Food Hangover and Lots of Drivel

This is MY sock. I love this sock, especially the surprise of yellow in there. I want to have it done by the time the other skeins are in for this and the pinkish red ones' mates.




Oh Lard. Yes, I do mean lard. I will weigh after Fry leaves for school, just so I can get on the scale, undress in peace, then get back on the scale. Then, I can hop a little to make the needle jump in hopes it rests a little 'lighter'. I could do it right now, but then I'd have to explain myself to the child.

Speaking of which, she tried to claim this hat today while I scanned it. Umm hmm. Everything I make is supposed to be for her. The thing looks soft, but looks are deceiving. The yarn is much softer than it appears. I love this stuff. Tough to knit with, especially the knit two togethers, but so worth it in the end. I also have some of Trendsetter's Blossom, which is the same stuff, different colors. Very pretty and better than Charmin to squish.


Christmas. I love it. Hate the shopping, really dislike dealing with people during the holidays, but love the gift giving. My beloved sister Toppa has a way with gifts. She gets me things I didn't know I wanted but love. That, and the kid can throw a party. She's very cool that way.

But, back to Christmas. I've bought a few stocking stuffers, and Fry's two dearly wanted gifts are bought. She reads over my shoulder sometimes, so I'm not typing which two dearly wanteds are stashed somewhere around here. Other than that, she has toys and gifts she's never touched. Not because she doesn't like them, but there's so much stuff in her room already. My husband is tough. He, too, has so much stuff that to get him any more is horrible. Then, when I think about what to get my family, parents, parents-in-laws, and sisters (in law and my own), nothing seems good enough. For example, the sweater for my father-in-law in the basement. (the sweater, not my father-in-law, ha ha ha!) Cuff one is fixed and when I threatened to give this to Hubs, he replied that it is his Dad's and I should give it back to him. I could do that. I have to laugh at how long those sleeves were, poor guy. My mother-in-law totally understood. Not every 'recipe' is a good one, even for sweaters. Those who have had their coffee will see the mistake. Once something is bound off, ie, off the needles, that's it. It's not getting fixed. I only noticed the goof when I'd scanned it and the cuff was blown up 200%. Um, yeah, I meant to do that decrease, uh huh.

Every year when I make out my Christmas list, I think about each item. Would they like it, would they use it, is it something they wouldn't buy for themselves? Do they have a good one of it already? Hubby says write a check and be done with it. Right. The year I gave him a $50 gift certificate to Penny's, he turned it into two $25 certificates and gave them as Christmas gifts. There's been enough other things like this with him that I really hate buying for him. When he says he wants to buy a Civil war re-enactment uniform or a new computer desk, I always agree, since he's actually stating a preference.

All that to say that Hubs suggested and I agree, this year, I'm giving cookies. Rugelachs are great, and everyone loves the Checkerboards, especially Fry. No eggs are in the the dough, so she can eat it raw. Goof. Parents and their siblings get the yearly fruitcake, which we're thinking of skipping for ourselves, thanks to diets. I've checked and all the above would be very upset if we didn't send said fruitcakes because they're so yummy. These are from Collins Street Bakery and are really cakey and nutty. Otherwise, I'm making little gourmet cookies. Once I find the drop dead mail date, pick out the cookies I want to make, and hit the grocery store, it'll be Bake Central around here. With fresh ingredients and TLC, these cookies are wonderful. The hard part will be quality control. I eat my mistakes and those accidents really are accidents. I'll have to freeze or send the scruffy ones to work with Hubby.

By the end of the first week in December, I have the basic dough recipes memorized. Actually, cookies used to be the worst things I baked. With enough practice, I've gotten pretty good at them, judging by the amount of weight gained every December. It comes off once I stop the baking. Then, speaking of things I've practiced, here is the mitten inside-out, as sort of promised. Once I looked at it, the work didn't seem as bad as I thought. Maybe I just had time to get used to the thing being crap. Ha! It's mostly fair isle with the upper snowflakes being intarsia. Nothing was done to it over the weekend, but I'm itching to do something today. Color changes are very time-consuming for me, since I'm constantly double-checking myself. Every row is different, so there's no groove to get into.

I teach three classes this week! All are full, so I need to shop for more handouts. Bernat has a cute little pattern book for under a dollar that happens to have basic instructions. Buying those, even with sales tax, are cheaper than copying at Kinko's and certainly cheaper than using up my printer cartridge. Since I hand these out to all my students, I'm keen on cheap. Inexpensive AND they look nice. The checkers give me funny looks when I buy handfuls of them, though. Like, did I MEAN to buy 20 of the same thing? Yes. Yes, I did.


Fun things we did this weekend:
Friday, had our picture taken for the church directory. Hubby loves getting our family portrait, I hate the way I look. For someone that looks good on video, I look horrible in a photograph. Fry more than makes up for me. She's incredibly photogenic and Hubs would look a lot better if he didn't look so miserable in photos. Pictures are usually his idea, and yet, he looks as if he's been coerced. Goof.
Saturday, the 'kids' did the paper route while I did not. Ha ha! My turn is Wednesday. We put together most of the computer desk (I LOVE my Dad and my cordless drill), and put up the Christmas lights in the front yard. Last year, I couldn't find C7 bulbs, this year, it's C9s. Burnt out bulbs bug the crap out of me, so I like having plenty around. We made it a family event and trekked all over before buying a string of C9s for the spare bulbs. It was cheaper to buy 25 that way than spend for each set of five. That and the gas to drive all over.
Sunday, the 'kids' went to church while I worshipped the peace and quiet. Then, Hubs and I finished most of the desk, excluding the drawers and doors. I might work on them today. The laundry and carpet get priority. Although I skipped my workout this morning, I'm subbing housecleaning. Carting laundry up and down stairs, carying boxes and tubs to and fro, and scrubbing all burn calories. Or I could take a nap. Ha! It's chilly and rainy out there, thus, I'm making beef stew per Fry's request. I need to make a lot, since it's torture cooking it all day. I'm constantly hungry, even on a full tummy.

Pay bills, vacuum, start laundry, do dishes, knit for the rest of the afternoon...yeah, sounds like a great plan to me!