sheep in the city

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! Are you curious how I celebrated the ringing in of 2008? Exciting stuff folks. My roommate and I (who can be found here on Ravelry) inventoried some of our yarn. I say some because we got tired and are going to have to finish tomorrow. I remember when staying up until midnight was a common occurrence around here...not any more. I'm feeling a little too old. We had a very special helper as we were pulling my yarn off the shelves. Thanks Jesse. Happy New Year to you all!

*For those of you who have asked...the DisneyWorld thing isn't going to happen until late Spring/early Summer. My sister is about to pop, only 5 weeks to go until she has baby number 3, so that means no traveling for her for a while. If any of you have Disney World tips/secrets be sure to share them!*

Another fun knitting group!

A bunch of the girls that I knit with accompanied me to a Denver Nuggets Game on Sunday night. Fun was had by all...and some knitting was even accomplished! I'm sure people thought that we were funny to be knitting, but none of us really cared.

I did cast on for a new project while I was there tonight. It's Juliet, from the girls at Zephyr Style. I am loving this pattern...and I'm loving the yarn that I picked out even more! It's Noro Iro in color number 57. Michelle and I both picked out colors on Saturday morning at Colorful Yarns. It can be kind of dangerous when you are at a yarn shop all day, surrounded by yarn, but also surrounded by people who like to enable you! (Michelle and I have a tendency to mutually enable each other!) I can't wait to get further along on this sweater! Speaking of knitting...I better get at it!

A white Christmas...

Christmas dawned early in the morning for me this year. I spent the night over at my sister's house so that I could enjoy the early morning festivities with my niece and nephew. I got to help put together lots of Christmas presents the night before, so I wanted to be able to see them open their stockings. Alice and I had a "slumber party" in her room. I loved seeing the reactions when she realized that Santa had been to her house and that the reindeer had eaten all the "reindeer food" we put on the front patio. (reindeer food is a mixture of Oats and glitter I think) It was about then that we realized that it was snowing quite a bit...and that my grandparents would need to be picked up. It was actually snowing on Christmas day, we were going to have a white Christmas, that almost never happens! Once everyone arrived at the house, we had our traditional breakfast. We always make a breakfast casserole and cheesy grits. I made the grits this year using a Paula Deen recipe and they turned out perfect. (if I do say so myself)

During breakfast, my Dad made a big announcement...he's taking the whole family to DisneyWorld! My Mom immediately started crying because she has wanted to go back there for years. We went a few times as kids...but we haven't been as adults. It's going to be doubly fun to watch the kids reactions, especially Alice when she sees all the princesses. We all are so excited to go!

Many of you have asked to see the Christmas pajamas this year...and here they are:

These pajamas were courtesy of Old Navy this year. They have little reindeer all over them. We always buy an extra pair of pajamas in a size small and then my Grandma Sue works her magic and sews a pair that Alice can fit into. I went a step beyond and bought Crocs for all the girls this year, as my gift to them. Of course, we had to take a picture of those too!

I gave my Dad his afghan on Christmas morning, and he loved it. He's all about anything that is soft and fuzzy. Malabrigo is definitely soft. I didn't get a chance to weave in all the ends, so a picture of the whole thing laying out is going to have to wait until next week. Sorry folks...I know that a few of you are anxious to see the whole thing.

One of my favorite moments on Christmas day was when Alice and I put on a "dress-up sing-a-long" for Poppy. (my Dad) We knew that we wanted to sing a few of his favorite praise songs for him...but it was Alice's idea to dress up like wisemen. By the end of the performance she told everyone that we were the "wisemen girls". It was so funny. All in all...it was a great Christmas. Because of the snow, no one was rushing off anywhere. We all just got to hang out and be together as a family. Those are the kind of days that I love the most.

My Mom is working on her Einstein Coat. It's getting so big that it works as a blanket while she is knitting on it! I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas. I love that I still have 5 more days until I have to go back to work...yippee!

Continue reading on if you want to see a few of the things that I got for Christmas...

I always love getting books as a gift...and this year was no exception. My sister and Mom both got me cookbooks. I can't wait to try out some of Rachel Ray's recipes. My Dad got me the book, In the Grip of Grace.

My parents also gave me a little Christmas bling. It's a ring that has a row of sapphires ranging from white all the way to dark pink. It's very unique and I love it! Thanks Mom and Dad!

I think I can, I think I can...

I've been furiously knitting away on my big gift, and I can't believe that Christmas is only 3 days away. How did that happen? Where did the time go? I'm so close to being done. I just keep telling myself, keep knitting, keep knitting, keep knitting. You can do it, you can do it, you can do it. Reading about the Yarn Harlot's crazy Christmas knitting has been keeping me entertained while I knit my evenings away. Since at this point I can't really show any pictures of the secret project...you'll have to make due with pictures from my party last weekend. It was so fun to have everyone over. I love decorating for Christmas and it makes it all the more fun when there are other people who get to enjoy it too. Besides, what better way to spend an evening than in the company of a bunch of crazy knitters?!

Pictured above are the party favors that everyone received. They are little bags of candy cane stitchmarkers, made by KishCrafts. I highly recommend that you check out her stuff, it's seriously cute. Holiday items, donuts, chocolate chip cookies...what's not to love? Be sure to click on the picture above to see a close-up of the markers and tags.

We exchanged gifts with a specific person at the party and I had Kelly as my partner. She is just too fun. I love the bright pink theme that she has going on. She gave me a pink fluffy feathery bag with the funniest saying on it. It says, "Put your big girl panties on, and deal with it!". This just cracks me up every time that I lay eyes on it. She also gave me some luxurious Nova Sock from Fleece Artist in...you guessed it...bright pink! I'm not sure how she knew, but I have been eying this skein of yarn ever since it arrived at Colorful Yarns. I wonder, how did she know that? And that isn't the end folks! She got me a cute polka dot project bag and a necklace that says the same thing as my bag. Does she know me or what? I'll be sure to list the etsy shops that she purchased this stuff from. (I just need to get the info from her, note to self.)

The next 2 days are going to be crazy busy for me, working at the shop tomorrow, knitting like crazy and then seaming the big secret project, not to mention wrapping presents! Take a look at my official present wrapping elf.

*and yes, that is an Amy Butler Sweet Life bag. It's another Merry Christmas to me bag. For all those that want to know, the style is called Ashbury and the color is Lime! Colorful Yarns is now carrying these beauties. Oh and I meant to mention this last week, but the shop also has all the Offhand Design bags and Maruca bags at 20% off until the end of the month! I've got to enable some of you to buy these bags...so that I don't buy them all! Merry Christmas everyone! Gotta get back to my knitting!*

These are a few of my favorite things...

I thought that I'd share some of my favorite things of the Holiday season. The first thing...are all the little silver sparkle birds that live in my Christmas tree. I bought these birds at Crate and Barrel for about $1.00 apiece when I was in Chicago. They are just so glittery and fun.

Next we have the Starbucks Caramel Apple Spice drink. Mmmmmm...caramel apples. You add that yumminess to my new pink sparkle travel mug and it's sheer perfection. I'm drinking hot tea out of it right now and I swear it makes the tea taste better...I love this mug of mine.

Then we have the gathering of good friends to go and see Pride and Prejudice last night. Totally worth it. It was fun to just get out and do something a little out of norm. It was one of those things that I might have let slip by...but I decided to just do it! I'm so glad that we did it!

I'm home cleaning house for the party that I'm having this weekend. The snow is falling outside and I'm just glad to be warm and snug at my house, listening to Christmas music, and getting ready to do a little cooking. Fun! Have a great weekend everyone.

Another Noro lover...

I was taking pictures of my stash last weekend, and who shows up in the picture? Jesse!? Who knew that Jesse had such good taste in yarn. He loves my Tilli Tomas. He absolutely loves my Malabrigo. It seems like now he's moved on to Noro.

Now, lucky for me, all he does is cuddle up to it. No eating or biting or rough-housing. I'm crossing my fingers that it stays that way!

I mentioned that I would show you a peek at what was inside the box that I received from Piddleloop. (where Alice got her frog bag, remember?) Sadly, for all of us that are addicted to these little bags, the shop is closed until the New Year. Lucky for Jen, who runs the shop, she gets a nice little vacation! Everyone deserves one of those around the holidays. Anywhoo, everything that you see in the photo below was not in that one box. What you see below is my whole collection of Piddleloop goodies. I will admit that I've gone a little nuts...because all that you see here I have purchased since August.

From the back to the front:

Bag #1: Goldfish...my first set that I bought back in August, right before Camp Wannaknitknit.

Bag #2 and #3: Birds and Lace: I got these when I met up with Jen in Chicago in October. Oh, I also bought the little zippered bag with the sheep embroidered on it in Chicago too.

Bag #4, #5, #6, and #7: Skull Knitting Needles, Dots, Sheep, and A flying pigs Piddly Bag. These were all bought in a mad buying frenzy that happened over Thanksgiving. I will say that a few of these had been in the works for a while (the sheep and the knitting needle skulls were both special ordered) but I was holding out to make sure that there wasn't anything else that I needed before she shipped it to me.

I will say that I'm throughly pleased with all my little bags...they make me happy when I carry my knitting around in them. And yes, I will admit that I went a little nuts...but I deserve it, right? I just kept saying, Merry Christmas to me, Merry Christmas to me!

Secret knitting makes for a boring blog!

I have received a number of concerned emails that I haven't been posting and wondering if I am all right. Thanks for the support and show of concern. All is well with me, things have just been very busy! I have been trying to finish up some of the Christmas gifts that I am making...one BIG gift in particular. (I'm getting so close!) Then last week, on Thursday and Friday, I was in Kansas City for a big event honoring my Dad.

It was a really neat time with around 250 people that have worked with my Dad over his last 40 years in ministry. That was a bit of a whirlwind trip though. In Thursday afternoon, attend party, stay up until 2:00am visiting with my friend RayLynn (who lives in K.C.), getting up and having breakfast with relatives that came in for the event, and then packing up and traveling back to Denver with my grandparents. (they are both in their 80's)

Look at how cute they are, holding hands on the airplane. I love it!

It's just that time of year I guess. I had my office Christmas party last night. The holidays always seem to make everything just pass in a blur. I'm not sure how it is already Wednesday afternoon?! Tomorrow night I'm going to go downtown and see the play, Pride and Predjudice, with a group of friends. Then Sunday I'm having a party for my knitting group. See? It just keeps on coming...but you know what?! I love it. I love seeing friends and spending time with them over the holidays. I wouldn't change any of it.

Just so that you still know that this is a knitting blog, I'll include a photo of some actual knitting.

This is a hat pattern called the IAD Dulles hat, that I recently stumbled across on Ravelry. It's made with Malabrigo, which you all know that I love. So I cast on. Pretty, soft...Mmmmmalabrigo. I'm going to try to not be such a stranger...I really do miss it when I don't have the time to blog. Thanks again for everyone who sent me emails and left comments concerned about me! I'm still here...knitting along.

On a happier note, here's Alice!

I received a package from Piddleloop yesterday...one that I had been eagerly awaiting. Jen had included a gift for Alice inside! How cool is that?! That's what I love about the Piddleloop Sewing Team, they always go that little bit extra to make you feel special. And boy did Alice feel special! She loves her new bag. Thanks so much Jen for making her day...and in turn for making my day too! I will be showing you a peek of what else was inside the package later, because you know it wasn't all just for Alice. Aunt Stacey has to feel the Piddleloop love too!