Having seen my craftiness with knitting, my sister-in-law was inspired to get me this treasure for Christmas:

 

The Stupid Sock Creatures Book & Kit! It comes with a couple of socks and other accoutrements to make a little sock monster.  The book includes a number of patterns with full instructions for making your own.  So cute!  I love the lips on these guys.  I’ll post pictures as soon as I complete my first one.

My apologies for the lack of posts.  I’ve got some stuff to share, so look for something in the next day or so.

The real-life Total Perspective Vortex.  Holy cow!

A little time-waster for you: Save the Snowman!  Here’s what I want to know: since when is a hat rack a typical gift?

Because I love graphic design. Ask a question, get an answer in the form of graphic art! I LOVE the idea for the restaurant menu!

For that New Year’s Resolution wherein I lose weight: Google maps for walking/running routes.

Listible is a site of lists broken down by category.  User-rated links to web sites within the given category help you figure out the best resource for whatever it is you’re needing.

For you bloggers out there: copyscape is a free tool to check if anyone has copied your content elsewhere on the web.

Wishing you and yours a happy holiday!

I knitted my first baby hat! I used the simplest knitting pattern in the book I mentioned in an earlier post, Itty Bitty Hats.  I also didn’t change colors, so the hat all white, which is kind of boring.  I did screw up in one spot.  I was able to fix it, but you can tell it was fixed.  I figure I’ll crochet something to cover that up, and maybe put a tassle or pom pom on the top in a contrasting color. 

I’m pretty proud of myself — I used circular needles and double pointed needles for the first time! They were both very easy to learn. Now I just have to learn to switch colors so I can do stripes and things. I’d also like to learn how to use circular needles to create a knitted project that isn’t round.  I’m told you can go back and forth in rows using them, but I’ll have to look it up.

UPDATE: Here’s the picture of the completed hat, with rosettes to cover up the “fix”!

 

Being new to blogging, there are a lot more than 5 things that you don’t know about me. This meme has been flying around the blogosphere for a couple of days now, so I thought I would join the bandwagon, even though I wasn’t officially invited.  Well, who’s going to invite me, since I just got started?

1.  I majored in Spanish in college, but I’m no longer fluent.

2.  I just finished a degree in interior design (can you tell I’m an education junky?)

3.  I went to massage therapy school, too!

4.  I met the man of my dreams and married him on August 28, 2004.

5.  My mother grew up in the house that Grant Wood owned while a professor at the University of Iowa.  He’s the guy who painted American Gothic. Coincidentally, I also graduated from the same high school as he did.

So, to finish this up, the blogger is supposed to tag other bloggers that they’d like to see complete this little survey.  Here’s my list:  dooce, not martha, yarn harlot, waiter rant, natalie dee and the sneeze.

I knitted two scarves over the weekend!  I already gave one away as a present, and forgot to take a picture of it.  It was a multi-colored blue/green yarn. I did get the plain white one photographed before wrapping it, though.  Both are made from eyelash yarn, which is a PAIN in the A$$ to work with.  I got knotted up at one point, so I abandoned all hope of just knitting from the skein, and ended up winding it around a candlestick.  I only used two skeins per scarf, so it wasn’t THAT bad, but it did take me two hours to get one of them unknotted and properly wound.

 

Anyway, my mother-in-law will be the lucky recipient of the white one.  It’s not really her style (she is VERY traditional), but I figure since it is plain white, and it’s only meant to be worn outdoors, that she’ll be able to make an exception :) 

I’ve moved on to the next project, which uses circular needles.  I definitely like not having to switch hands, but I’ve had to start over twice.  Once because I got it twisted and once because the join of the two ends was screwed up.  It’s going good now, though, so keep coming back to check on my progress!

  

It’s that time of year again.  An arbitrary mark on the calendar that means another year has gone by.  Time for some new goals for 2007!

1. Have fun!

2. Have a baby

3. Increase readership of my blogs

4. Increase my knitting skills

5. Win big in Vegas! (We do have a trip planned, but I’m not counting on winning much.)

6. Lose weight (necessary, yes, but it seems obligatory doesn’t it?)

7. Quit my job and start making money on my own terms!

8. Paint the kitchen (the last step in the re-do saga of this room!)

9. Sell our rental property

10. Get walls up in the basement

That last one is purely selfish.  My husband has most of the basement staked out for his stuff (recording studio and woodshop). I need a crafting space! I’d also like to move the exercise equipment down there. We do have room for this stuff in other areas of the house, but I’d like to have the permanent set up down there so that I never have to move it again.  Eventually we plan to fill up those spare bedrooms!

What are your goals for 2007?  Got any New Year’s Resolutions?

Today my team at work held their annual holiday outing.  It was nice, but the best part was a gift certificate to Borders.  I love that store!  I know, it’s not exactly a “find”, but if you haven’t picked up a book in awhile, you ought to check it out.

Speaking of books, I did find two new ones today at the most awesome local knitting store, String of Purls.  The first is Vogue Knitting Quick Reference, and it’s basically a bible of stitches and techniques.  I know that there are a lot of web sites out there that give the information for free, but it’s nice to have something I can carry with me and stash in my bag with the other knitting supplies.

The second is called itty-bitty hats, and it’s dedicated to, you guessed it, baby hats.  My sister-in-law is pregnant with her first child, so it’ll be nice to be able to give her something hand made for the baby.  Plus, a good friend of mine who is a big knitter sells her baby hats for like $50 a piece!  I can’t believe people will actually pay that much! 

As long as I was there I picked up some circular knitting needles, and double pointed needles.

For those of you who know someone going through a nasty divorce, this would make a great holiday gift!

I actually found this quite awhile ago, but James Lilek is always offbeat and funny.  He’s got tons of fun stuff to peruse on his website.

Finally, I have both bought and received gifts from the Wine Country Gift Basket company this year.  Ghirardelli chocolates for my very good friend, and a wine and cheese basket from Aunt Peggy!

Check out this post over at Apartment Therapy.  I can’t imagine the work that must go into one of those.  It’s got a picture of the artist at work, but it’s still kind of unimaginable.  I’m just learning to knit myself.  Do you think working a cable stitch would be easier on such a giant scale?

Another attempt at pie… another mess of gooey goodness!  This time I tried a peach pie because I had some frozen peaches that I needed to use.  Plus I still had one of those deep dish pie crusts on hand.

I checked out All Recipes to see what they had to offer.  If you haven’t been there, do go.  It is full of recipes for every taste and every occasion.  But speaking of recipes, do any of you know a site where I can plug in ingredients I already have and get a recipe that uses them?  Anyway, back to pie… Continue reading ‘Peachy!’