Wooooo I've been busy the past few days and haven't posted. Friday I saw the movie Paycheck (it was entertaining, but I doubt I will ever watch it again) and fell on black ice at the movie theatre (boooooooooooo). I also did a little post Christmas shopping....my dad bought me a portable DVD player. It's super fun. It only holds a charge for 2 hours tho, but I can use it through a plug so I can have something to watch by my computer when I am working. Fun fun. I also got some more movies.

Yesterday I flew from Cleveland to Chicago to St Louis on my newly instated flight benefits (on United). My boyfriend works for the company and we've been dating long enough that I qualify as his domestic partner. I also flew first class all the way, weeeeeeeeeee. Ok they were only hour flights but you get big comfy seats and the flight attendants hang your coat and bring it back later and check on you super often and bring you drinks before you even take off, etc. My boyfriend got me the Indiana Jones DVD set (oooooooooo *drool*) and he is gonna get me a chair or couch so I don't have to suffer on the futon any longer, hehehe. Today we are heading a few hours down into southern Missouri to visit his parents at his grandparents' farm, which I've never been to. I mean, I've never ben to ANY farm. There's a lot of yarn stores in Missouri so I am hoping to go to at least one (I'm a LYS virgin) before I leave.

Whew! It was a really great (but busy) Christmas around here. After going to my Grandma's on Tuesday, I spent Wednesday morning relaxing (erm, being sick is more like it), Wednesday night at my Aunt's on my Mom's side, Thursday morning with my mom at her home and on the phone, and Thursday afternoon/evening at my Aunt's on my Dad's side. Lots of good food, good fun, and great company. A lot of my relatives on my Dad's side I only get to see at Christmas now that I am so far from here.

My cousins absolutely adored the sweaters and such that I made for their babies, and everyone loved their hotpads and beaded ornaments. On my boyfriend's side, his family all loved the various gifts I made or bought for them too, so yay. Oh yeah, and I got some presents too.

From my mom I got 5 things off my Amazon wishlist, and a pair of pajamas (and various little things in my stocking). My boyfriend got a portable DVD player from his parents so now when I visit him and we drive down to his parents' farm I can watch movies on the way, yay. At my Aunt's on my Mom's side I got a subscription to Crafting Traditions (which I knew about and asked for), an Amazon.com gift certificate (which I got in my email a couple days ago), a Trading Spaces book, pajamas, and a lightbox (and various small xmas things). At my Aunt's on my Dad's side I got mostly money or gift certificates, some various Christmas things, and stuff like wine, lotions & shower gel, picture frames, etc.

Today I am working on my Booga Bag and then later on I am going out shopping. I am using color 87 for my bag which I've had forever. I was going to do it per instructions, but for some reason the handles weren't working out right (I was afraid to pull the Kureyon too much as it breaks) and I didn't have my Magicord maker here. So instead I am using all 3 balls on the body (cast on 40, work 40 rows in garter, and pick up 20/40/20 stitches) and go til I run out of yarn. Then I think I am going to buy a solid color for handles, a pocket, and maybe a flap across the top and get some fleece to line it and make a pocket on the inside. That should all be fun :)

Finally all my presents are made and wrapped, so I have a few moments of free time. I have been really busy visiting and such...plus just when I thought I was getting better......WHAMMO i got hit by some fresh ammunition. I went to see The Haunted Mansion with my mom today, but because I had taken a bunch of meds my head was spinning and I kept dozing off...ugh...anywayssssssss...

The Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert was AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME! Ok, I will admit that I got bored for a bit when they were doing the Christmas story, where they do narration inbetween songs and some of the songs were slow and jazzy/bluesy (which I loathe)........but it soooooooooo picked up. The concert went from 2:30-5:30.......and they had another show at 7! No idea how they do it. It was so great tho...they used local musicians for the strings section and then they had 2 electric guitarists, 2 keyboardists, a drummer, a bass guitarist, some guy playing some forked handmade violiny type thing, and lots of singers and such. But besides the music, the SHOW was awesome. TONS and TONS of lights, with lasers attached, fog which deflected and defrated the lights so nicely, snow during one of the songs, sparks, 15 foot flames, balls of flame shooting up in tune with the bass...sooooooooo awesome. OH and I found out why they play so many concerts here....they love it. They say Cleveland is their second home because it was by popular demand of the people in Cleveland that they started doing live shows. And they played "Cleveland Rocks"...how cute is that?

I got some fun presents tonight, a froggie calendar, a BALL WINDER (woohoo), and some gold/pearl earrings (my birthstone). I saw Gothika yesterday...good idea but horrible directing.........they took an idea that could have been interesting and suspenseful and mainstream and tried to make it artsy...it didn't work well at all.

I'm not sure if this rambling made sense because it is very much off the cuff and out of order and my head is swimming and I am too tired and sick to proofread it.......so best holiday wishes for all. (BTW, I got cute pics of my kitty playing with his mousie toy that I will post when I get back to Atlanta!)

I made it to Cleveland.........after much stress and rushing. My flight wasn't scheduled to depart until 4:16pm but I got to the airport around 11:30am because it was exodus day for the military. I figured that I could sit in the terminal and knit to kill time anyways. However, I didn't get to bring my knitting needles on, boohoo. I asked the guys by the ticketing counter if they would be allowed through and he said normally they would be okay but they were at heightened security so they weren't...so in they went with my checked bags. Then the guy ws telling me that since I was already checked in I shoul dhave some sort of paperwork and he didn't see how I could fly without it, grrrrrrrrrrrr. But finally he took me to someone who knew what they were doing who gave me everything necessary and asked if I wanted to standby for an earlier flight...since I only had a half hour to make my connection in Chicago I said YES that would be great. Anyways, the 12:45 I stood by for didn't board until about 2:00pm (I made it on) and didn't leave til 40 mins or so after that. I was already feeling sick by then. I made it to Chicago at 4:45 (est) and checked my msgs and my darling boyfriend had left me a msg saying he had booked me on the NEXT flight out (which was at 5:08 and in a different terminal). I hustled my butt over only to find out they had given my seat away, but I made it on anyways luckily. Anyways, to make a long story even longer, I got in about 6:30...2 hours before schedule...altho my bags weren't there (they didn't get in til 10:30 or later...which was the flight I was supposed to be on).

On the way home we almost had a major accident when a car skidded out in front of us, did several complete revolutions, and ended up backwards by the emergency lane, phew. My luggage didn't arrive yesterday, so I slept in my clothes, bleh.......then we woke up early this morning and did some shopping (still in the same clothes, ewwwwwwwwww). Notice: I still don't have knitting needles! Eeeks! Luckily my clothes (and other stuff) arrived a bit after I got home from shopping, so after making haystacks and rolling the balls for buckeyes I was able to shower and change, wooooooo. Then I finished up the buckeyes and went to my cousin's basketball games...then my aunts came over and visited. Long day, and I need to rest up for the Orchestra tomorrow afternoon (YAY!).......no knitting pics or news but I hope my pseudo-excitement was entertaining enough.

A few FO's to report before I head home tomorrow. First, The socks I've been working on. Nothing special, just boring woolease sport in blue mystic (i think). Here they are:


Also, I worked up Nakiska from the Winter Knitty. It was one of the few things I didn't hate in this issue. Here it is:

It looks a little wonky because I bound off very loosely to make sure I could get it over my head, but it is fine once it's on. Steaming it made the yarn angry, however, so I am going to try washing it to calm it down. This is the same yarn (Woolease wheat) that I made mittens out of...all from one ball with about .5 oz to spare still!

I also started a new scarf (for no reason other than to keep myself from getting too antsy) out of a random skein of soft acrylic yarn in a dark olive and leftover fun fur (about half a ball ~30 yds) in champagne...I'm really liking how it is looking. I am doing a lacey center panel flanked with seed stitch and with a thick garter stitch fur band at each end. Maybe I will leave a progress pic tomorrow morning before I leave if my computer and isp are being agreeable. After I leave, I will probably still post once in awhile, but there won't be any pics.....oh well. I'll be back to full capabilities January 3rd!

I've been sick with some sort of sinus problems that has been keeping me from sleeping very much. So, yesterday morning I got up and went to Walmart early hoping that their Tire & Lube center wouldn't be busy. I was wrong. So, sitting there for 3 hours I bought a ball of yarn and some needles and started on a scarf (what else was I going to do). It was a boring seed stitch homespun scarf that I ripped the minute I got home (heh). I then started a multidirectional with it, ripped, and decided to hold it with some Cha Cha. Almost done with the ball of Cha Cha, I decided to make it into a slit scarf. No problem, I could have adapted, but I decided it MUST have pointy ends. So rip out the entire scarf and restart is what I did. Anyways, after all that, I have this to show for it:

I'm gonna give this to my mom for x-mas as well....I'm calling it the Vegas Slit Scarf, teehee. It's not too long, but the slit keeps it snugly around your neck, and it's so soft and comfy.

Ok, now for something much more boring. I finished the Vikings hat for my dad:

This time I knit the letters in instead of duplicate stitching them after the hat was done. Why did I do this? For two reasons. First, it made the yellow show through less on the front. I also knotted the ends and cut them close so that weaving didn't make the yellow show through much either. Also, it was a heck of a lot faster. Anyways, it's done, and I am happy for that. Now back to my socks!

Lots of new stuff to show! Ok it's not exactly new but it is newly completed. First what do you get when you take a bag you've already knit, a patch you've already embroidered, and 5 minutes with your sewing machine? This:

This little bag is holding the owl sweater and is for my cousin's baby!

Next up is a set of little train ornaments I made for my Papaw. He worked for Conrail railroad for many many many years and now he collects train memorabilia. Last year I made him a nice big X-stitch of a train. I cut the mat myself, even. So here are the little ornaments that I worked up yesterday:


Finally, 2 hotpads that I am working on. In total, there are 17 of these babies. Some have stockings, some have trees, most are green, but 1 is red. They were a many many stepped process. First I had to cut all the felt pieces, then iron on double sided adhesive to a fat quarter, trace the shapes, cut them out, iron them into the felt, zigzag around the shapes, then zigzag around 3 sides of the felt (with 2 pieces held together). I had all this done many months ago. All I had left to do was stuff these with cinnamon sticks and cloves and zigzag the last side together, so that when they were used as a pot rest they would fill the kitchen with yummy smells. Unfortunately I ordered the cloves too late so now I have been sewing velcro inside the hotpads and then sewing the fourth side closed most of the way. At least now the stuff can be removed when the scent wears off and fresh stuff put in. I just wish I had an operative printer so that I could print out little tags to go with this. Anyways, here are 2 of them, most of the others look the same:


Now I'm busy reworking a Vikings Hat for my Dad, with newer yarn. The colors are much more muted, but I think that will go well with the jacket he has (I haven't seen the jacket, but I imagine it's not in neon-like colors). Hopefully I can finish that today before the Survivor finale!

I finally bought cloves to fill up the scented hotpads I'm making. Unfortunately they are very expensive in store, so I ordered them off a wholesaler on ebay. So, that means that they might not get to me by Friday, when I leave. Because of this, I decided to have them shipped to Ohio, and I will sew a velcro opening into the hotpads and just fill them when I get home. More work for me, but at least now they can be refilled when the scent wears out...and they'll be washable too.

I also started cross-stitching the two little train ornamants I found at Wal-Mart for my Papaw. They're going so fast, worked on them through half a movie and all I have left is outlining, and I am really enjoying working on them. Yay. I also went out and picked up new yarn to reknit my Dad's Vikings Hat (I will forego making another Browns one) and 2 wire/bead ornament kits to make ornaments to go with the hotpads. I can see the end!

There's no such thing as a free lunch.......
Or is there? About a week ago I filled out this survey for Nielson/NCAA with the promise of an Amazon gift certificate (it was a long survey). I got the g.c. today.......a cool $25 to spend at Amazon on anything I want (restrictions apply). Yippeeeeee and on the day my last final ended too, I feel like it's a celebration of sorts. Now I just need to figure out what to order, hmmmmm.

I finished the Baby Sweater...not completely sure I am happy with it. I think I am just being too picky about my knitting lately. Here it is:

And a close up of the owls:


Now I'm off to take my last final and then relax for a week before I fly to Ohio. Wooo lots of knitting time to be had (altho I do have some other projects that need finishing up too).

I finished my mittens this morning! Mittens are so fast and easy to make! Here they are:

It always amazes me how little yarn these use. I used about 1.7 ounces on the pair here...an adult small.

Awhile ago I made this green scarf and fell in love with it. I had some scraps and decided I wanted to make a matching hat but after a few tries I gave up on it...temporarily. Well, yesterday after studying for awhile I took a break and whipped up the hat! My problem before? I was trying to follow a pattern. I don't need a pattern to make a stocking cap! What was I thinking? Anyways, here it is in all its glory:


I also finished mitten #1 last night and briefly started mitten #2 before laying down to enjoy some rest time. I watched King of the Jungle and Average Joe...then tossed and turned all night (I slept for awhile but then my neighbors woke me and I couldn't get back to sleep) before having to wake up this am.

We interrupt our regularly scheduled studying to bring you this message:

We now return to our regularly scheduled studying.

(Finals week, bleeeeh, and it's dreary out so I couldn't get a very good pic.)

I went to the craft fair today...and...it wasn't that exciting, poo. There were several tables with wire/bead jewelry which I'm not into. There was also some old-ladyish stuff (weird pillows, plastic canvas) which are mandatory. I think the tables changed by day cause I remember going by a table with lots of candles and it was gone...I also remember a table with all these glass things and it was gone too........*sigh*. There were some nice woodturners there...one in particular had pieces that were so polished they looked like colored ivory. Unfortunately, none of the things were anything I would use, he should've turned some knitting needles! I'm also kind of timid so I didn't feel free to look much else the booth people would start up a conversation with me (it's much better when I'm not there alone). Plus my school had it in a really stupid place where traffic continually flows and so it was hard to look around without being jostled or in someone's way. There was a nice booth with some handmade soaps but they were too pricey for me ($5 a small bar, which is probably worth it, but I don't even use bar soap that much). Also, most of the booths didn't have their pieces priced, and I don't do the asking thing because then I feel sort of obligated to buy. It was fun enough to look through, I guess. Very small for a craft fair tho (under 20 tables).

Tonight I finished my woolease socks...woohoo. They are a little thick since I used worsted weight yarn (altho woolease is kind of thin anyways) but I like them. And the ribbing makes them fit my feet soooo well. Pics of those tomorrow morning. I had been hoping to post some pics of neato craft fair finds, but no such luck *sigh*

Anyways, guess it's back to the baby sweater. I don't really have THAT much left to do...altho I did mean to get buttons for it today and forgot, drats.

There's a craft fair at my school! I saw it in the Student Center on my way in as I was walking to class. I didn't have time to look then, and on my way back it was closed, but I found out it continues through Friday. Do you know how hard it is to concentrate knowing there are that many interesting crafts so close? Argh!!! I'll probably check it out in detail on Friday, since I am done at 2 and it closes at 3:30 (usually I am busy til much after that). Wooooooo

Thanks to all who let me know the scarf seems somewhat dressy! Now I just have to hope he will like it...I'm sure he will. :) As for news, I started a pair of socks. They are a little tedious since I decided to rib the entire sock (well the cuff and top of the foot), but I turned the heel and finished the gusset tonight while watching Pirates of the Carribean: The Curse of the Black Pearl! I was super excited for this movie to come to DVD...I had seen it in the theatre awhile ago, tho I had decided I'd love it way before then. Johnny Depp is fantastic...but I really don't like Orlando Bloom AT ALL (sorry Kristin...but look at it this way, less competition.) He looks like a ferret to me and tries to take the movie to the "3 musketeers" level. Uh, no thanks.

On another note (ooooh a pun...just wait, it's coming) I found out one of my Christmas presents! Tickets to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra once I'm in Cleveland for Christmas. I get to see them on Dec 21st at the Cleveland Convocation Center from the FLOOR! Woooooooo.......this is from my stepfather.....such a random but thoughtful and exciting gift. If you haven't heard of this group...you should try and check them out this Christmas, they play some of the most entertaining, passionate, and modern Christmas music out there! I'm sure it will be a great show on so many levels.

I finished the scarf for my stepfather today.....after starting it a billion times. I finally settled on a basic seed stitch...hopefully that counts as "dressy"....since I have no idea what he means by it. I decided I wanted a reversible pattern because who checks to see if the front side of their scarf is showing (ok, some of you might...but non-knitters, especially MALE non-knitters, wouldn't give a damn). Anyyyyyways, here is the scarf: