Felt Like Knitting

Let's put up the Christmas tree!

Today I was driving E to her dental appointment.  We noticed that the big pine tree in the square of town was sporting a lighted star.  In fact, the whole tree had lights on it.  We couldn't believe it!  E pointed out to me that it's only September.  Technically, today is still summer even.

Now, I know that people living in cold climates decorate early.  It's certainly easier than putting lights on the eaves in a snowstorm.  But we live in the Atlanta area.  We rarely get snow.  In fact, there have been Decembers when I'm still in shorts.  I'm not sure why the town Christmas tree is ready to go.

I shouldn't point fingers because I'm already knitting Christmas gifts (a dishcloth for a relative).  And I'm thinking about what to make for the Handmade Christmas Gift Swap.  The sign up is open until 9/25, so I haven't assigned partners yet.  Once I know the person I have, it'll be easier to figure out what to make.  Oh, this isn't Christmas related, but did I tell you I also joined the One Yard Fabric Swap?  That's going to be lots of fun, too.

It's late and I need to get packed up for school and get to bed.  I hope you all have a good week.  Let me know when your town's decorations go up.  :)

Reading and seeding

I ordered some books and they finally came the other day.  (It seems like Amazon items used to get to me a lot faster than they do now.)  I'm looking forward to reading the two knitting books.  I am determined to finish the socks I started, so the sock book will come in handy.  It explains about short row heels (and toes) and I like the look of that kind of heel.  I've heard so many things about Knitting from the Top that I wanted to have it around, too.

I couldn't help myself and started the third book, Hart's Truth, right away.  This book was written by a friend of mine, Kelly Long, and I'm really enjoying it.  It's about a new doctor and his first job in a small Pennsylvania town in the 1920s.  It's one of those books that you can't put down.  I almost hate to admit this, but it won out over knitting yesterday afternoon when I had some free time!  I hope that I'll have time to finish it tomorrow.

Okay, why are the books posing by the dirt?  It's aerator weekend here in our neighborhood.  S rents the aerator and our friend Paul schedules the other neighbors to use it.  This year there are 20+ people using the aerator.  There's a lot of raking and seeding going on around here!  I'm happy not to be involved this year!

Update:  I just looked closely at the picture.  Just in case you're wondering, the little brown things aren't dog poop.  They're the soil plugs that the aerator pulls out of the ground!

Bad dresses and big hair

Okay, you might want to sit down if you aren't already.  This ain't gonna be pretty.  Kate is having a contest on her blog.  The contest is for us to describe our worst outfit from the 80's.  I've decided to be extra brave and post some pictures.  I now present bad dresses and big hair:

Believe it or not, I wore this dress for graduation (under a graduation gown, thank goodness!) AND my rehearsal dinner!  What in the world was I thinking?!  I spiced things up for the rehearsal dinner buy wearing large, red beads.  I must have been insane at the time.  I could probably wear that dress now and I'm at least 20 pounds heavier!

  I sported this lovely look for a company Christmas party.  Ooo, don't you just love the shiny dress?  And could my hair have been bigger?  (Well, I suppose it could have been.)  So what was with the big shouldered dresses back then (1986)? 

I used to wear big sweaters with leggings.  Horrid!  I am NEVER wearing leggings again.  Stirrup pants?  Yuck!  I wore those, too, with granny boots.

I'm really not sure why designers want to bring back the 80's, but I'm not buying into it!

A bedtime story

Once upon a time there was a princess that bought a ball of dishcloth cotton.  This yarn was made of very bright colors that attracted the princess and she was very happy.  But then the princess tried matching the yarn with lots of other colors to make a ball band dishcloth.  Alas, nothing matched and the yarn ended up in the castle yarn closet.

One day, the princess noticed that other princesses were knitting special dishcloths called garterlac dishcloths.  Maybe this would be the right thing to knit from the bright yarn! 

So, the princess got out her favorite special royal size 7 bamboo needles and her brightly colored yarn.  She knit.  And she knit.  And she knit.  She was surprised that she could knit the dishcloth since the design looked like it would be so hard to knit.  And the princess was having fun.

But then one day something bad happened.  The princess woke up early that morning and decided to knit as a reward for dragging her royal body out of the bed.  She was too groggy to pay attention and started to attach a square to two sides at once.  When she awoke with a start, she realized the dishcloth was turning into a royal mess.  So she un-knit it until she was back to the beginning of the square.  She then made a royal decree:  "From this day forward, no knitting shall be done until one is properly awake!"

And everyone lived happily ever after.  The end.

Handmade Christmas Gift Swap

There was enough interest in a Christmas gift swap, so I've decided to try my hand at organizing it.  We have a swap blog and a button.  If you want to join, please send an e-mail to me at HandmadeGiftSwap [at] aol [dot] com.

I'm limiting this swap to 30 people.  The folks that have already expressed an interest will get to join first.  Here's who may be interested:  Katie, Patti (in SC), Kaye, Deb, Geraldine, Kate, and Leslie.  If any of you want to participate, please let me know as soon as you can.

This is open to anyone, as long as some of us are willing to ship internationally.  :)  Also, the gifts need to be handmade, but not necessarily knitted.

Here is the info from the swap blog:

Let's swap!

Let's have a Christmas gift swap!  We'll pair up and get to know each other from our blogs and e-mails.  Then we'll each make something for our swap partner and ship it to them in time for Christmas.  Let's also include our favorite holiday recipe and anything else we might like to add.

RULES:

Number of swappers:  30 people

Sign-ups:  September 13 - September 25

Names sent out:  September 28

Packages:  Mailed by November 15 for international swappers and December 1 for swappers in the United States.   Please remember that the post office can no longer send liquids or gels via airmail.  If your package contains these items, it will have to be shipped by truck.

Dollar amount:  $25

What to include:  A handmade Christmas gift, your favorite holiday recipe, and anything else you might want to add (small decoration or tree ornament, yarn, tea, etc.).  The whole package should not exceed $25 in value.

How to join:  Send an e-mail to HandmadeGiftSwap [at] aol [dot] com.

I will give out a questionnaire for participants to fill out which will include questions about decorating styles, wool and food allergies, willingness to ship internationally, etc.

Check back here to share your favorite Christmas memories, recipes, gift patterns, etc.!

Fine print:  This is my first time organizing a swap.  Please let me know if I've forgotten something.

Let's have a Christmas gift swap!  We'll pair up and get to know each other from our blogs and e-mails.  Then we'll each make something for our swap partner and ship it to them in time for Christmas.  Let's also include our favorite holiday recipe and anything else we might like to add.

RULES:

Number of swappers:  30 people

Sign-ups:  September 13 - September 25

Names sent out:  September 28

Packages:  Mailed by November 15 for international swappers and December 1 for swappers in the United States.   Please remember that the post office can no longer send liquids or gels via airmail.  If your package contains these items, it will have to be shipped by truck.

Dollar amount:  $25

What to include:  A handmade Christmas gift, your favorite holiday recipe, and anything else you might want to add (small decoration or tree ornament, yarn, tea, etc.).  The whole package should not exceed $25 in value.

How to join:  Send an e-mail to HandmadeGiftSwap [at] aol [dot] com.

I will give out a questionnaire for participants to fill out which will include questions about decorating styles, wool and food allergies, willingness to ship internationally, etc.

Check back here to share your favorite Christmas memories, recipes, gift patterns, etc.!

Fine print:  This is my first time organizing a swap.  Please let me know if I've forgotten something.

Secret Pal 9?

Two posts in one night?  Wow!  What's going on?  :)

I just read that Secret Pal 9 is open for sign ups.  It seems like a really fun thing to do, but I know that some of you have had trouble with past Secret Pal swaps.  Can you tell me if you recommend participating?  Are there other swaps that are more fun?  Do you like to swap or do you prefer to spend the money on yarn you pick out for yourself?

I think it would be fun to organize a Christmas present swap.  Everyone could make a gift then swap it.  The recipient would then use it to help with her Christmas giving.  (Or maybe she would "give" it to herself!)

Blessed

I was all set to complain tonight.  A bunch of little things went wrong this evening and it put me in a bad mood.  So I made myself a cup of tea, pulled some Girl Scout Thin Mints from the freezer, and sat down to blog. 

But first I decided to read through the list of blog statistics.  I think it's interesting to see what people have been searching for and who has visited my blog.  Tonight I noticed that someone had searched on my friend Jenny's name.  I followed the links and saw that a memorial ride has been organized with the profits going to the Sandy Springs Mission.  T-shirts are even for sale.

All of the sudden I was reminded that I am incredibly blessed to be here.  So the York Peppermint Patties wouldn't ring up at the store?  I didn't need them anyway.  I came home to find my dog had pooped and peed on the floor while I was gone and nobody noticed?  I cleaned it up and I'll get over it.  My daughter hadn't showered, her bedtime was in 15 minutes, and my husband seemed oblivious to this?  Everything's fine.  I have a wonderful family, even if they aren't concerned about bedtime.

So as I sit here and drink my tea, I'm counting my blessings.  Life is a precious gift from God that I cherish.

Does this look right?

Does this look right to you?  Does the sleeve cap look too tall?  It's close to the right measurement and seems like it will fit when I place it on my arm.  (The sides look wonky because it's wanting to curl under.)

The lifeline is on the last row that I understood the directions.  I think I've figured out what I was doing wrong, though.  I have one extra row in there and two extra stitches to bind off.  I guess it's a good thing I put the lifeline in there!

Laboring

Oh, I had big plans for this post.  I was working on something very profound, plus I was going to show lots of knitting.  But here it is, already 6:00ish in the evening on Labor Day.  I've still got lessons plans to finish and grading to do, but I'm going to post first instead.  (My priorities are straight, right?)

We have been accomplishing things this weekend, though.  We managed to clean up most of the downstairs.  There are a few stacks of stuff to take care of in the kitchen and it still needs to be cleaned, but almost everything else is done.  This is a tremendous relief to me and I'm hoping to be able to keep it straightened.

And we've added a family member - another computer!  I've been telling S for a long time that we need another computer.  E has more and more homework to do on it and it seems like we were soon going to need a sign-up sheet for computer use.  It is already helping us out to have it around, so I think it was a good decision.

Last, but not least, I've been knitting.  The Central Park Hoodie KAL started on Friday.  I wanted to finish the sleeve before I took a picture, but the light is fading fast.  This is my second sweater, but my first sleeve since Green Gable was knit in the round.  I'm surprised how fast this is knitting up.  The Malabrigo yarn is kettle-dyed and the individual skeins did not look exactly alike.  I took Rachel's suggestion and am knitting a couple of rows with one skein then a couple with another.  This is working well to create a uniform color.  I didn't think about this when I chose the color, but the overall effect is kind of camouflage.  The green looks good with my skin tone (and with blue jeans!) so I'm happy.

Well, it's time to get back to those lab reports.  I hope you all have a terrific week!