Happy Thanksgiving!

Can you believe it is going to be Thanksgiving in a mere 3 days?  Where has the time gone?

How have you been doing on all your Christmas knitting?  I am not doing any 'Christmas knitting' per say, but I do have quite a few things I want to get off the needles so I can start the new year with a few fewer things (stop laughing!)

So......I finished my Hiya Hiya KAL socks....these are going towards several KAL's....but they were really done for the Hiya Hiya KAL.  The yarn is AJ's Handmade Creations, and the colorway is Camo For Her.

I also decided that I wanted to buy a new TV....now I know this is a random thought in the middle of a knitting blog....but I have a round about way of getting this back to my knitting....when Paige had Antonio's birthday party at my house, apparently her boyfriend made a comment that my TV was driving him crazy....see, about 2 years ago the "Blue engine light" (something or other) was going out...it was kind of yucky at first because it only affected the bottom of the screen....then it grew...and grew...and grew....into a big circle that took up almost all of the screen so it was kind of fixing itself.....the blue dots below are not really shown watching tv, but you can see the circle when watching.....

Then one day I was watching TV at Jaime's house and that progresso soup commercial came on....the one with the sister in a big green dress....well on my tv, I seemed to recall it to be a 'green/grey/yellow' color....then I got to thinking....maybe this tv is driving my knitting friends crazy too....and I have been having SNB at my house a lot lately....so I tie this new tv purchase back to knitting.....so on Saturday I got the old tv off the stand and cleaned that dirty, dusty tv stand....

and then anxiously awaited the arrival of the TV.....

and here is the difference between my old tv and my new one:

So, the difference in the dress color was not as bad as I thought....but still a pretty big difference in picture quality (who knew those curtains in the background were not yellow?)....hey, I had that last tv for like 10 years, so I got good use out of it!  I hope to get just as many years with the new one!

The bad news is, that the tv stopped working 3 hours after delivery.....so I have an exchange tv coming today.....I hope nothing goes wrong this time!

I also got to enter to win season tickets to see my Longhorns for one year....you too can enter here.  I think there may be links for other colleges, but I am not sure.

While setting up the TV, I did have to call my son a couple of times....he works for Direct TV.....when he had me all squared away, he said that the cost for the DirectTV information was a blanket....I guess he really wants to get across to me that he wants a blanket for the baby due in less then a month!  I better get with it!

I worked on it yesterday after finishing the socks:

Then there is the Mystery KAL from Stephen West.....thankfully, clue 3 was "Nothing but knit"....I have finished all the colorwork.  Here are my approximations of yardage usage so far:  180 yards of my color B (the light green called Rye), 132.3 yards of my color C (charcoal grey), and 250.8 of my color D ( the darker green called Malchite)....so far that is 563.1 yards....I do not know my color A yardage yet as Clue 4 is all color A.  I am not quite finished with clue 3 (I still need two rows in color A), but I am anxious to move on to the last clue.....I hope to have this done soon so I can wear it!

Ya know...I think that is it for knitting this week....I know it does not seem like much.  I was kind of under the weather on Monday and Tuesday.....I made some Zuppa Toscano soup on Monday, but it did not help me feel better.....but it was yummy!

So I did not really knit at all on Monday and Tuesday....then on Wednesday, Paige and Antonio came to see me.  I ordered her the new iPhone 6 and let her get it as an early Christmas present (Yes, I am a sucker......)

On Saturday.....it was someone's 6th Birthday!

So I got a visit from 2 cutie patootie gals!

And Celeste loved all her presents!

Well, since I already shared pictures of some of my grands with you....I leave you with a couple of pics of my other babies I do not talk about too much.  I have 3 dogs, but the 3rd one does not look at me for a picture.......so you get to see 2 of them:

This is Baby:

and this is Precious: 

I hope everyone has a fantastic Thanksgiving....remember what you are thankful for!

 Happy Happy Happy Knitting!

BRRRRRRRRR......

It is COLD!  and I am far south!  We had freezing temps last night and we are supposed to have a hard freeze tonight...down to 26 or 27 degrees.  Now all you people laughing at me....I live in Texas for a reason!  I do not like the cold!  But I do get to wear lots of my hand knits when it is cold and I do like that.

Last week, I started a fire and Paige brought fixin's for Smores.....they were YUMMY!!!

Antonio was sick on Veterans day (stomach bug) so I watched him that day....we played and wanted to put on my reading glasses...I have been told that these are called "Knitters" so that is what I will call them too...here he is in my 'knitters' playing with his Halloween rotating flashlight.....

Sometimes I think this blog should be called Antonio Picture Overload......I am sorry, but I am a pretty proud Ga-Ma......I am fortunate that I get to see Antonio as much as I do.  I wish I saw Celeste, Cataleya and Alexxis as much as I see Antonio!

So.....on to knitting....what did I knit on this week?  Well, I finally finished clue 2 of the Stephen West KAL......Clue 3 came out this past Friday and I have not started it yet.  I actually just finished clue 2 today during lunch!

I also knitted on Paige's sweater....remember that one?  Well, I got both sleeves done...but I still have quite a bit of body to do.

I also knit quite a bit on these socks....they are for 2 KAL's (yes, I am double dippin'!)......I got both gussets done and now just need to do 2 feet and 2 toes!

And......I finally started that pom pom blanket for Little Mario's baby that is on the way!

I think that may be all I have for knitting....it sure feels like I knitted on more items, but I guess this is it.

I also finished crocheting that bag for Darlene....here is the last picture I have....but once she gets the bag finished with lining, I will take another picture.

Oh....and if you listen to podcasts...there is a podcast called "Carolina Fiber Girls"...and they mentioned me....little old me....from the Double Gusset pattern I wrote up in May.  It was a small shout out...but still pretty exciting...it was in episode 26....so thanks to the Carolina Fiber Girls!

I do have a stash enhancement....it is called a Knit Clip.  It is sold by a friend, Peg, that has an Artfire store called Lisetta's Armoire.....she has 3 different sizes and it hold your knitting needles....they are pretty cool!

Oh, and my scarf swap recipient finally got her scarf.....I got my good friend, Ruby.....here is a picture of her and I back in July when we both went to the Stephen and Steven Tour.....

Here is her scarf.  I also got a couple of Skeleton Keys (because I know she likes them) and some Lindor Truffles Chocolate...she said she likes "Fall Colors tinged with some green" so I used this Stephen Loves Tosh colorway in Madtosh DK yarn.

and speaking of scarf swaps........Darlene (my bestie I always talk about on this blog) also participated in the scarf swap and her scarf swap person, JoAn, gave her some fabric....because she knows that Darlene makes project bags.....with the fabric, Darlene made a set for herself, a set for JoAn....and......a set for me!  She rocks!  I love her sooooo much!  Isn't this the cutest ladybug pattern you have ever seen?

I also have some yarn on the way.....Paige came over on Saturday and said that she has been wearing the same hat all week.....this is a hat I made her over 2 years ago (March 2012).....so she picked out some yarn and some patterns....they are on the way,...I cannot wait to cast on and tell you about them!  Here is the one from a couple of years ago....

Well, that is all I have.....stay warm everyone (I am planning on soup and a fire tonight for Monday Night Football!)....and Happy, Happy, Happy Knitting!!!!!!

Thank you Veterans!

Tomorrow is Veteran's Day and I do not want to forget to say a big Thank you to all our Veterans out there!

There was a Fiber Festival this past weekend very close to me.  It is called "Kid 'n Ewe and Llamas Too"...it is located in Boerne, TX, which is just about a 30 drive from me.  I went with Darlene, and Carol (a lady that faithfully comes to my Stitch N Bitch and also runs the Sunday SNB).  When I first got there, I got one picture with some friends....and from that point on, it was like I forgot I had a camera.  There were many, many gals from all over Texas from the online group of LSSK (Lone Star State Knitters)......Here is my only picture I got (from left to right....Shama, Alice, Alice's husband Richard, and me)

But here are some other pics I snagged from friends......

Beverly (Sexy Mod), Vicki (Chief Mod), Alice (GrandMa Mod), and Joyce

Couple of cute alpacas

The three mods, Beverly, Vicki, Alice

Shama and Alice

It was a great time had by all!  I bought some Brooks Farm Yarn...in the SA17 colorway...I love it because of the specks of black and of course specks of orange.

I also got some transitions yarn....this is yarn by Done Roving (the makers of Frolicking Feet) and the yarn changes color and is specifically for a shawl.  I am going to make Danielle with this colorway.  I also want to get the Campfire colorway to make Noelle, but I need to probably wait till after Christmas before I buy anything else....plus, Shannon (the owner of Inskein) has not written up the pattern yet.

You can see a picture of the Octoberfest Colorway knitting up here.

I also got a cute ChiaoGoo dpn case....I love my Hiya Hiya's....but the case is a little more cumbersome and this one zips close...so now this case holds my Hiya Hiya dpn needles.

Scarf Swap.....my scarf swap sister received her package, but has not yet been home to open it....she should be home tomorrow....but, I did get my scarf swap from Mary P in the LSSK group...she lives here in San Antonio and she way out did herself.  She knitted me a gorgeous cowl in Malabrigo Worsted in the Vermillion Colorway...it has gorgeous cables and I have already worn it in this chillier weather we are having in SATX.  She also got me a mug that says "hooker & ball tickler with a needle habit", some tea, hazelnut chocolate (that is all gone already), a reusable bag, and some Birdy's Baubles Stitch Markers....I love it all!  Thank you Mary!

Now to take you back.....way back.....to the days when I was crocheting 3 different bags....it was around August of last year....and I finished my 2nd crochet bag....and Darlene was working on one too....well, we all went to a knitting retreat at my sister's lake house, and one best friend, Ailene, did not have anything left to crochet on, so she was going to take Darlene's Crochet bag and work on it.....well, Ailene got busy and she never worked on it, and I recently saw Ailene and was able to get Darlene's bag.....I worked on it some.....then noticed a mistake (do you see the thinner row in the purple section about 7 rows down?)

So I ripped..... 

and re-crocheted......I still have a little more to do to finish this for Darlene (she did sew in the lining of all three of my bags, so I owe her big time....and am happy to do it) but I ran out of yarn....so I will get more yarn from Darlene today and hope to finish this week. 

Then there is the Stephen West MKAL.....I finished clue 1 last week and showed you....well, clue 2 came out about 7 pm on Thursday (a little early) and the first step is brioche.....I have never done brioche knitting before, so he recommended a swatch:

Then, on to the shawl:

Here is a little:

Close up:

Now some more: 

And some more:

Will this ever end?

Yes!  Brioche section finally done!

But this is not the end of clue 2.....I have 26 rows of stripes I need to do, then black trim....so I got about 7 rows of stripes done yesterday....19 more to go......ARGH!

I am not sure if you noticed that somewhere in there my shawl went from a clear cord to a red one.  I was using my dyakcraft needles, but the dark green seemed to rubbing off on the needle, so while at Kid N Ewe, I got a 47" size 6 metal needle so I would not have that problem anymore!

The only other things I knitted on this week was Paige's never ending Breezy Cardigan sweater, and I did line one repeat on these socks...I need to have these done by end of November so I better get with it.

Lastly, my Strickmich!Club package 4 came in today!  I am pretty excited!  I love the little poncho, but I am not much of a green and blue gal, so I am not sure if I will knit this or sell it.......

That is really all I have this week....It may be picture overload, but I know I prefer to see more pictures than words....so I hope I did not 'over talk'.

I leave you with a picture of Antonio "cutting my hair"and some knitters stuff....most of you know his mom is a barber and he sees his mom cut lots of hair.....so he was doing the motions with a nail brush....thankfully not real scissors!


Have a great week everyone!  Happy Happy Happy Knitting......