Back Online...

Well, sorta. I've been able to get online with various computers here (not my own, of course), but I've been hogging Dad's and for some reason it doesn't like the Blogger cookies, so I haven't been able to sign in. If anyone got any anonymous comments, it was probably me!

Spent yesterday and this morning in Lafayette with various friends from school. I ended up crashing at AF guy's dad's house - he, his sister, his dad, and I all tried to cheer Purdue on to victory in the bowl game last night, but Purdue apparently forgot to show up. We all crashed on their floor. It was great though - I got to see the campus again, and it is absolutely amazing how much has changed and how much has stayed the same! They have completed at least four new buildings (all red brick, of course, nothing else is allowed on campus), and are working on several more! I've only been gone three years! Anyway, it was really cool!

Oh, and whoever the anonymous pusher was who recommended River Knits, you're both my new favorite person and my new most hated person. Not really the second, but my checkbook is complaining (just a little). I stopped by there this morning, just after they opened. I was the first person in the store, but another lady walked in not two minutes later, and after that, it was a steady stream of people in and out. Not only was it super cool to see someone behind the counter close to my own age, knitting mittens on dpns and who actually knew how things roll in Knitland, but the first thing I see:



Yes. Yes, there it was. Right in front of me. My favorite sock yarn EVAR! Bearfoot! And next to it? Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport. And Cherry Tree Hill. And Regia's Bamboo (which is a heck of a lot softer than I expected!) And that was just in the first two steps in! I was good, though, and only stuck to the Bearfoot. Three skeins, but just Bearfoot. They have a GREAT selection there, of all kinds of yarns, from Plymouth Encore to this:




My other, erm, splurge. Cashmere. 100% Cashmere laceweight. In my favorite colors. This, specifically, is Mongolian Cashmere from Jade Sapphire in the Lagoon colorway. Between the beautiful yarn and the scarf they had made from one skein of it (400 yds/skein), how could I say no? I got one skein (I wanted to get three for a shawl so badly, but I really couldn't afford it!) and the pattern for the scarf. I had the girl wind the skein for me, as I'm pretty sure that I will work on this on the plane.

They also have a decent selection of needles, the first time I've ever actually SEEN Lantern Moon Ebony wood needles. Now I get why people drool over them! I did not get a set (I just got the KnitPicks, remember), but I did pick up a US 4 Clover Bamboo circ to work with the cashmere. I figured the super slick KnitPicks and Addis that I have may not be the best match for the cashmere. Sigh. I find this shop NOW, and it's 2500 miles away. Grrr. Luckily, they are online as well!

Other knitting news: All three pairs of clogs are felted,

although Mom's will probably go in for another cycle at least. They're just not felting as small as they need to! It may have to do with the light colored sole and cuff yarn. The soles for hers came in Thursday, so I'm going to spend this afternoon and probably most of tomorrow (while watching the hotly debated Bears-Packers game, I'm sure) sewing soles onto all three pairs. Oh, and I almost had a heart attack the other day. I put Mom's sock in the pocket of my coat to work on in the car on the way to the mall, but I didn't get a chance to work on it. Later, when we got back home, I went to pull it out and...no project bag! No sock, yarn, needles, bag, zip! Nothing in the car, nothing at home...after tearing the house apart (I was actually more ticked about losing the needles, I love US2 Inox), I called the first store we went to. Apparently it had fallen out of my pocket and someone had been a saint and turned it in to lost and found! Yay! When I called the store, I asked the lady if anyone had turned in any half-knit socks. She sounded a little confused, then goes, "Oh, knitting! Yeah, someone turned some knitting in the other day! Blue yarn?" Whew!

Oh, and for the kitty lovers, some new pics of my parents' babies.

They've grown so much! And one of the old ones doing a pretty good job of ignoring them.

This is Scud (named by my brother after the SCUD missiles, she's eight). Fuzz (also named by my brother, no idea what that was from) declined to have her picture taken. I can't wait to see my own TeddieCat again!!

My knitting New Years resolution is to knit from the stash. I am allowing myself one yarn splurge, to get enough yarn for a sweater. I'm not sure precisely what I want for that yet, so I'm waiting until I find The Yarn. (Knowing my luck, it'll be when I find The Guy, too, and I'll have to choose between 'em!) This, erm, DOES include sock yarn this time. I have wayy too much of it and am not knitting it up fast enough!

Merry Christmas!

Okay, this is cool. My dad got a new computer for Christmas and it has a wireless keyboard. I always kind of scoffed at these things, but it's rather nice to be curled up on the couch and typing! No pics in this post, as I've honestly been too busy and thinking of other things than taking pictures, but I'll try to keep it organized as much as possible.

1. Christmas: was wonderful. We always have Christmas Eve with my mom's side of the family. Of course, Santa came that night (after drafting me to help wrap my brother's gifts and some of each of my parents' as well) and left all sorts of goodies for us. The rest of Christmas Day is always spent with my dad's side of the family, who live just down the driveway and across the old orchard from us (it would make sense if you knew this town). My entire extended family lives in the same town, so we don't really have the big family get togethers, but we always have special meals for Christmas. Both days are my favourite times of the year. Christmas is a 48-hour day for us, really.

2. Felted Clogs: went over big time! The guys' are a little big (about an inch, which isn't bad), which is fine. Too big is easily fixable. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get them off their feet long enough to take them through the felting process one more time, let them dry, and get the soles sewn on! They did finally admit that the slippers were pretty slick on the stone tile floor in the kitchen, but they didn't want to take them off and put their feet on the cold floor. Men. Mom's were knitted in time for the holidays, but not felted. She wears a size 8 shoe, which is right in between the women's medium and large sizes. Since the guys' turned out so big, I went with the medium, but want to have her feet around when I felt them so they don't get too small too quickly. I may end up hand felting all three pairs again - they have a pretty powerful washer here. I also ordered the soles for Mom's size (they were out of stock when I ordered the guys'), and I hope they're here by Friday so I can sew them on. If I don't, it'll never get done!

3. Presents: I only got one knitting related gift, but it's still cool! One of my aunts got me both Stitch 'n Bitch and Stitch 'n Bitch Nation! I've had fun flipping through the patterns and tips. I don't really need another "learn to knit book", but it's still fun to get new ideas, and super cool that she thought of that for me! My big present from my parents, though, is that they are going to buy me a new computer! Yay! It would be super awkward to try to ship one back to California, so my mom and I are going computer shopping on Thursday to find the one we like, and then they'll buy it for me once I'm back home. This, my friends, is when it pays to have a mother who is a computer systems admin at a bank! You would think that with as much time as I spend in front of a computer, I would know quite a bit about them, but I don't. I just make up a list of what I'd like to be able to do with the computer, and then Mom goes on the hunt. It's always worked out so far. Other very fun presents include the new Dilbert book, an incredibly comfy zip up hoody sweater, and new Cubs flannel pajama pants!

4. After Christmas projects: I did not bring Rogue with me here, as it's in that bulky sweater stage, but I did bring the Snowdrop Shawl, both parents' socks, and a skein of the SWS. I started, after several ideas, a multidirectional diagonal scarf with the SWS. The denim hasn't been striping for me at all, though, so it's not a particularly interesting scarf color-wise. Still, it might work well as a guy's scarf. We'll see. I've made this scarf before and really enjoyed it (you know me and short rows!) and I love the feel of the SWS, but I have to admit that it doesn't stand up particularly well to frogging and tinking. Mental note to self: next time I buy this, definitely have a project in mind BEFORE I start playing around with it. I've done another repeat on the shawl, and am about half done with the foot of the first of Mom's socks. I'm going back and forth between completely frogging what is done of Dad's sock or just back to the lifeline at the start of the heel. I think I know what is throwing me off with the stupid heel - there's an odd number of stitches! For some reason I just now thought of this. Oh...and I spent my Christmas money on the KnitPicks Options set and one of their US 2 circs. They should be waiting for me when I get home, and I can't wait to play with them!!

I think that's about it. Mom keeps mentioning that I should look around to see if there are any yarn stores that are in the areas we will be shopping in, and if I want to check any out, she'll go with me. I'm not sure whether she is that interested in the knitting or just in finding yarns she likes that she can "request", but either works for me =) I'm going over to Purdue on Friday (I think) to hang out with some friends, including AF guy (we met and dated my sophomore/his junior year there), and hoping to hang out here with Becki and Amanda on Saturday. The kittens are cute as ever, and have been pretty good about the whole Christmas thing, if you don't count trying to use the tree as a vertical racecourse. The older cats still are doing their best to ignore the little ones, and the dog just wants to be petted and played fetch with. I miss my TeddieCat. A lot more than I thought I would. I hope he's doing okay!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday as well! I've seen some of the posts already and it is SO COOL to see how everyone else celebrates, what they have made, and what they have received! Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a good night!

Three Things

1. Seussical is closed! Final performance was this afternoon. It's one of those that it was fun to work on, but we're looking forward to next semester already. I'm doing Barrymore and The Man Who Came To Dinner next semester, and Company and Lifeboat in the summer, with the possibility of calling the Solvang run of Urinetown. I'm also going to try to take a more active role in mentoring and working with the students. I'm looking forward to it.

2. I got this for Christmas! The intern I am teaching to knit spent her downtime during the run of the show crocheting scarves for all of us!! How cool is that?! Mine is a very very soft Moda Dea fuzzy yarn. It's so pretty and warm, I love it! Unfortunately, said intern will not be with us next semester (something about wanting to get married in March. I mean, really, planning your wedding and honeymoon, hanging out with us in the office and backstage, what kind of choice is that? =) ) but we're planting seeds for the summer. I gave her one of my learning to knit books so she can expand a little more if she wants while she's away.

3. Two pairs of clogs are done and felted. These are both men's large size. Getting inspected by the supervisor:

And post felting (note the supervisor still inspecting)
The cuffs on the green ones turned out very differently. I'm not quite sure why. Also, the green ones felted a lot faster than the gray ones, so the grey ones are slightly bigger still. Also, one of Mom's clogs is done:

I love the colors of these (I'm sure you're all shocked). The second one is in my lap waiting for me to figure out how I ended up with the wrong number of stitches on the sole already. I want to get these done tonight so I can felt them in the morning and probably dry them with a hair dryer or something before my flight. I hope the winter storms going through Colorado and all that don't mess up the schedule too badly, but it's not like there's much I can do about it.

Oh, and I did pick up some Patons SWS. My other intern got me fondling it and after checking out various reviews of it, I picked up two skeins in Natural Denim (another shock, huh?). I have to admit it is extremely soft. I started an entrelac scarf with it, then frogged it. Maybe a hat. Dunno yet. Gotta get this clog done first!

Flying home tomorrow! Can't wait for Christmas! I love my family, but on the other hand I can't wait to get back home already. I'm excited about the next semester, I found a taekwondo studio that teaches beginning adult classes starting Jan. 2 (I've always wanted to learn, and it's good practical exercise!), and AF guy is going to come down for a few days while we're both on break. And I already miss my kitty and I haven't even dropped him off yet! He gets mucho snuggles tonight!

Another Monday Adventure!

Cookies! I spent yesterday cleaning and baking and wishing I was knitting. It's a very secret family recipe, handed down from generations. Okay, it's in a very old Pillsbury cookbook that my dad has had for as long as I can remember. It's probably out of print. Dad and I make these every year, without fail. This is the first time I have made them by myself, though. Not that it is a particularly difficult or complicated recipe, but I'm really pleased with how they turned out. Just like Dad's! He's given them away as Christmas gifts before, and everyone has always asked for more. Now I know why. I made about five dozen cookies and brought them in for the cast and crew this afternoon. I'm not sure the cast actually got any, as when I checked them after about an hour, the crew had demolished them and there were only about ten left. Luckily for me, while I enjoy baking them and occasionally nibbling on the dough, I don't really like the cookies themselves, so I don't have to worry about overindulging on these guys.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to make these cookies in real life and not get flour all over creation and back. I don't care what they show you on those cooking shows. Flour for the dough, flour for the rolling board, flour for the rolling pin, flour for the cookie cutters, and then, once you're done with the flour, powdered sugar for the icing! It gets ALL over the place. And, of course, the vaccuum cleaner dies as I'm trying to get the stuff up off the carpet. Completely and totally dead. Grr...granted, it was a very cheap vaccuum, and you get what you pay for, but really, just what I need to do right now, spend more money! But, I can't leave flour and sugar in the carpet, that's just gross. So I run to Target while the dough is chilling and get a new vaccuum (a better one). (Ironically, in what appears to be a dramatic expression of sympathy, Chrissy's vaccuum also died yesterday and she had to get a new one as well. We did not get the same kind for replacements, though, that would just be weird!) Get home, go to roll out the dough, and realize I don't have a rolling pin. It's just not one of those things that I thought I really needed at the time I was stocking my kitchen, I guess. Go back to Target. They are completely sold out of rolling pins. Go to Vons. Same story. Finally I cringe, screw up my courage, and go to Wal-Mart (I really don't like our Wal-Mart). They have two pins left. Sigh. I didn't get to actually start baking the cookies until about 10:00p. I baked them all last night and iced about half of them before conceding defeat, and iced the rest this morning before the show. Now I have to finish cleaning the kitchen counters, do yet another load of dishes, wrap presents, knit Mom's slippers, and felt all three pairs. In between the five shows we're doing between now and Thursday! Oy!

Another Weird Meme from AR

"THE RULES: Each player of this game starts with the "6 weird things about you." People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave a comment that says "you are tagged" in their comments and tell them to read your blog."

Six weird things about me:

1. I still check under the bed before I go to sleep, and always have a dim light on where I can see it from my bed. I blame it on an overactive imagination and watching too many crime dramas.
2. Having a dentist clean my teeth gives me the shivers. The feel of the metal on my teeth, even just the mirror, is like nails on a chalkboard to me.
3. I have a terrible sense of smell. Almost no sense of smell - stuff has to be really strong for me to smell it.
4. I can spend hours on a text-based RPG, but don't generally spend a lot of time on regular graphic video games.
5. I have no problems waiting in airports. Ever. I love people watching, particularly if there are delays. It's fascinating. And, if all else fails, there's always knitting, reading, puzzles and napping on your carry-on bag. I have only lost my temper with anyone while traveling once, and that was some lady who was really being a bitch about a weather delay. Like there's anything anyone can do about the weather.
6. I work on crossword puzzles before I go to bed every night. They relax me, somehow.

2006 Meme

Stolen from AR. Take the first sentence of the first post for each month of 2006. I need to work on opening sentences, wow! You might not even know this was a knitting blog!

January: I have enough sock yarn to make nine and a half pairs of socks this year for the Two Thousand and Socks! KAL RoseByAny (Amie) started over on the KR Forums.

February: Okay, so not really.

March: Just very busy, and don't have internet at home anymore.

April: Borrowed this meme from Cara. Looking down the list, I realize that I can't really think of any books that I WOULDN'T read.

May: Because she's wearing her Jaywalkers!

June: This makes me happy.

July: So Anna opened last night to very positive reviews.

August: I came home from rehearsal uncharacteristically hyper tonight.

September: Dames is OPEN!

October: Guess where I was today?!

November: No Halloween for me this year.

December: Real post to come later, hopefully with pics.

Some success?

The second of Kelly's slippers is almost done. I've been blah and unmotivated and have that almost-but-not-quite-sicky feeling most of this week, which I attribute to lack of sleep and PMS. I don't have much of a voice today, and I'm supposed to call the show tonight. I can do it, it just might be quieter than usual.

I finished another scrap on the Scrap Sock Yarn Log Cabin, as I was using it this week to teach one of my interns to knit. I find it is easiest to show a technique if you are working on something similar, rather than "Well, I'm knitting this so don't pay attention to what I am doing but do yours this way." I gave her some yarn and a pair of US 8 straights, and she's doing pretty well, for the first time she's ever knit. She really likes the look of ribbing, so I might teach her purling tonight. The other one is still in the process of learning entrelac, and I started another Danica that I can follow along with her on. This one is in leftover yarn from Becki's Multidirectional Diagonal Scarf, and is only going to be used as a teaching tool and a scrap user upper. I figured out how she ended up with an odd looking garter stitch. Whoever had taught her to purl actually taught her how to twist a knit stitch, rather than an actual purl stitch. So I had to re-teach her to purl (hmm...remember when I realized that I was purling incorrectly? I could totally empathize with her frustration!) and she's had a little trouble with it, but she'll get it. I think she really likes the idea of short rows; she's started the base triangles on another project already.

I've been thinking about doing another sweater a lot lately. (Darn you, Amie!) I think I know the style I want to make. A long sleeved fitted turtleneck. In red. Because I don't have any red sweaters. I think I might actually know enough to attempt to do this on my own. Maybe. I may have to wait until after Stitches to figure out some of the shaping and decreases, but I can at least get it started, right? After I finish Rogue. In a fit of "oh my god I have to work on something other than slippers and socks" pique last night, I unseamed and frogged back one of the sleeves and added another two inches (12 rows) to the area before I start the sleeve cap. It was actually enormously satisfying. I think it should work fine. My plastic darning needles and scrap yarn pieces have come in awfully handy for lifelines lately. Thread up the needle with the scrap yarn, figure out what row you need to get back to, run the needle and yarn through that row, and frog. Much faster and neater than anything else I've done so far.

I have to leave Teddie for ten whole days while I go home for Christmas. I am going back and forth between boarding him and getting a pet sitter. It would cost about the same, either way. I'm concerned that if I board him, given that I got him from the shelter, that he would think I was abandoning him again, and if I had a sitter check on him, he could stay in his own home, with my scent and stuff around. The pro for boarding is that he would get a LOT more attention there than if I left him at home, even if the sitter checked on him every day, and he loves his attention. Suggestions?

Oh, and check out the Yarn Harlot's new Knitters Without Borders post. It's pretty darn cool. I wonder if there is a way to use Paypal to make a donation, since that is where my "stash" money is?

Another Monday Adventure...(pics!)

How do you and your department spend your days off? We spend ours like this:
at places like this:
And got our pictures taken with cute guys:
Basically, we did a marathon Disneyland day. We drove down Sunday night after the show and got a hotel, then hit the park at 9:00a when the gates opened. We left at 9:15p after the fireworks and got back into Santa Maria around 2:00a this morning. It was Kara's virgin Disneyland trip, so we had to initiate her properly. We hit all the rides, including Space Mountain twice. (Oh my gosh, has that ride changed! It is so fast and cool now!) We shopped and shopped and shopped. (My Christmas shopping is done, but oh, does my charge card hurt - it's going into hiding now until I can get that paid off!) We were able to talk to the stage manager of the Jedi Training Academy show very randomly. Guys in black wearing headsets tend to stick out to people like us, and they were very nice about our sudden attack of questions. And, of course, we finished the day with fireworks, churros, and In-n-Out on the way home. I just had to get a t-shirt with the new Pirates of the Caribbean slogan: The beatings will continue until morale improves. I'm totally wearing it tomorrow to call the show. Chrissy and I did a lot of co-shopping: we both got Princess ears (mine are Pirate Princess ears, of course, her Pretty Princess ears are just a little girly for me), bead-your-own keychains, and stuffed Eeyores. I also got a new zip-up sweatshirt (I really really can't resist those things, it's a sickness) and two t-shirts. Plus my Christmas shopping. It was great!

And, when I got home (granted, I was not conscious enough to appreciate these at the time, but now I am), two envelopes were waiting for me. The first was the Fiber Trends Felted Clogs pattern that I ordered online. Now that I have half of them done already. I'm really really glad that I happened upon the pattern at the LYS - I'd be tearing my hair out at this point otherwise! I have one more men's large to do and then Mom's, and I should be done by this weekend. Anyone interested in buying one of the copies of the pattern from me? Or swapping for something?

The second was my Stitches West confirmation! I didn't get into the finishing class that I wanted, but did get into two basic designing classes and the two-handed colorwork class! I can't wait! I can't wait! By the way, did I mention I can't wait?

Oh, and I turned the heel on the first of Mom's socks. Perfect, the first time. Sigh. Maybe Dad's are just cursed?

Progress!

Christmas gifts: 50% (3 of 6) complete.

Mom's socks: 20% complete

Dad's socks: currently about 23% complete, but will probably get frogged and restarted and given later

Destash: over 50% sold, and I made a new theater-knitting friend, another East Coaster. This one's in costumes. You all seriously need to come out to CA and work. I mean, No Snow - on the coast anyway - what more do I need to say?

Two of my interns have also asked me to do a Knit Night or knitting class of some kind for them. One is the one who is learning entrelac and just needs some help with some of the skills involved. The other crochets but wants to learn to knit as well. I'm pondering. I should do what Suzi did for me - bring her some yarn and a pair of needles and teach her. And I want to, but I've never taught anyone from the basics, just showed stuff like increases and techniques and stuff to people who already have some idea of what I am talking about. Any suggestions?

Destash!

Alright, I'm biting the bullet and destashing. I'm also linking to this post from the KR Forums. Prices are negotiable, and do not include shipping/mailing costs. Prefer Paypal, but will accept personal check in the mail. However, yarn will not be shipped until the check has cleared. Yarns are from a smoke-free home, and stored in plastic containers. I do have a long haired cat and make no guarantees that he has somehow spared this yarn from cat hair when he's gotten it everywhere else.

Yarn: Crystal Palace “Waikiki”
Color: Delphinium (green, blue, purple)
Quantity: 6 skeins (5 full, 1 used and rewound)
Recommended gauge: 5-6 sts/in on US 5-7 needles
Yardage: 105 yds/50g skein
Fiber: 62% viscose, 38% cotton
Comments: almost a boucle. The colors are great, and I had no problems with the yarn, but am not going to make that project anymore and have no other use for it. Handwash or dry clean.
Price: $9.00/skein, $50 for the lot

Yarn: KnitPicks “Simple Stripes”
Color: Vineyard (brown, tan, white, purple), Sweet Tarts (white, blue, green, pink) (both colors discontinued)
Quantity: 2 skeins each color
Recommended gauge: 7-8 sts/in on US 1-3
Yardage: 231 yds/50g skein
Fiber: 75% superwash wool, 25% nylon
Comments: self-striping sock yarn, not in my normal color scheme, machine washable
Price: $2.50/skein, $5.00 for each color set, $10.00 all 4 skeins

Yarn: Schoeller and Stahl “Fortissima Colori Socka Color”
Color: 4010 Graffiti (blues, green, white)
Quantity: 2 skeins
Recommended gauge: 23 sts/10 cm US 3
Yardage: 125 m/50g skein
Fiber: 75% superwash wool, 25% polymide
Comments: self-striping sock yarn, machine washable
Price: $5.00/skein, $10.00 both

Yarn: KnitPicks “Alpaca Cloud”
Color: Stream (heathered blue)
Quantity: 1 skein
Recommended gauge: Lace Weight
Yardage: 440 yds/50g skein
Fiber: 100% baby alpaca
Comments: very soft lace weight, hand wash, enough for a scarf
Price: $3.00/skein

Yarn: KnitPicks “Shimmer”
Color: Morning Mist (grey, white, blue)
Quantity: 1 skein
Recommended gauge: lace weight
Yardage: 440 yds/50g skein
Fiber: 70% alpaca, 30% silk
Comments: hand wash, enough for a scarf
Price: $4.00/skein

Yarn: KnitPicks “Shine” (now “Shine Sport”)
Color: Violet
Quantity: 6 skeins
Recommended gauge: 6 sts/in. on US 3-5
Yardage: 110 yds/50g skein
Fiber: 60% pima cotton, 40% modal
Comments: very bright bold purple, more grape colored than in picture, very soft cotton, very pretty but doesn’t work with my skin tone like I thought it would, machine washable
Price: $2.50/skein, $15 for all

Yarn: KnitPicks “Sock Landscape” (discontinued)
Color: Spring Prairie (yellow, green magenta, purple) and Cape Cod (dark green, tan, brown, grey, navy)
Quantity: 2 skeins each color
Recommended gauge: 7-8 sts/in on US 1-3
Yardage: 192 yds/50g skein
Fiber: 100% merino wool
Comments: hand wash, enough for a pair of women’s socks each color, or a small felting project
Price: $2.50/skein, $5.00/color pair, $10.00 for both pairs

Yarn: KnitPicks “Parade”
Color: Blues (light blue, medium blue, dark blue, white, grey) (discontinued)
Quantity: 2 skeins
Recommended gauge: 7-8 sts/in on US 1-3
Yardage: 137 yds/50g skein
Fiber: 75% superwash wool, 25% nylon
Comments: machine washable, soft, self-striping
Price: $2.50/skein, $5.00 pair

Okay, the real post (lots of pics)

So, first off, this was my accomplishment for the day:

I'm excited, it's my first "real" Christmas tree. It doesn't have my family ornaments on it, of course, those are at my parents house and I feel they should be on that tree there until I start having Christmases in my own home with my own family. For those that voiced their concerns and good wishes, if you look closely in the bottom left, you'll see:

The vet says he's okay. He didn't hear anything strange in the breathing - since Teddie only makes the noise when he's very relaxed or asleep, and shows no signs of actually being out of breath, the vet feels it may be a kitty version of snoring. I'll definitely keep an ear on it, though. The blood in the litter box is more worrisome, and he's on antibiotics to fight any possible infections he may have. Since he's exhibiting no other symptoms there either, they feel it is just a simple infection, possibly brought on by the roundabout exposure to Chrissy's kitty, who also just got diagnosed with a cold. We'll try the antibiotics and see if that helps. Meanwhile, if you saw me at the vet, you'd think I'd been torturing the poor cat, the way he cries in his carrier. I kept getting the strangest looks from other people. Sigh. They say pets are like kids - now I know how all those mothers of crying babies feel! Teddie has, by the way, shown no interest in the Christmas tree, other than sleeping under it. There are some familiar faces on the tree, though:

You may remember these guys from last year.
These are the stockings I made last year from the patterns at Annie's Woolens. The snowman one is stranded, the holly one is woven, a la the Philosopher's Wool method. They were supposed to be Steve and I's stockings. Well, now they're both mine and I'm using them on my tree. So there. *pbbbt*



More current knits include these:

Dishcloths and unfelted clogs. The observant among you will note that the clogs are obviously not from the same pair. The green is one of Kelly's, the grey is one of Dad's. The reason for that being that Katie can't read (again!) and ordered the wrong amount of wool in each color to make a second one of Kelly's clogs to match the first. I also made the same mistake with Mom's, and ended up ordering more wool since white slippers with blue trim, in a house with these three:

plus two more cats won't stay very pretty for very long. I do, however, have enough of the colors of Dad's to make a full pair, although the colors are inversed of what I had originally said they would be. The very observant will also note that the multicolored dishcloth is not knit. It's crocheted. I finally bit the bullet and learned. It's okay. Crochet does go faster, but to me it's a clunkier looking fabric. I'd definitely be interested in doing an afghan with it at some point, though.

Just a side note on the clogs, I still haven't received the pattern I ordered online. The KnitPicks yarn arrived on Friday. I placed the order on Tuesday. This is why I like KnitPicks, no matter what other people say. So, how did I start working on the clogs already? I happened to find the pattern at my LYS on a random stroll-by Friday. Apparently the LYS *is* good for something, who knew?

And, finally, the pretty blue socks are for Mom. I started them tonight. I can only do chunky knitting for so long, and I love this yarn. I'm doing these cuff down, since her feet are only very slightly smaller than mine. I'm also thinking about doing Dad's socks cuff down as well. His first sock, aka the bane of my sock knitting existence, is this one:

There's a lifeline in the sock at 8.5" from the toe from the amount of times I've frogged the stupid heel. I'm seriously considering frogging the whole thing and doing them cuff down so I can do a flap and gusset heel on them as well. I think Dad would like the look of that type of heel better, anyway. They just might not get their socks in time for Christmas. The clogs will be done, though. It takes me a little over a day to make one of the men's large size. They are an easy knit, although I have to admit that the short row shaping on the soles gets wearing fast.

I've introduced one of my interns to Danica. She wanted to learn entrelac really badly. She knows how to knit, and how to follow a pattern, but she has trouble reading the pattern sometimes. Somehow she's ended up with almost a garter stitch version of it, and extra stitches after the final base triangle. No idea how she managed that. She doubled the pattern so she could fold it in half and make a bag out of it eventually, but that shouldn't have affected anything. I'll have to have her walk me through what she did to figure out where she went wrong.

Anyway, I've ranted long enough, but at least there are pictures this time. I still haven't gotten my confirmation for Stitches West. Sigh. I want to get my stuff! You have no idea how excited I am about going! Oh, and I might be able to see my friend in the AF again this weekend. That would be nice! And Chrissy is organizing a stage management department day trip to Disneyland next Monday. Should be fun!

Quickie

Real post to come later, hopefully with pics.

I bought another one of my almost favorite US 2 circular needles. I am not letting Dad's socks defeat me (although the clogs are going very well). Not that the needle had anything to do with it, but I can at least start working on the second sock and not think about the heel while I'm...

taking the TeddieCat to the vet this afternoon. He's been wheezing a little bit, and sneezing, and I found some blood in his litter box this morning. Chrissy's kitty just had to make a vet trip and got diagnosed with a cold. I hope whatever Teddie has is just that simple! I really hope so, since I can't really afford a lot of treatment - for some reason having my brother here last month broke my budget completely, and now Christmas is coming! Sigh!