Merry Knitting

Oh, the sewing, the sewing!

"Sew" (sorry), this is where I was at Christmas Eve. Lining up the 2-row colors was the worst. I finally realized I could not grab two "ladders" at once when sewing it up; everything went wonky. I had to go. one. ladder. at. a. time. THEN I could keep things under control.

I found finishing instructions at the beginning of the Yarn Girls' Guide; here I've bitched to anyone who will listen (mostly in yarn shops) how lacking the YGs' are in this department, only to have overly creative knitters suggest everything from turning the ends into fringe -- in the front of the afghan (!) -- (one word: cats. This is going to someone with THREE cats!) to I-cord binding between the strips (my response to that, which came the Monday before Christmas: "I'm giving this on Christmas EVE.") No one seemed to think the sewing yarn would disappear into the seam, but it did. Hallelujah.

Weaving got faster the second time around, as did sewing. Right now, I have the last strip's ends to weave in and the crochet edging to do. I gave it to my inlaws like this (above) and then took it back. My MIL said, "Can I hang it on the wall?" To which I said "Heck no! It's for your LAP. To keep you WARM." She's a hoot.


All about the princesses...

This is my money shot for our annual scrapbook. It was All Disney Princesses All The Time on Christmas morning. Tess knew exactly which princesses were missing from her PJs (Jasmine and Ariel). For a mom who despised Disney growing up (stupid movies always made me cry, got me a thorough ribbing EVERY TIME from the older bros, then after college my best friend moved to Florida to work for "the Rat" for 10 years!), I -- er, I mean, Santa (!) -- was quite willing to hand over the big bucks to the DP marketing machine.

Tess scored a DP play tent (the "Tower," as she calls it) and a Leap Pad book (featuring the missing princesses from her pajamas) -- only somehow, somewhere, we've misplaced the damn Leap Pad. Which means repeated readings of insipid (and short) storylines without the bells and whistles of the marvelous Leap Pad system. Rats.


The Cap

I completely forgot that The Afghan was not the only gift I knit this Christmas. I started E's watch cap in August and finished it pretty quick. It's the Ann Norling "Any Gauge, Any Hat" pattern, which I've used twice now (mainly to use up old yarn). It works wonders. Highly recommended.

He put it on and declared it perfect, then gave me an extra ego boost when he suddenly realized I actually made it myself. I got an extra "wow!" for that. Sweet.


The REAL knitter's knitting project

Okay, this is my sister. Mom knit the cape for her, from the same Family Circle Easy Knitting from which I took my poncho pattern (Fall 2004). Mom is the real pro knitter in the family. Sis can't wait to go back to the yarn shop where she picked out the yarn for this; everyone (including myself!) thought it looked like dog hair, but it knit up gorgeous. Mom used black Squiggles for the collar. Very elegant. I like the slits for the arms, myself. Handy (again with the puns, sorry).

A busy, crazy holiday weekend:

1) At the inlaws' for dinner Friday (I spent the day alternately weaving, sewing, and FINALLY making cheese pierogi)...also, due to a healthy serving of Guilt a la Mom, we make it to a 7:30p church service -- Tess the Trouper in tow;

2) My folks & my sister arrived 2p Christmas Day, inlaws arrived at 3:30p, dinner (starring The Pierogi) at 4:30p. Everyone gone from our house by 7:30p (whew);

3) We sneak out of a request to be at church at 9:30a (ha! and again I say HA!) -- see #1, that got us off the hook -- and arrive at brother's at a healthy 2p. Dinner at 4:30p. Home by 7:30p, the kiddoodle conks out in the car on the way home. We manage to drop her in bed and she sleeps through 'til morning. Hurrah!

E casually mentions to me last night that he thinks he has the week off of work (!!!) -- this only goes to show what a complete workaholic he is. He even tried to go in for a couple of hours this morning, only to find the compound locked up tight, gates and all. Thank you, BigCorp!