Unlikely hero

This is what happens when I leave my camera behind at my sister's.

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You should thank me, Christina, I did not decide to save and upload the picture of the very intimate aspect of your sinuses. Lucky you!

So, hey, it was Christmas! Who doesn't love Christmas? Shut it, Scrooge! I love Christmas. Well, except when Mom is in Holland and the rest of us are here in Utah, coughing up snow balls and desperately trying to find whether we're driving on government mandated roads or just someone else's roof.



Okay, perhaps I'm overreacting. Just a touch. Or you would THINK until we lost the dog.


(Goodbye, Daisy. Goodbye forever.)

Well, even without Mom, I did my best to make Christmas warm and welcoming. I made Almond Chocolate Toffee Crunch, chocolate chip cookies, and for breakfast, there was coffee cake that was just divine.


And look, no mess! Well, okay, nothing I have to actually scrub with soap and water.

Everything looked so nice, so pretty, it was almost like Mom was there with us anyways.

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Christmas morning, my brother, dad and I went to Christina's to watch the kids open presents while we Skyped with mom. She is out in Holland being with my Oma so that she doesn't have to be alone for Christmas. My Opa is in a nursing home on comfort measures and he is having good and bad days. I don't know how long to expect him to live but he has been on the mend since mom has been there. Anyways, the kids really tore into their presents. I don't think that Kade was really thrilled with the crocheted hat I made him (he ripped it off when it was put on his head and threw it on the floor) but I gave everyone plush puppies with their hats to sweeten the deal a bit. Some kids aren't going to adore handmade lovelies when there is Star Wars action figures to play with instead. Weirdos!

After that, the boys and I headed back home where we had our coffee cake breakfast with lavender rooibos tea and then opened presents.


BOOKS! Lots of books. And an Ott light so I don't go blind while knitting, and some awesome movies (Don got me Prince of Smexia after some heavy prompting and Dad got me Excalibur). My Oma gave me some tea-pot shaped dirty spoon-holders (well, I think that's what they are) and they're so lovely, very Dutch.



In the news of knitting, I'm nearly done with sock 1 of Cookie A's Vilai.

I also joined Ravelry's Harry Potter Knitting and Crochet group. I was not intending to actually join it but then I realized that there was so much more to it than just being a fan of Harry Potter. It has groups and projects, challenges and homework. And the interaction just seems so intense, I will be looking forward to what the group brings and what I can bring to the group.

Pictures to come, the ones I took did not come out very well.

By the way, Daisy made it back, annoyed that I expected her to make her way successfully in chest high snow. Hmmph, how could I think she'd want to go anywhere without her comfy bed, her lovely mattress and her twice daily glucophage and aspirin? The nerve.

Stage Tour

I love Utah. I really do. I have so many more friends here, I love the weather better, and I'm closer to my beloved family here.

On that note, I have to say that I resent that there seem to be fewer nearby yarn stores. But hey, if you can't get yarn, you make yarn!

Roving

Back during the great Yarn Quest of 2010 where Briana came to visit, I bought some roving in Gothic Punk. I've gotten so sick of knitting and crocheting that I picked up spinning again. And it's really a nice relaxing hobby until my back protests from sitting up so much.


That's about a third of it right there.

It's Merino & Tussah Silk and it really is as soft as it sounds. In fact, it's almost as fun prepping the roving as it is spinning it up.

But I just couldn't stop with that stuff. So Etsy had a few sellers offering Blue-Faced Leicester for cheap and since I had never worked with that before but it seemed so very soft, I bought a couple 4ozers of the stuff.


Plum Dandy by Blue Mountain Handcrafts


Wooly Cupcakes by Stefknits

Gorgeous, huh? I don't think I'll go through it too fast but that's fine, I just like the pretties.

Knitting

I finished my third Edith The Hat (Ravelry Link). And I have to say, they have been so fun to knit and quite popular as well.


It's so easy to spot my Mom in a crowd with that hat.

Of course, the third has gone off to Mrs. Brooke.


Cute colors, no? I love them! :D

And finally, a little secret project for our hosts over at Jaxies:



Roger and Dee have been so kind to us and so gracious to let us come and use their establishment for our knitting group that I thought to make up a few ornaments for their all-year tree. :D I have a mitten and a pair of socks already. And they're so cute and made out of leftover sock yarn and patterns are just off the top of my wee head.

Then Marudesigns needed test knitters for her socks so I volunteered. Her pattern is lovely and I finished the socks on Saturday before work and photographed them yesterday.


She's named them Galaxy Socks and you can search for them on Ravelry soon.







I used leftover KnitPicks Gloss and needle size US#1.

And that's about it. So much for being a selfish knitter, eh? I guess that's why I bought the buttons. ;)

28 days later...

...is what I'm watching on TV. It's not so much *scary* as it is just gorey. And it has my favorite Doctor Who, Christopher Eccleston! Granted, he plays a skeevy military man but still, he's my Doctor!

Y'know, Mrs. Brooke is a real witch. She insisted that I updated and threatened to put a hex on me if I didn't.

From Friends

See? Evidence!

Actually, I haven't updated since July, I suppose it's about time I do a bit, eh? ;)

She and I headed to Witchapalooza on the 23rd after I managed to get the day off at work and really, it's the most fun I've had for Halloween that didn't involve an outrageous sugar rush. It was so nice to be out with a friend who wasn't so self-conscious that she couldn't laugh and enjoy at the dinner entertainment with me:

From Friends

or enjoy the fantastic dinner (the pumpkin pie cake was amazing):

From Friends

There were fantastic costumes everywhere. I was taken by all the creative and exciting witches hats (there was even a White Witch Of Narnia who I didn't capture on camera, alas):

From Friends

And basically it was a great time, I really enjoyed myself and I definitely want to do this again NEXT year! With Cara and whoever else wants to come, it is SO worth it.

I also had a Murder Mystery Party with my Writing Group where I dressed up as Kitan, my Mary Sue-ish half dragon/half fairy:

From Cere-knitty

You can almost see the teensy dragon wings I had pinned to my back.

It took one piece of very stiff light orange felt and some yarn to make the elf ears and wings. I was rather chuffed at my inventiveness.

And to top off the Halloween celebrations, my Daisy Pumpkin:

From Cere-knitty

It doesn't resemble the true article by half but it's the best pumpkin I may have ever carved.

Then my friends were having a Not Dead Day. Last year they had a VERY close call with death by Carbon Monoxide that had to do with improperly updated heating vents. Had they stayed another five minutes or so, I would not have partied with them last night. So, to celebrate their first anniversary of cheating Death, I made them little mementos:

From Cere-knitty

Yes, 1-up Mario Mushrooms

Pam and Laren were delighted, of course. :D

There are a few others things I've worked on, such as a hat:

From Cere-knitty

And other things of which there are either no pictures or is relatively secret (don't you love this time of year?). I promise to update more, but NaNoWriMo *is* coming up on Monday, I will be preoccupied with that.

Tour De Fleece

The reason for my silence would be a rather mad bout of spinning. Lots of spinning of Miss Babs merino/bamboo/tussah silk roving. Drop spindle spinning. I did a lot more of Parking And Drafting than actual Dropping and Spinning but that's fine. And the spinning was portable. Quite portable.


Spinning at work. This is what I'm paid for? ;)

I'm not as even as I would like to be but I'm far more even a spinner than I was when I first started.


Purple truly is my favorite color.

I have to admit that my spinning has only generated mild interest, it's not like knitting where there's a mystery to others as to what it will be. It's fleece. It turns into yarn. The end.


Daisy is one of the least interested in my crafting but she puts up with me anyways.

It helps to have something to watch/do while spinning:


One of the most delightfully gorey animes I've ever watched, I love it!

And when the spindle was full, it went on the niddy noddy.


Not exactly the most exciting chore in the world.

And now it's ready to ply! Hopefully I'll get the other half done today, I did half on Friday and yesterday was far too busy between a potluck lunch and work to even touch the spinning.

But to be honest, it's not all I've done. For example, here's a little sneak preview:


Softest sleeve in the world

And I went on a Yarn Quest with my friend from LA, Briana. It was a great way to see all of SLC and to just go out and bleach my hair and tan my left arm. And talk, of course. But it wasn't just a total gas suck, I happened to win a little something.


Yarn complements of Kamille's and picture taken by Verla Younker of Unravelled Sheep


10 skeins of Feza Silk in a perfect orange to bring out my blue eyes.

Long post is long.

"What are we looking at and why are we looking at it?" - MST3k

Mom had no idea what to get me for my birthday. The items on my Amazon wish list were all "too small" to get me, she wanted to get me Something Good. So I racked my brain and I remembered something I saw while at the last visit to IKEA. I told her about it and she was thrilled. So yesterday, we ran to IKEA and with our hulking muscles, we hefted the 90lb bookcase, four wicker baskets, a closet shoe organizer, and a 6-pack of cinnamon buns into the mini van. The buns were so hard to say 'no' to but I managed to only eat one half. The rest went to sis and her babies. Thank you! I hate temptation.

So, with a hammer and my BoHo Pandora station, mom and I put together my latest bit of gorgeous furniture. And here it is:



Gorgeous, no? I've already filled those baskets with yarn according by weight and importance and now my closet looks a lot more bare. Awesome.

The day before, we made Daisy's day and took her to Petsmart.

She's sooo excited to be there!


Oh yes, here's what we came for. A new chain to replace the one that got misplaced.


But what's this? A stand off by the cat-adoption area? Those dogs look pretty worrisome.


Aww, nevermind, they're a trio of lambs with a thirst for headscritches. Everyone was quite polite as far as dogs can be polite.


Daw, happy ending, no one went home with bite marks or hurt feelings from silent snarls. Isn't it wonderful?

It's the Rail Trassah!!!

Saturday was the day for our new tradition of summer Heber Creeping. There's a train in Heber that goes along the Provo River and then back up it again. It's a fun ride, takes about 30 minutes or so to go down to the park where we had a small picnic and then hopped back on to go back up.



The kids seemed to have fun. Actually, they did, I caught them in a bored/serious/unfocused/unposed moment.



See? It wasn't so bad. I think that's a smile.



Nothing better than screaming or shouting at the birds/horses/shrubbery/cars.



And blackening the hands and knees by crawling all over the train and playing/drinking with the sippy cup.



It was fun to snatch at the leaves until the conductor told us to stop because it might tear up our hands (and hurt the trees though he didn't mention that bit).



We saw what looks like a bald eagle nesting though there are alternate reports that it might be a buzzard. Well, I'll call it a bald eagle and get Coolness Points.

Speaking of coolness, have some videos. Here's the brother just enjoying the ride:



And a real hijack of the Heber Creeper!



Pretty fun day, I didn't even get sunburned, hooray for sunblock!