Someone parked herself on my damp sweater yesterday morning after I’d washed it and laid it out to dry. No sooner did I get upstairs with the camera to document the crime then she tried to slink away unnoticed. I did manage to snag a blurry picture that shows her red-handed (or mayhap that should be red-pawed) in the act. I suppose I should leave it full of pins if I don’t want it covered in cat hair.
We’ve always intended to replace the original roller shades that were on the first floor of our house when we moved in but somehow we never got ’round to it. Just before Christmas the inner spring gave out on the one next to my desk which is the one that gets the most use. No big deal or so I thought. I tried to move one of the others into it’s place but one by one the springs snapped and it because apparently that we could procrastinate no longer. Upon our return one of the first orders of business was to find an affordable replacement and we soon came home with some new Roman shades that fit the bill nicely and will even conserve a bit of energy into the deal.
We also needed a new mat for inside the front door where salt and sand gets tracked in. This became a dire situation over the past few weeks when we’ve had several snow storms one right after the other. We found this cute little snowman mat on sale though I suspect it’ll soon be grimy and not nearly so endearing but if it cuts down on the vacuuming and mopping I’ll be well pleased.
Are you all getting tired of the hats yet? This was another gift knit from earlier this month. I’ve used 1824 Mission Falls Wool and size 6 needles. I increased until I had 112 stitches for a 23-inch hat (large) and knit until it was 7 inches tall. This was my first attempt at a top-down hat as well as my first time using the tubular bind-off.
Here’s another Christmas gift I knit earlier this month. The pattern is the boy hat from Limulus Knits. I used size 6 DPNs and Mission Falls 1824 Wool for this hat. I goofed and picked up only one ball. When I went back for a second I wasn’t able to get the same dye lot so I used the black stripes to break it up a bit and disguise the transition from one dye lot to the second. It’s a nice cozy hat and another fairly quick knit.
We are away for the week but I thought I’d reveal some secret knitting since it will have been gifted by now. This is the Sisters hat which I knit up a few weeks ago using size 6 needles and Berroco Ultra Alpaca. I thoroughly loved both the pattern and the yarn. I would definitely knit this pattern again.
Much of yesterday was spent making cookies and a batch of almond rocca candy in preparation for Christmas dinner dessert. The almond rocca and chocolate shortbread stars are both from Essence of Chocolate. The shortbread is barely sweet and has exotic fancy dancy salt pressed into the top. There are ginger crinkles from Fine Cooking Winter 2006 and Fruit Cake Cookies from Joy of Cooking Christmas Cookies.
Much of Friday Daniel and I bounced around between doctor’s offices and pharmacies. While we were waiting for one of our prescriptions to be filled Daniel found an inexpensive balloon animal kit so it went home with us. He spent the rest of the weekend creating balloon sculptures one of which is pictured here.
At knitting this morning Debbi and Mary showed up with the best Christmas gift. We’d had a conversation a few weeks ago in which I mentioned that I’d love to have a little egg beater (there being really no more space in my kitchen for electronic appliances). They were surprised that I was having trouble finding one and subsequently noticed that they are indeed not exactly everywhere. After that the eggbeater finding mission ensued with great success and I was presented with the results this morning. Thanks ladies, I love it! What an excellent surprise that was.
On one of my recent visits to the yarn shop I had a discussion with the owner about Fair Isle. She’s taking a class in January with Kaffe Fasset and mentioned she was getting a Ruby Beholder to help choose yarn colors for her sample piece. I asked her to snag one for me as well. I’ve been looking for a value finder for awhile now albeit halfheartedly. This will be a great help for those colorwork projects although it doesn’t work on red so I still need to hunt down a green one as well.
Someone parked herself on my damp sweater yesterday morning after I’d washed it and laid it out to dry. No sooner did I get upstairs with the camera to document the crime then she tried to slink away unnoticed. I did manage to snag a blurry picture that shows her red-handed (or mayhap that should be red-pawed) in the act. I suppose I should leave it full of pins if I don’t want it covered in cat hair.
