Touching base.....

Well, the Holidays are nearing closure. Hope you all had a great celebration.....safe and happy!
Ours has been great fun so far. Little man made it for us this year! Only had our son been home would it have been even better.
Hope every surprise was a joyful one! Santa came to grandma's house a day early, as he was afraid the reindeer might have problems on ice and snow..... But it wasn't quite as bad for us as the weather forecasters had predicted. But that's ok. We still had our family gift exchange on the 24th. And our Christmas dinner will happen on the 28th actually. I wait till other family segments are finished, and everyone is "free". It works well that way - it's almost a tradition for us actually.

My DH Santa gave me a new camera! It's a Canon Powershot SX20 IS. Luckily for me, it does pretty will when used as a "point and click" camera. I hope to learn more functionality, but for now, I am mostly experimenting. It has a long range zoom capability.....This guy was WAAAAYYYYY out in our back yard. I shot this thru the patio glass. Not too bad.
And of course, I have been using my favorite little pooch as a subject. Night lighting needs a little work, I guess. And then there are the close up shots of fiber..... Speaking of fiber....My son sent these lovely rovings. Three are superwash Merino, and one is BFL. They are FatCat fibers. Not sure what they will become, but I certainly look forward to spinning them.

Speaking of spinning, I did start spinning the December FatCat Mixed Blessing Fiber Club selection. These are so gorgeous, but I just can't bring myself to ply them into one yarn. So, I will keep the colorways separate. They may eventually be knit into the same garment, or perhaps not.....time will tell.

OH....and I must tell you of the most unusual Christmas gift I received.
These balls.....When one is dropped into this container of hot water"Blooms" and makes delicious tea! As I know tea is becoming more and more popular, perhaps this is not an oddity to most of you, but I had NEVER heard of this before. My DD and SIL gave this tea to me. They were purchased from Teavana. This tea is a peach, but my DD and I plan to do some shopping soon, and I may try some other flavors.

I actually have a couple of knitting projects finished, but no photos yet..... (oh good - more photos needed!). So, I'll be back in a few days with those. 'Till then.....

we're off to explore the world.....on wheelsl!! Grandpa, get the paint and paintbrush ready......

All together now......

"Ohhhhhhhh, Ahhhhhhhhh......"

Thanks, I needed that! :) I finished the forever stocking at about 9pm last night. It took me two weeks. Lesson learned - don't procrastinate!

There is just a tad bit or detail involved. I stabilized the back and lined it with a blue snowman flannel fabric. I am happy with it, and also happy to have it completed!

And for the sake of posterity: Kind of crude, as I didn't have anything to mark out the lettering prior to stitching, but I think he'll get the idea.

As for right now, he's just totally amazed. He absolutely would NOT look up at the camera.

This grandma gig is so darn much fun!

what's old is new again....

Well, perhaps I have procrastinated a little too long with this project.....
The felt, sequined, and beaded Christmas stocking for BG was started yesterday. YIKES!!! 15 pages of instructions, and 113 pieces of felt that need to be cut out and dealt with. Hmmm.... Christmas is when???

One decortation that will be there in plenty of time..... well, it's been around for 32 years, the last 10 or so, it's not been out of the storage box. Back when our first child was small, and Christmas spirit was more abundant than disposable cash, I made this Advent calendar tree. I appliqued a corduroy tree on a piece of white sheeting. I made the 24 balls that snapped on the tree, and a star for the top - to be put on Christmas morning. It was/remains pretty crude, but the kids loved it. OH MY....the tussles they used to have over who's turn it was to put on a ball. I had to mark the calendar with initials indicating whose turn it was in an attempt to minimize the arguments. Anyway, BG's mom wants it for their house this year. Ahhhhh..... Tradition!!! I wonder if she has fond memories of IT, or of the fights she had with her brother over it?? Childhood memories you know! Anyway, I washed it up today, and hopefully BG will get some enjoyment out of it. I have a great desire to replace it with a better model, but perhaps it has it's own charm??? Besides that, there is no time....his stocking will be enough of a challenge!The march of the mittens continues. I am currently working on pair #9. I think 10 will be the final pair. Hopefully I can hang in there till then.

And on the spinning frontI am currently plying these singles. Yes, it's really that dark. Not sure what the final yarn will be like. Hopefully gorgeous! vbg. I'll let ya know.....

Catchin up.....

This is the basic grey hat that my DH has been wearing pretty much nonstop since I knit the first one. He actually wanted another - one for home and one for work. (This is number two.) It's Brooklyn Tweed's Turn a Square pattern- without the striping.
Continuing on the mitten path.....This is the latest pair. They are knit in worsted weight, on size 6 DPNS. I can't decide which side I like better. The pattern is #15 from Charlene Schurch's "Mostly Mittens" book. I am so happy that I purchased this book when it was new (and inexpensive!). It really has some nice designs. This particular pattern was originally sized for a child, and knit in fingering weight yarn. These fit me perfectly - with a nice long cuff - just as I like them! And....I started this scarf this morning. It's the (Knit one from below) technique that is new - at least to me. The pattern is the Inside-Outside scarf pattern. The yarn has nice long color repeats, and the idea is that you knit from the outside of one ball, and the inside of the other ball. The colors blend into each other. The "knit below" technique makes vertical stripes instead of the usual horizontal. Sort of cool! I am using "Maxi Tosca" by Lang. It is a mixture of browns, rusts, - very nice colors - that I found at my LYS. It's a wool/acrylic blend that I am really not familiar with, but hopefully I will like. So far, it's lusciously soft and inviting. If I like the technique, I have a few skeins of Noro Silk Garden that might find themselves knit up in this technique also.

We finally got our tree this weekend. It was unseasonably warm on Saturday so Sofee got to go with us this year! Of course it took me forever to find the "perfect" tree. Now, my "perfect" is not what most people's "perfect" is. I need open spaces, and strong branches. I search for the "ungroomed" tree. It is the family joke that my Christmas trees are always so strange looking. This year is no different......but it meets our needs. We have quite a collection of ornaments, many of which are fairly heavy. There will be an additional 32 put on the tree when our son gets home. So.... while Shirley expressed the desire of a photo, I hesitantly share it with you all..... (Be kind now!) And please....no one need leave a "beautiful" comment. (Bless your little hearts!)

Happy Halloween.......

From the two little spooks at my house!and....

Sofee still gets top billing around here.... we DO have to live with her, after all!

As for the knitting.... I am making progress on the Selbuvotter gloves. I hope to finish this first one today. Obviously, I have the thumb left. So far, the fit is just perfect. I had hoped that I could gift them to my mom for Christmas, and I think the sizing is going to be just perfect! There are some issues with the charts in the book. Even though I am working from the Errata, well the errata needs an errata. (lol) I "made" it work, however....which probably continues the tradition of the historic pattern, now that I think about it. I just hope the 2nd glove will match.... sometimes my notes are not as adequate as they should be.

On a more personal note....three good news items came across my desk yesterday. (In these days...we need good news, don't we!!). 1st, my DH got a good report from his cardiologist. We are approaching the 2 year anniversary of his heart attack, and things seem to be going pretty good for him!!! 2nd, DD got a nice job promotion! Way to go BG's mom! and 3rd, our son will be coming home for Christmas! He is low man at his clinic, so he had last choice of holiday vacation. Guess the stars were all aligned correctly for our family yesterday!

Wishing good star alignment for all of you..... and happy knitting too! Kiss your little spooks tonight, and have a safe celebration.