Late Again

So, I'm late in my self-imposed Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule once again. Not a great track record given that it's only the first week of this. Ah, well...things happen. It's still three times this week. But, yesterday was fairly busy. It included practicing, cooking, teaching, driving, knitting, and hanging out with some friends. We went to their house last night and played games and generally had a good time.

I also finished one of the sweaters that has been languishing for a while. I need to wash/block it before I get proper photos taken of it. I took a few pictures of myself with it on, but that is not the easiest thing to do. Here are a couple of the better ones. I have couple ends that need to be woven in, but otherwise it's finished.



The pattern is Sophia from French Girl Knits and was knit in Knit Picks Swish DK in white. I started this little sweater a few months ago, and got pretty much done with it before I stalled out. It's been a fairly frustrating sweater from the beginning. It starts with the sleeves, and I decided that I would just go ahead and start it with the recommended needle size, and if I didn't get the gauge called for it wouldn't be that big of a deal to rip it out and start over. Now, it's common for me to have to go up a needle size from that recommended in a pattern, but I had to go up three sizes for this one. That means I knit one of the sleeves four times before it finally worked. There are only so many times a person can knit the same sleeve before beginning to lose a grip on her sanity. Anyway, from there it wasn't too bad. I knit the two halves, grafted them together, and realized that I didn't have another size 8 circular needle long enough to knit the collar. The collar had to be knit separately and then attached to the rest of the sweater. It was at that point that it got put down and didn't get picked up again until this week. I borrowed the necessary needle from my mom and finally got back to it. Knitting the collar was fine. No problems there. Attaching it was an exercise in frustration. I didn't read all of the directions and things weren't matching up, so I had to undo a lot of what I'd done. Then I read all the directions, but misunderstood a crucial part, and so had to undo a bunch of it again. Then, it was still all screwed up, so I completely detached the collar, counted all the stitches, and realized my stitch count was a little bit off on the body. Not enough to make a difference in fit, but enough to make attaching the collar not work out quite right, combined with my inability to follow the instructions. Anyway, I finally got it all put together, and now it's done. I gave my mom her needles back today.

Happy New Year

Okay, so I'm a bit late with my Happy New Year post, but, better late than never, right?

So, here it is. I've decided to make New Year's goals this year. They're just like resolutions, but they're called something different, and it makes me feel like if I don't do them perfectly it's okay. The point of setting a goal is to get closer to an ideal, not to achieve perfection. Resolutions feel like enforced perfectionism. So, there's my rationalization. Take it for what it's worth.

Here are my goals for this year:

1. Blog more often. I've been pretty good about it lately, what with NaBloPoMo in November and all, but I'd like to keep it more regular. It's fun for me to look back at old posts and remember what life was like at that time. I'm planning on at least three times a week, with a Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule. As you can see, it's Tuesday and I'm just now doing this, but like I said, it's a goal. I'm moving toward and ideal. Pretend this is Monday for the purposes of this post if it makes you feel better.
2. Get back into a good practicing schedule. I've been a terrible slacker about this for the past several months. Since October, really. I need to get back on track.
3. Stop eating out so much. This means cooking more at home. This will help on two fronts: budgetary and health. I feel better when I eat home cooked food rather than fast food (shocking, I know), so it makes sense to do that more. This also means I need to do better about grocery shopping. Lately I haven't been doing very well with that. So, that will have to change.
4. Finish my current knitting works in progress. I'm planning on not casting on another item for myself until all the current ones are finished. We'll see how long that lasts. Currently the count sits at five: three sweaters, a pair of slippers, and a pair of socks. I will be knitting things for others that are not included in this.
   

So, that's what I have so far. I'll probably come up with more as the year progresses, but for now I think this is good. I hope your new year is starting off well, and that you achieve all your goals for yourself.

Christmas Recap

Michael and I agree that this Christmas was one of the best ever. Beginning Christmas Eve with a busy buy enjoyable day attending church and spending time with Michael's parents and continuing through Christmas Day, which was relaxing and full of laughter, love, and good food at my parents' house. The only downside was that Michael's dad came down with something and couldn't make it Christmas morning. We both got loads of great stuff, including iPhone4s, new Ariat boots, books, shirts, nice cookware (to replace my old, not so nice cookware), books, candy, and a big Longaberger basket. The gifts I made seemed to go over very well. The only thing that wasn't a perfect fit was Allyson's hat, which was a little small (it seems she may have inherited the Bruner big head gene). Fortunately, it can be remedied by attaching an elastic band that will go under her chin to secure the hat on her head (like a large party hat with flowy fabric attached to it). On to the photos!

Opening our iPhones on Christmas Eve:

My basket (which is now full of yarn):


Our new boots:


And now for everyone else's presents:

Mom's Socks:



Dad's Socks:



Donna's Socks:



Mike's Socks:



Amy's Socks:



Justin's Socks:


I don't have pictures of Justin and Amy with their socks because those were delivered to Colorado yesterday by my parents. I have been assured that they fit well, and the recipients like them.

The rest of the day was spent talking, laughing, eating (lots of eating), and enjoying each other's company. So, that was my Christmas. How was yours?

Random on a Wednesday

It's currently snowing. Unfortunately, the highs during the day are above freezing, which melts the snow. Then it gets cold at night and freezes, making the roads slippery. This morning, the leafless trees were outlined in frost. It was very pretty.

Michael and I went cross country skiing on Sunday. We purchased our equipment from thrift stores for a grand total of $35. It's perhaps not the greatest equipment, but it's cheaper than renting. We went up to the cross country ski trail on the Fourth of July Pass. The snow was only a couple inches deep at best, so it wasn't actually groomed, and all the natural topography of the trail was obvious through the snow. This made things more difficult than if there's been a good base that was groomable and even. We went for about two miles. I keep hoping we'll get enough snow to go again on Christmas Eve or the day after Christmas, but the forecast is not in my favor. Anyway, here are some pictures from Sunday:





I've finished my Christmas knitting! As of this morning, the last toe was grafted, the last ends were woven, photos were taken, and all of the socks were lovingly laid on tissue paper, placed in boxes, and wrapped. They're all under the Christmas tree, where they've been since this morning. I also put the finishing touches on the princess hats for my nieces. I felted them on Monday and let them dry for the last couple days. All they lacked was the fabric veil to drape down the back. This afternoon my mom and I went to the fabric store and picked out some sheer fabric with sparkly things all over. Very pretty, and quite the perfect finishing touch to the princess hats. Mom hemmed them for me so they wouldn't fray and they were attached to the hats. And here they are!





All I have left to do is Michael's hat, which may or may not be done by Christmas Day. I started it this morning, but had to rip it out and start over because it was turning out too big. So, I restarted and completed one row. I'm also making some little toys for Allyson's birthday, which is a few days after Christmas. They're quick and cute, but they have to be done before Mom and Dad go down there the day after Christmas, so I've been working on them a bit more than the hat. In any case, it's only Wednesday and the important Christmas things are done. That means I won't be up until all hours on Christmas Eve frantically finishing things. What a nice feeling.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

I saw this last night when I was driving home. I'm sure it actually says "Peace on Earth," but it sure looks like it says "Peace on Farth." I was wondering where or what Farth might be.

Anyway...

Christmas is officially two weeks away. The Christmas knitting is progressing. I got the yarn for the rest of my projects in the mail on Tuesday and immediately cast on for the hats for my nieces. I finished the knitting for them in two days per hat. They're going to be felted, but that hasn't happened quite yet. I'll be doing that in the next couple days. For now, here are a couple pictures in their unfelted glory. I've included a normal hat that I made for Michael for scale comparison.



The pink one is for Allyson and the blue one is for Lauren.

After these I have two pairs of socks to churn out. I hope I can manage a pair per week. We'll see how it goes. One pair might end up being finished on Christmas Day. I also still need to wrap the presents that are finished. The socks for my parents and my mother-in-law are done. My father-in-law's socks are on the needles. At least, the first one is. I need to go get a good book to read while I knit. His socks and my brother's socks are both going to be plain stockinette (based on the assumption that men don't really want fancy looking socks), so they're not particularly exciting for me to knit. Reading while knitting makes the knitting go faster. My sister-in-law's socks are pretty much done. I still need to close up the toe and weave in the ends of the second sock, but that won't take long once I get to it. Speaking of that, I still need to weave in the ends of Allyson's hat as well. You'll get to see official photos of all these things in just over two weeks. Even though pretty much everyone knows what they're getting, they don't know what they look like, and aren't allowed to see them before Christmas.

A few days ago my friend Juanita invited me over to her house to decorate gingerbread houses. She'd gotten a couple of kits and hadn't gotten into them yet. When I told her I'd never decorated a gingerbread house before, she decided that I needed to be initiated. Here are the results of my first attempt:





Here is Juanita decorating hers:


And here is her masterpiece:


I have to admit that Juanita's skills are far superior to mine in regards to gingerbread house decoration. But, for my first attempt, I think it looks cute. I also managed to burst the frosting bag that I used for piping on the frosting. It was fun, and we decided to bake and decorate a cake for our next adventure in pastry decorating. I'm not sure when that will happen, but be sure I'll take and post pictures when it does. (Given my unfortunate lack of prowess with the piping bag, it might be an interesting looking cake.)

Our Christmas decorations are up. All we lack are some presents under the tree. Soon enough, that will be taken care of as well.