Note to Self...

...and anyone listening. Never grocery shop on New Year's Eve unless you can not possibly help it. Ever.

And Glitter

Some more holiday crafting for Faraway Grandma who just adores crows (I know, but she does.)

A gratuitous glitter shot because everything would be prettier with more superfine glitter.

What it Looked Like

You know what I like? I like that day after Christmas. But here is a little look at what happened before that. I will alternate between the cherry red lace, and the bottle green bulky, because that is what my days looked like leading up to Christmas.

Imagine just a hint of desperation and you will have it about right.

But I very much liked the part where they were blocked and wrapped, and handed off to their new owners. That part was very fun!

Soon to come: a sneak peek at some holiday crows and glitter.

And So it Goes

My Weekend.

Christmas shopping. Frantic knitting. Sleep. Coffee. Frantic Knitting. Sleep. Coffee. Frantic Knitting. Sleep. Weekend over. Everyone ready for the work week?

Thank you! Thank you!

Oh, oh oh! For me? For MEEeeeeee! Just for me, from Australia, just for me, for meee! I am SO lucky to have such a sweet and giving friend down under. Yes, yes I am. And I have this lovely string of hearts that now hangs in the living room in just the perfect spot, and every time I look at it I become giddy and I grin ear to ear, and I remember why I started blogging in the first place which is something that I have forgotten lately, because I have been busy and tired. But I cannot call her and tell her just how much I appreciate the reminder because it is 1 o'clock in the morning over there right now, and that would not be kind.

And oh, oh I have this beautifully knitted piece of art around my neck that this picture does no justice to because the lighting in my house is horrible everyplace except the kitchen right now, and how can the Little Colonnade be properly photographed in the Kitchen? I ask you. It cannot. But I must take a picture right now because it is is beautiful and lovely, and all of the stitches are perfect, and anyhow it does not belong in the kitchen, it belongs around my neck! So that is where it is, and where it will stay.

Question Posed

Do you ever have those mornings where your life feels completely out of control in various minor, but personally significant ways; and you figure, "Maybe if I just clean something I will feel better?"

Day Off

I won't say that I am back - after all, it is football season is not yet behind us. I will say however, that I am catching my breath. Our precious Ducks are Rose Bowl bound, and let's face it, if your own special design is not yet made, it is probably not gonna be.

Today is my one day off this week. But don't worry, I am making the utmost of it. I have slept in, worn pajamas in the daytime, caught up on my correspondence, blogs, and photo uploads; cleaned the house, and basked in the glow of the Christmas tree. (Side note: What a strange but essential tradition is paying to cut down a tree of the forest, to stick up in your living room and hang things from.)

I made Sugar Cookies, and had them for dinner. Yes, and last night was turkey and potato chips. That is how I roll right now. Next comes knitting up some more Christmas goodies... and maybe, I just thought of this one, maybe watching Love Actually.

Do I know how to spend a day off, or what?

Addendum: I just realized that I don't actually own Love Actually. Go rent it, you say? Did you not pay attention? I am wearing my pajamas!

Just a Peek

I just got home from a very, very long day at work. I designed football shirts, I pulled football shirts off the dryer, I stacked shirts, and counted them. As thrilling as stacks of black and yellow t-shirts are, I did not get any pictures. Sorry. I ate dinner at 8:00, not my normal dinner time, I assure you, and I was starving. Tacos, if you are wondering. Posting, anything at all was the very last thing in my thoughts.

But my Knitpicks order arrived! It was right there waiting for me when I dragged myself through that door, and I knew that you needed just the tiniest peek. Beautiful stuff in alpaca, and silk, cotton, and wool; blues and greens, and purples; all squishy and cuddly, and just springing to be made into something lovely for Christmas. And it will be... just as soon as the football madness stops.

Swankity Cart Live!

Ok, so not to completely eclipse my latest post, but the Swankity shopping cart just went live!!!

Check it out!

No Pictures. Just Words.

So, football season.

I know. I have been silent for almost two weeks, and now I want to discuss football?! That is just so uncool. However, you will understand when I say that I am blaming football season for the absence. Or, maybe not.

Here is how it is. The life of a designer is not all fun and glamour. Sure, sometimes that elusive design suddenly works, and the world comes together in a moment of perfect harmony; but sometimes there is football season. In a college town. When that happens, and you are a designer at a screen print shop in said college town, there are helmets, and bowl logos, and trademarks, approvals from collegiate licensing; and all of this times ten before we have even won the game. And then we might not win, and none of the designs will be printed at all. Which is very anticlimactic. It makes me tired. And busy. So I have not been posting.

That is not to say that I have nothing to say. For example, I have very strong opinions about Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock Holmes. It is wrong. For so many reasons. Don't even get me started on Jude Law as Watson. Did Guy Ritchie even read any of Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle's great works? Did he not read the basic descriptions of our heroes that was woven within each and every Holmes story?!

Or that I have not been doing anything worth posting. I have. I have been knitting. Where is the proof, you are probably asking. Here and there, sitting around, waiting patiently for the time to come when I am home during the daylight hours, and predisposed to take some pictures, and then load them onto the computer, and resize them, and wait for them upload. Now is not that time. I also spent several hours this evening shelling walnuts. No pictures of that either. Don't worry it was not very interesting, and only made my thumbs hurt. But now I have several nice bowls of shelled walnuts. I have also been working on some Swankity. There may be another post soon about that. Then again, there may not be. Football season is not over yet.

Treats

We interrupt this regularly scheduled lack of broadcasting to bring you gnome babies in a bag, and pumpkin ice cream.

'Cause that's how we roll.

Luxury Part II

Waking up late. Taking a walk with Mr. Husband in the last of the Autumn's leaves, and the last of the Autumn's sunshine. Coming home to a steak and eggs breakfast in a quiet house. Grocery shopping, carrying in the last bag as the raindrops begin to fall.

Making Lasagna in a warm house. Waiting. Waiting, for Erinjoy to arrive. Chattering through the jumbling piles of yarn for hours, culminating in gnomes and scarves. A brilliantly unforeseen phone call from overseas which had us turning somersaults.

Grown up hot chocolate. Why does cinnamon schnapps have gold flakes in it? Does anyone know? A mystery in the midst of so much perfection.

My Definition of Luxury

My Day

Curling up in bed with my hubby at 8 in the morning, drinking coffee, and watching Dollhouse on Hulu. An empty house at 4 in the afternoon. Making pasta with asparagus and mushrooms just for me, then eating it on the couch while I read my Lucky magazine.

Denver Remix

Having finished my self imposed project deadlines for the weekend at 9:30 this very night, I decided to finally have a look through my Denver pictures. Yes, Denver. An almost whole week there starting this last Thursday, and here you thought you knew everything about me. I have a few favorites!

Here is the view from the futon. Inconsequential perhaps, unless you know that this view is the view of my very own bestest friend as she sits talking to me on the phone when she is far, far away.

The view from the porch/balcony. Look, you can see the cash register building.

Some views of Denver's charms. One of these houses is built in a style called Vernacular Stick.

Everyone loves a sunburst, right?

No?

A few prerequisite pictures that you must take upon visiting Denver. It is in the rules.

As I See It

As I See It from below.

Lest you think I got blue skies the entire time, it does snow in Colorado.

Sometimes, a lot.

Let's Pretend

Let's play pretend. Let's pretend that I did all of my work yesterday, and not this morning because yesterday I had no energy. And let's say that today was full of things like pumpkin cookies that were made in a leisurely manner, and had cream cheese frosting, and cat ears spiritedly put together on Halloween, instead of cat ears that were improvised at 7:00 last night because I almost forgot about dressing up for school. Though, we don't have to pretend about the turning out cute part, 'cause they really did, didn't they?

So, let's see... we have leisurely frosted cookies, and a relaxing morning with no work, let's throw in some knitting, and we won't even have to pretend about taking our adorable kitty on some neighborly trick or treating, or ending the evening with to hot soup and an old episode of Start Trek. That part was perfect just the way it was.

Blessed Oblivion

What is it about a head cold, in any of its magnifications, that causes me to retreat into the relative oblivion of a book? I prefer a good book, a familiar book that I have visited before, and loved, and plan to visit again. There is something about being under the weather that allows me to experience a book in a particularity intense fashion. Last time it was Harry Potter... again. This time it is Pattern Recognition, definitely a step up the Literary Ladder, seeing as it ranks up there as perhaps my number one Favorite Book of all Time. Maybe it is simply that real life is so exhausting in this state, and unreal life can be properly appreciated.

Whatever it is, Pattern Recognition is where I will be until I snap out of it. There are pictures to be uploaded, and stories to tell of adventures in far off places with exotic people (Denver with friends) but they will just have to wait. This post took up all of my current energy supply.

Welcome Guest

Oh, and this is Joe the class Hamster. He stayed at our house this weekend. I had a whole post about Joe, and running errands really quickly and returning just in time to pick him up at school. But I only wrote it in my head, and now it is gone, and it is too late anyway because that was Friday, and now it is Monday.

Not Plan A

This weekend was all about Plan B. Plan A was to spend our special family Saturday at Lone Pine Farms with the pumpkins, and the goaties, and the tractors. Mid-freeway we were hit by a very wet downpour, and quickly announced Plan B. Now, before you start with the name calling and the "Oh you wussies!" please understand, that my sweet husband and I had already decided the previous evening, that Plan B was to be Where the Wild Things Are. You know, out of the rain, and in with the Wild Things. So, if part of me was maybe just looking for a really good excuse to skip the otherwise perfectly lovely pumpkin patch, you will just have to be understanding.

Where the Wild Things Are turned out to be quite perfect, according to me. Beautiful, and a little bit tragic in a life-is-like-that sort of a way. Loved. It.

Plus, it turns out that the grocery store has a really great selection of pumpkins, that are very authentic, and carve up beautifully. And apples for baking. Plan B ya know.