January 2007 Archives

I began this hat as a belated Christmas gift for a friend and managed to finish it two weeks.

Pattern: Shedir [pdf]
Yarn: Louet Gems Merino Pearl (Worsted) in Charcoal
Yardage: about 2/3 of one skein
Needles: #3 3.25mm
Pattern Modifications: Did three full repeats of cable pattern instead of five to account for gauge difference.

I love this hat and took it for a "test drive" to meet up with friends at the Pearl Tea shop on a rather cold night. Louet Gems is a machine washable and I popped the hat in the wash after my test run. This gave it a nice halo effect and I decided not to shave it before sending it off last night.

Stephi will totally rock this hat once it actually gets cold enough in Washington D.C. to wear it. It is nicely stretchy so I know it will fit and extra long to cover the nape of her neck.

There's a mistake in the knitting but let's just call it a feature, shall we?

It was rather cold that night and the boyfriend was warmly dressed in my hand knits. The hat (Noro Cash Iroha) and handwarmers (Misti Alpaca) are his, knit as Christmas gifts in previous years and he's taken a liking to my Rowan Polar Scarf. I think it is time to stash up some discontinued Rowan Polar from eBay.

"Please, take my wallet but not my warm fuzzies!"

Almost every holiday season, my high school (and earlier) friends get together to exchange gifts. It consists of a few different elements.

1) Gather the Christmas Loot. There's never been a Secret Santa where you only get one gift or a white elephant re-gifting. We take gift giving seriously as evidenced by this picture. We filled the tree with gifts for 6 (and a few misc. for boyfriends of friends) plus there's more around the back of the tree.

2) Stuff ourselves with lasagna and fondue. We actually managed to polish off quite a bit of the fruit and went through three bowls of chocolate. Gift Exchange calories don't count.

3) Open Presents. Stick all bows on your head. Marshall your gift wrap.

I got yarn from New Zealand. From two people on two different trips. Heeheeeee.

4) Gather all gift wrap and compress into balls. After staring others in the eye, throw the gift wrap at others. Repeat until all the gift wrap winds up behind the tree or stockpiled.

Alas, there are no photos of this because gift wrap throwing is an intensive combat sport. Plus Robin has really good aim. Stopping to take a photo is not a good idea.

And that is one of our Christmas Traditions. Not necessarily in this order but never without a wrapping paper fight.

Hollis tagged me on this one - 5 Things few people know about me:

1. My youth was peppered with many different dance classes, all of which I stank at. This includes a cheerleading dance class somewhere in Jr. High.
2. I refused to wear black for several years because it reminded me of funerals. This persisted all the way through much of high school. Now, half my wardrobe is black.
3. I secretly wish to wear makeup in a subtle and beautiful way but never remember not to rub my eyes.
4. Due to an episode of Quantum Leap in elementary school, I have a "thing" about Egyptian relics. Let's just say I like museums but will pretty much power walk through the Egyptian sections. I also convince myself the oogie boogies will eat someone else before they get to my house, several turns in from a major street. It is too inconvenient to eat me.
5. My car radio is almost always tuned to the classical station or NPR and has been so for the last few years. If I know of a hit song and music video, it is because I caught the video while watching MTV Cribs or Disney Channel's Hannah Montana.