To switch or not to switch?

Now that Christmas is a couple of days in the past, it's time to decide whether or not to switch to the new blogger. Normally I would just jump on the bandwagon, but this has some impact, however minor, on other bloggers. Since the Lime&Violet KAL was started by me, if I switch, then that blog is converted also, with many more users than just me. So, I'm still waiting. The pressure is increasing, as you may have noticed. First it was a comment on the initial screen, then a bigger comment, now there are at least 4 screens in which the blogger user must choose which way they want to go. So, in the next day or so I will at least take the virtual tour.

The total for Christmas knitting included two washclothes knit on Christmas Eve. I wasn't procrastinating, though, I didn't even decide to make them until that morning. Two gift baskets that started out as food baskets turned into spa baskets, with Dead Sea mud body bath from our trip to Jordan, a scented candle and the basket. The baskets would have been incomplete without a washcloth. I had knit Fetching for myself, which turned out too big. So they went to my SIL, who does lots of typing and has a cold office.

Mom brought this handwoven scarf back from Ireland last fall - definitely motivation to try something similar.

Especially with the roving from Sereknity that Santa brought for DH.

My MIL loved the scarf, and deemed it perfect for her winter coat!

Last, and not even a present, I was able to sit down on Christmas evening and finish off the first of my Snakes on a Sock, with the yarn that MamaE made especially for moi. I immediately started number two, and hope to finish it shortly.

Merry Christmas, Mrs Stegs!

Well, Mrs Stegs is finished at long last.
Face complete, spines attached and for seasonal color, a Santa hat. The dinosaur pattern is by Jennifer Thurston of Extreme Knitting.


The hat is from the 2007 Knitting Pattern a Day calendar, sometime in December. I'm not the only one that has read through the whole thing, am I?








The face is my own creation, and a good example of why I knit instead of draw or paint.

She currently lives in DS' room, and will hopefully have a family sometime next year.

Holiday knitting and some "interesting" yard decorations

First of all, there is the Secret Pal challenge for the tackiest holiday decorations.


We've always thought that the giant inflatable lawn decorations were tacky. The ghosts were the worst - tall and skinny, with a tendency to deflate. Let's not dwell on what a deflated giant ghost looks like.

This year seems to have brought out a much larger variety of giant inflatable lawn ornaments, so the opportunity for tacky has increased dramatically. It took mere seconds to decide what my contest entry is - the giant inflatable manger scene with Paul Bunyan as Joseph.








First up for holiday knitting is a scarf for my MIL, made from some llama/wool spun up by DH. She will enjoy the fact that we both worked on it.










Then we have the first pair of fingerless gloves for nieces in CA. It's Artyarns Supermerino, one pair takes one skein with inches to spare (yes Karen, this is from our yarn crawl in August). I knit each glove without the thumb, then took the remaining yarn (about a yard and a half), divided it in half and used that for the thumbs. Just enough. This yarn knits up into a delicious soft and squishy glove - and very quick to knit up. One more pair and these are set to mail.




Some eye candy, just cause it's doing so well indoors - the chinese hibiscus that we bought last fall, then decided not to plant because it's not hardy in our winters. One flower at a time, that lasts one day. We've been getting about a flower a week.






Tonight's project is to put a face on Mrs. Stegs, and make her a santa hat (Elf Couture from the 2007 pattern a day calendar. I read just a little ahead.)

Show and Tell

Lots of good stuff got delivered this week - between my Secret Pal and Etsy I'm all set. These short days make the picture taking difficult - I'm not home during daylight hours during the week, and the interior light in my house just doesn't work.


My Secret Pal included a note with descriptions, and each item was numbered. The theme was purple, with a handknit purple washcloth, lavender body wash, a notebook (lime and violet?) with purple pen, a beaded bookmark and stitch marker and Lisa Souza sock yarn in Wild Thing. And chocolate - did I mention the chocolate? There was more, but it took a few days to be able to take a decent picture. I'm wondering if there is a Lime & Violet connection here - my Secret Pal is from Nebraska.


Out of the goodness of my heart, I decided to support the Lime & Violet Etsy shop and buy some roving. 4.2 oz. of Flower Bowl goodness! DH is quite concerned with running out of roving to spin, so this will also keep him happy for a while.

Another Etsy shop, RubySapphire Yarns, had a sale for Thanksgiving, so I picked up this lovely skein of greenness, - they ship little goodies along with the yarn - some dum dum lollipops and polished stone magnets - the refridgerator is much prettier now! This yarn is destined for scarfdom, but not until the holiday knitting is done.