I'm getting there

Things have been very hectic, as they probably are for everyone else during this time of year. I actually believed that over the past holiday I would get a ton of knitting time in, when really I got almost none. Since this is my first holiday season knitting, I've never known how to balance my holiday tasks with knitting and I failed, obviously, because I knitted nothing. I did however manage to send out a total of 5 swap packages to 5 of my spoilees. Yes, you read it corectly, "5"! I had signed up for some swaps without knowing the due dates for at least 3 of them. 2 I knew of, and one really wasn't a swap, more of an exchange of gifts. You can imagine my alarm when I found out the due dates for all of packages and looked at my calendar to realize all were due within the same week, and that week happened to be Thanksgiving!

I didn't have the heart to drop out so I forged on stalking my prey spoilee and chatting it up with them. I knew getting out these packages last week would be almost impossible so I made sure to keep my spoilees informed that I would send out this week and YAY! I did! I dropped all of yesterday nice and snug at the post office, PHEW! This is the last time I'll balance that amount of swaps I tell you, it was pretty crazy there for a minute especially when a few of them had some pretty specific requirements for knitted items or type of items, etc. I am very happy though with how each turned out and I'm hoping all my spoilees like the gifts I choose for them, including the yarn I scored for them too! Now I'm down to just 1 wee bit swap, which thankfully isn't due until the middle of January. It is a secret swap so I can't say who my victim is, but my stalking has already started.

Now that's done, I had 3 Traveling Scarves in my posession from 2 of my groups and new these were next on my list to finish and send on there merry way, but as fate would have it, I received another scarf yesterday, this time from my Tweedy group, and AHH! Now I really have to start moving my booty. I finished Gramma's Noro scarf last night, I had this done prior but I didn't like the way it was looking for my addition so I frogged and started over and am happy with the turnout. Gramma's scarf is really turning out pretty indeed!



The end with the brownish color to it is my addition, using a Box stitch pattern. It's hard to discern from this photo what the pattern looks like, but it kind of looks like a checkerboard effect.



I'll weave in the ends on lunch and mail this out today and quickly finish the other 3 I have so that tomorrow I can start my vastly late knit gifts for my family. I'll be making a pair of fingerless mittens for my daughter, a scarf for my son, and a "Che'" hat for my hubby, which about 30% done. For my compadre, Lynda, I'll be making some cabled socks (unless I find a different pattern), and for my godson I'll try to make him a blanket, a blue and red one at his request. He said to me, while touching my own knitted blue wave blanket knit in Alpaca mist blue with Blue Hand-maiden silk, "Nina, I, um, I, can you make me one? But, um, with red and um, pink?" to which I said "Are you sure pink or red?" to which he said "Um, yah, yes, red, ok thank you Nina". How could I turn down a request like that? He's so adorable and looks like a 2nd grader who's really only 4 years old. Or maybe I knit the blanket for his birthday which is in January, and knit or crochet him a Scooby-Doo with a toy gift for Christmas? He goes bonkers for Scooby-Doo, can't say I blame him, Scooby-Doo is my fave of all, and I can still watch the cartoons if there on T.V.

I got me some knittin' to do...

~Rocky

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas

What to do after Thanksgiving? For us, we go out and buy our Christmas tree, bright and early. On Saturday night we went and got the best pickin's from the lot, all the nice fluffy fresh smelling trees were there. I just love how a fresh Christmas tree makes the room spell good. While we decorated we watched Elf, such a funny movie, I love it! Will Ferrell is hecka funny in that movie, I love when he says "Ooh what's a candygram?". It's a definite instant classic.

Check out my little decorations



And here's my yearly fireplace display



Now the challenge, getting presents under the tree, that's a whole different mission, especially because I have teeny kids which means the gifts they want come with a pretty hefty price tag. Plus I have my handknits to make, and I'm behind schedule, way behind schedule.

I also got my last and 3rd package from my Falling For Ewe Swap spoiler, who kept herself secret these last 3 months. She is just totally awesome and is Tina from PhoenixFiberworks, a great blog that I've now added to my Bloglines account. I got such a great package, you wanna see...







My goodies are a full braid of Merino "Chocolate Cherries" roving from Zarzuelasfibers.etsy.com and some pretty luscious purple fiber from MissMalarkey on Ravelry, a box of scented oils in Warm Sugar Cookies, Baked Applie Pie, and Gingerbread. A "Start Spinning" book, a "Knitting New Scarves" book, and a "Crochet Today" magazine, plus a package of pencils and stamps and a cute notecard.
I'm so happy to have had this swap pal, I have no knitting pics, actually didn't do to good with the knitting had less time than I thought to knit, but I'm back at it tonight, I'll share later 8)

I'm Thankful

Well it's here folks, "T-Day"! I can just smell the smells of YUM-O! I've already started my prep work for my Thanksgiving meal, and will continue on prepping tonight. My 19lb bird will go in the oven at 6 a.m. sharp tomorrow morning. I went and purchased this to keep me comfy....



And, I'll be making some of my traditional Cranberry-Pumpkin Bread tonight, to have with my coffee as well. I just love this time of year, so toasty warm and snuggly, and I get to knit! You gotta understand this is my first Holiday season where I'm knitting, this time last year I didn't even know what a stitch was let alone DPN or FO. I learned the basic knit & purl from a dear friend, Leslie B., who I worked with last year. She was so nice to teach me and we became so close after bonding over our wooly love. Because it's my first holiday knitting season I've been going crazy over projects to make and I just don't have enough time or hands to knit with. Is that the life of a hopelessly addicted knitter? If so, I'll like it! 8-)

There are so many things for me to be thankful for this year, one is the great package I got from Julsey7 on Ravelry, my spoiler for the "1930's & 1940's Glamour Darhling" swap in "The Odd Ducks Swaps" group.
I came home to this package yesterday in a small box, snuggly packed.





There was such pretty yarn inside it, in my favorite colors again, it’s from Freedom Spirit, 100% wool, Shade 505, just gorgeous! I got chocolates, a Mae West movie “She done him wrong� (Can’t wait to snuggle up and watch this one!), Mae is one of my faves too! I also got the cutest buttons that I’m already planning to use for a cowl, and a classy leaf pin. And the card that was in it with Mae’s face on it, is so pretty! It will go adorned on my tackboard in my office.

Besides my glamorous package, as I was saying, I'm thankful for so many things, here are some that I can share 8)

--I'm thankful for having a loving and supportive family
--I'm thankful for having 2 awesome children who are growing into responsible adults
--I'm thankful for having my dog, Rosie, who has filled my heart with a love I never knew existed until having her. Pets really do bring out something special in your heart.
--I'm thankful for my daughter's cat, Gracy, who I know fills my daughter's heart with love.
--I'm thankful that both my husband and I have jobs during this hard time and that we have a roof over our family's heads and are able to provide for them.
--I'm thankful for my health, and my familie's health.
--I'm thankful for making it through the financial hell I went through with my home I had owned in Newman. I wouldn't wish that kind of stress on anyone, it is such a difficult thing to deal with.
--I'm thankful that my husband and I made it through that together.
--I'm thankful that daughter is here, and is healthy. She's always been a fighter, and had complications and 3 surgeries the day she was born. When I look into her eyes I can still see her eyes as they were the first time I looked into them when she was in her incubator at the hospital.
--I'm thankful that son is a growing young man, and is healthy. He too had a 1 week stay during his first week, I can still remember sleeping with him at the hospital that Thanksgiving week.
--I'm thankful for having learned how to knit and for having come this far with knitting. Knitting really has expanded my mind to a whole new world of creativity. It is to me the "gateway" craft unto others. I've spun off learning how to spin, how to dye, and how to crochet, and now how to design. Knitting truly is a talent to cherish as it can come in handy with everything. Think about it, if we ever had such a disaster here where we were without our luxuries, you could knit baskets, bowls, anything to survive. If you ever got stranded on an island, could you not knit clothing or making a hut just out of the basic structure of knitting? There are so many ways knitting is a key talent to have.
--I'm thankful for so many things, not all I can list, but I will say that I'm thankful for all of the friends I've made through knitting and all the wonderful people I've met through it as well.

Thank you all for visiting, and I hope you have a great Thanksgiving!

Regards,
Rocky

Everything at once

Over the weekend we went to my little cousin's 7th bday party, Alyssa. She is so cute and the sweetest girl. Her parents surprised her and had her birthday party at Boomer's in Modesto, CA. They have everything there, from go karts, to water boats, mini-golf, rock climbing, batting cages, lazer tag, arcade games, you name it.

The kids had such a great time, and really enjoyed the rock climbing. My son climbed the rock wall over 4 times and did each turn in record time. We said he looked like Spiderman up there, he navigated that wall like it was nothing.



My daughter tried too, but had a wee bit harder of a time.



It was such a great time, but very tiring. The long 2 hour drive to the party gave me plenty of time to finish knitting my Holiday Stocking. I made one for my Death By Socks Christmas Stocking Swap Pal, Yarnwhisperer. I have to apologize to her, I had over a month to get this done, but fell behind on so many projects and ended up casting on this past Friday 11/21/08.

I didn't know what to do for a stocking, so I decided to wing it and let the project happen as I knitted it.

I started off with a provisional chain cast on and knitted in red for about 9 inches, then turned the heel, onto the toe, which was about 2 1/2 inches. I used a plain stockinette because I felt it would look nice.

I then swiss stitched in a snowflake design, plus Yarnwhisperer's initials "A T". After closing up the toe, I removed my crochet chain and picked up the live stitches, then with white yarn, knitted for 2 rows, then reversed knitted the opposite direction to make the right side the wrong side. I was pretty skeptical at first, but it worked out better than I thought. The 2 knitted right side rows allowed the reverse knitted (purls on right side) to puff out, so it really looks like a stocking.

For the yarn, I used Vanna White's Red Yarn, very soft, and economical, and this yarn from Stacy Charles that is white with laced tinsel sparklins through it. I thought it would be perfect and it is!

For added flair, I weaved in some red beads for the snowflake. I'll put together the notes from my pattern and share for free again! I plan on making another one, but for my daughter, I might switch up the design though.



That's my Bear in the picture, he had to share the spotlight.



Can you see those beads? I love how they turned out.

Besides my stocking gift, I also got a few gifts of my own, a lovely Starbucks & Yarn Package came from Shoegirl on Ravelry.



I got some really pretty Lorna Laces sock yarn, 217yds!, a cute mug cozy, in my fave colors, neutrals, a Starbucks gift card, Giada's Tuscan Spice from Crate & Barrel (I love this!), Giada's little menu, and some hand cream (which I love cause I'm always washing my hands).
Thank you Shoegirl!

Another goodie came Saturday, it is "Autumn Haze" from Socks that Rock 2008. This is the final installment and I'm in love with it. My absolute #1 fave of the entire 2008 club. I need more of this colorway, so I can make something absolutly pretty with it.







Aren't those colors beautiful!

Ok one more goodie for yah, today I received the latest Madeline Tosh Society shipment, "Tourmaline", and is to die for! It's 1000 yards of luscious silky soft Tuscan silk! This is definitely an early Christmas present for me.





Oh, before I leave yah, if you want to enter a fun contest, please check out the Nautical Knitter's blog, she is giving away the cutest Snowman stitch markers!

I'll post again before Turkey Day!

Official Turkey Day Run

Today was my "Official Turkey Day Run", what does that mean? It means a few hours at my local grocery store gathering all my food items in preparation for this coming Thanksgiving.

I'm pretty organized when it comes to this stuff, so I have a saved file with a list of my "Thanksgiving Menu", with all needed ingredients to make the menu, and I like to go in and out as fastest as I can.

I print the list out each year, take my calculator and pen, and off I go. I write prices down as I shop and tally it up on my calculator. My goal this year, really out of necessity, is to get the most for my $$. I'm aiming to stay under $150.00, which is pretty damn low for me cause I usually spend a few hundred. I have between 10 -12 mouths to feed, all adults, with the exception of my kids and 1 baby. This means that everyone will eat larger portions and even get seconds.

Here's what I'll be making:
**Turkey** (probably a 24lb one or bigger)


**Mashed Potatoes**


And so much more! Homemade stuffing, Carrots steamed with fresh Rosemary, Fresh string beans and corn, and dinner rolls, gravy, and of course cranberry sauce. Yum-O! I can just taste the food now!

I got my Turkey items, now all that waits is the prepping, which is mandatory to have a relaxing Turkey day. Guess how much I spent? My bill tallied up to $96.00! Of course I have 4 items left to buy, but that's gotta wait until Wednesday morning, and I know I'll stay under $50.00 with the remaining 4, plus I got everything in under 1 hour! Believe me the store was packed, everyone was turkey shopping, and all lines had cartfulls with like 4 people waiting in each line. I got lucky because the line next to me opened and the guy in front of me let me go ahead of him cause his girlfriend was off getting a last minute item.

Now that my grocery shopping is done, onto some yarny goodness. I got my latest installment of the Seven Deadly Spins Club, and is greedy!



Yellow to me is an acquired taste but this purse looks so pretty and fashionable.



I also got the coolest little $100 dollar stitch marker, but no pictures cause my camera could'nt focus on it.

This package made me greedy for more yarn, and wouldn't yah know, I also got me hands on some Pirate Booty!



Latest colorway is Herron. It reminds me of those cold rainy winter days that are gloomy. It has a nice shade of purple blended in that act like a mellow purple umbrella to add that sparkle to your day.



I think this colorway calls for a cowl! I'm starting to love cowls, there so addicting. I'll have to choose from the huge array of cowls I covet.

Another fun project I've been secretly working on is a pattern for a Christmas Stocking. I'm putting the finishing touches on it, and I'll share probably tomorrow. It's a fun festive project!

Well I'd love to stay and blog more but I gotta get my booty nighty night for me trabajo tomorrow.
Catch you tomorrow!