December

One last post for 2014!

It's been a busy two weeks. Been using my time off from work to declutter, clean, organize, sort, pack up or throw away basically half the decorations and other items in the house. (I even cleaned through my birthday on the 21st! RAWRRR!) Many many boxes have been filled for good will and countless trash bags and other items have made their way off to the trash heap. Hasn't been much fun, to be honest, because it's been SO MUCH work (almost like moving) but it was very needed. I've felt for a long while that I have entirely too much 'stuff'. You go through a grieving of sorts as you bin it but then a few days later you realize you don't notice it's gone at all. And if that sounds drastic - it is............but it's also not. I still have PLENTY of stuff left! :)

(Psst. There is stuff to be given away at the end of this.)

 

It's too bad I live in too rural an area for a yard sale because I could have a FABULOUS one in the spring with the stuff currently living in boxes downstairs. Ah well. If that's the price I have to 'pay' for living on an off-the-beaten path itty-bitty slip of  a street that's hard to find even when you are looking for it, so be it. It's also quite nice when you can go hours and hours without even seeing a neighbor's car drive by. :)

So. Didn't get much knitting done for Christmas or anything else for that matter with all that going on. 

A pair of socks from November were finished and I washed/blocked the wad of blanket squares that I had finished in the last few months. (Counted this morning and I now have 82 squares completed. I think at least another 48 will be needed to make a good sized blanket. 48. *sigh*)

A new hat for Christmas.......well.......it's in progress. The lobsters are growing a little each day.

The tree finally made it up - on Christmas Eve. Better late than never, eh? 

Very nice to have it up after taking last year 'off' because KITTENS.

Said cats were nice enough to *cough* get us a present this year. (Which I generously paid for. And shopped for.)

Huh. Cheeky little buggers!

After that massive decluttering/cleaning I wasn't much in the mood for all the decorations to be put out so I kept it to the basics: stockings, various holiday candle holders, lighted pine garland on the staircase, etc. 

And I changed up my little 'stitchy' basket with a winter theme that should last until spring. :)

I thinned out my cross stitch patterns as well and have a big stack of them to give away if someone wishes to pay for the shipping on them. There is a bit of everything in there from Bent Creek, Lizze Kate, The Drawn Thread, Cricket Collection, etc. 

 There are also a bunch of Shepherd Bush patterns *without* the kit materials they originally came with. 

I've gone through each one very careful to make sure they are in order and no pages are missing, etc. It would probably be like $10.50 for a priority mailer in the US, international....I'm not sure. I would need your address to figure it but I do enough 2-3 ounce overseas packages to know it would probably be upwards of $20-25. 

You must take the whole thing though. I'd rather stab myself in the eye than have to piecemeal it, sorry! Leave a comment if you want them, if more than one person does I'll just randomly pick a name after a week or so.

Ok, I think that's it for 2014! Have a happy new year everyone! 

Bit somber here, I'm afraid, as my husband's uncle just passed this week. He had been battling cancer for a number of years and it had recently traveled to his brain. It seemed like he would have more time but he started to slip away on Christmas day. I feel so bad for his cousins who have now lost both their parents and all their remaining grandparents within the last four years. Starting the new year with a funeral means you've already gotten the worst part of 2015 out of the way, right? :(

FA LA LA LAaaaAAaaaa!

 It's official. I am done with work until the New Year. 

*happy sigh*

Not a moment too soon, either! Just no idea where the last four weeks have gone. :(

Bless anyone who doesn't get a small break for the holidays. It's all so overwhelming.

For my first day of workless bliss (today) I had to deal with some Serious Business straight away before I got arrested........by the BEAUTY POLICE, that is. The mani/pedi situation was a tragedy. Let us not speak of it again. *ahem* I feel so much better now that that is taken care of*.  (It's crazy but true! lol)

 Tomorrow I have to beat back the dust balls in the house and, umm, decorate a little for Christmas? UGH. So late this year. 

Hanging out in the hoodie. If you look closely you can see his tongue sticking out. Silly goose.

 

We went back and forth - and forth and back - on the tree. We love having a tree. 

Do not love: cats knocking over trees. Or climbing trees. Eating trees? Pretty much anything cat + tree = BAD. 

I'm already tired of playing Mean Mommy to Fitz's daytime antics (get down from there! don't scratch that! get out of there! don't go in there!, etc.). I don't think my nerves could handle him AND a tree this year. He's still too, ummmm, rambunctious? He *is* the very definition of 'boy' at the moment. (But cute!) Hopefully next year, when he is older, it will be better. So........we'll miss the tree this year but I think it's best we don't put it up. I can still put some garland up on the stairway and hang a few things from that. (Can't do lights in that area though, which is a bummer.) I feel bad for waiting so long to get to it but we are traveling out to people for Christmas this year so I don't need to go crazy if I'm not entertaining here either, I guess.

THANKFULLY, I am golden on the gift buying. (THANK YOU INTERNETS.) Just need a few details in the gift wrapping department to finish that up. WHEW. 

Okay so after all THAT, *then* I can do something naughty like...........sit for a long stretch of time and read a book? Actually get some knitting done? Or stitching?  Hell, I'll take blankly staring at the wall like a zombie at this point. It's enough that I have TIME to do it without the stress of any work hanging over me everyday.  :)

 I didn't get any knitting done for the holidays this year (yikes) but.........the husband has been going like gangbusters through my yarn stash, weaving scarves for gifts. (There is one more to photo as well.)
I like each one better than the last and it's so great to see more of my yarn come out of retirement the stash boxes and be used up. 

 The brown one? This one is mine because it matches my winter jacket. YUM.

The weft (goes 'weft to right) is in done in Alchemy Yarns which I *think* I got from a sock club package? Anyhoo, the colors on this are divine. I *love* this kind of 'fall inspired' color combo.

The warp (length) is a tan Opal yarn and worked very nicely as the hardly-seen-but-still-important-background.

I rooted around my phone/ipad pics to see what *I* have finished lately and all I came up with is a Halloween finish from a couple weeks ago. :(

It's quite a nice one though! 

Silver Creek Samplers, JCS 2013 Halloween book. 

On.......40 ct maybe? Something small like that, at any rate. 

I messed up at the very very end. Literally. Annoying. Last thing to do on it was the crow and didn't notice until I was done that he was supposed to be perched on the bottom of the 'L', not the top. GRRrrrrr! I chose to EMBRACE my take on it (read: just get 'er done) and did an extra leaf where he was *supposed* to go. I love the little leaves on this so one more is just fine by me. :)

I feel bad for never posting pics of Livvy too but I swear to god she's IMPOSSIBLE to photograph. She LOSES HER MIND everytime I grab my phone to snap a pic and all I end up with is blurry blurry blurry gray messes or something like this:

Because that's a ladylike pose. Hello, crazy eyes!

Wait, wait, I dug around some more. Finally. One good one. It's a Christmas miracle. 

 

Well, hopefully I get a chance to post more often now so I don't run on and on like this anymore. It's exhausting to read, I'm sure. If I don't though, Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to everyone!  :)

*(Also, I lasered the crap out of myself with my laser gun but y'all probably aren't interested in that unless you want to hear about how fricking_painful_it_is to have a good laugh at my expense because I PAID $$$ to do this to myself. I literally scream out approximately 3,815 obscenities per leg. At LEAST.  It's like electrocuting yourself. Over and over and over again.)

Weiners!

Giveaway weiners winners were pulled this morning and emailed but I thought I would put it here too just in case someone didn't get their email. They were Valerie, Patty C., Laura D. , Michelle R. and Shawna. Congrats and thanks to everyone who participated!! :)

(Pinterest, uncredited)

Obsession over.

 A fun little project for the holiday. 

 Little Cotton Rabbits free pattern, heavily modified because I did mine in the round vs. her doing 'em flat and seaming them up the backside.

I think in my mind I wasn't going to be happy until I hit an even dozen of these little jobbies and I was having fun coming up with new ways to do the designs but then the last one popped out like this:

Uh. Can you say totally BANANAS?

I mean look at the design on this thing!?! These aren't meant to be worn by actual PEOPLE, you know. 

So that was when I knew I had to quit before I started charting out, like, the New York landscape in wee sock form or something EQUALLY RIDICULOUS.

So, obsession over. They are put away until next Christmas where I will............I don't actually know what to do with them, to be honest. Put them on the tree? Maybe do a garland/stocking thing on the stairway banister? I just kinda liked knitting them. I didn't really care what they were for, you know? lol

During the holiday I also managed to correct an egregious wrong around here. Mr. Pigeon from The Pigeon Loft came with a most handsome Santa hat when I got him but, alas, when Miss HennyPenny joined the fold she was, quite sadly, sans hat. You can imagine how she felt about this. 

Those little beady eyes just stare straight into the depths of your soul, don't they? *shudder*

So I made her a styling hat too, complete with handmade pom-pom. (Which was quite the experience as it was twice as big as that when it started and then I trimmed and trimmed and trimmed and OMG I HATE MAKING POM-POMS.) So then I stuffed them both into the Xmas tree, per usual, with their hats and all was right with the world. The End.

Happy New Year everyone!!!

 Hope everyone had a great one. :)

It's been fab having the last week or so off but now it's back to the grind, eh? Booo!

It was a fun week of making things, listening to 923413123421 Xmas songs on the Sirius Holly channel and enjoying lots of cookies OMG I'M FAT FAT FAT enjoying Santa's presents. He was much too good to me this year. Literally. I suspect *he* was the bad one this year and I'm giving him the side eye just in case because why so good? WHY? lol

This sleek little thing is quite fun. QUITE fun. I do really  need to find someone who could use my first generation Kindle now though because I have THREE Kindles now, which is a bit ridiculous, yes? I swear I don't know ANYONE in my 'real' life who really reads anymore and is interested in it. :(

Oh ho ho ho, and what is this?

Only the thing I've been lusting, drooling and price checking daily for the longest time. What is it?

A Breville Tea Maker. 

It's ridiculously expensive (for real - I'm not EVEN going to link it so if you're curious you'll have to do your own Googles on it), hence my hesitation to buy it for myself. But OH BOY HOWDY is this thing a whiz-bang-dangity-dang heart stealing winner. I *heart* it just so much. I love love loves my loose tea and this makes it as easy to make as a regular coffee maker. Fill the hopper, pick your tea type (or go custom), pick your brew strength and BAM! It perfectly heats the water, the filter comes down and steeps it for the perfect amount of time, going up again when it's done, making the most perfect pot of tea. You don't EVEN want to know how much tea I've had in the last week because of this jobber. It's so bloody perfect I would marry it if it were allowable by law. lol

I failed miserably at any stitchy goals I had for 2011 but I managed to slip under the new year wire and..........drum roll please............finish off the last 2 pairs of knitted socks for the year - making an EVEN DOZEN for 2011. Sweeeeeeeeeeeet!!!!

I suspect though I won't be as diligent with this for 2012. It was a bit of a chore some months to try and 'race' to finish that month's pair, etc. I gave over half of them away as gifts and the other few have been put away for future gifts and/or to replace any of mine that 'die'. (I couldn't fit another pair in my sock drawer if I wanted to it's so stuffed full of knitted socks. lol)

Although, having said that...................I'm elbow deep in another sort of sock obsession at the moment.......

More on that later if/when the obsession passes. :)

Yay!

 I got the tree up this year before Christmas Eve! A WEEK AND HALF before Christmas Eve, to be exact. I'm so proud of myself. *pats self* 

I'm not going to bother to try and take a 'picturesque' photo of it though because it's impossible. Large sunny window + killer huge tv that can be seen from space on one side = no good angles for proper photo taking. Plus, I'm not dedicated enough to have a theme tree so I'm not sure how photo worthy it is anyway. I pick up a few ornaments every year to add to the mess, take out a few as the years go on...........it's a mix of everything and nothing but I wouldn't have it any other way. lol

Here a few new ones for this year:

How cute is this? I got this off of an Etsy seller. Looks just like the  hubby in his moon suit bee keeper suit! Super adorbs!

Simple ones from Target but I love their knitty-ness. They look/feel like they were fashioned out of old Fair Isle sweaters or something. Now THAT I can get behind.

And here are my kitties, in clay form. Robyn did a post last week showcasing a whole bunch of crafty kitty ornaments made for her by people and it made me pouty not to have any crafty kitties too so I found a bunch on Etsy and................good god I don't have $15 each to spend on crafty kitties on Etsy! They are lovely but no. Sorry. I'll have to plan for that during the year, one at a time. So when I was at Michael's last week for something else, I hit up the clay aisle and got some supplies to make up my own gang of kitties. For less than $15, I made up a Meisha, Mooshie, and Maggie kitty plus something else that can't be shown because it's a gift. :)

Meisha says: Uhhhh, like, my nose isn't pink though? 

Me: Sorry, bbs. I didn't buy any black so pink had to do. 

Meisha: Pfffftt!

Of course, now I have all this leftover clay because I only used up the ivory pack. What to do with it?!? lol My 'career' as a clay artist (sooooooooooooo kidding!!!) was short-lived because rolling out the clay balls DECIMATED my hands. My middle knuckle, palm side, was inflamed and owie for two days afterwards. No more clay crafts for me. It's now DAYS later and my inner palms, where the joints are, are STILL a little hurty if I press on it. :(

It's always fun to bring on the cross-stitch ornaments too, here are two are my favs, a JCS ornie and a L*K one:

I have so so so so many less than I would like to have though. I totally, miserably, horrendously FAILED on that front this year. Need to rethink crafty goals for next year. Hmm.........

And finally, look at this super great birthday gift that Cookie A. sent me. A loverly skein of cashmere infused yarn and an organic cotton sock drawstring bag. So very very thoughtful of her to think me of like that when she's so busy flitting around the world doing super-important knitting things and..............OK so this is really just the last installment of the 2011 Sock Club......that was sent out to hundreds of people, not just me. A girl can have her delusions, right? :)

Trans Siberian Orchestra, rocking da HOUSE.

AWESOMENESS. We got there a little late (about 30 minutes....ugh!) because the traffic was MURDER downtown Providence. Total clusterf**k. But these guys put on a THREE hour show so......there was more than enough lasers, fireworks, ear-splitting guitars, and flames left to watch. Oh yeah, and the Christmas themed music wasn't bad either. :)

Unlike a lot of people in the audience, I did not keep the cell phone in hand to record every last bit (prefer to watch the show thanks!) but I did take one small video. Our seats were SOOOoooo awesome.

(The uploaded video is compressed and looks like crap but it looks flipping PERFECT on my iPhone! So if you want to see a perfect video, you have to come to my house for a viewing! lol)

It all makes me a little misty eyed for all the hair bands I saw in the 80's. Motley Crue. Bon Jovi. Poison. Whitesnake. Cinderella. Warrant. Winger. Skid Row..............Or maybe I'm just misty-eyed for 80's ticket prices? GOD THOSE WERE THE DAYS. $20 to see a show, $10 for parking. It really is enough to make you weep. lol Seems like you can't see anything nowadays without forking over a minimum of $200 for two tickets once you get done paying for everything. *sigh*