Xmas Knitting? Bah Humbug. I arrived home safe and sound and well rested(I slept from halifax to montreal station) and here I am in Kingston so far behind (b/c I slept from halifax to montreal station) having missed out on 18 hours of prime knitting time that I want to stab my self with my addis. Oh happy turbo dagger....

Here is Mum's "Emperor's New Scarf" (I can post the full name and link now; there's no way she's reading the blog before I give it to her...even if that ends up being sometime in january...) This is how it looked before leaving halifax. Now it looks....exactly the same but for one hole where I took the brown waste yarn out and tried to scrimp my way out of buying more butterfly cotton and finished the edging in embroidery floss. Don't do this. I found some cording that I'm de-plying from walmart and I think that will work. I just need to sit down and DO it.
Christmas miracle? Yes please. Oh and the omnipresent Hogwarts Scarf? I think I'm knitting a horocrux.

In happier news (happier than my turtley turbos) xmas shopping has tought me that everyone likes an oldfashioned Granny Square headband so I'm off to type up a pattern.

ps. I'm so sorry I missed holiday snb (or kol?) and the chance to see everyone's projects before they were gifted (or saved for next year as the case may be). Hope nobody thought I'd locked myself in the Shambala shrine room again.oops! Happy Holidays!

Soundtrack: "The Twelve Days of Christmas",Bob and Doug McKenzie
 

It's getting to be that time again; packing for the train back to Kingston, eating up everything that could go bad, freaking out over xmas presents, doing copious amounts of laundry, trying to get the tangled mats out of my hair, drinking egg nog for dinner....and celebrating Granny's birthday! Granny's 89 this year and although she asked for nothing but codeine and chocolate, she was very happy with all her prezies (especialy the ones that gave her a chance to pose). Here she is proving once again that she and Mrs Slocombe (of Are You Being Served fame) have more than a little in common.



In christmas crocheting crunch time I'm trying to turn out patterns for The Loop to sell.



The thing is, I need photos to include with the patterns that don't look like snapshots I took for the blog, and also don't look like I took them in my bathroom (I still need to buy windex), and oh yeah, that don't make me look completely egotistical (cause they're all of me so far). hmmmmmm...SnB ladies...want to be models?


Btw, here's what I want for christmas:



Soundtrack: "Words You Throw Away", The Black Crowes

If I had a winners/losers gallery of finished objects (ala Knit & Tonic) this would definitely be filed under 'losers'. It's not really done yet, but I really don't have the passion or drive right now to turn it into more than it currently is: a squid casing.



This seems to be a recurring theme for me *see briggs and little squid casing* perhaps I'm going through my cephalopod period? I'm sure it can be rescued in time (it's supossed to be a top I copied out of teen vogue -good god, right?) and I think the problem is that I tried to seam it during a cross country car ride with Ginny the cat in the back seat. I will pack it away under my bed until I grow enough backbone to give it a vertebrae and hope that it evolves past squid someday.

I've been so overwhelmed with knitting for xmas, and crocheting for classes, that I've been indulging in embroidery. Here's what I'm working on now:




Yes, yes, it's the ubiquitous Stevie Nicks. If you're interested, click here to see how absolutely stunning she is these days. Hooo ha! One day I will be her shawl mistress. I will painstakingly repair the Edge of 17 and Stand Back Shawls and make her a new wrap for Illume 9/11(I saw her on Sept.10-not that that makes me qualified) No, what makes me qualified is....well you don't need to hear my theories about my double parentage or my mean Electra complex (re Lindsey Buckingham). Sigh. Maybe one day I'll post a link to my Stevie site. It used to be one of the top rated ones. (yes, they rate these things)

As for my real Mum, you may remember the jacket she commissioned in the summer (click here) I still intend to make it, but not for a while. In the meantime, I'm making her Lucy's "The Emperor's New ____" for Christmas. (I won't post a picture in case she visits the blog...and I know she wont look up the pattern w/o help from me hee hee! no, no, she knows how, I just hope she wont.) The 'thumb trick' is blowing my mind and I got so excited that I came up with a great idea w/o realizing that it wouldn't work vertically. Duh. Is there a technique that would keep those stitches live, vertically? (vs. casting off and then on again)

ps it is gross outside. I wanted it to snow but not rain as well. grrrr.

Soundtrack: Wiretap, CBC1-this is one of my favorite shows ever. "Choooooo!"

Bad blogger! Bad blogger! I feel really bad about my blogging lull but I hope the following will make up for it!

I noticed this idea on Crochet Pattern Central the other day and made my own version during my first Crochet Workshop (which went really well!) using my ubiquitous flower pattern. Bandless Ear Muffs! Genius! There's a loop at the back that fits snug around your ear. I'm in love.




So I'm at SnB and get to laughing, ha ha, and get the best. idea. ever. I give you...Crocheted Elf Ears!



The pattern is still inchoate but at least I can cross off 'skin graft onto ears' from my xmas list (j/k!)

In the meantime, I think I've finished the raglan cardi. I know I should have a photo of the front, but I couldn't manage one on my own that was flattering enough to be posted.



Soundtrack: "One Way Ticket" The Darkness, "Do You Want To?" Franz Ferdinand