Goodbye 2016

Hello....I hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas!  I know I did.....but now, can you believe there are only 5 more days left of 2016?

I am sad to see one more pass so quickly, but I am also happy and anxious to see what 2017 has in store.

I have a few stash enhancements.....I won a free skein of yarn from Eat.Sleep.Knit's Yarnopoly game....I thought I got to pick my own skein of yarn and filled out the card with what I wanted......but nope, they picked a yarn for me.....I got some Mrs. Crosby Ombra della Sera which is 90% cashmere and 10% nylon......there are only 110 yards, so I am not really sure what I am going to make with it....

I also got my 2nd skein of Miss Babs Yowza in the Toronto colorway...but it was not really what I wanted....so now I am not sure what I am going to do with these.....I am sure I will figure out something.

I got my winning skein of yarn from DVD for recommending The Friday Night Knit Club book as a colorway....I love it!

I also have the yarn ready to go for my January DVD socks.....this is one of my newest medium bags from Bags By Awesomegrannie....

Jaime's sister got me a "Yarn Tote" for Christmas:

 I got new progressive glasses (whatcha think?).

And Jaime got me a beautiful bracelet....it matches one he got me a year or so ago. I love it!

Now.....for the knitting.....well, last week I told you that I was going to crochet a blanket for Paige's boyfriend for Christmas.....well, I did it.

Here is my beginning..... (yes, Precious needs grooming again!)

Precious is enjoying me crocheting on this.....

And I finished on Friday morning!

I also worked on Paige's sweater...this thing is really hard to photograph, but I am hoping to seam some of it up this coming week so maybe I can photograph it better.

While working on this I needed another hank of yarn wound and I decided to use my personalized Nostepinne from Darlene.....I really love this...but I do need a little more practice to get a better looking cake.

That is really all I have this week....I want to wish everyone a fabulous New Year!  I will post again in 2017!

Lastly, I do have some fabulous pictures of the grands...I did not get to see Alexxis and Baby Mario, but Amanda sent me some great pics.  I was so blessed to have Celeste, Antonio and Cataleya for Christmas Eve.....so here are some pics:

This is my Beautiful Sister with Cataleya and Celeste (and her dog, Hunter).

Happy, Happy, Happy Knitting!

Merry Christmas plus My Year of Socks!

Hi Everyone......Merry Christmas.  By the time I next post, Christmas will have passed and I want to say to all of you to have a Merry, Merry Christmas.

Are you ready for Christmas?  I am just about ready......I have one last present to do and I am going to take a page out of the Darlene (aka Awesomegrannie) playbook....I will start this item tonight (the 19th) and need it done by the 24th before Church at 3:00 pm.  I am going to make a Crocheted blanket for Paige's Boyfriend, Chris....yes, I am crazy, but I think I can do it.

So to jump right in to what I have been up to this past week since it ties into me making a blanket for Chris.  See, Darlene started one for her future SIL and I helped a little during this week, and while I was helping, I decided that Chris would really like one of these.  Here is the one for Darlene's future SIL that I helped with...it just needs one more gray stripe at the top :)

I also finished my December socks......

So that means that I finished the whole year of socks..I tried to put them all like a clock (January at the 1 o'clock hour, February at two o'clock....etc), but it did not really work out......

I am also entering them all into the Box 'o Sox KAL.....so I took a picture of them all in a box.

First only self striping

Then with the one pair of worsted socks I made.

I wanted to make 16 pairs for 2015....but realized I only made 15.....bu then realized I gave one pair to my mom.....so I really did knit 16 pairs in 2016.....but I am not sure I can keep up with 17 in 2017 and 18 in 2018....but hey, I did it for 2016 :)

The only other thing I worked on was Paige's sweater.....I have a good chunk of the front panels done....but it is really hard to photograph.....now, this project will be a in a different project bag later tonight, but more on that later,

I have a few stash enhancements.....I got my last shipment from the Miss Babs Knitting Tour 2016.....I have not done any of the projects this year, so I really want to do this one.  Here is my skein....but I saw other member's skeins and some had more gray....so I ordered an extra that has more gray and it is coming....I will probably make the shawl with the more gray one.  We are going to Toronto, Canada....and I did already sign up for next year's tour!

I ordered some sport weight black yarn....I bought it to do a certain KAL that starts January 1st, but I am not 100% sure I am still going to do it....I have to see.  I got some Merino and some that is Cotton and Viscose......both are by Drop by Garnstudio (I have never tried any of their yarn).

Now, for a stash enhancement that was a gift.....the GREATEST GIFT EVER.  Darlene and I did our Christmas Present swap this morning and she made me a QUILT.....a big, beautiful, fabulous, wonderful quilt.....I cannot believe it....I JUST LOVE IT and it is soooooooo GORGEOUS  These pictures do not do it justice.

She also gave me a tote bag set in the awesome black skulls...this is going to be my new 'sweater' bag (hence the reason that Paige's sweater is going into this bag tonight)!  She also got me a skein of yarn from Leading Men Fiber Arts that matches my bag set....that was a complete accident....she got it because the name of the yarn is Acid Trip.....I just love that name.  She saw a podcast where someone was knitting socks with it and it came out so nice....I cannot wait to cast on something with this yarn!  

Thank you so much Darlene.....you are the greatest friend ever, and I am blessed to be able to call you my Best Friend!!  Thank you for my fabulous gifts!!

Just a few extra things from the week.......

I also got a pretty great box from Hello Fresh this past week....there was an awesome steak and potatoes dish (I did not get a picture of) and a creamy mushroom porkchop plate that was really good.....Jaime really enjoyed them both.

And I had Antonio.....I always love having him.....here he is coloring.

We went to go see a performance by Cataleya...she is such a cutie pa-tootie!

That is all I have....Merry Christmas!

Happy Happy Happy Knitting!

Less Than TWO weeks!

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas.....can you hear the music?  Less than 2 weeks...wow!  Are You Ready?

I am almost done with all my Christmas shopping....just a touch more to do.

So, how has your week been?  Mine had been fabulous...I wanted to share a picture of the view from my desk one day this week...the sunrise was soooooo pretty!

Okay, I am going to jump into Stash Enhancements...I got some new bags from Awesomegrannie.  I loved these bags but could not decide on the light colored or the black...so I purchased both to make a set.....Large, Medium and Notions......

Since I have been 'Hookin' lately, I decided to get some colorful crochet hooks...these are the larger sizes from 6.5mm to 12mm

 I got some new HiyaHiya Interchangeable Needles from Qianer.....they are my hostess gifts and I love them...one is the new sock interchangeable needle set......Thank You Qianer!

Louise from Biscotte sent me some new yarn too.....this is as a "Thank You" for moderating her Ravelry group....the left is her new Pure DK base and the right is the exclusive colorway for the sock club in bis-sock base.  The new DK base feels soooooooo good and I definitely see some more in my future....maybe a sweater or shawl with it!  Thank you Louise!

Then, I ordered the Tangled Lights colorway from Stacie at Must Stash....I blame this on Michelle from the Knotty Knit Wits podcast for this purchase....she posted on Instagram that Stacie had it for pre-order.....GRRRRR.....but I do love it!  I probably will not knit it up till next Christmas.

So....what did I knit on now?  Well, I knit on my December DVD socks.  I am kinda liking this Stellina, but not sure it is going to make me purchase more.  I think I have one more skein of a Stellina yarn that is just like this but orange (shocker) and that is all the Stellina yarn I have.

My mother had surgery this past Wednesday and this is what I got done while waiting in the waiting room.....

 I had forgotten my little thimble stickers, so I ended up knitting a hole into my finger....I have not done this in a long time

After giving my finger a little break, I worked on them a little more during the Cowboys Game last night....

While my finger was recuperating (LOL) I also finished the crocheted blanket for me.....Now, Jaime curled up with this after I finished it last night so I am thinking about making another one....so that we each have one to curl up with...but I have not decided yet....I LOVE it and it went pretty darn fast!

Even Precious was enjoying this blanket when I left for work this morning!

Well, that is all the knitting/crocheting I have for  this past week...but I did do other things.....

I put up my Christmas tree and only put lights on it.......

But then I had the grands come over....first it was just me and Antonio and he helped me decorate it....

Then, Celeste and Cat came....and they all spent the night.....

That made for one pooped Ga-Ma/Oma....but I loved having them all and spending time with them!

Here are some special Christmas things to share with you.......

Happy Happy Happy Knitting!