Sigh.  Have you ever had that feeling after a sauna or a hot bath?  It's that relaxed, warm, pleasant feeling.  That's how I feel on this cheerful December morning as I look back at the last few days. 
Except for a few backseat fights on the way to grandmother's house, the whole family and extended family put their best feet forward and made an effort to enjoy each other and to enjoy all the merriment that goes hand in hand with the holidays. 




I hardly touched my knitting, but did manage to finish my owl sweater.  I really like it, but the back puckers in weird way and the bottom ribbed hem is too tight and too short. It tends to highlight my bubble butt.  Next time, I'd probably continue the ribbing for at least two inches.  But the color is scrumptious and the sweater does indeed fit like a hug. 

Here she is:

See how happy I am in my first (finished) grown up sweater.  Hooray for me!

Specs:
OWLS by Kate Davies
Yarn: Drops Eskimo light blue
Needles: US 11


Merry Christmas, happy holidays and a very happy new year!!

 Russell Stover box of chocolates  $12

8 x 8 pan of homemade fudge   $ 6

Handpicked  chocolate truffles flown in from Utah  $ 10

Emergency Vet bill  $521.00

Having Leo back home in time for Christmas . . . 

priceless

I don't make this stuff up.

Ps.  Things have been busy here at Chateau DeBris.  I miss checking your blogs but I'll be back soon. Love and joy to all!

The Blizzard of 2010

I'm sitting in the middle of a fantastic blizzard.  The stuff from my childhood.  Not only did it appear to snow about 10 inches, but the wind is howling around the house.

A nice morning for a cup of coffee (with cream) and a fire in the fireplace and then to top it all off, Christmas knitting. 

I am up to the yoke on my "Owls" sweater (scroll down the link).


We ventured out in the car and barely made it to grandma's house.  It was nice to see that the city I live in has their priorities correct.  Notice the Caribou Coffee in the background?

 We made it home and let out the dog.  Look at Mr. Meat Head challenging the weather.

Here he is brought back down to size by getting himself stuck into a snow drift.  Heh. heh.  Did I help.  Oh hell no.  I took pictures.

 Don't worry.  He got himself out.  Then brushed himself off and went on his merry way.

Big Dope

We'll be digging out in the morning.  I hope its like Little House on the Prairie.  Remember that episode when they woke up to find they had to crawl out an upstairs window to get out because the snow had drifted so high?  Oh what a story we would tell.

Do you know this dog?

If you've ever owned a labrador, or any dog for that matter, then you know what this face means.

Let me give you a clue.  

There is a previously full, empty bread bag on the floor.

'burp'

 Mmmm hmmmm.  

Labs and loaves of bread.  

A love affair of the worst kind.

I wish I was this cool . . .

I don't know who put this photo poster together, but it's funny and it made me smile.  Hope it makes you smile, too.

Yarn Sale

I forgot to mention where the sale is taking place.

Brainerd, MN has a little yarn shop called Between Friends Yarn.  The shop is closing and the owner is hoping to relocate to Florida.  With the wind howling outside the shop door, I could hardly blame her.  The shop was empty accept for the very back wall.  When I asked if I could take a picture, she politely asked that I not capture the store in its state of deconstruction.  Apparently, the shop was a delightful, warm haven for fiber fiends.   She wants it to be remembered that way.


Of course, one cannot pass by a yarn shop EVER.  And 60% off would make it a crime not to stop and shop.   A lot of the yarn was picked over but I found a few gems.  I have been wanting to make traditional monkey socks (red/gray) for kids, so there are three skeins of something or other.  And a pretty pink skein for my Belle.  Not sure if it will be socks or cuffs or  . . . oh the skies the limit.  And a few items like row counters and coil-less safety pins (so the yarn doesn't get snagged in those little coils).

On a different note: We had a parent donate some yarn to the school, so I took a wee bit and began making mittens and hats for the annual winter clothing collection. 

It's chilly, so I'm off to build a fire and maybe, just maybe, whip a little hat to go with the mittens.  Oh, and I should probably finish up on these arms here.

Does this need any narrative?

The planets must be aligned.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The weather outside is really frightful. 

 

 The sun might be out, but don't let it fool you.  The temperatures are below 0 degrees F.  Whooooooooooo.

But we're up north somewhere,

 that just happens to be a skip, hop and a jump from an indoor swimming pool with heated water.  Mmmmmmmm.
Time to throw the kids in the pool and get some knittin' done.

Enjoy the holiday!  There are so many reasons to be thankful.

Oh God, I'm off the wagon.

I spent about an hour last night looking through Ravelry and Ysolda's website for sweater patterns.

"Why, Rani?  Have you finished your pile of U.F.O.s as promised?"

No.  No I haven't.  I have a terrible Ravelry hangover this morning to prove it.  And kick me when I'm down - we ran out of coffee-cream this morning, so I'm looking at my almost-carmel-colored cup of coffee this morning, cursing myself and wishing I had just turned the damn computer off last night when my half-asleep husband suggested it.  My Ravelry queue is no up to 203 but there are some darling little sweaters in there if anyone is interested.

And there is more bad news.  I was working on a beautiful shawl pattern by Anne Hanson "Luciole".  We were having a nice evening in a snowstorm watching "The Princess Bride".  I fudged a couple of rows and because I had a boldness that came out of a large bottle of beer, I thought I could just keep going without a lifeline and make up for my mistakes by adding an extra stitch here and k2tog there.  I'm too embarrassed to admit what happened next.   But I will tell you that I have a nicely rewound ball of pretty, raspberry colored yarn sitting next to my chair and an empty pair of needles.  Oh, and that empty beer bottle as well.   No matter.  The color was all wrong for the pattern.  It kept nagging at me.

The good news.  There is one less project I have to finish before Christmas.  Don't fret Luciole - I will return and I will knit thee.  In the meantime, I must get back on the wagon and continue . . . slow and steady.  Next stop: socks - plain old k2, p2 socks.  No bottle of beer can mess that up. . . right?

Slow and Steady Finishes the Race

When I was "training" for the Kortelopet ski-a-thon-for-crazy-people race last year, "slow and steady" was my mantra.  It's not the most inspiring or exciting mantra, but for someone who was looking forward to simply being able to finish the race, it worked fine for me.  And surprisingly, they had not yet cleaned up the finish line when I eventually crossed over and dropped in the snow.

The next Kortelopet is a few months away but I won't start to think about it until after Christmas.  Instead, I am chanting the mantra over my pile of ufo's that are having a face-off with me at this exact moment.  I'm maintaining mental control by not spending hours on Ravelry constantly adding patterns to my queue.  I'm practicing the art of self-control and discipline by refusing to cast on one more project until I clear out the knitting runway.  There are too many projects on the tarmac and chaos is threatening to break out at any moment.  197 patterns in my queue should keep me busy for some time, but for now, I will plug away at the current pile - slow and steady.  Slow and steady.

FO:  Baby Cable Yoke Jacket by Cotton and Cloud

I used Cascade 220 Paints Hand Dyed "9843 Paradise Beach"
Details on Ravelry

This is for my sister's baby.  Well, she's not exactly a baby.  I mean, she's walking and da-daing and ma-maing and all of that.  But since my babies are starting to wear shoes that my shoes can fit into, she is still a baby to me.   I'll be seeing her in a few weeks and I'll get a good photo shoot with my (sister's) baby wearing the darn thing.  For the meantime, there you go.  Pretty cute, huh?

The first time I saw this jacket was over at Picperfic's blog.  She whipped out two of these suckers in no time at all.  She said - and I quote, "... a very quick little knit . . ." but somehow, I managed to take eight months to finish mine.  

Sigh.  It feels so good to have an empty needle around the house again.

Meet Stekkjarstaur (aka Gimpy)

True story.  Iceland has various "Yule Lads" that visit on the days leading up to Christmas.  Strange little men, whose mother is thought to live in a cave and feast on naughty little Icelandic children.  If she doesn't manage to snag a wee one, her grisly black cat stalks the country side in search of poorly dressed children.

Nowadays, the tradition has had some sweetener added to it.  You can find little "Jolasveinar" cards, figures and ornaments all over the place (if you know where to look).

OR, why not knit your own.  That was my big fat idea.  Knit 13 varied Yule Lads using "Yuletide Gnomes" by Alan Dart.  That was one year ago.  I finally finished Gimpy.  Stay tuned next November 2011 for  "Gully Imp" (aka Giljagaur).  So in 2023, I should have the complete set. 

Strange.  But true.

ps.  The boys are wrestling with the dog while I'm in my blog-trance.  Until I heard one yell, "He's got my sock!"  To which I screech, "It had better not be hand knit!" I gotta go!  I have some arse to kick.

Ingredients in my son's 12th store-bought Birthday Cake

"1/4 sheet cake decorated buttercream iced"

Sugar, enriched wheat flour bleached (wheat, nicain, ferrous sulfate, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid) water, whole egg, partially hydrogenated soybean, cottonseed & palm oil, citric acid, polyglycerol esters of fatty acids, invert sugar, salt, dextrose, sodium bicarbonate, acidid sodium aluminu phosphate with sulfate, food starch-modified (corn, tapioca), nonfat milk, cocoa with alkali, wheat starch, monoglycerides, propylene glycol - THAT IS A FORM OF ANTIFREEZE!!! mono esters, sodium sterdyl lactylate, calcium silicate, corn starch-modified, whey, baking powder, wheat gluten, natural & artificial flavor, soy lecithin, sodium acid, pyrophosphate, polysorbate 60 & 80, monocalcium phosphate, cellulose arabic xanthan guar tragacanth carrageenan carbohydrate & locust bean gum, sorbitantristearate, chocolate liquor, sodum caseinate, soyprotein, caramel color, calcium propionate, rice flour, liquid whitener, high fructose corn syrup, microcrystalline cellulose, cellulose gum, carrageenan, confectioners glaze, sorbitol, canola & coconut oil, hpko, triethyl citrate, glycerine, polyglycerol esters, algin, titamnium dioxide, e461, methocel, alcohol, carnuauba was, dextrin, potassium sorbate & sodium benzoate preservative to maintain freshness potassium sorbate, phosphoric acid, methyl & propyl paraben, sillicon, sodium hexametaphosphate, carmine, red 3, 5, 40, yellow 5, 6, blue 1, 2, blue 1 lake, black lake

My cake recipe (which I'm kicking myself for not making....)

eggs
flour
butter
cane sugar
baking powder
salt
vanilla

Buttercream frosting
butter
powdered sugar
vanilla
cream

I am so mad that I paid money for that damn cake.  GROSS. 
Next post - KNITTING, I swear.

Achem. Notice anything?

From the Winter 2010 Athleta catalog

 Do you see what's on her head?  Have a closer gander...

And for a nifty $20.00, it's yours.  Or you can grab your knitting needles and some leftover yarn from your stash and make your own nifty "Petra Headband" - or as the rest of the knitting world calls it:
THE ORIGINAL CALORIMETRY by Kathryn Schoendorf.  A free pattern, I might add.


And now let's take a left turn from that moment of product-plagerism to another astonishing advertisement in a popular clothing catalog.  I found it while browsing for knitting inspiration. I am not usually very critical of fashion, since I am known for both my informal and formal sweatpants. (You can buy cashmere and velvet sweatpants.  Really, you can.)   But this picture, which was carefully planned and coordinated by paid fashion professionals, made me snort part of my fifth cup of coffee out of my nose. 

 Is is just me or is this outfit (and beard) (and hair) all wrong?  ALL WRONG.

And now I'm off to dig out some old stash yarn for my next Calorimetry; thank you Kathryn!

Happy Trails

 My mom surprised my daughter and I with a short trip out west to visit my sister and her family.  We hopped on a plane and soon found ourselves in the middle of the mountains of Utah. 

 First on my agenda . . . well, after saying hello to my sister and her family . . . was to find the local knitting shop.  The good news:  it was a spinning shop called Rumpelstiltskin.  The bad news: it had closed.  The good news: there is a new knit shop.  The bad news: it won't open until November.

So close.

 There we were, wandering through this charming little town and I saw this in the window of a Hallmark store.

I went on a covert mission to find out more.  I snapped these photos with my super-spy camera (and by the way, one should always turn your mute on and turn your flash off when sneaking indoor photos or you'll find yourself in a very awkward situation).

 This would be a lot of stockinette stitch, but if you're in the mood for mindless knitting, or if your lucky enough to have a knitting machine - there you go.  A funky wrap.  I'll be spending some time on Ravelry trying to find this pattern.

 The real enjoyment came from simply spending time together with my family.  Belle found plenty of things to amuse her, including herself.  My niece was a ball of wonder and joy. 

 My sister and her husband were gracious and hospitable, feeding us well and touring the town in their shiny new Subaru with all of us in tow. 

We passed this house and I had to go back to get a photo.  This was typical of the town.  Chickens in the backyard, sheep and horses right there in suburbia.  The homes were tidy but always decorated and inviting.  And look at the corn!  This was a gorgeous garden that inspired me to try corn again next year.  I think I just need to plant more, move into a Victorian home and hire a gardener.

I couldn't put my finger on what was so appealing about this little town.  This house above, was fairly typical of many homes there.  Big and little, humble or grand - the yards were clean - the front porch always tidy with chairs and tables.  Beautiful, functional gardens were alongside sheep pastures and chicken yards.  Pumpkins lined the steps of many porches, one for each member of the family.  One porch had 14 pumpkins . . . but we are in Mormon country, so I was told that this is not unusual.

And my Knitting?  Yup.  I've been working feverishly on a gorgeous little sweater for my little niece that should have been done two weeks ago.  It's almost done.  I'll post pictures soon.