Final FO for '08

Merry Christmas to me. After the last minute spate of holiday gift making, I decided to do a little selfish knitting this past weekend. The results - a new pair of Maine Morning Mitts and a big, slouchy tam (of my own design) to match.

You may recognize the yarn. It happens to be the leftovers of Malabrigo from the Tweedy Vest I finished this summer. And I have just a little bit left and am experimenting with squeeking out a tiny neck warmer. It's looking pretty unlikely that I'll have quite enough yarn to finish it but the ol' grey matter is percolating some design options for making it stretch.

However, given the fact that Hockeyman's birthday is tomorrow (yup, he's a New Years Eve baby) and I have a to-do list of epic proportions to get through before his party guests start arriving tomorrow, I think I can officially dub these items as the Final FO's of '08.

Oh, and if you didn't notice it in the photo, it's snowing - again. After all, it is hockey season in Minnesota and my men are up in Hibbing this week for a hockey tournament. So of course there is going to be significant snow fall, just to make driving home an adventure.

Glad I stayed home to knit clean house.

Merry Christmas to all!

Wishing all of my friends & family the warmest of holiday greetings. God bless us, one and all.

(No animals were harmed in the production of this photograph - although the cats may disagree, citing extreme embarrassment and emotional distress over being forced into jingle bell collars and ridiculous reindeer antler hats. Our official response to their formal complaints of animal cruelty has been, "Suck it up, quit'cher whining and get in the spirit . . . or no Christmas presents for you!" I'll keep you posted on the results of the subsequent lawsuit being filed on their behalf by bleeding heart animal activists.)

Sheesh, like no one's ever been forced to wear ridiculous Christmas items by overly holiday-spirited parents.

We interrupt your regularly scheduled blankie knitting . . .

On Friday, I had a panic attack (rather on the order of Sheepish Annie's Hysterical Mind).

Looking at the calendar, I realized this week is the last week of dance/swimming/hockey/girls' club/etc. before the holiday break.

So. Many. Teacher. Gifts. To. Finish.

GAH!

Life After Christmas Carol

I'm tired . . . exhausted . . . Christmas'ed out. I've actually threatened to start playing Easter music, just to get the Christmas Carol songs out of my head. Either that, or some of Hockeyman's head-banger style rock music. Not that Alan Menken's score isn't wonderful but I'm just tuckered out and want the music in my head to go away.

I've spent the last 4 days in sweats, sitting in my recliner, working on the one knitted Christmas gift I'm likely to have time for this year. (That's not counting a couple old projects that were nearing completion well before Christmas Carol kicked in, that I must keep quiet about, since loved one's may check in and spoil the surprise).

This gift, however, is for Dancing Diva and is not a stealth gift . . . at all. After all, she is a "teenager" and her tastes have grown beyond my ability to forecast or match. So when she asked me if I could reproduce this, I gave her the go ahead to pick the yarn herself. In all fairness to PB Teen, I won't be reproducing it exactly like their design.

For one thing, the Stupid Finger still won't tolerate that much knitting with 100% cotton yarn. I can work for a little while on washcloths, then I have to move to something softer, since the ol' digit is still stiff and achey (stupid finger!). So Dancing Diva chose some inexpensive acrylic instead (in massive quantities, I might add - did you see the size of that skein?!?)

In addition, stockinette stitch in acrylic won't lay flat, no matter how much you try to make it. So garter stitch it is. And my version is being made on 10-1/2 needles, so as to give some speed and, incidentally, drapey softness to the whole project.

The thing she liked best about the PB Teen version is the random stripes, so I'll try my best to make my version as random as possible.

Given my level of exhaustion, random would probably be achieved, whether I tried or not.

Random good, counting bad. Now if I could get enough energy to do some laundry, before I run out of sweats.

Photos, Finally

Sorry for the poor photo quality. The lighting was very low on the set and I had to do a little monkeying with the brightness and such to get a little detail.


Photo 1: Middle Class Victorian Woman

Photo 2: Fezziwig Ball Gown

Photo 3: Weathy Victorian Woman

The green shawl and bonnet are used with the Fezziwig Ball Gown in another scene as well. Nothing like multiple-use accessories.

Only comment I have to make - in spite of the corset taking 4" off my waist measurement, the crinoline still makes me look huge! Gah!

No time to post more. The house is a shambles, we have another rehearsal tonight and I have to leave shortly to get Hockeyman to the rink to catch the team bus to tonight's game.