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!

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.

There are no words

My friends. I have no words for what I'm about to show you other than these, "I found this. It made my day. I will never be the same again."

 

I was going to try to save this for another blog post even just until tomorrow but I could not selfishly keep this from you. 

I'm sure this will be featured prominently again at Christmas as well as when Downton Abbey returns to PBS. 

Monday Beloveds

1) Pre-Christmas Excitement Lists

Passiveaggressivenotes.com never fails.

As you know, I like to keep seasonal things seasonal. I don't like to get ahead of myself; I want to enjoy November for its blustery in-between-ness, transforming from fall to winter and I love Thanksgiving and want to give it its due between Halloween and Christmas. So I do not watch any Christmas movies or listen to any Christmas music or read any Christmas books until after Thanksgiving. But I do tend to get a little excited to get excited for Christmas. Some Christmas things I can't help but think of before Thanksgiving. I make two lists every November: a list of things I'm going to give or make for people at Christmas and my Christmas list. My parents ask for my Christmas list every Thanksgiving and I'm a big dork about it. I play with fonts and colors and strategize about which category (yes, category: books, dvds, gift cards and miscellaneous) should go where.


Speaking of Christmas lists, one of the items at the very top of mine is non-stick frying pans because I only have two frying pans which are more of the everything-sticks variety and one is teeny weeny and the other is HUGE! Does anyone have a preferred brand? Something middle-of -the-road in expense and quality?

2) Downtown Abby

I'm a sucker for British TV. Especially anything with Maggie Smith in it.

She is so joyfully bitchy. Her scenes are absolutely the best. I've only seen the first two episodes, but the other discs should be coming in through Interlibrary Loan any day now and I can't wait to sit down with a cup of tea and knit and enjoy the (polite, British) drama.


3) The word "gormless"


I love that word. Gormless. Although now I've thought it to much and it's lost all meaning and sounds totally weird. I wonder if you can be gormful? Or what a gorm is? Apparently and a lot of different things, it seems.

Happy first Thursday in November

This weekend I have knitting on my mind: I'm knitting a gift (I don't dare say more about it until it's given, just in case), knitting samples for my November/December classes, finishing a design for submission to a book (I am so excited! But again, I don't dare say anything more until it's finished. It's just a submission, there's a huge chance it won't get in. But just the thought that it might!), and starting what I like to call the Christmas cast-on: wherein I get way too ambitious about making gifts for friends and family for the holidays. I am hoping (hoping) this year to pare down my grandiose ideas to something more achievable. The theme of my holiday gifts will be thrifty, handmade, loving and reasonable. Although, as I type that I can hear the tiny voice of my more reasonable self saying, "J'accuse! You already have one grandiose idea that is in a medium with which you are not proficient and you are in love with it! Take heed!" Uh, my reasonable but dramatic self, apparently. Annnyway, I'm starting the planning process of my holiday gifts and I'm looking forward to it. I have matured recently as a knitter in that I actually knit gauge swatches and design before I start the actual project instead of during. It's still not my favorite part, my fingers still itch to get those stitches on the needle and just get started already but I have noticed that my designs are better and my finished products are nicer if I take some time to think about what I'm going to do before I do it. Somewhere, my mother just heard a thousand angles break into song and said quietly to herself, "One of the many, many lessons I tried to teach my willful daughters just sunk in to one of their thick skulls! Glory, glory!"

In case any of you knitters out there haven't seen this yet, feast your eyes on this video. And if any of you non-knitters actually made it through a paragraph about nothing but gauge swatches and designing, you will still appreciate this:

It makes my vision blur just thinking about knitting on a scale that small. And the colorwork on some of those pieces... I am in awe.

Other activities for the weekend: watching Coraline, cleaning and cooking, a party for a friend, an open-house at JoAnn Fabrics (if you live in the Mt Pleasant area and want to take a class at JoAnn's (not just knitting, there are lots of other classes offered) come sign up this Saturday for 50% off! And if you don't want to take a class, maybe you just come and visit me!), cinnamon buns/coffee/knitting at Erica's so I can meet her new kittens, and playing Boggle with my Grandma. And if the Interlibrary Loan gods smile upon me, Season 3 of Moonlighting will come in and I can spend some more time with David and Maddie.