Yuletide Cactus

These are the ornaments that are probably in my category. We'll start with the Yuletide Cactus. It (obviously) reminds me of good old Sin City. Out there it's actually palm trees that get strung with Christmas lights. I kinda miss sunny, 50-degree Christmases...kinda.


This kitty looks just like Ginger. Except for the halo. That is definitely not just like Ginger.


Ryan picked this one out. I agree. We do, in fact, rule. I have not, however, received an apple...ever.


The red sled is mine. Apparently, red is more girly. The cats have now knocked it off the tree four times. Needless to say, I moved it.


Ryan picked this one out for me, too. He seems to think I have a shoe problem. Just because you buy seven pairs of shoes in three days doesn't mean you have a problem. Flip-flops don't count as shoes either, by the way.


There are more ornaments, but they're in the "our" category more than these. Not to mention that none of them are as fabulous as Paco and the cactus.

Paco the Christmas Parrot

This is the beginning of my short photo-documentary about Christmas ornaments. These are the ornaments I kind of think of as being Ryan's.

You've already met Paco the Christmas Parrot. Isn't he charming?


When I was little, everybody in my family had a sled. Actually, the sleds are still around. They're at my mom's. This is Ryan's sled. It's awfully small. Maybe Paco can borrow it...


Big? Pointy? Definitely not my ornament...Draw your own conclusions.


I actually picked this one out for Ryan. It reminds me of Scout. It must be the halo.


What Christmas tree would be complete without a shamrock? Apparently, not ours.


Next up...Lynnsey's Christmas ornaments, including the Yuletide Cactus.

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

One of the reasons I haven't put up a Christmas tree for the last few years is that I am owned by three cats. Here's Ginger after she helped me put the skirt underneath the tree. She's very happy about the Christmas tree. It tastes good.


Here's Gracie, inspecting the underside of the tree just in case anyone decides to take a nap under there (aside from Lola). We wouldn't want them to see any unsightly misplaced branches under there. Good work, Gracie!


In his blog debut, it's Paco the Christmas Parrot posing for a shot with Ryan before perching in the tree. He came all the way from the jungle to visit. He's looking forward to doing a little skiing.


Yours truly placing a lovely ornament on the tree, probably another tropical bird or something equally ridiculous to those of you who are more serious about your holiday decorating.

Felt Up

I am taking on the Nicky Epstein felted bag from last year's Interweave Holiday Gifts issue. I actually have no idea whatsoever how to do intarsia. I have some books, though, that tell you how. I'll see what I can do. This is what it's supposed to look like. The big rip in the page is courtesy of Gracie.



Of course, I couldn't find the yarn that the pattern specifies. Well, that's not entirely true. I found some of it. I just didn't like it. Instead, I ordered some alpaca from Victoria. Then I decided I really wanted to use KnitPick's Wool of the Andes instead. So now I have a bag full of WotA and lots of extra Alpaca Yarn Co. Classic DK (darn!). Here's the WotA in the kitty-proof (and doggie-proof) bag, ready to go.



I even knit some of it together in the order it will go in to check how it felts. I like it. The picture makes it look a little bright, but it blends together pretty well. It needs to be felted a little more. You can still see individual stitches. The finished product will have to be washed probably three or four times in order to felt it completely.




When you do that on purpose, it's called felting (or more accurately "fulling"), but when you do it accidentally and your favorite sweater comes out sized perfectly for a doll...it's called shrinking.

I plan on casting on tonight to start this bag. We all know how that goes. It's on my list, anyways.

The Sweater Goes to England

The Sweater. The stuff of legend. I read somewhere the other day about how women in some knitting traditions would not start knitting their "betrothed" a sweater until the day the wedding date was set. This may be the origin of the sweater curse.

I no longer fear the sweater curse. Ryan loves the sweater. He wore it a lot while he was home. I had to wash it before he left (that was a lot of fun...wet hand-knit sweaters are HEAVY). He's picked out others with scary things like pockets and collars. He's not going anywhere. He knows that he's spoiled rotten. He might even get some socks if he's a good boy.

My family had to be told during Thanksgiving dinner that it was The Sweater. They hadn't even noticed. I'm assuming that is a testament to my skill and not a commentary on their powers of perception.

I think it looks pretty good!

Oh, Christmas Tree

On Black Friday (because we're crazy), we went to Lowe's and bought a Christmas tree. A fake, not pre-lit, "Grenada pine," made in China, fabulous, wonderful tree. I haven't put a tree up for the last couple of years because the cats try to climb them. I haven't been excited about Christmas for a couple of years now. I'm excited about this Christmas.


While we assembled said tree, we had a bit of an audience. They think we're stupid. They know that trees belong outside.



Here's Ryan posing in front of his "job well done." Nobody fluffs fake pine branches like my man. The funny part of this picture is the hat. It really is that cold in my house!


Ginger helps out by making sure that the tree smells good and tastes right. She gave it the thumbs up (even though she doesn't have any) and we proceeded to decorate.



The finished product...It's been up for a day and the girls have only knocked four ornaments off and tried to eat a couple branches. Let's just say we're waiting to put up any of the really breakable ornaments. Those of you who decorate your trees with distinct and uniform color schemes should probably not look too closely at the tree. You might have some kind of seizure. I'd feel bad about that.


Stay tuned for a short photo-documentary of Christmas ornaments...

Are You Gonna Finish That?

I'm a process crafter. I enjoy making the thing rather than having a finished thing. I think that this is partially to blame for my inability to finish things in a timely manner. That and my ADD and my perfectionism. There is that, too.

At any rate, shortly after I returned from Las Vegas (in August of 2005, no less) I started this quilt. The fabric had been hanging around for awhile. It was too cute to cut. I finally found stuff that went with it and decided it would look good in what is called the "Churn Dash" pattern, a traditional American patchwork pattern (because we all know how traditional I am).


I actually have two rows across done, sashing and all. I think I was trying to determine if I really liked it all together or not. I think it's supposed to be 4 X 6 blocks. I don't remember. It was 2 years ago.


It's pretty much been kicking around since then. I really ought to finish it. Just as soon as I find all the pieces, that is.


The fabric is adorable. "Life is just a bowl of cherries."



Calls dibs now, because I need another quilt like I need a hole in the head.

I Have to Go Check on My Turkeys

This is what I told the other teachers in the faculty room. I realized as I said it that I could easily be talking about either the roasting poultry or my students.

For the second year in a row, I have made Thanksgiving dinner with a foods class made up of various teenagers. Apparently, I drink heavily before making this particular decision.

I'm just kidding. It's actually a lot of fun. Just ask the turkey.


I don't know why I keep doing this. It's exhausting. It would be easier to cook for 15 teenagers than it is to cook with them. It came out pretty well, though. We torture the entire school with the smell of fabulous stuffing (cook it until it smells right) and roasting turkey. They did a great job with the pumpkin pie and I pitched in the famous raspberry swirl cream cheese pie.

It looks good anyways. Those mashed potatoes were absolutely perfect!


My favorite picture is always the aftermath. The shot of the food table after the vultures have picked the carcass clean.


We had leftovers today. That's a great thing to write in your lesson plans, by the way..."Friday: Eat leftovers."

I'm Thinking of Throwing a Little Party

The sweater is done.


Ahhhhhh.

After waiting forever for yarn. After waiting even longer for needles (I could have walked to Vietnam faster). After knitting and knitting and knitting. After blocking and waiting for pieces to dry. After re-doing the neck four times, increasing the number of stitches and the size of the needles. After ripping out both sides and re-doing them, too. After more hand-sewing than I ever like to do. It's done.

It even looks like a sweater.


Hoooray for sweaters! Now, he just has to come home and get it!

The Fourth Time is a Charm

Apparently. It took me that many to get the neckband of the sweater right.

And by right, I mean it finally fits over my head. We'll see how this goes.

Anyways, it looks like a sweater. Well, it looks like a sweater without sleeves and sides that are connected, but it has a hole for your head and shoulder seams. I guess that's something.

Next, I have to sew the sleeves in. On a good day, my hand stitching is passable. Not to mention that sleeves are a pain when you're sewing them on normal fabric (on a sewing machine...my preferred mode). This oughta be good for a laugh.

I've already mentioned to him that he doesn't ever have to wear it in public.

A Little Something I Whipped Up

For a while now, I've been looking for something to hold my ebony Lantern Moon Sox Stix. These wonderful little five inch long double pointed needles are perfect for socks (which I'll get around to making some day) and they're just darn pretty. They've been in the cute little plaid organza bags they originally came in since I bought them (well, they've been out a few times when I've attempted to knit in the round with size 0 needles, but other than that...). All six sets were in the luggage that didn't arrive with me in Pittsburgh. That was scary.



Now they have a home.



Don't they look all warm and cozy nestled in their new little case? Very snuggly.



I think I may have hit on something. I've been off my game when it comes to creating new stuff lately. Not that this is a far cry from the crochet hook case really, but there was some different dimensions at play here. I think it worked out pretty well. I used fabric I don't really like too much, though, and might have to make a prettier one now that I have it down (nailed it on the first try, by the way!).



This success leads me back to the ill-fated circular needle case. I have half a prototype in an absolutely horrendous combination of scrap fabric. It works in theory, but I have to put a real one together. This one, I think, is going to be almost labor-intensive enough to be not worth making a lot of them.



Much easier to make are the originals, the cases for the twelve inch single points. Mine is below. I don't know how many I actually made before I decided on the fabric to make my own. These aren't like the bags. You only really need one. Unless, of course, you have a complete set of ten, twelve, and fourteen inch needles. Maybe I'll just work on that.



Hmmm...There's a couple missing...Fancy that!



One of these days, I'll pick fabric and make myself a crochet hook case. That will give me an excuse to rustle up more Brittany black walnut hooks.

So Close

I almost made it. The pieces of the sweater are all knitted and blocked...ready to go. I picked up stitches for the neck and they actually look good for the first time ever. Unfortunately, something went horribly awry and the neck is very small. Not sure what happened, but I have to take them out and fix it. Then I can sew the shoulder, put the sleeves on, and sew the sides. I've got two weeks, why not?

Easy as Pie

Ryan made me take a picture of the pie I made for dinner the other night. I think it's a little messed up. The red smeared a little and the apples are kinda crooked. At any rate, he thought it was pretty awesome.


It's actually pretty easy. You just cut out apple shapes from the top crust with a cookie cutter and paint a couple of them with food coloring. No big deal, but people are often overly impressed by this for some reason.

What they should be impressed by is trying to take a picture of a flaming pan of bananas. That takes skill. It's a little blurry. I'll have to keep practicing.

26 Feet

The t-shirt quilt is finally complete. After quilting it on the floor (see below) and re-doing the binding (thus the name of this blog...I had to hand stitch approximately 26 feet of binding) it is done.


My students know that I go out of my way to avoid hand stitching. I go to extremes, actually, to avoid it. Further proof that I love this man. He's very happy with the finished product.


Hopefully, this will keep him warm while he's away. Next stop, sweater.