officially ready for Santa!!

Last night I finished up Wes' stocking and hung it next to mine under our little tree. Now we are officially ready for Santa to come :) and I feel like my decorating is complete (almost, planning to make a stop at Pier1 on my way home from work today for some delicious Cinnamon-Cranberry candles ... then I'll be done).
Here are some closeups of some of the patterns: these snowmen are on the upper portion of Wes' stocking. The pattern called for buttons all the way around, but I had an idea to create a little scarf that would stick out - I think Aunt Alice did something similar on the stocking she made for Luke when we were kids, so I am not totally original, but it was fun to figure out how to make it. This is the toe of Wes' stocking ... and this is the toe of mine. I just love the holly. After I made the mini-stocking, I knew I wanted to put holly on my big one too.
Now I am officially back to Christmas present knitting - I haven't made any more progress on SG#4 (WW) or SG#3 since last week, so those are on my list to get done while Wes is working tonight and tomorrow.

break in the action

I finished my stocking on Tuesday night (it is enormous ... oh my gosh) and have been taking a little break since then. Wednesday night Wes and I went out to see The Guardian for date night and last night just relaxed and watched another movie at home that was a little too complex to be knitting through it. Though we did take a break in the middle to make a run to Marble Slab for peppermint ice cream with Oreos. Love at first bite ... anyway, plan to get back on track this weekend and start on Wes' green stocking and some more gifties. Will share pictures of my giant stocking soon ...

fill 'er up, Santa!

Last night while Wes was playing basketball I took the opportunity to make really good progress on my stocking. I finished the row of hearts, completed the row of holly and bound off the toe before I went to bed. This morning I was up early enough to weave in all the ends (lots of ends in fair isle!) and start on the heel. The heel on this pattern is an "after-thought heel" which means the heel stitches are knit initially with scrap yarn, then picked back up after the rest of the stocking is completed. It looks a little funny now - a big hole in the middle of my stocking - but it will turn out great. Once the heel is finished all I have left to do is duplicate stitch my name on top, then I can start on Wes' stocking!
I wanted to do mine first in case I messed up. I did mess up, but I didnt' realize it until I was more than half-way finished so I didn't go back. But in order to keep the stockings similar in size, I will have to make the same "mistake" on Wes' stocking. It's not a big deal - I just read the pattern wrong and where it said to knit rows 5-15, I thought it ment knit 15 new rows, so there are five extra rows in the top portion of the stocking (where the name will go). It's not a big deal, it just makes this large stocking even larger. Santa will have to come prepared when he comes to our house this year!!

i knit to save money

although knitting is an expensive hobby, today it actually saved me money ... instead of going out at lunch and buying these boots, I just knitted knitted knitted!! It's not as hot out today, so I made some more good progress on SG#3 without sweating through my clothes after two rows.
last night I worked some more on the Christmas stocking while catching up on two TiVoed episodes of "Justice." Because of the fair isle I have four balls of yarn attached to the stocking all the time, so it is a little hard to bring with me anywhere. SG#3 is perfect for lunch breaks and other short bursts of time during the day because it is small enough to fit in my bag.

November in California

It's almost 4pm in the 11th month of the year and outside it is 75 degrees (yesterday the high was a record-setting 90!) which is way too hot to sit in the car and knit on lunch break. Too bad because that was my plan, I even attempted making some progress on SG#3 (after my frustration with SG#4, I wanted to go back to something I knew I was good at), but although I initially found a spot in the shade, it didn't last long and I was sweating too much to continue knitting. So I came back to the air conditioned office and read of other people's knitting success ... Knit and Tonic and Pie Knits are two new favorites.
Anyway, I was anxious to get some knitting done after last night too ... I used the time I would normally be running to buy groceries for me and my handsome starving husband. Then I went home and whipped up some mac and cheese (perhaps the culprit behind my nausea later that night?) and started knitting my ass off on the first Christmas stocking. By the time the CMAs started I was finished with the top panel and ready to start on my first pattern - 19 rows that would result in green trees on a white background. Wes got home shortly after and polished off the rest of the cheesiest while I kept knitting like Christmas Eve was tomorrow and I wouldn't' get any presents without a stocking for Santa to put them in. When Wes (who gets up at 4am to go to work) starting making sleepy noises, I still had about six rows to go on the trees and wasn't tired yet, but since I had made "I miss you" whining earlier in the evening before he went to basketball, I felt like I should stay by his side so I turned off the TV and settled into bed with my latest amazing book. I was a little reluctant to go to bed for a couple reasons ... I hoped that sitting upright would keep my nausea in my stomach and not all over the bathroom, I wanted to keep knitting (I guess that little quiz was right, knitting is taking over the rest of my life) and had I stayed up, I wouldn't have first heard about Faith's freak-out on PopCandy ... but this book is so good and I do love my husband, even when he is sleeping, so i didn't really mind. Plus, Wes goes back to nights in a couple weeks ... then I will have plenty of opportunities to stay up too late knitting to the television. For now I am just worrying about how I will make it through tonight's mile repeats in this hotness ...

extra Christmas-y Halloween

so I spent Halloween night knitting Christmas stockings. Well, a mini-Christmas stocking. I wanted to do a small sample before I took on the larger stocking with all the color swaping and heel turning. It took me most of the evening to knit this smaller one, but I was pleased with the way it turned out! I am excited to make the bigger ones now!
Tonight the Halloween/Christmas will continue - Wes and I are going to see The Nightmare Before Christmas in 3-D! I only saw this movie once, a long time ago at home so I am excited to see it in a theater and with the new special effects.
I also cast on for SG#4 last night and got a few rows in, probably won't get any more of that done tonight, but at least it is started ... I was having trouble attempting to knit in the round with two circular needles instead of dpns and eventually decided to go with what I am comforatable with. I think it was a good decision for this pattern anyway because it is broken into three parts, with each having specific instructions and to knit in the round on two circulars, the work is split only in two, so it would be harder to keep track of the three separate pattern repeats.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Made a run to Anacapa Fine Yarns on my lunch break to pick up some size 8 dpns. While I was there I mentioned to Lois that I was hoping to make Christmas stockings for Wes and I this year ... she pulled out "Knit Christmas Stockings!" by Gwen Steege and I was hooked (so much for a quick stop!). There are so many cute patterns to choose from ... even an argyle one that I considered and then realized that if I have never done color blocking, argyle is not the place to start. I finally decided to knit the Mix and Match Socks because it uses a needle size I already own (saved a few bucks there!) and because it is very customizable. Instead of a set guide, you choose five mini patterns (from a selection of 16) to create your own pattern repeats. I have my eye on the holly chain, candy canes and snowflakes ... but don't know what the other two will be. This will be nice because Wes can pick the ones that he likes too. I bought red, green, cream and grey yarn so either way it will be very Christmas-y! I was planning to start on SG#4 tonight (Wes is working OT in Isla Vista), but I think I might start on Christmas stockings! They are knitted on a circular needle, which I used on SG#1, but I will have to learn how to carry different colors of yarn behind my work, which could be a challenge.
p.s. Happy Halloween!! If you are VERY brave, click here for a scare ... he he ... even though today is the 31st, it feels like Halloween was Friday ... I am so confused!