2008, The Finale

I highly imagine that this is the finale of my 2008 FOs. These are Jules, made with Bernat Sox in faded denim. Started November 29, finished December 29. For my Pa, details on Ravelry here.

It's hard to see, but the slipped stitch that runs down the pattern continues down the heel as well.

What is everyone doing tonight? We have no sitter, so we are staying home. Gonna get some pizza, fancy drinks, and some nibblies. Just as well we aren't going anywhere by the look of the weather forecast:

Issued : 11.00 AM AST Wednesday 31 December 2008
Blizzard warning in effect.
Today
Cloudy with sunny periods. High minus 2.Night: Cloudy. Snow at times heavy and blowing snow beginning this evening. Amount 15 cm. Wind northeast 20 km/h increasing to 40 gusting to 60 this evening. Low minus 8.

Thursday
Snow at times heavy ending in the morning then cloudy with 60 percent chance of flurries. Amount 2 cm. Blowing snow. Wind northwest 50 km/h gusting to 70. Temperature steady near minus 8.

See you all in the New Year!

Happy New Year and Happy Knitting!

The Happenings in Pictures

Hope everyone is enjoying their holidays. Here's the rundown in photos of the happenings at home as of late. Firstly I have everyone at work addicted to this stuff, a version of Bark or Christmas Crack, whichever.

Made a pot of soup with the turkey carcass and some leftover meat.

Can't take full credit for these. M at work was supposed to knit them for her SIL, but she was having trouble. I knit the first sole at work, she did the top of the slipper at home. Then she brought it to work where I proceeded to do the second sole, attach and finish it. Then I did the third sole for the second slipper. She took it home and knit most of the top. However, something was awry, there weren't enough stitches, so I had to rip out all she had done and reknit it. Finished that at work, knit the second sole, and for the first time in about 30 pairs, the sole went on funny. I ended up unattaching it, took it home, reattached it, and felted them...


... returning them to her on Christmas Eve day in their completed state. The Oldest One says my new ones should have the fizzy trim, so I have picked out some forest green yarn and fizzy forest green yarn for my pair. Never made a pair like that before.


Whipped up two Marsan Watchcaps with ten extra rows each after the cuff for a couple of gifts I needed. They are both Patons Canadiana, the first started December 19, finished the 21. The blue one was started December 21, finished the 24th. Details here and here.


Sorted out some of my yarn. Got a new queen-sized comforter for Christmas, so I used the bag to store all of my sock yarn. This is all stuff that will make a full pair of kids or adult socks.

Also got some flannel bedding. The bag on the left is leftover sock yarns, the bag on the right is baby and/or baby-type yarns.

Mags the Greedy, hoarding two rawhides.

When she got over it she ended up in this position. Notice the socks in the kennel? She is a major hoarder and had four socks in there laying on them.

Came out of the bedroom this morning to find death and dismemberment all over the hallway. I heard major squeaking through the night. Jewel cannot rest til the squeaky is dead. I was surprised this lasted as long as it did. Christmas morning within five minutes she had the stuffed hippo destroyed. One tennis ball is also gone and chewed into a thousand pieces. The stuffed football with squeaky didn't last Christmas morning...

... and the stuffed baseball with squeaky met its death this morning.

All that remains now is one tennis ball and the rubber and rope toys that were in their stockings.

Happy knitting!

Merry Ho Ho!

First it was Christmas Eve...

They each get to open one gift on Christmas Eve. Maggie and Jewel got some new toys. The stuffed ones last about five minutes, as usual, with Jewel.

Look at the grandfather PS2, from when they first came out, compared to the one the Littlest One got for Christmas!

Most of the mess is cleaned up, the kids are bouncing from toy to toy, got the turkey in the oven... Almost over for another year.

Hope Santa found everyone! Merry Christmas to all, and Happy Knitting!

Santa Claus is Coming..... TONIGHT!!!

And here is our wonderful forecast for Christmas Eve and Day....

Issued : 5.00 AM AST Wednesday 24 December 2008
Rainfall warning in effect.
Today
Day: Periods of light snow changing to rain near noon. Snowfall amount 2 cm inland. Fog patches developing late this afternoon. Wind becoming southwest 30 km/h gusting to 50 this morning. High plus 5.Night: Rain at times heavy. Amount 10 to 20 mm. Fog patches. Wind southwest 40 km/h gusting to 70. Low plus 5 with temperature rising to 9 by morning.

Thursday
Rain at times heavy ending near noon then sunny with cloudy periods. Amount 10 mm. Fog patches dissipating late in the morning. Wind southwest 40 km/h gusting to 70 becoming west 30 gusting to 60 in the morning then becoming northwest 30 gusting to 50 late in the day. High 9 with temperature falling to plus 3 in the afternoon.

I'm not a snow person, but a white Christmas is always nice.

Got to finish Pa's socks, then the Christmas knitting is done. (Minus this thing, of course. No surprise to anyone!) Pictures to follow.

Have a good one, folks! Merry Christmas and happy knitting!!!

Footies & Dishcloths

Edit: One of my favorite Christmas songs is Fairytale of New York. For the fun of it I looked up Kristy McColl, the female singer of the song. I didn't realize that she was the first one to sing They Don't Know. (I always knew that Tracey Ullman had redone it. She's a knitter, too, btw.) Pop on over here and read about her tragic death in 2000. What a shame.

We had a pot luck at the church last Friday night. There is always so much great food. Afterwards Santa came and handed out gifts and treat bags. The Littlest One pipes up to me that, "He's not the real Santa. His beard has straps." Then I went into the whole Santa-is-busy-and-has-lots-of-helpers-this-time-of-year-thing.


Mine got fancy spin tops and coloring/activity books. Must have left the coloring books there cuz I haven't seen them since.

The kids had decorated gingerbread men the night before to hand out to the adults to show that Christmas is about giving as well as receiving.

I got to use my fancy dish that I got when we got married. I think it's the second time maybe that I used it. It's heavy, and I'm always scared it'll get broken. We don't do much fancy of anything, so it doesn't get many chances to come out of the box in the cupboard anyways. I had it filled with cranberry orange loaf. I also made home-made cranberry sauce for the first time. I liked it, and it must have been good since there was none left after the meal.

I finished the footies for a friend who wanted another pair to give to one of her daughter-in-laws. She's gotten another pair from me already. These ones were started December 16 and finished the 17th. The white is Kroy whitecap, and the stripey is a breed of Regia.

I also finished ten dishcloths for the kids teachers and classroom helpers. The white ones are small arrow cloths, the others are just plain old. I have enough of the variagated left to do one for Hub's grandmother to go with her gift. I started these on December 11 and finished them on the 19th. Bernat Handicrafter cotton.

All of my shopping is done for the kids. I finished wrapping this morning while they were at school for the last day before Christmas break. I still need to grab a few small things, but not too many. Got a couple of things I'd like to knit yet. Currently I'm working on a couple of Marsan Watchcaps and Pa's socks.

I'll leave you with the pups sharing Miney-Bone with Peanut Bubber.

Happy knitting!

Nine Days

We got our tree on Saturday and decorated it Sunday. Hubs wanted led lights for it this year, so I picked up five packs on Saturday, but he wanted more. Sunday I grabbed three more.

I don't have a good picture of the tree finished. I'll try and get one to post next time. The bottom of the tree is kinda sparse. The dogs aren't really doing anything to it other than hitting it with their tails. Once in awhile an ornament falls, and they think it's a toy. I keep telling them it isn't a tree full of dog toys, but they don't seem to understand. I have several ornaments that I pained many moons ago, so they are up high enough that wagging tails and teeth can't reach them. I have a set of six Santas, all different, that I painted.

There's six or eight Rudolphs, can't remember. It may be six, two each of three different poses.

And there are eight penguins, two each of four designs. These hand-painted ornaments are all quite heavy and need to go up high on sturdy branches anyways.

Last year the Oldest One made the dog biscuit ornament in school. We didn't have a dog last Christmas, so I had to make sure this one is waaayyyy up high. The ball ornament next to it belonged to my grandmother. When I was a kid these were my favorite ornaments we had.

Got two of these angels that also have to be up high cuz the cats like the feathers.

I have other ornaments I've made, including apple pies, plastic canvas stars, painted wooden hearts, and several cross stitch ornaments. There are old ornaments, too, that belonged to my grandmother. Ma gave them to me last year, and I have to make sure they are kept safe, sentimental stuff and all.

I dropped my skein of cotton the other night, and little Mags found it.

She's such a hoarder. If it can't be found, check the kennel. The other day she had a slipper in there, socks, the Littlest One's underwear, and gloves. This morning I looked, and she's got just about every dog toy they have in there.

I hope everyone pretty much has everything ready for the big day. I have a few small things left to knit. Doesn't seem like Christmas is next week at all to me.

Happy knitting!

The Christmas Ham

Maggie decided the other day to cuddle on the sofa with Rudolph. It's a wonder she didn't eat him, Jewel would have.

She's also as much of a dirt lump as Jewel is. They have my front lawn ruined, holes and mud everywhere. It's raining, and she went out and decided to dig a hole.

I keep a towel by the front door to wipe dirty feet. She knew she was a bugger, but that didn't stop her from doing it again when I let her out the next time!

I finished the stockings that were ordered by a customer. Not my favorite knit at all. I didn't have a real pattern to follow, just kinda looked at hers that she lent me and found a couple of motif patterns to dupilcate stitch onto them. I'm glad they're over and done with.

Seems I can only get one of these videos to upload, so I'll do the one of the Littlest One's finale at his Christmas concert. He's the one in the plaid shirt.

Happy knitting!