Boring picture day. Haven't really done much this week so here's a shot from inside the library. It's actually pretty big as it's a regional branch. I love the library. Picked up some things that I had on hold and some dvd's to watch.

One of the books was Nicki Epsteins' new book and there are some great patterns in there. One of the things that I think I must knit is this. The Baltic cap. The armwarmers are also nifty.I've been knitting madly on the Daily Sweater and have less than 2 1/2" left on the body before the ribbing. Woohoo! Then just the sleeves and Voila! A finished sweater. Then onto the daunting Chullo hat. Although I'm sure if I take it one line at a time it will be fine.

I'm all ready for the new year...come and get me! I've never really been one to go out on New Year's so I'm in a nice,soft pair of flannel jimjams with a pot of Joy and Comfort tea (from Tea of Republic-a Christmas prezzie although I got to open it earlier) and a stack of dvd's to choose from. I have everything from movies to documentaries to series. So plenty to choose and knitting to go with. Happy New Year to all and be safe and warm.

Ahhh. Pretty new cabled Starbucks mug. I got a lovely surprise in the mail yesterday from a friend and it was a Starbucks gift card! Totally blew me away. I was so surprised and overwhelmed at her kindness!! And I ''loves" the new mug.

Wow! So windy today. Almost blew us over walking outside. At least it's warm....in the low 70*s. Weird. And tomorrow will be in the 40*s. Then everyone gets sick from the weather swings. And because they all get stupid and run around in shorts and short sleeves. Hello!?! It's pneumonia weather as my gramma used to say.

About half finished with the Daily sweater and am going to get working on that tonight. I'd like to get the body finished at least. So I can start on the chullo hat.

Just wanted to wish everyone a very Blessed Christmas!! I 'll post in the next day or two. Right now the Spurs are playing so it's time to cheer and knit. GO SPURS!!

Ponies! Aren't they cute??

In the little "town" where I live is the annual ride the carriage around the square. And here are the horses that are the stars. If it weren't so darn cold I probably would have gone for a ride. The building on the left in the back is the local coffee shop where they have good coffee and great iced tea. In the summer every Thursday evening the city has a ''cruise-in" with antique cars and music, and you can sit out on the coffe shop's deck and knit and have a great veggie wrap and just enjoy the atmosphere.Sorry about the double pictures. But enjoy the double dose.

New yarn.Went to yarnsandfabrications.com today in their new space and it's nice! Lots of yummy new yarns and of course some of it had to follow me home. I love this color. It's destined to be another pair of fliptop "glittens" for me. Yah.

The yarn on the left is a dk weight and will be a pair of socks for mom. The Happy Feet was just so cool that I had to have a couple of skeins.

This may also be a pair of "glittens" but haven't decided. Whew. Cold out today though. Yesterday it was 60* and today it's 29*. At least we didn't have the snow that everyone else seems to have gotten. But I will be glad to have my new "glittens" finished. I made them extra long so they didn't expose any skin and I" loves" them.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:

Hunt meat eaters for sport.(heehee)

Here's what I've been working on today and yesterday.

Here it is almost finished!

It's actually the finished now and am working on the second one.

These are for me and I loves them! I made a pair last year but wasn't happy because they are a little too short but I still wear them. And they are a really cool colorway-flame. So I adapted the pattern and am really pleased with them. I'm going to go and knit some more on them now.

AAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh! The "albino brain suckers" are here. Haiku for the snow:

The white death is here.

Roads are icy treacherous

Stay at home with tea.

Which is exactly what I've been doing. We just had a dusting here but the driveway is solidly ice. At least the knitting is dry and non-icy! And the tea is hot and soothing. I think I just might put on my jimjams and watch a "Charlie Brown Christmas". Sounds like a plan! See ya later.

Dinner tonight. Baked macaroni and vegetables, homemade sun-dried tomato bread and broiled asparagus with lemon. Very good.

So. Art night tonight. I didn't realize that we were exchanging gifties tonight and I got some wonderful things. Fabulous stitch markers from Anna, earrings from Shanna (as well as handmade soap and ginger cookies tea and tangerines!) and a beautiful votive glass/candle covered with yarn (so pretty) from Sheri. Unfortunately the rest of us were unprepared and woefully ashamed.

Crap weasel loser

Jill and Amanda and I

didn't celebrate.

But we will make it right when we meet after Christmas. So there.

And nutty/loner/unsocial guy wasn't there so that's a plus. But here's a haiku in honor of him.

Guy in the tower

duffle with guns and ammo

thinks he is social.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMANDA!!

Here is the picture of the Andean Chullo hat that I ordered from KnitPicks. As soon as I finish the Daily sweater I am going to start on this.Shot of the yarn. It's a fingering weight and I love the colors. And if you rearrange the colors on the chart you can get 2 hats from it. Hmmmm? One for me and one for Amanda?

Sunset last night. It looked like it was on fire.

Sis was out grilling...don't ask...and it was COLD! She called me to come out and look. This time of year everything looks all gross and dirty. Of course it didn't help that we had a full day of soaking rain. Could be worse...could have been snow. We would have been up to our elbows!!

Today's Christmas mug!

Another inside shot (with tea!)

This looks similar to the mug from last post...it's because I think they are siblings! heehee. I would like to have the mug from this year though. It looks like cabled knitting and must come to my house.

This is a sock that I'm remaking for Amanda. She was wearing the other pair (just the same-pattern and yarn) and found a hole under the foot. She must have caught it on something. I "fixed" it and then the other one got a hole. I'm thinking that maybe there was something wrong with one of the skeins of yarn. Maybe it wasn't strong enough? So I'm trying it again.

Cold and rainy tonight and looks like it's getting very foggy out. I'm glad to be inside my nice,warm house.And maybe I will have to make myself a cup of chai. Ooohhhhh...maybe with the Soynog. Oh yeah. That's the ticket. I'm on my way to the kitchen.

The inside of the mug in the following picture. It's always nice to have a surprise in the cup. And not the kind that is floating in the cup.

Mug of the day. You can't see it on this picture but the silver parts are sparkly. The picture is a little blurry as I was kind of on the run. I like this mug 'cause it's really sturdy and holds 2 cups. Here are the "celebrity" poets as promised.

The guy over there

listened very intently

he should get a life.

(Jason)

Freight train in the night

keeps me from sleeping soundly

my friend snored loudly.

(Amanda)

Who knew they were all so talented? heehee.

Cold again today. Went to Trader Joe's early and picked up a few things. The peppermint JoJo's are great. They are like Oreos but with peppermint. MMmmmmm. Very tasty. They will go great with the peppermint chai also.

Well I was going to put my haiku on here but it didn't work. I will post tomorrow with some "celebrity" poets. This is the bargain I found a few weeks ago at one of my lys. It's the Tofutsies and they were $4.00 a skein. Dirt cheap and they are all mine. They are over 400 yards so I can make a good size pair of socks for me.

Here is a better shot of the lucious alpaca yarn that I know you all want to touch and squeeze...so soft.

My new camera phone is so much better. I "loves" it.

Here is one of my Starbucks mugs that I am using today. And check out the decent photo. New phone! Went to Verizon yesterday with the "new" refurbished phone they sent me and was still having the problem, not to mention the fact that it came without a battery!?! What?? So they were very nice and the phone seemed to work just fine. Until this morning when I still couldn't get calls or make any. I think it's probably a good thing to be able to do both with a cell phone.

So off to Verizon we went again. And it's freezing...in the 20*'s and snowing and WINDY. Planned on staying in today and just knitting and watching "The Office" on dvd. Grrrr. But the same person helped me again and said that I was due an upgrade so I got a new phone and will only cost $25.00 after the $50.00 rebate. That's fine 'cause the phone works! Woohoo.

I did lose the photos and notes that I had on my old phone when they switched the battery which is annoying because I don't remember all the notes that I had on it. But at least it works and I am happy.

Got some chai concentrate today....chai peppermint...mmmm. Sounds yummy and I can make it with the Soysilk "egg"nog that I bought. Krogers had it on clearance for $1.71 which is a ridiculously low price so I bought several. It's fabuolous on oatmeal. I also like to make "egg"nog muffins with some.

These are a couple of the pieces that I made last week. I like them and they knit up very fast. It's a chunky weight and soft. This is done with the yarn the Fjill brought us back from Germany. The pink is so soft. Both skeins were 93 yards and I ended up with about 2 yards left.

It's the CG Cowl (it's on Ravelry)and knits up super fast as well.

The buttons are from JoAnn's and are nice and textured and I like them alot. The pattern is done as a slip over the head but I adapted it so I could wrap it.

I would post pictures of what I'm working on now but my phone is having some kind of technical issues and Verizon is supposed to be shipping me a new one that I will get tomorrow. Thank God it was still under warranty. I think it's something with the battery but not sure. It was cheaper to get a new phone with the warranty than have it repaired. I never realized how dependent we as a society get on the cell phones until we are without one. How did we ever survive without them? heehee.

But I'll be glad to have my new one.

HOLIDAY MEME: (consider yourself tagged!)

1. Eggnog or hot chocolate?Soynog

2. Does Santa wrap presents, or just sit them under the tree? sit them under the tree(or just sit them)

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? colored and the old fashioned big lights

4. Do you hang mistletoe?no

5. When do you put your decorations up? put out a few right after Thanksgiving

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Gosh, just one? This year it's Tofurkey mustard crusted cutlets and eggnog muffins

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child? Going to the live nativity at Krohn's Conservatory and seeing the sheep and donkeys and the drunken shepherds! And then having some hot chocolate.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I was about 5 or 6 when I walked in on my parents unloading presents under the tree.
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9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?Usually one but sometimes we open one a day in the week leading up to Christmas.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?Usually just put up one of those small trees that change colors.

11. Snow! Love it or dread it? Love it as long as I don't have to work.

12. Can you ice skate?Yep. My sister was a figure skater when she was younger and we were at the ice rink every day. I worked there as a teenager and was an ice patrol (are you all impressed?lol)

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?Not really, but I do remember one year. I was an expert at opening my presents beforehand (I didn't like to be surprised and wanted to make sure that it was what I wanted) and when all the family was out one day I opened the box with the Frye boots (don't judge, it was the 70's) and wore them around the house. Man, I loved those boots.

14. What’s the most important thing about the holidays for you?No stress

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert?Anything my sister the chef makes for me.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?We used to go out and see a movie but now it's making a big brunch on Christmas day and then watching movies and just snacking through the day.

17. What tops your tree?Nothing

18.Which do you prefer: giving or receiving?Giving
19. What is your favorite Christmas song?I want a hippotamus for Christmas.
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20. Candy canes! Yuck or yum?Yum

21. Hypothetically speaking, you have an uncle (or aunt) who is stinking rich. They ask you to give them a wish list for this Christmas with six items on it. You can ask for anything at all, as long as it's only for yourself. What are you going to wish for?

1. An unlimited trip to yarn shop.

2. All the books/magazines/cds/dvds I can find at the bookstore.

3.A new car.

4.A trip to Charleston,SC.

5. A new computer...top of the line.

6.Money to pay off all the bills.