Eastburn Adventures

I've just come home from singing in a concert at my church featuring the amazing Wintley Phipps.  It was truly a blessing to be a part of the 170+ member choir and orchestra, and Wintley has the most incredible baritone voice with the power and ability to hold a note longer than most people could imagine.  Tonight was an awesome reminder as Thanksgiving week is upon us to praise the Lord for the things He has done!

Have a blessed holiday week!  I'll leave you with another of my favorite fall photos - this one was taken in November 2004 in Central Park, Manhattan.

Ask and you shall receive - for the most part!  This year, I was pretty easy to shop for, as I primarily requested knitting-related gifts (e.g., yarn, ball-winder, yarn, knitting books, yarn, gift certificates to yarn stores, yarn, etc.) and even provided links to websites for easy ordering.  The Robert came through with flying colors - although he worried Carol at Simply fibers when he wanted my gift certificate in $1 increments so he could wrap them separately and make lots of gifts to open.  (Carol and the other ladies in the shop were more than a little concerned for me, and Carol would only give him multiple $10 certificates!)  My MIL also got me a gift certificate to Sf, and my sister got me a gift certificate to Knit Picks!  Plus, with some Christmas cash and my saved allowance, I'm in knitty shopping heaven for a while!  I went to the LYS today and scored a ball winder and 2 balls of Noro, and had a discount waiting for me that I'd forgotten about!  (Now I just need to decide what kind of swift to buy to go with it!)

Robert also "selected" the following items to put under the tree:

Mason-Dixon Knitting, Sensational Knitted Socks, and the Knitting Math Wizard, plus some of the wonderful Knit Picks Options Double-Point needles!  A very good haul!  Here's a cameo of some of the loot:

The Fern Lace Wrap was a big hit with my MIL - she definitely appreciates the hand-crafted gifts.  I still have to finish one more fingerless glove for a belated Christmas gift, and then I need to decide what projects to begin for 2007.  I'll need the commenters' help on this, and I'm thinking about a contest to help me attract more readers (or at least more commenters)!  But that's a later post.

Until next time - Happy Knitting!

Am I nuts? Crazy? Insane? Loopy? Or just extremely optimistic?

My Christmas knitting list is as follows:

1. Gentlemen's Fancy Socks from Nancy Bush's "Knitting Vintage Socks"
2. Basket Weave socks from Charlene Schurch's "Sensational Knitted Socks"
3. Two pair of Fetching from Knitty, Summer 2006
4. Eleanor socks by Gigi Silva
5. Short-Row Hat by Veronik Avery
6. Ten Ball-band dishcloths from Mason Dixon Knitting
7. Monkey socks from Knitty, Winter 2006
8. Side Cable Slippers from Free Patterns
9. Another HP scarf

That's 19 knitted items (and 7 of them come in pairs)! Plus, I still have my Resolutions to complete, which includes my sweater, Lizard Ridge, shawl, Moss Grid Hand Towel, and a few more things!

Forget insanity - I think I'm delusional! Anyway, I have a plan.

I hope everyone had a Happy Independence Day yesterday. Robert and I were honored to attend the semi-secret wedding of a dear friend of ours in Eureka Springs, AR. Congratulations, Judy and Daniel! We pray God's richest blessings on your life together!

There were a couple of wedding crashers:

After the wedding, we made a brief stop at the Crescent Hotel, where their gardens were absolutely gorgeous.

Besides the wedding, the best part of the day? 4+ hours in the car and the Irish Hiking Scarf is finished! FREEDOM!!

Stats: Blue Sky Alpaca in Paprika, Size 8 Denise needles. This is a great beginner cabling project and I was very excited to realize that I could "read" the pattern in stitches I'd already knit, making it go very fast once I dedicated some time to it.

Just a quick post to wish you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving!

A few things I'm thankful for:

1. Jesus loves me
2. Robert loves me (and I love Robert)
3. My family
4. Good friends
5. Knitting
6. Ravelry
7. Yarn stores

We're off to a quick trip to Lebanon, MO for dinner (which also means 2 hours of knitting time in the car), and to watch the Cowboys football game (because of #2 above, I can finally say, "go 'Boys" - I used to be the anti-fan - and this means another 3 or so hours of knitting).

The second pair of Christmas Fetching are finished, and the i-cord handles for the Celebrate Awareness Tote are felting (for the 3rd time in the washer). (I should add as a #8 for what I'm thankful for - the little hand-cranked i-cord machine - I never would have finished those handles if I hadn't bought it!)

Enjoy your turkey day!

The holidays seem to throw a crimp in my usually ordered schedule, and this season is no different. We've got events every weekend between now and Christmas. I'll try to stay on top of things, but no promises. :-)

Thanksgiving was okay - we drove to Lebanon to spend the day with Robert's family, watched the Cowboys win, I knit on one of the gazillion pair of Fetching, and we drove home with no leftovers. Good for the diet.

Friday it snowed! Yippee! (But it didn't stick.)

We skipped the Black Friday sales except I went and hung out for a couple of hours at Simply fibers and did end up spending a little cash. I caved and bought another skein of Dream in Color Smooshy, and I got 8 hanks of Classic Elite Fame for Clapotis. Knit Together is starting a knitalong in January. Hopefully, I'll be done with Christmas knitting by then!

Saturday was our Annual Peanut Brittle Makin' Days, and this year my niece Lisa joined us for the first time. It's always an amusing time with family, and everyone who's received some of our famous brittle has been very complimentary. (See this link for more details from last year's PBMD's.)

Sunday we had a baby shower for our good friends Nathan and Cheyenne - the recipients of the Baby Yoda sweater and hat. It made my day to see how excited they were about it!

Back to work yesterday, and already the Christmas invitations are coming in. There's 3 work parties (one we'll miss because we'll be out of town), our choir banquet, our anniversary, friends' annual Christmas dinner, and a belated celebratory dinner for Robert passing the Series 7 exam. Plus, we're planning a trek to Silver Dollar City with my sister and brother-in-law to see the Christmas lights, and then an overnight trip to Kansas City to see the lights on the Plaza (and Robert's got a few surprises up his sleeve, too)!

And somewhere in the midst of all this, I still need to start and finish another pair of Fetching, a scarf, and possible 2 pair of socks all before Christmas. See why I can't keep up with blogging?

I feel horrible. I should have posted sooner, but somehow, I let distractions get the better of me. Last Friday was Robert's birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Sweetie! :-) And let me tell you, sweet he is! It's his birthday - and he gives me a present! (Okay, so it's an early anniversary present, but still). What is it? It's awesome! Just ask Amy. . . It's a Palm TX - with WiFi and Bluetooth! And yes, I can get Ravelry on it! So, I spent a bit of time this weekend playing with it and trying to get all the cool features set up. (I'm not done yet.)

On Thursday, I won a contest on a local radio station which gave me prizes of $20 to a local pizza place, 2 tickets to see George Carlin, and some (not so cute) snowmen plates. The plates and tickets are being regifted (seriously - anyone who knows me knows I'm not going anywhere near George Carlin), but we went out for pizza on Robert's birthday. Having been paying a lot of attention to our diet lately, pizza was supposed to be a nice treat - and we did do it in moderation.

The problem is that this had to be some of the worst pizza I've ever eaten, and the service was horrible. Our waitress' boyfriend showed up and almost knocked over the table next to us as he was sitting down, she obviously wasn't paying a lot of attention to us because of him; another waitress asked Robert if he needed a refill of his soda, and then she forgot to bring his glass back - seriously - we had to get the other waitress to get it after about 10 minutes; and the kicker was when both waitresses visited the ladies' room and one held the door propped open talking to her friend while the other was in the stall. The problem? The restroom was on the opposite wall of where we were sitting, and with the door open the restroom was reflected in the windows which gave Robert a perfect inside view. Review - pizza bad; entertainment - mildly amusing!

Let the crazy times begin now. We've got a work dinner this week, our anniversary on Friday, our church choir concert this weekend - in three services, an annual Christmas dinner with friends, two Christmas work parties next week, our trip to Kansas City, and another dinner out that's been scheduled for a while. And somewhere in all of this I still need to finish the Christmas knitting! But don't forget what the season is all about - the birth of Jesus! Check out this awesome video on Kate's blog - enjoy!

Seriously, I'm not sure I'm gonna make it. I'm the type of person who has her Christmas shopping completely done by October, and wrapped by Thanksgiving. This year - I don't know what happened. I'm not done shopping; I've not wrapped a single gift; I've not decorated the house. We do have a tree up - thank goodness it's prelit - but there's no ornaments on it at all. It's sad - it's just so sad.

I'm also behind on knitting Christmas gifts. I know I said I'd give myself a break and not worry if I didn't get everything done, but I've still got 1/2 a scarf and two pairs of socks that I was planning to make. The scarf will get done, and maybe I'll be able to post a photo of it soon, but the socks are a different story. Fortunately, the recipients know they're getting them and are fine on waiting. I just want to get back into my Ravelry queue and start knitting some stuff for me again!

Speaking of Ravelry, there was a forum post a week or so ago where people were making up new ravelrized verses to sing to Christmas songs. I had to join in on the fun, so here's my new song, to be sung to the tune of "Mary, Did You Know?" (If you don't know the song, click here to hear Clay Aiken sing it.)

Casey, did you know
That the knitters love the site you have created?
Casey, did you know
That the grand opening is much anticipated?
Did you know that we spend so much time on Ravelry?
That we've had to install more high speed – from AT&T.

Casey, did you know
That we love to search through all of the patterns?
Casey, did you know New techniques and tips, this site has helped us all learn?
Did you know that you've given us such a marvelous gift?
There's nothing better for a Type A personality that knits.

Casey, did you know That we've connected with new friends in every nation?
Casey, did you know When someone favorites us, it's a great sense of elation?
Did you know that we adore all the little things you add?
And when Bob is N R Servers, it makes us feel so sad?

Our stashes grow, our queues overflow, our WIPs will never end. Our libraries are full, the groups are cool, our favorites are so grand!

Casey, did you know
That you are the best Code Monkey in the whole world?
Casey, did you know That we're so glad you were inspired by FreckleGirl?
Did you know that with famous knitters, you've helped us to hobnob?
And someday we hope that we get a big wet kiss – from - BOB!

And for another fun Christmas song and video, check out this link!

So, it's 10 days till Christmas, and I'm trying very hard to check things off my list. All the shopping is done, all the gifts are wrapped, and I just need to keep knitting away and trim the tree.

I did finish Dad's Christmas scarf this morning. I'd hoped to finish it by last night, when Zarah, Brianne, and I got together for some extra knit time at Starbucks. The problem arose when I felt like I was knitting for hours and not getting anywhere. When I left Knit Together Thursday night, Kate and I measured the scarf at 31 inches. By stretching it, we were able to get it to 40 inches - whoo hoo - only 8 more inches to go. But I realized that I was only getting about 9 rows to an inch - and it was taking forever! Zarah and Brianne suggested I wet block it to see how much length I'd gain, which I did, and which is why it didn't get finished until this morning.

And, oh, I'm a dork. Did you read in my first paragraph that I'd finished wrapping all the Christmas presents? Well, I wrapped Dad's scarf - before I'd taken photos! Fortunately, it was in a gift bag, so it was an easy fix.

Next up, The Harlot's Earl Grey Socks for Robert. (Or at least a pair of socks that sort of resemble those socks since I'm doing them toe-up Magic Loop.) My personal best time for knitting a pair of socks is 9 days, so I'm hoping I can at least repeat that feat (ha! get it! feat - feet - socks!) Sometimes I crack myself up! Speaking of which, I've really been enjoying listening to all of Marly's podcast Yarn Thing - she seems to amuse herself a lot - and she has the cutest giggle! I'm sure if we ever met we'd be the best of friends! I've still got another pair of socks to knit as a Christmas gift, but I've already resigned myself that it's not happening this Christmas. Fortunately, I've got another gift for Angie all wrapped up!

I was hoping for the predicted snow of 8-10" to happen today, but drat it, it went north of us. We barely got an inch. I love snow; I love snow days; and I love flannel pants days. Even without a winter wonderland, today was a great day to curl up on the couch and knit. And I'm headed back there now!

Check another item off the list. . .

So, everyone knew that Robert and I were taking off these few days before Christmas. We've had them scheduled since August, so it's been a long time coming, and we were going to Kansas City to stay on the Plaza, do some shopping, and see the lights. Fun, right? Oh, and Robert's been teasing me for months that he had a surprise for me, but that it wasn't romantic and I couldn't open it, and I'd eventually understand everything. Now, I'm usually a hard person to surprise, but I promised him I wouldn't try to figure it out and ruin it for him, so I pretty much forgot all about it.

So, we drive up there yesterday, visit a couple of yarn shops - I was really impressed with The Studio - and although I was ready to check into our hotel, Robert wanted to shop and look in the giant Barnes & Noble and The Sharper Image.

Finally, we get to the hotel, he checks us in and we head to the room. I unpacked while he went and parked the car. When he came back to the room, I was in the bathroom and he said, "Hi, honey, I'm home! And I picked up your surprise at the front desk." So I come out of the bathroom and - are you ready for this? Are you sitting down? Michelle. From ALASKA. In our hotel room. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I was floored. I knew she was spending Christmas in Texas with her dad and siblings this year, but she came up with the idea to fly into KC and got Robert in on the plan, so he arranged this whole trip as a cover to come pick her up to spend a few days with us. We'll take her back to KC to fly to Texas on Sunday, but wow. Talk about a surprise - I never would have guessed it in a million years!

It's 1:30 p.m. on Christmas Eve, and I am admitting defeat. Robert's Christmas socks will not be finished in time for him to open tomorrow morning - I'm hoping to have them done by New Year's Eve at the latest. Chalk it up to too big feet and not enough time. But since he's partly responsible for me not having time by surprising me with Michelle's visit, he's willing to wait on the socks. Especially since I've been having him try them on as I go - and he's really excited about how good they feel on his feet. (Oh, no. What have I done?)