Pimp My Tree

We got more ornaments for our tiny tree in the mail from my husband's grandmother. How cool is that? They are cute and just perfect for our wee tree:




Doesn't it look great? Almost like a real Christmas tree! I've added a couple of ornaments that I knitted myself. The first is a pair of wee mittens- I totally made up the pattern. Mittens are so easy to make!

And I made a wee wreath. Found the pattern for this one at knittingpatterncentral.com. You just make three I-cords and braid them together:

And last, but not least, Ginger basking in the sunlight, recovering from the party mom and dad threw the night before. It stressed them out! Hugo is in the background, staring out the window, probably plotting how to escape and eat the birds in the yard:

I'm a snow chicken

I totally chickened out on S 'n B tonight. I was driving from Michael's to the north valley, and it was like a fucking slurpee machine out there! Pure slush falling from the sky, and I thought to myself, "Self, do you want to see what this turns into in 2, 2 1/2, hours?" Hell no! So I drove home, and of course at our house there was but the faintest whisper of a flurry falling and my husband was wondering where all the snow was that I was talking about.

At Michael's I bought some good cheap yarn for making Christmas ornaments. I found lots of free patterns online, and decided against the felted ornaments. And, acrylic is a hell of a lot cheaper than wool.

You will soon be transformed into tidings of comfort and joy, my pretties!

I also found some wee garlands for our wee tree at Michael's. You can barely see them in the picture. And it is kind of blurry. I got that cheesy tin at work, it was full of popcorn as a suck-up gift from a consultant, and the presents are fake, and that board of pictures is something we had up at our wedding reception.

I also finished the Dashing gloves for my dad. I just have to weave in the ends. They look kind of big on me, but they are for a burly dude. Well, semi-burly. He does live in Santa Fe now, after all:

And I ventured into felting this weekend! Here are my sample swatches. I think I like the shibori effect, when you tie crap in the knit fabric before you felt it and it makes a shape in the fabric. I plan to do blue pillows with shibori felting for our living room:



So, looking at all the shit I've made, including a sweater I've started that I have yet to post, I realize I have way more free time on my hands than I thought. Or I'm a fast knitter. Who knows. What I do know is this means I have enough time to knit and also start studying for my architectural licensing exams (*gasp*!). So, I've taken a step to get my ass in gear and am attending a 9-hour seminar in early January. And I have a goal to get my registration number by then as well, so I can start taking the tests next year. Eek! But it is probably better sooner than later, as a lot of it, I am afraid, I will forget the further I get from being in school.

One last picture. This is Ginger helping me put away holiday stuff (the stuff we aren't using right now), this weekend. Isn't she cute?!?!?!

Good news!

No, I'm not pregnant. I got my Ravelry invite today! Yay! I signed in and cruised around for a while, joined the New Mexico Knitters and the Gilmore Girls Knitters groups. I hesitate to post projects on there, only because I already do that on my blog and I hate redundancy and doing it twice would annoy me.... and I don't use flickr yet... but Ravelry is pretty cool.

In other news, I started a sweater and we got a Christmas tree. It is small, about 2'. It is a live tree and we will plant it after Christmas. I like the idea of planting a tree for Christmas rather than cutting one down. And I'm not a big 'ol tree hugger or anything, quite the opposite. I just hate wasting stuff, and you can't really use a dead Christmas tree for anything after the fact. Why pay $30-$50 for something you just end up throwing away?

I hope to get my ass to the yarn store and buy some wool to make some felted ornaments. This being our first tree, it has like, 5 ornaments on it so far.

On that cigar like Monica Lewinski

We went to the Old Town Cat House last weekend and bought early Christmas presents for the kitties. Ginger got some replacement toy mice, and Hugo got his very own catnip cigar. Ginger doesn't react to catnip, but Hugo goes absolutely nuts. He's been carrying his cigar around with him for the last week. It's like his new best friend. Here he is welcoming it into the family:

Don't even think about it, lady.

Anyone who knows Hugo knows this is abnormal behavior for him. He is normally very crabby and skulks around the house, with a very pissed off expression on his face and is exceedingly suspicious and wary of strangers and anyone who lives here that he hasn't seen in the past five minutes. He's known for attacking visitors. I love it when he gets high on catnip - it makes me think he isn't such an asshole after all.

In knitting news, I sent off the wee mittens and hat to my nephew a few days ago. His mom called us and he screeched "THANK YOU! I LOVE YOU!" on the phone to us. So freakin' cute! Here they are completed:


I've started "Dashing" from Knitty. They're the dude version of "Fetching", the women's fingerless gloves. I'm making them as a Chistmas present for my dad. He never reads blogs about knitting, so I'm safe showing them off here:




I've finished the left one, and will hopefully complete the right one in the next week. They are really easy and knit up pretty quickly. I'm knitting them in Patons Merino wool. I love that stuff!

I would next like to venture into felting and make some pillow covers for the million year-old pillows we have that still work fine but look like crap.

We also added some Christmas cheer to our house. I need to pick that crap up off the porch, though.


And one more kitty picture. I am so glad they like their cowskin condo:

You Knit WTF??

There are many books with patterns for things to knit for dogs, but none centered around cat garments. Cats aren't stupid enough to ever let humans put them in silly outfits, and even the ones who may be too stupid will fight you off with tooth and nail out of pure instinct that tells them cats don't wear sweaters, even if they aren't sure why or have no shame. All except for the ancient cat we had when I was a kid, Puffy, who I would dress in my baby clothes and ride around with her in my bike basket and all she could do was howl in protest. Would you jump out of a moving vehicle? So, I was surprised to run across these gems online:








How the hell did anyone get these cats in sweaters? Horse tranquilizers? Granted, the poor ugly hairless one could probably use the sweater. But honestly. This is just ridiculous. I can barely get the collar on my cat, and she's one of the dumb ones.

New Project

Well, the Tofutsies socks are on hold, as I have a plane ride coming up and socks are a good project to have on a plane. They're small, compact, and the needles are small enough that the security idiots at the airport don't protest them, even though TSA's website clearly states that knitting needles are allowed. So, I'll work on those then. In the meantime, I started a sweater from Stefanie Japel's Fitted Knits. I absolutely love her patterns, they are so flattering! I hate boxy sweaters, and the whole concept of this book is how to knit things that actually fit your body and are feminine and fitted. Not slutty. I mean, I don't think "knitter" and "slut" really go together in the same sentence. Unless you're willing to sacrifice your honor for a good yarn sale.



The pattern is the Bluebell Boatneck Sweater, except I'm not knitting it in blue. I had a crapload of Wool-Ease in a chestnut heather that didn't yet know what it wanted to be. I think it has found its calling. Yes, it will have sleeves, they are on hold until the body is done.

And now for something not knitting related and totally freaky. I cracked open an egg last night for burritos, and this came out:



DOUBLE YOLK. One egg shell, two yolks inside. Would these have been chicken twins? Or some Siamese-twin two-headed chicken? I mean, conjoined twin chicken, I don't want to offend all the conjoined chickens out there. Either way, it's WEIRD!!!!!!! With that, our egg count was totally off. Did this count as one or two eggs? We finally went with one, as they were two puny yolks.

Chitin - It puts the crunch in bugs

That's what my high school biology teacher, Mrs. Catron, used to say. She was one of my favorite teachers, for that sense of nerd humor, and her ability to say things like that to help us remember things.

For those who don't know, Tofutsies is a sock yarn that is a blend of wool, soy fiber, cotton and chitin. The tag has a little picture of a crab, saying "chitin is fiber from crab and shrimp shells" and stating it as "naturally antibacterial". Anyone who remembers high school biology, or especially, high school biology with Mrs. Catron, remembers the vague feeling of disgust when learning or realizing that crabs are basically giant spiders living in the ocean. So, if you did not know that, think about it next time at the casino buffet when you are gobbling down the meaty legs of monster sea spiders. Yum!

I thought I'd show an update of the Tofutsies socks:




I just started decreasing the gusset last night while watching "Maverick". Funny movie, btw. Here is my foot modeling the sock, and my knitting assistant, Ginger, trying to clean her teeth with the knitting needle:


And one more picture, this one having nothing to do with knitting. We went hiking yesterday, and this is the view from the foothillls:



I really do love living in a place where hiking like this is, quite literally, in your backyard.

F.O.s fo yo mo fos

I've been up to a lot of knitting but not much blogging. I started this blog in grad school as a form of procrastination, and since I have finished school, I've had zero desire to blog. I realized that the blog depended on the stress of school in a sick symbiotic relationship, like those little birds that eat the crap out of crocodiles' teeth. So, a friend recently mentioned that the blog could be a good way to make myself photograph and document my knitting, and she's right. I knit four beautiful scarves for my bridesmaids, and didn't photograph them! Argh! If any of you ladies read this blog, send me a photo of your scarf, and I'll put in on the blog.

The first thing I'd like to share is a pair of Jaywalkers, in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock, color Bittersweet:


The colorway didn't come out too symmetrical in the pair, but I really don't give a rat's ass. I finished these earlier this summer. Pre-honeymoon, I believe.

So, on the honeymoon, I mentioned I went to three yarn stores. One of my favorites, a small shop in Pagosa Springs called the Edelwiess Needlework Chalet, had Lorna's Laces Lion and Lamb 40% off. WOW! So, naturally, I had to buy all four skeins and knit a Clapotis, the famous shawl from Knitty:


I've been waiting to knit this when I could find a good deal on L'nL, because I have seen it knit in other yarns (wool, acrylic, etc.), and it just never has the drape of the wool/silk blend. It is still too warm here to wear it, but soon I will have pics of the Clapotis in action!

At my bridal shower, a dear friend gave me the best gift ever- a knitting book entitled "Never Knit Your Man a Sweater Unless You've Got the Ring", which is all patterns for guys, and some gorgeous Opal cotton/wool self-patterning sock yarn. The colorway of the yarn is based on the paintings of some obscure Austrian architect/artist whose name escapes me. I just finished the socks last week:


I am IN LOVE with self-patterning yarn!!! It is the best for socks if you still want to knit but just finished a Clapotis that took a lot of thought to not screw up the pattern.

And last of all, but certainly not least, I have started more socks, this time in some Tofutsies that I got at the Edelweiss Needlework Chalet:



I'm pretty impressed with this yarn thus far. I am just making a simple pair of 4x2 ribbed socks, thought they'd look good with both clogs and hiking boots.

I'm back, baby!