The Giraffe Purse is to die for

Hi. How ya been? Have a good Christmas? Our Christmas was a great, whirlwind. That's what happens when you have lots of family close by, friends in town, and special birthdays to celebrate. Joy #1's sweet 16 was special. She was spoiled rotten not only by me but by others who love her. I'm waiting to get the photos back from my friend who was the photographer for the evening. I knew I wouldn't get many pictures so I made sure someone would! I will write out a full post later so I can remember the night and how much fun we had. Here's a shot. You can't tell but she is opening a beautiful, diamond, snowflake necklace from my brother and sister in law.

Last night I met Leah (from Knitting Giraffe) and her mom in Shawnee Mission. She is in town for the holidays and I was lucky enough to get to meet her for coffee. We knit and chatted and it was nice to be able to sit still for a couple of hours. I'm so glad we were able to meet up. It's fun to meet Internet people! I've now met the Yarn Harlot and Leah. :)

And I've started a new project. A Noro Scarf out of the Noro Cash Island. It is so soft, must be the cashmere. :) I'm not much of a scarf knitter but this one is moving along. It's the yarn.

Thank You Santa!

A stocking full of Noro Cash Island.

Thing that I've really enjoyed this Christmas

I can only remember one Christmas that stressed me out and I felt like I couldn't get anything done. It was a few years ago and if I remember correctly the holiday fell on a weekend. I was jiped of those extra weekend days to get shopping and baking done. Thank goodness Christmas falls in the middle of the week this year.

I am really enjoying this holiday season this year. I don't know if it is because Joy #1 is jazzed up for her birthday or if it's because I'm sharing it with you all. This year I've done some additional stuff that I feel is extra and I do if I want to. Now I'm wondering if these things should be manditory and the rest is extra.

Example A: Christmas Cards. I have never sent out Christmas cards, EVER. Shame on me I know but I've never been a great card sender. I've always thought that this was time consuming, expensive, and a pain. Guess what!? It's not! I had so much fun putting the cards together, addressing them, and putting a surprise inside. I don't know if I got everybody I should have but when people popped in my head they went on the list.

Example B: Giving gifts and tokens to neighbors. I knitted a special hat for my neighbor who does more yard work in my yard than I do. He techinically isn't my neighbor since he doesn't live next door. His mom lives next to me and he comes over and takes care of her yard and throws mine in when he can. The fun of this gift is that he was not expecting it. I love giving gifts to people who you wouldn't (or I wouldn't) normally give to. I also gave baked goodies to his mom and my other neighbor across the street.

Example C: This is another example of giving a gift to someone who doesn't expect one. My mailman. I remember my mom used to always give our mail carrier fudge. It was the norm and somehow we've (I've) gotten away from the norm. I put a card thanking him for delivering even when we don't shovel or get rid of our ice very well and when the dog barks at him. He also got a package of baked goodies. It was so much fun to think how shocked he was at our package. I've lived there 7 years and have always had the same mailman. He wasn't expecting anything from me. Trust me.

I hope you all are having as merry a season as I am. And if not...go find someone who looks wipe out and buy them some coffee. Then you'll find the merry that I've got!

Gearing Up

Behind the scenes...getting things done...

• Ski mask knit for the boy CHECK (pictures later)
• Another mitten on the needles CHECK
• Christmas baking CHECK
• Most presents purchased CHECK
• Christmas Eve party planned CHECK

Still need to do

• Wrap Presents
• Tie up loose end for Sweet 16 party
• Finish up Holiday Cards

I love the holidays! I think it's because I don't stress out easily. Merry Christmas and I plan on photographing the recent knits soon!

Grandma's Snowflake

Many years ago at a Christmas party my grandmother gifted several crocheted snowflakes to whoever wanted one. My grandma has created a large family ( 6 children, 19? grandchildren, more great-grans than I can count!). Obviously, she doesn't gift to everyone, that would be insane. Instead she would make something or give out calendars. I have always treasured the snowflake.

This year when putting up the tree I pondered Grandma's snowflake. Hmm, I wondered if I could find a pattern and make my own snowflake. That same week, Colleen at my knit night brought us a snowflake crochet pattern. Her timing couldn't have been more perfect!

Let it Snow Doily by Susan Lowman; AuntLydia's bamboo crochet thread natural (Sorry for the blurry photo)

I have made 2 snowflakes so far. I'm not sure how many more are in my future. This snowflake thing was harder than I thought! Crocheting into tiny stitches was not soothing. The second went much faster/better. And thank goodness, once you get them wet and block them everything smooths out and it looks like a snowflake!

Grandma's snowflake browned with age.

Thanks for coming by. I'm enjoying blogging through the holidays. Someday when I'm older and have forgotten the little things I hope to look back and remember.

Random knitting

I had a little bit of Telemark still left after crocheting the scarf so I decided to make a cowl.

I'm almost out of yarn (since I don't stash) and am out of ideas of things to knit. I will be at a conference Thursday and Friday will ample knitting time. I guess I'll need to start something new. Another pair of mittens?

2 More extra knits down

I finished up Tess's mitered mitts Friday evening.
I'm dreaming about another pair of these in Noro. How many mittens do I really need? I've only have 4 pairs. Last year I knit 10 pairs of mittens. I was shocked when I looked at my Ravelry notebook and saw that I have made 10 in 2008, though I only kept 1, so far this year. There are still a few weeks left in 2008.

I also whipped out this scarf.
I've been dreaming about making this scarf. It's crocheted using several balls of Knit Picks Telemark. It is hard to get a good picture of this scarf, not that I usually take good pictures but this one looks great in person.

I made it with the intention of keeping it. However, as I was working on it I decided I'd take it to our ladies holiday party tonight. We do a gift exchange/steal game at our party so I may just choose my own gift, unless there is something better I want!

I had a little amount left of the Telemark so I started a cowl. Never not knitting around here. :)



PS) Did you know there are only 10 days until Christmas? Isn't that crazy!?

Christmas Traditions

A long time ago I told you about Joy #1 and my Christmas stockings. Remember? Well, to refresh the newcomers, Joy #1 and I are both born in December. We were also born at the same hospital. Actually all 3 of us were born at the same hospital but just Joy 1 and I in December. I digress...The hospital gives every baby born in December a stocking that is big enough for the baby to fit in. It is so sweet to see a tiny newborn in the stocking. I came home in my stocking and so did Joy #1. We use our hospital stockings every year. There has never been another stocking for me or Joy #1. These are very special to us.

Joy #2 was born in February therefore he did not have a hospital stocking. He uses a stocking my mom made and gave us many years before he was born. It is a cute little stocking but he's always been kinda bummed that he didn't have a hospital stocking. I think it's because you can get a whole lot in our stockings.

Well, this year when I was getting out our stockings I had an idea. Why not make Joy #2 a stocking to match our hospital stockings? I don't know why I've never thought about it before. What a simple solution!

So I did!

I love the way it turned out. I think the green is masculine. I am going to wait to put it up on Christmas eve though. I think he'll be surprised and appreciate it more if I wait. I love it when my ideas turn out!

Succeeding & Exceling

I am doing really well completing my Christmas knitting! I have 2 knitting lists, the have to finish as a gift and the wouldn't it be nice to make lists. Well, I am proud to say that I have completed the first "need to get done list" and have moved on to the "wouldn't it be nice" list!





Must Knit for Christmas:

• 3 pairs of knucks
• Joy #2 socks
• Sweet 16 sweater
• Hat for neighbor-Jacques Cousteau Hat

The wouldn't it be nice list has only item on it right now. That is the beauty of the wouldn't it be nice. When I finish one, then I think about another and jump right in.

Wouldn't it be nice to knit:

• Mitered mittens for Tess (business partner) in progress
• What ever else I feel like making and gifting :)

Someday I'll have to get back to the Ivy League Vest. I'm loving the quick projects right now! I hope you all are having as good a luck with your Christmas knitting and crafting!

Trying not to brag

My birthday was great! My girl went out of her way to make my day special. We had planned to have tea and presents when I got home yesterday evening. She had the table set with the good china, had the water boiling for the tea, and even made me a cake. Joy #1 made the best egg nog cake ever. Very moist and delicious. I've never even heard of an egg nog cake but she saw it as a footnote in the cookbook and decided to give it a try. Yum.

I received many lovely gifts yesterday which was a nice surprise! I received a poinsettia, 2 books: Tales of Beedle the Bard & Harry, A History (love), a warm and beautiful robe, bookstore gift certificate, a Dora the explorer video (Joy #1 is soooo funny), and beautiful handmade cards from my friend Bonnie. This is the second year Bonnie has made me cards and she out did herself this year. They are so beautiful!

Gayle & Del out did themselves too! Gayle asked for my grocery shopping list and did my grocery shopping to include putting the groceries away for me. She said they were trying to give practical gifts this year. She saved me at least 1 hour if not more of my time this week! Awesome. My mom also gave me a meal from Social Suppers. Having dinners ready and planned will be so nice the next couple of weeks!

Ok, so maybe I did brag a little. Only on the people who were kind to me on my birthday and made it special! Thank you Janai, Donnie, Mom, Del & Gayle, Toby & Jenni, Bonnie, Debbie, Wendy, Bob, and Tess. I love you, too!

For unto us a child was born

ME!

Today is my birthday. I started celebrating yesterday with lunch with my mom and business partner. Today I will have lunch with my dad, drop in on "The Party of the Season" hosted by MidAmerican bank, and then plan to have tea and open presents with my Joy's before bible class tonight.

I'm guessing that I won't get much work done today.

Thank you to everyone who has sent me notes via facebook, ravelry, and email.

And a SUPER, HUGE THANK YOU to Debbie who gave me a subscription to Interweave KNITS. It is most appreciated and I think we should make the holly mittens.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

We put up the tree last night. I am so glad to have it up. I used to never put my tree up before my birthday. That was before I had a Christmas loving fool in the house. Joy #1 LOVES Christmas. Not only is it her birthday but she loves everything that comes with it. She has been listening to Christmas music since November 1st. I tried to ban it before Thanksgiving with very little success. Enthusiasm like hers is catchy and now, we put up the tree as soon as we can and we always go with a real tree.

Santa & Mrs. Claus were made for me by a lady a church. I love these! Every year I get them out and marvel at the detail and gush about them to my kids. She crocheted the outfits. Beautiful!

This corner of the the living room is my new favorite knitting spot. I have a great view of the tree and I can sneak some chocolate out of the advent envelopes if I want! :)

Merry Christmas!

Holiday Parade

The back seat driver My "Chauffeur" Ms. Debbie is the president of the Women's Division of the Chamber of Commerce.
I glammed it up! Thanks to my friend Andrea who lent me the fur.

The"celebrity and driver"

Shh...don't tell anyone but I have never been to our town's holiday parade. It's dark and cold! This year was fun though. The fur and car kept me warm. :) It was a nice time with entertainment and a tree lighting ceremony. Plus free hot chocolate and fireworks. I'm glad we went and Debbie was very nice to not only be my driver but decorate her car and dress up.

Up too early

Joy #1's alarm went off at 5 somthing this am. It is Saturday. She spent the night at a friends. Now I am up.

Randomly here is what is going on in my life or mind.

• It's too dark here to take a picture of the hat I'm working on. I'm using black patons yarn and I'm knitting up the Jacques Cousteau .
• The coffee is ready but I don't want to go to the kitchen to get it.
• Our tree isn't up yet. I'd like to get it this weekend. I used to never put up a tree before my birthday (December 10) but now I do.
• I am training this weekend and a couple of days next week to work at the local ski resort. The one I talked about last year. This year I am working there and getting the awesome ski discount! Not for me but for Joy #2.
• I get to be in a parade this evening. As business woman of the year, I was asked to be in the holiday parade. It is themed Hollywood Celebrities. I am just gonna glam it up and the president of the women's division of the chamber is going to be my driver and dress up like a chauffeur.
• I've not done any Christmas shopping yet. I'm actually thinking about hitting this pawn shop in town to see if they have an electronics my kids are wanting. I've shopped thrift but not pawn. It should be interesting.
• I hope you all have a great weekend!
• Bloglines is down until tomorrow so if you post I may not know.

So helpful

Photo from the weekend. Cousins making rootbeer at our annual "BratFest"

My little Joy's are very different when it comes to Christmas time. Joy #1 is very specific. She wants to make gift giving as easy as possible for me so mid November she emailed me her Christmas wish list that included pictures and links to retailers that stocked what was on her list. Nowadays, I find web addresses for places like Aeropostle, Abercrombie, PacSun, etc in my drop down menu. If I click to the store guess what!?! The shopping cart is all ready filled and if I so chose I could click, click and buy Joy #1 a few gifts. E commerce these days saves your shopping cart for almost 30 days.

She is so subtle.

On the other hand, Joy #2 hasn't made a Christmas wish list in years. I know in general what he would like but he never directly says,"This is what I want for Christmas." Usually, I have to prod him. Would you like this? How about this? Lucky for him I know just what he'd like. Handknit socks and mittens! Oh and maybe some tools.

Happy December!

Thank you all for your congratulations. It was great to get so many nice comments in my inbox. We had a lovely Thanksgiving holiday. I was off for 4 days and did very little housework but lots of visiting with friends and family and a bit of holiday crafting.

A few months ago I mentioned working on an advent calendar. Well, thanks to my mom who helped me at Thanksgiving it is complete! And just in time to since today is the first day.

Joy #1 asked me what I was going to put in the little envelopes and I said, "Funny sayings, inspirational messages, stuff like that." She looked at me very seriously and said, "If there is anything in them besides candy I will cry."

So I guess they aren't old enough to enjoy inspirational messages. Candy it is.

I am almost done with the Slytherin socks too. Have I told you how awesome they are?

I have one more snake to duplicate stitch and then the toe and they are finished.

Once these are done then I can start adding more items to my holiday knitting! These and the Knucks were "must knit" items. Anything else will be gravy.

No autographs please. Well ok maybe just a few...

Yesterday, I received a huge shock and honor! I was named Leavenworth-Lansing 2008 Business Woman of the Year via the ATHENA award.

My mom, me, Joy #1

I didn't know I was up for the nomination. 8 women in my area were nominated and I was selected. Turns out 4 people wrote recommendation letters on my behalf. The award is presented at our annual "ATHENA" luncheon. I went in like normal. Visiting with folks, laughing, overloading my plate at the buffet and in general enjoying myself. We had a great program with a woman who did a living history presentation by being Amelia Earhart (she was born in the next town over). Her presentation was so interesting and she stayed in character the whole time. I love "living history".



After the speaker, it was time to name the award winner. I had my back to my table so I couldn't see the faces and chatting going on behind my back. Then they started saying all these wonderful things about the award winner (they say the name at the very last to enhance the surprise). Honest, hard working, warm, friendly, sincere...dedicated to our town and it's revitalization...Lion's club member, volunteers at her church...at that point I thought hmm...then they said single mother....




I turned around at look at my table mates and my friend Andrea popped up a camera to get my expression. Then I knew for sure and turned around quickly so she couldn't capture the tears welling up only to see Joy #1 pop up behind me. And that was it...I started fighting back tears and kinda stopped listening to the speaker waiting for my name. He continued on "mixture of Dave Ramsey and Betty Crocker"... "Jennifer Brenneman".





It was overwhelmed, excited, and proud all at once. Grinning ear to ear I hugged Joy #1 and my business partner Tess, then made my way through the crowd to accept my award. When I got to the podium I saw my family standing in the very back. They were waiting in the hall, hiding from me. I rambled something off in the way of an acceptance and told the audience that if they wanted a full speech they should have given me a heads up so I could have prepared something.



I did thank Tess and my family and my opening line was, "They said I was humble but...I have a speech prepared...no no just kidding I am totally shocked." That is all I can remember of what I said. Thankfully, they had written down all the nice things they said so I could go back and reread it (since I stopped listening half way through).



I was truly surprised. I am honored, but I am also very proud.



At 17, I had a beautiful girl. At 21, I had a handsome son. At 23, I graduated from college. At 27, I got my CPA. At 27, I opened my own accounting firm. And at 32 I received the ATHENA award. God is good.

Show off

Here is my new wool skirt I made. Like the thumb print on the picture?

And these socks are going to be soooo awesome. It will be sad if they only last a month! But I knew that going in...

This project is the first time I've tried to do duplicate stitching. Mine isn't the best but it'll work. I'm getting ready to duplicate stitch a snake on the foot. I think that one will go a bit better. Joy #2 is going to love these socks. I'm kind of surprised he hasn't said anything about them considering I've now measured his foot 3 times and I've knit them sitting right next to him.

Knucks #3. These are more green than in the pictures. Man my photography skills stink today. These are waiting on some embroidery too! Just like the other pair...

Another one of THOSE weekends

If all goes well I will:

• Embroider those mittens and then they will be finito
• Sew a wool skirt (fabric from the lovely thrift LAC)
• Do some laundry
• Minimal housework
• Watch Twilight
• Christmas crafting?
• Work on the slytherin socks that I can barely put down. These are going to be so awesome.

I know people who are overcommitted up to their eyeballs. I am so glad that I learned early on what was extra, busy stuff and what was neccessary; what was fun and the pleasure of not being so busy I couldn't enjoy my home or family. And now I'm reaping the rewards! Home life, weekends filled with only what I want to do, and the peace of not running around with my head cut off. Life is sweet.

Driving Joy #1 nuts

This is driving Joy #1 nuts!! And has for months now...

Not just him alone. That hair! For myself, ehh it's just hair. And I am convinced that anyone who can, will grow a huge afro if not once a few times in their lives.

I do prefer it when he just lets it dry curly and doesn't brush it out.

I found this picture from Feb. 2008. He definitely goes to extremes.

I'm on my final Knuck! Just added the thumb and it is all downhill from here!

The Lovely Scarf

Barb gifted me some lovely yarn this summer and with it I made this lovely scarf.

I used the chevron scarf pattern from Last minute knitting gifts. It was the perfect choice for this yarn. Grace is a blend of blue, greys, purple, and a bit of orange. It is a bamboo blend so it feels silky. Very lovely.

It did take me awhile to knit. I kept this project in the car at the beginning of the school year so I could work on it while waiting to get the kids from school. Then I would work on it in between other projects when I wanted something simple or transportable. I finally finished it after taking it to a conference where I knit on it all day! I was surprised when I got home to find out that I was still a few inches shy of 77 which is what this pattern calls for. I cranked out a couple more inches and then blocked it. Blocking allowed it to grow to 88 inches! I am able to wrap it around my neck a few times which is perfect.

I love this knit. Thank you Barb for picking me up some great yarn. Your kindness and generosity is something I'm trying to imitate.

Santa's Workshop

Knucks #2 are done! These one's will be my favorite. I like the charcoal color and they look very manly. Perfect for Joy #2. The final pair will be on the needles shortly. I've had a hard time taking pictures. Even though I've been working on them in the open, I don't want to ask anyone to try them on for fear of questions. I shouldn't be afraid though, I measured Joy #2's foot a few days ago. He was sitting in a chair, playing Runescape on the computer. I just walked up and measured not saying a word and neither did he. Either he knew what I was doing or he was so engrossed in his game he did not care. Once again, everyone is desensitized to my knitting and it is working out in my favor.

PS, Like the new blog look?

Small stuff

I finished up a few things in the past couple of days. Well mostly finished!

Thursday I realized that amid all my planning for my niece's birthday knits that I forgot her mom's birthday knits. My sister's birthday is Nov 10th and I always make her something. Well, always as in the last 4 years. :) Unwilling to let my sister down with a store bought gift I casted on for the Ellen cowl using wool of the Andes pumpkin.

It's hard to tell by the picture but there is lacework between cables. I worked the stitch pattern until ran out of yarn. I think I wound up with one extra repeat of the pattern. The cowl is very warm. Now I know why everyone and their mothers are knitting up cowls this season!

Next, I jumped into Knucks number one. This pair is going to Shelby our neighbor. They are completed except for the embroidery. I think I will wait until 3 pairs are knit before I add the embroidery. I pushed myself to get these done. Knitting these will be not my most favorite knitting but they will produce great gifts. Anything with fingers is fiddly and with one pair down (not that they take much time) I feel confident I'll get the rest finished up by next week. All pairs will be knit with knit picks Telemark, my all time favorite mitten yarn. I used royal heather colorway for this pair.

Here's hoping continued success for my Christmas season knitting! Which needs to be over by December 1 cause I have too many other things to do in December!

Oh No He's Just Like Me...

When I was in the seventh grade we were told that we could choose elective classes. Classes that you could take for a semester that was out of the ordinary. I remember we could choose from newspaper, pottery, some type of gym class, choir things like that. I happily signed up for pottery, newspaper, archery, and whatever else was interesting. Anything and everything but choir. Imagine my shock when my third semester elective was choir. I tried to explain to the choir director that there was a mistake and I was not supposed to be in her class, I didn't sign up for it. That was the year that I found out that "elective" in the public school means that they will put you where ever they want to and they don't care what you signed up for.

I did the only thing I could do. I refused to sing. They could force me into that class but they couldn't force me to sing. I sat there quietly, not doing anything the whole hour. I was boycotting the class and doing my best to let the powers that be know that I was not a mindless student that they could just put anywhere.

Needless to say, I was not the teacher's pet and it probably upset her more than anything by not singing. I was sent to the office once and explained my position. I don't really remember how that went. I just remember that it did not convince me to sing. The sad part is that I still feel righteous indignation toward the whole incident and still feel that I was right.

Today I got an email from Joy #2's choir teacher today saying that he was getting a detention for disrupting the class and not "being on task". When I questioned him after school he basically said, "Choir is stupid, I didn't even want to take the class and I've been trying to get out of it for 2 weeks." He might of even said that something along the lines of he shouldn't be forced to take an elective he wasn't interested in. Eek!! I went on to tell him that he should just suck it up, behave and get through the class the best he can, it's only a few more weeks. His response was, "They can make me sit there but they can't make me sing."

Oh no! I feel like I'm about to relive 7th grade choir all over again. And I haven't even told him my story! Calgon take me away....

Akastasia crafting

I am going with our youth group to another youth rally this weekend, Akastasia. Why it is called Akastasia no one of our group really knows. We will be traveling up to Omaha, NE for the weekend and in addition to normal packing I need to figure out what crafting I should take.

Youth rally's are the perfect time to get some handwork in. I usually sit in the auditorium most of the day visiting with other parents or listening to the lesson and worship. I will meet up with several friends this weekend who will bring along their handwork too, so we make a nice little sewing/crochet/knitting circle.

My plan is to take the chevron scarf that I started at the beginning of the school year. It is a beautiful scarf made with Briar Rose yarn gifted from Barb. This project was my knit in the car while waiting for kids project or in between other projects. It has seen very little knitting since September. We have the timing down pretty good now with school pick ups and haven't had any in between time.

I also thought I may take my embroidery for the advent calendar but I'm not sure I'd really work on it. Knitting is so easy to pick up and put down I'd probably just stick to it.

***
I bought a spaghetti squash to cook for tonight. I've never made spaghetti squash. I looks easy enough but I'd love a really good recipe. If I want the kids to jump in and love it I probably should serve more than just the squash with butter. Any recommendations?

Christmas List

I've been looking at my Ravelry queue and checking it twice. Since my main gifts for family will be jelly and marigold related I don't have much Christmas knitting. Or so I though. I don't usually knit Joy #1 or #2 anything for Christmas but I think that it is time to start a new tradition of handmade.

Joy #1 is getting her birthday sweater (which still needs buttons sewn on). Her birthday is on Christmas but that isn't Christmas knitting, it's birthday knitting.

Both kids have requested knitted items over the past couple of months just in passing. Joy #1 wants a pair of knucks. Actually Joy #1 and the girl across the street both want a pair of knucks. I had almost forgotten about the request until I remember that I ordered the yarn for not just 2 pairs of knucks but 3. I thought Joy #2 would like them too. So I will be knitting up 3 pairs for the holidays. Doable yes, but I don't usually enjoy knitting the same thing over and over again. I'll have to push through this one for the greater good.

Joy #2 requested a pair of socks. I was unsure at first because I know these socks will only last a month or more because he is so hard on socks and with his wide feet it would take some fiddling to get the right fit. I trolled around ravelry and found some I could get excited about. Slytherin house socks. I have Charmed Knits already and they have the pattern already worked out to fit wide men's feet. I was kind of torn between gryffindor socks or slytherin. Everyone wants to believe that they are Gryffindor and yes there are 2 gryffindors that live in my house but Joy #2 is just Slytherin through and through. Being in Slytherin house is not bad, I mean Snape turned out... well I won't go into it in case you haven't read all the harry potter books. Needless to say I'm making slytherin socks and they are green with silver stripes which will go with more things than gold and crimson.

I'm also inspired to make some Holiday decorations. I've seen some really cute stuff out there in blogland. Easy and nice. I usually don't decorate anything but the tree. But this year I'm thinking of creating a winter forest and maybe even sending Christmas cards! That will shock everyone!

No redos

I have such few bad days that when I have one it ALL goes to pot. Here are some highlights from my day...

• Car accident in front of my house right before school/work(we were not involved as we were still in the house) It was high drama, school bus and another vehicle. No major injuries though just cuts and bruises.
• Joy #2 got suspended for 2 days and it is all his fault and it could have all been prevented had he used the brains God gave him.
• A car turned right in front of me and I had to actually turn the corner to avoid being hit.
• Our cell phone bill is outrageous and we've done nothing different. I really think they've screwed up our bill but dealing with phone companies was something I couldn't do nicely today.
• Joy #1 & #2 got into a fight and #2 looks like he has a broken finger. Long story involving a hot head and a Longaberger plate, let's just say #2 started it #1 finished it.
• I refused to take #2 to the ER and waited for a nurse friend to get home. It's not broken but banged up really bad and he won't be able to use it for awhile. It's all swollen and bruised.

I am going to spend the remainder of my evening hiding in my room drinking tea.

Moving right along to Christmas

The marigold seeds drying on my table seemed a little weird to me at first. It almost seemed like I had crossed some line. I'm not really sure what line that is but I have crossed it. I have a HUGE envelope full of marigold seeds. Enough that I think I could reestablish the earth with marigolds in the event of some marigold disaster.

I can't wait to make up some cute envelopes and spread the Christmas joy via little envelopes of Jennifer's Giant Marigolds.

I finished the Turn the Square hat number 2 for my nephew at college. I am going to go ahead and send it to him in a care package. No point in waiting for Christmas.

And for wondering minds...Yes! 4 inches of afro will fit inside a turn the square hat written as is. Joy #2 is testing the sizing out on his own nogging and afro.

And this..I picked up this project I started earlier this year. It is an advent calendar of sorts. I loved this one so much that I knew we needed one of our own. The hard part will be decided what to put inside. I'm thinking notes, riddles, stuff like that.

And I'm thinking up some creative gifts I want from the Joys! Like a 30 minute sit down dinner every night from Dec 1- Dec 25th where we can open the advent goodies, eat dinner, and just be together without anyone rushing from the table. I hope they buy into it. I can almost hear Joy #1 saying nah, we'll just buy you something from the store. :) Teenagers...

And speaking of children...Joy #2 is in the kitchen cooking up rock candy. Hot boiling sugar water poured into glass jars. Never a dull moment!

Turn A Square one

Turn A Square

Yarn: Noro & Cascade 220 Grey

Modifications: I started out with a cast on of 80 stitches. I read where a few people on ravlery sized down. The next one I will make as written.

For: Joy #2 and now I know why. The Noro went from grey to navy to orangish purple. The rest of the skein is a mix of green, black, and grey which will be better colors for my nephew.

Concerns: It fits me fine and Joy #2 is at school right now so I won't be able to try it on him. My concern is that his afro is so huge that it might not be big enough. It will stretch but seriously that afro is huge! At least I know that when he decides to shave his head (which he always does) it will fit.

Wool wonderful wool

I started a Turn the Square hat last night. Casted on just before bed and I almost couldn't stop knitting. Now if your not a knitter/crocheter my next few statements will sound wacko! I couldn't stop because the fiber felt so good in my hands. I am using Cascade 220 & Noro for this hat. I didn't realize how long it has been since I've knit with worsted weight wool. My Ivy League vest is wool but finger weight wool is so thin you don't really get the "feel" of wool. The other projects over the weekend I used cotton and (gasp) acrylic blend yarns.

There was a feeling of peace, joy, relaxation? while working on the hat. I got it again today. This is my first time using both Cascade & Noro. There will be more Cascade in my future for sure. It's affordable and lovely.

And while I'm confessing all kinds of craziness today, I realized that this hat I'm knitting, which is supposed to be for my nephew, is actually for Joy #2. Does that ever happen to you all? The project changes it mind (or my mind) and becomes destined for another recipient? Initially, I thought I'd make my nephew the hat first and then Joy #2 with the left over yarns. Somehow, I the order is reversed. I'll have plenty for both of them so I'm not sure why I have a strong feeling that this first hat is for Joy #2.

In my normal life, I cooked my first pumpkin of the season last night and roasted its seeds. Now to decided what to make with my pumpkin puree...

I just had to finish something!

I went a little crazy this weekend. I'm a project knitter remember? I love the finished project and the anticipation of finishing something up. Well, my Ivy League is not at the finishing it up stage so I jumped into a project that would satisfy the project knitter in me. Crochet.

In 12 hours I crocheted 4 baby hats and one scarf. And then I knit the final thumb in my mitered mitts. The ones I was going to give away but that I can't know because they are awesome and go perfect with my new scarf. I used Debbie Mumm's Traditions yarn for the scarf and mittens. The yarn was meh to knit with but crocheting was just fine. Which is great because i like the colorways of this yarn. I could crochet more scarfs just like this one if I had more of this yarn.

The mitered mittens remind me of elves. Like real elves not Santa elves. Ok, like storybook elves, I know elves aren't "real". It must be because of symmetry and pointy tip. Or because I've been listening to Brisingr all weekend.