My very merry family

Is it any wonder why I love these people?

First off, mom bought all of us matching PJ's because she was so excited to find them in all of our sizes (this is not a normal thing in my house thank God!).

Then, we find out that Mom put Dad in charge of grabbing some stocking stuffers(bad idea). At first I didn't understand why I had received a bag of golf tees but when I saw this I understood who was behind the madness.


Luke got this....

I think it's safe to say this is one of my favorite video's ever! (Don't worry, he didn't really, he was just teasing my brother...)

Dag-nabit! Youtube won't upload the video correctly so I'll have to try again another time. Doesn't really matter since it f'ed up the layout anyway :-(

I just don't understand why my extended family thinks we're odd.

As for some knitted items, I got these done for my cousin's girlfriends. Now I'm working on one for mom at her request, then I'll make one for me. They really are a great quick n' easy project if you need one.

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!!!

Do your part for world peace

I meant to post this earlier today but don't worry it's totally worth making the time to help lend a hand for world peace.

(You don't get the pun yet, but you will!)

SURPRISE

I'll let you just read for yourself, and don't fret, they even have a blog!



(Thanks JJ for the find!)

Decadent

I came home to find a little box waiting for me and of course, dopey me pondered for far too long, "did I order someone a Christmas present and forget?"
No silly, your SP sent you a gift!

The box included a set of very pretty coasters, a wonderful cranberry cinnamon candle (I love spicy candles) and a tin of the fanciest darn holiday tea I ever did see!

I've never seen this before but not only was I and my tea connoisseur mother impressed, but even my I-don't-do-tea father asked for a looksy - - what was so intriguing? The tea bags are little silk sachets! Is that not the coolest thing ever? OK, it's very possible that I'm just not in the know, and this is standard practice in "good tea" world but I've never seen such a thing. I almost hate to throw the bag out when I'm done. OMG, I'm turning into my great-grandmother!!! Please, stop me before I start saving old wrapping paper "because it's too nice to rip."

Mmmmmmmm, yummy spicy clovey, citrusy tea for mom and me. Not only was it yummy but it made the house smell great. Once again pal you sent a wonderful package, thank you and happy holidays!

Oh, this? It's the last mug standing from a very old set that my folks had when I was a kid. Each mug had a different bunch of wild flowers on it and for some reason I always loved looking at each of them to check out all the different flowers. I had completely forgotten about the set until about a week ago when this one resurfaced from the abyss. I felt like Sarah in the Labyrinth when she ended up in the junkyard where all your lost stuff goes :-)



****I upgraded to the Beta Blogger but they're still working out the kinks. Example, the spell check is much better and faster, it hightligts all the incorrect words and gives you a dropdown menu to pick from - however, the corrections don't always stick.
Also, bloglines is having a little trouble keeping up so it doesn't always show that there is a new post. Plus it's had one of those lovely red exclamation marks next to the updated blogs for the last few days. However, pictures upload faster and it can handle more than 3 at a time where the old one always chocked up on me if I did more than two.
None, of this really matters, just thought I'd let you all know some of the beta issues in case you're pondering it or wondering why my blog is doing some weird stuff. ****

Doneish

The Revenge Baby Blanket
I know, it's an odd name for a baby blanket, eh? Basically, my friend named it as such because her mom asked if I could make a quick gift for a baby shower she had to go to. The mother of the showeree had made a snyde comment to her about her gift plan being "nice... and easy" and we don't take under-handed bitchy comments lying down now do we?!? I whipped this up over the past week, but due to the tight deadline (Christmas time, I agreed, at Christmas time?), I couldn't make it quite as big as I had hoped. Even so it's large enough and I have to say, I'm pretty fond of the way the homespun works up when knit in the round. I have a pattern for a grown-up size blank knit almost exactly the same way as this one so I can't wait to see how that one comes out.


And I gotta give a shout out to Knitty for offering a last minute, super quick Christmas gift pattern. I'm even able to use up some stash yarn that was left over from the yoga bag! I'm hoping to get a couple of these done this week for some of the chicks in my family but I have a back up plan just in case it doesn't work out. I vow not to stay up until 3am knitting again --- unless it's for fun, not sport.

So much to blog about, so little time

OK let's play a quick game of catch up shall we?

First off Jana, (whom I'm sure you know by now) was kind enough to loan me her precious wool winder and swift last week. That's her showing Chris and I how to use it in the middle of the restaurant, yes, we used the swift too. Shame? What's that? No, I don't think I have any, why do you ask?

So after knitting I took it home and promptly wound pretty much everything available.
Was that enough? No of course not!
So onto Ebay I went and purchased my very own winder!!! I don't have a swift but I'm not too worried about that since hardly any of the stuff I have left to wind is in hanks.

Mine, mine all mine!!!!
Birthday yarn!
Our LSY sends you a $15 coupon for you to spend on yarn in your birthday month, plus I got a gift certificate from Chris so looky what I got. It's Miracle by Classic Elite 50/50 alpaca & tencel. I kept seeing tencel mentioned around the knitting world but I wasn't sure what it was. I started to asked my ladies when we were at Stitches and some woman piped in to explain that it was a plant fiber(fiber whores are so easy to spot). I just had to get some because it's so very, very soft. I haven't had a chance to knit it yet but I plan to make a scarf with it for my Grey's Anatomy KAL since I'm very over-due on making something grey :-)

So besides all the yarny, yarn, yarn stuff a few other things have been ahappenin'. For starters, I have joined you all in the 21st century and gotten myself Tivo!!!

I just can't believe the love and I know I haven't learned how to do half the stuff it's capable of yet.

Oh, and Dad has decorated the house...




I know, subtle ain't it? I wouldn't have it any other way - - ok, maybe I would give low-key and tasteful a try some time but really, isn't this so much more fun?

Last GYS Swap Package

This fantabulous package arrived from my 3rd and final swap buddy in South Africa. Look at all the snazzy stuff she sent! Local newspaper, a craft magazine, keyring, postcards, beads, jewelry, CD with SA music and why yes, that is ostrich jerky from Woolworths! Thank you once again Kim, I loved it all!