Sunday, December 30, 2007

Joe's Handwarmers

I am still knitting handwarmers... I felt bad that Joe didn't have a pair of his own! So, with some fabulous buffalo yarn (from my stash) in a weight comparable to sock yarn, I cast on 72 sts and started to knit. I am winging it , of course, making it up as I go (and writing it down); as I am not going to find a pattern that will fit his hand. I had uploaded this ONE picture last night before the "other" computer started misbehaving. (Joe is copying pictures to disk before we take it to the Geek Squad - I don't want to think about that) I took this picture of his handwarmer with a handwarmer I knit a couple of years ago that fits me. Knitting him handwarmers is comparable to knitting him socks; it goes on and on and on.... Knitting while he watches all those #&%$*&# College Bowl games, I have the second one 2/3 completed. It's a good thing as we are going to have a couple of days with nights down in the upper 20"s! That is cold for Texas this time of year! I thought I had at least until mid-January!


Alexis is staying with us this week; she is taking a vacation from all her brothers! I am proud to say she is quite the knitter for a 12 yr old. She brought a sock in progress, but hasn't worked on it. Arriving with a cold/sinus thing; she hasn't felt like knitting. Joe and I have enjoyed having her here. We have stayed pretty quiet so she could recuperate, but today we went shopping! We spent most of the day at the mall. Too bad Twisted Yarns, our LYS, is closed until after New Year's Day. She was thinking about some lime green Online sock yarn and I was thinking of Noro sock yarn. We did go see The Water Horse. It is a wonderful movie!

Sunday, December 9, 2007

Christmas Knitting

I absolutely love this time of year! It's the Season that I love most. First and foremost, it's Christ's birthday. I love my children and grandchildren's excitement, Christmas trees, Christmas music, the mall at Christmas, the food, baking, parties, wraping presents, giving gifts; but I absolutely LOVE Christmas lights; I want to light EVERYTHING! I wear contacts so at night, especially, there's a little "starburst" effect around all lights. It makes Christmas lights look spectacular! After my divorce, I lived in an apartment (upstairs) for awhile. My bedroom had a large, double window at the foot of my bed that looked out the patio into the parking lot. I strung the large, old fashioned lights around that window. So every night, Tugley and I drifted off to sleep looking at those lights through half-closed eyes. It created such a colorful warm glow, a really magical feeling! (I didn't take them down until mid-January)

On to Knitting -
My current knitting project is - as I think about it, that's about all I can say as it may show up somewhere else at a later date. Up close, (not a sock) sock yarn, cables and beads......

These are the ornaments from Vogue Holiday Issue. I HAD to change them up a teeeensy tiny bit. I like to use a #1 needle with sock yarn so THEN I had to change the CO #...but I LOVE the way they look. The three that are alike are knit from an Online sock yarn from about 3 yrs ago. I wish I had some more of it! I do have a pair of socks knit from it though. The other ornament is an Online sock yarn this year! (see previous picture) I am seriously thinking about knitting Christmas Stockings from this yarn over the coming Summer.

I want to do the small tree in the kitchen area with these next year. Joe said I better get busy.


This is a spectacular amaryllis. I have taken tons of pics of it but the color won't get just right. It's more of a deep garnet red. The center flower is just beginning to open. It's one of the new bulbs for this year. I got it at Smith and Hawken; one of my favorite stores. I can get lost for a couple hours there. This flower is huge (the bulb was huge). There is another flower stalk coming up on the other side.

I am wishing for cooler weather. Jeez, it's December and nearly 80 in Houston. It looks like it could be cold outside, gray and dreary, but it's not! Joe and I went Christmas shopping and walked around Market Street. I had on sandals. Cold weather is on my Christmas wish list... along with a few other things!
















Monday, December 3, 2007

Getting Back to Normal and Knitting Handwarmers

I think we are finally settled in well enough to have normal days and nights again. Unpacking now consists of getting one box a day from the garage and sorting it out between putting away and throwing away. Joe still has a hard time finding what I have put away. I am sure that will go on for awhile as I decide some things need to be put somewhere else….. Hopefully, we will be able to park at least our car in the garage soon.

We had a great Thanksgiving on Saturday with the kids and grandkids. Joe’s turkey was absolutely GREAT! He bakes a turkey from scratch – he injects seasonings, stuffs it with apples and oranges and bakes it! I am still so impressed every year! It was a cold, rainy day but the SILs kept a fire going; so we stayed cozy. SIL, Q's, wine helped us stay warm too! Kayla and Sophie, first and second graders, added a bit of excitement when they called 911 on Heather’s cell. Kayla told them “there’s a fire in Hawaii”. 911 called back immediately to confirm that we did/did not have a fire along with a stern lecture. Calling 911 is not a laughing matter, but it is entertaining to watch your children be parents as you remember all the stuff they did. I stayed so busy that I forgot to take even one picture.

I knit 3 pairs of handwarmers (before Thanksgiving) to go with birthday presents for Joe’s daughters, Lee, Lynn and Heather. After trying a couple of patterns, I created my own pattern for basic handwarmers in sock yarn using needle size #1 US. Eventually there will be a link here for the pattern, but for now email me thru comments and I will send it to you. Be sure and leave your email address!



Ribbed Handwarmers



Now, I am knitting my own pair of handwarmers. They are going to have a fat little cable down the top of the hand with a scattering of beads. I LOVE this yarn; specifically the colors and the way it stripes. It is ONline Supersocke 100 Holiday Color. The colors that define my "Christmas" are different from these. I think Fiesta! best describes these happy colors, but they do well for Christmas at my house. I am seriously thinking about knitting Christmas stockings for the mantle with this yarn. You can see the beginning of the cable between the two purple markers. I am using a small jingle bell for a BOR marker.





Close up of cable



Today, I baked a chocolate cream pie for DH Joe. I had to take a picture of the meringue. I have never been able to make a good meringue. This one came out damn near perfect! I am so surprised and excited; I took a picture AND wrote down the recipe. I think I made a happy husband too.




This is a sitting area off the kitchen, complete with Pug, where we sit every morning. Joe reads the paper and I knit. We don't have curtains yet; just blinds. That's the small tree with non-breakable ornaments for the grandkids. Jayden was here (and everywhere) in his walker.




One last photo of my handwarmer.