Holiday Hangover

Christmas is over, the presents are all gifted, the guests are gone and I'm left with the clean up. The holiday traditions of taking down the tree, putting away the stockings and storing all the decorations once more. I think I'll get it done - - - - tomorrow! Here are the fingerless mitts I made for Horsey Girl for Christmas. Her new favorite color is turqouise so she was quite pleased with them. Notice the fancy manicure purchased with a gift certificate she got for Christmas. These were a really quick knit - cast on 30 stitches, then I did a rib of 3 rows stockinette and 2 rows of garter stitch. Then you sew them up - leave a space for the thumb and viola! Many thanks to my wonderful SP8 pal Brooke for the idea. I hope all of you had wonderful holidays and are surviving the holiday hangovers!

I've Been Tagged - but Really - I'm not weird!

"THE RULES: Each player of this game starts with the "6 weird things about you." People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave a comment that says "you are tagged" in their comments and tell them to read your blog.

Here are 6 weird things about me:

1. I have an obsession with pens. I'm looking at my desk right now and there must be over 100 pens ranging from the cheapo $2 ones to expensive nice pens.
2. If I drink too much I get a southern accent (I think because I learned to talk when I lived in Texas)
3. My Mom says it's weird that I always know where things are - even in her house!
4. I once turned my hair orange by using fresh Henna I purchased in Egypt.
5. I'm born and raised in California but I despise avocados.
6. I can fall asleep just about anywhere including in Star Wars movies or at Bruce Springsteen concerts.

OK thanks Monica and Janice for tagging me, now who to tag??? Judy, Jennifer, Lynae, Brooke , Sherri and Amber hope you don't mind and of course you don't have to play if you don't want too. That darn Bonnie beat me to the punch and tagged lots of folks already. I tried not to repeat but may have botched that! It is hard to think of 6 things that are weird, because to me they aren't weird. I had input from my parents. I was too afraid to ask my husband for input as I'm not really sure I want to know the answer from him and I DEFINITELY don't want to know the answer from my kids!

Memories of Christmas Past

Given my trip to Chicago and the hectic nature of the holidays, I don't have any new photos to post of my knitting projects. I have been knitting but nothing is at an interesting enough point to post photos. So here is a photo of the Lady Elanor shawl I made for my Mom last Christmas. Since I didn't have a blog at that time I never posted a photo so I thought I would share it with you this holiday. It is made out of Karoke soy silk and it was very fun to knit but it took me 2 months. This year nothing quite so ambitious for holiday knitting. Sorry Mom!

There's No Place Like Home

Greetings from the Windy City where I am this week on a business trip. Actually it's more like the very cold, wet, grey city this week. I tell you it's a shock to the system for this California girl. Nothing like going somewhere else to make you appreciate how nice things are at home. I'm dreaming of sunny California which actually is a bit silly since it's been pouring rain there this week! To brighten my day (and hopefully yours) here is a photo of yarn for - you guessed it - ANOTHER ballband bag.
On Sunday we held my son's 4th birthday party at The Jungle in Saratoga and I can tell you there's no better place to let a pack of wild 4 year olds run off energy. Think hamster tubes for children . . . And it just so happens to be a mere 4 miles away from Knitting Arts - a yarn store I had heard about but never visited. So after the party Mom and I took a field trip. Poor Dad got dragged along but they have thought of everything - outside the store is a pleasant bench with a basket of magazines include Sports Illustrated and other such faire for the typical visitor to that bench! Well Mom found the Daiko yarn that Monica uses in the original ballband! I was so excited - I've not been able to find it so far so of course I was forced to pick some up. I think this will be more of a spring ballband given the colors but I'll post photos soon! And not to fear - I have three knitting projects with me for the trip even though I've only had about 3 hours total to knit while I've been here! Hope you are all staying warm and dry.

P.S. I have heard from several of you who live in and around Chicago (and also every morning on the local news) that it was unseasonably warm when I was there. I do believe that and I appreciate the fact the days were in the 40's and not the 10's. After the first two days the sun did show itself. Since I was stuck in a windowless conference room all day I did appreciate the few times I got to take a break and walk around outside. Even though unseasonably warm, I can tell you after 10 minutes walking outside without a coat you were awake! Very refreshing. Sorry no visit with Lynae or trips to yarn stores as I had to work the whole time. Hope it stays warm there!

Sophie Bag

I finished the Sophie Bag for my sister for Christmas. It knits up VERY quickly and I think it turned out really cute. The Moda Dea yarn felted fairly well and was a little fuzzy. I was going to shave it but then I decided I liked the soft look it gave. I might try doubling the yarn in the future to make a somewhat thicker, sturdier bag but hopefully my sister will like this one.

Ballband Tree

I've taken the ballband craze to another level - I made a ballband Christmas tree bag! I was looking at the holiday bag I made and suddenly saw the outline of a tree in the bands. So I sketched out a pattern and viola! The ballband tree holiday bag. I added a little star button and actually used a drapery tie as a handle (can't believe I found one that matched). Happy Holidays to all!

Sophie's Choice

In my copious free time I decided to knit a bag for my sister for Christmas. I've been wanting to try the Sophie bag so that is what I am making for her. I've seen the bag on many a blog and it always looks so cute. I'm using Modea Dea Cartwheel in Bronzeberry and it is very soft, I've never used this yarn before so I'm crossing my fingers that it felts well. The sophie bag knits up really quickly so hopefully I'll have no trouble getting this done before the holidays. Of course when I finish it I can make another ballband bag!