Archives for the month of: December, 2007

Happy Birthday

December 31, 2007 //

Happy Birthday to me,
Happy Birthday to me,
Happy Birthday to meeeee,
Happy Birthday to me!

I got quite a few nice messages from my SnB girls wishing me a happy birthday. Those messages put smiles on my face. Thanks girls!

Despite the fact that I really wanted to go to WEBs, I didn’t. I didn’t buy any yarn or visit any yarn stores, because I really have a lot of yarn that I haven’t use yet! I did however went to Target and got an organizer for one of the cubby holes so now it is more orderly, instead of keep losing things in the pile. The drawers are mainly for loose needles, knitting notions and accessories, and swatches.

David is taking me out to Outback to dinner mmm Steak and Baked Sweet Potatoes…

Tags Birthday, Knitting gadget

Categories Uncategorized

Honeycomb Update

December 30, 2007 //

So I sat on my butt all day to work on Honeycomb, and here is the first sock in it’s full glory:

Ta-da!

Here is the view off my foot:

Now I’m going to bed, because in 50 minutes, it will be a special day. But before I leave, just let me show you how outrageous Mick is sometimes:

That is me sitting OVER him on the coach because he refused to leave my seat! No, I’m NOT sitting on top of him, those are just my legs and my monkey blanket over him. Soon he go too hot and moved down, with a big sigh.

Here is a picture of my pretty girl being pushy:

Even when she is pushy, she is so darn cute, especially with those cute little bows! (can you tell I can’t get over how cute those bows are on her?)

Tags Schaefer Yarn, socks, WIP

Categories critters

Pretty Dogs and New Additions

December 29, 2007 //

We took the dogs to be groomed today. Look!

Aren’t they pretty? They are soooooo soft! Mick is Elvis and Vanilla just plain darn cute with the two little bows!!!

And look what came in the mail!

I called KnitPicks right before Christmas about one of the cord not able to thread onto the needles, and the replacement came yesterday. There was hardly any wait on the phone and they didn’t ask for the cord back at all!

And this came too!

But I can’t reveal what’s inside yet because it contains something for Anphoe!

Speaking of mail, I got an email from michou – she received the little package I put together for her. It was more of a Happy New Year present than Christmas, but it got there none the less. Her older son liked the Winnie the Pooh board book set I sent along with the package. Apparently he now thinks all women that has long black hair “Jenn!” So cute I must figure out a way meet them when we go on our honeymoon in 2009.

When we dropped off the dogs for grooming today, we went to Barnes and Noble and gotten these:

And I got these when we were in Michigan:

I want to experiment with cupcakes and hopefully come up with some gluten free processed-sugar free versions of them and maybe, just maybe, in time for the wedding and use those as wedding cakes. And see the doggie needles? They are so cute that David thought I should have them, even if I don’t use them.

I made a little progress on the sock. But with the game on, I should probably make some great progress.

Go Patriots!

ps. One last thing – we worked on our wedding registry today on Amazon. Setting up a registry is a much harder task than I had anticipated!!!

Tags Knitting gadget, Schaefer Yarn, socks, WIP

Categories critters, Reading

My Version of Christmas 2007

December 28, 2007 //

So much had happened during these past few days it’s hard to figure out where to start! So I guess I’ll start where I left off.

Lots of presents for Colin were wrapped by mom. As we put up the Christmas tree, we realized the main branch of the tree was missing!!! Now where do you get a Christmas tree on Christmas Eve???? But we made due and found this at Lowes:

And look what’s hanging on the tree!

We had Christmas dinner on Christmas eve since David and I were leaving at noon on Christmas Day. Colin really wanted to open the presents but somehow we convinced him to open it on Christmas morning.

Needless to say, he woke up super early on Christmas Day. Terry made Waffles on his new George Foreman Grill. It was very very good and easy to clean! Unlike the older ones, this one has removable plates that you can put them in the dishwashers and actually wash them!

After the breakfast, Colin was finally able to open his presents:

And he opened the big one last:

David and I bought him the Smart Cycle and a game to go with it. He loves it and he asked to play with it three times that day!

We left after all the presents were opened. On the way home, after much discussion (maybe 2 seconds), we decided to take the detour up to Niagara Falls. And here are some of the pictures I snapped while I was there:

The upper rapids

The other side of American Falls

The Horseshoe Falls

We trying to get the picture with the fall

David trying to throw one of the ice sticks that fell off from the railing

All the ice!

A squirrel posing for the picture

We left the park and decided to go to the Casino next to the park and play some Keno. As you can recall, the last time we played it, we won $150!!! But what do you know, they DIDN’T have Keno!! So we walked around and sat down at the Wheel of Fortune penny slots. We had no clue what we were doing, but all of the sudden the bonus round came up during one of the hits and we spin and it stopped at 10000 on the wheel! We looked at each other, and the screen was lit up blinking at us – we had just won $100!!!! But the waitress lady won’t let me take a picture, so we took the ticket out and ran outside to get a shot of it before we cashed it:

We had $3.85 left from the $10 we put in. We left happy and $93.85 up, totally paid for the hotel room the night before and then some.

The rest of the drive home was very uneventful, which was a good thing. While driving through, we went pass a town name Deposit, NY. I commented: What the hell is in Deposit? Why would you name a town that anyways? Plus I was bored because it was dark so I couldn’t knit, and there was no radio station for the past 15 minutes…

We got home, sort through the mail and got a piece of mail from the Good Sam Club. Guess where it came from?

Deposit, NY.

’nuff said.

On the knitting front, I finished Vine and gave them to my future SIL Page. Here is the detail:

Pattern – Vine by Iris G. on MagKnits
Yarn Called For – 1 ball elann.com Peruvian Baby Silk in #5420 seashell pink
Yarn Used – 0.5 skeins of Jaeger Alpaca in Brown
Needles – Option size 1
Gauge – 7 sts per inch
Knit – December 22, 2007 to December 23, 2007
Modifications – Reverse row 46 and 47 so there are two knitted row between like the rest of the pattern.

Page likes the gloves. One bad thing about the dark color, the pattern hardly shows. If I were to make it again, which I most likely will, I’ll make it in lighter colors to show up the vine pattern.

I am currently making the Honeycomb Socks for Schaefer Yarn. I heard back from Laura and had made some adjustment. Then the engineer in me figured out something else and I had gotten approval from Laura to make the change. I’ll be submitting the changes to Laura at the end so she can modify the pattern.

Well, I should probably go knit that now…

Happy New Year to all!

Tags Christmas, FO, Schaefer Yarn, socks, WIP

Categories Holiday, Travel

Detour

December 25, 2007 //

We left Muskegon today around noon. Yes, we left on Christmas Day, but that’s just something we would do. While we were driving, we calculated that we wouldn’t make it home tonight and decided that instead of getting stuck in the middle of nowhere Pennsylvania, we will drive back up to Niagara Falls and find a hotel near by. The trouble is – most of the hotels don’t take pets! We finally found a Days Inn and the lady in the front desk was very nice, according to her, we didn’t have a dog. More pictures and stories to come when we get home.

Merry Christmas to all and enjoy the time with your friends and family.

Tags Christmas

Categories critters, Holiday, Travel

We Made It!

December 23, 2007 //

We left at 7:45am and arrived Michigan at… you ready?

3:30AM

Yes, you read that right! And here is why…

We started off from CT and got to Utica to see David’s grandma around 11:30ish. From there, we were greeted with assorted cookies made by grandma Nancy. There were butter cookies, ginger cut outs, ginger snaps, peanut butter chocolate fudge, chocolate chips cookies, and much much more!

By then, I already finished three more ornaments, one for Mom, which is gold and hanging in the van already, one is for Terry, Page and Colin, and one for a friend.

Inspired by Costumechick, my next project was Vine. I bought a Jaeger Alpaca when I went to Farmhouse Yarn the last time and they had it for ONE DOLLAR! It is an older ball with old label, but it’s 100% alpaca none the less. And while we are driving to Michigan, I made some progress… A lot of progress actually:

I should be able to finish this today between wrapping presents, putting up the tree and cooking.

If you are observant, you can see that I’m wearing my new wedding bands – no we didn’t get married yet, but it didn’t come with a box or anything, and knowing me, I’ll probably lose it, so the safest thing to do is to wear it until we get home.

We picked up the rings after seeing grandma. So far, I’m really happy with the way it turns out. We continued with Rt. 90 and hit Buffalo, and we detour up to Niagara Falls – why not? We were practically there! Plus I’ve never been!!!

It is absolutely breath taking!

The dogs think so too:

We left Mick and Vanilla home since they are too active for Colin right now.

Well, off me go to get things going…

Tags Christmas, FO, WIP

Categories Family, Holiday, Travel

Cookie Swap #2 and Honeycomb

December 21, 2007 //

Last night, I went to the Thursday SnB and did the second cookie swap. Of course, my camera had to die right then so I didn’t snap any pictures, but click over to Anphoe’s to see some pictures.

On knitting front, I finished two more ornaments and gave them out, one to Anphoe, and one to David’s admin at work. I have also receive from Schaefer Yarn a ball of Anne and the Honeycomb Socks pattern for model knitting. However, I have an issue:

As you can clearly see, it is not 9 stitches/inch, nor 12 rows/inch, which is what the pattern called for. What size needles was I using for this swatch you ask? Size 0. Yup. I already sent an email to Schaefer to see what they would like me to do – I really don’t want to buy new needles, but to do these socks, and if the stated gauge is correct, I don’t see how I can avoid it. Plus, I don’t think there is any circulars that small!!! I’ll have to use DPNs!!!!!!!!

One thing I do have to say though – the yarn is very lovely to work with and the color is gorgeous! Lets take another look at the swatch, shall we?

Beautiful!

On swap news, I joined the Mmmm… Hot Cocoa Swap. Everyone who knows me at work knows not to bother me before I have my cup of cocoa – I drink it like it’s coffee. It is only appropriate for me to join in this swap, especially when the swap is closing on MY BIRTHDAY!

David and I are leaving tomorrow morning to go to Michigan. We’ll be there for a few days, but I’ll be blogging because lucky me, they have wireless Until then, I leave you with this (I stole it from The Mad Knitter):

Tags Schaefer Yarn, socks, WIP

Categories exchange, Food

A Great Day

December 19, 2007 //

Let me give you a run down of my day and you may agree with me on my title for today.

I worked grand total of 2 and half hours today.
I went to a nice lunch at Carmen Anthony’s, had a nice Fillet Mignon and Creme Brulee, courtesy of Schick.
I went to the post office and sent out the package for my new friend in Germany. Too bad it isn’t going to be delivered by Christmas, but it’s the best I can do.
I got the beads I ordered for my Wedding Stole, but I think they are too big.

I stamped up all the Save the Date so they are ready to be mailed.

I got to watch David’s nephew learning how to ride a bike on a DVD that arrived today in the mail along with a Christmas card.
I got some Christmas presents from my coworkers.