Busy

Hope all my US readers had a great Thanksgiving. Mine was crazy. Tom woke up on Thanksgiving morning with a bad virus, and spent the next five days in bed. Really sick, poor thing. He's back to work, working 12-15 hour days this week, and still isn't better. So, no holiday to speak of, even though I did serve a righteous turkey and fixins. Chalking it up to being that kind of year and moving on....

What else has been going on? Well, I've seen a l'il devil in his brand new hat.

Kille came to knitting group last week with Baby W. Isn't he adorable? The hat is even a tad big, so he'll be able to grow into it over the winter.

I've joined a couple of KALs. My KAL involvement was spotty at best this year, but I'm hopeful my brain and fingers will work better in 2008. One is the Stash Knit Down 2008 Ravelry group, which I've joined with Barbara. Next year I have to go on a strict yarn budget, and I'm hoping this group will keep me upbeat about knitting from stash.

The other is Melanie's Fearless Knitting KAL. I love the idea behind this one, and will either be learning Fair Isle and/or making a top down sweater. (Isn't it crazy I've never made a top down sweater?) So, if you're in the mood to add new techniques to your arsenal o' knitty knowledge, or conquer your fear of eeky steeks, I hope you'll join us on this one.

Also gotta give a shout out to La, who has designed a Firefly inspired blanket named Serenity. Cunning, ain't she?

And I've been doing the usual knitty things: I've obsessed about the new Raven line from Blue Moon, and am anxiously awaiting my order. I've swatched for Tom's Cobblestone and have somehow lost the swatches. (Huh? How do swatches just disappear?) I didn't even measure them before they went poof, so gotta start again. My holiday knitting is almost finished, and I'm anxious to get back to my second Campfire sock. Once it's done, Mary and I will be joining Carolyn in making our Socks That Rock Lenores. Can't wait for that gothic goodness to be on the needles.

Gobble, Gobble

I'm in the midst of Thanksgiving preparation, but wanted to pop in and wish all my US readers a very happy turkey day...and the rest of the world a very happy weekend. Tom and I will be cooking the full-on traditional spread of turkey with stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce and veggie. (He always grumbles, but I always make sure we get a little green bean or broccoli action.) Tonight I'm baking a coffee cake for breakfast and a pumpkin pie for dessert, so I gotta go get busy with the mixing bowls and spices. Tomorrow we'll be feasting, he'll be watching copious amounts of football, and I'll be knitting between naps. Can't wait.

Happy holidays! See you after the tryptophan wears off.

Flyin' High

This morning I was set to write a little post, and then I saw Anne's Raven shawl in all its blocked glory. Thoughts flew out of my head and scattered like dandelion seeds on the wind. Who knows what I was going to say. I now entreat you to go look at it here.

The heights our craft reaches can be awe inspiring. Humbling. Inspirational. And drop dead gorgeous. Here's hopin' your knitting is allowing your creative wings to soar today.

Epiphany

Behold the first sock made entirely on my own.

I need another one. And, uh, what's an eye of partridge heel? I wanna do that next.

WIPs-y Wednesday

Taking a cue from Mary, here's a recap of what I've been working on lately.

First up are two projects I'm making for my Mom. A few weeks ago she asked for a black version of my Triangle Bag, and all I have left to do on hers is sew it together and felt it.



I'm also knitting her a Reverse Cable Scarf in some luscious Lush in the Blackberry Wine colorway.

Sorry for the blurry closeup; I had a doozie of a time capturing the color (is it just me, or are dark reds hard to photograph?). This would be a quick project, except that I am so over scarves at the moment. I think the Chevron did me in. The progress I have made was in the wee hours one night when I was watching The Proposition on cable. Man, Ray Winstone sold that movie, and Guy Pearce...well, all I could think as I watched him was, Eat a donut, man. He was creepily emaciated. My man Nick wrote the script and the soundtrack, and overall I think he did a good job on the first and a fair job on the second. Anyway, where was I? Oh, yes, knitting...

I'm also working s-l-o-w-l-y on my Campfire Socks.

First sock, 3 1/2" in. I started it forever ago, then put it down and now am picking it back up. The cheery colors spiral nicely, don't they?

Mostly what I'm working on, however, are holiday gifts. Normally I don't do much holiday knitting, but this year I stumbled over a gift idea that's functional and fun to make for folks, and I'm a holiday knitting machine. I'm also dreaming of casting on new projects: Kat Coyle's Lala Scarf and the Yarn Harlot's Lenore Socks. I also recently raided WEBS for some of their cut price Queensland Kathmandu Aran Tweed, and came away with two sweaters' worth; one sweater's worth shall be a Cobblestone for Tom.

We Have a Winner

Actually, two. Since the Halloween mini-contest comments were so clever, I couldn't narrow it down to just those folks who told me their fave scary fairy tales. So I did the following: I put the name of everyone who commented in a bowl. Then anyone who actually told me a FSFT I put their name in again, so they'd have a fair chance of winning. I shook things up, pulled the following names a few minutes ago, and...drum roll please:

The winners are Shannon and Liz! I'll be in touch about your goodies.

Thanks to all who participated.

Our Halloween was fun. For some reason the imps and goblins weren't out in force like past years, and we actually were able to hand out candy, eat dinner, hand out candy, watch a movie, hand out candy, and then gorge ourselves on the left over Butterfingers. It was quite civilized; in past years we'd burn through 400 pieces of candy and would be eating at 9:30 pm. The mellowness was nice. We took turns answering the door, and I was even able to knit a bit. Tom's cyclops pumpkin - his signature carving - was a hit with the trick or treaters, as was the "good" candy we handed out. The Junior Mints were a marked favorite. All in all a good time.

It's been a while since I've flashed my WIPs, so knitting content next post. And lookee here. I've frogged my MS3 stole.

Whew. I feel so much lighter.

Happy Day of the Dead. May you and your families - those living and departed - be blessed through the coming year.