Christmas is coming....

Ever notice that time flies when you need it not to? Only 3 days til Christmas. Yikes. Glad to report that all but one knitting gift is done. That's right, I'm good to go, except for the Mittens of Doom. But now I can't put off working on them any longer. Wish me luck.

So onto things I can show you. Here is the Christmas tree decorating sequence.
Just the tree, all plain looking.
Jazzed up with some lights.

Ornaments too.

Some felt that I needed to be decorated as well.
All sparkly and done.
Fun huh? In that last photo, I hope you all noticed the mandatory lean, and that the tiny star is touching the ceiling - even though more than a foot and half was trimmed off before it was put up.

Other stuff I can show... ooohh, my Christmas cards! They've been mailed, probably not yet received, but I'll show them anyway.
I think they came out very nice. But I might be a bit biased.

Yarn acquisitions. Last week at Knit Night, we had the gift swap. I got this from Maggie:
It's a cotton bamboo blend, very cool and I love the colorway, haven't seen anything like it before, and I've seen my share of hand dyed yarn.

And this is a photo of the two Amazing Race presents I've gotten so far. The green is some fabulous alpaca silk from Blue Sky Alpacas, and the pink is some suede yarn that came with a pattern for a little bag. Yay fun!
Yesterday I got to baby sit for Miss Kaylee, first time in ages. I can't believe how big she's getting. She graciously allowed me to stage some photos. Even smiled, what a well behaved 2 year old!
She's starting to talk more and more, and not just talk, she first attempts to spell out new words before she will say them. That's right, my 2 year old god daughter spells more than she talks. for instance, "Kaylee, can you say balloon?" She responds "B-A-L-L-L-O-O-N" (She tends to add extra L's). Seriously. "Kaylee, who's that? (me pointing at dog Seamus)" She responds "D-O-G, dog" Crazy.

I'll leave you with the fun photo mistake, this is what happens when Annie plays with her camera attempting to take a pretty pic of the tree and accidentally puts on a timer.
Merry Christmas if I don't get to post again before then!

O Tannenbaum

So what have I done since my last post? I decorated the Christmas tree. You'll remember what it looked like from the last post. Here it is after Phase One: The Lights.

And after Phase Two: The Ornaments.

And after Phase Three: The Tinsel.

Sorry for the not-so-fabulous photos. It is really hard to capture the essence of a Christmas tree. Some I tried with the "Fireworks" setting, some with "Night" and some with different daytime lighting. But none of them are able to do it justice. Oh well. And for any of you detail-oriented people, no, there is no star on the tree. I have yet to haul up the ladder to put it on. No mere step stool is enough for anyone in this house to reach the top.

I've also finished making my Christmas cards. Photos later this week when hopefully, most of them will have been received.

And I finished some Christmas knitting! Project 1 is done, needs to be taken off the blocking apparatus. Project 2 is done. Project 4 can now proceed because I have the measurements I need and foresee that it will speed along now. And I started Project 5, to go with Project 1. Also a quickie (at this stage in the game, it had better be). And as for the mittens. Here's where I'm at:

So, all in all, I think that I'm doing pretty well in the Christmas knitting department. Not stressed at all (yet). Most of my shopping is done as well. A few more things to work out, and it'll be great.

Goals this week: finish shopping, wrap presents, bake cookies, finish knitting.

Attack of the Behemoths

It is a long proven fact that I am short. I don't argue with the statement, 5'4" is considered short to almost the entire world. That said, things this week seem to be gigantic. Take for example, the Christmas tree.

I went and helped pick it out, but somehow it didn't appear to be this ginormous when it was out amongst all of it's brothers and sisters. Yikes. And as I've mentioned before, I get to decorate it. Double yikes. Here's a perspective picture, you know, in case you're not able to absorb the massiveness of this tree.

Lights and ornaments will go on tonight after work. And now on to happy news. Guess what this is:

Wrong, it's not just ice. It's ice from my brand new ice machine that is located in the training room that I am inhabiting for the winter season, and not ice from my beloved ice machine way far away in the ice rink training room. Now, to most of you, you won't understand why I'm so excited. Let my explain. Way back in September, early September, the old ice machine went on the fritz. Again. It did this last year too. And the volleyball team would complain that they couldn't get ice because it would randomly stop working. If you unplugged and replugged it in, it would work, a few times. And then it was kaput. So I called the maintenance team so they could look at it, and told my athletic director that a new machine might have to be ordered.

He, of course, didn't want to hear that, and said that the maintenance guys would be able to fix it. A few weeks later I finally got a hold of head maintenance man, and he explained that it could not be fixed within a reasonable price range (mind you, a new ice machine is in the budget for the new training room after they completely redo the gym, which is supposed to happen soon, so $700 for refrigerant for like a year isn't really reasonable). So he says that he told the AD that a new one was needed. A month later, I finally move into the training room, and have no new ice machine. So I track down the AD. And he says he didn't know that we had to get a new one. Groan.

So, finally, December 11, I have a working ice machine. It only took 3.5 months. And I no longer have to sludge through slush down to the rink every day to get ice for water and injuries. Yay. But, this is no ordinary ice machine. It's a monster of a machine.

See. Everything is humongous this week. It's over 6' tall. Wanna see the best part?

See that? It's got a spot to hold the ice scoop. So hopefully, my wonderful little angelic athletes will be able to resist just tossing the scoop into the depths of the machine, never to be seen again. Note the depth, and how full the ice is after running all day. Seems slow, but it's not.

And now for a bit of knitting. Thanks for hanging on this far. So, Christmas Project 3, after much internal debate, is now a St. Patty's Day surprise, and therefore, on hold for a little while. But I still needed a gift for it's intended recipient. So, I give you, the amended Christmas Project 3 (I can show some pics because giftee doesn't read this blog).

It's the Double Irish Chain mitten pattern from "Favorite Mittens" the fun book that Ellie brought back from Jersey for me a couple of visits ago. Love them, but I'm finding that I love all things Fair Isle, especially when I'm doing the knitting. I think it's just amazement that I can do it. Would've gotten more done last night, but I decided to work on my Christmas cards. I show pictures later, when people have received them, so as not to spoil the surprise.