Christmas 2008

I finally finished the cardigan for my mom. It was one day late -- mainly because I ran out of yarn while working on the last sleeve. I ended up undoing part of a finished sleeve to get sleeves the same length -- a 3/4 sleeve length -- which is ok since she has short arms just as I do. The pockets turned out well -- if I do say so myself -- , and I like the rib pattern -- also, if I do say so myself. I started out with plans to make the February Lady Sweater. Then I changed the garter stitch for the yoke to plain stockinette. Then I changed the rib pattern to a less lacy one and added pockets. It's made with Wool-Ease wheat and size 8 needles (except for the pockets, which are made with size 7 needles).

We had snow, lots of snow, in the weeks preceding Christmas. Here are DS2 and kitty standing in front of the mail box in front of our house. The city helped with the height of the snow around the mailbox.

And here are a couple of flower arrangements my sister made while she stayed here to take care of mom while we were in England. I think she could have a calling in that field.

The bare sticks in the table arrangement sprouted leaves a couple of days ago. It reminds me of Sweden -- when we would get sticks from the store around Easter time and wait for them to sprout.

Finally, here is a picture of the bottom of our Christmas tree with the two best presents of all -- our 2 kitties.

Christmas lights (and snow)

Well, it's snowing here. The man who sold us our snowblower said it didn't snow around here until the end of December. This is at least our third snow. The snow is now up to the bottom of our mailbox (and there are piles of snow, courtesy of the city, that are higher than the mail box).

So, what better time to blog.....

and to post some pictures of London ....




We visited London last week for my DD's graduation ceremony, for a Master's degree. We had lots of fun visiting with her and Chris and seeing the sights of London again.

Here are some of the Christmas lights around the town:

The first is Parliament with the London Eye in the background.

The next is Regent Street with its floating stars.

The next is obviously Carnaby Street with its floating snowmen.

Then comes Trafalgar Square.

And finally, one of our hometowns, GX, with the lighted trees angled out from the sides of the buildings on the high street.

And, yes, we did go to the British Museum, one of my favorite places. We also went to the Natural History Museum to see the Darwin exhibit. The Darwin exhibit had some of the actual animals that Darwin collected on the voyage.

Casablanca, at last

Casablanca is finally finished!!!! I've probably knit it enough to have made 2 shawls -- with all the frogging, major and minor. I frogged it once (when about halfway done because I decided to add beads). I frogged it again (when about 3/4 done because I decided it was too long for me). I probably wouldn't have had to frog so many times if I had just started the shawl using lace weight, as recommended, instead of fingering weight yarn. I also frogged and redid the fancy bind-off edge because I wanted it to extend the entire width of the shawl.

So, here's my final version -- all blocked -- KP palette and size 6 needles. I had to change some of the motifs around because of my decision to use a different weight yarn. (I added a wine glass in honor of Rick's.) I love the zigzag lines and especially the center back (not visible here) where all the zigzags meet. I also love the edgings.

I've also been finishing up dishcloths. I decided that this would be the year that I make all 24 dishcloths offered by the monthly dishcloth Yahoo! group. Here's the lot of them. The last one for the year is currently on the needles.

The only other items currently on the needles are Hippo Birdies and a cardigan I'm making for my mom. I'm hoping to get the cardigan done in time for Christmas.

I'm working on and redesigning a potholder for a crochet tutorial I volunteered to do. The tutorial is fun but a lot of work. Now and again, I wish I could get hold of the lady in charge of the blog to see if I should continue.