Merry Christmas!!

Well, the Christmas weekend is just about to come to an end, and, let me tell you, it was a busy one. Having to work all weekend really messed things up. I certainly did not get enough sleep, but what are you going to do, right? So, here are a few pictures from my Christmas-time happenings. This first picture is one of me (on the left), my to brothers, Mike and Matt, and my sister, Melissa. I was trying to have a nice picture taken of the four of us, but you know, those boys, they always have to ruin it (I made my mom take another one, where my brothers weren't looking like morons). Anyway, Christmas Eve involved opening some presents from above siblings, which included some gift cards and this....

That's right, my friends, it's Socks That Rock yarn!! Oh yes, I was very very happy. That's one skein of Scottish Highlands and one of Chapman Springs. Both so much better up close and in person than the pictures on the internet. I just happened to have the ball winder in the car, so my sister and I wound one up. So, now it's all ready to go when I finish the Monkey socks (which I made good progress on this weekend!). Today, when we did the rest of the gift opening, I received more knitting goodness: Knitting Rules! and Yarn Harlot: The Secret Life of A Knitter by the Yarn Harlot. I also got Socks Socks Socks. All very good purchases. So this was a very Knitty Christmas. Most excellent!

Finally, here is my favorite picture that I took this weekend. It is a picture of my sixteen year old cat, Buster (he lives at my parents house). My mom has this village set up on a table in the living room, and Buster insists on sleeping in it. We call him the village cat. Because he is so old, he pretty much sleeps all the time, and this is where you have been able to find him for the past month. What a nice cat.

Anyway, that was my Christmas, it was busy, crazy even, but in the end, very good. Now, it is time to look forward to next weekend, when I have five days off, in a row, from work. That's a lot of time to knit!

What a Christmas!

Well, here are some pictures of what has been going on in the life of Jen's knitting. I was working ever so diligently on my skinny alpaca scarf (and boy do I mean skinny!) I am using a pattern from Stitch N Bitch Nation. It's the Warm Fuzzies Scarf, which is a mock-cable rib pattern. I love how it looks. This yarn is perfect for it I think. I only have about another 12 to 18 inches on it. I could have been done by now, if it weren't for the damn sock yarn that was calling my name...the Austermann Step.

So this sock has been taking up all of my knitting time this week. I pretty much have been knitting it with every spare moment that I have. I am using the Monkey pattern on Knitty. It's a really nice sock. The yarn is fabulous and the pattern is easy but I think it looks very impressive. I plan on casting on for the second sock tomorrow. Poor Trekking socks....will you ever be finished? How can I ever knit you when I am in love with another sock? Well, at least the Trekking sock is the one I take to work on while at work. Someday it will be done.


Finally, today was Christmas in Apt. 105. Alex and I did some gift exchanging this afternoon, and it was grand. I got a yarn ball winder!! I am so so happy. I wound some Knit Picks sock yarn that was already in a perfectly fine ball, but, you know, I had to try the thing out. :) Then I wound the last ball of the baby alpaca. Oh, how I love this gadget. I was talking to my sister a little bit ago and she is mad that Alex bought it for me, because she got me one too. I told her it's fine, she can return it and buy me sock yarn! :) Sock yarn that I can wind myself! Hooray for Christmas. Alex was also quite generous his year as he also bought me an iPod. I cried. That is a good Christmas for me! I know I probably sound greedy, but honestly, who doesn't like getting awesome presents! Alex was happy with his loot too, which included cologne, Rolling Stone supscription and some wine he really wanted. So, it's been a good day here!

Anyway, that's all for now. Tonight is more Christmas-y festivities with home-cooked dinner made by me, and some Christmas baking. Tomorrow there is work (blah) and then off to Grayslake for family time.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

not dead, just busy. . . .

Yes, it has been awhile since I have posted on the knitting blog (or any blog for that matter). Life is busy these days. With Christmas and work and everything. Ahh! I have gotten some knitting in over the last couple of weeks. Not a lot of knitting, but some knitting. I have no pictures to prove that I have been knitting, but hopefully those will come soon. Let's see. . . .

The Trekking Socks are moving right along. I turned the heel yesterday so I feel like I am making some progress there. I would probably be done with them by now if I had not started on another pair of socks. I couldn't help it though. I had new sock yarn and a new pattern from Knitty (I am knitting the Monkey socks). Maybe by favorite socks to knit ever. Because I have been so busy knitting those by Alpaca scarf is also sitting somewhere around here unfinished. It's probably sitting under a pile of Christmas presents that need to be wrapped. Oh well, I plan on using my very long weekend at New Year's to do a lot of knitting. Christmas weekend will bring very little knitting since I have to work...all weekend....and on Christmas....but I have known since last January that I had to work on Christmas, so I will now stop complaining.

Alright, as is customary in the land of me I will know use this 30 minutes before I leave for work to work on knitting a sock while watching the news.

Have a good day kids!

Knitting Revealed.

Well, last night was the 4th Annual Froooond Christmas Party. I am happy to say that it was a very good time. There was drinking and eating and chatting and presents, and well, much goodness. Here is the secret Christmas knitting that was gifted at the party. The black, grey and white scarf was for Mel. I think it looks camoflauge. I knit that one with three strands of yarn held together, plain ol' garter stitch and I knit until I used up the whole ball of white. It is a very very long scarf, but Mel is very tall and everyone loves a very long scarf. I am pleased that she was pleased!!!


Then, I knit a hat and scarf for Mary. I knit these two things a forever ago (like in early November). Mary was also very pleased. With the scarf I alternated between moss stitch and garter stitch (I think....I knitted it so long ago). The hat I just made it up. The hat really is more like a beanie. It's a little tight. Fortunately Mary has a regular size head, so it fit her nicely!! I really do like knitting Christmas presents. I don't always have the time. I am glad that I was able to get these doen though. They turned it nice and all involved were happy!

In sock news, I have finished my first sock (finally!) and casted on for the second sock. It's still the Trekking XXL sock that I was knitting through Indiana a month ago. I just cant's get excited about this sock. I don't know why. Hopefully I will finish them soon. Of course, I now have more distractions that will keep me away from the Trekking sock.

What, you ask? Well let me tell you.

Yesterday morning my sister, Melissa, and I went over to I'd Rather Be Knitting in Long Grove. Now I had gone into this Yarn Shop a while back, when I was first learning to knit and I had total sticker shock and ran out of there much faster than I had walked in. But yesterday we went armed with coupons. They were having a sale this weekend on yarn. You got to spin the Wheel of Discount and then use your 5% off coupon on top of that. My sister and I both got 15% off. It pleased us greatly. So, here is what I came home with: some really nice baby alpaca, and some really nice sock yarn. I am very excited. The baby alpaca is going to turn into a very nice scarf for myself. It matches my winter coat quite well. I don't have a lot of it, so it will probably be a little scarf, but who cares? It will be the softest most wonderful scarf in all the land. So, there we go, so much for knitting the other sock this weekend!!

Well, that's all I have for now. My Sunday will consist of lunch with Alex's parents, some knitting, and trying to stay away from any more mice that have taken residence in the kitchen. Icky!

Happy Sunday!!

the baby sock continues.

I did, in fact, cast on the second baby sock yesterday. And, I am pleased to say that I am making some very nice progress on it. The fact that I went to the doctor today and they were way behind schedule helped my knitting out a lot. I am hoping I can finish it tomorrow. I think I can do it. After the baby sock I am not sure what to knit. I have that other sock on some needles, but I am not sure that I am feeling it. We will have to see. Perhaps it is time to start that whole "Knitting for Jen in '07" thing. It's almost '07. It's time to knit myself a whole bunch of awesome-ness. Something to think about anyway.

Well, back to knitting the baby sock!

more baby knitting. . . .

Well, this weekend did, in fact, involve quite abit of knitting. I finished the baby booties to match the hat I made. I crocheted the top with the white yarn after sewing up the

booties. I think they are great! I made up my own pattern for them and I think they turned out nice. The picture makes them look like they are two different sizes, but I swear they are the same size!

I finished up the baby sock a couple days ago. I plan on casting on for the second sock this afternoon. I know that I better start it today or this sock will never have a partner. I am using a free pattern that I found here. My sock, of course, looks nothing like the picture, but I like my sock anyway (it's the Ruffle Ribs sock). I am using some Trekking XXL sock yarn. I like that yarn.


Yesterday I also started and finished some secret Christmas knitting. I took a picture of the finished product but I don't want to post it until the gift is given. We wouldn't want to ruin anyone's surprise!!

Alright, well that's all. Back to sitting around, thinking about how I have no desire to leave my apartment today (it's 16 degrees outside!! icky!).

so much snow!

There is a lot of snow. I mean, a lot. You know what that means...a weekend of staying in my apartment and knitting my little heart out. I plan on finishing some baby booties, casting on for a second baby sock, and maybe something else. I am toying with the idea of knitting a couple of scarves. Maybe one for myself. As you can see, I am going to need one if I decide I want to clear the snow off the balcony. . . .

Crap, that's a lot of snow. Well, that's all I've got for now. Maybe some pictures of knitting tomorrow? Yeah, I think I can make that happen!