Knitting Christmas

Dr. Parts and I are having a laidback Christmas weekend. We went to Sunday morning service. Youngster Parts and her boyfriend and another friend dropped by for the afternoon. Youngster Parts turns 20 in a few weeks. Dr. Parts whipped up his famous holiday smoked salmon dip. Yum! The kids devoured it.

Tomorrow he'lls make a giant breakfast for the two of us, and we'll eat chips & veggies and dips all day long. I plan to keep my feet up most of the day, either knitting or on the web.

I've finished two red scarves, and am about halfway done on the remaining two I have planned. These two are the boy scarves. One a lovely ribbed burgundy. The other is a reversible ribbed in a chunky camo colored. I'm not liking the yarn, though. I think its bleeding off on both the needles and on my hands. I look like I'm jaundiced. I'll have to wash the scarf before I send it off.

Once I knock these down I'll get back on my clapotis.

Dr. Parts and I ate our mid-day meal today in Tiny's Cafe (on MLK) very hip, too hip for us oldsters and I had a 'Barry Banana-ilow' panini. It had banana and Nutella and was grilled and warm and gooey. Fabuloso!

Merry Christmas. I say that to you with a full and joyous heart because I celebrate Christmas.

I hope that you enjoy the holidays and traditions that you celebrate.

I'm still knitting scarves

I'm loving the red scarf project. I bought four balls of Be Sweet's magic ball yarn in a great red color called 'fireball' . I used size 15 USA needles and cast on 26 stitches and knit a simple garter stitch scarf. It is cool & fabulous and I almost don't want to send it off. I used two balls for the first scarf. I was getting about 3 stitches per inch. I cast on 180 stitches and am now knitting a long-edge simple garter stitch scarf. I'm not sure which one I'm going to like best. I'm sort of thinking that the traditional one may win out.

Judy sent me an email about her January knitting class, to be held at Tangle. I cannot wait! I'm sorting through my stash, figuring out which delightful yarn I will use.

I have a new notebook computer, which should free me up to blog more often, hooray. My brother will help me set it up properly, but, so far so good.

We had a big wind storm here this week, but not much personal negative effects. Our house is tucked down in a hollow...in a ditch, if I'm feeling negative about it...which does indeed protect it from much of the wind.

I'm enjoying a low-key weekend. Lots of time for knitting.

Clapotis, at last!

I have spent waaaaay too much money on yarn.

Hey, it's Christmastime. Merry Christmas to me. I'm getting my husband a 37" LCD high definition television for Christmas. He's getting me....wait for it...the wall-mounting, cables, and other accessories for the new tv. Hoooray. Well, I do spend a lot of time in front of the tv, and much of that time, I knit. That's enough justification on that subject.

I have made progress on the sleeves on beloved BabyGirl's sweater. (That would be Emily, also known as Emi-Jean.)

Her father has requested that I make them long enough to tie in the back. Yes, a la 'straitjacket'. He's also requested that I make such a garment in adjustable sizes that she'll be able to wear until she's five or six. Sorry, J, it's not five or six that you really need to worry about; it's fifteen or sixteen. Then we'll see who has how much gray hair. And by then, she'll be choosing her own sweaters.

I have purchased three different types of yarn for the red scarf project for foster kids. Former foster kids. Young adults, really. One scarf is burgundy, for a male, one is red & pink, for a girl, and one is green camo colored, for a male, I think. I'm having fun with stitch patterns on these. I think I'll do the burgundy one in basketweave. It's either that or plain rib.

I also purchased all the Lorna's Laces Lion & Lamb yarn that is needed to knit the famous Clapotis. I've knit about 4 inches in it, so no ladders yet. I love the texture of the yarn. I'm not so sure about the Watercolor colorway that I chose.

I did go to Abundant Yarn & Dyeworks for a drop in Saturday UFO class. You should have seen the looks I got at work after that phone call. "Hello, I want to come to the UFO class on Saturday. Do I need to pay for that in advance?"

Suddenly, people in adjacent cubbies stand up and look at me. Ha, what do they know? UFOs are everywhere. Pat was great, and very helpful. Also, very nice fellow-knitters.

I think that I will like the Clapotis in the Watercolor colorway, it's just a rather bold choice for me. I'm usually so monochromatic.

Judy has promised to notify me for her next socks-on-two-circular-needles-from-the-toe-up-using-Judy's-magic-cast-on class at Tangle. (Minor whine: I do wish Tangle had a better website. I'm so internet dependent, and I love browsing classes & events all over my fair city from my own desk. Can't do it for them. I have to schlep all the way south to that city, go in, and even then, if a sub's behind the desk, you may not get accurate info. Love the store, love the knitters, but the flow of information is less than ideal. It looks like they're making progress on it though!)

I am knitting in the evenings. There is progress. The loops go through loops and the bumps fall either to the front or the back. Life is good.