End of Year

So I had planned to do a nice big end of year wrap up post, but that didn't happen. Instead, I'll just post some pictures of the last week. Christmas here was very merry - I got wonderful stuff from everyone (a big THANK YOU to all of you).
Check out all that loot! Seriously, next year we really need to scale it back a bit I'm thinking. That was before the opening, and afterwards the right side remained untouched, and we spread it out for when the Perryites would arrive later on.
After dinner at Aunt Ginny's we all met up at the house for the rest of Christmas. Lots of good stuff. There were a bunch of hats knitted and gifted:
Didn't manage to get a picture of Elliott in his, and that was the best we got of the other boys. Warning - the next photo is slightly PG-13.
The infamous reindeer hat. As my sister requested, to match the infamous Mittens of Doom. And that is it for the knitting of reindeer/moose for a good long while.

The kiddos did get some good toys - never mind that there was a no toy rule this year.
That may not actually qualify as toys - are musical instruments toys? Nah, we'll count them as educational. Next time the Jersey kids come to visit they can put together a band, with the drum that Sarah got (she's good, she demonstrated for us on the video call).
Next post I promise to show some knitting - there's been some going on here and hoping to get more done. Hope everyone has a very happy, healthy, safe New Year, and I'll see you in '010.

Merry Christmas!

Due to a hectic work schedule and then a cold bug that I'm still dealing with, I've been unable to post the tree. So here it is in all it's glory and the phases of decoration:
As it sat "resting", all 9.5 feet of it (it was bigger before we had to cut more off to get it to fit!) Maddie did her inspection and approved it.
The first bit of lights.
Ellie decided that "action" photos would be a good idea.
You can see here what I thought about that idea. Thumbs down!
Lights done.
I was too short to get the star on, so I enlisted the help of Ellie. She had her own idea of where the start should go.
Pre-ornaments.
The infamous pine cone ornament. Just try not putting that one on the tree sometime!
And all finished! Merry Christmas! Here's hoping everyone has a safe and loving holiday!

Nothing to Show

Things have stalled out a bit. I managed to move most of my tape into the new training room on Monday. Convinced the higher ups to change the lock on the hallway door leading to my training room (so that I could actually have the ability to unlock it) yesterday. And then was unable to get into the building to move anything else. Or grab my med kit for the 2 basketball games that were taking place in the field house. Or anything. All because of the Christmas party that's not until Saturday night. Today, I will find a way into the building though, the first game in Monday night and the training room needs to be ready to go. Break starts when school ends on Friday, so no one will be around to open the building early on Monday, so it can't be put off until then. Maybe if I promise not to mess up any of the rest of the building they'll let me in.

Been spending lots of time crafting, but can't show you any of it. I started another Christmas knitting project, but it's just garter stitch in a strip - not exactly exciting stuff. I have one more Christmas knit to start and finish (if I could just find the motivation to get on with it) and then I can cast on something big and happy. I just have to decide what.

Supposed to go get the Christmas tree, so I should go call my sister to see if she's still coming with me and dad.

Drumroll Please

Ta da! New training room photos!
The view from the door.
A closer inspection of the hydro area, and entrance to the "private" bathroom!
The wall of cabinetry (that you will note does not have locks, I'll have to do something about that, or they might as well take them away).
Do you see what that one is??!! A storage closet! That locks! And the walls go all the way up to the ceiling! So no one can climb up and over and steal boxes of tape! Oh rapture!
My office. Very nice, almost too nice, I won't know what to do with all that space and storage.
The view from the bathroom (it's at the other end of the room is all). Maybe from that vantage point you'll see my dilemma. Where do I put the tables? Hmmm. They might end up being free standing in the middle - which is weird. That's not how training rooms are set up. I'm not really complaining - I mean, look at it. It's gorgeous and wonderful, just wish they had maybe asked me what I wanted.

You'll also see that they have a fondness for glass in the new building. I'll try to work on getting more photos of the rest of the new building when it's more done, just so you see how much work they have added to the poor janitors line-up. Glass is E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E. The kids are still enjoying the gym, but antsy to play an actual game in it. Or anywhere. The boys first game isn't until tomorrow - that's the first game that they play at all. And it's away. The girls play tomorrow too (away) and then not again until Christmas or something like that.

Alright, enough of the boring stuff. I went out to visit Liz on Wednesday night. Coldstone therapy was needed (I highly recommend the Cookie Mintster - it's fantastic). And I got to meet her new roommates:
Mork (left) and Mindy (right). Don't roll your eyes at me for the names - she did that all by herself, even though I rolled my eyes at her. Aren't they cute? Very playful, they remind me of Bailey. But here's the cutest thing:
See that? Mindy has mittens for paws! I couldn't get over how cute they were. They really look like little paw mittens. I would have enjoyed them even more had they not had claws embedded in them, but whatevs.

In knitting news, I finished a Christmas project yesterday. So as a treat, I let myself cast on something quick and easy for me, with handspun.
Yay squishy! This is the "Brave Woodsman" BFL I spun up in my new wheel excitement last year. Which is now on it's way to becoming a cowl. Using the Stonehenge pattern, from a blog I read.
I'm liking it. It's at the halfway point now, see what I mean about quick? A close up on the pattern detail.
Easy, but I have to think just enough to keep me focused. I should be able to finish it this weekend. And hopefully get a bunch of other crafty things done too. I'm hoping we get the tree this weekend as well. That's always good for a blog post.

A Slight Hitch

So, I've lost a little steam on the Smoking Hot Socks. I had ripped back to try to have enough yarn, and I ended up still not having enough. Grr.
See, just about done with the leg. All I had left was the ribbing.... and bam!
Just a few rows short of finishing the last square. The Knitting Fates are punishing me for working on a non-Christmas gift project. sigh. Now I have to decide what to do. Do I go out and hope that I can find another ball of this yarn (no, I don't want to buy another whole ball knowing that I'll have a bunch leftover with nothing to do with it) or do I use up some of the precious Trekking 100 I have that is very similar in colorway, but not yarn base?

Here's the issue with that plan, I have one sock done out of the Trekking, waiting for a mate. I don't usually run into second sock syndrome, but with the Cat Bordhi patterns I do (no more New Pathways socks for me!). I had planned on getting around to working up just a basic vanilla sock to go with the finished Trekking sock, but now I'm worried that if I use some of it to finish these socks, I'll run out on the vanilla sock, and then what will I do? You can stop laughing at me any time now Knitting Fates!

On to a happier project, I started this one Friday night after work, as I needed a no-brainer project.
Can you guess what it is? A Gingerbread House, out of crochet! I know, really hard to figure that one out. Is it sad that I'm moving into the realm of knitted/crocheted items for the home? Like the stereotypical grandma who crochets toilet paper covers? No? Good, I didn't think so (don't ruin the delusion for me).
See the sparkle for the snow drifts on the roof? Yeah, I thought it was a good idea too. So did Ellie - but that's not really surprising. When it's a question of sparkle or no, she will always vote for the bling. To keep this a happy project, we're not going to think about the number of ends there are to sew in. Nope, we're just gonna keep on working. We'll deal with the ends later.

So, update on the new gym, practices took place in there yesterday. Training room remains unavailable to me. I'm hoping that someone will let me in today, maybe. The kids were highly annoying with the "firsts" in the new gym. Every other second they were saying something about "first time anyone's picked their nose" or "first time anyone's picked a wedgie" I had to leave at one point. Maybe today they'll actually be able to practice without distraction. I did get to be the first person to knit in the new gym - woohoo!

Trying to keep the pace

Is it weird that I'm suddenly blogging so much more? I think I might try to keep it up - you know, shorter posts more often. Seems like a good plan. We'll see how it goes.

I love Sundays - the one day I try to make sure I don't have to work every week. Worked a bunch yesterday - hockey in the afternoon (shattered hamate was the big excitement, although I only found out it was indeed broken later on) followed by the first "home" game for the girls basketball team, and their last until January 9th - seems a little crazy to me that their next home game is more than a month away. I say "home" because we had to play it at the crappy college gym we used last year - much to my dismay. Everyone all week had been telling me it's not so bad, no big deal (no one else has to transport so much junk and worry about not having something that is needed) and then, at the game, everyone else started complaining about how horrible it was. The clock is bad, the horn is worse, the scorers table wasn't padded, the floor was dirty..... You get the picture.

But the girls won - pretty easily. JV did too - the other team didn't score until the second half. In the words of one of the JV coaches, "YIKES!" Hockey, btw, lost. This week should be interesting - practice is supposed to start in the new gym tomorrow. I took an illegal self-guided tour on Friday (I didn't have a hard hat or safety glasses on, but the janitors were in the building without them, so I figured it was alright) and am happy to report that the ice machine and whirlpool are now located in the new training room (rather than in the field house where they had been residing since they tore apart the old training room). Which means that this week, I should be able to start moving into the new room. Which will make life immensely easier. Yay! Of course, this means that we will be getting a snow storm very soon - I always seem to have to move training rooms in the snow, I think it's a rule.

That's all the excitement in my life right now. I need to head up and work on Christmas cards, and maybe some other things in the craft room. Seeing as they're not showing the Steelers game here, I really have no excuse not to. And I have a feeling that I'm going to be roped into helping my sister drag out her Christmas tree later tonight. Hmmm. Ours won't go up before next weekend - as it's not been retrieved yet. Doesn't really feel like it's 19 days away, I switched the blog skin the other day to try to get me more in the mood. Not really helping. Maybe the card crafting will....

On the knitting front, I can show you my new sock.
It was farther along the other day, but I was worried about running out of yarn, and it was too long in the foot, so I ripped back and shortened it. Need to turn the heel and work up the gusset. Then the fun part of the leg starts.

I started another project this week, a Christmas present. But I won't tell you who for, or link to the pattern. Just show you the yellow blob.
Inspiring right? It's going to be really cute when it's done. Just need to sit down with it and get the fiddly part of dividing for the sleeves out of the way. Maybe tonight...

Reveal

So a while back (geez, it was September, so more than a while) I worked diligently on a project meant for my nephew's birthday gift. And never showed it on the blog, not wanting to spoil the surprise (yeah, I know that he's now 5 and doesn't read the blog - but it's no fun when the parent(s) know the gift either). So today I finally get to show it to you. I give you - Death March of the Penguins!
That was the name I gave it on Ravelry, to coincide with the fact that it was for the Harry Potter group. I know, roll the eyes. But seriously, I was really pleased with how they all came out. 6 were for Charlie and 4 for Sarah (to avoid the inevitable fighting, at least attempting to anyway). Each got a "bowling ball" as well.
Ellie was good enough to deliver them her last visit. But she didn't take any pictures of the kids with them. I hear they went over well, I mean, it's a penguin bowling set, how could they not? And due to the particular brand of awesomeness of this project, I won a prize - which I think I already showed on the blog, so I won't go searching to find the picture of again.

In other knitting news, I finally managed to finish the Lily of the Valley scarf (started it way back in April if you don't remember, I didn't). Blocked it and it's gorgeous.
If I were to make it again (and it's not entirely out of the realm of possibility) I would do more repeats to make it longer. I followed the pattern and blocked it to the recommended dimensions (10"x44") which makes it a lovely decorative scarf that needs a shawl pin to be worn.
The lovely edging, and a close-up of the nupps (the little bumpy things that make up the "flowers" of the lily of the valley). The pattern is from "Knitted Lace of Estonia" which is an absolutely amazing book of lace. Every time I look at it, I want to drop everything else and work on patterns in the book.
I think that pic really shows you the nupps - which really aren't so bad, once you get the hang of them. The trick is to make sure that you knit them loose, and I like to insert the needle through the back and then bring it around to the front to purl 5 together - just works for me.

I'm torn about showing you any of the other things I've recently finished. Most of them are Christmas presents, and while a few of them have been seen by the recipient, it still feels like spoiling it. So you might have to wait to see them until after Christmas. We'll see how much blog fodder I have this month - as I still have Christmas knitting and crafting to do.

In other news, basketball season officially started last night. The girls had an away game. Home game on Saturday - well, I say "home" but it's really away. The new gym isn't ready yet, so we have to go play at the dinky college gym we used last year. That I hate. With a passion. And Tuesday's game (which was supposed to be in the gym because suppposedly that's the first day of occupancy) has been postponed so that everyone can be trained on the scoreboard. Oh, and maybe our team will have had at least a day to practice in the new gym. I'm told that's kind of important. I'm really only worried that my training room will be open and the ice machine (which now has plumbing) will be up and running. Photos of the new digs when I get them.

Whew!

Alright, so as you could tell from the last post, last week we played host to the Jersey fam. Always a good time. Always a bit crazy, and when you add in a holiday, blogging goes right out the window. So I will now spend a few days this week catching you up - although most of you were here for the craziness and therefore don't need a catch up... hmmm.... I'll assume that people not in my family still read the blog, and proceed accordingly.

So here's the quick round up of the week that was. Saturday - arrival, football, Wii Super Mario (surprisingly, the only game played on the Wii all week) Sunday - playground and family dinner, kids had some fun with Uncle Tom's covers. Monday - Farm Park (you already saw some pictures of these days). Tuesday - hung out at the house. Wednesday - I worked, they went downtown. Thursday - turkey and chaos. Friday - impromptu dance party to Christmas music after dinner. And then Saturday saw their departure. So here's a few more photos:
Making M&M cookies on Sunday. They were delicious.
Snuggle with the turkey, in an attempt to get a certain someone to nap. Fail.
If you embiggen that photo, you'll see Maddie's death look. She is the only one happy to see everyone gone.
The fam before they left.
Dance party!

Due to the fact that it's now the end of November, there has been a slew of finished knitting. Crazy finishing. I'll go into detail with a few now and save the rest for another day. Gotta spread out the blogging as I've recently been chastised for not blogging enough, again.

We'll continue with the cute kiddos helping me model a few things. First up, Master Charles helping with a hat, of which he has now requested a duplicate (the danger of enlisting a 5 year old as a model).
This is a Christmas present, so I won't show the whole thing, and I guess you'll be seeing another one eventually. Adorable though, right?
Sarah was gracious enough to help with Elizabeth's Christmas present. It matches the mittens I made for her last year. Looks so cute on Sarah, not so cute on me. Not sure if I'm a beret girl, hmm. Here's the shot of the hat itself:
The finished look makes the fair isle hassle so worth it. Next up, the Milkweed Shawl. The last time you saw this yarn, it was attempting, miserably, to be an Ishbel. No more. Garter stitch is happy.
Really great pattern, nice and quick and easy (how much do we love that?). And like I said, garter stitch! This is for Bridget for Christmas. I'm totally on the small triangle shawls as scarves kick right now. I love them!
Dresses up any outfit. Uses up sock yarn. People get to see it more than the socks. All good things, on top of the fact that the little bit of warmth is great right now. Speaking of small triangles for the neck...
I started a Lacy Baktus Thursday night (I needed something I didn't have to think about), and finished it Saturday. Yay fast pretty handspun project! I used my "Sweetheart" handspun that I spun up in August.
It still needs a light blocking, but I wore it around the house all day yesterday. Nice a squooshy. Warm, but not heavy. The yarn:
The fiber:
Alright, I think that's enough for today. One other piece of big news....

I HAVE LOST MORE THAN 50 LBS!!!!!!!! Officially. As of Saturday morning. Yay!!!! I can now wear the smaller jeans my sister got me for my birthday. And I'm within 15 lbs of goal weight. Tomorrow marks the 1 year anniversary of me starting WW, so I made my goal of 50 lbs in a year. To celebrate, I went out to Knitting on the Square, and was pleasantly surprised that the sale was still going on. So I got a few yarny treats for myself - better than foody treats!

So now I will leave you with the best sound of last week. Miss Sarah's giggles. Had to get it on video, we're not sure how long she'll continue to laugh like this. You can't help but laugh along.