Busy Vacation Week...

Ah, but so relaxing! Christmas Eve was nice - yummy dinner, a super-long parade this year (which came super late - glad we didn't hold dinner until afterwards!) And then once we had the house to ourselves, we opened all of our gifts - including a fun new little camera for me! Of course, then I had to make a felted holder for it (OK, so this is before felting, I the felted picture is still on the camera):



And a little kitty - finally done:

Pattern from here: http://geobabe.livejournal.com/195349.html

I finished Mom's Noro Cashmere Island Scarf:



And did some fun shopping up in NH on Friday with Laurie... it was great to get out of the house. (More spinning/knitting was done, but the gifts aren't given yet...) Traffic was crazy, but we went to The Elegant Ewe and The Yarn & Fiber Company for some fun purchases (including a Flick Carder and a WPI tool for me!)

Gotta go work on my latest project - Forest Canopy Shawl in my hand-dyed yarn that I did at that class at the Yarn & Fiber Co. in September...

5 Days Left? REALLY?

It's funny, sometimes I have years when I do not set foot in a mall during the Christmas shopping season... and this was one of them. I'm really much more relaxed because of it I'm sure. I did go to some stores, some restaurants and I did LOTS of online shopping. Only 2 more packages to arrive (not sure if my UPS/DHL/FedEx guys are loving us at them moment, but hey, it's job security!) from Lands End and Amazon. I'm afraid to see how much I actually spent on Amazon this year - we definitely got our money's worth out of that Prime membership.

I also finally tied the tree to the door right behind it and no tipped tree since (fingers crossed that it is still that way after work tonight!) Knitted gifts? I have a few, and one still on the needles (not sure if that one will be finished, but with a few hours of concentration, I'm sure it can get done.) And next week I'll even have some pictures!

Vacation starts in approximately 32 hours and 15 minutes... not that I'm counting!

Day 4 and the Tree is Still UP

Ah, love that water bottle - now I only have to reach toward it and Oliver runs! And the tree remains up. My hat that I had cast on with my yummy handspun Monday night at our SnB, however, does not remain. Gauge? What's that? This would have been HUGE on me - and yes, it will be for ME! It was tough ripping out the 4 inches I had reached on the train last night. Oh well... it should wait until after Christmas knitting is finished anyway!

Plan for Saturday AM (before the snow comes) - having the new radio installed in the Neon - at least I was able to turn it down last night! I love doing these types of things at the mall with the movie theater... I think it will be The Golden Compass when I am waiting. I miss going to the movies by myself!

The tree is up - for now anyway

Well, Mark found the tree up in the attic, and I put it up around 2:00 yesterday afternoon. Pretty new lights, cool new tree skirt, the few non-breakable ornaments (this is key!) and it stayed up - for about 6 1/2 hours... Oliver climbed up inside and over it went. And you wonder why we don't have a real tree?

He truly had a banner day - I swear I put my knitting away last night. No, really, I did. Guess not! I had a lovely ball of Noro Cashmere Island #2 stretched from up the stairs, through the living room, around the ottomon, over into the dining room, between the chairs and under the table, and finally around into the kitchen where I did locate the rest of the project, luckily still on the needles!

But guess what? The tree was still standing!

How can it be Pearl Harbor Day already?

YIKES! And how is your Christmas gift-making/shopping going? I'm not sure why, but I always get a mental block before my mom's big holiday party - I just can't get much else done until after it's over. It's the same Sunday every year, and I have to make those dozens of undecorated sugar cookies for the kids to load up with sugary stuff. What I don't think she knows is that the recipe is from my first cookbook - 1972 edition of the Betty Crocker Boys and Girls Cookbook - the secret about mine is that I use grated grapefruit rind rather than lemon. It's a very nice party, amazing food, good drinks, some of my friends come, but it's always the lobster scampi that I wait for. I am such a brat when it comes to this - I stand right in the front of the line... it must be the only child in me! Harry makes it so yummy and rich (he adds lots of red pepper and heavy cream and over buttered white toast points) - good thing it's only served once a year or I'd be as big as a house!

I do have a few things on the needles - but I can't talk about them because all of them are gifts! My Ravelry Chevron Scarf is currently taking a breather, but I absolutely love working on it and can't wait for my Christmas knitting and spinning to be done so I can complete it.

Well, break is over and I have to get back to work... more later this month... promise!