27 Days Till Christmas

Hey!  Did you have a fabulous Thanksgiving and Thanksknitting?  Mine was very nice.

Can you believe that Christmas is just a short 27 days away?  Me Either!  Are you trying to finish some Christmas Knitting?

Let me just jump into this knitting.........I worked my little fingers to the bone last week trying to get the Black Sweater done by Wednesday so I could give to Darlene since she is seeing her DIL on Thanksgiving.

I DID IT......Darlene just needs to seam the sides.....I know some of these pictures look grey or blueish but I promise this sweater is BLACK!

I should have moved my messy hair...but here it is on before any blocking:

So, what else did I knit on?  Well, I finished some socks from APRIL....They are my Eeyore and Piglet Socks....I would like to get all my socks off the needles before the end of the year so I can start the new year fresh....we will see, I am running out of time!

I also started my Yoga Shawl.  I do not know why I started this so late in the year....but I saw Leslie's from the Knotty Knit Wits Podcast and I really want one of these....I probably will not finish for forever, but I got one whopping repeat done....LOL!  I took a close up so "maybe" you can see a little of the triangle/chevron pattern:

That is all the 'knitting' I did.....but I did do some crocheting....I worked a little on Antonio's Crocheted Chevron Blanket.....I started this blanket with some skeins of yarn I had in my stash and then ordered more yarn from Knit Picks.....well, they are different.  The reds are different, the greys are different....but I am just gonna go with it....I do not think Antonio is going to care.

I also want to make some more of these blankets (I am really enjoying it)....Darlene is making one of her granddaughters and her soon to be Son In Law blankets with Bernat Baby Blanket Yarn......So I may have ordered 34 skeins of this yarn to make a couple of blankets....and it came in!

Oh, and Antonio wanted a Ninja Turtle....he bugged me for it all day Friday but I was tired (I will tell you why later) so as soon as we got up Saturday he said "Are you going to make my Ninja Turtle today?"  That boy things I can just snap my fingers and finish stuff.....LOL!   Well, I made him one:

This is a very tiny Ninja Turtle, but he liked it and he picked out the pattern here.

Well, that is really all the knitting/crocheting I did.....However, I also got my Yarn Room re-organized.  Some of you may remember when Paige came and cleaned out my yarn room as  Birthday present to me last year....well, I let it get super packed with yarn and toys and 'STUFF'.....I do not have a before picture (it would have been too embarrassing to be honest) but I do have an after panoramic pic.....I am pretty proud of myself!

For next week I hope to

1. Get my needles smoking on Paige's Sweater....she still wants it for Christmas (and I only have 27 days)....we are going to have to see about that!

2.  Work on Briochevron Cowl since I need to finish it for the KAL in Bags By Awesome Grannie Group

3.

That is all I have....I hope you all have a fabulous week.

Happy Happy Happy Knitting!

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy ThanksKnitting and Happy Birthday Celeste!

Hi everyone....this week is Thanksgiving and I hope you have a fabulous Thanksgiving!  Lots of people look at the month of November to be a month of Thanks....and I am thankful for Knitting.....so Happy ThanksKnitting as well!

I do not have much knitting this week.....I really only knitted on the black sweater and one other thing.....I have the black sweater at approx 26" and I think I need to be around 29" so I need to do about 3 more inches on front and back panels.....They are very large....I took a picture but the black washes out to a grey (this sweater is really very black!):

Then I worked on 2 blankets....one knit, one crochet.  I finished a really smooshy blanket last year made with really thick yarn like roving....well, I had 1.5 skeins of that yarn left, so I decided to make the blanket bigger and use those last 1.5 skeins....I got 11 more rows in the blanket and I love it (about an extra foot)....it is getting chilly in TX, so I pulled this blanket out of hiding to use :)

Then I worked on Antonio's crocheted blanket....I was doing two stripes of each color...but ripped the whole thing

and decided to do 4 rows of each color...I am much happier with it!

Oh, and I got more yarn in from Knit Picks to finish this blanket and one other blue color to make another blanket like this.

I have a few other stash enhancements......I got some Chiaogoo 9" circular needles to try knitting socks with....I have some HiyaHiya 9" circulars, but they cramp my hands....I heard from a friend and a podcast that the Chiaogoo has a barrel that is just a smidget longer and it helps...so I am gonna give them a try...Darlene let me try hers and they seem like they are not going to cramp my hands, but we will see.

Then, you know how I have been in love with Coco Knits stitch markers....well, I had to get one of her magnetic stitch holder bases....I love it.  I got one for Darlene too as a Christmas present...but I could not wait till Christmas to give it to her...so I already gave it to her and I know she is going to love using it!

Then, I got the most awesome Christmas Bag from Darlene....she put extra effort into this bag to sew the different materials together....I love this bag...it is so fabulous.....When she first sent me a picture of it, I thought the inside was a dull red (it is hard to photograph) and then felt like a jerk for saying so because it is really a bright hot pink and could not be any more cute!  Thank you Darlene.  I LOVE IT!

My roommate moved out this past Thursday.....so Friday was Precious' first day ever to be alone at home (Star died while my roommate was living with me so she always either had Star or Baby).  She was super excited to see me Friday after work...I felt a little guilty, but I have to work.  Anyway, on Sunday's I usually go to Jaime's but always left my multiple dogs at home....well, now that I only have Precious....I took her with me.  It took a little while for her and Brandy (the two most spoiled dogs on the planet) to get used to each other and not be jealous if the other was with me or with Jaime...but they all settled in after a while and I got to knit....Paco is the one on the floor with Precious' blanket.....Brandy and Precious are sitting on the recliner with me....they were far apart at first and then got closer....silly dogs!

Lastly, Antonio had a school play where he was a scarecrow and Celeste had her birthday party this past weekend.  Celeste will be 8 TOMORROW.  My baby girl will be 8.  The party was a big success and they all had a great time....I do not know how I managed to not get any pics of Cataleya, but she was there......so I leave you with grandchild picture overload:

They had face painting at the party too:

Happy Happy Happy Knitting every and have a blessed and wonderful Thanksgiving!

Spending Veteran's Day weekend at the Lease

I hope everyone had a great Veteran's Day.  Thanks to all our veterans out there for all your service and sacrifices!

I left work early on Thursday and Jaime and I headed out to the Deer Lease....it was fabulous and super relaxing.  I will have lots of pictures of that later....First, I will jump in with a few stash enhancements....

Darlene got me some of the mini stitch markers from Coco Knits.  I really love these magnetic stitch markers....they are my newest favorite markers ever!

Then I needed to get some more Malabrigo Rios yarn in Sandbank colorway for Paige's sweater

Here is the yarn in mixed dye lots and you cannot even see the difference:

 Then, I got some yarn from Black Sheep Yarns in Portland OR...I see the Knotty Knit Wits talk about Anngelique's yarn all the time and I loved her pumpkin spice....so I got these three and I love how they go together and the way she packages it for shipping.

 Last week I told you about some yarn I won....well I got it....it is Zealana RIMU DK...it has possum in it and it is super soft!

 Back around Columbus Day I told you about a yarn kit I got from a friend with yarn, pattern and project bag....well, this friend dyed a new orange color and I asked her if I could switch...and she let me me.  I kept the gradient, just changed the orange to his bright copper color....I LOVE IT!

Lastly I got some Knit Picks Brava Bulky Yarn to finish Antonio's blanket...I did not take a picture of all the yarn....here is the blanket.....

Now...the knitting:

I worked on my November socks.....

And, I finished them....Yahoo!

I think next month will be wine accent colors with stelina.....I have never knit sparkly socks.

I worked on the dreaded black sweater....I got both of the two front panels to 23" (seems like 23 feet) and joined them:

Then, I worked on Paige's sweater....I am just doing miles of stockinette.....I am trying to get the back panel to about 23" (it goes much faster than the black ribbed sweater) so I can do some measurements and decide how to do the front panels with the pockets....I have a little more than the 10" now.

Well, now I know that is only three things...but that is all I worked on....It does not seem like much, but it was a lot of knitting over my long weekend.  It was nice and relaxing.

I did not watch Antonio this past weekend like I usually do....and Antonio has done really well in school, so Paige took him bowling....I love this kiddo!

This past week I made a Cauliflower Pancetta Mac and Cheese dish from my Hello Fresh box and I LOVED it.....I have put the next couple of weeks on hold as I try to get some Christmas knitting finished (and not cook so much and save a few bucks)....but I really loved this one:

Okay....here are my Deer Lease Pics....there are sheep, goats, horses, cows, guineas, chickens, all sorts of animals...so here are just a few pics.....WARNING, THE LAST FEW PICS ARE OF DEAD ANIMALS.

WARNING...HUNTING PICTURES:

Jacob got a great Axis Buck!

Another hunter got a 6 point White Tail deer.

and another hunter got a coyote to keep them from killing the goats and sheep:

It was a great lazy weekend....Happy, Happy, Happy Knitting everyone!