I haven’t been doing much knitting, what with the holiday preparations and our anniversary and such. Plus, just finishing up two headache projects… I guess I’m taking a breather.

So it’s up to the other bloggers to entertain you with stories and photos of insane Christmas knitting. Although I have to admit to contemplating knitting up some felted clogs for gifts for the names we drew in the family gift-giving drawing. And I think I finally found a good color to knit a doll sweater with that will match the incredibly cool pants I’d already made for Anne’s doll.

Our anniversary was great. I didn’t bring the camera. And we didn’t do anything spectacular enough to really blog about, but we had a very nice time, and I found a great card for Nate.

I love our little life.

Well, I’m late but I didn’t miss the Saturday post! Nate and I were out all day, having a glorious anniversary, then we picked up the kids and headed strait off to the church Christmas party, where Veronica was a sheep

Olivia was a star

and Abigail was THE star!

It was quite fun, however you can probably tell from the grainy pictures that I couldn’t get very close, and I couldn’t zoom in because there was almost NO light on the stage, and my flash wouldn’t reach that far, so I had to turn it off. I’m amazed I got anything in the way of post-able pictures at all.

Oh, and I have to tell you, the boy to Veronica’s right kept whacking her on the head with his sheep mask, and the two kids on either side of her kept banging their sticks on the stage loudly. V just sat there, looking a little confused by them, and quietly sitting with her mask. It was hilarious, and I was proud of her.

So, on to Health Group…

I did my physical therapy exercises on Wednesday. It was good. I’m still feeling better, although I haven’t stuck as well to the “no sugar rule” this week. I need to do better so I don’t have a relapse of unpleasant pregnancy symptoms.

How was your week?

I didn’t receive much in the way of emails from my synchronized team this week, so you’re going to have to talk to us in the comments today. I know that Katie started a lime green one, hehe, and is going to rip it, but there’s a picture.

And although she doesn’t have a picture up yet, Megan emailed to say she’s working on hers.

Only 1 week left, y’all.

I might make another one in the periwinkle color that was going to be Veronica’s kimono, and I’m thinking about edging it with some Handpaint Originals that Olivia bought for a pig sweater that she’s never going to do. As I was cleaning my room last night, the two colors landed next to each other and looked rather smashing, so I thought I might give it a try.

This weekend is our anniversary. #12. I’ll probably do an “anniversary post” on Monday, because as usual for Fridays, I’m in a rush, and that way, I might have pictures if we do something particularly cool.

Oh, and I’ve been wearing my VCC and Interlocking Balloons scarf TONS, and I love, love, love them! So much so that I’m trying to decide what type of big, luscious scarf I can make with the bag of Angora I have in this color, that was a birthday gift from Cher. That’s right, a whole bag. 10 skeins. She rocks.

That was the theme in yesterday’s comments.

You know, I love socks. I love nice socks. I’ve wanted to knit myself numerous hand-knit socks. I have enough sock yarn to knit socks for months.

So why can’t I start a pair of socks?

I’ve literally sat down with needles and yarn and a sock pattern, stared at it for a minute, and then put it all away. And I’ve done this a number of times with no socks resulting. I don’t know why. I love socks. I like knitting socks. I WANT socks. But I think I suffer from some silly fear, like, thinking that I don’t have the right pattern for the yarn.

I think that’s it. I think I have too high an opinion of my sock yarn, and I’m waiting for the divine to intervene and tell me what is worthy enough for it.

Sound stupid? Of course it does. And believe me, I don’t have a collection of sock yarn to be envied. I have a few nice options, but hardly an extensive collection. And nothing out of the ordinary.

And it’s not for a lack of cool sock patterns either. I have this book, as well as years of Interweave Knits magazines that manage to find the most GORGEOUS sock patterns to publish, most of which I want to wear. And there’s some lovelies in this book as well, which I also own.

I also really like plain ol’ ribbed socks like the pretties I made for Grandma.

I’m just pathetic.

Here’s what we did last night.

I’ve always loved this Santa. He’s in the Alderwood mall, and he actually acts like Santa, talking to the kids, looking excited to see the line of them when he comes back from breaks, asking them what they want!!! Like a Santa is supposed to do. I don’t know why so many of them don’t anymore.

However, I think the set up this year is pretty lame. The super dark green chair, the gray “stone” background…. doesn’t make for a pretty picture. (I cropped most of it out, because it’s boring anyway). But I love the Santa. And I love the fact that we could afford pictures with him again this year. It’s been a couple years.

Poor Abby doesn’t even resemble herself. She’s going to hate that shot when she gets older.

I’ve finished almost everything in my WIP’s section, and I’m wondering what to do with myself. I don’t have yarn for baby knits yet, and I’m not really wanting to start until January. I need to finish up Anne’s doll, but other than that….

I’ve been looking online for pictures of the back of Superman’s cape, because the shield is different, and the baby blanket I’m going to make will be red and yellow, like the cape. I finally found a good picture.

So I’m going to be charting again.

Yesterday, Veronica and I went back to Michael’s to get more of these

and discovered that the tree I had purchased on Saturday was now $40 cheaper! So I asked the cashier if they’d do anything for me, and she said that if I brought in the receipt, they’d credit me the difference.

Score.

So we did that, got a bunch more ornaments, and then made gingerbread cookies.

Tell me that doesn’t look like a horrific crime scene? It almost creeped me out, quite frankly. I guess when I make gingerbread cookies, I don’t usually do the actual boys and girls. I usually do turkeys, reindeer, snowflakes, house kits, etc. But yesterday, V wanted boys and girls, and the result looked like chalk outlines.

To me, anyway.

Today, I have to make more cookies using my snowflake cutters before I lend them to one of my sisters-in-law who likes to borrow them to make tree ornaments. Fortunately, the dough is already made up, so I just have to cut and bake.

Also, I’m going back to a different Michael’s to get more ornaments. Again. This tree EATS ornaments, I swear. So, while I don’t really NEED more at this point, I figure since they’re so cheap, and I really like them, I might as well. But I think I cleaned out the last store of the ones I want, so I’m going to a different one that happens to be by the hospital where I have my 23 week checkup today.

Tell me what to knit. I feel weird without a project yelling at me. I think I should finish up the test knitting for my friend’s toy pattern, and relieve myself of the guilt I’m carrying over taking so long, but after that, I need a project.

Yesterday, Veronica and I spent the whole day decorating for Christmas, and when the girls got home, we started on the tree. I must be feeling better, because aside from my back being a little sore at the end of the day, I did really well. I took a breather on the couch for about 20 minutes around 2ish, but other than that, it was very busy.

This year I put the nativity on my tea table that has been displaced by the Christmas tree, instead of on top of the piano so the girls can get close and see it really well. I think I can trust them not to touch it, and since it’s one of their favorite things, I like having it down on their eye level.

In fact, as I went out just now to take a picture of it, Veronica was there, with her little face 4 inches from Mary.

Today, we’re about to head out to get a few more glass ornaments from Michael’s. The red, velvety, stripy ones are cool, and I want more. Then we’re going to the store to get some supplies for gingerbread baking later in the day. Like flour. I’m going through it like water this year. Plus, this weekend Nate and I celebrate our 12th wedding anniversary, and I need supplies for that, too.

Thanks for the response on Microspun. There were quite a few conflicting opinions, but I like having the input. I think I’m going to continue looking for Red Heart in the right colors. If I’m dealing with a pilling yarn at all, I’ll use Encore. I have some great superman colors in that already, and I love the yarn, but I know that when VERY well loved, it fuzzes and balls quite a bit.

Now that I think of it, there’s only one Encore project that fuzzed and balled a lot. The rest of them are ok. Hmmmm.

I’ve been searching for Superman yarn, and haven’t found much yet. I spent a very long time in Weaving Works on Thursday, and came home with this.

Mainly because I really wanted to use up my gift certificate from April. So I guess I got my pretty sock yarn, eh?

On Saturday, I went to JoAnn’s in search of a fake Christmas tree (yay! I’ve wanted one for years, but it wasn’t until this year that Nate’s dislike of getting wet and cold to buy a tree outweighed his dislike of plastic trees). I ended up getting one at Michael’s instead, but while at JoAnn’s I perused the yarn section and saw some great Superman colors in Microspun. It is soft. It is cheap. And it has a little bit of sheen to it which I like for a Superman blanket.

The reason I’m looking at acrylic yarn is because I don’t want this particular project to fuzz and ball. And quite frankly, I like the way Red Heart looks when it’s knit. It has a very tidy look to it, which will work very well for what I have in mind. So I was thinking about using Red Heart, but I haven’t found a good red, and their signature day-glo red isn’t going to work for me.

Then I saw Microspun. I asked a woman stocking yarn if it would ball, considering how soft it is, and she said that she hated knitting with it because it unravels really bad.

So talk to me about Microspun. Have any of you used it? Does it hold up well? What do you think? I’m wanting to knit a Superman baby blanket, and I’m planning to line it with flannel.

The Interlocking Balloons Scarf, seen above soaking in the washing machine, is done, and I wore it yesterday. It is yummy. It ended up blocking out very nice, which surprised me because I thought maybe I had knit it too tight. I’ll show you a picture when I get a good one.

Hello everyone. I think my diet is helping. I haven’t blacked out once, and I’ve only had a heart racing/dizzy spell twice that I can remember, neither of which were very severe.

The diet isn’t hard to stick to, particularly since I’m not strictly on the weight loss portion of it.

And I’m liking the snacks. Previously, I’d heard about the Abs Diet, and others that want you to eat 6 times a day, and I thought it was more effort than I could bear. In practice, hasn’t been bad at all, and I like never feeling super hungry or desperate. I like not raiding the kitchen for whatever I could find when I was already starving. It has taken a bit of planning, but in my opinion, it’s been well worth it.

Of course, I love cheese. And since a lot of the snacks involve cheese, so much the better.

Still no exercise, but you shouldn’t be surprised. I’ve spent the week working on the stupid VCC zipper and finishing up the Interlocking Balloons scarf. I have to say I made the conscious decision to knit over exercise. Shame on me.

Maybe next week?

I’m not particularly happy with these photos, but it’s the best I can do right now, considering this is my photographer.

So here’s a shot of it for now, and I hope to get a better one.

Note the curling edges?

We have a lot of Esthers to show today. How exciting!

First of all,

Jennifer

Deb

Lisa P

Elizabeth

and

Katrina

are done with theirs!

And in progress, we have Crimson making a beauty.

Malle has a couple in progress, and a really cute model as well.

The following are also in progress, but aren’t showing pics on their blogs yet.

Monica. Go and see her, it looks like she’s having a rough time. I’ve gone through the same thing, and it completely sucks. It was this experience that gave me an appreciation for prescribed narcotics. We’re thinking of you, girl.

Karen is waiting for help on the edging.

Christall is waiting on a camera battery.

Did I miss anybody. I get lost in my inbox sometimes.

In other news, I’ve had a number of emails returning to me. So I want Danielle D, Gayle, and Elizabeth (regarding the Haydens) to know that I’m emailing you. Is your inbox full?

Kris in Texas, I’ve emailed a response to your question but since I’ve had so many other emails return to me days later, I want to make sure you got it. If not, email me again.

I’m way rushed today. I keep forgetting that Fridays are the busiest day of the week for me, because I help at the school, and linking takes a very long time. Ack! I’m late for classroom #2, and I haven’t had lunch.