Ending the Year with a post..

I know I've been absolutely awful about keeping up my blog. If you search my blog, you will read that I say over and over and over that my life just isn't exciting or has much happening that is blog-worthy. I'll make a public resolution that in 2009 that I will blog AT LEAST once per week and NO less (maybe more than once per week) but, at least once per week.

Thru the months of Nov and Dec up until Christmas, I was doing a bunch of stealth knitting for Christmas gifts..

Here's what I ended up with: (picture heavy from here down)

I made 2 pair for my SIL because I couldn't decide which one I liked better for her, wrapped them and let her choose - She chose this first pair called "Tron".


















This was the other pair. These did not fit her as nice - seemed a little big for her. But, I liked the colorway.















These were little sport socks for my Niece. Seems like the kids like the little ankle socks these days. Bree even wears hers in her cowboy boots!















I made this illusion scarf for Bree's French Horn Student Teacher (She's a Sophomore) and her room is hot pink and black. It's a scarf that if you hold it up looks like a striped scarf but then when you look at it again, it has the hidden picture of music notes. (kind of like a hologram). Anyway, Kelsey loved it.




















This is another illusion scarf only a horse head - these are really cool to do! I see more in my future!













These are fingerless gloves that has the flap to come up over the top which changes them from gloves to mittens for my Brother - done in a camo sock yarn (called Broadstreet mittens). I hated this pattern. It sucked - pure and simple as far as directions go. I made a few modifications - as in making a buttonhole for the thumb as what good is having 4 fingers popping out, but not being able to use your thumb?



















This is Mom's Vest (looks better on her - which I'm hoping when she takes it on Jan 7th to show off to her friends, that she'll have them take a picture). I originally was going to make Mom something else, but it didn't 'hit' me right, so the Wed before Christmas I decided to knit her a vest. So, Thursday, out I went, found a pattern and then yarn and started that evening. It was done and wrapped (except the shoulder seams, which I waited on to insure it would fit). It was then completely finished and she took it home with her. There are no buttons but where the V-Neck meets, the pattern shows it being held closed with a pin. This is perfect for Mom because she has a vast collection of pins and can use them! It's lightweight enough for their temperatures in TN, yet, warm enough to even wear as a light jacket and the blue tweed colorway will go with anything!
















These are for my friend who is helping me rehab my horse, Jessie. Her feet are always cold (I made her a pair of Alpaca socks earlier this year and she LOVES them and wears them all the time - I probably need to knit her a 2nd pair!)














So, It's not like I haven't been doing anything. Just things I couldn't necessarily post about.

But, more to come in the future!!!

No new posts.. because

I've been fighting the crud. Don't know where I got it, whom from, nor why, but I do - started as a sinus headache, which proceeded to days of constant sneezing, to a runny nose with stuffed up head and sinus headache and now has decided to have coughing jump on the band wagon -

Normally, crud is supposed to "run its course" as my Mom used to say and that when it traveled from one place to another that was a good thing. So, if it's "spreading" like a bad rash to all these places but NOT leaving the places previously occupied, I supposed that this could not be called a "good thing".

I'm sick of it already and it started last Thursday night with the headache. Today is Wednesday - ENUF already... and to top it all off, Bill has his company Christmas dinner this Friday night. Now, it's a small affair as there are only like a dozen people in his office - so if everyone brought a spouse or so, there would be 24 (if my brain is computing math correctly)

It will be the first time meeting all of these people, and I'm going to be looking like Rudolph with a big, red, bulb nose, that's PEELING from being SO dry (even though I have used a box of Puff Plus with the lotion on top of putting on lotion a gazillion times a day) and then as I shake their hands be hacking all over them, with watery, bloodshot eyes that will have them gossiping for weeks as to what drugs I might be imbibing and let's not talk about the voice...

Fun, huh? Just about as fun as washing my damn glasses off after everytime I blow my nose as the lotion from the puffs plus smears on them and trying to actually "see" out of them is an impossibility.

The only thing I have to say is NUF - which my Mom used to say as it is FUN spelled backwards and she would say that when we had to quit playing. I'm done playing with this.

Knitting as promised!

I finally took pictures of "most" (not all yet) of FINISHED OBJECTS - yippee!

The first (by age) is the Sunburst Sling Purse that Bree selected. While visiting my parents in August, we stopped in a very nice yarn shop in Paducah, KY called With Ewe in Mind. (Very nice shop and the owner was great too!)

Bree wanted a RAINBOW purse and she got a RAINBOW purse from picking out Lorna's Lace Chunky Swirl yarn. The purse was knit to pattern -



Then we have a pair of the Peekaboo Mittens (free pattern here: http://www.magknits.com/Feb07/patterns/peekaboo.htm ) These are made from Cascade 220 Quatro in Pink and I used size 7 needles and followed the cast on of "40" and followed that pattern size (using the larger needle). These are a Christmas gift for a friend of Bree's.



I also finished my MOST FAVORITE sock pattern in the world (ok, so at least so far as I've knit) - I LOVE these.... The girls had fun chuckling at me because I kept saying that the entire time I was knitting them and they didn't believe me. BELIEVE ME! I LOVE these socks (did I say that already?) They are made with scrumptious Koigu in rich green jewel tones (I guess that's a good description) and they are soft and fit nicely and I LOVE them...

Also, shown (barely) is the CHERRY wood sock blocker my Dad made me - He has oak, birch and cherry in his woods and I told him I wanted one, so he cut down the cherry tree (makes us giggle as this reminds me of the George Washington ditty about cutting down the cherry tree) and made one up - I showed them around and people have ORDERED them - so, like an Elf - he's busy in his woodshop making some more up! Go DAD!

I followed the pattern and used size 1 needles.



At the end of October and first week in November, I took at class at Peggy's Strands of Heaven in Plainfield, IL ( http://www.strandsofheaven.com/ ) for this beaded ornament class - Now, I'm hooked. I've completed 4 and am working on the 5th (Great Teacher gifts) - Here are pictures of two of the 4 - (I told you in the beginning I have more pictures to take). They are knit with Plymouth Gold Rush and size 6 seed beads on a size 4 - 40" needle using the Magic Loop lesson (which we learned during the class and isn't nearly as daunting as I thought it was) - These are FUN to do. You knit them, slide them over a glass ornie then "close" them up! Fun, Fun, Fun - Bree loves to pick the colors and beads, too!






So, I'll be taking more pictures of the other finished objects and am knitting my fingers to the bone working on additional Christmas gifts.. So, off the puter I go to knit (ok, to get Bree ready for school THEN knit)