Google Knits!

Today, December 23, 2006, Google's search engine has a special holiday picture up. This one:


How cool is that?

Merry Christmas!

The Last Post Until Next Year (Probably)

So there's this thing going around (fortunately, it's not an illness) where bloggers take the first sentence from the first post of each month of 2006 and post them together. Nobody "tagged" me to do it or anything, but it sounds like fun and I just want to see what I get if I do it.

J - the comeback project is not socks, Cherry Tree Hill or otherwise, but... the comeback project IS off the needles, hurrah! (Of course, the first post of this year was all in haiku. Silly me.)

F - Sure, I joke and I laugh, and I laugh and I joke, but let's face it folks, Knitter's ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) is a real problem.

M - I have a new friend. (Said friend's name is Meekins, and he now resides at my mom's house. Some new friend.)

A - Occasionally, a person's faith in humanity can be restored.

M - You may notice that this post is happening later than usual (5:50EST as I start).

J - Let's try for those pictures again, shall we?

J - I know I still have two more contest entries to post, but I'm going to put those off just a little bit longer.

A - So if you've known me for any length of time, you're likely well aware that I have a certain thing for Richard Dean Anderson, AKA MacGyver, AKA Jack O'Neill (two l's) on Stargate SG-1.

S - Be honest.

O - Today we celebrate two pretty significant milestones.

N - Come along with me on a little guilt trip.

D - Calvin mittens.

Well. That was mildly interesting. Still here? Let's see what other tricks I have up my sleeve.
Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of the finished hat, but you got the idea from the earlier post. I finished it Monday, wrapped it last night, and delivered it today. It was received with much happiness, and I was glad to have made it.

The Maggie mittens are... well... I still have time, right? Hopefully the TSA will comply with their own rules so I can finish them on the plane if I have to. Mom and I are flying to Seattle on Christmas Eve and staying through Friday the 29th. I'm looking forward to it, since it will be our first Christmas with the little ones.

Now that the Christmas knitting is nearly complete, I've become such a progressive thinker that I've already begun plans for the Valentine's Day knitting. You've never heard of such a thing? Let's start a new trend, shall we?

Well, since I'll be out of town starting Friday evening, I'd just like to share Merry Christmas wishes with all of my readers. I hope you have a wonderful time with family and friends and pets, and may all your knitting projects be finished in the (St.) nick of time. Merry Christmas to all, and all the best in 2007. See you then!

What Are You Knitting?

Every year when the Christmas knitting rush begins (sometime in November, probably), I always tell myself, and everyone else, that, you know, I'm just not planning that much Christmas knitting this year. I don't want to be like the thousands of other knitters working frantically through the night, working their little fingers to the bone trying to finish that sweater for Aunt Sally and those socks for Brother Barnaby and tens of dozens of scarves for teachers, postmen, and that random waitress at Bob Evans who's been SUPER nice every time you stop in for some hot chocolate, which really only happened once, because PUH-lease! You don't have time to get hot chocolate at Bob Evans, what with all the KNITTING you have to do!

Yeah, I don't want to be like that.

However, I do typically end up with a few Christmas knitting projects despite all the protesting. You've seen one of them already: Calvin mittens. And what's a pair of Calvin mittens without a pair of Maggie mittens?

Okay, so I don't yet have a pair, but I still have 10 days, right? Who couldn't finish a pair of mittens in 10 days? (The yarn is Artyarns Ultramerino sock yarn, the needles are, what else? Size US 2 dpns.)

Okay, maybe Maggie couldn't, but she is only four. Give her a break.

I'm also making a classicly-styled* ribbed hat for the coolest bank guy ever. I have a friend who works at my bank branch who has helped me out a number of times with issues with my account, who asks me continually how things are going and how goes the job search, and who is just a generally swell human being in a world that seems to feature fewer and fewer of those. He doesn't have much family and may be alone for the holidays, and I thought that if he could at least keep his head warm, he might be able to keep a warm heart full of holiday spirit, as well. (The yarn is di.Ve Autumno, 100% merino wool, über soft. Needles are addi turbos, #8, 16".)

I'm also making what appears to be an alligator, but he won't come up out of the water long enough for me to get a good picture.

Soon I will be knitting like a fiend on The Sweater. A little birdie from the yarn store called yesterday and said that more of the Donegal Tweed has arrived. Hurrah!

So. What are you knitting?

p.b. My friend Joy asked how the square was going. Well, Joy, a.k.a. Forgetter-Of-Nothing, the square was finished, and then ripped out. The pattern told me to cast on 76 stitches, when I would have been much better off casting on only 72. Nevertheless, I knitted the entire square with four extra stitches, and wouldn't you know it, I had four extra stitches at the end. So it has been ripped out and the yarn has moved on to different projects. However, I did enjoy the whole Mitered Square Experience (MSE) and I shall return to it in the future. Thanks for asking.

* If "classicly" isn't a word yet, it soon will be. You just wait.

Cute Baby in a Sweater

Remember Lilac Garden? Here it is in action, as modeled by Katherine Rene (now two months old!).



Those cheeks are just begging to be kissed and pinched, no? Thanks to Brenda for the photos. She's adorable!

Triumph!

Do you know what this means?

This means there's a set of sock needles free again.

*hunts sock yarn*

Why Can't I Finish These?

Calvin mittens. Fleece artist sock yarn and size 2 double-points. (Is there any other size?) 16 stitches times maybe 8 more rounds. They've been sitting here like this for at least three days. Maybe more. I just can't finish them. It's taking longer to write a post about them than it would actually take to just finish them. Seriously. I'd rather sit here and write nonsense and gibberish about not finishing silly mittens than sit and finish knitting them. You're probably not even reading this far anyway. This paragraph is much too long by now. You just looked at the picture, read the first couple of sentences, and snickered to yourself about how that silly drunken monkey never finishes anything. You've already clicked on to the next knitting blog on your list. That's okay, though. I forgive you. I know you were hoping for more than just an unfinished pair of mittens today. Maybe tomorrow.