Pinterest Wednesday: Christmas Edition

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 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!

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.

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.

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.

Happy Thursday! Picture Post part two

After I got back to work, my niece Evelyn visited to ease the transition.

 Some friends and I ran in a Zombie run. We cut up old scrubs and pretended we had been in the lab when the zombies broke out. Sorry we made zombies, you guys.

Over the weekend I spent some time with these cute babies and their owner, Liz.

Liz and I took these bags of boring old grey and white yarn...

Used some egg dye tablets...

Some water, vinegar, and heat...

And dyed all that wool all of these exciting colors!

Once my drop spindle comes in the mail you may never hear from me again.

Then I spent some time in Grand Rapids. With a hammerhead shark and the Creature from the Black Lagoon. The company I keep is a little disconcerting.

At Sunday night dinner at my parents' house I read Evie a couple of stories to top off the weekend.

Happy Thursday, one and all!

Phoning in the weekend (and much, much more!)

Oh hello friends! I was going to do the traditional Phoning in the Weekend Monday post but then I realized A) I barely took any pictures this weekend and B) I haven't posted since I took a vacation from work and had all the fun in the world the first week of September (were you wondering why you had no fun the first week of September? It's because I hogged it ALL.) So I'm going to do two picture posts this week and dig way back into my camera roll for those vacation pictures. It will be fun because I get to relive my vacation along with you AND it's mostly cute animal pictures, with a side of projects, fun people, and bonfires.

The first thing I did on vacation was go to Frankfort for my Aunt's 60th birthday party. There were approximately 17 trillion dogs there, but these two were Frankfort newbies! The little guy who is melting your heart on top is Miggy a 5 month old English Golden Retriever and all around heart breaker. The sweet girl on the bottom is Tina Turner, the ?? year old black lab/border collie/? mix my friends adopted from the shelter. She came with the name and OF COURSE they're not changing it. So if you're asking me if I spent the first weekend of my vacation with Tina Turner, the answer is yes and she is lovely and gracious.

And so began vacation.

With bonfires,

Fancy dinners,

Snuggle times with more cute animals,

So much good food like this birthday cupcake my friend Chris gave me,

Dr. Who themed ice cubes,

Progress on some projects,

And then some homework with my two best assistants.

More pictures to come soon!

Phoning in the weekend 8/26/2013

It was the kind of weekend that started with some scotch. It was a crazy, crazy week and a busy weekend. But with such fun activities who can complain? Not this girl!

But I did take what time I could to relax Friday night. I ate some Annie's mac and cheese and snap pea crisps and watched some British TV (Landgirls anyone?) and knit some dish rags.

The next morning my sister Laura and I picked blueberries. It was a beautiful day to be outside!

We picked A LOT of blueberries!

Then we stumbled upon a junk/antique store and had a calling dibs fight over this cart. I won! I also would have gotten this:

But it seemed ever so slightly impractical. And expensive. But COME ON! That was hard to walk away from.

Then I went to the hardware store and got supplies for crafts. I was outside on the porch almost all day painting.

Work in progress, first coat!

Then outside all evening at a cozy bonfire.

The next day we went dress shopping for bridesmaids dresses for my cousin's wedding. My sister stuck this veil in my bangs and put that crown/ribbon thing on. She is not to be trusted in a bridal shop.

Not pictured: my living room full of half finished projects, washing my car (black car, what was I THINKING?!), no dishes getting done at all all weekend, the resulting shambles my house is in.

What activities did you do this weekend?

Phoning in the Weekend, 8/12/2013

I met these Boston Terriers at a Pet Palooza I randomly ended up at on my way to a friend's wedding this weekend. Saturday was kind of the weirdest, best day ever. The little jumpy licky one was only 4 months old. I almost tucked her under my arm like a football and ran away, but I resisted.

 

Also at the Pet Palooza? Fair animals. I pet this huge bunny and some sheep. And a goat bit Erica. There will be more details on our Locust Street Craft blog later today.

 It was such a great day! Bunnies and Bostons and one of the loveliest weddings ever. Yay!

 Scheming and negotiating shenanigans.

 One of the best (if not prettiest) dirty martinis I've ever had.

 Seriously the greatest picture of all time. Did I mention Saturday was the most fun day ever?

Sweet Loki defending her tennis ball while her humans Jenelle and Derek and I rang in Jenelle's 30th birthday with midnight martinis. 

Not pictured: dancing to this with my niece Evelyn: