Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Pinterest Wednesday: Christmas Edition

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/101190322851365546/
Merry Christmas to you and yours! I hope everyone's enjoying  a quiet, restful holiday!

As I mentioned I was not originally going to knit anyone Christmas gifts. But then money got away from me and I got ambitious and I got on a knitting kick, so I decided what the heck! I don't have the resources to give all of my friends gifts, but there are some friends that I would like to give more than just a Christmas card. I found this pattern on Pinterest and thought it would be perfect. They are quick, easy, I could use yarn I already had in my stash, and they are cute!

You could do a lot of fun things with this pattern: use sparkly yarn, add beads, do different colors, etc. I actually knit the stars and made them into individual ornaments for peole and didn't do the garland, but that would be a fun/pretty project too! I was going to do an i-cord border in a contrasting color, but then I remembered my love/hate relationship with i-cord borders and this was meant to be a quick project so I refrained.



Here's my first one! It was a really simple project with minimal construction at the end. I will say the pattern doesn't describe wrapped short rows very well, but I had just started working on another project that involved them so I knew what it was talking about. So if you're reading the pattern and unsure on what to do, that's what it means: wrapped short rows. You might want to find a video or other instructions if you've never done them before, but rest-assured they're super simple once you know what to do.

Have you ever knit Christmas ornaments before? Do you have any favorite patterns? And one more Merry Christmas!

Friday, December 20, 2013

Friday FO's

Like most knitting bloggers around this time of year, there is not much I can show you. The projects I have finished are gifts, the projects I am working on are gifts...I can't even show you some of the yarn I'm going to use because: gifts.

Quick side note: I definitely told some craft friends in November that I wasn't going to knit any Christmas presents this year because that way lay madness in years past. Hahahahaahahaha, I have three knitted Christmas present finished, two on needles, and at least three or four more to try to knit before the big day. It's a sickness, I tell you.

What I can show you is the way I torture my cat when he just so happens to be sitting next to me when I'm knitting gauge swatches. Did I say gauge swatch? I meant cat bonnet:

O. Henry you are a good sport.
Second quick side note: Henry's full name is O. Henry because he's named after this guy. So when I would normally say "Oh, Henry." I use his full name instead. Because I am a dork who lives alone with her cats and needs to get out more.

There will be SO MANY FO's the Friday after Christmas, my friends! SO MANY, I SAY! Good luck to all of you who are in the heat of the holiday knitting frenzy. Rest your hands frequently, drink lots of tea and if you feel like you need to slip a little whiskey in your tea, well, it's the holidays!

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Happy Happy Internet Thursday!

Happy Thursday, one and all! I only have two days of work left before the Winter Holiday Season starts and there is a festive feeling all around work. Also, a lot of cookies and candy, of which I am highly in favor. Because I can't give you all cookies and the holidays don't make everyone happy, here are just some general (with maybe just one holiday related) happy things I found (or were pointed out to me) from around the internet. Because we all know that what the internet is truly good for is pictures of cute animals and funny gifs. After the dissemination of knowledge, blah blah blah.

http://imgur.com/lF44X8n


http://imgur.com/gallery/vfgDY

I could watch cats jump and miss all day long. It's one of the main reasons I have cats in my house.

I mean, seriously.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/jpmoore/the-15-best-ron-swanson-gifs
And of course, Mr. Ron Swanson.

If you are in the mood for something a little Christmassy, there's this funny story of NORAD's Santa Tracking service and how it got an unexpected start.