Craft Monkey

late night

Staying up working on the last of the gift knitting... it seems as though this ball of yarn will never ever get any smaller, and its maddening!

We're in Brooklyn for the belated Christmas gathering, and the rest of the family gets here tomorrow. I've already been to Kinokuniya's store closing sale and gotten a couple of books; I'll get pictures when it's light tomorrow. 

macro and glitter don't mix

glittery pinecones on the solstice tree

solstice knitting

All other things have been put aside to crank out the fingerless gloves.  I keep meaning to take pictures of the tree and stockings, but it's perpetually gray these days...

kitchener stitch

IMG_0003_1, originally uploaded by tsuyuninureta.

I finished the first sock last night. Kitchenering the toe went ok, but there's this weird toe nipple effect going on. Pic was taken before beginning the toe decreases, and I can;t figure out why it appears cropped, but click on it to see the whole thing. Now I just have to knit the other one...

The pattern is Bigfoot Socks, from meangirl at 144 Inches of I-Cord.  She's having a contest right now to give away some sock yarn, and she's got some other well-written patterns, so check it out!

stalled out

It's been a loooooooooong week, starting w/ chest colds for the kidlet and myself, and lowlighted by being so woozy and congested  after work on Friday that I apparently dropped my wallet in the grocery store parking lot. I didn't even discover it for the first 24 hours; at that point the credit card company called to ask if I'd been making a lot of purchases at Wal-Mart? Over $1700? In multiple trips? Umm... No. Cancel the card please! The rest of the week has been spent canceling and replacing everything that was in there. I'm crankiest about the weeks pay in cash that was in there, and the receipts for some Yule/Christmas/Solstice presents that were going to be returned and no longer can be.

Really though, I kind of can't believe whoever found my wallet chose to spend so much money at Wal-Mart of all places!?!?

On the upside, we got our funky little Solstice tree up and decorated. It sort of slumps to the left. Logan says its funny-looking and pretty, and keeps asking why it doesn't have any party-party-lights. (Answer: because they're a waste of electricity  when we have a finite amount). This weekend we're having a kids-glue-glittering-pinecones bonanza, and going to a Solstice party.

I finished all the pieces of the cardigan, but the next step is blocking them and I don't have a blocking board.  So that's on hold until I can go to the hardware store for hemasote and the fabric store for 1-inch checked gingham to make one.... maybe this weekend.

no NaKniSweMo for me

At the beginning of November, I considered piping up with a "me too!" for National Knit a Sweater Month KAL, but didn't. I did attempt it though! I cast on Halloween night, and worked exclusively on the Honey cardigan for al of Novmber, but now it's December 1st and the sweater is not finished. I made it through the back, both fronts and a sleeve-and-a-half.  To complete it, I need to finish knitting the second sleeve, weave in ends, seam it up, and pick up and knit the neck and button bands. Maybe I'll manage to finish it by the end of the year...

We spent last weekend in Atlanta, going to kids museums and the HUGE aquarium.  Beluga whales are kind of pretty and creepy at the same time, and they sort of look like a little kid sculpted them out of playdoh, with thumb streaks down the sides and a cartoonish smile.

We're still in the midst of reorganizing things to make space for the woodstove, and while packing up books and mags to go to the trailer I discovered that I have two copies of the current issue of CRAFT. So it's time for a little giveaway. Comment on this post between now and midnight December 7, and I'll use the random number generator to determine who gets the magazine and probably some other goodies :)