaces usually taken up by it with regular half and half, I realized that I needed to use the restroom. Badly and immediately. The only restrooms are at the front of the store. I was in the back. Of course, what else. So, I rush to the front of the store and get to the door, that I recently entered through and notice a large orange fence and a sign, these restrooms are closed. Yup, closed. You have to go all the way over to the deli to use the teeny tiny restroom over there. Where there was, of course, a line. It is only by the grace of God that I made it in time. I decide to head for home, having paid twice in one stupid store and stop at the post office to pick up our mail on the way home.
It should be noted here that we live in a small town about 6 miles away from a city. The city isn't huge but since I was working in that city, when we moved into my uncle's house, we have our Post Office Box (where we receive all of our mail) in the City. The Post office is currently being remodeled. You probably know where I'm going with this, but I am an optimist. I thought, I'll just nip in here and get our mail and be on my way. When I had to drive through the parking lot twice just to find a parking space that was about a 1/4 mile away from the freaking door, I should have known. (The parking lot is long and has only one row of spaces which are usually all but two or three, empty. Not today. I had to drive through, wait for 6 cars to pull ahead of me out onto the busy street to loop around and go through again.) I do this, park and grab my keys and run in. They have changed the layout completely. There is a line of (and I'm not exaggerating here) 20 people. Now, some of you are probably thinking, well, in my post office, it's not unusual for there to be more than 20 people waiting but this is a smallish city post office and I am used to seeing a max of 5 people in the place. This included the 3 older gentlemen who run the counter. They aren't particularly speedy but they do usually keep the line down to a minimum. I walk all along the new row, looking for our Post Office Box number. I finally find it and insert the key. It doesn't work. I am so angry by this point that I can't even wait in the line to find out what's wrong (I just paid the box fee like 2 months ago so it isn't that.) I storm out to the vehicle and head home. Just be glad I had to drive 6 miles or this post would be filled with the language I normally avoid!!!!
P.S. Note to the "gangsta" style teenager who ambled slowly across the busy intersection in front of me on the way home. Watch out for the lady in the little red van. At this point, I would have no qualms about driving over you and I would keep on going.

Finally, the things I brought home

Unexpected real life stuff has kept me away from the computer and blogging. Sorry, sometimes, that stuff happens.

I also lost the pictures of what I brought home and had to take new ones, so I finally got around to that today.

This is a handmade mug (that currently contains coffee) and two dragon picture prints from an artist. I got the prints because I thought that I could possibly color them myself (I did go to school for art.) and then mat and frame them to hang in my home. The prints that were colored in the shop were absolutely beautiful but out of my price range if I wanted to eat that day, so, I just settled for something I could use and afford. I would imagine that this is absolutely NOT what the artist had in mind but since they are simply for my own use, I think it is okay. The mug is a beautiful purple (my favorite color) with some blue on the top and while it doesn't have one of the beautiful Renaissance Festival logos on the side, I chose it because it is easier to wash out (I can fit my hand in it) and I can therefore use it for coffee. :)

This is a necklace that I bought myself which is a unicorn with a little jewel kind of thing and a present from my hubby. A Pewter castle. (He said he wanted to buy me something and I said that this would be good so, there you go.) The castle is very small.

Observe the mug added for scale. I find the fact that it is tiny very amusing. Since we will most likely never own a castle that we can live in, this will do for me. I love it and keep it on my nightstand where I can look at it every night and every morning.

I also bought my mother a Christmas ornament that was intended to be for Christmas and a slice of handmade paper (I always call it a slice, I think it's fun and weird) and an envelope that is coffee scented. My mom is a total coffee hound and so, I thought she would enjoy it. I am impatient though and have already given her both. (The ornament was meant to be a Christmas gift). You don't need to tell me how unbelievably stupid this was of me. I should have saved it for Christmas, that would have been one less thing I would have had to knit, but I love giving people gifts. What can I say. I am deluded.

What happened to the Earl Grey/Brown socks? Well, they have been cast aside temporarily because these

had a deadline. They are for my uncle (with whom we currently live) for his birthday which is coming up. I am pretty proud of myself that I have these finished. I bought the yarn at my LYS on Tuesday afternoon and finished them last night (Sunday). It's Trekking sock yarn and the ball band is downstairs so I will tell you the color later. It's a simple rib pattern knit on size US2 needles.

After going nuts on socks for awhile (The first of the Earl Grey/Brown is finished) I needed something to help me keep my sanity. That's where this comes in:

It's going to be a kind of shawl/wrap thingy and it's knit on size 11 needles. More about this later.

I would, however like to note that husbands can be taught to appreciate wives. This morning I was awakened to a plate of scrambled eggs being handed to me, in bed. Dude is totally going to get lucky.

Later, I will tell you about the best yarn purchases ever and my deluded Christmas project list that I totally think I can get done in time.

Note: Does anyone else out there watch the NBC series Heroes? We missed most of the end of the last season and so, purchased it on DVD. We just finished it yesterday. Wowie! I can't wait for the new season to start.

What we did on our long weekend

Okay, so I'm a bad blogger again. Here I sit with all these pictures and I don't blog them. Bad blogger!

Have I been punished enough?

I have pictures :) Does that appease the blog?

Here we are arriving at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival.

The Sock was welcomed warmly. (That's my hubby's arm in that pic.)

Please note that in order to arrive for the opening which was at nine am. We got up and left our house by 6:00 am. Anyone who knows me, knows that I am SO not a morning person so it speaks volumes about me that I didn't hit our friend Jay at all that day, even though it was his idea to get up that early.

We met a knight (or kuh-niget if you are a Monty Python follower, specifically The Holy Grail)

It isn't really a knight. It was very warm out that day and anyone wearing this getup would have been passed out after about 15 minutes. It's a miniature suit of armor outside one of the many, many fabulous vendors.

We went on the Enchanted Forest/Secret Garden walk through the woods but the sock couldn't get close to the enchanted creature houses.

You can't tell from this picture but this house is about 4 feet tall at it's tallest point. It's absolutely adorable and there are several of these on the walk. There are signs that tell you about them and this one is the Bakery where I think a gnome is supposed to bake all night. It's super cute and even the kids love it.

Also while on this hike through the woods we saw this:

It's a door that leads right out onto a little pond. We walked over a really cute stone bridge over the pond. It's so beautiful and if we hadn't had about 18 children and their parents following us through the trail (please note there were several parents. It wasn't one family with 18ish children) it would have been very peaceful too.

I wanted to get a pic of me and hubby under this beautiful arch

Due to the excessive number of children behind us though, we didn't want to delay too long.

I didn't take a whole lot more pictures and for some reason, I didn't take any of the charming hobbit hole, but I did see some of these:

They had a petting farm with goats (as above) and sheep. One of the reasons they had sheep was this:

It's a sheepdog trial. Although I took several pictures while we watched this, I can't seem to see a dog and sheep in any picture. Oh well, the sheep are what you pay to see huh?

Overall we had a wonderful time. So much to see and so many people in amazing costumes. We are talking about making out own (okay, me making them) for next year. We'll see. No matter what though, it'll be a blast!

Tomorrow, what I bought (sadly, no yarn to be found although there were a few knitted projects but I didn't get any. I can't see spending $22.00 or so on a knitted hat when I can make my own. Sorry.)

P.S. You kinda don't feel as weird for taking pictures of a sock-in-progress while others are walking around in costumes.

New Things, Finally

Since I have this to show you:

It's the sweater for my niece's birthday which is in 21 days and it is DONE, done, done.

A closer picture? Sure. I'm feeling generous:

You can see the colors a little bit better in this one I think. Unless you look at it in very good light, like sunlight, you can barely tell the difference between the pink and the white, it's a very, very light pink. I like this about it. It has a rolled collar, cuff and hem and I think it turned out very cute. It's Red Heart Baby Teri so it's very soft and washable for her parents too. The pattern is sort of one from a Red heart Baby Teri book that I got on clearance somewhere.

Because I have that done and I frogged the diamond socks because I didn't like that pattern with that yarn, I also have this to show you:

It's the Yarn Harlot's Earl Grey Sock pattern. Only mine is for my husband's size 13 feet and it's knit out of Opal solid sock yarn in color: 1261. It's a very chocolately brown and I'm enjoying the pattern enormously.

My Earl Grey/Brown Socks are kinda stuck up though because they are insisting on activities. Tomorrow I'm taking them here: The Renaissance Festival

Wow, they sure are fussy, I don't know if I can keep them interested.

Okay, so last night at nearly midnight while making a grilled cheese sandwich, I was thinking about the similarities between grilled cheese sandwiches and knitting. Please note at this point that I think there is nothing strange about making grilled cheese sandwiches at nearly midnight nor thinking about knitting in relation to grilled cheese sandwiches at nearly midnight. Anyway, I was thinking that there is a certain art to grilled cheese sandwiches. Part of it depends on the consumer. Some people like them black as ash and very well done. Some people like them just barely toasted. I, personally, am somewhere in the middle. I like it a light golden brown with some meltiness of cheese but not overly toasted. The point and how it relates to knitting? Well, I think that designing knits are very similar. You want it to be interesting but not overly loud. I think we have all seen the awful, gaudy projects that none of us would ever make. But someone out there loves it and loves to knit it. Then there are the plain jane projects that make you want to gouge out your eyes with dpns but honestly, there are people out there who love that straight-forward, plain project. Me, again, I'm somewhere in the middle. I like something to keep my interest and yet, I like to have that plain jane knitting that you can do while watching a movie or something too. Honestly, it depends on so much, my current mood, the amount of yarn I have on hand and some idea of the yarn that will be required. The other day, just to use some good yarn that I have but only have a skein or two of about 6 colors, I almost convinced myself that I liked a 6 color fair isle sweater. Luckily I caught myself in time because unless that was absolutely perfectly designed it would be gaudy and I'm sorry, it was gaudy! That of course is my own opinion (and for discretion, I won't mention the pattern I was considering) Other people might think that my grilled cheese sandwiches are underdone or overdone. It's all perspective.
It got me to thinking that there's something in there about life too, but at nearly midnight, I try not to get that involved.

Huh, deep thoughts for over grilled cheese sandwiches at nearly midnight. Who would've thought?