Not a real post

Well, we're still trying to fit Jess' Christmas haul into her room. She was so much fun to watch. Not only did she get into the gifts but she really got into the whole idea of Christmas this year, which was very cool.

We are not done yet, Wednesday we leave to visit Nate's family.

A big thanks to Jillian who shared her IK subscriber access with her readers. I now have Salt Peanuts saved. I have the back and left front done. It doesn't look like I'll make my self-imposed New Year's deadline, but that's ok.

Oh, Carma, you're package arrived on the 22rd. THANK YOU! Jess loves her outfit, Nate's been living in his pj pants, I love my book (alterknits) and the T shirt made an appearance Christmas Eve. (Pictures to come, the camera is charging.)

D'oh!

Salt Peanuts progress...

...Which is stalled because I cannot find my pattern. I'm hoping I left it at Lesa's on Monday, otherwise I'll have to call Interweave and have them send me a copy. (or buddy up with someone who has a copy of IK spring 2004.) Note:color is much brighter in person Rowan Cork in Sour.

Jess' white cardigan, minus a bit of finishing. Oh, and those snaps gotta go. We'll be heading up to Joann's and finding some other snaps. (must have snaps, so I have been informed.) It seriously needs a good blocking. I tried to steam block it, because we had some water quality issues lately and the last thing I wanted was to knit a white sweater and have it turn yellow from bad well water.

Y'all wondering what this is? (Besides a giftcard) You are looking at Nate's CHRISTMAS BONUS. whoo. hoo.


Jess got an early Christmas gift the other night. We put up her bed that she's been wanting for months. Did she play in it? Yes. Did she sleep in it? For a whole 40 minutes.

For some reason, Blogger will not displaythe date/time for me or let me alter it in any way. Stupid blogger.

Things I've learned in 2005

1. In terms of knitting a project, i like to make it up as I go along. Also, I'm really bad at taking notes. This is something i need to work on.

2. I can ususally guess correctly in sizing others. I am really bad at sizing myself. I make everything too big.

3. I am told I am a fast knitter.

4. I have a very serious case of "wheel envy".

5. I am a sucker for a knitted item request delivered with puppy dog eyes.

6. I seriously need to expand my area of interests, so that non-knitters do not look at me like I'm crazy.

we had a little Christmas party at Lesa's last night (who finally has entered blogdom.) It was a lot of fun. I cam away with some goodies that I still need to photograph.

Jess white cardigan is knitted, blocking and waiting to be sewn together.

I started on Salt Peanuts for myself with some suprer cheap rowan Cork I scored on ebay. Pictures to come

A white, cabled Christmas?

The 2nd Hermione hat. done and drying.

Progress on Jess' white sweater. She has requested a "smooth" (read: stockinette) cardigan. I've decided to make her a saddle shouldered cardigan, since I have never made a saddle shoulder garment. Also, she has agreed that I may put one cable down each sleeve, mainly for my benefit, to ward off boredom. I have the back and part of one sleeve so far. She has asked if I could finish it so she could wear it for Christmas. I'm hoping to have it done.


To reward my progress, I am (finally) making myself a pair of Sweet Mary Janes. I want to thank you all for the positive things you've all had to say about this pattern. I absolutely love seeing everyone's take on this pattern.

Tomorrow we have a Christmas party being held by one of Nate's co workers. These things are so weird for me, because:

1. Nate and I are usually the youngest couple in attendance by at least a decade.

2. Being that my father and brother have been working in the steel mills a good number of years, I usually run into many people who either know one of them, and /or remember me as a child.

I've been assured that this party is very casual, so I need not dress up. This is very good news since there is virtually nothing in my closet to be considered anything but casual.

Carma, since you were wondering, I will be wearing a pair of non-faded jeans, a (store bought) orange sweater, and my rocket dogs. I might even go a little wild and wear makeup. Possible do something to my hair, but don't hold your breath.

Jess is so excited about Christmas, she is LITERALLY bouncing off the walls. Next week will be very LONG.

Deja Vu

Ok, y'all may be asking why the heck I am knitting the EXACT SAME HAT the I knit myself a few weeks ago. It's because the first one was way too big in the ribbing and keeps getting blown off my head.

Note: see the mug, Carma, it's holding hot chocolate with homemade raspberry flavored marshmellows. Yum.

Now maybe you're asking why I haven't just reknit the ribbing on the first hat. Well, when I went to block the thing It grew. Alot. so I had thrown it in the dryer to let it shrink up and felt a bit.

So, here's hermione hat take two. This means I am using the yarn I set aside for my mittens to make another hat, so no matching mittens. I do have some alpaca in my stash to make some fair isle mittens.

Oh, and this. Jess has been requesting a white sweater. Yes, I know this is a disaster waiting to happen, but really, how could I tell her no.

sweater drama

{Enter: the bathroom. Erin is standing on the lip of the tub, modelling her nearly finished knitted sweater, and looking critically at her reflection in the ajar medicine cabinet mirrored door.}

Nate enters and is startled, as he thought the bathroom was unoccupied.

Erin: (disappointed sigh)

Nate: (puzzled)"What are you doing?"

Erin: "Looking at the sweater I made and don't think I'll ever wear."

Nate: "Why's that?"

(Erin leans over and shuts the cabinet door, so that nate may get a full view of said sweater.)

Nate: "Whoa."

Erin: "...That bad?"

Nate: "NO. Not bad at all, just..it...doesn't look like something I figure you'd wear."

Erin: "Yup. I agree." (Pulls sweater off and throws on the floor. A few seconds pass.)

Nate: "I don't understand. You spent all that time knitting that sweater, and now you won't even wear it?"

Erin: (putting her cardigan back on) "uh huh"

Nate: "Uh, ok."

{fade out}

Don't know what I'll do with it. I'll probably frog it sometime down the road.

tid-bits

I finished my sweater! Although I need to rip back the ribbing and tweak the neckline a bit. Shouldn't be too bad. I hope to get a picture up by Thursday.

My cousin, (well, my cousin's daughter) was in town last night and we had dinner with her, her husband and their four month old little boy. The last time I saw her was when she was 12, over a decade ago. They are in the process of moving from Alaska to Florida, and will be travelling down the east coast visiting friends and family for the next two weeks. I don't think I could do that with a baby. Best of luck to them.

We are still tree-less. Nate's hoping to get home early today so we can get one. Jess is starting to get very anxious about not having a tree. She is so excited about Christmas. This is the first year she's really gotten into it, and it's great to watch.

Now that I have my holiday stuff finished, it's time for me to think of the big month...January. January has 6 birthdays, and an anniversary in store. *sigh* time to start all over again.

Weekend update.

Since y'all seem to hate it when I tell you of my Holiday progress. I guess I'll refrain from telling you that not only is all my shopping done, (Save one bed I need to pick up and do not have room to store until Christmas) but also half of my Mother's. (She has an upper respiratory infection. But she is recovering nicely.) I also won't tell you that I have all gift knitting done, except for some last minute gloves requested by my Stepdad. Or that I'm nearly done with my sweater that I intend to wear to our Holiday party on the 17th.

I will show you the mound of packages I have yet to send out.

(Stalker Angie's Prize is in there somewhere. I promised to send it last week, but with the snow and last minute obligations that I've encountered in the last week, I haven't gotten to the post office. I'm sorry, Angie.)

NOTE: Carma, yours is on the bottom, and no, it's not a computer.

Also the pile O'Christmas cards to send out. Some waiting for me to divy up Jess' school pictures, all waiting for stamps.

If it makes y'all feel better, we are still tree-less. With the snow and Nate being called out to work this weekend, we have made no progress in the tree department.

Although this weekend, Jess asked me to teach her to knit. It was more of an assisted knitting, hand over hand, but we had fun. she made up a song to remember the steps.

She wanted to make a scarf for Elmo. As you can see we didn't get to the "weaving in of ends" lesson.

snow

The snow kept Jess and I in last night,Nate in traffic for a few hours, and apparently, a boeing 737 to skid off the runway. I gotta tell ya, I am SO HAPPY that there's no snow day today, or I just might lose a bit more of my dwindling sanity. Cabin fever's setting in and winter's not even official yet.

Unfortunately, neither Nate nor Jess has been too cooperative in letting me finish my sweater, so I have no real progress to report.

Mom was planning on taking the grandkids for a sleepover tonight, we'll see if that happens.

My plans for the day are shot. I'm going to have to cancel on Jill, AGAIN. I'll be spending my day shoveling out. Nate (Mr. 4x4) doesn't need to shovel to get out.

Ok, enough of my complaining about the weather.

Have y'all heard about Stalker Angie's (see sidebar, I don't feel like linking) contest? It's design contest for Stalker Angie Gear and blog. If any of you have a talent for this kind of thing, I suggest you check it out. But hurry, the deadline is the end of the year.

Meme

Sweater update. I have hemmed the body of my sweater, and knit one of the sleeves to the elbow. I'm hoping to get quite a bit done over the weekend.

In the meme time.....

(I totally lifted this meme from Erin, to use as blog fodder)
TEN random things you might not know about me:
1. I HATE BANANAS.
2. Riding backwards on the train makes me ill.
3. I cry too easily, and it pisses me off.
4. I love stale popcorn.
5. I am very self conscious about the scars on my arms.
6. I like to "people watch". People often mistake this for me being "aloof".
7. I do not like to talk on the phone, and avoid doing so when I can.
8. I've been battling depression for quite some time.
9. I'm totally inept when it comes to hair and makeup.
10. In terms of musical talent, I am the "squib" of the family. (I had to fit a Harry Potter reference in.)


NINE places I’ve visited:
1. Niagra Falls, Stateside and Canadian
2. Victoria, BC
3. San Francisco, CA
4. Seattle, WA
5. Orlando, FL
6. New York City
7. Chicago, IL (duh)
8. Chattanooga, TN
9. Disneyland, Ca

EIGHT ways to win my heart:
1. Make me laugh.
2. Be considerate of others, unprompted.
3. Be genuine.
4. Be respectful.
5. Be yourself.
6. Be intelligent.
7. Be open-minded.
8. Have an opinion, no matter what it is.


SEVEN things I want to do before I die:
1. Visit Europe.
2. Have something published.
3. Go back to college.
4. Make a difference.
5. Watch Jess grow up happy and healthy.
6. Pick a profession
7. grow old.



SIX things I'm afraid of:
1. Screwing up this parenthood thing.
2. Serious illness
3. Losing my memories
4. Losing my loved ones
5. Failing
6. Disappointing my loved ones

FIVE things I don't like:
1. Having someone else's views forced on me.
2. those who cannot accept the consequences of their actions.
3. arguing for the sake of arguing. I have to leave the room.
4. When things are unneccessarily complicated.
5. Being considered unintelligent because I do not have a degree.


FOUR ways to turn me off:
1. Be disrespectful.
2. Pretend everything is okay when it is not.
3. Take things too seriously.
4.


THREE Things I do everyday:
1. comtemplate
2. spend time with my family
3. knit


TWO things that make me happy:
1. Family
2. Friends



ONE thing on my mind right now:
1. Concern about Jess' recent behavioral issues

mindless babble

Nate has cast his vote for the sweater. He like the tubey neckline. So, what I think I will make some modified tubey sleeves (Can't just make them as they are written. What's the fun in that?) I figure I will make raglan sleeves and then join with the back and I should get the same effect.

Right now I have a pair or two of Sweet Mary Janes I need to crank out.

Last night we had the first of our holiday engagements. This was a very casual vendor party at the marina. I was finally able to put a lot of faces with names, as many of Nate's co workers was there. At some point in the evening, as I caught names and remembered stories associated with that name, I realized that the other person was doing the same thing. ...Makes me wonder what Nate's been telling them...

While we were at the Marina Jess stay with my Mom. My mom, pulled me aside last night to ask me if I were finished with all my shopping. I am, she knows that, but what's she getting at. She pulled out a list and asked if i could help her with hers. Of course I will. I'm just thankful she asked me last night and not on the 23rd like she did last year.

Jess has come down with something that makes her sound like she's an 80 year old chain smoker, so she will stay home with me today. Hopefully we don't drive eachother nutzo.

Plan? what plan?

I've decided I want to make myself a sweater to wear to all the holiday functions I have coming up. You may remember that I had casted on for the hourglass sweater in the Last Minute Knitted Gifts book. That has since been ripped out and the pattern abandoned. Instead I'm just winging it. My sweater is more of a cross between the hourglass and Teva Durham's Ballet tee.

So far, I have it knitted up to the armpits, with quite a bit of shortrows in the bust, so I will have a very fitted sweater. No picture yet, I have to tack down the hembefore it'll look like anything. Here's where I'm stuck. The body's done in the round and I'll be doing the sleeves in the round, but what kind of sweater do I want it to be? Should it be a raglan? Should I make it a set in sleeve? Should I make my own version of tubey from the new knitty? I know it's difficult without seeing the wip, but any suggestions would be most appreciated.

We have a winner!

After a stern email from me telling her to pick one, not two. Angie guessed correctly. Santa is indeed my Father in law. THat hair and beard...that's all him. In fact, he is mistaken for Santa by little kids quite often.

I bet you're all wondering what she won, huh? Well, I don't want to ruin the surprise, but you'll have wished you mde a guess.

Due to weather and conflicting schedules there were only three of us at the yarn swap last night. Lesa gifted me with this: (ain't it cute?)

and then Tara had a scad of old pattern books. I did go home with a few. A lot of them had Just one thing that I couldn't pass up. I promise to share as I go through them.

Today I have some cleaning to do, and some furniture rearranging. We are getting a new entertainment center, and we might possibly go get our tree. I'll have to dig out the Christmas decorations. It's about time though. I always my Christmas cards at the after Christmas sales for the next year, it's getting about time to dig those out and start sending them out.

Carma and the New Boy had to cancel their plans last minute. No weekend company for us.

peaceful protest

Our kitchen is small. It's actually more like a gloirfied hallway in typical Ranch-style home fashion. Jess is one that like to be in the middle of things...literally. This has lead to a new house rule:

No one is allowed to sit on the kitchen floor while the kitchen is in use.

This has made Jess most unhappy. In fact, this morning when I got out of the shower and headed to the kitchen to fix breakfast, this is what I found.

(Pay no mind to the dirty floor. In my defense, the flooring is old, so even when it is clean, it still looks dirty.)

Mail Call!

Recently, Jen tipped me off to this site, and I ordered a whale for Jess for Christmas. He came today, all giftwrapped and everything! She is not charging enough for these cute little guys. (If you want to know what Jessie's looks like, you'll find it under her sold items. His name is Moss. Go look, before I buy more to flesh out my christmas list.


Also, I popped on over to Rachel's ilovecutethings site and ordered some stationery and buttons. It's all so...well, cute!

time to be selfish

Dad's sweater is done. Well, it needs a serious blocking, but you get the idea. I'd like to apologize for the lack of color accuracy, it's been a dark and gray day.

This means my Christmas knitting to do list has been reduced to a felted hat and half a pair of felted clogs, and a pair of fingerless gloves. Totally doable. In fact so do able that I'm working on my leaf lace shawl for the Evelyn a Clark knit along,

and my perfect pie mohair shawl,

and I cast on an hourglass sweater for myself. Saying all that I sound kinda cocky don't I? I apologize.

So, no one's guessed what relation Santa is yet. Keep the guesses coming someone'll get a prize.

Thursday we have a stitch n bitch meeting that is going to have a sort of yarn swap. I already have a bag full of things that need a new home.

Carma and the new boy are coming to visit this weekend. There just may be a weekend post or two coming up.

Added later: Ok Who keeps finding this site by googling "sleeping with my best friend's mom"? Is this one person? Or is this MANY misguided folks?

Huh...

You Are 80% Boyish and 20% Girlish

You have a tough exterior - and usually a tough interior to match it. You're no nonsense, logical, and very assertive. Sometimes you can't understand women at all, even if you're a woman yourself. You see things rationally, and don't like to let your emotions get the best of you.

How Boyish or Girlish Are You?

Home again

Our Thanksgiving trip was smooth sailing, with the exception of a few bumps Nate and I encountered with each other. I tipped off my BIL about the blog when I signed the guest book on his site, and he was all "You've been blogging for over a year and you didn't tell us??" I then reminded him that it's primarily a knitting blog and didn't think he'd be interested. Nate has since reconsidered his view of the blog and now looks at it as a potential "hot sheet" of what's been bugging me. The running joke this trip was everytime Nate would do something that brought on "the look" from me, someone would chime in, "Uh oh...that's going on the blog..."

Our Thanksgiving dinner was wonderful as always, and then Friday we went to the Santa train at the Whitewater Valley Rail Road in Connersville, Indiana. The train goes to pick up Santa, then he works his way through the train visiting all the kids aboard. Jess LOVED it. When asked what she wanted for Christmas, she replied, "Christmas presents". That's my girl. (Psst...we're related to Santa...care to guess how? I might make it worth your while. Those who know are disqualified.)

I got nothin'

Dad's sweater sleeves have been joined to the body, and I Iam creeping up to the neck.(ie the finishline) Seamless sweaters are fun. I will photograph it once it's had a good blocking. Right now it doesn't look like much.

I'll be meeting up with Jen tonight, we'll just hanging out and helping her salvage a botched kitchener stitch job.

Carma will be arriving tonight to spend Turkey Day with her family. We'll be leaving for Ohio tomorrow as soon as Jess gets off the bus. This affords us a couple hours of visiting time. (Bring my Hp6 book back , dammit! ) :)

So far I've been doing laundry like a mad woman and have only picked out what projects will be coming with me.

I am quite the stylish Hausfrau though. I've been schlepping around the house in my blue pjs, green slippers, big ole red cardigan and my Hermione hat. There is a reason I will not be posting a picture of that ensemble. You all can thank me now for saving your retinas.

Potter-less weekend

To answer a few questions, no Nate does not read the blog. He thinks it’s silly. Or, if he does, he has never let on. Either way he’ll either be genuinely surprised by the socks, or he’ll pretend to be.

Friday night my Mom offered to take Jess for the night. I was thinking, "Ok it’s movie night." (Can y’all guess what I wanted to see?) Nate asks, “Well, what would you like to do? I’m game as long as it’s not the Harry Potter movie.” He then tried to rationalize by saying they were probably sold out any way. I'm sure he's right, but I wanted to see Walk the Line as well.

I was crushed. Instead we spent an evening in. I sullenly casted on my Hermione hat while Nate played video games. I used the leftover “bronze” color from my Ravenclaw scarf. It's blocking right now on my change jar. Man this thing grew in the water. It's a very fun knit, but I will not be making the matching mittens. I have plans for a different pair.

I’m about to join the second sleeve on Dad’s sweater, but right now it just looks like a pile of brown ribbing.
We are going to my in-laws in Ohio for Thanksgiving. We do every year. It’s great because I don’t have to cook, but I’m not looking forward to fighting the traffic.

Although this year all I can think is, "Imagine all I could get done with Nate and Jess out of the house" Not a very festive thought, I admit, but a true one.

...I love the smell of Napalm in the morning...

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

...the horror...

This is all to detract from the fact that instead of dutifully finishing some WIPs, I have been playing Diablo II for the past couple days.

Still on track.

Ok, some finished objects and works in progress. It's cold, windy and snowing here so I'll be staying in this afternoon and hope to get some of these things done.

First off, my latest Mary Janes. Noro Kureyon 146. I borrowed an idea from Stacey and sewed the strap to the other side in leiu of a button.

I bought some pvc pellets for the cat I need to make my niece, so I figured I needed to pull that out. Here I have half a head. (I'm "remote blogging" from the living room on Nate's new laptop today.)

This mass of unblocked brown ribbing is Dad's sweater, knit up to the armpits, one sleeve attached and the start of the second sleeve.


I have wound the yarn a bought for the restart of my perfect pie shawl. Outback mohair. This stuff is SO much softer than the yarn I had previously. I plan on using some sportwieght hemp for the edging.



My covert operation:

to knit Nate a pair of socks for Christmas without him knowing. Some Lorna's laces sport in Safari.

And I leave you with Jess' favorite project. My vegan fox. I plan on wearing it to my Stitch n bitch tongiht, so no full pictures yet.

Viva la Rasa, Eddie.

For those of you who may not know, I am a professional wrestling fan. Yes, I know, my redneck is showing. Wrestling is my Soap opera. Admittedly, the world of professional wrestling has SUCKED EGGS since the demise of WCW, but we still watch. (Seriously, Jess and Nate spent her second evening of life watching Smackdown in my hospital room.) Yesterday I was truly upset to hear that one of my favorite wrestlers died Sunday.



I have some NEARLY finished objects, but no pictures until tomorrow.

KAL question

I've gotten a couple questions through the Sweet Mary Janes KAL, concerning the heel, So, I thought I would attempt to walk you through how I do it.

My slipper. I have just knit my last row, and I am about to cast on more stitches for the heel.


I do not turn, instead I cast on the number of stitches that pattern requires.

Then I rearrange my stitches on three needles, (I prefer to use three needles. Feel free to use four.)by slipping them to the other double points, as of I were purling them.




Now, make sure your stitches are divided into equal numbers for top and bottom. You'll have to knit the first two stitches of the next double point to do this. This will mean the you'll have two stitches on each side of the top half the were part of the section you knit back and forth on previously.

Now you will knit one round, and continue on as directed, decreasing like one would for a sock toe.


I hope this is helpful.

I think I may need help...

It was inevitable. I knew this day was fast-approaching. I couldn't put it off any longer. I had to retire my RocketDog Mary Janes.

I loved these shoes. I wore them all the time. They had to go. They were falling apart...I made Nate throw them away for me. I couldn't do it.


I bought these to replace them. Sadly, they are not Mary Janes, but they are very comfy. Can you all tell I'm emamoured with this brand?

I'm coping well with my loss. I am finishing my Sweey Mary Janes for my Step mother.

Noro Kureyon, color...146, maybe?

I cast on a pair for myself, lionbrand wool.

I know I'm straying from my christmas knitting.


Someone really needs to stop me.

foxy

One cousin hat done.

I know what you're thinking. You are thinking, "Wait a sec, that looks JUST like the hat Erin made her nephew." That's because it IS exactly like my nephew's. Cousin J is a Rams fan. Originally, I was going to model it after the helmet, but I just didn't feel like putting forth the effort.

Then I cheated a bit with my leaf lace shawl for the EvelynAClark along.

I finished the chain strap for Sis' purse. I kinda like it. I used the leftovers I had from the purse. With the darker color and a short 10.5 circ, I cast on 50 sts and knit 8 rows then Bound off. The lighter color I used a VERY short circ. cast on 35 sts knit 8 rows and bound off.

Also, here is one of the felted clogs that will go to my stepdad for Christmas. It wasn't on my list, I thought I had already did my time in felted clog purgatory, but it seems thatsince my stepdad (finally) quit chain smoking, the swelling in his feet has drastically reduced, and last year's clogs no longer fit.

Oh, I have a baptism to attend Sunday, so I had to knit up my standard bonnet gift.

I would also like to apologize to anyone who tried to follow my notes on this bonnet that I had previously posted. One should always test knit. I'm sorry. At some point I will write out the pattern CORRECTLY and test knit and post. Some point after New Year's.

I also bought myself a VERY early birthday gift.

I have been wanting to make the Vegan Fox for quite some time now. I thought I might as well pop on over to FuzzyGalore and pick up the kit, onlyto find they are no longer selling them. Instead, I went to Royal yarns and picked up the yarn. I cannot wait. I have a green hat with a little veil that will commpliment the fox quite nicely.

It's Not Easy Bein' Green

It's not that easy bein' green
Having to spend each day the color of the leaves



wicked graph Soon to be "wicked" socks. Thank you to Mrs. G. I just need to locate the yarn.


When I think it could be nicer being red,
Or yellow or gold-
Or something much more colorful like that.

It's not easy bein' green
It seems you blend in with so many other ordinary things.

And people tend to pass you over
'Cause you're not standing out
Like flashy sparklers in the water or stars in the sky.

But green's the color of Spring.

purse- $4.24 Target clearance

And green can be cool and friendly-like.

gloves- 9 bucks at Kohls

And green can be big like an ocean,

galway, for an hourglass sweater for me.

Or important like a mountain,

Or tall like a tree.

When green is all there is to be
It could make you wonder why,
But why wonder, why wonder?
I am green and it'll do fine,
It's beautiful!

This one's SOLEY to appease Jen
And I think it's what I want to be.


This is all to distract you from the fact that I have not finished the strap for Sis' purse, nor made any headway on anything knitterly. Must go remedy that, and pick out wool the Sweet Mary Janes KAL.

Happy Birthday, Austin.